Feet! You don’t see too many foot-focused comic book covers, book covers, or movie posters, but every once in a while they can be arresting. The implication of sky elves and wood elves marching in lockstep with their former enemies made this image a nice new twist on our usual indirect approach. Not sure I can identify the sixth foot up from the bottom, though. (Edit to add: commenter Jason (not Jason Waltrip) suggests Tamara, which sounds legit to me.)

The general theme of this installment is preparations for war, mental as well as logistical. We’ll get to see a wide range of characters in every faction making sure of each other and girding their own loins, resolving baggage or at least putting it aside for awhile.

Speaking of baggage to resolve…longtime readers might recall that I was working on Shakespeare’s Trump through a lot of 2020. Real events outperformed my ability to fictionalize them in 2021, though, and these days, my interest has flagged while my work in other areas has expanded. And certain family matters mean that my sked could get a lot more packed at any moment. Much as I try to stick to the “finish what you start” mantra, I can’t see any way to recapture my momentum on this project with everything else going on, so I think the only responsible thing to do is pronounce it dead.

However, if you enjoyed it, I recommend an alternative: MacTrump, another execution of the same idea by Ian Doescher and Jacopo della Quercia. Ian’s the author of the “Shakespeare’s Star Wars” series and a few other adaptations in that vein, but of all his works, this one’s probably the freshest and liveliest. How much of that is Jacopo, I couldn’t say!

That said, the weeks to come offer plenty of comedy-horror narcissism, right here in Guilded Age. Tune in tomorrow to get a look at some of the effects of that, and our most blatant video-game ripoff in ages.