September 1st, 2009
Page 304
Comics for September 1, 2009 - Page 304
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September 1st, 2009 at 12:21 am
Oh, WOW! Such strong allusion to “Dark Knight Returns”, the fight between Batman and the Mutant leader!
Young, Dumb and STRONG versus older, experienced and CANNY!
September 1st, 2009 at 12:23 am
But he’d better look out for a bear-hug style attack. He’s dodging by fractions, it looks like, and a bearhug would take a LOT of dodging from somebody that much bigger than him.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:30 am
Tethik may be -counting- on just that sort of tactic, Lictre - intentionally dodge by only a little, pop the Bull leader a couple times to make him even madder for a bull rush, then unload a Tethik Shuffle Suprise, TM.
…Which of course supposes that Tethik CAN handle a charging bull with his arms spread out, longhorn style for a bearhug. It’s doable to my limited knowledge of hand to hand combat, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the one trying it ^_^
This fight still looks like it could go either way; nice update
Loranna
September 1st, 2009 at 12:32 am
The problem is, the Bull Tribe captain can obviously take a lot of punishment, but I highly doubt Tethik can take even ONE punch from that guy.
Tethik had better do a finishing move before he gets too tired to dodge…
September 1st, 2009 at 1:08 am
Oh, it’s doable Loranna.
The real problem with it from Tethik’s perspective in THIS fight is that the most effective counter is to duck one of the arms and then kick out your opponents knee, not something likely to be looked on with favor since the only cure for a broken knee is either magic or months of immobilization. Even then the knee won’t ever be 100% again.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:42 am
My first impression: Oh… wow…
My second impression: Eww, yucch! (blood in the teeth)
My third impression: *imitates a certain Disney Duck* (just kidding!)
*applauds the artist* Nice! That is everything I’d expect from someone like Tethik.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:09 am
Dodging by a fraction is what it’s all about ^^ While the Bull leader wastes a lot of motion, Tethik moves as sparse as possible. Now he ’s mad enough to do something stupid as a wild charge and then he’s wide open to an equally economical counter attack (and down he goes
)
September 1st, 2009 at 3:24 am
As for a bull rush there are always trows that will use his momemtume to great appeal. Done right won’t take much from Tethik, and do alot of damage to they young Bull leader.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:00 am
You’re all missing the point. Tethik, while cool, is also HOT.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:39 am
Lictre, Tethik is utilizing, I believe, a technique (or something like) called half-step. It’s a short shift at the very last moment before an enemy attack reaches within the ideal distance and opens the ’stepper’ up to a WORLD of counter combos while the dodged is still in the middle of their attack.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:55 am
Tethik knows how to dodge!
(He should play dodgeball). lol
It takes a lot of practice to become good at dodging at the last instant, but if you can do it, then you can also counter attack while yout opponent is off balance. A very good fighting/defensive technique.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:18 am
Experience is worth more in a fight than brute strength. But regardless if Tethik wins or looses, he has proven his worth in the eyes of this young man.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:18 am
I wonder if this qualifies under Jean’s definition of cheesecake….
Still, tho, Tethik is owning his n00b ass, the only problem I can foresee is if his age catches up to him. If his endurance starts to waver, so does his speed, and if his speed starts to fall, it’ll only take a couple of hits from the Bull Tribe dude to knock our favorite nobleman down.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:23 am
Methinks the camera should pan down a bit more in the first panel…
Sorry, I’m a shameless skank when it comes to abs.
Anyway, I really want to see Tethik win this one; thus far, Erogenian hand to hand combat has looked pretty infallible, so it would be awesome for the count to pull this off.
September 1st, 2009 at 9:32 am
Oh hell yes. Master Tethik is going to elighten the young bull.
Sleepinin et al: All these comments about age! Agism is what it is. Seriously though, I’d peg Tethik in his mid 30s to early 40s and if he’s kept in shape (obviously), he’s lost very little, if any, of his speed and endurance. With continuous training and experience (which would offset any minor reduction in speed), that puts puts him right at the peak of his abilities. He’d probably not see any significant degredation until his mid 50s and even then, depending on genetics and lifestyle would be a very capable individual. Regarding the young bull landing a couple of devastating punches, meh… by the second panel it was obvious that Tethik knows how to take a punch and roll with it.
Forget about treachery. Age and experience will almost alway triumph over youth and naïveté.
Regarding movie references. JED, the first panel reminds so much of James Bond ala Daniel Craig.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:45 am
Is it just me or did the first panel make any one else laugh? I don’t quite know what it is. Tethik’s guard stance or the well muscled rear torso in the foreground making it look like a complete mismatch or Tethik’s very serious expression. But something about it is just funny.
