Coming Back
Nov16
You, know, if I somehow went back in time to 2009 and tried to explain the last panel of this comic to past-me and assured him that it would make complete sense in the story to come, I think past-me would have just nodded politely while backing slowly out of the room.
Also, he would have probably been baffled by the nudity, gore, and profanity in the comic. You can’t do that in webcomics, can you?
And, speaking of family-friendly, Teal and I just celebrated my YouTube channel hitting 100 subscribers!
Check it out:
Well, Miko, whose fault is it that she had to eat him raw? Eh?
She’s a monster because she didn’t ask Miko to serve up some fava beans.
I’ve got so used to nudity that thought it was part of the comic since almost page 1. But nope: suggestive light clothing and some obscene remarks were but nudity proper (naked boobs specifically) took a year to kick in, 13 months and 12 days to be precise (episode 42, first scene).
I’m more concerned about the gore and vore however: it’s rather dark and I can’t get to enjoy it, among other reasons because I do not understand it (nor is funny gratuitous violence either). It’s like that dark thing began actually devouring the story… or something… at some point. And it never seems to come to a conclusion.
On the other side the art has improved a lot.
Replace gore and vore with rape and you might get a better understanding. Sephni was abused and brainwashed into whatever she is now, leaving her scarred for the rest of her life. It’s like a black hole inside her from which she is unable to distance herself from. Tuul finally came to understand the gravity of what he’s done, as an ex-cultist, and can’t live with himself anymore effectively committing suicide. Miko is that individual looking in from outside, not understanding the pain of both Tuul and Sephni and blaming the wrong individual.
This panel is pure unadulterated pain.
I (more or less) understand it but it’s rational understanding rather than intimate emotional one. Anyhow, I never said I did not “understand” it, but rather than I am “concerned”, that can’t get to “enjoy” it and that it doesn’t seem to “come to a conclusion”.
Daxxorel is dead but somehow he isn’t and maybe he’s the product of something/someone else in the “greyzone”. He’s like a recurring villain conceived by Stephen King’s worst nightmares.
I must admit that, while being able to appreciate (“like” is probably not the word, there’s something I always dislike in the horror genre) King’s horror stories because he’s a fantastic writer, I’m not and will never be in love with the genre (I also find Lovecraft’s Cthullu bad writing and I’m amazed he has such a extensive following, on the other side Edgar Allan Poe is very good even if somewhat sinister).
I got hooked for the fantasy and fine “raunchiness” of the story, lovely rogues are always the best main characters (not necessarily having “rogue” as class), I thus naturally liked it when it went into unobstructed nudity, even if sometimes a bit gratuitous, but I’m not as happy with the dark terror. Sure vore makes for a great antagonist but I’m not at all into vore, so it’s not the kind of “evil me” I can “enjoy” playing both sides with some guilt, I’m totally uninterested and rather disgusted by the vore-acious antagonist.
Don’t feel like you have to enjoy the gore/vore (or even ‘like’ it): if you don’t, then just, not exactly ‘skip over’ those parts, more like… ‘endure’ them?
Not really much different than plain violence (of what ever level) or beloved characters dying, or ‘romance’ scenes (from light kissing all the way up to full body-fluid exchange and detailed penetration)
I don’t often go to bat for this comic, but this is one of those rare occurrences of a clear arc. Tuul was part of a death cult centered around some gluttonous deity where their highest honor was to be eaten alive. He really, really believed in it despite not being “chosen” for said honor. In a rare twist, this isn’t some weird fetish stuff, it’s more of a twisted religious belief and him wanting to die by those beliefs, even if he no longer held to that faith.
I mean, I’m sure there is probably some fetish aspect to it. The write has a pretty damn obvious bondage/vore fetish, at least, and I’m sure some of the audience does. I dunno. I don’t get this series, I’m just kinda lingering around at this point because it has a grain of a good idea in it somewhere.
>Tuul was part of a death cult centered around some gluttonous deity where their highest honor was to be eaten alive. He really, really believed in it despite not being “chosen” for said honor.
