It looks like this little arc of Kargo calling out Rogio is nearly at an end.
Two things struck me about today’s page. The first is that Rogio is fessing up to some of his misdeeds, but that his words ring hollow to me. He admits to Kargo that his past actions were a mistake, but it’s impossible to change the past, so all one can do is be better in the present. Since Rogio was freed from Ranach’s “abuse” I haven’t seen him do anything to be a better person. I touched on all that last week, so I won’t get into all of it here. In short, Rogio’s actions (or inactions) don’t match up with his supposedly better nature. Aside from realizing Kargo was right when Ranach didn’t give him what he wanted (and only then standing up to his former lover), he’s rarely expressed regret for his past actions. All he’s done is paint himself as the victim when he absolutely had the power to help others.
The second thing that struck me is how Rogio immediately changes the subject to Kargo’s pasts mistakes with Roamer. When Kargo left Roamer because he thought Ferah might be dead, I remember being disgusted at the time. How could Kargo leave someone he loved to fend for himself in a dangerous world he barely knew about? Given how dangerous the ghouls were, that was almost akin to a death sentence. That said, Kargo immediately expressed regret for his actions. He was broken and defeated between Ferah being gone and pushing Roamer away. He admitted the pain he caused Roamer. Furthermore, he actually apologized to Roamer when everything was said and done. Even on this current page Kargo is shown to still regret his past actions, even if he can’t deal with his anger and sorrow in a healthy way.
It’s far too late for it now, but if Kique wanted to paint Rogio as a sympathetic character he needed to be shown actively sympathizing with the abuse victims of the former Meteor Tribe and doing things to make their lives better. Hell, Kargo led the rebellion to free the sex slaves once while Rogio refused to help. Ultimately, I’m not sure if Kique is trying to address some of the major criticisms of Rogio as a character through having him being beat up, or if he’s setting up Kargo to be further admonished by Roamer and eventually banished from the Meteor Tribe by Ronja.
At the very least it feels good to see Rogio being taken to task by Kargo.
