I hope he’s not dead. I kind of like him. And Mistress needs him, the Xoan ambassador has a crush on him. I’m not sure that the Xoan would be so interested in a girl.
Given how this strip had run, I’m betting Ivan really is categorically deceased.
Which sucks.
sniffle… and I only caught up with the Archive Binge yesterday.
At least that damn lizard finally gets what’s coming to him…
There is something funny going on. Ivan isn’t dead. The frame after he is shot with the arrow the arrow is gone and there is no wound. All subsequent frames have a colored wash over them as if they are a dream sequence or something. No one says he is dead. They are merely looking for a new apprentice.
Perhaps Ivan is, simply, no longer an apprentice.
That’s my thinking.
I just love the fact Ivan’s still got the streaks of monster blood on his face. Apparently the vampire really WAS in a hurry. Though it IS hard to get off.
So. Arrow of Regret? Maybe it can only actually kill people whom you would regret killing. Or ‘breaking the curse’ does something special. The guards it killed didn’t get a blue-tinged afro, so maybe it can’t be ‘returned’ fatally.
Though when he got back from his kidnapping, Mistress kinda implied that she’d prefer having him to play with than a replacement. A little. I got the impression she wanted him to give her an excuse not to kill him. Before he blew it by his outburst at the lizard she can’t see, using language that was somewhat vague.
In any case, no way he’s gone. Aside from all the other weird stuff, it’s obvious the artist likes drawing him.
So, five things, huh? I can only come up with four, unless the fifth is something funny, like “I told you, no throwing crap in the moat!”
- Killing the monster
- Leaving the castle, thus disobeying a direct order
- Guard killing.*
- Telling her to eat shit, as part of his cover story.
–
- There’s a lot of work involved in recruiting a fighting force of identical pantsless psuedo-lesbians. Trust me, I’ve done the researched.
I’m getting tired of the lizard. Hope maybe they wrap up that story.
Vampire Girl needs to return. I’m pretty sure Ivan will be back. He’s too popular not to continue.
- He had sex and cumsprite told Mistress
Another thing. Mistress sets him one of her sadistic little tests, namely to recall five things he has done wrong before the red hot poker heats up. Instead, from her perspective (not knowing about the lizard on his shoulder) he just yells at her to shut up and calls her a worthless fuck. She then says she is finished. Maybe she thinks he has finally stood up to her and therefore he has passed beyond his apprenticeship?
Y’know, on thinking about it some more: The captain had him at practically melee range, those guards are well-trained in archery, and he’s bound in place and naked, but she hits him high in his right shoulder. Now, I’m not volunteering for target practice, but that’s absolutely not where you’d aim if you were trying to kill someone. And of course, Mistress is watching, so if the captain intentionally tried not to kill him, it was on Mistress’s orders. So she wants him alive, but she also doesn’t consider him her apprentice any more, and you don’t just drop out from the apprentice position. Is it possible that having the nerve to mouth off to her was the necessary condition for graduation?
Bah, Princhester, serves me right for putting more detail in my post.
And I was typing one fingered on an iphone too! Hah.
'Course if we are right then the funny thing is Ivan will have effectively “cheated” since he didn’t actually mean to yell at Mistress at all.
Hi guys, I’m new, but I have a bit of input on this week’s comic, regarding its title.
Anyone recall The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and folklore regarding albatrosses?
He turned blue and his eyes glowed. That can’t be good.
I’m tickled that whatever happened, it’s the lizard’s fault and that the little thing really seems to be feeling it. But if Ivan’s still breathing, why isn’t the scaly little albatross still with him? Why is it following the sign?
The Lizard of Guilt is trying to convince the guards putting out the help wanted sign that he’s not dead so they don’t need to put out the sign. Also, the last panel shows how guilty the Lizard of Guilt feels about goading Ivan into his outburst (and his death (?)) since no one else can hear him.
From the merchandise page, I wish I’d known about Steak n’ Bitches, I would have totally eaten there.
Well turning blue etc means something happened but it could be anything. The artist has a penchant for magical items that affect people’s emotions in funny but somewhat rational ways. It could be that returning the arrow of regret to the person who started the whole thing just ends the regret and breaks the cycle.
You ask how Ivan could still be breathing if the lizard is not with him. Again it could be that it was hanging around on his head because he was consumed by guilt over having killed Mistress’ monster. It could be that once Ivan manned up and just told the monster (and by implication his guilt) to just fuck off, the monster lost it’s power over him.
Well, it’s a theory.
Hm, I didn’t even notice that. I suppose that fits - once Ivan got rid of his guilt, the albatross - er, I mean lizard was no longer bound to him.
That’s my thought, at this point. Of course, what happened to Ivan is something else altogether. We can assume a lot by what Mistress said, but we really can’t glean anything concrete from it…
I’m guessing that Ivan is still around and possibly may have graduated from his apprenticship and the returning the arrow was just a method of breaking the curse. Mistress probably also knew about the monkey on his back in the form of the lizard on his head and faked killing him in order to shake that as well.
If this is true, then I’ll miss Ivan as the butt monkey of the castle, but I think that he’s earned a little respect with his actions in the forest. I’ve run naked and, unlike Ivan, there’s no way that I can keep a semi while doing it. Add the fact that he was being chased by vampires and had arrows sailing over his head, he proved himself worthy.