A huge thank you to everyone for the comments on last week’s roundup. It certainly was a lively discussion! I tweaked some of the settings for reply threads. So you should have an easier time replying to longer discussion threads now.
Africa | Page(s): 345 | Patreon
Faida shows up and Africa demands that she tells her clan to exit the den. Nuru pushes back, noting the den is still their home. The leopard then informs the matriarch that her hyenas were surrounding Safari and Mondo. Shocked, Faida tells her clan to leave and as they go, Nuru calls her leader a sellout. Upset, Africa chides Faida for not mentioning the clan would find themselves craving cat meat, and the matriarch blames their actions on the drought. Safari also exits the den in search of water as Mondo tries to stop him.
Finally, after a few pages of Africa learning about what happened to Mosi and the reveal that Faida knew all along, the showdown is coming. Or at least a big argument. That’s fine and all, but Safari is in real danger as he limps away and Nuru and the others are outside the den. Will he become their meal while Africa argues about what happened to Mosi? I’m not saying Africa shouldn’t be having this conversation, but that they should probably secure the old cheetah first. I get the feeling that if the hyenas ultimately don’t kill and eat him, he’ll end up wandering back to water tower. In a twist of irony that goes full circle, he may ultimately meet his end at the same place his actual sister did years earlier.
Repeat | Page(s): 230, 231, 232, 233| Patreon
Terrified of Lun, Honey hightails it out of the forest. Lun attempts to trap the bear by siccing the Dusk on them, but the ursine knocks the crow out in their escape. Tilter asks Planter if Honey will be okay, but the mouse wisely notes the two have bigger problems to worry about. Sol is not waking up after the attack and Planter can’t hold the moon much longer. Desperate, Tilter walks closer to Sol as the mouse begs them not to go. As the wolf pup approaches, Lun begins to taunt the child. The god notes that Tilter is unwanted, and the sun can no longer hear them.
The black and white wolf breaks free of Planter’s bonds and approaches Tilter, saying the child has nothing to offer the sun. They only survived because of Sol’s pity. Tilter pushes back, yet Lun does not care. Suddenly, Sol’s voice pierces the darkness and tells the moon Tilter has given them something the cruel god cannot comprehend. Sol then begins to howl and Lun charges Tilter who also howls. This rejuvenates Planter who is able to create another tree to capture the moon god.
There’s not much more to say about this set of Repeat pages. It’s nice to see Sol wasn’t down for the count and that Tilter’s howl continues to have a similar effect to Sol’s. Together they’ve trapped Lun again, but there’s the danger that the Dusk could wake up and cause trouble. Furthermore, the sun god is right back at the start of the comic. Trapping Lun, but without a way to end him forever or break the cycle. Will they all go with Tilter’s plan or is there another path? Either way, I get the feeling there’s not too many pages left now.
To Catch a Star | Page(s): 391, 392, 393, 394 | Patreon
The trio leave the cave and Shadow notes the scent of Backlash’s pack has gone stale. As Lupi complains about being hungry, Backlash sees two familiar faces in the distance. He runs toward the wolves to the indifference of Lupi and to Shadow’s shock. She calls after the young Dusky, but he ignores her. He’s then tackled by Tussle and Sweep. Thinking he’s in trouble, Shadow charges in to help, but stops realizing these are Backlash’s friends. The two Nova sit back as he catches up with the other Duskies. It’s then that Sweep notices Shadow. She springs into action along with Tussle and prepares to attack. Backlash pleads that they’re his friends talking to both the Nova and the other Duskies.
I’m glad Tussle and Sweep are still friendly with Backlash, even under Takedown’s command. The pages were mostly a friendly reunion with very little dialogue. At this point we can only hope that Shadow stays calm and Tussle and Sweep stay friendly. After all, it is their mission to capture the sun and Lupi is right there. That said, the two girls are amazed at how large Backlash has become. (Unlike them, he’s actually getting proper food and rest.) That said, the tension of this scene isn’t entirely gone. Even if the girls do accept Shadow and Lupi, Takedown still has the sun tracking necklace and is probably on his way to their location.
