I believe last entry showed how, the bigger this monster gets, the bigger the inconsistencies. The first time we learned of Rogio’s story we were told Ranach had found him laying on a pool of his own blood, and that was fine. We didn’t know what had happened, but it was ok because we would be getting an explanation later in the story. We don’t need everything delivered on the very first pages, mind you, but what we do need is for things to have been established prior to being written. That is, the author should have had a clear idea of Rogio’s background, even if we did not. Later in the story Rogio told Roamer someone from his tribe angered a spirit and it caused its destruction, which was fine too. We had seen Aira, and while she’s far too old to be the one who destroyed the tribe, the same with Ávanti, we knew these creatures existed and they could be very destructive. Good enough, yes?
Now, we see Ávanti attacking Rogio for no reason, and while my speculations are only that, simple hypotheses, it seems that is the direction the author is going is for Ávanti being the beast that destroyed his tribe, which is the reason she’s so determined to go after him that she broke her binding to Ranach. This is where I raise my eyebrows because of the things I already explained in the previous entry. It’s just not possible according to cannon. It’s not that it isn’t possible because monster beasts don’t exist, or it isn’t possible because magic doesn’t exist. It isn’t possible because it’s not internally consistent, and a story has to make sense within its own context. That is, if mages have a mana bar, they always need to have a mana bar. If dragons always require eating rocks to create fire, they always need to eat rocks. You can’t just decide that dragons now don’t need rocks and create a convoluted explanation to fit it in, or worse, pull it out of your ass and toss it into the story without even trying to fit it in and try to cover up the plothole by tossing yet another convoluted explanation further into the story when people point out the obvious. I fear this is the way this is going to go, although I might be wrong.
While there is nothing wrong with huge series of stories, you either plan it out very thoroughly from the start, or you have to be aware of pre-established material and stick to it. Even when being very careful, problems and plotholes tend to appear because it is very hard to keep track of everything in a large serie. The Marvel movies are a great example of that. The first movies were really cool, but as the story grew larger and larger problems began to add up, and the whole time traveling trip in the last Avengers movie only made things worse. The biggest offender would be the happy ending Captain America got. If you recall, in previous movies he had gone searching for the woman he loved and found her old and sick with alzehimer. Her granddaughter was there and she didn’t know Steve Rogers. However, by the end of the last Avengers movie he went back in time and stayed there with the woman, and it is not a different timeline because he appeared, old, in their own timeline, which means that the young lady not knowing him is a plothole as he would have been her grandfather. I don’t care if he was young, I know what my grandparents looked like when they were young because photographs exist and we’ve got those. Still, even if there was no photograph, she should have mentioned something such as how much he looked like her grandfather. The fact that she didn’t was because it was never intended for the Captain to return to his time, and it was a later addition to bring Steve Rogers’ story to an end and give him a happy ending.
I honestly believe this author is at a point where he should really, really stick to writing short stories with a few characters and a straightforward plot. Once he has the whole plot creation figured out, he should then try again at longer but finite stories. I would avoid endless stories always, because I honestly see no point to them, but I’m not against a long series similar to The Dresden Files, where each book could be conclusive in itself, yet add elements that become relevant in future stories. For example, in Dresden Files he makes love to his vampire girlfriend, who still hasn’t fully turned as vampires need to drink blood to turn completely. Otherwise, they still crave the thing, but they’re pretty much human. Well, from that one time he impregnates her, and she gives birth to a girl who becomes relevant several books later. I’m not saying those books are without flaw, but they are a decent example of how to weave an endless series by building it out of many episodic plots. This comic would benefit a lot from a structure like that. At least we wouldn’t be almost 600 pages into the story and wondering where in Oblivion this mess is going.
