This is the last roundup before Thanksgiving in the United States. Have a great holiday for those of you celebrating! For those of you outside of the States, have an excellent Thursday!
Africa | Page(s): 346 | Patreon
Africa chides Faida for blaming the actions of her clan on the drought. She asks when the matriarch is going to take responsibility for her own actions, such as hiding the fact that Mosi is alive. Africa puts together that not only did the hyena know her son was alive, she knew the entire time. She then demands Faida look her in the eye and tell her she’s wrong. Africa has been searching for five months, worried that he’d be alone and scared and the one who knew about it chose to say nothing. Faida cuts off the leopard and informs her that Mosi asked her not to tell Africa. Mondo stops pursuing Safari, confused about Mosi.
It took a number of pages, but the truth about Mosi, the lies, the misdirection is finally out in the open. Although Faida had the noble goal of wanting Africa to take care of Mondo because he needed a mother, it was wrong of her to keep a mother in the dark about her son. Yes, we do know it’s what Mosi asked, but again this wasn’t fair to Africa. She wanted to make things right to be a better mother and instead all she was met with was a missing son after Binti was murdered by Baba Bes. Things are complicated because she has Mondo, but he’d probably understand if she sat him down and had a heart-to-heart. Heck, maybe both of Africa’s sons would understand if she were to have said talk. That will have to wait, as Africa’s not done chewing out Faida.
Repeat | Page(s): 234, 235, 236| Patreon
Sol admits to Dawn that their body is dying. Before the Sun god fades, they ask a favor of their servant. Dawn replies that asking is not necessary and Sol apologies for not being able to grant the servant freedom. The fox asks their master to return and set them free after everything is said and done. With their final breaths, Sol pleads for Lun to listen yet again. The mad Moon god struggles as Sol relays their emotions. Pain, anger, love, caring and finally, sadness. Sol confirms Lun knows nothing but confusion, frustration, and madness. The only way they (singular, though plural works too) can escape the cycle is to feel the very same emotions Sol has felt.
Sol ends the monologue by pressing their head to Lun’s as Dawn transfers from the Sun to the Moon. The red wolf then slumps. They implore Tilter to guide Lun through the fog and to understand the new emotions they’re feeling. Sol promises to return to Tilter and asks them to wait. Scared and confused, Tilter begs their friend to get back up, as they’ve always gotten back up. Realizing Sol is down for the count, the wolf pup begs the Sun not to leave them. Planter then cuts in to remind the young wolf that the Sun said to wait and things cannot be rushed. Meanwhile, now sporting a yellow stripe from their back to the tip of their tail, Lun has gone quiet.
I admit transferring Dawn to Lun while the Dusk was knocked out cold is a clever move. It was established the Dusk could combine with Sol over 100 pages ago, so it makes sense Dawn could combine with Lun. I suppose the key to this god swap depends on that god not having their regular servant available. It was also established that Dawn feels Sol’s emotions intensely, so Lun is likely experiencing everything all at once. This is a better plan than just killing the Moon god and hoping they are reborn into a nearby pack in order to raise them as a normal wolf. It probably also helps that Sol is temporarily out of the picture, so Lun should not have a reason to immediately want to fight. That said, will Tilter be up to the task of teaching an emotionless, cruel wolf to deal with the sudden influx of emotions? Will Dawn have some say in the matter? How much free will does Lun have, exactly? What happens when the Dusk wakes up?
One of my biggest problems with Repeat is not fleshing out Lun as a character. We know about what happened to Sol when they repeat a cycle. Yet we know next to nothing about Lun. Do they leave their birth pack as well? Do they harm their birth pack? Have they won so many fights against Sol that being reborn doesn’t happen very often? It’s not like this god is incapable of rational thought, as they’re the one narrating the opening two pages. Additionally, they praise the Dusk for working hard to free them from being impaled on a tree for much of the first quarter of the comic. It would have been helpful to see more of this god outside their madness, as they clearly had lucid moments. At the very least, I guess I’ll have to settle for seeing what Lun is like merged with Dawn.