The Order of the Black Dog | Page(s): Issue 27, page 19| Patreon
Julia tells Tazim that the services of a powerful god don’t come for free. The god reveals the girls can’t actually give him anything, and what he wants someone else has. Julia wants to know the requested thing is not some sort of weapon. Tazim looks away before revealing something precious was stolen from him ages ago. It’s worthless to anyone else, but irreplaceable to him. That same person who stole what Tazim wants is the same person who also controls the black dog. In fact, the black dog is guarding this precious item, and while Kenazil is not a threat to the god on her own, she is a weapon at the hands of one particular man. Mel immediately understands who Tazim is talking about. The god continues. If the girls can get Kenazil away from the man they’ll both win. Tazim won’t trick them, won’t make a bargain with double meanings, or harm them in any way.
What I absolutely LOVE about The Order of the Black Dog is how seamlessly Rebecca Raptor ties together plots from earlier issues. I had been wondering what Tazim was getting at and why he’d help Julia and Mel. Once the god started describing the owner of the black dog, I knew the smiling man would surface again. It’s been so long that I’d almost forgotten this particular black cat had a major role to play in the story. His first appearance was in issue 3, page 1 which published more than a decade ago. His last appearance until now was in issue 6, page 16 when he helps cure Mel of her partial Black Idol infection and restores her memories. I hadn’t thought about the smiling man’s first appearance until just now, but the first time we see him is when he makes an inquiry about Rhoda’s art. The last time we see him, he’s fighting the Black Idol.
It’s brilliant that he’s come back into the picture when Rhoda is once again unavailable for supernatural reasons. Now that’s how you write a proper parallel. Given his unsettling smile, I never could figure out if he was a good entity or an agent of chaos. Everything about him leans toward the latter. However, we do know Tazim is a bit of an agent of chaos, but the story currently has us rooting for him only to keep Rhoda safe, and to help Mel and Julia fight the Black Idol. Now, I wonder if whatever the smiling man took from Tazim was for the greater good and the girls are about to make things worse for everyone. I also wonder if this entity will allow the girls to take Kenazil back, regardless of possible consequences. And I was worried this might be a slow issue.
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 243 | Patreon
Antaras stares into the distance before turning his gaze back to Eve. She looks on unimpressed, and he stares back with a mix of anger and disdain before walking away. He finds Usma and asks if she’s seen Helevise recently. His daughter reveals that the Caller and her helpers haven’t been around for a few days, as they had a falling out. Antaras presses her for answers and Usma admits that Gitta and Prue were upset about having their Halvs killed and being made barren just to gain favor with Helevise.
This page seems to be a bit of transition. Gitta and Prue left on their own earlier and Helevise is with her daughter. It’s kind of amazing that Antaras only now noticed. That said, he’s been pretty busy with whatever scheme he has going on with Eve and his unborn child. That said, it seems like Usma realized the three does left and never bothered to tell her father. I imagine this is because she didn’t feel like bringing it up, didn’t want to approach him, or doesn’t miss Gitta and Prue’s presence at all. Perhaps it’s a combination of all three. I do find she’s quite perceptive when it came to their discontent, as the two would have never admitted that to her face. I have to wonder if Antaras actually needs all three does for his plans and if he’ll seek them out, or press forward with said plans.
Rogio and Roamer prepare to follow Diarko, but Roamer notices Kargo hanging back. He asks if Kargo’s alright. The large dog replies he’s going to miss him, but the cub isn’t his to keep. Roamer assures his friend that the cub will come to visit him and this isn’t a forever goodbye. Diarko spots Feomeh in the distance escorted by numerous Taiga Lions from Shiverfall Tribe. The mother and son Forngrym embrace and Feomeh asks the cub if he’s been treated well. Diarko gushes about how nice everyone is, how good the food is, and that they plan to teach him to fight. In the distance Kargo grimaces and quietly begs the cub not to tell his mother about the fighting as Roamer chuckles.
