August 13th, 2010
Page 387
Comics for August 13, 2010 - Page 387
|
|
 |
 |
Support Your Local Barbarian Princess!
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jul | Sep » | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
| THIS WEEKS FEATURED |
 |
| FAN-GUY |
|
 |
|
| MustaphaMond |
| Willow Creek, CALIFORNIA |
|
| Are you in the market for a new or pre-owned boyfriend? Our special this week features an IT Consultant with a love for the outdoors. A Silicon Valley native, he grew up in San Jose before studying engineering in Sa....more |
|
| FAN-GAL |
 |
|
| Willowy |
| Austin, TEXAS |
| Have been a comic book reader my entire life, love everything Joss Whedon has done or will do (exception: Dollhouse - sorry Eliza), and Star Trek and Star Wars are in my permanent personal lexicon. Also love Western....more |
Home | Who We Are | Create/Update profile | My Account Portal | Member Search Scan
Chatrooms | Forums | Scan Image Banks | Scan Blogs | Scan Fan-Fic| The Dealer’s Room
Testimonials | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | FAQ | Contact Us | Advertise With Us | Site Map
Membership Upgrade | Help | Soul Geek Community Safety Tips | Convention Blog | SoulGeek Webcomics
Soul Geek Gurus | News Update | SoulGeekTV | Downloads, etc... | Who Are Our Mascots? | Be On SoulGeekTV
August 14th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
hmmm
August 14th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Just about EVERY fricken night?
Well that changes quite a bit.
So as in most love stories there´s this “rocky” part where the relationship falls apart?
Really hope you´re not going full force for that tired old arc.
August 14th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Like I said before though, magic is not true love and true love is not magic. Have faith…
August 14th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Yep, the penny has dropped. Along with the other shoe AND a ton of bricks. Looks like Mentl is going to be made to believe (along with Ipola and her advisors) that he “enchanted” Zona into loving him.
And how much do you want to bet that Tula’s counter-arguments to this WON’T be taken too seriously because they’ll think SHE’S enchanted as well? Obviously they don’t think Mentl did it on purpose, but they do seem to think he did it. More importantly, HE’S going to think he did it.
Yep, things are about to get real rough for Mentl over the next week or so…
August 14th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
…and probably for Zona too.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
@hans I hear you, but it really is necessary to go through something like this to maintain the internal logic of the story. (i.e. somebody falling in love with a powerful untrained enchanter singing love songs every night.)
Besides, we should have faith in J.E. Draft, he hasn’t let us down yet, has he?
August 14th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
I agree, this is necessary. How much of Zona’s feelings are song-induced and how much are true feelings, JED will eventually reveal.
I do think this is interesting, though…because if he’s been singing them just about every night, the few nights he -wouldn’t- have sung them would’ve been a) with the giants, and b) with Ponty & the Twins.
Which means there are a lot of nights in there when Tula was around. Mind you, she had magical fortitude (one presumes, as a priestess) on her side, but if Mentl’s been singing almost every night, she’s been exposed and exposed and exposed…which would surely wear down anyone’s defenses, even hers…yet she isn’t in love with him. (Only as a sister for a brother, if anything…)
Most importantly, Tula’s comment about the cha being balanced between Mentl and Zona. If Mentl had enthralled Zona…surely someone like Tula could see the imbalance of his power over her?
August 14th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
If I were Mentl, I’d freak out for a moment, then stop and find my nerve. THen make a list of all the songs I’d sung to Zona.
Then do a damage assessment
August 14th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
This is a very serious and necessary development in the story we have come to love. The test of the hearts.
And if/when it gets out that Mentl may have enchanted their lovely Zona…
There will be some butthurt barbarians bent on bard-bashing.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Finally !!!
August 15th, 2010 at 12:53 am
I have so much respect for you Mr Draft. Excellent plot development. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
Your dialogue and emotional portrayals are always so amazing. And I foresee plenty of it here.
This is going to be so great.
