Comments on: Page 328

By: Autokrator

Autokrator — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:46:09 +0000

Now, love the outdoor throne set-up, but I’m hoping they have an in-door place. Would be a bitch having to hold court out in the rain- hard to maintain that queenly, distant beauty when your clothes are soaked through and you’re trying to negotiate trade agreements.

By: ExPaladin

ExPaladin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Hmm. Not bad.

By: Sarge

Sarge — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:47:03 +0000

A ‘fast gun’ wasn’t somebody who could do a quick-draw, it was somebody who pulled a gun with little provocation. There were lots of killers in the Old West (if not as many as Hollywood would have us believe), but few gunfighters who faced their opponents. Commodore Perry Owens (yes his real name, his mommy had a pash for the War of 1812 heeero) was one.
I read an account once of a “street walkdown” style gunfight. Happened in Colorado in the 1850s. Two ‘mountain men’ had a serious disagreement, so they arranged a duel. They would walk down the town’s main street at each other. They were both armed with a Hawken rifle, a Colt .44 Dragoon revolver, and knives. They started walking and each fired their rifles and hit the other (these were BIG rifles that could kill a buffalo). They kept walking and started shooting the big revolvers. They ended up in the dust, full of lead (IIRC they hit each other six times with the pistols), and crawled towards each other until they were close enough to whittle with their big knives. After carving for a while, they both died.
Whatever they had disagreed about, it was SERIOUS….

By: Sockpuppet

Sockpuppet — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:29:02 +0000

yea, Hollywood has really distorted the old west. Quick draw wasn’t something they actually did….and they certainly didn’t have competitions (ALA The Quick and the Dead). People were too concerned with SURVIVAL to worry about stupid things like that. Also…HURRY JED! HURRY! I’m on pins and needles here!

By: Your Metal God.

Your Metal God. — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:26:07 +0000

@JED Ah I am sorry for earlier. It was one of those things I regretted as soon as I posted. I love the comic, and the characters in particular. Everytime I see Zona, I am reminded of my sister’s rants against the treatment of women in fantasy rpgs, how they were almost universally spellcasters who wore practically nothing. She would love Zona. Yatta just sticks out to me as a weak link where all the other characters are so dynamic. But I will have my eye on him, and see if he lives up to other’s expectations. I really don’t mean to be negative. I guess we do hurt the ones we love, hehe.

By: The MacNut

The MacNut — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:17:48 +0000

@Jim Farris; “the reality of the old west was that bushwhacking and backshooting were the most common methods used by both the bad guys and the lawmen who chased them.” (paraphrasing JED)

Well, those tactics make sense unfortunately. Think about it; if you know you’ve got to face down some guy you kNOW is armed and has some skill with his weapon, do you REALLY want to take him on face-to-face and give him a halfway-decent chance to kill you?

Not if you place any value at all on your life you don’t. Even modern law-enforcement tactics embrace “bushwhacking”; when law-enforcement agents go after known criminals they almost always go with SWAT teams and snipers and try to surround and overwhelm the suspect with vastly superior force.

By: Fatuncle

Fatuncle — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:47:37 +0000

Hwyla

One, there is a red cushion under Ipola, and two, Her Majesty doesn’t strike me as the sort of ruler who sits down on the job.

By: Jim Farris

Jim Farris — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:05:49 +0000

@JED:

You wrote:

“I think of that as the exception that proves the rule, like an actual gunfight where a quick-draw really decides it, rather than bushwhacking and back-shooting which is what really happened in the old west most of the time.”

Exactly right. One of the most widely-known “fast draw” artists in the Old West was a man by the name of John Wesley Hardin. Legend has it that Hardin had shot many a man face-to-face after they had drawn, but long before his opponent even had a chance to pull the trigger. He did this by wearing a shoulder holster and crossing his arms - his right hand was already on the butt of his gun. Though Hollywood has glamorized the myth of the formal “showdown at high noon”, the reality of the old west was that bushwhacking and backshooting were the most common methods used by both the bad guys and the lawmen who chased them.

By: Hwyla

Hwyla — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:36:49 +0000

I’m ashamed to admit it, but my first thought about panel one was about how darn cold that stone throne must be when Ipola sits upon it with nothing but just a thin piece of gauzy fabric to barely cover her butt.

I suppose it’s high summer, so it might be warm enough, but I bet it’s pretty chilly first thing in the morning!

By: JE Draft

JE Draft — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:01:50 +0000

LucastheLost - that is only a move used as a desperation measure! ;

Addup2 - I envy you. The whole countryside is very nice in the movie. Not saying I’d like to build a Summer home there …

Peregrin - I have the book, and yet have not sat down and read the whole thing. A good project for after I finish Joseph Campbell.

As to side-kickiness or side-questiness, not tellin’! And here is the only time I enjoyed watching Jar-Jar Binks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ_9wOTUdU0&feature=related

Your Metal God - Well, one hopes that our plans for Yatta-ta will not disappoint you too terribly. It is definitely not a fight to the death today.

Jim Farris - I think of that as the exception that proves the rule, like an actual gunfight where a quick-draw really decides it, rather than bushwhacking and back-shooting which is what really happened in the old west most of the time.

Formal duels were the pastime of the elite, and chivalry was actually hardly ever practiced from the time it was invented to flatter Queen Eleanor in the 12th Century. Yes, no doubt you could be made a pin cushion and survive if you were actually good enough or lucky enough to avoid having your brain transfixed or a major artery opened, but if you were any good at all, that’s what you aimed for, at least until the days of the small sword and the pistol duels. All of which are not things we’re interested in in our fantasies, and so tonight I hope to have a few more panels of action to show you that will not be terribly realistic, but should be moderately good fun.