Also I’ve always thought that Tethik is about the same age as Yannora which I think would at least put him into his 50’s. To still have a body like that he must exercise a lot in between court sessions and be very strict about what he eats, or be a super hero.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:05 am
A lot depends on if this is just social fighting to establish mutual toughness, which seems like the case given the previous exchange with Zona and pretty boy.
In that case there are boundaries to what is allowed and what isn’t, which makes things a lot more symbolic and manipulable. Like wolves fighting, lots of snarl and teeth - but no real blood and means to resolve before things get too serious.
If he is friends with the king like he says, he probably knows the game well enough for this.
But I wouldn’t bet on him in a serious fight. Big boy has a lot of mass on him. It takes a lot of skill and constant training to make up that sort of deficit against another trained fighter. That is why there are weight divisions in most fighting sports.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:31 am
@God: I’ll take that bet. JEDs pretty much a stickler for detail. I didn’t notice young bull pulling any punches, his first was an all out roundhouse with his body fully behind it. The second was a nasty upper cut which is a notorious neck/teeth/jaw breaker.
Tethik on the other hand, his first blow landed right on the mandibular joint which doesn’t take a lot of pressure to break or dislocate. Ditto for his second punch which was smack on the bridge of the nose and again is an easy break. In both cases young bull seems to have suffered none of the damage that a well trained fighter can inflict.
No, in this case I think Tethik is pulling his punches whereas the same can’t be said of young bull.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
My money is completely on Tethik. The young bull doesn’t know anything about conserving his energy. A few more haymakers and he’s going to start getting winded, and he’s starting to lose his cool, which means he’s about to make a stupid mistake. Tethik’s been goading him with his painful, carefully aimed smacks. It’s pure fisticuffs right now, but I’ll bet Tethik knows a few interesting throws or joint locks which he’s saving for later. Done right, Tethik can demonstrate superior proficiency and still inflict minimal damage, thus preserving his non-belligerent standing.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Ready
FIGHT!
September 1st, 2009 at 1:44 pm
So far, Tethik is ahead on points. Both blows were jabs with the left, please note. Let’s see what he can do with the right …
September 1st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I’d say Tethik is a little younger than Yanora; fewer wrinkles. Maybe start 40’s.
The only thing funny about his fighting stance is that he’s only protecting his head. But of course, if Donnil only goes for head punches then that makes sense.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Lora
I was thinking between forty and fifty, but I’ve seen sixty-year-olds that were in that kind of shape. In a really fit man, age shows on the face, neck, and hands before the body.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Yeah, the “Mongolian Tiger” was a kung fu champion for years, even into his early 70’s.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I pegged him closer to his late 40s, early 50s. He and the Queen have a conversation about how they’re both getting old. She has 2 sons old enough to sit on the throne, so that makes her at least in her late 40s, if not early 50s, and the two of them do seem to be contemporaries, generation/age-wise…
September 1st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
In France, when the development and carrying of the smallsword (which included the rapider, epee, saber and schlager blade types) came into fashion in the late 1500s…and street-duels became “popular” among warring household factions (think Romeo & Juliet),,,fully 1/3rd of France’s noble-born sons died within a 10 year span. The Crown tried to stop this “pop a cap on his a**” attitude by outlawing dueling to the death, but it wasn’t the warring factions themselves agreed to a code of conduct that the deaths slowed to a trickle.
That code of conduct was “first blood”. It was a test of skill rather than a test of brute force. Whoever drew the first blood in a fight, from whatever body part, won that fight, End Of Subject.
While the Erogenian culture is not the same as that of Europe in the late 16ht and 17th centuries…our boy Tethik did draw first blood. *salutes him with a swish of her amber-hilted smallsword*
Tethik, Tethik, he’s our man!
If he can’t do it– Ha! Of course he can!
September 1st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
*er, rapier
September 1st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I’m betting on Donnil at some pint going for a grappling attack (where he would have a definite, maybe overwhelming advantage). I’m guessing that tethik will counter with a dodge tothe side, slipping behind and going for a full or half-nelson.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Also note the “Krack!”. I’m guessing Mr. Bull Tribe is going to have a broken nose out of this, no matter what happens.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Tricksterson
If Donnil attempts wrestling, Tethic may stop fooling around with bouncing fists off bone, and start hitting the soft targets.
That last shot went to the forehead and bridge of the nose. Notice the blood pattern?
September 1st, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Jean
My god, I had no idea. Where on Earth did you pick up that bit of history?
September 1st, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Considering Tethik’s usual style of clothing (chain mail) and his court status (noble), he would have to have been a fighting man since his teens - and chain mail means broadword. He probably ought to have larger arms than shown here.
It really depends upon how similar our world here is to medieval times. He WOULD be getting on a bit by his 40s in the medeival world. But the queen could easily have practically adult sons and still be mid-30s.