The page opens with Kargo and Ferah running up the wall. Ranach reaches Kargo and stabs him with the knife, and then Ferah arrives and holds Ranach’s ear to pull him off. One of the comic readers wanted to know how is it that Ranach managed to stab Kargo, being Kargo so much more powerful than him, and I was asking myself the very same question. The author responded by explaining that Kargo was still climbing the wall and thus wasn’t ready to attack, to which I must point him in the direction of watching a lot of action scenes, and by a lot I mean a-fucking-lot. This is not a ladder, it’s a walkway, so Kargo wold have been more than ready to fight. Fight’s are not turn based events where all variables need to be perfect. At the start of the comic he had to jump down a slope to attack four dogs, and he killed them without barely sweating. He was as equally ready back then as he is now, and he was against four dogs, not one. I’m not saying he shouldn’t sustain any injury, but don’t be ridiculous and say that super awesome bear strength Kargo wasn’t ready to fight, just so you can show him get completely overpowered by Ranach in the following pages. For Hircine’s sake, stop treating us like we’re idiots and admit you made a mistake, because you constantly ignore your own canon because it’s not Plot Convenient. Come on, excuse away 112 entries of mistakes. Maybe that will help you realize you actually need to think about why things happen in the story the way they do, instead of tossing stuff into the story because you suddenly thought it was cool.
Also, who goes head first into a fight without being ready? Did you think about this before giving your explanation? Of course you didn’t. You tried to excuse Kargo sustaining an injury and turned him into a fool, because what you’re basically saying is that he jumped head first into a fight without thinking, without being ready and without planning ahead what he was going to do. Ranach was going at him with a knife, he wasn’t really doing anything weird. Kargo should have foreseen that, he should have calculated his next move and be more than ready to dodge or counter attack, because that’s what a good fighter does. You could have shown Kargo getting injured and still being awesome, and instead you showed him getting injured and stay still, growling while Ranach stabs him instead of attacking back because your characters live in a world where fights are turn based like in japanese RPGs. Even worse, you tried to explain the reasons why Kargo got hurt and turned him into an idiot. Well done!
I’m jumping ahead, as I had planned talking about this in further pages, where it is more obvious, but thus guy pisses me off so much I have to do it here. I hate it when he tries to excuse his mistakes by implying his readers are idiots, but considering how many excuses we read in the story all the Oblivion be damned time, this shouldn’t surprise us one bit. Kargo has always been shown to be so completely OP he completely devastated Savas in an attack that wasn’t planned, he destroyed four warriors of the Meteor Tribe like it wasn’t even shit, he killed beast Aira and mauled a fucking bear. The only dog that managed to put him to the ground was Fjordor, and according to cannon that shouldn’t have been possible. Vandi told us just a while ago Kargo was blessed with the strength of a bear and the fighting spirit of a warrior. This is what has been established as cannon. In the following pages we’re going to see Kargo and Ferah, both of them, be completely overpowered by Ranach. By-fucking-Ranach! I don’t give a guar’s arse how much you try to excuse it away, it is still inconsistent with the canon you yourself, Mr Author, have established into the story. If you’re not willing to deal with the consequences of something you, yourself, created, then don’t-fucking-create-it. What you can’t do is ignore canon you have created because now it doesn’t suit you, and then treat your readers like they are idiots because they point out what is obviously an inconsistency. You need a beta reader, you need one fast, and you need to grow the fuck up to be able to accept criticism. Otherwise, you’re going to remain stagnant in your mediocrity, which is precisely where you are right now.
Lets continue, before he manages to piss me off further. We see Rogio walking out of somewhere, I think, because there is what seems to be a pelt at his side, which we know they use as doors, but the body is cut off without showing us the entrance because, why bother making clear, full body panels? There is a sort of mist which I’m not sure where it is coming from, and the walls seem very straight and smooth for a cave, which I guess it means this is an alien construction. It would actually be nice if we got some insight as to what this place is and where it is, but this guy’s worldbuilding is always as half cooked as this. If this is intended to be Arenak’s cave, go to page 79. It looks like a cave, not like the insides of a storeroom. So which place is this? I have no freaking clue.
Ávanti appears around a corner. Rogio sees her and looks surprised, I guess, although the facial expressions in these dogs have not improved either. Ávanti, looking very angry, growls at him. Rogio lowers his head and then she attacks him. We know she’s attacking because we’re not idiots, but she could be jumping backwards because the only thing we get to see is her head, and the motion lines are in the wrong place and in the wrong direction. This guy continues to make tiny, square panels and refuses to draw full bodies. Comics, as a visual media, have a huge potential for storytelling, but you actually need to use it. I hate to insist on this, but I see no reason why he couldn’t just draw a large panel to show Ávanti’s whole body, or maybe use a smaller panel, but use perspective in a way we get to see her rushing towards Rogio, maybe from afar. I have a feeling he ran out of space and had to go with what he had, because just as he doesn’t plan his story, I doubt he does any planning of the pages at all. I think he draws just like he writes, as it goes, and if he runs out of space, tough luck.