To Catch a Star | Page(s): 395, 396, 397, 398 | Patreon
Tussle and Shadow shout at each other that they’re Backlash’s friends. He stands between both groups, trying to get their attention. He notes that everyone present are his friends before making introductions. The Dusky points out to Shadow and Lupi that Tussle and Sweep are friends from his pack, and Lupi picks up on the fact that they’re his flower (loving) friends. Blacklash is delighted the Sun wolf remembered. Speaking to themselves, Sweep points out Lupi, and Tussle asks if they’re the Sun. Backlash isn’t sure how to answer, so he introduces them as Lupi, and points out Shadow too. He then gives the two Novas the name of his packmates. Happy, Backlash claims they’re all friends now.
He then returns to the side of his packmates and Tussle whispers that if Shadow is threatening Ash, the three of them can take her down. He declines reiterating that they’re his friends. Tussle is indignant that her friend could hang around such a large and threatening Nova. Blushing, Backlash admits Shadow was mean to him at first, but she’s nice to him now. Furious, Tussle points out that Backlash always does this with someone who treats him badly, then says something nice to him for a while. He acts like he’s starved for attention. Shadow listens in, realizing something during the exchange.
Tussle and Sweep are definitely Backlash’s friends, and they’re not afraid to point out his flaws. These two ladies are probably the only friends he has from his pack. They can’t understand how or why he’d travel with a pair of Novas, especially Shadow. When he points out she’s nice to him, they pick up his biggest shortcoming. Backlash is extremely gullible and he is literally starved for attention. We’ve seen how he grew up with a mother that barely acknowledged his existence, a father that was hostile to him, and a homicidal maniac for an older brother. As for latching on to people, he was way too quick to trust Sunny who in turn injured him badly (even though it was an accident). With Hearth, Backlash is lucky that red Supernova was genuinely a good guy.
Of course, we know it’s different with Shadow as she did treat Backlash horribly upon their first meeting and for quite a while during their journey. She did have a true change of heart after he freed her, he almost died, and she realized it was her fault he was afraid of her. Now, Tussle and Sweep don’t know any of this, and I’m going to say their initial assessment is correct as a general observation. That said, Shadow herself is likely putting two and two together regarding Backlash’s behavior. She might be figuring out that his family (Takedown) might not be as loving as the younger wolf claims. I’m hoping that Tussle and Sweep will join the group and that the three of them can convince Backlash that Takedown does not have his best interests at heart.
The Order of the Black Dog | Page(s): Issue 27, page 20| Patreon
Julia gives the okay and Mel takes the gem from Tazim. Curious, the sand cat-tiger asks what the black dog is exactly. Tazim ponders as he reaches for a kettle. A century ago the god would have struggled with the wording to help mortals understand Kenazil’s true nature. She’s not a scar in reality, nor can she be considered something like a virus or vermin. The perfect modern day word to describe her is a “glitch.” She is something that should not be. She was a mistake given a form, and now she’s in a place where she does not belong.
This page is very dialogue heavy, but it gets to the heart of what Kenazil actually may be. If you remember, in Issue 4, “Curse of the Black Dog,” she possessed mortals, caused those mortals to harm others and fed off that pain. The best way to describe her actions were that of a malicious entity. The mortals causing harm to others had no control over their actions, felt pleasure in the pain they caused, and the horror and guilt caused them to commit suicide, taking Kenazil with them. Yet the black dog always returned. This changed when the smiling man was able to redirect her actions to hunt pieces of the Black Idol.
Her being a glitch in reality makes perfect sense. The reality of this comic is that the people of earth are actually parts of the Black Idol, a hivemind god. The only reason the people are people is because other gods contained the Black Idol and gave its parts individual forms. However, contact with the parts of the idol can cause people revert or be assimilated into the idol. The black dog seems to have the power to reverse or halt this process. I’m sure the author will clarify more of this, but this is where the story might be going. Possibly. Even so, I can’t imagine unleashing Kenazil on the entire population of Earth won’t have unintended consequences.
