Chapter 2: Page 77
This week, Quin snaps out of it! Of course we all figured that would probably happen considering the immediate danger of his surroundings (and of course Dakkan’s predicament). In actuality, only a second or two of real-time has passed over the last couple pages. Unless it’s a story being told by a character, I view flashbacks as more like flashes of deja vu — as in, we might take a page or two to play things out for the reader, but to the character experiencing it, it’s pretty much immediate.
I know a few readers have been asking about Dakkan, so rest assured he’s… well, he’s right there, I suppose! No doubt that Canid soldier saw Dakkan had everything under control while our axe-wielding friend tried to get the jump on Quin.
So, I just learned that the C2E2 Artist Alley table Rachel and I will be at next month is E17! If you’re in the midwest, you should swing on by and say hello!
This week, we have a special piece of guest art from Jerome Jacinto — a piece he had started a little while ago and chipped away at bit by bit over the last year. Then, suddenly, BOOM! It was done! I was honestly astonished at how quickly it went from “kinda done” to “done-done”. I’m so happy that now I get to post it up on the site! :)
If there’s one thing I love about Jerome’s work (and there are many things — so if I just had to pick one) it would be how he structures multi-character scenes. The eye is just following so many wonderful things around the image, with so many details and little stories going on simultaneously, that it’s hard to stop looking at the piece sometimes. Thank you SO MUCH, Jerome — we absolutely love this piece!
Awesome page! Definitely not expecting a Canid soldier to come to Quin’s aid, but I guess they can’t all be as abrasive as Clovis. I like this one already.
Looking forward to more. I wonder if that sword slice will trigger this blood phobia of Dakkan’s I’ve been hearing so much about . . .
Why wouldn’t she? Just because they’re jerks doesn’t mean that they’re complete jerks. It’s a fight and she’s a soldier, simple as that.
Also, Mook MacMookerson has made the bold fasion choice to wear one of her brothers or sisters as a fetching tabard/sweatband combo.
He was asking for it.
On Dunia fur is murder, literally.
On a different note: This is why the best Tamian warriors always know when to put the tankard down.
http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2015/03/drunk-squirrel-struggles-to-walk-in.html
I figured that a random Canid soldier would eventually step in to help these two. If Kenosh did it, it would’ve made the narrative a little predictable so extra points for not going in that direction! and I just love how Rachel depicted the scenario in the last panel….the idea that the soldier is calmly reassuring Quinlan mixed in with Dakkan fighting for his life at the bottom just……. made me lol.
Jerome Jacinto, I swear you’re way too awesome for us. I absolutely loved seeing this piece. I’m a huge fan of cast collages and the way you depicted each character here feels so animated. I LOVE IT!
I never mentioned it before, but I’m a fan of your cute renditions of the cast :)
I really like Dakkan in the front, he looks just so tired of it all…or drunk?
I like how he looks like a rodent.
Kind of like regular otters, actually….
Sorry for the late reply, but thank you! I cant wait to see your side stories soon.
Again Jerome gives us a beautiful piece of work. I swear this fandom, although we’re small,has such talented artists it makes our fan art THE AWESOMEST. And now this guy? Hello and thank you random canid dude. All I’m waiting for now is a sudden and perfect name for him to come from the comments section and few casual theories and assumptions to introduce him to the brood. Oh my gosh I’m freaking out I cant express my excitement for a possible canid ally! Awesome pay this week guys, seriously and thoroughly AWESOME!
Pretty sure that canid dude is actually a canid dudette…. though there’s the possibility thats it’s a guy wearing a girl’s uniform.
We don’t judge.
Really? Whoops! I was actually hoping it was a dudette because female canid soldier: Who wouldn’t be hyped? But whats the difference between a male and female’s uniform? When did we find out about that? I hope I don’t offend you I just honestly don’t know
I think the biggest tell between males and females is the chin; males have tufts of fur, females don’t. It seems to be for all races.
There’s also a subtle difference in the eyes and amount of general scruffiness/body build, and ladies have chainmail shirts on under their uniforms, unlike the dudes.
While I would have LOVED to link the music video of Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady”, Trees is correct — it is indeed a lady Canid :)
Yesssssss *air guitar*
I’m disappointed in all of you (especially Peter Jackson)
I posted the uniform concept (that I still reference) on Tumblr quite some time ago. Here’s the post, which also kinda goes over why Canid ladies are not terrifically easy to distinguish from the dudes.