Up until now the fight has been more or less straightforward, but from this page on things start getting confusing. The first panel shows Kargo hanging onto what I’m guessing is the wall, which appears to be collapsing due to the fire. How did he get in that situation when he was fighting Ranach? I have no idea, because our favorite author is rushing things again. Next we see Roamer walking up the walkway with Fremja following. They don’t get too far as the top part of the wall is aflame and the floor seems to be collapsing, which makes me wonder where in Oblivion Kargo, Ferah and Ranach are. I honestly have no idea, this is very confusing.
Next we see Rogio biting Ávanti’s forearm as she takes a hold of his neck, because why use those formidable fangs when you can strangle your victim. Super logical. The monster lets go of Rogio and, shrieking, gets a hold of her bleeding arm while looking pretty pissed off. Then we’re back to the wall again because what we really need right now is for the scene to keep jumping back and forth after two panels. Everything is so exciting. Anyways, we see Ranach elbowing Ferah off his side, which makes me think this is happening right after the panel where she was biting his ear to pull him off Kargo. So, if this is as it seems, care to tell me what in Oblivion happened to Kargo? Because I don’t get it.
In the following panel we see Ferah hanging from the wall, which is not on fire, looking at the flames below. I honestly don’t get anything. Kargo was right there, next to them, and now the wall appears to be doing fine despite the flames raging right under them, which makes me wonder which Oblivion be damned section of the wall is the one collapsing that almost took Kargo with it. Also, by the Nine, Ferah, how did you get yourself in that situation again? This is exactly the same situation we saw back at the waterfall, only this time at least she was fighting instead of cowering behind a nova antelope. I’m left wondering whether this guy has watched the new Lion King remake, because the similarities are way too obvious to ignore, and it doesn’t help that the movie came out just a few months ago.
While Ferah is hanging from the wall’s ledge and Kargo is somewhere, I guess, maybe roasting himself or something, the story jumps again and we see Roamer very pissed off walking down the walkway while Ronja walks up and Fremja stays at the top of a burning wall for some reason. What in Oblivion are these people doing? This is Ranach, for Hircine’s sake, it shouldn’t be that hard to take him down if you stopped fooling around like headless chickens. This is so idiotic. These people knew Ranach could attack, they knew this was likely Ranach’s doing and that Ávanti would be with him. What do they do? Rush to the walls in small groups so they don’t all attack at the same time, lest the battle be over too fast for the author’s liking. What in Oblivion, man?
What would have been the sensible thing to do? Well, obviously, get everyone together and launch an attack as a group. They know Ávanti is dangerous, but their overwhelming strength could have been enough to overpower her and Ranach, both. Wolves are capable of taking large prey because they work as a pack, and their strategy consists on separating their chosen prey from the herd and surrounding it, then exhausting it before going in for the kill. That’s a very sound strategy, to the point all wolves everywhere in the world do it. These guys are stupider than wolves, considering they couldn’t even think such a simple tactic. Instead of attacking as a group, Kargo and Ferah rush ahead, then Roamer and Fremja arrive when the wall is already inaccessible, then Ronja climbs up as Roamer walks down, because sure she’s going to be useful on a collapsing wall. Vigr, Javo, Galti, Ava and Inna are nowhere to be seen because this author has an irrational fear of working with more than two characters per scene and panel. Why is Vandi cowering inside a cave? Why isn’t she fighting for the tribe to ensure her daughter’s future? I understand hiding the pup, but why hide the mother too? For Hircine’s sake, why are these people so stupid?