I think that might be right. Tuul was a member of a religious cult (recent examples IRL come to mind), and Seph, whatever her own problems, was honoring her sworn promise to him.
Remind me to avoid cults.
Don’t get me wrong, I was not making a criticism, just expanding from the viewpoint of a lon-term reader on what Wormius himself says in his comment to the page. It has clearly evolved, not just in terms of graphic art but also the story itself and how it is narrated.
My personal impression only means to supplement that commentary from my unavoidably personal viewpoint, nothing else.
Also I’m perfectly aware that the vore cult is a good arch-enemy but I got a bit lost when the seventh wall to the greyzone was crossed and this theme became so dominant in the story.
Whatever I think, it’s HIS comic and I’m not attempting to either attack it nor change course of the story nor anything, just stating my very subjective opinion as long term reader who was once voting frantically to get the comic ahead on TWC and now feels that can even forget to vote because it’s so high in the ranks that won’t make much of a difference (I do vote but feels less important now).
No worries, I totally appreciate what you’re getting at. This comic has been a sort of therapy for me since the beginning. It’s just that the issues I’m sorting out in my head and on the page, so to speak, have evolved quite a bit over the course of the comic. On one level, it’s all just a bit of silly fun. On another, there’s some pretty dark stuff scuttling around in my head, and I’ve decided to try to figure out where that stuff comes from and how to deal with it. The underlying theme to everything since Jen’s arrival in the Delve is learning to take responsibility not just for your actions, but your underlying attitudes. What would we become, if we suddenly found ourselves truly powerful and freed from the societal norms in which we were raised?
Thank you.
I’d say that the real issue is not so much what would we become if free from societal norms but if “free” from empathy, i.e. if we’d could let our psychopathic side go wild. I can put myself in the shoes of a tyrant for fantasy time, at times rather cruel even, but what really prevents me from doing that IRL is not just societal norms (they can be broken) but empathy.
That’s the difference between a rather healthy person and a psychopath. And we are not truly addressing the problem of psychopathy in society, because some psychos are totally nuts but many others know rationally the difference between good and evil (socially acceptable behavior) and still look for ways to get away with their compuslions, and even worse: they manage to get hold of social institutions in order to better get away with that from a position of power and influence. But they will smile suave and pull whatever strings they control so they never get caught nor exposed.
The difference is not so much the law but empathy, the social instinct that actually makes us truly human (as opposed to a monster with human aspect, a “wendigo” or a psychopath).
And that’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath: the socio knows what they are doing, and doesn’t care, they are harder to spot because they know how society works and can ‘blend in’
@Guesticus: I never get the difference between psycho- and sociopath. It’s not clear-cut. What I do get the difference is between clinical (diagnosed, exposed) psychopath and subclinical (undiagnosed, cammouflaged) psychopath, AKA “machiavellan personality”. The difference is that the former rather lack fear of punishment, while the latter do, hence they control themselves to some extent trying to avoid social and legal punishment. These can be extremely successful in our societies, sadly enough.
See: Laura Niemi & Liane Young, Caring across Boundaries versus Keeping Boundaries Intact: Links between Moral Values and Interpersonal Orientations. PLoS ONE 2013. Open access [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081605]
@Guesticus (PS) – There’s also a documentary titled “The Psychopath Next Door”, which is available in YouTube, which deals with the same issue of way too quotidian and hidden psychopathy. Especially affecting domestic abuse, because they have a mask outdoors but show their real personality indoors. They also mention the typical co-worker who does nearly no work but is all the time bootlicking the boss and climbs up the ladder, stuff like that: people who are extremely selfish and dedicate their intelligence to achieve those selfish goals stepping on whoever they can and catering to whoever they must. They are not necessarily smarter than others but they are focused on achieving those petty selfish goals, they can be very vicious but they don’t even need to because they can more or less legally purchase such vices if they are socio-economically successful.
