Chapter 3: Page 18
When I told Rachel that I was a big fan of Tosch’s side-eye in panel 3, she reminded me that Clovis offered up a similar expression back in chapter 2 — when Dakkan got on his… well, I was going to say ‘bad side’ but did he really have a ‘good side’? Either way, silent moments of adjacent menace must be a trait that runs in the family! Admittedly, I think Tosch ratchets up the menace a bit more here — you can almost feel the slow turn back toward Quin. You can also see that, similarly to his brother, Tosch really wants Dakkan to be quiet — they just express it in, ah… different ways.
Among things to celebrate today: Rachel FINALLY HAS INTERNET AGAIN! She’s been without proper internet for like two weeks — I don’t know how she did it. Fortunately, all it took was completely switching her prospective cable company to one that WASN’T completely awful. Good stuff!
Also, hey! I’m going to be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend! I won’t be selling anything and I won’t have a table, but if you’re planning on being there and want to say hello, I will not hesitate to respond with a “Hello yourself!” Or, you know, whatever is appropriate for people to say in response to hello.
This week for guest art, a great piece by Jerijune! As Jeri said in the original Tumblr/Twitter posts: “This is all speculation but here’s how I imagine Kenosh some time after running off with the Sratha-din”:
I can tell you he probably won’t be keeping the diplomat’s uniform for very long! This is a very cool piece, Jeri — I love how you ran with the tartan shawl design he had in that one panel of him returning from the Wastes and really deconstructed it into its own thing. We really like it, Jeri! Thanks so much for sharing it with us!
Oh Tosch you may have lost the battle of debates, but you have won the war of facial expressions!
Poor Dak, not even uttering a single word and Tosch already hates your guts. I sure do hope something happens that allows them to be free.
Anyway yay for Rachel getting internet! also yay for Jerijune making such a great looking post Chapter 2 Kenosh! Whatever plans you guys have on depicting the old Lutren at this point…I hope it looks similar to this.
Clovis hated Dakkan’s guts from the start too. Must be another thing that runs in the family.
“oh, Tosch… how can an esteemed Canid general like you resort to physical violence in the midst of a diplomatic crisis? I’d say you’re not doing a very good job of covering up the whole “kill all Ermehn and expand Canid territory” motive…”
er, anyway…. congrats to Rachel’s internet connection being restored! yay! as for the guest art, I’ve been poking around in designing races with different affiliations from their home kingdoms. Kenosh was a starting point for me, and I liked how that one turned out :D
That is some excellent Kenosh guest art, Jerijune! I wonder what it is about the northern wastes that causes the people who go there to take off thier shirts.
Anyway, it’s a really neat idea for an art project and it’ll be cool to see your take on creatures who have embraced the traditional dress of their adoptive species.
I agree it’s an excellent piece! It would definitely be interesting to see more!
That being said, I have to wonder, did Kenosh slip something over the blade of his sword, or is that a new weapon?
it’s same sword, but more worn out and using different materials to maintain it, especially the leather wrappings. yes, I put quite some thought even to minor details.
Silent Moments of Adjacent Menace has got to be an album title, anthology of spooky poetry or an Iain M Banks Culture-verse ship name.
I swear, Tosch is going to absolutely tick off Sunsgrove and force the Canid to fight on two fronts against the combined might of the Sunsgrovian forces on one side and a very large and very angry Ermehn warband led by a charismatic freedom fighter on the other. Heck, the Vulpin leadership might be up in arms as well since I have reason to think that having a chunk of Sunsgrovian diplomats and soldiers killed in their embassy in the Vulpin capital by Canid assassins would not put our fluffy friends in a positive light.
I highly doubt that Tosch would be happy that he is the reason that war were declared and the Canid’s military might is thoroughly wrecked from his understandably brash actions.
That is also, of course, if the Lutren and Tamian can reliably hold off Polcan raids and Eastern Deep critters while a war is going on.
Thing is, the assassins were at the embassy already before the news of Clovis’s death came out, so I think this war has been a long time in the making. It’s been quite firmly established that the Ermehn are no threat to Canid in any way, so their real target must be Sunsgrovian lands – and why wouldn’t it be, they’re lush while the Ermehn live on a frozen wasteland – so it’s safe to assume that they have made deals with the Polcan to join their war and open a second front.
Tosch isn’t quite as flashy as his brother when it comes to changing moods, but he’s still dangerous when he does so. And he’s still on a direct collision course with open war with Sunsgrove.
I’m more interested in whether Quin and Dak will try to help them look for Kenosh–or pretend to try and help–at all. Quinlan seems less and less enthusiastic about that as the pages roll by.
I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen next, and that’s a good thing!
I think Tosch has a we bit of a superiority complex. I’m sure Sunsgrove won’t take the imprisonment of its envoys lightly. The fan art this week makes me wonder when we will see Kenosh and all his brooding glory again.
“They will stand as long as I wish them to.”
…I’m starting to get some racial superiority overtones here…
Everyone is a murderous racist. Except maybe the Vulpin
Grandma’s turning out to be a very incompetent leader
The more pages I see Tosch in, the more convinced I am that he is actually pretty short. He definitely seems a lot shorter than Clovis, and now I’m sure he’s shorter than Quin and Dak as well.
