Latest Page Discussions/Comic Update Chitchat

[JoB]

... I suddenly have a thought (yes, that does happen): The expedition was supposed to bring extensive documentation on the research they were supposed to do for the Nordic Council, which was essentially a cover-up for the book-hunt, and that job was effectively passed to Tuuri. Will they actually have anything to show for the people they're going to face in Iceland? I don't think that the Quartet, if they actually came to Iceland as well, will have prepared a stack of fake reports to slip to the NC ...

[Róisín]

Tuuri was keeping records, which was the job she was hired for, as well as transcribing books for Mikkel. Now the question is: did the rest of the crew think to pick up her notes and bring them along? Mikkel, and possibly Sigrun, should have remembered. Whether they actually did is another matter.

[IOM]

Tuuri was keeping records...Whether they actually did is another matter.

I'm optimistic that there were at least a few notebooks in the wheelbarrow stack. I don't imagine Tuuri spent all of that time confined in the tank for nothing while everyone else was out being slobbered on by trolls exploring ancient libraries. I'd be pretty surprised if we didn't get to see a bit more of Iceland, now that Reynir's siblings (maybe?) have entered the picture as well. I suppose the question is whether they will go legally or illegally if they make profit on the books.

[Windfighter]

Tuuri was the one who prepared the books for Barry before she went crazy and went for a swim, I'm pretty sure she made sure to pack all her notes she had taken for the Nordic Council!

[wavewright62]

That's a good point, Windy. Things do feel incomplete until we see them reunited with the crew back home, processing what has happened, and deciding if the expedition was a success or not. It doesn't make sense to end the adventure in a place that feels conflict-free but not all "wrapped up", and without a conclusion or thought given to the reason why they set out in the first place. I almost feel like a (short) chapter would have been in order to tie up the minor loose ends even knowing we won't get answers to the bigger questions such as what is "It".

Minna said in the stream that the red vagary seen in the mists while Lalli was swimming, was the infamous 'It', and we would learn more about this in the next adventure.  I assume that since Minna was planning further stories, that she was setting up some loose ends to be examined later. 
Remember that it took us many chapters to get glimpsed updates of Sleipnope & Pastor Anne's arc, and the summoning of Kokko to repel the horde was not the end of Sleipnope's arc at all. 
I also agree that Tuuri's records should have been selected by Mikkel to make the cut of which parcels were loaded onto Barry.  The next adventure is purported to be in a different place, so going back for those notes doesn't seem to be the driver for this next arc.

[Sc0ut]

Minna said in the stream that the red vagary seen in the mists while Lalli was swimming, was the infamous 'It', and we would learn more about this in the next adventure.  I assume that since Minna was planning further stories, that she was setting up some loose ends to be examined later. 
Remember that it took us many chapters to get glimpsed updates of Sleipnope & Pastor Anne's arc, and the summoning of Kokko to repel the horde was not the end of Sleipnope's arc at all. 

Of course, I expect us to learn more about It in this adventure! The reason I brought it up was to differentiate between the things that make sense to be left for the next adveture (such as It, which is a big mystery and pretty much the closest thing we have to a villain so far) and the things that do not - such as wrapping up the mission, the reaction of the home crew to their return, some Words between Onni and Reynir about some lies that might have occurred around Tuuri and so on.

I know it sounds like I might be pointlessly criticizing Minna's writing, but I just like pulling comics apart and figuring out what works and what doesn't. I also hope I'll eventually make my own long comic and talking about the craft feels like it helps.

[Mebediel]

I have to agree, for the reasons Sc0ut and Windy already brought up, that this doesn't really feel like the end to the first book in a series so much as it feels like a brief lull in action. To me it makes more sense to just think of it as the end of the first story arc of a much longer story (even though there were other arcs, like Sleipnope's arc, within this arc), like how in a lot of manga (and probably other media too idk) one story has a bunch of smaller arcs.

It does make me wonder, though, if Minna would have changed around certain points in her script if she had decided to end the story with this arc. Ex. maybe we have had a longer epilogue (to parallel the longer prologue) that would have given Onni's character better closure, shown the results of the mission, etc.

[wavewright62]

I know it sounds like I might be pointlessly criticizing Minna's writing, but I just like pulling comics apart and figuring out what works and what doesn't. I also hope I'll eventually make my own long comic and talking about the craft feels like it helps.

Absolutely an essential operation, no criticism from me!  Devotion is good, but analysis for your own enrichment is life.

[steadfastjewel]

not really replying to anyone in particular, just the general conversation. I definitely agree that the 'conclusion', as it stands, is kind of unsatisfying to the core premise of the story, but that's also because I want that good emotional catharsis from all involved. I'm also very aware with this comic, perhaps even more than with aRtD, that Minna is still growing as a storyteller. And long-form stories released in-progress like this are pretty impossible to go back and 'tighten up', if you will. But for every plot pinhole or art shift, it remains a captivating journey.  I think  it's really interesting to see how far it's come and try to imagine where it might be leading. ((I fully agree though, I need/want closure on the book scamming and potential reports.))

[thorny]

Minna apparently said (see the "key posts" thread) that we'll see the crew in quarantine; so it sounds as if the new arc will pick up right where this one left off, and we may indeed see or at least hear of their reports and the reaction to what books they did bring with them.

-- I wonder whether there won't be at least a preliminary debrief while they're still in quarantine, and quite possibly while they're still on the ship? I'd think that they wouldn't want to take even the small risk of losing information by not spreading it as far as possible as soon as they can; and also that they'd be curious. It's true there were radio reports through most of the trip, though, so some of what the crew found out has already been transmitted.

[Kelpie]

So, the cover page. It's really nice and cool and all, bear beasts heck yeah, but one thing is bothering me. WHAT is Onni holding? Is that a sword? A really long spear?? Pointy stick?????

[Ragnarok]

Probably some variant of sword-staff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordstaff

[Kelpie]

OH okay yeah that makes sense. Thanks, crisis averted

[thorny]

So why is Mikkel standing there so calm and relaxed while everybody else is running away?

-- and why, come to think of it, is he the one with the firearm, when it's been established that he's the one no good at using one?

Maybe they're all running away from Mikkel, because they're afraid he'll shoot them by accident!

[Suominoita]

So why is Mikkel standing there so calm and relaxed while everybody else is running away?

-- and why, come to think of it, is he the one with the firearm, when it's been established that he's the one no good at using one?

Maybe they're all running away from Mikkel, because they're afraid he'll shoot them by accident!

I had the same thought... -- though, with the look he's giving Sigrun... he is giving the impression he's going to shoot them on purpose -- but I have the faintest idea why he'd do such a thing. A prank like when he was telling Emil he might get face cancer? Since it is a shotgun he actually *might* do something like that to get them to go to the next place as fast as they can. The look Onni and Lalli share... they know they most likely won't get hurt even if Mikkel actually fires at them.