This page is mostly supposed to serve as a lighthearted release. It feels like Kique wanted to have some tension with Kargo wanting to keep Diarko, only to know that it’s wrong to keep a cub from his mother. Knowing this author, he might have inserted that line if someone on his Patreon or Discord server pointed out how selfish that would be of kargo. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with his writing, and other times it’s incredibly easy. What gets me about this page is how it mostly there to prop up Rogio, Roamer, and Kargo as potential fathers, and the goodness of the Meteor Tribe. It’s pretty obvious that the foundation is being laid for Diarko to stay with the dogs instead of going with his mother to Shiverfall.
Honestly, it’s a weird move. I discussed last week on how the cub should be nervous around the dogs and glad to go with his mother. He’d probably thrive in a place full of cats that can treat him as well, if not better than the MT. I mean, they have more members than the MT, a bunch of feline warriors, and better weapons all around. Heck, his own mother healed pretty well despite taking a spear to the shoulder and going under the water in a freezing lake. She could probably protect him as well. There’s no reason for him to stay with the dogs. Yet, Kique seems to be tired of all the MT children being female and wanted to introduce a male to the mix. I can’t see any other reason as to why Diarko is sticking around. Combine that with Kargo’s desire to have him fight in battle someday, and yikes. Do they plan to raise a son or just a large weapon of war when the kid grows up?
Speaking of weapons it seems incredibly odd that the Taiga Lions have spears, and hold them in their paws while sitting. Heck, it’s still strange to me that they have knives as well. Their fangs are as long as knives and their claws are just as sharp. I mean, have you ever been scratched by a domestic cat? Their claws go through skin like a knife through meat. Now imagine a cat that large. They shouldn’t need the weapons at all since they essentially have five knives attached to each front paw and eight more claws on their back paws. Nevertheless, we have to have the rule of cool in Home. I’ve been sitting on this particular rant for a while now.
im holding onto the theory that safaris heading toward the swamp to finally lay to rest.
That makes more sense! I guess I figured the tower is where Safari always went for water, so he’s just on auto-pilot now. However, him going to the swamp is fitting since he has little time left and there’s plenty of water there.
The way characters in Home react when they see someone back from the dead is so bad. Diarko here acts like her mother went into a little vacation rather than dying. Same with Ferah and Kargo. “Oh you are alive?? cool” girl… You saw him DIE.
You would expect Diarko here to cry‚ laugh and play with his mom just excited and surprised to see she’s ok but no hes just like “hey mom this place cool”. KIQUE for the love of god this is a small child who saw his mother die!! How is he not traumatized? Why is he reacting so normal here? What?
Also the cat holding the spear is ridiculous‚ notice we haven’t seen them using the spears because author just can’t think how to draw it in a way that works.
Omg this 100% agree with you, also I honestly kinda forgot his mother existed for a short while till the previous page. but like yeah you’d think the cub would have some vendetta agaisn’t the dogs or again being caitious and not so care free. Plus if i remember correctly, but didn’t his own tribe eat the dogs after they killed them? Kinda gives me a barbarian vibe. but ugh no I hate this page already and dreading the next one cause its so obvious that kique is gonna force another male character to stay with a shitty tribe and with individulas who are toxic as hell (less on kargo) but they would be terrible parents. Like MT already hate agaisn’t them, why keep the cub around? he’s much safer with shiverfall with his mother and others of his kind that can protect him, if he stays then he just gonna become some object in the way for the local retards to diss about because oh hes a sabertooth cat and thats now a bad thing along with the current cats. I generally don’t understand for the sudden racism in this comic, I mean yeah there racist agaisn’t the aki’s or whatever. but it obvious felines have been living many years alongside the dogs on aedra. so whats the sudden issue? some dog had a nightmare of a cat and called it quits on seeing them as good? It’s confusing as heck for me.
