Annotated BBWTE 15
So here we’ve got a couple of twists. The first is Frigg’s reaction, the second is WAV’s lack of one. Although logically there’s no reason why he should, it sorta feels like the expectation was for WAV to start remembering his life as Best as soon as he was unmasked. He clearly doesn’t, which preserves just a little doubt about his identity.
I almost wanted to see that alt text as an extra panel, with Frigg looking at him like a deer in the headlights as he starts gathering up the vomit, but I suppose that might be putting a hat on a hat. The current punchline is a good way to bring things full circle.
RIP Rachel’s headscarf… I doubt Frigg’s gonna keep carrying it around for long after it got speckled by that.
So just for the record, this story was a Kickstarter fulfillment “bonus tale,” written (almost) entirely by Flo just as “Mental Health Day” was (almost) entirely by me. On the whole, it’s surprisingly lighthearted as a follow-up to the heavy Chapter 35. Frigg grieves but in a comical manner, Fr’Nj busies herself and affects cheer, Gravedust has family matters to buoy his spirits. And the others who fought at her side… Sundar, WAV, Penk, and Magda… were all sad she was gone, but they weren’t exactly close. Just as E-Merl, Syr’Nj, and Scipio, when last we saw them, didn’t know about Rachel’s loss, this group doesn’t yet know about the losses the other team has suffered and witnessed.
Next chapter, we’ll see how the group copes without any more blissful ignorance to shield them, and if there’ll even be a group after it all sinks in.
There must be a little bit of Best’s memory coming back already; otherwise, how would WAV know the nasty yellow stuff used to be food?
I mean, it came out of her mouth, which is where he saw the other people putting their food and grinding it up. I think it’s a fairly obvious conclusion.
Yup, this page is pretty perfect.
It never struck me before that WAV actually has Best’s features. To me, he was just a green elf.
Honestly? Same here. Thank Odin for this annotated run!
I never really looked for Best to “come back”, so I didn’t think about it. Comic tropes and conventions aren’t well hammered into me, either, as I never really got into reading them. Looking more closely he has things that remind of Best, but it’s a side of him we haven’t seen since Best’s first appearance.
I didn’t expect Best either, actually I hoped we wouldn’t see him again, but his face always triggered something in me. That said: I’d taken a long break during the first read, then read the first half or so in relatively short time, so the memory was a bit fresher than it would have been for others.
And I had completely forgotten that Sundar had made an appearance very early in the story, until I recognized him in the commented rerun.
I think the last two panels are excellent in that they hammer home both that this is indeed Best’s Alt in that he looks more like Best with hair colour change, but still manages to nail that WAV isn’t Best through the reaction. Best would ract with anger, not concern over Frigg.