I’ve heard it said that only those who understand great evil are capable of doing great good. With Shadow’s new knowledge there is the responsibility to act on said knowledge. SweetGrass Voice may have just planted the seed of his own undoing.
Sounds of ominous portent are rumbling in the background; a pair of cellos dance with each other, a rumbling bass telling terrible stories of their doomed love.
Will friendship overcome fear? Will new knowledge drive out the old, with irreparable damage to what once once a rare and beautiful thing?
I think the Shadowlescent is taking about all the lost generations of demon-children – raised without kindness. Now it can do something about that by showing kindness to any adopted demonlings it comes across.
…and in the movie made from this comic strip, Shadowlescent shall be played by Angelina Jolie. (I see Janeane Garofalo as Digger.)
I’m not sure how “generations” applies to demon-kind, given the mysterious nature of their origins, but perhaps Shadow is talking about how he/she/it will go about dealing with any and all future demons that happen to turn up. Not much to be done about the devourers and the devoured (all those generations), but a new era has begun.
In the meantime there are immediate issues to be dealt with, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Shadow and Digger manage them. I’m sure that they will mostly be on the same side, but with room for disagreements.
Loren said “perhaps Shadow is talking about how he/she/it will go about dealing with any and all future demons that happen to turn up.”
That was my impression too. That Shadow was speaking of all the demons brought up believing they were evil by nature, or destroyed without remorse by people who believed demons to be intrinsically evil (Xenophobia at its worst). Trust a wombat to know it isn’t what you are born as, it’s what you do that counts.
No, I had the firs demon guidance counselor back in high school.
Maybe Shadowlescent is talking about all the generations of its own progeny that will never be born, if demon reproduction requires a mating pair. What demon in its right mind would mate with a good demon?
I wondered briefly if Shadowchild is referring to either leaving Digger’s troupe for another purpose, or for some kind of sacrifice it must make – but this comic has had me pleasantly surprised pretty consistently, so I’m happy to say I’m not very sure what to expect.
Pretty sure those “lost generations” are demons that he’s talking about, though. (Or she, for the record. Inasmuch as demons can have gender the way we know it.)
…There’s a part of me that’s a big sucker for the climactic showdown, the big battle, the final boss, etc. I’m pretty sure this comic won’t go that way, but, for the record – that part of me is wondering just how weakened Sweetgrass Voice is: Is it weakened to the point where it couldn’t put up enough of a fight, or weakened in the final-boss-y sense that this was a godlike entity and our heroes are only now capable of defeating it at all because it is weakened, but still a very formidable foe.
Almost certainly not that, given the nature of the comic. But, hey, I can daydream, and still happily wonder how it will actually play out.
Last thing (this comic is TERRIBLE for my being on-time to work) for now. Demons seem to have a pretty unique disposition towards cannibalism as a species, which I think is kind of fun, in that they are made entirely of their own food supply (I wonder if a demon could eat itself). It’s like a hyena made of cooked meat, no blood nor organs nor bones nor skin.
And, since we’ve yet to see any sort of other demonic powers aside from “projection” and pseudo-shape-changing, it looks like the determining factor in a fight between them is who is bigger (not who can look bigger, since Shadowchild already pointed out that you “can’t do much” when all stretched out like that) – so each adult demon has significant interest in eating young demons before they grow larger.
Funny stuff.
Again, I like how it fits into the idea of how demon…zoology, for lack of a better term, plays into and/or explains the simpler concept of a universally evil species. For example, Sweetgrass Voice’s command to have Shadowchild kill Murai, Grim Eyes, and Digger comes not from spiteful malice, but self-preservation (it doesn’t want to die).
We don’t, as yet, know Sweetgrass Voice’s intentions (if it had any) in leading He-Is to attack She-Is. Maybe it was just giving what seemed to it to be good advice; not all people who think they are your friend are actually good company.
Hell, if He-Is had no-one of the tribe to speak to after his exile, and could go to no-one other than Sweetgrass Voice, then a sick kind of friendship might be exactly what happened. If that’s the case, his demand to suicide, and to kill Sweetgrass Voice in the process, seems perfectly reasonable only under the assumption that demons are so inherently malicious and dangerous that they have no right to self-preservation or autonomy. It’s a murder-suicide; we forgive the murder because it’s a demon that’s being killed, and for that fact only.
I like the idea that Shadow is talking about changing things for future generations of demons.
How cool would it be if Digger, just by being herself, inadvertently introduced a value system, complete with full moral and ethical code, to an entire supernatural race, thereby changing their nature forever?
Heady stuff for a wombat … (or anyone else, for that matter … )
Sounds to me like the founding of the first demon orphanage is in the offing. SC can go around collecting other feral demon children and raising them with wombat morals, some day demons may be good.