The sudden racism just reeks of forced conflict for the sake of conflict. You can really tell this is author writing a story by the seat of his pants.
He plays russian roulette but with ideas. Tomorrow racism‚ next week genocide
Pretty much! X_X
Yes‚ aparently the sabertooth cats (im not using their horrid names)suffer racism from dogs and they eat them‚ which doesn’t make sense and I guess the author ran out of ideas so yes sudden racism! Yipeee. Now some children can be a little too trusty but Diarko here must be the equivalent of a 10 y.o so… Shouldnt he be wary? and he should be with his mom. Notice how we barely see the mom characters being moms or interacting with their children‚ Ronja’s kids are almost grown and we have seen like four pages of them together. Ugh I wonder why
And ok put Diarko in the toxic tribe that gets attacked each two days because there’s too many females.
Wouldn’t be surprised If next pages his mom is like: I can’t protect you IM BLIND and just dumps her kid with the gay saints with racist eyes around
Talking about kids‚ Kique totally forgot Akleja exists. I also wonder why
XD the funny thing is, I saw someone one time ask him about the Formgryms or whatever if they were based on sabertooth cats. apparently there not accoriding to kique. So now I’m just sitting here thinking if this dude is really gonna pull another 180 and think that his “Forngryms” are original, because they are 100% not. Literally they are sabertooth cats (tigers) with the dumbest coats names gives. They are not original and he can’t copyright them, pretty sure if you showed that to a child they’d think its a sabetooth cat lmao.
it’s like that one other time were he tried to claim that his “marghouls” or whatever demon thing was made. but he tried t claim them as 100% his original idea i believe lol, but they aren’t. things and other creatures have been around way longer then his shitty comic. If he really wanted something unquie going then should just waited to make out home and flesh out story and idea’s, let the dogs have been evolved or something on aedra as its not earth. there could of been a much better possibility put into their world that would makes sense and work for them. Because this whole thing with the dogs building literally frikin walls, huts etc etc. It’s not possible, a dogs paw does not bend certain ways and if i did while breaking there anatomy there bones would just break cause they aren’t meant for that type of stuff, like that one page where we see those huts perched up high in the now gone bayou tribe. you’re telling me a dog bulit that? without thumbs or a damn ladder? unless these mf have magic powers were they can float or something its not possible at all lol. Also magnets my ass because the strength of magets will get weaker over time or not every magnet can hold such things together.
You’re absolutely right! These reactions have been so underwhelming, that you almost forget how characters should realistically react. This is Diarko acting like his mother was here to pick up him up from a sleep over. Not the revelation that she survived when he thought she was dead. The author has so little contact with others outside of his sycophant circle that it shows in how his characters react.
As for the spears, I think the only time she showed the cats using spears was when Rhov saw the village for the first time, and someone was spear-fishing. It was weird then.
I honestly don’t get why they need weapons. Its just cool factor like‚ they got claws and fangs, they are hunters.
It makes total sense that Kique doesn’t know about realistic reactions if he shuts down anyone who doesn’t agree with him and only hangs out with people like Alakai. Diarko should be a traumatized child not a happy little boy hanging out with friends
I really feel bad for the hyenas here. They are famished, having babies to feed and Africa basically throws them out of their home.
Yes it’s not okay for them to eat Safari alive but that’s something they do in real life and they are hungry‚ its kinda upseting how many people are against them in the DA comment section.
It’s normal for Africa to react this way because Safari is her brother but the hyenas have been nothing but respectful to them and I can understand Nuru being upset‚ she’s a mom with hungry babies. I hope Safari goes to the swamp so they can find out about the elephant and eat him.
It’s a tough situation all around. I get why the hyenas want to eat him as he’s on death’s door. That said, I can’t imagine Africa would just sit around and LET them eat Safari while he’s still alive. It would be a little easier if he’d already passed on… (Dark, I know.)
