Annotated 28-20
C
an’t argue with the alt text there: bringing any other land shark into the ranks here would not have been worth the effort.
Penk is, I think, not quite right in panel 3 about “one from each tribe.” Sure, excluding one of any of the other five tribes would’ve been politically unwise, but if land sharks have no use for politics, then they aren’t going to care about representation, and it’s not like everyone else in the Rebellion doesn’t know what land sharks are like. The common people probably would’ve been just fine with a Champions that didn’t include Hammerhead.
But this isn’t just about optics. The team also has to survive anything Gastonia can throw at it, so it can’t lack for muscle. And of course, this is also a test for Penk: you can see Harky weighing both his idealism and his effectiveness in that same frame.
My thought for Harky in panel 3 is “wow, I completely forgot to coach the kid and he’s probably still gonna come out of this with both arms.”
To be fair, Penk is a troll. He could probablyre-grow the arm if Hammerhead had bitten rather then shaken.
That which does not kill me isn’t really gonna matter in the long term so let’s do this!
Harky looks so proud, I love it.
“I raised that boy.”
(Now I’m imagining Harky saying that with tears of joy and in Chika Fujiwara’s voice… You’re welcome.)
I always thought Penk said ‘I am Hammerhead’ here.
Full disclosure it took me a few reads after seeing your comment to not read it as such too
Wow, so did I. Punctuation really does matter!
We are all Hammerhead on this blessed day.
I am somewhat confused about Hammerhead first claiming the other landsharks would fall upon each other like rabid dogs without him (more than they are already doing) and then so quickly agreeing to be a champion and thus presumably leave. I’m not too bothered, just wondering what Hammerhead’s rationale was. Is it simply that he really believes himself the strongest, in will and body, and wants to ensure the landsharks’ survival? I read all this the first time around but don’t remember some of it so it is delightfully new again.
Well, Penk did more or less disprove that in his opening argument, and not contradicting him on that is as close as Hammerhead gets to conceding a point.
That was subtle and diplomatic of him! Not that he would ever admit to that. XD You wrote such interesting villains. Not one dimensional, not always predictable. John really brought them to life visually. I’m amazed what he managed to do with Hammerhead’s eyebrows. Or brow ridges? Facial expressions on a hammerhead can’t have been trivial to get across.