Issue 20, Page 16
Transcript
1: In the darkness, the serpent’s head peeks out of the shadows in front of her into a bright spotlight.
Tazim-Talash: I knew you could do it…
2: Multiple, identical heads push into the light.
Tazim(s): MORTAL.
3: Rhoda recoils as bright light overtakes her.
4: She is in the bloody red-skied astral realm, before her is revealed the true, towering form of Tazim-Ta’ash: a writhing tower of worm-like snakes, all coiled around a dark gnarled tree with a multitude of glowing bulbs and flourishing flowers that match the flowers the serpent has in its antlers. In the foreground, standing on a floor of distorted astral flesh, Rhoda looks pathetically minuscule compared to the monolithic scale of the god-tree.
I wonder if he/she/it has ever been to a place called Eden.
… Okay… Didn’t see the many heads thing coming… So…
A.
1. That’s A LOT more than three heads near the bottom of that tree.
2. Now I’m just wondering if this is good or bad! He could have sounded happy that she’d figured this out. There could have been malice in the statement. Who knows. But uh… His title, his name, could either be a really good sign, or a really bad one. On the one hand, telling a lie and cages? Perhaps this guy is involved in helping the humanoid society exist, telling lies to keep them sane, making a cage to keep them in their solid, not TOWC forms. Or, on the other hand, perhaps everything he’s said is a lie, and he’s about to trap her soul and physical body forever in some way, shape, or form. Because what does summoning him like this mean? Will we see the deer noodle ever again, or instead the tree? Perhaps we’ll never see either, heck, maybe the tree will “blossom”, and send some baby thing for her to have stalk her around. I dunno… Will she gain even more forbidden powers and knowledge through metaphorically and literally listening to what can almost but not quite be called a snake (with antlers, flowers, and roots all included too! Oh, but the branches are sold separately)? Will it entrust her or let her go, do what mortals do? Or is this the last we see of Rhoda, like this? Is she about to have her body, and soul, both, changed, much like Sedj and Julia in some ways? Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. Maybe it’ll be for the best, or for the very, horribly worst. Guess we’ll find out…
B.
Sorry if this was stated clearly before, but did we ever hear what happened to Rhoda’s lizard buddy who kind of led to her learning about some of this in the first place?
C.
I’m going all philosophical again, WOO!!!
In this story, what is a soul, a life?
I was wondering, because of what counts as an “afterlife”, and the feeding and merging of the TOWC in this story.
When the piece of the idol was beinf studied waaay back, a big thing that stood out (radiation testing aside) was that, 1. It does appear to EAT animal flesh, and 2. It seems to MERGE with anthro/earth humanoid beings. Is this saying that animals in this world, don’t possess a soul, or go to “an afterlife” (All dogs DON’T go to heaven?)? Or that they do, just perhaps a… Separate one. Is it about intelligence? The path in evolution it took? If you out a cow and a dolphin next to TOWC, would it take them in in the same, or different ways?
In that history flashback, when a certain gun-slinging bird was helping a bug save their babies, did what counted as a mother, that had turned large and feral, have a soul after the change in mind? What about the new martian friends, or the raptors? Do they have someplace they go to?
What counts as alive, in a world where the line between the living, and the in the process of being consumed by eldritch deities dead, are blurred?
D.
This is more of a not related, but still kiiind of related thought I had about the story. I was looking through the extras section, and I stumbled upon an ask the characters area. My first thought was, “oh my gosh, non-captured/changing Julia, woo! My next thought was… MAN, how would that skunk guy Nicole feel NOW? When asked who they think is the “prettiest”, the answer is Sedjet. Gotta wonder though, what would they think of his hair, figure, and cooking now? Also, to answer the question of “what ‘black sludge monster’… That one Nicole. That one….
E. (Man, I’m doing the who alphabet today!)
When Julia travelled through a wormhole, to another world, what if all she saw there, wasn’t a hallucination? What would THAT mean (*sigh*, I ask that too much)? Now that I’ve thought, and thought about it too much,I… Think it might be a good sign, for those in the story that care for diversity, individuality, and life in the universe.
If partially infected (still makes my stomach turn) Julia is to be believed, then there was no anti-blob radiation there, which is how she started to change in the first place.
If that’s the case, if she wasn’t getting sicker than we know she did (if you count TOWC as a sickness), how was there life that wasn’t… Well, black tooth tentacle blobs?
1. It’s like the Martians! Maybe life can evolve in the universe, seperate from the ooze, incapable of being turned into it. No, instead of joining in the club, they have to deal with the threat of one daying being attacked, because they’re incapable of being merged. Perhaps?
