Annotated 50-1
Our opening image here is a callback to a few different things. The mountain setting may make you think of our very first page, which began with a similar shot. The use of purple may make you think this is a direct sequel to the Arkerran part of the previous chapter…presumably all of that matter HR was manipulating had to go somewhere. And it did, but this isn’t it. The most literal callback is to one of John’s first pages. This is the Solates Mountains, the scene that Iver once painted on the wall of his tent to inspire his people. What Iver promised, Gravedust has delivered. The Savasi are going home.
We’ve never seen mountain griffins before (and we never actually will), but I wanted to invent a new fantasy creature for Gravedust’s purposes here, for the same reason that we roll out some brand-new characters in page 3. This coda to Guilded Age clearly had a lot of subplots to finish, but I didn’t want to get so caught up in that that it seemed like “The stuff that you’ve already gotten to know is the only stuff that matters.” A happy ending for our series is one full of adventures to come, and it should always feel possible to have a totally new random encounter.
FB: Today’s Guilded Age implies a mountain of backstory.
So everything that happened took place in 403 days? That seems like a short amount of time. Do Akerran days last longer?
The mountain is also closely derived from The Matterhorn , one of the most recognisable peaks in the world :)
Ah, yes…of course…
Since we’re talking about possible new random encounters, I’ve always wished we’d gotten at least one last glimpse of Cyberia. As it stands, it’s just That Place Wav Came From And Where HR Ate A Corrupter Beast. I really would have liked at least a bit of denouement about what was happening there now.
It would’ve been nice, and we didn’t think of it, but I can see some problems that would prevent us. To present it in binary terms, if Cyberia was fine after HR went through it, then that retroactively removes a little urgency from the final battle. My speculations aside, for the sake of the story, HR-in-his-final-form should be an all-consuming monster whose contact benefited no one until his defeat. But…if Cyberia was destroyed or wrecked after HR went through it, then we’d just be showing some misery and complicating the story’s tone.
I can see what you mean, but I still think even just a brief glance would have been nice. Maybe just a single panel during that end-of-comic montage, like when we saw Admiral Annunziata and his ship’s crew fighting that sea monster.
Sure!
We’ve never seen mountain griffins before…
How about this one?
– https://guildedage.net/comic/annotated-23-11/
I admit I had forgotten that griffin appearance, but I don’t think Fightopia was in the mountains…seems like it was too close to water for that.
I love the idea that they walk to the mountains because that’s how they left, and that’s how you experience the road, the environment and the arrival in a much more physical way. It’s a ritual meant to create an impression, and a shared experience.
(Also, I love hiking in the mountains. *Love it*. And these pictures make me want to go on a hiking holiday right now)
Beautiful page.