Just as Clumsy Damsel-in-Distress Ferah is holding onto the wall, Kargo rushes to help her and she tells him not to. Hey, Kargo, wasn’t the floor collapsing under your feet just a second ago? I honestly don’t know what’s going on. Ranach, who is smarter than all these fools combined and that’s pathetic because he’s pretty dumb himself, uses the momentary distraction and stabs Kargo repeatedly on the side. Badly wounded, Kargo collapses on top of Ferah, whose body is now halfway onto the wall and with no risk of falling down any more. When did this happen? I don’t know. Off screen I guess, or maybe magical faeries. I’m going to go with magical faeries because they’re less depressing than this obvious lack of consistency. Instead of finishing him off, Ranach stops attacking and gives Kargo time to help Ferah because he’s such a nice guy.
So, before we continue, do you see what I was talking about at the beginning of this entry? Kargo, the super powerful Kargo, blessed with the strength of a bear, hasn’t even managed to scratch Ranach. Just a few pages ago we were told he was blessed by the spirits, and when he was supposed to face his biggest foe, someone we know is not that powerful to begin with, not compared to Kargo, he gets defeated this easily. I know Ferah is his weakness, and I know he would do anything to protect her, but he had time to maul Ranach before getting to this point and he didn’t. He simply stood still while Ranach stabbed him, and when Ferah pulled him off him, a moment he could have used to turn around and rip his throat off, he did nothing. You might want to point out that the floor was collapsing under his feet, which is fair enough, but the problem is Ranach and Ferah were standing right by his side. The floor should have been collapsing to them as well. All of us were expecting Kargo to be awesome and instead we’re seeing this pathetic excuse of a fight, where it is so Plot Convenient for Ranach to win that the author is going completely against his own previously established canon. I’m not saying I want Kargo to turn into One Punch Man, the best fights are the ones that keep you on edge, but he’s directly not doing anything. Where in Oblivion is his fighting spirit? He mauled Rogio for much less, and when he really needs to use it, it’s just gone.
Lets continue. As I said, Kargo collapses on top of Ferah and tells her with teary eyes that it is over. Ferah insists that no, that they can still fight, that she can fight, and then tells him to get up. Yup, Ferah, you’ve demonstrated you’re totally reliable in a fight when you can’t keep yourself without needing to be rescued for more than two minutes. Kargo looks into a direction that seems to be the insides of the wall, and we see that there are high flames right there. So I’m guessing the flames managed to make their way into the wall, while the outer side, which is where the fire started, is still holding fine? I honestly don’t know what’s going on. Hey, author, how about you show us a landscape image to give us some idea of what in Oblivion is happening? Because I don’t get it, and I’m sure I’m not the only one having a hard time deciphering your hieroglyphic panels.
So, Kargo holds Ferah by the scruff of her neck, and it’s so nice of Ranach to stay put while his nemesis contemplates his own existence. Ferah asks him what he’s doing, and then Kargo tosses her towards the flames. The first time I read these pages I thought he was tossing her down the wall, because the perspective is totally off and it seems like Kargo is looking towards the insides of Meteor Territory. Nope, that wasn’t right, he’s looking at the section of the wall that’s collapsing due to the flames, and he has tossed Ferah to the other side, where she lands at Ronja’s feet. Yes, Ronja is still standing there because the smartest thing to do in a moment such as this is stand on top of a collapsing wooden wall and be totally useless. Also, it would be really nice if he stopped using frisbee or schutzhund dogs as models for his falling dogs. It’s too obvious, dude.
Allow me to show you an image. Look at this and compare it to Ferah, and you’ll see what I mean;
http://www.chalmar.com/images/gunnar_bite1.png
Lets continue then with the next page.
The new page opens with Roamer running under the collapsing wall in a very awkward way. I think he’s running anyways, although the perspective is totally off. From an open gap he’s able to see Ranach just kind of standing there. The very next panel, without any sort of transition, shows the villain holding Kargo as if they were humans and placing the knife against his throat, because why try to imagine how dogs would do something like this when you can just imitate bipedal primates and be done with it. Ferah calls out his name, crying desperately, while Ronja, more stoic, holds her back. I kind of like this panel a lot, I like both the art and their facial expressions. Ronja looks stoic but otherwise concerned, and Ferah truly looks desperate. The reddish glow behind them and their colors contrast beautifully against the dark blue background. It is a well done panel.
“Ferah has always been your weakness, and here you are… This is why we have to let those we love go, or they will become our death.”
