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[PA Comic] Friday, September 20, 2013 - The Tithe, Part Seven

GethGeth LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
edited September 2013 in The Penny Arcade Hub
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  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    "Oh, and that's Steve.

    He's kind of a dick."

    YL9WnCY.png
  • miaAusamiaAusa GOD Gamer Of Daters ValhallaRegistered User regular
    edited September 2013
    Lovely artwork, it's too bad this can't continue past 10 updates which he said on twitter recently :c, I wish Mike could do both this and other series like Sand and 3 or so gaming PA comics a week but these look like they take awhile to render at least from what I can tell from making webcomics and watching him draw from time to time.

    Epp she's a witch!! But she seems so lovely, the plot thickens and yet another cliffhanger :o I guess we saw those Last Bells at the beginning those fruits she takes but I'm not sure since berries are usually smaller so i'm probably wrong here, I wonder why not the river, it must be a scary place makes me wonder where this is going.

    Everyone is making alot of fan art of this which looks great I need to hop on that train I think I'll make something over the weekend...

    The Magick is alive!!!!

    miaAusa on
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  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Dannnnnnnnnnng

    "excuse my French
    But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
    - Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
  • GoslingGosling Looking Up Soccer In Mongolia Right Now, Probably Watertown, WIRegistered User regular
    The questions just keep piling on. I'm not sure we're going to have answers to all of them within the next week. Or whether we're supposed to, though I'd much rather have them.

    I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.
  • miaAusamiaAusa GOD Gamer Of Daters ValhallaRegistered User regular
    The questions will never be answered :o he will keep us in suspense forever :3

  • EvermournEvermourn Registered User regular
    Just chiming in to say I think this series of comics is some of the best work they've done in awhile. Loving it. Art and writing both.

    I don't find this jarring so much, the Thornwatch guys can't help so are just giving her some advice - one says to make the best of it because it's actually pretty great, another says she should just kill herself - I think they don't hang out together much back at Thronwatch HQ :)

  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    edited September 2013
    I like that the Thornwatch doesn't have a united view of how to deal with the Daughters, aside from the apparent agreement that the girl's transformation cannot be reversed somehow. They're in the Thornwatch, after all, because they didn't want to follow along with what everyone else thought was good, so it makes sense for them to have diverse opinions on things.

    Cambiata on
    "excuse my French
    But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
    - Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
  • Twenty SidedTwenty Sided Registered User regular
    That's some marvelously venomous spite there.

    Also confirms that the Daughters have a poor reputation, for the most part.

  • NeuroskepticNeuroskeptic Registered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    This is an incredibly jarring shift in tone I have to say. For one they got aggressive quick and second is he implying suicide? Then calls her a witch? I really wish they would take more time to clearly explain relationships between these characters and groups.

    Love that face in panel 3 though.
    Well, she summoned these guys with a ritual involving blood and thorns. I think them turning out to be a bit murdery is not unexpected.

  • ShenShen Registered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    This is an incredibly jarring shift in tone I have to say. For one they got aggressive quick and second is he implying suicide? Then calls her a witch? I really wish they would take more time to clearly explain relationships between these characters and groups.

    Love that face in panel 3 though.

    Steve's just like that, maybe he's got more personal history with the daughters than the rest of the group and has seen what happens when it turns bad. Like Tycho says in his newspost, every daughter's calling can play out differently.

    3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
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  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    Uh, these are two different people she's talking to also.

    It is entirely possible for a trio to have a friendly guy and a jerk in it.

    In fact I'm pretty sure it's required by the literature police.

    Edit: I also don't take the witch comment as an insult so much as a statement of fact that he's informing her of.

    Quid on
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    it definitely does feel like we missed something though

    did the two guys who seemed nicer just like, wander off? Was the bearded one like 'okay I guess steve has to give the speech now' and the green eyed one was like 'man the speech is such a downer, let's go grab a cigarette by the elm tree?'

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
    hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
    that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    I'm pretty sure the other two were like 'oh false alarm back to the pillow fort for s'mores' and Steve was all like well if you really want to change your fate you could always kill yourself hth!

    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    I figure Steve's giving her advice that will actually help with the change and eating the berries is part of that.

    Quid on
  • SpaffySpaffy Fuck the Zero Registered User regular
    I'm not really a fan of the story itself (not saying it's bad, it's just not to my tastes, I don't really like 'Graphic novels'), but sweet sassy molassy this is the best art Mike's ever done.

    ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
    Steam: adamjnet
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Quid wrote: »
    I figure Steve's giving her advice that will actually help with the change and eating the berries is part of that.
    I think it's pretty clear he is not a fan of the daughters and is actively telling her to go and eat poison berries.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • docciedoccie Registered User new member
    Sounds to me like those berries could be Deadly Nightshade... The berries are hallucinogens and very dangerous to ingest. You'd generally either suffer hallucinations or overdose. I'm thinking maybe the hallucinations will tell her what she needs to do in order to stay alive? Or she'll die in the process :)

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Steve's just trying to help! His over enthusiastic friend with the glowing eyes was saying there was no way out of this and he knows that isn't quite true.

