Book 2 – Page 17

[balder]

New One is up.

[Beholden]

Cracking one... but a bit of an anticlimax. Hopefully if Jillian still feels for Wanda she won't roll in the archon hit squad. Looks like megalogwiffs don't like the look of dwagons though!

Cant shake the feeling that something is missing from this page however.

[Ansan Gotti]

I am really loving this part of the story. I still think it will turn out badly, but it really deepens the relationship between the two characters. And I find that my dislike of Jillian is starting to wane, too. Part of it's probably how she's being drawn by Xin. Count me among those who LOVE the artwork!

[Dr Quest DFA]

Neat to see the attack from the RCC's point of view.

And it looks like there is still something between Jillian and Wanda despite recent events. Peculiar, given all that Jillian knows about Wanda and decryption now. Love is indeed a battlefield, but the combatants appear to maintain some degree of cordiality. there is clearly much more history between Wanda and jillian than we have been shown thus far.

[Moik]

Huh... never been this early to the party before...

Anyways, Wanda's cute when she's miffed! (Panel 6) Good use of shadows! Some people complain about the current Wanda look, but Xin can do good with it. The Megalogwiff and Dwagon look more bad-ass up close in panel 1 as well... Is Xin better at close-ups than distant shots? Panel 7, up close of Jillian, is nice and expressive too... maybe it's just the nature of close-ups having more detail... The whole page seems to be of better than normal quality though, and it's a page of close-ups...

Dunno! Really like, either way!

[Lawd]

In art, I really like every panel except panel 10. Horrible profile that seems just wrong. The megalogwif and dwagon circling 'round each other is nice. Some interesting wuestions rais'd. And we see, once more, Jillian's strong point (oversized weaponry, that sword never looked more massive).

EDIT: In my opinion, Wanda has more character in the last few pages (visualy). She seems more... alive now.

[Knight13]

Looks like Jillian does still care about Wanda quite a bit. Still, I don't think Wanda is going to find it nearly as easy to manipulate her as she stated before.

[gameboy1234]

Cracking one... but a bit of an anticlimax.

Still gearing up to the climax, I think. Interesting to see Jillian to almost say "I love you" to Wanda. Surely Jillian does love her, even if not quite in a romantic way. And here's it seems to confirm that Wanda did deliberately spare Jillian back at GK, so I guess there's still mutual affection there.

[Moik]

Huh... now that I re-read it a few times to consider implications for the Speculation Round... both Jillian and Wanda are betting that the other can't or won't attack them... It's like... the ultimate result of the meeting will... be a detente?

Spoiler: show

Then Haggar gets to pull up and everything on the ground on both sides starts going to ruin? Could that be the "disarray" of Janis' prediction?

Otherwise, either Wanda or Jillian needs to discard all their baggage and kill their object of affection... Wanda is cold-hearted enough to, but seems secretly obssessed with Jillian in a way that trumps her cold-heartedness. Jillian has betrayed Wanda before, but doesn't seem cold-hearted enough to kill.

Spoiler: show

Hmm... I wonder if something happens that kills Jillian (Like maybe Vurp operating by a contingency plan from someone), breaks Wanda's mind worse than at Gobwin Knob, and she breaks all alliegances and just starts laying waste to all sides? That would be fairly disarrayeous. Everyone would be on the run then. And it's already known her units have no upkeep. It would be a limitless-size barbarian side...

[fjolnir]

I agree, this is not an anticlimax, they're still building towards the climax, where it all goes pear shaped for GK in this fight.

[BCCroaker]

Confirms Jillian as a bimbo slapper who thinks she can have her cake and eat it.

[ShinyBrownCoat]

What was the fiction Wanda refers to? Did I miss it from an earlier strip? Something about Wanda not being able to harm Jillian?

[Lamorak]

This can only end in tears.

I'm still counting on Wanda to fend off Jillian and burn down Spacerock, that way we have the Jetstone Barbarians led by Prince Tramennis as a new faction in the story.