However, her appearance says more like mid-to-late 40s early 50s and generally up close so does Tethik’s, I think. Smart noblemen never give up on their daily sword practice, tho’ so the fit-bod is not surprising. Never know when war wikk break out and the king will send you out to fit. Better to be prepared.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Er… that last line SHOULD have read ‘…when war WILL break out and the king will send you out to FIGHT.’
September 1st, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Also, this IS meant to be a somewhat ‘friendly’ fight, since both of them have handed over their swords for safe-keeping.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Tethik fights first and foremost, with his brain.
He’s been training both body and brain since childhood, most likely. No doubt he has many reflexes and moves committed to muscle memory that give him the *time* to analyze his opponents moves.
I vote Tethik wins. Decades of study, folks. Decades.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Tethik’s going to kick this boy’s ass. And then bed him. WOO!
September 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
I learned it in an SCA Ithra (college-style education system) lecture on the lethality of smallsword (aka rapier/fencing) fighting in late-period medieval history.
They did autopsies on the bodies of thousands dug up through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. Earlier bodies showed evidence of injures from “mass” weapons–aka broadswords, maces, flails–where the combattants recovered from their broken bones and massive bruises induced by the heavier blades and weapons they were using, and lived for many more years. The bodies of those in the later period, where street-fighting with lightweight swords was more common…far more people died from those injuries, mainly because they were stab wounds.
You see, it only takes 2-3 pounds of pressure for the point of a smallsword to pierce human flesh. (Rapier fighting in the SCA is done in “street clothes”, what they would have worn in the 1500s and early 1600s A.D. The SCA has very, very strict regulations about how many layers of what kind of fabric can be used to create rapier fighting armor, including that the material used and the garment in question just undergo a “punch test” using a broken-off schlager blade of X number of inches long, stabbing at X poundage of strength into the same spot 4 times in a row…and if it shows any wear and tear, it fails the punch test and cannot be used to fight in.)
Needless to say, in-period clothes weren’t nearly so tough and durable in construction, so it was disturbingly easy to wound and even kill an opponent in a street brawl. Literally, Romeo and Juliet, that opening scene where Romeo loses his best friend, that was what was happening in the 1500s. West Side Story in tights and doublets among the upper class.
…Yes, I’m a geek. Yes, what I do know is some really weird, obscure stuff. No, I don’t know everything. Honest. (I wish I knew even more…and yes, as I said, I am such a total geek…heehee)
September 1st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Jean
Thank you. I never got into SCA - I was well into my forties before I even heard of them, and have come to regret it. I have a growing interest in the middle ages; I’m reading a lot.
Just picked up a stack of books of Francis and Joseph Gies - they write a great deal about this period.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:54 pm
End it with a dance number! In speedos!
September 1st, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Khrys has the right idea. Really. Wouldn’t we all (okay, me and Jean) just love the beefcake illustrations? And Tethik would be such a great mentor for Junior there…in fighting and in bed.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:08 am
You women should suggest that for the hotstuff gallery. Them in a bed, sheets around their waists, showing tight abs while clinking together glasses of wine with free arms wrapped around each other.
Anyway. I’ll be on Tethik, although not as much as others are putting store in him. I think, sooner or later, Donnil (That was his name, right?) will get a lucky blow in, knocking Tethik a good hit in. As said earlier in the Comic (A ways earlier), no matter how good you are, all it takes is one idiot with a lucky blow….
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:14 am
Hey, I’d enjoy it, too! Of course, I’d not mind Tethik showing up in MY bed, either… It has been rather empty of late! Also, I meant to note before… Great Depth of Field! And last but not least, my Zona fanart using Vicki 4 is still in the works. I just can’t find quite the right outfit to fit her personality and sense of style. Of course… naked could work, I guess. XD
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:16 am
The Gies write great books! I own a handful of ‘em myself. And it’s never too late to join the SCA, just go to http://www.sca.org and look up your local chapter. (Presuming you’re in the US, Canada, Australia, and select portions of Europe and Asia, of course; alas, the SCA does not yet have any chapters in either Kivalia or Erogenia. *sigh*)
XD
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:17 am
(I’m still waiting for my double dose of twin cheesecake…though I wouldn’t say no to further servings in due time…)
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 am
It is a new month. WHY AREN”T YOU PEOPLE VOTING FOR ZONA?
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Jean
North Carolina. I think there was a big shindig in Pennsylvania recently, or Virgina. Or am I confusing that with the Renn Fair?
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm
This is not a life or death fight, this is just a young pup being taught some respect. Even if the fight is lost, he will still be respected more for his courage to stand up to the guy & give out some punishment.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Hi Guys;
I have missed you.
Doing overtime right now; see what happens when you go back to work after having surgery…. Just say NO! There “is” the small matter of a paycheck though….hmmmmm…..
It is good to see the respect back in these pages; its nice to play nice, thanks guys.