    Imagine between the last strip and this one Hanna pleading 'There must be another way.'

    Whether he's really advocating she top herself or just emphasising that there is nothing the Thornwatch can do to help in his overly morose manner we just don't know.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • AthenorAthenor Battle Hardened Optimist The Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
    Damnit. I do not want to wait for Monday.

    This, right here? This is why I started only buying comic books in Trade Paperback form.

    He/Him | "We who believe in freedom cannot rest." - Dr. Johnetta Cole, 7/22/2024
  • marsiliesmarsilies Registered User regular
    doccie wrote: »
    Sounds to me like those berries could be Deadly Nightshade... The berries are hallucinogens and very dangerous to ingest. You'd generally either suffer hallucinations or overdose. I'm thinking maybe the hallucinations will tell her what she needs to do in order to stay alive? Or she'll die in the process :)
    Considering he says "eat as many as you can," it seems like an overdose is the effect he's going for.

  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    Last-Bells also sounds pretty ominous. They aren't Get-Well-Bells or Make-A-Wish-Bells.

    But apparently Steve thinks that the Daughers are the ones for whom the Bell tolls.

    NNID: Rehab0
  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    The Last-Bells could also be the ill-begotten fruit of Satan.

    Which are perhaps most commonly known as Hells Bells.

    NNID: Rehab0
  • RottonappleRottonapple Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    Quid wrote: »
    I figure Steve's giving her advice that will actually help with the change and eating the berries is part of that.
    I think it's pretty clear he is not a fan of the daughters and is actively telling her to go and eat poison berries.

    Perhaps Steve lost someone he cared for to the Daughters? Would make for a good back story as to why he joined the Thornwatch and clearly has beef with the Daughters.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    This one isn't confusing to me.

    There's three dudes. One was sad he couldn't help and that was it. One thought she was a really cool Forest Fairy Princess. One thinks she's a witch and told her to go kill herself.

    The third one also plays on Xbox Live.

    What is this I don't even.
  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    The third one also plays on Xbox Live.

    Not sure where you get this, he clearly did not call her a Mexican Jew lizard.

  • SkullKingSkullKing Registered User new member
    miaAusa wrote: »

    Epp she's a witch!! But she seems so lovely, the plot thickens and yet another cliffhanger

    I believe he is calling her that because she is a daughter.
    miaAusa wrote: »
    I wonder why not the river, it must be a scary place makes me wonder where this is going.

    She is telling her to eat a lot of poison, in order to die as she is instead of becoming a daughter. If she days in/near the river her corpse can poison it, causing others to die.

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    WTF


    Man, fuck this guy... Fuck him right in his stupid face!

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Continuing the coming-of-age metaphor, there are plenty of men who find menstruation threatening or repulsive, to the point of considering women "unclean"

  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    miaAusa wrote: »
    Lovely artwork, it's too bad this can't continue past 10 updates which he said on twitter recently :c, I wish Mike could do both this and other series like Sand and 3 or so gaming PA comics a week but these look like they take awhile to render at least from what I can tell from making webcomics and watching him draw from time to time.

    Epp she's a witch!! But she seems so lovely, the plot thickens and yet another cliffhanger :o I guess we saw those Last Bells at the beginning those fruits she takes but I'm not sure since berries are usually smaller so i'm probably wrong here, I wonder why not the river, it must be a scary place makes me wonder where this is going.

    Everyone is making alot of fan art of this which looks great I need to hop on that train I think I'll make something over the weekend...

    The Magick is alive!!!!

    the berries are poison. He's telling her to kill herself. And not near river so she doesn't poison it for everyone else.

    Edit: should really read the rest of thread first

    Smrtnik on
    steam_sig.png
  • Adam CasalinoAdam Casalino New York (in my heart)Registered User regular
    I've really been enjoying the drama comics Mike and Jerry have been doing as of late, both this and Sand. It's great to see they have such depth and creativity and that Penny Arcade can successfully feature both humor and serious stories.

  • wonderpugwonderpug Registered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    This is an incredibly jarring shift in tone I have to say. For one they got aggressive quick and second is he implying suicide? Then calls her a witch? I really wish they would take more time to clearly explain relationships between these characters and groups.

    It works a bit better for me if I imagine one extra panel in between the last strip in this one wherein the other two Thornwatch start walking away and you see that this last guy is intentionally hanging back to have one last word. In this imaginary panel, Hanna is also showing some glimmer of improved spirits from the druid guy's pep talk, which makes the shattering of said spirits even more D:

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    SkullKing wrote: »
    She is telling her to eat a lot of poison, in order to die as she is instead of becoming a daughter. If she days in/near the river her corpse can poison it, causing others to die.

