^ 30 Comments...

1. Raoul
   August 5th, 2009 at 1:46 am

   To paraphrase David Bowie: Wham bam, sorry ma’am?

2. Kareem"Zangoules"Pagan
   August 5th, 2009 at 1:57 am

   YES FIRST! Anyway I like how this ended lol. First a beating now food, can’t wait for the next update ^_^.

3. Jean
   August 5th, 2009 at 2:03 am

   Wow.

   …I like! =D

4. Moox
   August 5th, 2009 at 2:15 am

   Hurray! Mead!

5. Acipenser
   August 5th, 2009 at 2:50 am

   Whoo! That’s some graceful losing there, Pontagar! Mucho points for you and yours.

6. AdamZero
   August 5th, 2009 at 2:57 am

   That’s the Erogenian way, no grudges just quick punches.

7. The Old Hack
   August 5th, 2009 at 3:01 am

   Right. Apparently I was right and this is the Erogenian form of arm wrestling. Or maybe a thumb war >_>

8. hans
   August 5th, 2009 at 4:23 am

   LOL!

   Love Mentl´s WTF face. Although it looks like princeling got the stupid beat out of him for now, I´m not sure it will hold for long. Can´t wait for his next foot in mouth/Zonyfist in eye moment.

9. Lora
   August 5th, 2009 at 4:41 am

   I think he knows he’s met his match.

   Great seeing how they just get back to dinner after a little friendly fistfight.

   Mmm, pig and beer; sounds like good erogenian food.

10. Tricksterson
    August 5th, 2009 at 5:37 am

    I figure there are rules to this sort of thing in order too keep things like blood feuds to a minimum. He started it, no serious damage (In a society like the Erogenians a few bruises and what looks like it’s going to turn into a major shiner wouldn’t count) was inflicted, he lost fair and square and she was a gracious winner so he’d lose points even with his own men if he wasn’t an equally gracious loser.

11. Addup2
    August 5th, 2009 at 6:01 am

    Actually, I don’t think it will turn into a shiner, in the background of the last panel it looks like Tula is using magic to heal Pontagar.

    Still neat though!

12. Nytsky
    August 5th, 2009 at 8:05 am

    “Thank you Mamm, can I have another”?

    If only it were so easy to minimize conflict around here. There seem to be no shortage of “ponty’s” in our society and daily dealings with them can be a bit challenging. It would be nice to create more personal responsibility within our people…… Yes, I am a dreamer *grin*

    Love the page. Love the twins…..although I am still curious about their presence. This doesn’t seem to be a “hunting party” as Ponty indicated; he may have more “Cha balancing” coming ( “oh boy”); I believe they are up to something.

    I also wonder about rank. Where do Carshik and Brantik fall in the hierarchical structure of their society? They carry a grace, a dignity that creates the suggestion of nobility; if not royalty. Hmmmmmm…….

    Happy hump day!

13. Fatuncle
    August 5th, 2009 at 8:28 am

    I hope you are feeling better, JED.

14. John
    August 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Raoul - Heh! More like “Hit me baby,
    You win”

    Kareem”Zangoules”Pagan - The cool thing is that it was never very serious in the first place. A poke in the snoot and all is done - for now.

    Jean - Glad you like.

    Moox - Oh, yeah. Payday’s coming up and I need to get a batch going. Sanitize the old carboy, pick up some fresh yeast and wildflower honey and clear out a nice cool spot in the closet for it to bubble away …

    Acipenser - Yeah, well, it’s more or less the only way you act when you’ve gotten served like that. Plus, nobody’s going to rub your nose in it once it’s over.

    AdamZero - Quite so.

    The Old Hack - It’s pretty ritualized, in fact.

    hans - Well, life presents avery steep learning curve for Pontagar, so we will see.

    Lora - Just basic stuff. They’ve been taking it easy for a few days and decided to give this little porker the spit-roast treatment, so they’ve been camped there for hours already.

    Tricksterson - You have it right. This is the way it goes. Now, Pontagar is still not going to like Zona any better than he did before and vice-versa, but the dispute is settled, and the ritual courtesy of the sharing of food and resources in the wilderness is unbreakable. Same for offering their fire. It would be a bad offense to refuse to let them camp, and equally bad not to exchange hospitality in whatever way they can possibly afford.

    Addup2 - Right you are. He may not be as good as new tomorrow morning, but close.

    Nytsky - Oh, yeah. But to make that work at a societal level, you need to be brought up in it. Otherwise it falls apart. But here I have my little fiction and the dreams are realized in 3D and full color. Carshik and Brantik are noble cousins to the prince. On the other hand, if we go back more than four or five generations, so are Pontagar and Zona. They are high status and have a pretty good reputation as a nearly unbeatable team of fighters. Individually, they are also formidable. As to why they’re here - I dunno. Perhaps we’ll find out. Perhaps not.

    Happy Hump-a-day to you, as well.

    Fatuncle - Most certainly am, thank you! It was but a passing bad.

15. Sleepinin
    August 5th, 2009 at 10:59 am

    Well, at least we see the difference between a prince of Erogenia and a prince of Kilvalia.

    Heck, this Pontagar guy even seems like he might be kinda decent, as long as he can keep his foot out of his mouth.

