Annotated 46-25
Gonna take a break from both FB ad copy and political commentary for the next few pages. Much like Penk does to Harky here, the FB ads for these pages beat the “troll” joke and the comparisons with America’s fraught political system into the ground. A little of either of those things goes a long way.
And Penk’s speech deserves consideration on its own merits. This speech is a T-Flo collab, but it feels separate from both of us, like the character ascending beyond the writers’ hands and taking a new form. After so much insecurity, it’s a great bit to see Penk find his leader-of-nations voice, just when we need him to the most. If we didn’t know how honorable and compassionate he was, then lines like “I will command even them” and “I am prepared to kill anyone who tries to stop us” might come off as more worrisome. But this is simply what he needs to do to assume full warchief status. We know him.
Harky, meanwhile, has one last flash of insight, turning his defeat into a final test for his protégé.
Alternative companion image:
– https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19296811/Screen_Shot_2019_10_17_at_3.30.42_PM.png
Not quite the same energy, though pretty final in both cases.
I remember the first time I read this page.
Up until this point I had kept hoping that Penk would win, but Harky be left alive (to finally find a peaceful existence and to be with his partner).
But on this page, reading this dialogue, it clicked why Penk needs to kill Harky.
If he does not, Harky cannot trust that he will, without hesitation, kill anyone who works against his new alliance.
It would mean opening himself to manipulation, to more “let’s meet halfway”s that aren’t actually halfway, to eventual subjugation.
And Harky won’t allow that. He would literally rather die.
Fantastic dialogue! This page reveals you both as superb writers, and shows that, despite your many frustrations with eachother, your collaboration is a great thing indeed!
Exactly. Also, the tribes have been led by Harky’s strength. The only way to gain their approval and following (especially towards a totally new route is to prove beyond any doubt that he’s stronger and more determined than Harky.
I’d say that I want a Penk vs Redcloak rap battle, but that’s basically what we’ve had here the last few pages, as well as one earlier on in the Order of the Stick. I prefer this outcome than the one Redcloak had with his brother really.
O gosh, I need to catch up with OOTS …
Man… I know what’s coming and it’s still so sad. What a wonderful goddamn comic…
“I’m an elk! Why don’t you shoot me? It’s elk season!”
I come late to the repeat-party on this page, but the writing really struck me here. Penk’s words, I now appreciate, are truly profound. He is expressing not merely an opposing philosophy to Harky, but rather an evolution of Harky’s. “Till now, he had to fight just to survive. But now, we will thrive and build. We are now strong enough that we don’t have to be defined by the humans’ anymore. We will grow beyond them, and are strong enough to include them in our alliance as well, if they’ll join us.” And whereas I did not see it last time, I think Harky is really agreeing with Penk here. He is saying, “yes, that is the path of true strength. But it is a risky and dangerous one, and I need you to prove to me and to us all that you really have the strength and conviction to really do this”. And so it was. Beautiful work!
I have been thinking that “good guys” are builders and “bad guys” are merely selfish takers and destroyers. Penk is a good guy, and believes in his people’s goodness. And he won’t let the evil of others destroy that goodness.
We could all use a Penk right now.