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 244 | Patreon
Usma clarifies that Gitta, Prue, and Helevise are probably just clearing up things between them elsewhere. Antaras notes that they are being followed by other deer from a distance. His daughter wonders if they’re here for Eve and he confirms this. Not only that, but they all need to get going. Usma points out that Helevise’s show gave the other deer false hope, and that she overheard some them wondering if Eve could bring back their stillborns.
Another dialogue heavy page from yet another comic. That’s okay because this page is another good one. It sheds some light on the greater deer population after Helevise’s little show. First, I still think Usma isn’t quite being truthful about the other does and how far they’ve gone. Now, I could be wrong. Second, I understand why Antaras is suddenly interested in them. It’s time to get going before the deer trailing them work up the nerve to approach Eve. Of course, this is his fault. You can’t make a show of bringing back dead halves and not have others curious about using that same power for their own needs.
This shows the urgency of what Nero and the group need to do. The effects of a missing god aren’t good and as time goes on, more and more does suffer the horrors of stillborn children. At the same time, deer will wonder why the elderly keep on living. If Eve delivers a perfectly healthy child while no one else can, this will bring up even more questions. This group will probably get a good head start on Nero, as he and the others still need to locate War. Once they have War, will they be easily able to find Eve among Antaras’ group after they move locations?
Diarko excitedly tells his mother that he also has friends in the Meteor Tribe around his age he plays with every day. Feomeh beams, happy that her son has been well taken care of. Naeva asks Ronja if Diarko is leaving while Kargo looks on anxiously. Feomeh then explains that she’s going with the other felines to Shiverfall Tribe to join them, but she wants her cub to stay with the Meteors. She continues the MT isn’t safe for her if she were to join, but a young Forngrym might have a chance at being accepted by the other tribes if he’s raised by the dogs. She then notes that while she’ll be with Shiverfall, she’ll come visit Diarko as often as possible. The cub makes her promise and in return, she asks him to stay strong for her. They embrace and then Ronja’s daughters happily surround the young cat.
To no one’s surprise, Diarko is staying with the dogs. I’ve been harping on this for the last few updates, but given how he and Feomeh were raised, this whole scene makes little sense. She should not be willing to just let her cub stay with dogs. Beings she was taught to hate and fear, in addition to seeing them as a source of food and hut materials. Diarko should be way more excited to see his mother and begging her not to leave him. Instead, it really feels like she’s just there to drop him off at summer camp for a while. Worse, it still makes no sense that the other tribes would just accept him because he was raised by dogs. Don’t forget that the MT is currently hated by the other tribes. They’ll likely see the members raising a weapon, not a well-adjusted member of society. (Again, Kargo even mentions having Diarko participate in battle.)
Another thing that doesn’t make sense is the sudden change of plans from page 781.
Feaf suggested that Feomeh and Diarko join Shiverfall, and Feomeh didn’t have any objections. Suddenly 41 pages later Feomeh reappears with the Taiga Lions from Shiverfall, and she’s very okay with the idea that her son should stay with the dogs. From what I could gather, from the time Whispervale discovers her and treats her wounds, to when she appears in Meteor territory, a solid week has passed. In that time the cats had to trek several days north to Whispervale, then another day or so to the Meteor Tribe’s territory. Somewhere along the way someone either from Shiverfall or Whispervale must have convinced Feomeh to leave her son with the Meteors.
