Chapter 34 – Cover
And we’re back! With new DLC! And re-randomized comment avatars! And QR Codes for Guilded Age Miis for those of you who are into that sort of thing! I know that number is pretty low, now!
Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip
hmmmm no comment.
Comment on your lack of comment
only if you axe nicely
*squeeee* this is almost as good as being best with his guitar riff!
Axe axe axe axe axe axe axe axe “axe” axe axe axe axe?
Axe axe axe axe axe.
[Translation: Why don’t you replace all your words with “axe” while you’re at it?
It makes as much sense.]
only if you axe nicely
Axes aren’t meant for “nicely”.
Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
Watch your tongue!
*Oh sheeeeiiiiit.
Awww man, the tags took all the fun out of figuring this one out.
Hey, is it too late for an Anniversary question? Did Byron’s axes actually belong to Bayen and Brayen, or did he just name his after them?
Also: Loving what I rolled this time.
Pretty sure he said they belonged to his brothers in one of the Ask An Adventurers.
Yeah, just last week’s.
On that note, what did Byron use *before* he took up their axes? His shoulderpads?
Nope, he got those early the comic. AFAIK it’s still an open question what (if anything) he used before the axes.
My guess… not much. He was a kid before he was magically induced to murder his own kin and village.
To be honest, the axes did make it pretty obvious.
Yes, not worth the trouble axing which those two guys were. Hacking Phil’s computer to find out would also have been overkill. Anyway, I’m sure this cover will hatch a lot of interesting discussion.
As is their colours: Byron is red
I actually Figured it was Syr’nj and…I don’t know, guy who posted flyers from the guild? Leading me to read the tags, and ho’shit, it’s Bayen and Brayen!? .-.
There used to be a difference between the axes. Bayen came to a point at the end, while Brayen was clipped like both of the axes shown in the cover. Looking back through recent pages, that apparently changed at some point and I just hadn’t noticed. So when I saw the cover, I was wondering why they were identical when I didn’t remember them being that way.
What are you talking about? Only the axes are tagged, not the two dudes. :p
But while they might be tagged, you can still wonder… which one is which?
Boo. New gravatar is holding up a paper, to hide the lack of facial hair.
Or, since it’s Syr’Nj… maybe to hide the presence of facial hair? How embarrassing!
Byron is obviously ready for the next installment of “Axe an Adventurer.” I wonder who’s going to be up for the next question axed?
Gravatar thread?
What madness is this?
Check
Bleckh
Yep. *rolls dice*
Eh, could be worse.
And the new gravatar iiiiiiiis….?
….a grumpy Bandit……eh could be worse.
Looks like a cute Bandit to me
Looks like she’s about to sneeze
Amused Byron is amused.
The shadow under your Magda’s chin looks a bit like a beard, so I was all “Who the frack is that?” :)
That’s Magda?
Was wondering who that was, thought it might have been Byron
Let’s see!
Woo, Friggdust!
Hmm, what comment would work with a wide range of gravatars?
yup, that worked.
And it looks like I am telling the wide mouthed frog joke :-)
Wide mouth ehhh? Ehhhhh?
Yes, it is.
I always imagine he’s saying “Non-humans. AMIRITE?”
let us see…
Ayeeeee. It’s cool. I’m cool. We’re all cool.
Celebrate gravatars. Come on. What’s my gravatar?
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.
Huh. Frigg with crud in her hair… I’ll take it.
And mine is….
NOBODY TOLD ME I WOULD HAVE THIS ONE
YOU MAD BRO?
Don’t worry: I am here to make things better!
Multiple Byrons? Oh god, Why!?
Reveal!
Okay, let’s see who we got tis time ’round instead of my Gravatar…
Gravatar check…
Well alrighty then…
Hrm.
Testing, testing…
I forsee a great deal of confusion as people try to make appropriate comments for last chapters rolls. Let the chaos commence
It begins.
Obligatory nonrandom thread crasher, checking in.
blerp?
testing 1,2,1,2
interesting. quite interesting indeed…
Woo!
I’ve never actually commented here, but these gravatars look fun.
Oh right, I set an incredibly awesome custom gravatar years ago.
Bum bum BUUUUUUUUUH!
Shouldn’t Bayen and Brayen be listed twice each?
no
The axes weren’t named Bayen and Brayen when they used them.
You’re just assuming this! There’s no evidence of this. They could totally have each owned an axe named after themselves.
My theory, however, is that Bayen named his axe Brayen, and Brayen named his axe Bayen.
And leave Byron completely out of this, because he’s their little baby brother who doesn’t deserve any attention or brothership.
Maybe they each had a dagger or something prepared to be named. They would have been like “and we know that no matter what Byron will always have our backs” but it didn’t work out that way cause they’re probably super-dead.
Far more likely that they are named for their Axes! Axes of myth and legend are good for namesakeness.
Ooooh. I’m excited about this one.
Thar be something mighty Tank Girl about your gravatar at present… I be she and Frigg would have ruled all the schools together if they got togETHER ANDOMGOMG!!11eleventy-one!!! CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A FRIGG/TANK GIRL CROSS-OVER?!?!? HUH?! CAN WE? HUH? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEE?
Hmmm… I’m impish… very, very impish.
Imp-atient at least.
Better than in-patient, I say.
Or imp-otent :P
Check check.
