Annotated 13-19
One of my favorite of John’s mixed-media experiments. Would you believe I didn’t actually see the “face” of this monster until this reread, though?
From the script: “This energy whips and lashes outward violently. Imagine if the Venom/Carnage symbiote was made of spiritual energy rather than alien goo. It doesn’t take a specific shape, but it amorphously lashes out in all direction to slake its limitless thirst for blood, its indomitable hunger for lives. It is not simply Byron’s Red, it crackles and smoulders with darker, deeper carrion and near-black, burning far more brightly than it has a right to.”
What I find really unnerving about this scene is not that the normally stoic Gravedust is almost at a loss, but that he and Syr’Nj are emotionally isolated from each other here. Smart and open-minded as she is, there’s just no way she can appreciate the horror of what he’s seeing, not without soul-vision and a background in mysticism. And though he’s probably gotten a few clues about how deeply her feelings for Byron run, the recency of her first kiss with Byron and the icy resolve she’s maintaining to conduct this experiment mean that Gravedust doesn’t really know what she’s going through, either.
This is the second mention of the “half-forgotten gods” that interfere with Gravedust’s abilities. Who (or what) are these gods? I don’t think that was ever explained.
I was thinking HR and Byron’s player.
I’ll get into it a bit tomorrow, but Cultist magick tends to be more secret and practiced in shadows compared to the sorts done by Gravedust himself, or E-Merl, or the wizards who taught him. He says it’s like it belongs to gods half forgotten, not that he can see the fingerprints of those gods… though the Countless Ones might meet that description.
You really didn’t see that monster “face” until now?! tsk tsk
On a list of “annotations that make me see the comic in a new light”, this would be pretty close to the top. ( ‘ .’)
like Gygas but with less wriggling more stabbing.
Whoa. I never noticed the face until now either.
I remember missing it the first time, but catching it on a subsequent viewing. Now I’m also seeing little stubby arms reaching out with clawed fingers. Not sure I noticed that before.
Yeah I didn’t see it either, now I can’t unsee it.