If this scene happened, it again happened off-screen because Kique as an author loves to skip important details. What should have happened is a page where the Taiga Lions arrive at Whispervale, cognizant of how the situation with Solar Stag and their allies could become worse by harboring a Forngrym. A three-way discussion between Feomeh, Whispervale and Shiverfall happens and someone suggests that Diarko stay with the Meteors. Feomeh objects, but the cats realize that heat from the capital may be on them. However, no one would really be focused on Diarko at MT because the Capital has ignored the tribe for so long. Better yet, having him raised alongside dogs would show those who aren’t complete bigots that Forngrym aren’t a “feral species” at all. This scenario isn’t perfect, taking into account all the misgivings Feomeh should be having about the dogs. The kind treatment she received from Whispervale might sway her.
This is a lot better than what Kique gave readers which is nothing. There’s tell, not show. Then there’s no tell, no show– use your imagination in order to create your own intrigue regarding this story.
More than 800 pages of Home and this one THIS ONE is my least favourite. The pacing makes no sense as you said and seriously? fucking seriously Kique? this cat who has been suffering racism from dogs and eating them is ok with letting her smol child with a bunch of dogs from a tribe that’s currently in danger? that’s NOT how mother instincts work. They would be thriving in a feline tribe. Why is Diarko ok with this??
It’s ovbious why this page exists, for an excuse to give the saint trio a child. They are the ones appearing in the frame when she mentions the MT should raise him. IT’S SO JARRING. Of course let’s separate the mother and child because as I have said before, women suck, this cub should be raised by the three saint guys instead. AHA. Another mom character that is barely seen as a mom, this comic reeks more and more of misogyny with each new page. I’m sure Feomeh won’t appear for a while.
Seriously this made me so so mad, I don’t think I will read Home for a while.
Agreed. This is so unnatural for a mother to do, especially when it comes to animals, if say the tagia lions are based on lions there offspring would stay with the mother until almost a year old or at least, heck cheetahs do it. If feomeh was activively dying then i would understand the decision to wanna adopt out her son or have him become an orphan. I’d still think she should of put him with shiverfall because he’s a feline and he’d get way more use with actual cats then dogs. the hint of kargo saying he wants to use diarko in battle one day, its painting a bad picture for a literal child, like kique ffs he’s a child not a weapon.
Also yeah I am so tired of us having female characters who eventually do end up having kids and then they dont act like frikin mothers or its never shown. remember that big ass time skip when ronja’s pups were born? that was ridiculous plus we barely get to see ronja really act like a mother to her pups or just spend time with them. most of the time the pups are around its when others are around or she has to tell them off to somehwere else so she can talk to whoever. there’s never a wholsome moment between mothers and there children. Honestly I can only imagine the same thing going to happen to the monsterous of rhov and feaf’s future kids (which is not needed). but I wanna take a bet we’ll get another time skip and just say feaf in the end did one hell of a job of raising her kids off screen whoopy doo.
The more you think about Diarko staying with the MT versus going to Shiverfall, the less sense it makes. Amazing Kique had so many options available to make the cub the son of three dogs, yet he went with the most sexist option. She willingly gave her cub up because it was supposedly safer there. Nevermind the threat of a raid or the tribe itself being disliked by so many other tribes.
It would be easier if Kique just never included mothers or pups in his story. He can’t be bothered to do the bare minimum to make these relationships seem even remotely realistic. As for Rhov and Feaf, their children will obviously spend the most time with Rhov, as Feaf will barely be there.
Honestly this scenario makes no sense other than to Kargo, Roamer, and Rogio a child to raise. The misogyny has reached unbelievable levels. It’s to the point where women just exist to make kids, and if they’re male they need to be separated from their mothers to be raised by men. I believe this is probably the last time we’re going to see Feomeh for a very long time.
I don’t blame you for taking a break from Home. If I weren’t writing about it and discussing it with friends, I would have dropped this comic ages ago. The people who saw this comic wasn’t for them at the very start were the really insightful ones.
