Annotated 13-16
There was an Avengers comic I read as a kid (#225), from which I swiped the basic idea of a rampaging, destructive giant who was sort of but not really a “member” of a new gang of villains. I even used a name that rhymed with the inspiration. But Gralor, as we’ll see, is a different sort of beast.
Stokla’s basic description follows (Phil’s text, as it was for pretty much the whole Reverse Guild):
The spells and summonings she knows tend to be blunt and direct. Bluntness and directness have served her VERY well overall, and she likes them far too much to change. She’s headstrong and dedicated completely to Big Boss Harky and the movement to liberate the Trolls from Human oppression. She’s a good soldier, and a competent leader for her rag-tag bunch of peeps. Focuses almost exclusively on her duty and her worship, never making time for herself. Earned her name by discovering a Stonehenge-like burial ground left behind by Savasi mystics as a form of defense for their lands. A less gifted shaman would have simply destroyed it. She made it suffer, by purging it slowly, taking long enough for the spirits to become aware of the destruction of their power and the futility of their afterlife. She has a “purge earth” spell, and speaks to the ELEMENTAL spirits, making them her allies against the spirits of the dead. (Trolls’ attitudes about the dead can often be boiled down to “Hey, something killed you. That makes you a loser. Don’t get your loser stink on me.”)
Of course, if Brix were a REAL berserker … Harky would have had him executed immediately.
Yes he seemed rather shaken with the whole confrontation. Makes me wonder if Brix was bluffing or thought he was, but kept it a secret to avoid execution.
Based on yesterday’s annotations, I suspect Brix didn’t give it much thought one way or another. He simply follow Iver’s orders and partied Savasi warrior style.
Brix’s failure to hulk out here contrasts nicely with the very next page…
I was confused a bit by Bandit’s “Bandit is unimpressed” face, though. Given her past experience with berserkers, I’d expected at least an “Oh, cog, not another one”. I guess we skipped right over that and went straight to “Brix, I served with a berserker, I know a berserker, a berserker is a friend of mine. Brix, you are no berserker.”
‘If you were really a ‘Zerker, you’d be killing our asses, instead of putting on this show.’
Not so sure about the “friend of mine” part
@ Keiranhalcyon31
I see you know your classics of US rhetoric :-)
I believe the original publishing of this page got another pop-culture classic:
“You call that a berserker? (pull Byron from hammerspace) THIS is a berserker.”
“a rampaging, destructive giant who was sort of but not really a “member” of a new gang of villains”
With some modification, this seems also to have been the template for HAMMERHEAD.
Oh course Bandit was unimpressed. She’s seen the real thing up close and personal, so that goon putting on an act as one looked a bit silly.
I loved the outline of the last panel. It really packs a punch.
I only now noticed that panel 4 shows someone landing in that pile of fish in the background.
Two someones, judging by the tags.
Weird question – do trolls age?
We’ve definitely shown some troll aging, though whether they age at the same pace as humans or faster or slower is not something I think we established.
Great, I borked the citation.
My comment should have started with quoting this:
“Trolls’ attitudes about the dead can often be boiled down to “Hey, something killed you. That makes you a loser. “