My suspicions began on page 14 of chapter 3, panel 1. Panels 1 and 2 on this page also appear to give some indication to Tosch’s size. Dak is sitting on the floor and Tosch doesn’t have to bend down far to forcefully shut Dak’s mouth (poor lil’ sea cat :{) Furthermore, in panel 2 we see Dak’s top half from his position on the ground. Tosch isn’t that much taller than Dak even when he’s standing at practically full height. Seems to me that Tosch suffers from “little man syndrome.” Meaning that he’s shorter than average and stereotypically, has a much shorter temper and a much more aggressive attitude when provoked.
Tosch is a funny guy. At times he seems more lax than Clovis with his humorous expressions (runs in the family :P) and his being prone to making excuses, instead on focusing on more important things. However as we see here, he is probably more brash than Clovis considering he tortured Dak and wasted no time rushing over to shut him up; when Dak managed to barely give a chuckle.
If I’m wrong about Tosch’s height situation, I’m very sorry. I know how difficult it is to keep things like that consistent in light of being next to new characters, environments, etc. If my assumptions are incorrect I hope to correct them and that you’ll forgive me.
HA! Now I have to draw a Napoleon Tosch, because REASONS.
Not really lighter. He actually seems to be less cordial and have a shorter fuse
*sees 1st panel* I-is Tosch going to to go in for a kiss?
Dakkan suffered enough with Lady Canid. I think a canid love angle would kill him.
Tosch must now take his place alongside Lady Canid and Beck. Who will come out on top?
Not anyone’s health, that’s for sure.
I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’m pretty sure that is not a kissing face Tosch makes!
Well they don’t have lips so how would we tell? ;)
Well, Tosch is definitely a more paws-on type of fellow! (maybe a little too paws-y for Dakkan’s tastes :P) Although on this page, I’m not sure if the claims of Tosch being more mellow compared to his brother are entirely true. I’m also getting a Leia-vibe from Quin, with Tosch in the Vader-role, considering Quin’s just brought up other authorities into the argument. Of course, only Tosch could be so bold…
Also liking the work by Jerijune. If there’s one thing exciting about a character when it comes to story progress, it’s a makeover! It would be nice if I could also see it on the Guest Art gallery page, along with all the other guest art that’s made it here or at least submitted to you in the past. I don’t think that page has changed for years.
I was not expecting that face grab and I was not expecting the levels of composure loss here, but it’s an interesting turn of events. Quinlan’s found his backbone, but it may be harder to keep it up over the coming events than expected. Either the rumors of Tosch being more mellow are untrue or the death of his brother has thrown him for a loop. Either way, everyone is gonna have a bad time.
I just wanna say that Jerijune give me a lot of hungry and tatste with his Fan-Art, with Kenosh… Just something fantastic Jerijune, it give me more emotions in waiting to known what happened with our friends Ermehns and Kenosh after bloody battle… Huhu *_* I can’t wait more…. I hope to see it next time :3 (or maybe before easter if Rachel and alex have such Plan :3 ) Amazing drawing Jeri :D
I think Hunter’s right about racial overtones–between Tosch and Clovis, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canid in general see everyone else as pawns at best and footstools at worst.
I’m not sure if Sunsgrove will declare war just yet–king Dabheid seems to be the type that avoids war at all costs. On the other hand, we have no idea what the Lutren queen(?) is like, so I don’t really know enough to make a decent guess. I await further events with great anticipation!
Tosch’s speech seems to be over, so I think next week we’ll either be back with Janik, catching up on the Sand Spiders, or seeing Kenosh and co; I’m really hoping for Sand Spiders or Kenosh, but I think the Janik route is more likely.
Congrats on internet access Rachel!
And Jeri, I absolutely love your take on outcast Kenosh!
I’d like to say that I’m sorry, but that would be lying:
http://imgur.com/a/1Wxz2
Perfect for that face.
Amazing.
I keep thinking I’ve already commented, blargh.
Oh you might find him, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to capture him- bit of a distinction there. Having Dakkan is an advantage, but actually informing Kenosh that they have him as leverage is quite a bit more difficult. Although one key element here: Unless Tosch got Dakkan to spill it (and we don’t actually know how much Dakkan told/what exactly he was interrogated for, but for now I’m assuming Tosch didn’t focus on Quinlan) he likely doesn’t know Quinlan and Dakkan are as close as they are. And if they’re smart, they’ll keep it that way, for obvious reasons.
Dakkan has a talent for making people desperate to shut him up. See, Kenosh, he’s not entirely unskilled! (For some reason I doubt that’s the first time someone’s resorted to physical persuasion to shut Dakkan up)
I love everything about Quinlan this scene. Janik would be so, so proud of him. Minus the whole getting shot part. I’m very, very interested to see how they get out of this- because they literally can’t help Tosch here. They don’t know where Kenosh is, where he’s going or what the Sratha-din are trying to do.
I feel like that last line has some second significance that I’m missing. Tosch’s faces are perfect this page- I really love the dynamic between Quin and Tosch. It’s very interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.