Let me preface this and say I am a silent reader and enjoyer of your reviews! That said, it feels like you nitpick Songdog’s stories to a greater extent than other comics – to the point it feels like you’re just searching for something to dislike. The comic isn’t perfect, sure! My issue is there were a lot of points the story felt aimless and that they were just wandering into situations by coincidence rather than having agency in the plot’s movement. But this criticism tied with your last post about how you KNOW you’re going to be disappointed with whatever the resolution is…I don’t understand the annoyance? Lun’s backstory isn’t fleshed out because it really doesn’t matter to the plot. The whole point is that Sol lost the last few fights and Lun hasn’t reincarnated in a while. The story even has them surprised at how far off the deep end Lun is currently. Dude’s been stewing in madness and hasn’t had any familial ties in awhile. They weren’t actively trying to cannibalize their family at the time but I imagine they were so focused on the cycle and were said to have always lacked understanding of emotions, that they shut their family out and ditched as soon as they were able. See puppy Sol but even more apathetic.
Two-dimensional characters aren’t a bad thing. Character “fleshing out” is great BUT only when it’s pertinent to the plot. I think it’s a bigger problem when people try to tackle every angle of a character’s backstory when it really adds nothing to the story.
Rant aside, don’t worry about the whole nonsensical Diarko thing. If enough people point the issues out, I’m sure he’ll transform one of his characters into a temporary mouthpiece to explain in a long-winded and completely natural sounding paragraph about why the decision was made. 😉
I’m glad you’re enjoying the reviews!
That said, if I weren’t writing about Home, I’d say then yeah, I tend to nitpick Songdog’s work a bit more than the others. But with Home, the only thing I do is nitpick there. I can’t remember the last time I had anything positive to say about the comic, but then again I haven’t enjoyed it in years. But we’re talking about SD, not Kique!
I can say while I find Repeat interesting to read and I’m curious about its end, it’s one of SD’s weakest stories in my book. There are moments that genuinely made me angry, other times disappointed. I don’t feel like I’m searching for something to dislike, these are things I actually dislike about the story. I’ll also compound that with SD’s other story, Rabbit on the Moon, which had an ending that I found to be completely disappointing. I feel like her writing can be so much more compelling than what it has been for the last two stories. Curs of Chernobyl, Doe of Deadwood, and A Flightless Bird were stories I loved. I was a bit more mixed on Roar, Howl, Run and The Best of Bad Decisions. And yeah, Sol and Tilter’s plan for Lun was stupid. If it had played out like they’d wanted, it would have been horrible, especially for Passer and their pups. (*More on this later.)
As for Lun, I don’t think I’m asking too much to know a bit more about their story. Especially if they’re actively fighting the Sun and the first lines of this story belong to them. I’m not asking to know everything about them, just more than what we got. It’s pretty obvious that they’re pretty mad (lunacy and all). However, one can only infer that they’ve won the last few cycles as it’s never stated. Nor does anyone in the story seem surprised at how far Lun is off the deep end. Sol wasn’t surprised and the others just found them to be a cruel asshole. I only added the line musing about cannibalize because of how lowly they regarded mortals and the fact that they ATE Pink’s pack. Did they eat the pack just because they were mad or to keep the rumor about wolves with different colored eyes going? We can only assume they’re like Sol, but the story directly doesn’t mention this either way.
I do agree we don’t need to see every aspect of a character’s story, especially if it’s not relevant to the plot, but a little something would be nice considering how big a role they play. I mean we didn’t get a ton of backstory about The Witch in A Flightless Bird, but we at least got something. *However, I will say that in these last few pages where Sol’s plan didn’t work and they made a new plan on the fly with the Dawn is way more interesting. Divorced from the Dusk and forced to contend with emotions, we’re finally getting a better look at Lun.
That’s all I’ve wanted for quite a few pages now. So my negativity toward whatever the ending may be is trending in the other direction. I LIKE this plan of implanting empathy on to Lun and watching them react to it possibly for the first time ever, plus Tilter being without Sol. I’m actually excited for updates again in this comic. That’s the thing, writing about something from week to week versus a review when it’s all done– opinions can shift. If I change my mind on something, I’m going to say so.
