Annotated 34-23
I’m going to take it as a character beat that Byron, angry as he is, does not simply chop Brother Tom and Brother Homon’s skulls in that first panel, or at least try to. He’s seen through the trick, he has no compunctions about killing Cultists, but he still can’t make himself fatally attack his brothers’ images, not right away.
We’re kind of testing the limits of abstraction in that final panel. See how many non-Cultist figures you can identify! I’m just assuming everyone we saw on page 21 is around somewhere.
“You’re here, I’m here, he’s here, she’s here, they’re here, we’re here… and everybody gets what they want” (Guilded Age: The Musical)
Astoria and Colonnus I was only able to ID by process of elimination (and assuming she’s the smaller of the two), but the others are a good demonstration of the advantages of ‘iconic’ elements to the design.
Although Rabbit’s bow probably wouldn’t serve that purpose if he weren’t the only archer, there.
But Bragga’s size, Scip’s shield’s shape, Byron’s dual axes, Isidro’s hat and Tobias’ hair and mask make them all easy to discern in the scene, even only vaguely outlined.
Once you know it’s her, you can make out the shape of Astoria’s hood.
Astoria and Collonus’ body language give us another hint. Even this abstracted, Colonnus is straight-backed, proud, and seemingly unconcerned about the sudden ambush. Astoria, meanwhile, has her hands out to either side so that she can quickly direct her magic in either direction.
The Waltrips continue to impress.
Can you imagine how different things might have gone if he had played ball for just a sec and then gone HAM on the two under illusion (who happen to be very important) the moment they came within arm’s reach? Poor Byron.