I know it’s been a while since we talked about this, but apparently the ventriloquism has not been fixed in this comic, as Ranach is saying this while holding the knife to Kargo’s throat, something he’s doing with his mouth because he doesn’t have hands. Anyways, I can’t really argue against those words because they are true to a certain point. Ferah is Kargo’s weakness and has always been, he has never been more vulnerable than when he thought he had lost her and lost all will to live. Kargo’s wounds were also a consequence of him attempting to save Ferah over his own safety. Ranach got betrayed by Rogio, who he had allowed to get so close he lowered all of his defenses and trusted him blindly. He also lost his home, his power and his rank when, stricken by grief, he forgot his responsibilities as Jarl and pursued a futile re-encounter with his lost lover. To Ranach, reaching that conclusion is the logical thing because love has brought him nothing but loss and misery. Naturally, I don’t agree with him, not fully at least. While it is true those we love can make us vulnerable, they are also our greatest strength, they make us better people, happier people, and the moments we spend with them are priceless. Ranach has known nothing but the cruel ways of the Meteor Tribe, but real families help each other and they are our strength precisely because we can count on them when we need them, because they will be there for us or they will pull us up again when we fall.
Kargo tries a last bullet and, while looking like he’s about to faint, he tells Ranach that Rogio is alive. I have conflicting feelings about this part. Kargo has been gravely injured, he has been stabbed repeatedly in vital areas and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has an affected organ and an internal hemorrhage. It is realistic enough to see him too weak and vulnerable to be able to fight back, bear strength or not. However, my main issue is precisely that I was hoping we would see Kargo be awesome, just as what it was expected of him considering he is blessed with super strength and a fighting spirit. Instead he has done nothing but stand still as he got repeatedly stabbed. I like seeing my protagonists suffering, I like seeing them vulnerable and desperate, but I also like to see them fighting to the last of their strength. This has happened so fast it’s completely anticlimatic. The promised fight between Kargo and his biggest nemesis is pathetic.
I’m watching My Hero Academia, and I would really recommend this author to watch some decent or good anime and pick up some cues about storytelling and characterization, because the Japanese are very, very good at that. In the last episode I watched we finally got the promised fight between Midoriya and Bakugo, his childhood friend he grew distant of because Bakugo is an asshole. For three seasons that fight has been lingering there, and I have to say that, once it came, it hasn’t been disappointing. It is made better by the fact Bakugo revealed the depth of his personality, and why he’s so angry all the time, and I tell you it is very interesting. The conclusion their fight brings is how both can learn from each other, and while I don’t think their friendship will be back to what it was when they were kids, I believe they will grow closer.
This fight, however, it’s very unsatisfactory mainly because there hasn’t been a fight at all. Bakugo and Midoriya beat the shit out of each other for almost the whole episode. Kargo has been defeated in three panels without even fighting at all. I don’t mind that his worry for Ferah proved to be his downfall, but I was really hoping to see some awesome fighting going on, and it did not happen. The comic failed to deliver the promised fight it had been building up for hundreds upon hundreds of pages, and all it did was recreate the waterfall scene, only with fire. Actually, that fight against Aira was far more exciting than this, if only because we actually saw Kargo do something, instead of be pathetic.
“It’s too late for your tricks!(…)”
This is really pissing me off. Ranach is right there, next to Kargo, who had a fight with Rogio only nine or ten days ago, who has been close to him that very same night and who lives in the same tribe Rogio does. It is already idiotic enough that Ranach hasn’t noticed the smell of Rogio in the tribe’s territory, or his passing towards Meteor when he traveled there with Roamer, but that he isn’t noticing his scent on Kargo’s fur is beyond stupid. Dogs know how old a scent is, that is just something they can do. I’m not saying Ranach shouldn’t be so angry and mistrusting that he refuses to see the truth, but there should be some hint of doubt in him. What the author is doing is turning Ranach into an Idiot Plot just so things go the way he wants them to, which to be fair is what he has been doing ever since this comic started. When I said back in 2017 that this would be one huge Idiot Plot, I was totally serious. The sad thing is that it would be so much more interesting if he actually slowed down and played with all the elements in the story, instead of conveniently ignore stuff simply because he wants to go from point A to point B.