I specifically avoided using any gender-specific pronouns in my previous post because I couldn’t tell if the Canid was female or male.
Usually I can tell rather easily, but you’re right–with the Canid, it’s tough.
SHLAK!
WOK(!)
I’d clicked on this site so many times this weekend checking for the new page and not seeing it, that when this finally popped up just now it was almost a shock – especially given that my line of sight was resting on the upper right panel, and the first thing my brain registered was the fang-bared, steel-eyed Canid laying forth with his (her?) sword. Great page, and well worth the wait! (And Dak looks pretty fierce down at the bottom of the lower panel too!)
As for Jerome’s latest offering, all I can say is, publication-quality work there! Don’t know if that piece is planned for a future printed volume of “BWD” (Chapter Two, perhaps?) but it definitely deserves Many Many Eyeballs. (And I guess I still do have to get back to you about that commission, don’t I? Hope your spots haven’t all filled up yet – I know how quickly they go – but it’s so HARD picking just the right tableau for the Jerome Treatment!)
You forgot CRUUUNCH before SHLAK and WOK! Based on the uniform, I believe the canid is a she. And don’t worry, I’m still open :)
Aww, poor Quin! You can see the effect the violence is having on him just by the look in his eyes
Yup, he’s totally gonna hurl next.
I love how you get across how this fight is affecting Quinlan without using words. Looks like he’s aged a couple decades already in that last panel.
The touch of all of Papa Ermehn’s fur fluffing up in reaction is a nice one, and I see that he still isn’t dead (a nice, realistic thing- it’s rare to instantly die from a sword blow, you need a least a few minutes for shock and bleeding out and what have you…how many are in Feyn’s tribe anyway?)
I like the contrast of the lady canid- the vicious attack, immediately followed by concern for Quinlan, even if it’s only cursory. The fierce look on Dakkan’s face is great, but it takes second place to the Canid’s war face.
And there’s the break in the wall where Feyn slammed Quinlan. I guess the Canid/Ermehn (whoever built Deltrada) don’t use mortar, and use irregular stones. ….does this mean a lack of siege weapons to worry about? What is the technology level anyway?
This is the first page where I can’t tell which of Quinlan’s ears were sliced, and I don’t see his arrows scattered on the ground, (or the grappling hook Dakkan tosses away) although they could just be out of shot. .
And then there’s that pool of blood to deal with. The next page is going to be interesting….. (Money on that Kenosh doesn’t know and if Quinlan knows, he doesn’t realize the full extent of it~)
“Looks like he’s aged a couple decades already in that last panel”
Here we see Quinlan demonstrating the International Dunian Sign Language for ‘I regret climbing all those stairs so soon after dinner’.
“….does this mean a lack of siege weapons to worry about? What is the technology level anyway?”
Back in the prologue we see some kind of trebuchet or catapult on board a Lutren ship being used to fend off the Polcan. Some say it was first invented as a way to deliver the day’s catch to market without all the bother inherent in lugging a huge heap of fish into town.
I’m sorry, Mister Vau. He’s gone.
Feyn is gone and no plot device will make him come back. That’s the true tragedy of it.
We knew him by so many names: One-Eye, Winky, Willy, Popeye goes the Weasel…
But ever since Alex (or was it Rachel) revealed how he was called in the comments, with that one act a legend was born, a legend that will live on forever in our memories and in our hearts.
As Franklin once said: “If you don’t to be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, do things worth drawing comics about or draw comics worth checking out.”
Anyone know why the website was down for a little while?
In a nutshell, it was a bizarre confluence of events that stemmed from me not updating some plugins, and then other plugins not liking that, resulting in the entire ComicPress theme deciding “NOPE, NOT GONNA LOAD ANYMORE.”
So after a harrowing day of me freaking out, Phil Hofer (creator of ComicPress) once again stepped up to the plate and talked me through CS with my host, then fixed up my CP versioning.
Then I had to go in and re-color the fonts and move the link widget around… but otherwise things should be back to normal.
THANKS PHIL! YOU DA MAN!
WE’RE BACK!!! YAY!!!!!
*tips hat to Phil … and of course to Alex, without whose freak-out this issue might not have gotten the attention it deserved*