It’s dark but nature is cruel like that :(. I also wouldn’t let my brother get eaten alive but you can get where the hyenas are coming from. No one here is really wrong
Kique really has no idea how to write characters behaving realistically. In other pages, did you see Rhovanion’s reunion with the Asmundr pack? His reunion with Kainan and the others was so underwhelming and rushed. In a single page these characters were reunited. Never mind the fact that he has been separated from his father and his familial pack for YEARS, let’s just skip all the emotions and instead let’s just make the characters talk about being separated from their own kids for years like their children just started college. Remember Zahira? And Raela? And Raimo? And holy shit Johaan?? Yeah, me neither. It occurred to me that Raimo, Raela, Johaan, etc, none of them except Kainan had said A SINGLE THING throughout this whole comic, until those pages. XD
I’m surprised Johaan wasn’t screaming at them or didn’t fly into a demonic rage that Ronja, his own daughter that he hadn’t seen for months (years irl), had just vanished. That he was speaking to the same dog, Rhovanion, that had withheld Ronja’s disappearance from them. And of course, Rhov had to say, “We’ve all been through various things that changed us”. Nope, no you have NOT changed. NONE of you have changed. Stop TELLING us and SHOW us already. None of these characters even tried to find their family at all. And of course, Kique is still trying to hammer home that Khellir–Oh, sorry, Mar(ma)duk(e) is evil, making Kainan tell us what we already know.
And Kainan’s BS non-explanation, “Father is trying to tell us the only way he can…”? ‘The only way’ he can? What “way”? By keeping everyone in the dark and making them stumble and guess what he’s trying to tell them? Cuz that’s all Father ever did throughout Asmundr! XD Just as it wasn’t Plot Convenient of him to tell them everything or help Lifa and her sons or the Shield Wolves, it’s not Plot Convenient for him to simply tell them what’s going on yet.
And just like Ronja and Rogio’s underwhelmed reaction to Roamer killing someone and Rhov’s rushed reunion with the Asmundr pack, Kique reminds us that he can’t write realistic reactions to certain situations, here in this very page. Diarko literally just saw his own mother get shot in the shoulder and seemingly DIE in front of him, why is he acting like his mom has come to pick him up from school?? Why is this kid so insta-trusting of these stranger dogs when he was raised among an awful tribe of felines that were oppressed by dogs, hunted, killed, and ate their dog enemies? I agree with everyone here saying he should be wary around them and it should have taken a while for him to trust them. The specisism between the dogs and the cats is so underdeveloped and shoehorned, as is the prejudices between the dogs and the wolves/Akiulfr (never mind that most of the dogs, Southern Jaros especially, look JUST LIKE WOLVES themselves!).
I’m surprised Kique didn’t just kill her off-screen after Feaf’s scene with her in order to bolster Roami-Stu and Rogi-Hoe’s toxic relationship and make them fathers. Never mind that they’d be horrible parents. The cub deserves to be with his mother and the rest of Shiverfall.
On the subject of Golden Shrike, I binge-read the pages currently out a few months back, and have been enjoying it a lot. I really like the world and the relationships between the characters. I think my favorite character (though I really love the others) has been the protagonist, Nero. XD
Spot on. I think Kique’s biggest problem with writing realistic relationships is that he’s somewhat of a shut-in. He doesn’t go out much and is terminally online. The lack of interaction with people and cutting off anyone who disagrees with him shows in his writing. He doesn’t know how relationships work. Everything is supposed to be fine and there should be no conflict. Or what conflict there is should be resolved quickly, and he thinks his audience doesn’t care for world and character building despite them telling him how much they want it. Now, he could research to get around his lack of worldly experience, but he wont’ do that either.
Golden Shrike is definitely a top tier comic. For my own favorite characters (they are all great), I’m very partial to Runi.