Moox
August 15th, 2010 at 1:12 am
@Jean: “Which means there are a lot of nights in there when Tula was around…..if Mentl’s been singing almost every night, she’s been exposed and exposed and exposed…which would surely wear down anyone’s defenses, even hers…yet she isn’t in love with him. (Only as a sister for a brother, if anything…)”
She may only have sisterly love for Mentl, but those are still rather STRONG feelings for a man she’s only known a couple of months. Which is why, as I mentioned before, her opinion may not count as strongly with the Queen and her advisors as it would otherwise, especially since they’ve experienced Mentl’s power firsthand. She may be considered a victim of enchantment herself, even though the effect may be different.
Like you said, Jean, she’s been exposed to Mentl’s power nearly as much as Zona. Logic follows that if they consider Zona to be ensorcelled, they’ll think the same of Tula.
Yep, this is going to be very bad for our favorite couple.
August 15th, 2010 at 1:55 am
You know, Tula may walk off to …meditate… during the chanting, to give them their privacy, like she did the first time, when she came back with her “uh, wow” moment…
August 15th, 2010 at 3:24 am
Huh. I wonder how the priestess learned about “love songs”?
This might be heartbreaking to watch. =( I really feel for Mentl right now, and I especially worry about how Zona is going to react to all this.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:37 am
Zona is going to flip, drop kick the old woman, and smack her mother. I cant watch. (lifts hands over eyes and peaks between fingers.)
August 15th, 2010 at 3:40 am
Time to learn a cleansing chant i guess.
But somehow i do think their love i real.
Now all that is left is to prove it…
And thats going to be hard.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:18 am
I’m surprised I would have thought that there would be a much bigger freak out. More “oh God” than “oh boy”. I’m waiting on the next page to see if it’s a delayed reaction. Still nice page that snake thing is really striking. The pacing is really good too.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:50 am
agree with adamzero. Start going through the catalog and see what I’d possibly been doing to her. Everyone else seems to be taking it pretty well though
August 15th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Has Zona ever been affected by any other magics Mentl has sung?
I suspect that both sisters are immune to his magic.
Forgotten the old ghost/spirit dude’s name, but I think he would have stopped both Tulla and Zona being affected by the songs.
Otherwise…
August 15th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Ipola and the Holies (There’s a name for a rock band) have little reason to be angry. Mentl has risked his life for Zona once, saved her and Tula, and the only thing he’s really gotten out of it is lots of sex, which is apparently not a big deal. They’re more concerned about what he *could* do to her, I’m guessing. Also, my respect for Ipola will plummet if she’s been unable to see by now that Mentl isn’t the manipulative type. If he has such power, he could easily be ‘getting’ much more than he has, any way you look at it.
Also, despite what Ipola may think, things Zona has said make me fairly sure, even under enchantment, she could pick up on someone who’s ‘after’ her for what she is instead of just wanting her for herself.
What’s really being tested is Mentl’s self-confidence, which, given the ‘I always fuck everything up’ statements he’s made, doesn’t seem too high. That’s why this is necessary—he’s got to get over that before he can stand up to Shuach (or whatever it’s name is), who, like every Big Bad ever hatched, is bound to play real head games.
Anyway, Ipola and Co would be batshit insane to inform the tribe, given Mentl’s power and his lack of training (which, incidentally, is what I hope this little conference is really about). It’d be a slaughter, and not in the Moonies’ favor.
August 15th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
*Sighs.* Okay, who else saw this sort of thing coming? Ah well. I suppose we can always find out f it’s the music’s effect or Mentl himself if he takes a break from singing the love balads.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Gnyah…
That’s one fist-in-the-groin of a realization. :S
August 15th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
@Jean. “…Tula’s comment about the cha being balanced between Mentl and Zona. If Mentl had enthralled Zona…surely someone like Tula could see the imbalance of his power over her.” The balance is everything in this culture. I’d be hard pressed to believe that “Ipola and the Holies ” (I love that, Raoul) are so quick to judge. What if all this is just a test to see just how pure Mentl’s heart and resolve is. Of course, most tests of this sort are based on a ruse. Even if there is good intentions, how would it square with the cha.