2. Life, earth-type life, has the potential to gain a “immunity”, to TOWC, to an extent. We see how long Julia lasted after she got back. We also have seen that Rhoda can resist a little. What if, over time, radiation went down over on the planet, but it did it so slow, that the organisms there adjusted? Wouldn’t that be weird (weirder than a black flesh thing that both is and isn’t the entire population of a planet?)?
3. A bit of both. Maybe THAT’S why our alien friend looks so similar to all the earth-based characters we’ve learned to know of, more so than the bugs that visited waaay back. Long ago, way further back than the wild west part maybe, what if earth life, such as the people of the planet, in some prehistoric, unknown time, teleported or began to fly off into the cosmos, still with the threat of the lack of now essential radiation? Maybe it was higher back then, leaving Mars in a “goldilocks zone” of sorts. But then, it grew lesser, and lesser. And then marvin and his friends, found themselves stranded on the planet, because no one on earth had developed the strength to be individuals without the radiation, and because… Well, something happened out there, to keep them on the red planet for a bit.
Of course. Even if this theory is true, TOWC can still try, and judging by the damage they did to Sedjets colleague, still easily succeed, in harming, killing, maybe even eating them, whether they’ll give themselves up or not.
……
But hey! That’s just a theory!!! A COMIC THEORY!!!
(… Nah, doesn’t roll off the tongue. Oh well. Maybe next time).
That was one wall of text that wasn’t expected when I went to read this, but it’s rather interesting, also, your either Mat Pat or his twin brother
XD
Maybe, maybe not. It hasn’t been proven yet. Weirder things could happen though!
A. Based on issue 3, I’m going to assume all the intelligent animals in this world do have a soul. The Mothman would do anything to keep his soul tethered to the living world after seeing the horrors of the afterlife, especially the one winged goddess with the vagina teeth on her chest. So I’m guess when mortals die a normal death, their souls are eaten or consumed by this goddess. Though it is still unclear what happens if someone is completely absorbed by the Black Idol/TOWC. Since Sedjet’s body transformed on its own, he appears to have kept his soul, even it’s technically part of the Black Idol now. Julia who is partially transformed still has an intact soul. So uh, maybe all that will be revealed in this issue.
B. Rhoda’s lizard buddy was last seen locked up at the mental institution in issue 3, page 24. Since Julia had to pull strings to get Rhoda free, I think its safe to assume Reen (the lizard) is still there locked away.
Don’t know why I hadn’t clocked it til I read your “deer noodle”.
I wonder if Tazim-Talash has any links to the great horned serpents of Native American folklore ore if they’re more a an eastern dragon basis.
Something else to spin theories about
Hmm, could be just be my perception, but the blue serpentine tendrils don’t look like they are part of the actually tree underneath; I’m reminded of the parasitic ‘strangler fig’, which wraps around trees and literally chokes the life out of them. Could this demon be a parasite on some sort of ‘Tree of Life’?
And before I forget.
1. Are those white orb things some REALLY weird apples, or is Rhoda about to see a bunch of captured souls/soul blobs (like after she took in the spirits that went in Mel and Julia)?
2. MAN, it was really nice to hear how Rhoda talks about Julia. Proved me wrong on some things, and I hope the two of them have the slimmest chance of being magic buddies. Not sure if the pangolin, tiger, canine trio will ever be the same again, but this is probably our best shot at making it possible at the moment.
Will the trio ever be the same? Certainly not, in my opinion. They’ll have to find a new normal.
That’s fair. Julia WAS just taken in by TOWC, Rhoda’s been doing her whole otherworldly thing this whole time, and Mel has been kind of… Helpless to do anything.
If they do make it through this, as themselves, there definitely will be some changes.
Yeah!
I 1st thought they might be apple, but- a story, where the white thibgs are trapped souls, would certainly scare the heck outta me. O.o
Another thought that went through my head: If they do in fact, change her soul and/or body in some major way(s)… What if that’s how the masked cat guy came to be?
Not sure about it though. Flowers seem to be more the noodles thing, not masks.
Now we get a different cancerous god of life.
I couldn’t say.
I’ve never heard the Blue Guy call himself a god or goddess. I think he/gender unknown is some kind of person.
But if “cancerous” equals [bad], weLLLLL:
Rhonda should have guessed by now, that he is a bad guy,
since- he delights in bad things happening to people, and…the Blue Guy
never said to Rhonda that she should trust him. Hm.
Cancerous as in uncontrolled growth. Hijacks other life. Definite vibes of “a universe where death no longer exists and life won ala guardians of the galaxy”.