Nothing to add to the conversation really, except that my 2 bits are on Tethik.
Oh …. and Jean? We geek chicks Rock!…. oh and just for the record, I am 47 and do not look at all like Tethik or Yanora….. yet! Thank the Gods!
Be Well All;
Nytsky
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Notice how I’m not saying anything? Part of that is because I have only so much mental energy to devote to waking life this month (you JUST don’t wanna know. Suffice to say Teh Stupid has come back to bite the author in the ass in RL) and part of it is cuz I know how this little fracas is gonna end, and it’s fairly cool and I don’t wanna spoil anything …
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
It will end with titties, dancing and speedos for everyone. *nod*
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
I’d love to see a pin-up of Donnil cuddling up to Tethik, maybe laying his head on Tethik’s shoulder….
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 am
I love this page!
As for outcome, I’m expecting even honors, with Tethik winning the respect of all these young bucks.
Which is exactly what he is after.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:20 am
Fatuncle, every August in western Pennsylvania, a city is created entirely out of tents, wagons, campers, and the like. It even has its own postal zipcode, since so many people ship things via mail to this transient once-a-year city.
It is called Pennsic, and it is the Mecca of SCA events/pilgrimages. (Secular, of course, as there is a separation of Church and Society in the SCA Corpora rules & regs. But basically, it’s the goal of every SCAdian worth the name to make it to Pennsic “one day”…even if they live in the Kingdom of Lochac, aka Australia/New Zealand…)
Literally tens of thousands of people attend–the average for the warfield scenarios is 5,000, yes, FIVE THOUSAND men and women in armor, wielding rattan swords and shields–and it lasts for two whole weeks, with a week to set up beforehand and a week to tear down afterward…hence its month-long existence. The war scenarios start and end with the sound of a cannon firing, because the warfield zone is just that huge. They have classes in everything from documented medieval practices in animal husbandry to combat techniques with a zweihander. Their merchant’s area is a mile long, if you walk all of its rows and streets.
And one of these years…one of these years…I will go there.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 am
It will end with the bullheaded leader learning how to accept that a Kivalian is indeed worthy of striding freely through Erogenian lands, and with Tethik kissing his horse on the cheek. (For the offer of re-enacting the entire choreography of Riverdance, yet wisely refraining from actually doing so, since Tethik was busy re-enacting the fist-fight scene from one of the cooler James Bond movies that has a cool fist-fight scene in it.)
(There are too many James Bond movies.) X.X
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:36 am
And welcome back, Nytsky!
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:15 am
OK, I checked out that song by Space, Female of the Species.
The title and tagline are from a very old poem by Rudyard Kipling, entitled (duh!) the Female of the Species. The beginning goes like this..
When the Himalayan peasant
meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster,
who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted,
rends the peasant tooth and nail,
for the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
And he goes on to cite several more examples from the animal kingdom.
While Kipling is probably best known for his Jungle Books, and Just So Stories, I also have a collection of 6 slim volumes of his earlier work, written while he was a young man in India. These include Under the Deodars, The Light that Failed, Plain Tales from the Hills, and a few others.
These stories show another side of Kipling. He can be cynical, idealistic, a raging misogynist in one breath, and almost a feminist in the next. His attitudes toward the peoples of India was a very sympathetic one. He was born in Bombay, after all. He was not blind to the racism of the English, and its basic injustice. But on the other hand, neither was he entirely free of that racism.
Kipling is also sometimes called a racist, because of a poem called “The White Man’s Burden”. In spite of this, if you read the poem, it perfectly predicts and describes the behavior of developed nations in the Third World today.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Jean
In regards to the Riverdancing warhorse — thank goodness! I wouldn’t mind the dance numbers, but several parts of that score are vocal numbers, with no dancing at all — and that horse has a simply dreadful singing voice. Sort of a high, whinnying quaver in the upper register …
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:07 pm
@Jean - There can never be enough James Bond movies. Although Roger Moore did get tedious. “The world Is Not Enough” I was glad to see them tighten up the Bond franchise with Daniel Craig and a harder storyline although he is another one of those wussy actors who dislikes ‘guns’.
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Jean, get your Pennsic when you can. It is awesome. Didn’t get to fight this year, had to leave unexpectedly, BUT next year I will be. Anyway, seeing the two of these go against each other made me think of a phrase that I have heard around the SCA…. “Old swordsmen get that way by being very good.”
September 4th, 2009 at 12:01 am
That kind of reminds me of Terry Pratchetts comment about Cohen the Barbarian, “He lived to be a very old man doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, he did it by being very good at not dying.”
See also Dylan Thomas:
Do not go Gentle into that Good Night
Old age should Burn and Rage at Close of Day
Rage, Rage against the Dying of the Light
September 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
That
August 29th, 2011 at 12:30 am
Yeats, not Thomas.