Thank you, and thanks for sticking around. This comic is definitely an exploration of some pretty strange fetish stuff, and, honestly, I don’t even understand my own attraction to some of it. I’ve always been fascinated by some things that most people would find distasteful, to say the least. Still, I’ve noticed that a lot of other people share the same fascinations or similar ones, and this comic, is, in part, my attempt at trying to make sense of it and to separate the harmful from the harmless. I won’t pretend to be some clinical observer, looking on in disapproval while I study these uncomfortable topics. I’d rather wade into them and see what we can find, lurking under the surface. Sort of like those crazy redneck guys that stick their hands into muddy holes, hoping to grab a catfish by the teeth and haul him out for supper. Not to brag, but I’m also pretty good at metaphors!
I only got to reading this comic recently. Saw it at the top of TWC and figured I may as well see what it’s about. Started off with the usual dungeon crawling gag stuff. Nice art and all so why not. then it started showing more and more as a fan service comic with more and more revealing imagery finally just showing breasts and eventually full nudity. The Nogrog was interesting but then I’m watching her given an OP sword and meet the dracomage to be handed the best armour in some confusingly awkward dialogue exchange only for it to be removed so we could stare at her in the nude once more. And I’m starting to suspect that its all going to descend into torture porn when this page hits: https://thisis.delvecomic.com/NewWP/comic/coming-back/
My mind is immediately sent racing at the implications and I view the gratuitous nudity and fanservice in a completely different light of being meta and the result of a developed world by a DM playing to the typical aspects of female warriors… And then it’s full Jen pages and my mind is blown, only to be further blown over and over as I see more and more of it all make sense from a fictional world build point.
Looking forward to where it goes
Thank you, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the ride!
Yep, I was waiting for the sister to find her. Seemed like the right timing. Healing magic and all.
Also… Part of me was somewhat expecting that Miko’s religion might have even included death rites that involved being eaten… Maybe she’s horrified that Tull hasn’t been prepared and cooked correctly… You monster! He isn’t even seasoned with the 7 secret herbs and spices!
Wait, Paige is a healer? o_O
https://thisis.delvecomic.com/NewWP/comic/lawless-good/
Dam! Can’t believe forgot that paige 🙁
Disgraceful! I mean, fancy using words like “a”!
8)
In a long ago episode, didn’t someone remark “We are all monsters here.”?
We’ve known for quite some time that Seph was monsterized, Teal is a slime monster, Bree is perhaps the most terrible of all. Not that I have anything against monsters.
Teal said that to Bree waaaay back when Beddigan first rescued them.
now my heart hurts.
I’m sorry. I had grown rather fond of our singing drakon friend.
Ah, so this is what it means for the GM to botch plot rolls.
Something is happening; the neckless is glowing again.
She’s being healed from the head wound inflicted by that … ladle. Don’t you see the blood on it?
Thanks for noticing!
Miko wasn’t awake to hear Tuul’s pleas to end it, or know about Seph’s promise to Tuul to eat him when they were big enough
All Miko is currently seeing, is her new friend (potential romantic friend?) being eaten by some crazy bitch, in the next couple pages we might see her calming down and accepting what happened and focusing her rage on Zak… or, she will calm down but never be able to forgive Seph and leave
Will wait and see what Wormius has planned
And all Paige is seeing is a wolf girl attacking the high elf princess who in turn is chewing on a lizardman body she’s holding.
It’s a page with a double set of people seeing different things happening without further context or understanding.
That too, although it really depends on how much they saw as they were approaching, or if they materialized right there and then
Wait… what plan?! Nobody said anything about a plan!
That’s the best kind of plan 😀
And a great writer: they let their characters tell their story, rather than telling them what to do
That’s DND for you.
The DM has some great master plan… which the players ignore and start salt mining instead.
Since you’re making music, have you considered, what with all the DMCA BS right now, reaching out to a dnd group like Arcadum and making music for them to use?
Not a bad idea, though I’m not sure I have enough content in my playlist to last for a whole gaming session at the moment. Something to think about going ahead though, thanks!
No, not Tuul! I liked him!! TT_TT