16. The Macnut
    August 5th, 2009 at 10:59 am

    Reminds me of how disputes between boys USED to be settled on the playground. A brief argument, a scuffle, then after the dust settles the boys involved are new best friends

    Too bad that doesn’t happen any more…nice page JED, and excellent concept for conflict resolution. The only problem with it is that someone has to catch a beating

17. KernBrit
    August 5th, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    Is the meal an important part of the process? Kinda - we’ve beaten out our problem, now wer’re going to sit down and share a meal that each side will provide to to show there’s no grudge?

18. Hugh
    August 5th, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    Kern,
    I don’t think they are connected. In a primative society, hospitality to non-enemies is practically a survival trait. If you had shelter and/or fire, you share it with the guy who does not. Same with food and drink. That hosptiality would be returned when the other guy had food and you did not. So some hunters come home with game and some do not, but everyone eats. The hopitality was owed irrespective of the fight.

    As far as the fight goes, Pontegar insulted Zona’s family. Zona repaid the insult with a minor ass whipping. The cha is balanced and everyone is back to neutral. I doubt Tula is obligated to heal Pontegar, but doing so probably puts him further in the sisters’ debt cha-wise.

19. hans
    August 5th, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    Not necessarily, they´re all Erogenians after all. And for a priestess to ignore a fellow Erogenian wounds, should be a major cha downer for her. So she´s probably just following the code and Pontegar will perhaps even treat it like it´s his due.

    What I´m starting to wonder is, how all this will affect Mentl? Will they give him the joker card, and leave him alone because he´s foreign? Or will the bronze with Zona put him on the spot? Interesting times.

20. firegoat
    August 5th, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    What a remarkably sensible people these barbarians be! Smashing!

21. Jean
    August 5th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    I know the reason why the twins are there! Eye-candy for your lady readers, of course! *duh*

    I do wonder about Zona’s bracelet in the last panel. Her armband looks like it’s cutting into, even superimposed over, the twin’s arm, yet she’s in the background and he’s in the foreground… Are the muscles in his arm just that defined?

22. Kris
    August 5th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    While its unlikely we’ll find one among the Erogenians, someday we might just find a male without chiseled abs.

23. Kamatu
    August 5th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    Yep, this is fairly standard for this kind of culture (which isn’t all that primitive or far back, since some of it survives today in the USA despite the best efforts of some groups to stamp it out). Honorable arse whuppin’ followed by good eats.

24. Local Yokel
    August 5th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    The twins crack me up! Like cherubs with pecs, huge pecs. And they look so happy to have those huge cookies.

    “..And we are here to pump *clap* you up!”

25. Lictre
    August 5th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    Those aren’t cookies. That’s what a loaf of bread would be like if you made it in a dutch oven or covered iron kettle.

    Compare it to ciabatta bread, various cornbreads made in rounds.

26. Sage
    August 6th, 2009 at 1:37 am

    “We’ve, uh, got a jug of mead.”

    Translation: “My face hurts so very, very much, and I wish to drink away the sting of failure post-haste.”

27. Sage
    August 6th, 2009 at 1:37 am

    “Also I believe now is the time for DANCE!”

28. TheLastGarou
    August 6th, 2009 at 2:18 am

    To quote Harry Dresden, “I punched him in the nose. We’re friends now.”

29. Sleepinin
    August 6th, 2009 at 7:03 am

    LOL, nice one Garou, that’s one of my favorite lines in Turn Coat.

30. JE Draft
    August 6th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    Sleepinin - Yes, that is quite the difference between Pontagar and Maldik. Pontagar has more than his share of flaws, but he’s at least not a complete weenie. “Decent,” though? Well, we’ll see about that.

    Macnut - Well, there’s a balance, if you’ll forgive the term, between the way boys of equal stature settle their differences physically and the gleeful terrorizing of the weak or strange by the little playground Hitlers, which is also one of the charming habits children have. Somehow, I think a middle ground that is not quite so overprotective or cruelly indifferent can be reached.

    KernBrit - It’s an important social lubricant and whether there was a fight or not, it would have happened. Again, hospitality in the wilderness is very important, as Hugh points out. And as hans says, Tula’s attentions come without strings. It’s courteous not to send a fellow Erogenian out into the wilderness at less than his best if you can help it.

    firegoat - I think so, since they represent *my* personal ideals of what a sensible and free society would resemble.

    Jean - Well, yes, of course. But Pontagar was always written with them, even before I realized I would be attracting something other than fan-boys to Zona’s adventures. As to the percieved overlap, I promise you it’s not cutting into anything. Carshik’s shoulders are just that wide, and he’s cut.

    Kris - We had one already, unfortunately he got himself poisoned. While very fit and young, Hentic was decidedly not the Mr. Olympia type.

    Kamatu - Quite so, quite so. Though, as I said, they’re not necessarily directly related.

    Local Yokel - Dude! You just cracked *me* up. I never thought about “Hans und Franz,” but it’s perfect! =D

    Lictre - well, to be honest, they’re from Liri and Keltan, and to them they’re like cookies …

    Sage - I have to admit he came out looking slightly more pathetic and chastened than I’d planned for that panel. I almost felt sorry for him.

    And no, no dancing. YET.

    TheLastGarou - Great line!

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