To me, this page feels like vamping, just a bit. Some of the dialogue is fun, but Byron’s line makes me concerned that the dude hit his head when Hammerhead tripped him (there’s “endearing simplicity” and then there’s “baffling tautology”), Penk and Magda’s exchange tells us nothing that their last exchange didn’t, and Penk and Bandit finish off by competing to see who can give the least inspirational motivational speech (Bandit wins).

We could, I think, have made more of the fact that Fr’Nj has apparently sundered or at least suspended her pacifistic vows to join the battle (we’d sort of “catch up” with that narrative thread later). As it is, this near-reset to the beginning of the fight is focused on confirming that both sides include a lot of persistent cusses who’ll just keep on fighting and fighting, even when it starts to get repetitive!

Which is in character, sure, but we probably could’ve guessed that already? What’s going on in Rana’s slow-moving sequence, anything interesti–