Click “back” to refresh the story a few strips… now we know why General Foztik killed the other goblins… hm…
Next Episode: Monday – BE HERE! And thank you for entertaining our guests (and guests, thanks for entertaining our readers) while we were away, Billbarians!
Good Morning Dave and WELCOME BACK * glittery confetti everywhere!*
Uhhhh…what’s going on with Zaira? On her skin? It almost looks like scales? Or is that just sweat? And is that the General swinging an axe one handed? BadA$$!
Missed you Pal…
it almost makes sense if gypsy turns dragon on us, ala the prince in feywinds. at first i thought sweat bc she’s freaking out, but you’re right, pixie, it’s kinda scaly-looking.
Yeah Baby, Nothing like a sweet be heading to open things up! well done sir!
Is anyone else turned on by One Eye Orc? or is it just me?? XP
@tigerbitten, i’m mostly certain it’s just you. mostly. mebbe if i were REEEEALY drunk…no, it’s just you. lol!
after i awake from my dead faint, i plan to comment
@Tigerbite: Just u!!!!
hmm if she is a dragonkin then that would explain the scaly look but i think its actually sweat and dire stuck to her thats making it look like she has scales..
Hooray!! Back to the story!
Ditto!
double ditto
He maybe evil, but he has honor.
We don’t know for sure if he’s evil, or if he’s just misunderstood.
hehe. Shades of Star Trek Next Generation where the bad guys were just “misunderstood” as they rampaged around the universe…
Oh yes, how infinitely inferior they were to the one-dimensional Klingons and Romulans that went running around on ST:TOS. Giving Kang and his crew some character development was one of the wisest things that series ever allowed. In ST:TNG the Klingons especially were given depth and motivation. It took a while for the Romulans to catch up with them in that.
Back to this story: I am SOOOO grateful that our General didn’t just off the Ferengi, er, the Goblins simply because he didn’t like their bedside manner – at least in the way we’d define that idiom.
Some things are indeed one-dimensional. Crime is such. For most crimes there is a guilty party and an innocent. A handful are more complex, but not many.
In terms of star trek, I was thinking of active evil like the probe of Star Trek IV or “crystalline entity” that deliberately killed sentient beings without cause, rather than non-sentient ones. There was no innocence or “misunderstanding.” These were beings who chose to murder other sentient life forms in what we call cold blood. Deliberate and calculated. As such, the statements made by Picard and Data about the Entity or Spock about the probe’s intentions were stomach turning. Picard had a duty to protect the Federation’s citizens as any military commander would, when an invader is killing citizens without remorse. Effectively, Picard was making an immoral decision, the exact opposite of what Kirk made in TOS, and in that position, Picard would simply have allowed the Cloud to eat Federation civilians as it chose, just as he was apparently planning to do with the Entity. Instead, an outsider chose to eliminate the threat to life and reminded Picard of his duty. Later episodes were better, but some of the early ones really tried to blur the lines between good and evil like that. TOS was extremely complex in that some things were indeed merely “misunderstood,” but the universal concepts of good and evil still existed, just as the do in the real world. The first couple of seasons, they tried to avoid the latter in STTNG and it didn’t work very well as a result.
Too Late Now!
Nah. He’s got a job to do and an asset to protect. Sense of duty and pride in being the best at what he is. The story also hints that he has a loyalty to some faction other than Warrix … perhaps to his own race?
He’s a Delivery Boy in this mission, and he’s gonna be the most deliveringist delivery boy that every scorched the earth. So, perhaps honor through duty, but not in the sense I think you meant it.
I think that you’re describing “Lawful Evil” in D&D terms.
Kinda yukky to contemplate, but wouldn’t that have (blech) sprayed blood all over her, given the way the neck (if it’s like a human’s with two carotids and two juglars plus assorted smaller vessels suddenly opened up) is right behind her when the axe makes its way through the neighborhood? Maybe she found a place for a bath…
Welcome back David!!
Why does Gypsy’s skin look odd? Am puzzled!
Looks like it’s turning to scales.
The old Battle Axe, Just trying to get ahead!
Don Kuehn July 14, 2011 at 4:02 pm | Reply
We don’t know for sure if he’s evil, or if he’s just misunderstood.: Too Late!!!
Rod Lane July 14, 2011 at 1:53 pm | # | Reply
Hooray!! Back to the story!: DITTO!
Now, there those goblins go, losing their heads over minor trifles again…
and the definition of ‘appropriate’ depends upon whose ox is being gored at the monent….
I couldn’t help but think starfox 64 on the second panel
when i first viewed this installment, i was visually struck by the complexity of davids art and layouts. == its a labyrinth of distorted and sick mind (in a good way)
further the goblin display a higher form civilization than i would imagine. instead of attacking first and asking questions later, the goblins actually ask questions first.
I didn’t comment earlier, but I HAVE TO now. I adore the general and my love for him have just grown. He is everything orcs in my imagination are. Pity, thet Bill had to cut his arm
I hope that is the last “bad” deed done to this guy, that he will earn a happy ending of sort…
Great comments, Billbarians!! P.S. That is sweat on Gypsy… perhaps we should add a ittle light blue highlight to show it next time
SO, no, she’s not part-dragon. Interesting thought thoough. 
And the blood spatter… well, I am sure there’s a perfectly medically logical explaination for how the General’s axe swung just so and prevented said spatter all over Gypsy’s hair… hm… roll with me, comic-physics… lol
I am rather glad it’s sweat. Poor girl has been through a lot since she ran into Bill. Morphing into a dragon is probably the last thing she needs. Although, what an interesting twit in the tale it would be ,,,,
However. It is sweat, meaning that wherever they teleported to … it is NOT the northlands & icy wastes. Seems they are located in a more southerly clime. Or at least a desert-like region.
At some point, when it won’t spoiler the storyline, it would be nice to see where everyone is located on the map. Including Sarah, the Gnome Syndicate, Large Marge’s Barge, Shirley’s home glen. Etc.
Thanks for getting back to the story. I’m enjoying all the side-arcs and guest strips, but I am still a bit curious as to the main plot.
Twist in the tale. twist. Sheesh!
Maybe his axe magically cauterizes after the initial bloodletting, much like a lightsaber.
Oh yes, you misspelled “explanation”, although coming from General F. that might actually reflect his dialect of Common. But what is it with so many Web cartoonists misspelling words these days?!? You’d think with all our technology that would happen less often, not more. Did Lil’ Abner, Pogo, Peanuts et al. misspell one word accidentally? Of course not.
Or maybe goblins just don’t have a lot of blood flowing to their heads in the first place.
And a comment was made about the goblins.. yes, in LoB land, at least in the Dark Lands, I confess I see goblins more like thieving little pirates, or for you Trekkies and Trekkers, very much like stinky mad-max-type Ferengi!
Yes, I think you got it. Ferengi with smaller ear lobes and therefore less good business sense.
Sorry to be a crab apple elsewhere on this thread – I think there’s one of them thar Goblins trying to do a war dance on my cerebellum and I have no idea why. Addiction to coffee and cocoa on my part, perhaps?
Yay! David is back!
Glad to see that life is taking a break from kicking your butt.
666th goblin rule of acqusition: don’t get caught…