Chapter 3: Page 88
Sigrid is still trying to tease out some sense from her commanding officer, but Tosch is super into whatever’s in that desk drawer. Maybe he was looking for a mint? I keep those on top of the desk–you stick ’em in a drawer, you’re just begging to lose ’em.
Sorry, this post isn’t entirely about mints.
I’m continuing to enjoy the little posture checks and bits of subtext throughout the conversation that Rachel is evoking with her wonderful application of expression and emotion on our pair of characters here. Subtext on the page is, in my opinion anyway, one of the most interesting things to go back and revisit later–especially after plot or character beats. Reading a character’s face and trying to see how much of themselves they betray/suggest is a fun exercise, and also puts an emphasis on knowing where your story and characters are going ahead of time so you can seed that stuff in, not just in the script and actual character beats, but the subtext and motives behind their movements, poses, and expressions.
The books are still in the process of being shipped, though we’re quickly approaching the “six weeks to ship” estimate that I was given back on February 21st! I’m hoping to have news on that front in…well about two weeks, I would estimate.
Remember that until we get the books, our BACKERKIT STORE is still OPEN! That’s right, if you missed out on any of the books, the pins, the prints, etc, you can still order them for a couple more weeks. We’re going to be locking down orders and (I’m pretty sure) closing the BackerKit store once the Kickstarter orders all ship out, so get your orders in soon if you haven’t already!
For guest art this week, I’m gonna do something a little different! Folks who followed the Kickstarter campaign might know that Leah Briere, the artist behind The Scholar and the Seawal, offered random character card sketches as a pledge tier. I’m going to share some of those here and there, just to offer up some fun art for everyone! Here’s a Crim, Eira, and Kenosh!
I love that Sigrid doesn’t seem to be falling for his excuses, and is trying to get a feel for Tosch’s real intentions.
Will you two be going to PAX East this year? I’d love to visit the booth if you were.
I will unfortunately not be attending PAX East this year. I used to go every year, but now that I live in Seattle I actually attend PAX West on the regular.
I always SO enjoy Leah’s character sketches. Never would have even considered Crim for one of those, but he came out looking as fine as the rest!
As for this week’s page, I take great great solace in the fact that Sigrid asserts the Vulpin and Felis would never consent to an invasion (presumably of Sunsgrove) and Tosch respond by saying he doesn’t need their permission … which in turn implies Navran and Kishar *aren’t* on board with all out war with the Lutren and Tamian, and would not automatically join the Canid in such a conflict. If the Canid find themselves all on their own fighting both the Ermehn and Sungrove simultaneously, they may indeed be biting off more than they can chew militarily, and shooting themselves in the foot(paw) diplomatically, by souring Navran and Kishar to their cause.
Agreed. That’s definitely cause to be hopeful. I’m not relaxing yet, but it looks like things are going to be a bit more complicated than The World Versus Sunsgrove.
That really shouldn’t surprise me, as this comic has always steadfastly refused to deal in easy, good-guy/bad-guy dividing lines or monolithic civilizations that all share viewpoints and ambitions. We saw that with the ermehn not all being on board with Hardin (until he, uh, conquered them). We saw it with Kenosh bucking sunsgrove to back Hardin. We see it here with Sigrid trying to talk Tosch down from the ledge. And of course there’s the heavily multicultural Nessa, where canid and ermehn can be the best of friends.
My first temptation was to say that we’ll see the “four” kingdoms split down the middle, Aisling on one side along with whomever Cenolau represents (“Cenolau agreeable” hasn’t stopped sticking in my craw) and probably the polcan siding against Lutra more than with Aisling; Sunsgrove being stuck with the ermehn thanks to Kenosh, and Nessa joining them against Aisling because you can’t just go on a murder spree at a diplomatic summit in someone’s capital city and expect them to be cool with it.
The obvious problem there is that Nessa and Cenolau aren’t in separate kingdoms (yes I had to look it up). They’re both part of Navran. So is civil war brewing? Will one of Navran’s power centers knuckle under to the other? Is Cenolau actually more of a neutral enclave? Am I just reading the map wrong??
In any case, this says nothing about Kishar. I’m tempted to expect them to try to stay neutral and just keep accurate records of what’s going on, but then get swept into the conflict when someone cries Fake News. But there again I’m falling into the “felid are all like x” trap.
I also can’t see the polcan being that predictable. Just about all we know about them has been from a lutren POV, and even that was just one short scene in a side story. Would they manage to stay out of the conflict altogether? Would they decide that it’s better to ally with Sunsgrove than be forced into its former place as Aisling’s supposed ally subject to the whims of Tosch’s temper?
I can’t come up with an outcome that doesn’t feel like a massive simplification.
I’m starting to think the theme of this comic is that “What side are you on?” is always an oversimplification.
One day I’ll learn how to write short comments.
But today is not that day.
Hee!
And that’s quite a concept to kick around there: that not only might Navran and Kishar split down the middle and not necessarily each pick the same side, but that each of those kingdoms might have divisions within their own ranks. Something tells me that “BWD” readers will, years from now, be going back to that message Tosch receives here and parsing it for further meaning. Which only leaves me to state, as always, great work, Alex and Rachel!
There seems to be little love lost between Polcan and Lutren, so them allying would be surprising. Polcan are described as habitually raiding the coast, which usually is a sign of their land being unable to support their population. Given the chance to snatch up some choice Lutren beachfront property I’d imagine them being more than happy to go along with Aisling’s plans.
re: How subtext is interesting to revisit after particular plot beats – I agree! When it’s done well, it means that on a subsequent re-read, you can catch foreshadowing and stuff that you missed the first time around. (e.g. The hints leading up to Kenosh killing Clovis. I only noticed them in hindsight.)
Also, can I just say that I’m liking Sigrid more and more with each page?
What kinds of foreshadowing and hints? Not sure if I could see any in the past pages…
Sigrid’s trying to inform Tosch of the reality of acting on his revenge fantasy, I see. I have a feeling she might play a progressively more important role later down the line…I’m thinking Canid politics.
Leah’s art looks so goshdarn legit! It’s like, she could do her own cartoon or graphic novel series if she put her mind to it! (P.S.- I think that’s Eira in the middle there, not Isa)
I was about to point that out about the middle sketch as well, Avvie. The ears and garb don’t look quite like Isa’s, and that’s definitely not a felis tail …
Haha good catch Avatune and Highwing :) I must’ve clicked on the wrong card art when I pulled it into the post! Either way, Isa’s gonna be coming in next week’s set!
Ho ho! I haven’t seen the chat this long in a long time. Highwing and LinebyLine covered everything I could possibly think of saying and more. Well I think about more things to say later. Other than that I’m glad we have Sigrid as a character. She helps cast a more favorable light on the Canid than we normally get and helps break my “all canid are evil” mindset. See you all on the discord!
I also keep a bowl of mints in my desk Alex.
Sigrid is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters just from her posture and expressions alone, also i’m starting to believe she may turn sides sooner or later, we’ll see…
Oh, me too. I’m deeply enjoying her performance here. She’s very expressive. And she’s an important reminder that this evil empire business not only just isn’t all canid, but it also isn’t all of Aisling or even all of Deltrada.
Most people, most of the time, are good–or at least trying to be.
But will she switch sides? Hard to say. I could see it going either way.