More Life & Death

[Andrew Navaro]

Hello, everyone.  

Now that "Life & Death" has had its run on the Adept Press site, I've posted the entire strip as well as the original rough drafts on my website.  I personally enjoy investigating the subtle differences between rough sketches and finished pieces, so, if you're at all like me, I invite you to check it out.  Here's the link: http://www.andrewnavaro.com/trollbabe.html.

Thank you all for reading the strip.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Take care,
Andrew Navaro

[jrs]

Hi Andrew,

I really enjoyed the recent Trollbabe comic and your artwork in it.  And, thanks for sharing the sketches; I particularly like the one of Mooramah.

Julie

[Ron Edwards]

Hi everyone,

Working with Andrew, both here and with some illustrations for Mongrel, has been a great experience. It's a lot like working with Rod Anderson, in that we bounce discussions of the characters back and forth and then revise the script.

In this case, the original script was only 6 strips long. We expanded Vanth's character and revised the ritual a couple of times, and the whole story improved immeasurably.

The one thing I'd change, now that I see the whole thing, is that I'd like a caption in the panel that shifts to the Trollwoods, which makes it clear that Tha isn't in the city as Fergus looks for her, and that the man accompanying her is Oskar, not Fergus.

In other words, Tha's so busy with her own weirdness that she's not available to help a friend. But maybe I can clarify that in future strips.

Best,
Ron

Quick edit: the next story is under way, but we are experiencing website delay hassles. It is "We All Have Issues" by me and Jonathan Walton, and it will either pop up this week or next Monday, I'm not sure.

[Alan]

The one thing I'd change, now that I see the whole thing, is that I'd like a caption in the panel that shifts to the Trollwoods, which makes it clear that Tha isn't in the city as Fergus looks for her, and that the man accompanying her is Oskar, not Fergus.

Ohhhhh!  I was having a hard time understanding why Tha had cast a spell to kill the guy who was looking for her.

[Andrew Navaro]

Ohhhhh!  I was having a hard time understanding why Tha had cast a spell to kill the guy who was looking for her.

Ron and I were hoping that the swirling image of a fetus in the air above Tha in the first panel of Week 7, in conjunction with her history - established in previous strips - of being obsessed with having a child, would make it clear that Tha wasn't casting a spell to kill Fergus, but was instead attempting to become pregnant by magical means.

When I did the final version of that panel, I got a little carried away, and I knew almost immediately that the illustration was too large for the frame.  I cropped it as best I could, but it just didn't do the image justice.

Here's the original, unframed illustration.  I hope it helps to clear any confusion.

http://www.andrewnavaro.com/images/trollbabe/tha's-ritual.jpg

Enjoy!

Andrew Navaro

[Ron Edwards]

That is such a beautiful illo, Andrew ...

Hey everyone, check out:
"Tha studies human magic" from The Birthroot Bargain
"Tha is a mistress of death magic!" from Holy Trollers
4th strip in Avatar is Plenty
Final panel in Dusty Musty Wisdom
The two panels of "moron" dialogue in Vengeance is Mine, Saith the Worm

Quite the trollbabe icon we're developing here!

Best,
Ron

[jrs]

Ron,

It's been interesting looking back at the Tha strips.  The similarities between Life & Death and The Birthroot Bargain are particularly striking.  

In Life & Death, Tha makes the statement, "No price is too great, Mooram-ah" with the fetus swirling over head, and in the very same strip is the dead body of Fergus (7th strip, first and last panels).  A very similar sequence of events occurred in The Birthroot Bargain where there's a conversation between Mooram-ah and Tha about Tha's willingness to pay the price for birthroot (2nd strip, last panel).  Later in that story, there's the narration that "A death ... pays for life" (6th strip, last panel).  

It shouldn't be too surprising that it appears that Fergus' death can be directly attributed to Tha's ritual.  Especially, since there is no other evidence of the "price" Tha incurred from conducting the ritual.

Julie

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Julie, symbolically and thematically speaking, you're right on target.

It comes down to Tha being so wrapped up in her own personal quest that she isn't available when a friend really needs her help. So yeah, Fergus is "sacrificed" to her needs - and who knows, maybe this is a karmic thing or something similar.

But I hope to make it clearer in a later story that Tha did not intentionally assassinate Fergus specifically through her ritual. Even if the ritual did open him up, metaphysically, to assassination - which is quite likely, as Tha has repeatedly demonstrated that she hurls around major magic without regard for "ripple effect' consequences.

Best,
Ron