Only time and JED will tell…
August 15th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Heh. I thought of this pretty much from the page that Mentl first sang to her. From my viewpoint, it’s a pretty easy thing to check: dispel any magic on Zona and see if anything changes. Almost all settings that have magic have a way to remove it. Of course, Mentl should have thought of this back when he first sang at the castle…
August 15th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
The way I see it, Mentl’s been singing his love FOR Zona, not AT her. There is a big difference! I would wager that everyone will find that out pretty quickly, particularly if he drops it. Zona still has a lack of deep confidence in her own desirability for HERSELF, and not just as heir. They are indeed well matched, as each fulfills a need and a general soft point in the other.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
There is one thing Mentl might think over, half the songs he sings are about the singers love for the girl. Probably more than the girl’s love for the singer. Is it possible for Mentl to enchant himself to love Zona as well?
August 15th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
A good point, Karyl. The question is, can Mentl or Ipola and the Holies (good name for a band, I agree) see the forest for the trees?
Eh, I hope Mentl gets some nerve here and tells them off if they try to pass off some kinda “you’ve been enchanting her the whole time” kinda crap.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Vito (who I still think might be Mentl from the future) once hinted that he should enjoy it while he lasted, because nothing lasts forever.
If Tula and Ipola were tempted, it’s entirely possible that the feelings of Zona, who has no magical aptitude, stem not from true love, but from the magic in his song. Obviously, I’m rooting for love with the rest of you, but without taking the author’s choice into account, the more likely outcome here is that Zona really is under a spell.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Oh wow, I’d really thought Mentl had at least considered this possibility! Not a good time to be blindsided with this. When he was first informed of his powers, he seemed to feel very guilty about them, and I’d thought it was because he was thinking that Zona only loved him because of his songs. He spent so much time wondering how a goddess like Zona could ever fall for him, I was sure this thought would have occurred to him once he found out about his troubador powers.
Personally, I feel (hope!) that their love is genuine, but Mentl’s going to have a hard time proving that point, especially when put on the spot.
Others seem to be arguing that the lyrics of the songs would have made Mentl fall in love, not Zona, but that seems to me to be a moot point. Mentl’s power seems to be focused around the feeling, the atmosphere of the song, and those songs were about being head over heels in love. They certainly made every other female in his vicinity fall hard for him. Was it any different when, say, The Beatles sang these songs? They were singing about their love for an imaginary girl and it still made every fangirl weak in the knees.
So it is certainly possible that Mentl was casting love spells without his knowledge, but I still think Zona’s love is true. As she’s said, she loves him because he respects her, adores her, makes her feel womanly, and is the only man she’s been with who doesn’t want to best her or conquer her. To me, that sounds like more than just magical compulsion.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Actually, I think it’s a combination of both. If you look back at the earliest pages in the archive, you can see how Zona’s attraction to him is both rapid and intense. However, since she first “fell” for him, she’s come to see how sweet he is. How brave. How honest. How compassionate. By contrast, every other person affected (male AND female, let’s not forget how Tethik responded just as strongly as the queen after Mentl’s performance with the court troubadors) has been intensely sexually attracted for a brief period…and then it wears off. Though of course, “almost every night” implies a continuous reapplication of the enchantment.
However, Ipola’s already made it clear she trusts Mentl. She doesn’t think for a moment that Mentl is using her daughter - and there seems to be no doubt in ANYONE’S mind that Mentl’s love for Zona is very real and non-magically influenced. Inola seems to be focused on a combination of maternal concern for her daughter with her concern for her new friend and guest, and with a more executive level concern for this powerful but untrained enchanter who has repeatedly demonstrated shock and terror at his own strength.
My bet’s on Ipola reassuring Mentl and then reiterating her offer of training, before helping to counsel him on how to cope with the undeniable possibility that Zona’s feelings for him may be due to magic more than his own virtues… though at this point, his combination of moral qualities, magical power far beyond the strength of any soldier’s arm, and an almost submissive devotion to his supposed “magically compelled love slave” make his worthiness to court the princess increasingly obvious to the rest of the Tribe, if not to Mentl himself…
August 16th, 2010 at 6:49 am
” I still think Zona’s love is true. As she’s said, she loves him because he respects her, adores her, makes her feel womanly, and is the only man she’s been with who doesn’t want to best her or conquer her. To me, that sounds like more than just magical compulsion.”