    This pretty much makes sense to me. The three Lookouts, as others have said, seem to differ in their views of the Daughters or at least their methods of "helping" Hanna with her "problem." All three know there's nothing they can do to stop or reverse her transformation, but...

    Scar-Eye doesn't have anything more to say about it. She's a Daughter, she's in the woods, it's not their affair.

    The Greenheart take the approach of trying to comfort and encourage her.

    And the Blade, whether because of some personal animosity for the Daughters or maybe from some kind of reverse psychology "tough love" strategy, offers her one way out if she really wants it: suicide. I am a little unclear on why he uses a different name for the poisonous berries when they both know what they are, though.

    So basically we have (Indifferent cop) - (Good cop) - (Bad cop).

    Gaslight on
  • RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    While I would never argue that Steve is not a horrible person for telling a child to kill herself, he's at least offering a way out--which the others won't. I don't think he's saying, "You're terrible so you should just go die in a fire." She wants to not turn into a tree. Guy one says it's hopeless. Guy two says she should like it whether she likes it or not. Steve tells her the one sure way to not turn into a tree. Granted, it's bad advice--but at least he acknowledges that maybe she doesn't want to turn into a tree.

    The Thornwatch, living in a forest that is controlled by (and possibly partially composed of) the Daughters, have undoubtedly run into disagreements with them before. Guys one and two assume that because the Daughters get to rule the forest, being one must be a wonderful thing. Steve realizes, as we asserted in the forums back at the start of this strip, turning into a tree is a horrible and frightening thing.

    Also, Guys one and two didn't leave. Brooding Thornwatcher's job is to brood off-screen. They have entire tables in the corners of taverns reserved for his type, along with complimentary mysterious pipe.

  • JackdawGinJackdawGin Engineer New YorkRegistered User regular
    Gaslight wrote: »
    And the Blade, whether because of some personal animosity for the Daughters or maybe from some kind of reverse psychology "tough love" strategy, offers her one way out if she really wants it: suicide. I am a little unclear on why he uses a different name for the poisonous berries when they both know what they are, though.

    My thought was that he was trying to trick her into eating them, hoping for a cure. If she didn't know about the plant he was describing she'd have gone and eaten them hoping to "get better". But when Hanna shows she knows the plant he doesn't back pedal or keep lying, but backhands her with a "go kill yourself witch". The man does not like Daughters of the Eyrewood.

    Steve: Go eat these berries
    Hanna: Those aren't what you say, they are poison.
    Steve: You betcha!. Go eat a lot of them.
    Hanna: ....
    Steve: And try not to die where you'll inconvenience others.

  • DarkeSwordDarkeSword Registered User regular
    I don't read this as him telling Hanna to just kill herself out of pure malice. He was summoned to solve her problem, and while his advice is clearly colored by some personal feelings about the Daughters (i.e. reductively referring to her as a "witch"), he is offering what he believes to be the only solution. He's communicating to her that there is no other option. She can either choose to accept being a Daughter of the Eyrewood, or she can die. There's no other way around stopping her transformation.

    If you've read the Lookouts comic book, you know that being a Daughter is not something little girls aspire to. Issue #6 deals very clearly with this. Daughters are called by the Eyrewood and essentially ripped from their families; they don't have a choice.

    I really do love the three reactions of the Thornwatch though.

  • NamrokNamrok Registered User regular
    I'm not sure where everyone is getting that he's telling her to commit suicide. The berries are clearly poison. But they will scour her system of the flowers growing out of her head.

    They just have the potential side effect of death.

    It's frontier medicine. What are you gonna do?

  • PedroAsaniPedroAsani Brotherhood of the Squirrel [Prime]Registered User regular
    miaAusa wrote: »
    Epp she's a witch!! But she seems so lovely, the plot thickens and yet another cliffhanger :o I guess we saw those Last Bells at the beginning those fruits she takes but I'm not sure since berries are usually smaller so i'm probably wrong here, I wonder why not the river, it must be a scary place makes me wonder where this is going.

    From what I have read so far, the Daughters use Magic to protect the forest. Witch seems to be a contemptuous slur, and the Last Bells are poisonous. I'm guessing he says don't die near the river so the water isn't contaminated by the corpse.

    The three Thornwatch have three different attitudes to the Daughters. One is indifferent, the second is kind but condescending and the third seems to have a Snape-like hatred/disdain for them.

  • Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    I'm just super glad my name isn't Steve.

    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
  • Chris FOMChris FOM Registered User regular
    Interesting I took the "don't die near the river" more as a reference to the magic of the Eyrewood. If she dies near the river the forest can reach out to her, take her somewhere to be cured, possibly work its magic on the body, or even cure it on its own. Dying elsewhere makes sure her body stays put.

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