“(…) You are to become a slave to Vesall. And when you rise once more, everyone will become your prey.”
I’m guessing Ranach is talking about simply killing Kargo here, who will rise as a ghoul as long as his body isn’t burned, something that will prove to be tricky considering he’s on top of a burning wooden wall. I wonder if Ferah’s power might play a role here if Ranach goes through with his threat. To be honest, when Kargo looked at the flames I thought he was going to get a hold of Ranach and push him towards them in order to kill both of them in a way that would keep them from rising back as ghouls. That would have been a priceless scene, and I would have honestly applauded. In all honesty, I think it would have been an awesome way to go down and a worthy sacrifice. After all, Kargo is a fugitive. Staying with the Meteor Tribe would only mean the Solar Stag Tribe would declare them enemies and might even attack them for protecting a criminal. He knows that, after Ranach is dead, he will need to be back on the run, and Ferah will go with him and fall with him when the bounty hunters find them. Sacrificing himself to save the tribe and Ferah would be a very noble gesture, and while that still doesn’t change the fact he killed two merchants and felt no remorse about it afterwards, it is the best end this character could get.
What I don’t get is what Ranach is talking about. Is he just going to kill Kargo and leave? Why would he do that? Why doesn’t he just destroy the tribe? The wall is about to fall, and when the fire goes out the ghouls will pour inside like a plague, or they would if they hadn’t become so irrelevant. Ávanti is also there, and it shouldn’t take her too long to destroy the whole tribe. To all effects, they’ve been defeated, so why would Ranach waste this opportunity just to kill Kargo and let him be the one who destroys the tribe? Why risk his body being burned keeping him from turning into a ghoul? This is so random, but then again, this author tosses random stuff into his comic all the time.
The scene jumps back to Rogio. We see Vandi, hiding with Akleja, cringing at the sound of Rogio’s yelp just outside or their hiding spot as she hugs her daughter. The pup decides that she’s going to see what all the fuzz is about and leaves her mother’s side to walk towards the exit, while Vandi calls for her in vain. I’m ok with this for reasons I will proceed to explain. Vandi gave birth when Ronja was already pregnant, which means Akleja is less than two months old. The fear response in dog pups appears around the seventh to the eighth week of age, so up until that point they simply know no fear, but they are already curious. That a pup as old as Akleja might be curious about what’s going on outside while not being able to understand her mother’s fear yet would make sense from an ethological point of view. I don’t think the author was really thinking this far, but for once he doesn’t make a mistake, albeit accidentally, lets just go with it.
As Akleja looks outside, and Vandi is nowhere to be seen because the logical thing to do as your daughter walks into certain danger is to stay still, we see Rogio laying on the ground with Ávanti standing over him and reaching out as if she’s about to give him a hug. Some readers commented that it would be cool if Rogio saw Akleja and protection snapped him into beast mode, showing that this author’s readers are far more creative than the author himself. Considering Rogio’s nightmares and Johan’s background back in Asmundr, I see no reason why Rogio couldn’t have been similarly cursed by Ghoul Vesall. Sadly, that’s not what will happen, and Rogio will remain as boring as always.
Akleja howls, which is enough to call Ávanti’s attention, and this is where I’m going to stop for a moment. No, I’m not going to question Akleja’s lack of sensibility. She’s a pup, for Hircine’s sake, it’s not like children are very sensible to begin with, and one as young as Akleja can’t even think about the consequences of their actions. What I’m going to talk about is her mother, who is the adult, sensible one, and she’s nowhere to be seen. It is obvious Akleja’s purpose in the scene is to distract Ávanti so Rogio can end her, but I see no reason why this couldn’t have been done the same way without turning Vandi into an idiot. Allow me to explain.
When Akleja left her mother’s side and started walking towards the exit, all Vandi did was slap the ground with a paw in a futile attempt to get a hold of her, look horrified and call out her name. That’s it. The first issue here is that dogs, while they do use their paws to hold stuff to a very rudimentary extent, such as keeping steady a chewing treat they might be eating or drag something towards them, holding pups like cats do is not something they do. Dogs hold pups with their mouths. That brings me to the main issue here, which is Vandi not doing anything to stop her daughter from walking out. Pups are clumsy and slow, it wouldn’t have taken Vandi more than two steps with her long, adult dog legs, to reach her and drag her back into their shelter. Since the goal here is to use Akleja as a distraction, plot wise, I see no reason why the two of them couldn’t have made enough of a ruckus as Vandi rushed to grab her daughter that the end would have been the same. At least Vandi wouldn’t have looked not only like the biggest coward ever, as she hides in a cave while the rest of the tribe risk their lives, but also like the most incompetent mother ever.
