Annotated 39-20
Yeah, why not tag Byron here. He’s at least as much of a presence in this strip as in the ones where he’s just a sack of mummified remains.
Yes, alt text, Syr’Nj is a badass…but she could also be considered the weak link of her team, physically speaking. Probably everyone else who’s ever been a Peacemaker except E-Merl and Fr’Nj is stronger. (Nonberserk Byron might be close to her level.) And E-Merl and Fr’Nj have distance attacks more imposing than her potion-darts to compensate. And of course, nobody’s at their fastest when they’re in a tentlike formal dress. She’s cerebral, she tends to ask questions first and punch later…I’m not trying to pick on her or anything, but you can see why Iwatani didn’t send, like, a team of assassins, as he might’ve if his target was Frigg.
But on top of her many skills and talents, she has other, more hidden assets. She’s a Renaissance woman, always learning from every source she can find. And one of those sources was a highly experienced adventurer with a gift for boiling combat strategy down into simple, reassuring how-tos. She could write a book just transcribing everything he’s told her about adventuring in their time together. Sooner or later, she probably will.
I love the little details you drop in the strip, like their cloaks looking like leaves.
I would give more props to Syr’rj. She managed to avoid being killed and to capture her assassin, even though she’s not a physically imposing character. Despite what several videogames, comic books and TV series might say, being very smart does not mean “thinking oneself” into being a prodigy fighter. The best combat plan still needs reflexes, coordination, speed and at least some strenght to execute it
Oh, absolutely! I’m just saying I see her as a clear underdog, here.
Any insight into what’s going on with Kur’ik’s hand in panel 1 there? Looks kinda broken but I’m not sure how that would’ve come about exactly.
Nah, it’s just limp.