Comments on: “How Mirka Got Her Sword,” page 53

By: Dianne

Dianne — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:08:15 +0000

I don’t know…I think I was hoping that Mirka would argue the troll into such a confused state that it would end up having a meltdown and being unable to explain why its sweater was better–at which point it would go into an ad hominem attack of Mirka and she would win on the “the first to make an ad hom attack loses” grounds. But maybe I’m taking the troll/internet troll analogy too far.

Plus I was secretly hoping that the troll would in the end agree that her sweater was better and we’d get a drawing of the troll wearing Mirka’s sweater. (Hmm…do you suppose that if I bought another dead tree edition I could convince Barry to do that as my bonus sketch?)

By: Dani

Dani — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:30:38 +0000

Dianne,
But Mirka did win with skill– just not knitting skill. She used her cleverness and her ability to debate to overwhelm the troll and take control of the situation, which is really what any contest is truely about. Threatening to unravel him may have been nasty, but do you really think the troll would have been willing to admit defeat otherwise?

By: Rosa

Rosa — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:44:20 +0000

Wait! That troll…is it actually a sheep?

By: Dianne

Dianne — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:00:09 +0000

To tell the truth, I’m a little disappointed at this end of the fight. Because in the end Mirka won through force, taking advantage of the (admittedly temporarily) weaker party rather than winning through a contest of skill. Not sure what I expected or wanted, but whatever it was I didn’t quite get it. (Barry: don’t take this criticism too much to heart. I am essentially never satisfied with the end of stories that I like. Some sort of subconcious annoyance that it’s ending, perhaps. Or maybe it’s just very, very difficult to make a climactic scene that fulfills the expectations when they’re this high.)

By: Yochva

Yochva — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:42:38 +0000

The style seems to have changed so much from even the last page… was there a break in between drawing them?

and I love how Mirkale turned the situation on its head in the last panel. I’ve just got this feeling that it’s not going to turn out good… Like the troll goes back to being nasty in the moonlight, or has the power to move the whole ensemble way for away in the blink of an eye, taking the sword with him.

I wonder how she’s going to deal with missing prayers.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:38:35 +0000

In the 5th panel, Mirka looks JUST LIKE the witch!! Foreshadowing?

So where is the sword? Will the troll come back to life once the sun sets?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:39:59 +0000

The punchline in the last panel had me belly-laughing for like two minutes. Loved it. :D

By: Shallot

Shallot — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:31:32 +0000

Hahahaha! Oh, that was brilliant. I love the way you showed the differences in light as the sun came up as well, that’s really impressive.

By: RonF

RonF — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:59:49 +0000

Oh HELL! I wanted to see the look on everyone’s face when she brought the sword home!

By: Nella

Nella — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:15:12 +0000

There’s something really cute about that last panel.