I appreciate the feedback. It’s also nice to hear from someone not so down on SD’s stories, especially this one.
As for Home, I can’t wait for a character to stare into the “camera” and give us a huge speech bubble to explain it all, because clearly the audience just doesn’t understand why Diarko needs three fathers in MT instead of living with his mother in Shiverfall. XD
I’m also going to add to my reply I completely missed pages 221 and 222 of Repeat. Wow, that added some context and confirms yes, Sol has been defeated for several cycles. Probably not experiencing being reborn as often, Lun completely lacks empathy. *Headdesk* I can’t believe I somehow missed seeing two entire pages…
we knew this was coming. what annoys me most is the kid aint safe with meteor eaither. since there facing off a sudden eviction after another clan just decided NOW was suddenly the time to do it. while meteor is at its most peaceful.
In a better comic Feomeh would get word of this hostility and regret her choices. Also in that better comic, she wouldn’t have left her kid behind with three strangers to begin with. XD
So after being taught to fear and hate dogs, Feomeh decides to leave her only son with the MT, a tribe that is currently in a lot of hot waters, and surrounded by dogs. Who could have predicted this?
“I’m not safe here, and neither would you be if I were to join you.” says Feomeh as she leaves her only son in the very place she just claimed was not safe for either of them…
Did Kique just contradict himself there? After the shit Roamer pulled a few pages back (and still got no repercussions for it), MT is the last place to leave the cub. MT not only has a shitty reputation and a horrific (and nonsensical) past, they’re in hot waters and could be attacked at any moment by Southspear or the raiders from a few pages ago! Why would she just leave her son in a tribe with all these dogs?
I like your idea better. Sure, its not perfect, but its better than what Kique is doing. If he wanted Roamer and Rogio to have a child, he could have killed off Feomeh, which was probably his intention but changed it at the last minute. This is only happening so Roamer and Rogio can have a kid, even though they have done nothing to earn it.
The funny part is that Kique’s not aware of the contradiction. Or he’d say something like “In Feomeh’s eyes Diarko was safer with the MT than with his original tribe.” Or “She didn’t know how dangerous the other tribes were.” Of course, in a sane story she’d never consider leaving her cub behind and he’d want to join his mother. And someone from Shiverfall might warn her about the MT’s reputation.
I’m just shaking my head how this author will happily twist logic so his favorites can be fathers. As you said, it’d be less controversial if Feomeh were dead.
Exactly.
Kique really seems contagious to the rule “show, don’t tell”, and it, well, shows in his comics. In the recent page, Roamer tells Kargo that he’s ashamed of how he reacted during the attack (meaning he is ashamed of killing that dog as ruthlessly as he did). And I’m like… No. No, you’re not. You said earlier that you didn’t regret what you had done. You’re just saying that so readers can feel sorry for you. I know there are times where people say or do things they’ll regret later because they were in the moment or lost control or got angry or something. If we had actually SEEN him regretting it prior to Page 824, him saying he regrets what he did and said earlier wouldn’t have felt so out of nowhere.
And of course, Kargo tells him, I kid you not, that he doesn’t think it’s “that bad”. As if Roamer did NOT just murder somebody in cold-blood when their back was turned and then claim he did not regret what he had done… Again, this is coming from KARGO, the same dog who had suffered from lack of control and anger problems, but which everybody including himself ignored were problems until Kique decided to drag Kargo through the mud because he found a new toxic ship to sail. But I do agree with Kargo that Roamer has not changed. He is still a little shit of a Gary-Stu self-insert who can do no wrong according to the narrative.
You have a right to criticize songdog. For all she argues she’s just a hobbist and her fans defend her, she’s hypercritical of other hobbie comic artists that don’t worship the ground Songdog walks in. She and her fans need some humble pie.
I do get that feeling from some other artists who don’t run in her circles…