[Raza]

Awww. This is one page that may seem to lack a climax off and by itself, but will be great to read in future re-reads of the whole story. =)

I also like the art where the Dwagon and Megalogwiff are glaring at eachother.

Confirms Jillian as a bimbo slapper who thinks she can have her cake and eat it.

Shush. Monogamy is a product of our culture, not a universal one-true-moral-code to intimacy.

I think it suits her chaotic nature that she doesn't pursue it, and 'choose whomever doesn't force you to' is one of healthy non-monogamy's big ethical foundations.

Jillian and Wanda's thing here is also a classic example of how relationships where both people want and are generally able to make that work still hit bumps in the road. Presumably Wanda didn't set out to make her choose between her and Ansom, she was just out for strategic advantage and this was an unforeseen side effect (or she'd have realised the flaw in her 'can't hurt people you love' rationale about the workings of the suggestion spell). But she did, and Jillian did the only thing she could, and that paired with the simultaneous event of the spell's backlash has Wanda questioning whether she can deal with it all as comfortably as she thought she could. Now it's up to J to reaffirm that yes, you can genuinely care about more than one person at a time. She's doing an OK job.

What was the fiction Wanda refers to? Did I miss it from an earlier strip? Something about Wanda not being able to harm Jillian?

Not something from an earlier strip, we're supposed to infer from this one what it was. So presumably Duncan stated that he was worried about Jillian, and she answered that she had a magic charm protecting her from Wanda. Which isn't literally true, but ends up working because Wanda cares for her, regardless. It might also be a play on the last text update's subject of Love as a magical/titanic/natural power in Erfworld.

[splintermute]

What was the fiction Wanda refers to? Did I miss it from an earlier strip? Something about Wanda not being able to harm Jillian?

That confused me as well, but I think Jillian must have told Duncan off-panel that Wanda wasn't able to hurt her - otherwise I don't think Duncan's duty would have permitted him to let her go off alone.

[BCCroaker]

Confirms Jillian as a bimbo slapper who thinks she can have her cake and eat it.

Shush. Monogamy is a product of our culture, not a universal one-true-moral-code to intimacy.

I think it suits her chaotic nature that she doesn't pursue it, and 'choose whomever doesn't force you to' is one of healthy non-monogamy's big ethical foundations.

[/quote]
It's not the multiple partners that irritates, it's the way Jillian thinks she can pick and choose and make the rules.

[fruityjanitor]

If I'm reading Wanda right in the last panel, Gwiffons can't be uncroaked. Did we already know that? I can't say it's surprising (since they're made out of marshmallow), but it is still an interesting little tidbit.

[Raza]

It's not the multiple partners that irritates, it's the way Jillian thinks she can pick and choose and make the rules.

Right, the bimbo/having and eating cake thing made me think in that direction.

But why shouldn't she?

Rules are just stuff people make up, not actually part of reality. Doing anything but picking, choosing, rejecting and inventing what you like is going to result in a boring, unfulfilling life lived by other people's standards.

[Grunthos]

Personal props to Xin for panel 6. Pretentiously, I will quote myself from the Page 1 reaction thread:

Add me to the list of those impressed with, and pleased by, the new artwork. In particular, I think Xin Ye does an outstanding job of creating depth and perspective for a comic artist. Her style really makes the foreground pop off the page, and the wider-angle shots have a real sense of distance. And she matches up very well with Jamie's established look. If she can get the dramatic closeups right (as Jamie did so well in, e.g., TBfGK page 67.8, 68.7, 93.6, 122.7, 122.9, 131.3, 131.6, 131.8, etc.), then the comic won't be missing a beat.

I'm out of beats to miss here.

[BCCroaker]

It's not the multiple partners that irritates, it's the way Jillian thinks she can pick and choose and make the rules.

Right, the bimbo/having and eating cake thing made me think in that direction.

But why shouldn't she?

Rules are just stuff people make up, not actually part of reality. Doing anything but picking, choosing, rejecting and inventing what you like is going to result in a boring, unfulfilling life lived by other people's standards.

And hanging around webcomic forums.