Ah, thanks. I get it now. Cool! 😀
Man, this is giving me images of Dragon from the Polity books by Neil Asher. But like that had some loving with Lovecraft at the same time.
Now I realize that back on page 14, that demon was talking about himself.
Given Tazim-Talash’s appearance with the pink flowers and the vines, suddenly the covers for these last three issues make more sense. If I had to wager an interpretation of the covers, the skeleton is a wolf, and represents Julia. The black stuff clinging to her is the Black Idol. The flowers are Rhoda’s effort to save her mind and body using the full power of this demon.
Not related to the epic events that are about to happen, I noticed that Rhoda’s markings have been slightly updated, also no nipples this time around even though she is naked. Is this an artistic choice? Just curious, that’s all. 😀
It’s just my guess about this topic, but- I think that the Rhonda-body that we see, that doesn’t have nipples, might be the part of Rhonda, that is Rhonda’s immortal soul or her supernatural spirit/form.
**Please notice** – I’m going to talk now about some religion’s beliefs and ideas, [but] I’m not trying to tell anyone…or convince anyone, to become: theistic, religious, atheistic, agnostic, or anything that isn’t in one of those categories.
Anyhow- in a number of fictional stories, that are based on Jewish or Christian, and other…beliefs, or are inspired by Jewish or Christian or other beliefs-
when a person, such as Rhonda, goes into the supernatural world, or into a Heaven, they do the let’s-all-have-fun-in-the-afterlife stuff, or supernatural stuff, or worshiping the Gods + Goddesses…[or whatever you choose to worship] stuff, and for those actions-
your supernatural body is only designed to do those things, and 1) breastfeeding babies, and 2) sex and reproduction, are not things that you do in Heaven, or in any supernatural place.
That’s how those fictional stories are written.
I’m guessing that- in Rebecca’s webcomic, Rebecca is making some supernatural world/ place, that…when you are in it, while you are [still alive] in the physical world…and cross into the supernatural world…by doing magic,OR when you pass on…and cross over to Heaven/a supernatural place, in this webcomic’s story,
your supernatural body doesn’t do breast-feeding, and it doesn’t do sex or reproduction, either- So……when you’re in the supernatural places, your body doesn’t have the parts that are used for those activities.
At least, [I think], that’s why Rhonda’s body looks like that, in the second to last scene, on this page.
Just in closing, I apologize if this post offends anyone. I’ not trying to offend anyone, or any number of people.
I’m just attempting to explain my ideas, about why Rhonda looks the way it does, when she does her supernatural actions, or magic actions. Cheers.
My guess it is something like:
I think that in the last panels, Rhoda is in the supernatural world.
In a lot of Western stories about the supernatural world, and mythology stories-
when you enter into the supernatural world…or go into a supernatural paradise, you don’t do a lot of [physical world] stuff.
In a lot of mythologies- reproduction, + maybe also nursing babies, is stuff that’s only done in the physical world.
So, if you don’t do those activities in the supernatural world, then you don’t need nipples, + various, other body parts, for those activities, either.
At least, that’s the way it looks to me, on a lot of Gargoyle statues, in England + Europe. 😀
Makes sense. 😀 Especially compared to issue 15, page 13 where they were clearly visible and Rhoda’s markings were updated.
Also, it seems like you had some problems trying to reply to me. I appreciate the effort as well as the explanation.
Thanks!
Sure thing. 😀
Hi Rebecca,
I just tried to reply to Silver Husky in the comments section.
Did the spam filter block by comment?
My comment was kind of long.
Cheers,
TRA
Or were there other problems with my comment? Please let me know what you think about this issue.
Cheers.
Found it in the spam folder, not really sure why!
It’s spelled “Rhoda”, by the way 😛
Cool. Thanks. 😀
That was kind of a mystery, to me.
Was I spelling it, “Rhonda”? Dang. Sorry. I probably watch Rhonda on, “Hey Arnold!”, too much.
I can’t spell “Lou Ferrigno”, from The Hulk, either. 😀
Also, if it’s OK, I’ve rewritten my reply to Silver Huskey, as well.
( I can’t spell Silver Huskey, either.) 😀
the first thing that came to mind the theme of “dragons” related to the natural … in some sense weird. The second was “yggdrasil” when I saw the “tree” of the world.
But the natural of this “tazim-talash”, playful, deceptive, sometimes selfish and double intention, reminds me a lot of mythical characters like Loky and,
A goddess of “chaos” that I don’t remember the name.
I have no idea what direction this turn will take, but it is interesting.
The tall tree-like form of this ‘demon’ is a LOT like some of the background trees seen on the planet Julia visited.