..that is a very accurate summation, Tomecko.
August 16th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Ah, we hit a good point of the issue. Even if Mentl IS accidentally enchanting her, he himself is 100 percent nuts about her. The fact is that he *might* be accidentally enchanting her, but he isn’t a) doing it on purpose, or b) is cognizant of that. Which are some major mitigating factors.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:04 am
But if Mentl IS accidentally enchanting Zona, what happens when the enchantment is removed? Will Zona still love him? THAT is the $10,000 question that will haunt Mentl from this point on until it’s resolved, one way or the other.
August 16th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Zona is under a spell. The question is will it last and is it something that would have happened without the musical assist. I think it will survive the upcoming crisis of confidence. If not then lets get it over with.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Not much I can say here, that won’t be said tomorrow with the actual update. But don’t worry. Things are gonna be just fine, no problems, no conflicts, insecurities or any consequences whatsoever. Because this is a Disney book aimed at K-3rd graders, after all …
Wait. No, no. It isn’t that. Oh …
So maybe something will happen. Hmmm.
As usual, thanks for all the chatter. It assures me that Mentl and Zona’s story is at least interesting enough to keep your interest.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
So cruel you are JED. You just might be cruel enough to make it that Zona was indeed enchanted, and that once the enchantment’s removed not only will she not love Mentl, but she’ll hate his guts for enchanting her!
But no, you wuoldn’t be THAT mean to your readers, would you? Would you? JED? Hello JED? Hello? Hello? Bueller? Oh crap….
August 16th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Tula made her comment about Zona and Mentl’s being balanced before she ever heard Mentl sing.
While we’re at it, it seems apparent Zona was affected by the song, but the obvious impact was to get her in the mood right then. I don’t think it affected her long term feelings.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
/I have a sneaking suspicion that when Tula finds out what’s going on, one of two things is going to happen: If Ipola & co. have been respectful of Mentl and are just trying to sort out what’s going on as carefully as possible, she’s probably just going to tell them to stop being rediculous and get down to helping him control his magick a little better. If, on the other hand, they’ve actually managed to trample on Mentl’s self-confidence and convince him that the only reason Zona loves him is because he’s enchanted her, I suspect that she’s going to blow a gasket or three, and probably with some considerable weight behind it given her position and power level. Plus, it’s quite possible that the fact that she’s watched their relationship blossom, both socially AND magickally, that she can prove how far off Ipola & co. are (at least I hope they are - all indications have been that Mentl and Zona’s relationship is NOT about magick - at least no more than any real love is).
Ipola may be Queen, but she’s not infallable - and if Zona hears about this and gets her blood up, there may be more than a balancing of cha to deal with…
August 16th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
You Just have to know that in all this magical land scape there is a test for true love that can be administered by Tula any time Zona asks for one.
Though Zona probly does not want to know the truth right now since she is so sure of her love for Mentl. As the song goes “Tell me why cant”this be love.”
August 16th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Well, I guess it’s time to separate the two main characters, as well as nerf Mentl’s enchanting towards Zona, and see if after all that’s done that their hearts stay where they are now.
Only then I believe any doubts will be erased. Of course this will fill many a moon and many a comic strip’s pages… ;2)
August 16th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
…Now that’s an interesting question. If they have to part ways for, oh, say, six months…does this count toward the silver chain path partnership parting-of-ways-for-six-months, or whichever one it was?
August 16th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
I’m with Cegiel-FINALLLY! The only real problem here I imagine will be Mentl’s insecurities. Zona’s tribe has a long history of understanding magic being used to make “friends” / control people according to the history that Tula shared with us. I am betting that The Holy Trio of The Mother, The Shaman and Holy Priestess will have a way to check….BUT that it will NOT be cut-and-dried.