Alsu, ruh roh Raggy.
Is it a blowpipe?
Or a gigantic lollypop? Mmm, candy!
Gravitar Cheque.
The gravity cheque is in the post… Also:
Once upon a midnight plain
while I pondered with my brayen
I a-heard a dog a-bayen’
bayen’ at my chamber door.
“For the love of God, Montresor,” I cried, “I’m playing Kingdoms of Arkerra, shut that Friggin’ mutt up!”
Well, that’s ironic.
Their ma got tongue tangled a lot, I’ll bet. “ByronBayenBrayen … boys, th’ buffet of beans, braunschweiger and brats is ’bout to begin, so bring yer brawny brainy butts back here!”
OOoooooo!
Hey how did you get to be the lucky fuck with the two-fer?
It looks like Frigg wants to see this two-fer happen, maybe even make it a three-fer.
Oh wow.
…This has me more excited than any chapter in recent memory. Darn it!
LET’S DO THIS!
Seriously?
Seriously.
Damn!
Your avatar looks constipated… and mine looks as if I am no longer constipated as of 2 minutes ago! LOL!!!
/roll
This….is agreeable.
Looks like you just got goosed :P
Bros before…all that stuff that’s happened so far.
Battleshire was just a setback.
I predict their decaying corpses will be revived as mindless death knights serving in Homon’s undead army, which he will rule from the icy continent of Northbynorthwestcleave.
MMmm, it has always annoyed me a tiny bit that the two axes are completely identical, to the point where only Byron can tell them apart. If only one of them had a dent at or something at the top (not on the blade)… but well, there’s plenty of space for that to happen symbolically in this chapter.
Ooooh, well pointed out.
Byrons axes ARE different*.
So Byron does not use his brothers axes, he just named his axes after his brothers.
* Page 1-10 shows an axe with the point and in later pages you can see one has the point when the other doesn’t.
I think Mr., er, Mister meant differences between the two axes.
The axes Byron carries are those of his childhood friends (as close as brothers, but from what I remember, not actual brothers to him) and are named after them.
I bet he is able to tell them apart, like a mother can tell her twin kids apart.
Or he can’t tell any difference and just makes it up every time.
Anyone who owned twin hacking items ever and used and sharpened them for a time will be capable to tell which one is which without the need of tagging or notching.
And I guess the fact they aren’t identified serves a purpose to, how I could say… tainting their wholeness or something? (Unless those are adamantine masterwork +10 bearded axes of inner moustachiness, but even then, can two pieces of wood have the same grain?)
Byron is the one who can tell them apart, and that’s enough for him. No need to bother with extra drawing details if you ask me.
Now, now, such blacksmith would do only two of those?
As Fenlander pointed out, they originally were different: Bayen had the tip, Brayen didn’t, but somewhere along the way Bayen got the ‘snip’ and lost his tip (does that make them Jewish?)
Bayen and Brayen have been pretty inconsistent regarding any difference between the two. Certainly, the cover shows an axe with a downwards pointed tip on the left hand, and then the volcanic intro shows only an axe with a truncated inferior tip in both left and right hands, but never shows both in the same page, leading you to believe that both axes have inferior truncated tips.
chapter-1-page-11/ is the first one to show two distinguisheable axes (one with truncated and one with pointed inferior tip) at the same time, but then on the very next page you can see both axes with pointed inferior tips at the same time.
By chapter-3-page-9/ (the next time we see both at the same panel), they both have truncated inferior tips.
Also, Fenlander: I think it’s both: Byron got both Bayen and Brayen’s (then nameless, probably) axes, and named them after their previous owners.
Plausible explanation from the Benefit of the Doubt Dept:
Bayen and Brayen each had two axes, hung on opposite hips. Byron has all four, and when he talks to them, he really imagines himself talking to his former brothers-in-arms, as if they’re still watching over him; so two axes are Bayen and two are Brayen. He only carries two at once, but once in a while when one gets too worn and he doesn’t have time to repair it between adventures, he’ll swap it out with the other from the same prior owner.
Shit about to get real. Then surreal. Then unreal. Then real again.
Must… not… imagine… unreal… shit…
I can imagine 6 unreal shits before breakfast.
Well, that certainly fits.
Oooh….finally! (?)
GERONIMO!!!!
Kids these days…
Is this a flashback? Or are they getting ‘re-born’?
That’s what I’m thinking. Is Arkerra going to glitch and revive dead characters?
It’s a promotion to call back players who let their accounts expire!
I’M A LUMBERJACK, I’M OK
testy test testitty test test
This feels like a good time to go back and reread the series.
*taps the mike* Er?
I was expecting to see Gravatars of the recently revealed Players in Sepia World. Maybe next time.
Honk honk!
Nooo, I’m a dead guy!
I call Payet Best.
It’s like Wolverine, the popular ones never stay dead.
Not this time, not only did they give Thor’s name to a chick, they are really truly going to kill off Wolvie, for good this time, no, seriously, “Uncle Ben dead”
And Rasputin returns as…
Yes, that was about my reaction too.
Hurumph.
still late to the party, but curious whether my avatar was already randomized when I posted on the comic from 9/4 a few minutes ago or whether the comic knows what day I am posting on.
for science?
/speculative dwarf is speculating
Cool my first DLC change up 8D Least’s see what I get.
random comment is random for avatar generation.