Another way this whole scene could have been done is to have Vandi outside, fighting, such that nobody is actually controlling Akleja, which again, it would turn Vandi into a much better character as she’d be, literally, risking her life in order to ensure her daugther’s future. Like I previously said, there is absolutely no reason why Vandi needs to be hiding along with Akleja. I understand Akleja can’t fight because she’s a toddler, and you just don’t send toddlers to war. Vandi is an adult dog, and her battle experience is the same as Fremja’s, who is actually at the front lines, although she’s being as useless as Ronja. Having a daughter is no excuse to make her a coward, but it could be a strong motivation to make her want to fight. Actually, instead of showing her closing her eyes and hoping everything goes away as we saw in the previous page, Vandi could have heard Rogio was having trouble and, knowing Ávanti would go after them next, she could have rushed out to help him. The end could have still been the same, as Vandi might not know how to fight, but she could have proven to be a strong distraction to give Rogio the time to deliver the killing blow. As you see, there are plenty of ways this whole scene could have been done, ways that turn Vandi into a far more interesting character. Instead, we got a pathetic lamp cowering in a cave while everyone dies for her, so paralyzed by fear she’s incapable of protecting her own daughter.
To be fair, I think the real reason why Vandi turns out into such a sorry excuse of a character is this guy’s inability to have more than two characters interacting in a panel at the same time. If you have payed attention to the comic, you might have noticed that this is a recurring issue that appears all over the place, but it is specially notable when there are more than two characters which are supposed to be interacting simultaneously. One notable scene is the aurora boar hunt, when we would see the dogs attacking in groups of two while the rest vanished from the scene, only to reappear when it was convenient. Another very obvious case is Keirr talking with Felidae while Aira is, literally, pushed out of the scene completely, even when she is supposed to be there. Aira didn’t speak a word in that scene, and she was absent from the panels for most of it, being Keirr the one doing all the talking. This author doesn’t know how to work with groups, and the consequence of doing that is that his characters become so passive they appear to be irrational, weak and useless.
Lets continue, as I think my point has been made clear. Taking advantage of the distraction, Rogio grabs the vial of blood that hangs from Ávanti’s neck, rips it off and smashes it on the ground, in one of the worst, most static movement sequences in the whole comic. Really, it’s so bad that instead of giving us a closeup of the head, the author straight away gives us a closeup of Rogio’s nose, because otherwise we wouldn’t notice the necklace breaking. I’m not a comic artist, but if I wasn’t so busy I’d redraw this sequence to show him how it can be done in a way it is way more dynamic and interesting.
Anyways, the moment Rogio smashes the vial on the ground, Ávanti shrieks and we get a closeup of her face with some white sparkles around her. I honestly don’t know what’s going on. Is she vanishing? Or is the bond breaking? As far as we know, to vanish her back to her prison the summoning shrine needs to be burned, but we really don’t know if there are other ways to do so, because this author always delivers some half cooked worldbuilding and makes stuff up as he needs them. Since all we have is that closeup and nothing else, we really don’t know what’s going on, so we don’t know whether we should be worried or not. As far as we know, maybe Rogio broke the bond to Ranach and, after that shock, Ávanti will just rip him to shreds. I don’t think this is what’s happening, I think she’s either vanishing, or the curse has been broken because these spirits’ curses break as easily as this, just beat the beast enough and they’ll become princesses. True love’s kiss, complex spells that require traveling through the world, tricking a trickster spirit or learning a specific lesson are all boring ways to break a curse, of course.
I have another couple of questions about this. Did Rogio know what would happen? Or was it a wild guess? Because the implications are quiet serious. If Rogio knew that, by breaking the vial, Ávanti would hypothetically disappear, it means he either knows a bit about dark magic, or was aware of ways to defeat her. I can accept that, maybe, he heard things here and there about another cursed beast, and just went with that because he didn’t have any better options. However, if he knew, like, really knew, this was another way to defeat Ávanti, it means he also knew about the shrine and likely was aware of more details. Rogio rejects spirits because they mean nothing but harm, so he does have some semblance of knowledge about them, thus him knowing things about Ávanti, specially after dating Ranach for a long time, would not be unexpected. The problem here would be, why didn’t he say anything? This is the same as with Fremja, why keep important, potentially life saving information, to himself? I’d rather go with the wild guess, because the other alternative turns him into a monster.
Even if he guessed based on knowledge about other beasts, he would still be an asshole, because there was no reason not to say; “Hey, I know this fact about this other random cursed beast. I don’t know if Ávanti is the same but it could work”. Honestly, considering how much these people talk, it’s surprising how little information they actually, deliver, specially important information. There is a reason for that, and that is the lack of planning behind the comic. If you know exactly what each character knows, you know exactly what information they are able to deliver. However, if you keep making stuff up on the fly, then you have to turn your characters into idiots or assholes, depending on what the plot needs at any given moment. If Rogio needs to know how to defeat Ávanti because the author has written himself to a corner, then he knows that information, even if it implies he didn’t tell the tribe when it was important for them to know.
Apparently, the link was important because Ranach winces as if hurt, moving away from Kargo. Kargo uses that moment of distraction to attack Ranach by biting him on the cheek, thus exposing his throat to the knife that’s still pointing towards him. I was still hopeful that Kargo, knowing his wounds were likely fatal, would sacrifice himself by pushing Ranach towards the flames, but that didn’t happen. Instead, this experienced warrior conveniently becomes an idiot and makes one mistake after another, effectively ending with him dead. That’s exactly what happens, actually, as all Ranach had to do was push the knife into Kargo’s throat and, just like that, he falls dead. Honestly, Kargo entered a fight without being ready, then he gets repeatedly stabbed while trying to help Clumsy Ferah, and now he exposes his throat by doing a half assed attack that only delivered a rather ugly but ultimately not lethal, nor debilitating flesh wound. What an incredibly boring and terrible fight. This author has been telling us how much of a fighter Kargo was, how awesome he was that he defeated four dogs and rampaged his way out of Meteor Tribe, and when the final battle comes he simply sucks like a total noob only because it’s not Plot Convenient for him to win, and this author doesn’t seem to know how to make people be awesome and still loose. Just like this, the final battle between Kargo and the villain is over. The promised fight is this, only this.
While all this is happening, Roamer, who seems to be more worried about Kargo than his boyfriend, and who hasn’t stopped to think where in Oblivion Ávanti is, climbs the wall by using burning, weakened logs to hold on. I’m willing to accept he is desperate enough to help Kargo that he would prefer to ignore the pain, but it would have been interesting to see him having a hard time withstanding it. Instead, what we see is Roamer climbing with a Rambo like expression in his face. There is no sign that he’s in pain, or pushing himself to the limit simply to be able to hold it back.
By the time Roamer reaches the top, Kargo is already dead. Yep, this is it, guys. The promised fight? Nowhere to be seen. Kargo’s moment to shine like a true hero, saving the tribe from Ranach and redeeming himself, to a certain extent? Nope. Kargo is dead after this pathetic excuse of a fight, Ranach is still alive and he’s not even badly wounded, the wall is on fire, meaning that the territory will be unsafe the moment it goes down and the ghouls come pouring in, and Ávanti was dispatched by Rogio but we still don’t know whether she can be restored again by the same dark mage this buffoon of a character just got himself killed by. It was so easy. It was so Oblivion be damned easy. Grab Ranach, jump into the fire. It-is-over. Tribe is free from him, Kargo becomes Captain America, and Ávanti will likely return to the hole she crawled out of as the dark wizard’s spell is not binding her any longer to this plane of existence. You can do all that after showing an epic fight, you can do all that after having Kargo look around in desperation, knowing himself defeated, you can do all that while having Roamer trying to reach him to help. Nope, you chose to make Kargo completely useless because it wasn’t Plot Convenient that he killed Ranach. For Hircine’s sake!
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