Everyone else got such a positive impression from this strip, it looks like. To me it says “Shadow is going to die in a horribly tragic but necessary manner”, but maybe I only think that because it’s what I really want not to happen 🙁
I am sooooo proud of Shadow! Digger has done so well…. I think that the “lost generations” Shadow so regrets are, as AlpineBob said, all the generations of demons who never got a chance to choose, because they never knew they had a choice, due to both nature and nurture.
Well, that ends now (apparently) :D. There’s so much to do, or that can be done or attempted, on so many fronts… I wonder what Shadow will choose (after we get our current task done).
I would be pleased to at last offer Shadow a hug of jubilation, rather than another of sympathy and support. It’s a wonderful thing to be 100% behind yourself and your decisions/choices — “I am as I am and I am the one who can do what can be done”– and that deserves a fair bit of “hooray!”- ing and general celebration (not to mention an extended “happy dance” in Shadow’s honor).
I think at this point “Shadowlescent” might not be such an appropriate name. Making that kind of decision to assume responsibility for the world around you is a very adult trait…
I read up to the first couple pages of Ganesh when I first discovered this strip, many years ago, and then it went for-pay. I could never convince myself to shell out my meager amounts of college-money for a comic, as fantastic as it was. I was so, SO happy to find this comic again and find out that I could finally read it in its near-entirety! I’m caught up now and desperate for the next page. This is by far one of the most amazing, well-drawn, humorous, and touching graphic works I’ve ever read. You are unbelievable.
… time passes, moments, hours, who can know …
… and then, an encounter …
Shadowlescent: Sweetgrass Voice, stop talking.
Sweetgrass Voice: Excuse me? What? But why, youngling?
…
Shadowlescent: Because I will eat you now. Hush. No more Voice…
Uh oh… o.o
I have a feeling this won’t end well.
Oh-oh… Is Shadowchild talking about ending He-Is’ artificially extended life? Or should that be, artificially extended slow death?
Go shadow! Break the cycle of abuse and neglect, Shadow!
I’ve heard it said that only those who understand great evil are capable of doing great good. With Shadow’s new knowledge there is the responsibility to act on said knowledge. SweetGrass Voice may have just planted the seed of his own undoing.
Sounds of ominous portent are rumbling in the background; a pair of cellos dance with each other, a rumbling bass telling terrible stories of their doomed love.
Will friendship overcome fear? Will new knowledge drive out the old, with irreparable damage to what once once a rare and beautiful thing?
This time, even the Shadow does not know.
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
Generations lost… hmm…
I wonder if he’s talking about all the hyena children who died because of He-Is and Sweetgrass Voice? Or someone else?
“And I am the one who must do what can be done.”
That’s a bit ominous if anything, and also is that Shadowlescent speaking about stopping SGV or is it SGV speaking about stopping its own demise…
I think the Shadowlescent is taking about all the lost generations of demon-children – raised without kindness. Now it can do something about that by showing kindness to any adopted demonlings it comes across.
…and in the movie made from this comic strip, Shadowlescent shall be played by Angelina Jolie. (I see Janeane Garofalo as Digger.)
I’m not sure how “generations” applies to demon-kind, given the mysterious nature of their origins, but perhaps Shadow is talking about how he/she/it will go about dealing with any and all future demons that happen to turn up. Not much to be done about the devourers and the devoured (all those generations), but a new era has begun.
In the meantime there are immediate issues to be dealt with, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Shadow and Digger manage them. I’m sure that they will mostly be on the same side, but with room for disagreements.
Oh, dear. I think Digger has created the first Demon Guidance Counselor!
Loren said “perhaps Shadow is talking about how he/she/it will go about dealing with any and all future demons that happen to turn up.”
That was my impression too. That Shadow was speaking of all the demons brought up believing they were evil by nature, or destroyed without remorse by people who believed demons to be intrinsically evil (Xenophobia at its worst). Trust a wombat to know it isn’t what you are born as, it’s what you do that counts.
No, I had the firs demon guidance counselor back in high school.
Maybe Shadowlescent is talking about all the generations of its own progeny that will never be born, if demon reproduction requires a mating pair. What demon in its right mind would mate with a good demon?
I wondered briefly if Shadowchild is referring to either leaving Digger’s troupe for another purpose, or for some kind of sacrifice it must make – but this comic has had me pleasantly surprised pretty consistently, so I’m happy to say I’m not very sure what to expect.
Pretty sure those “lost generations” are demons that he’s talking about, though. (Or she, for the record. Inasmuch as demons can have gender the way we know it.)
…There’s a part of me that’s a big sucker for the climactic showdown, the big battle, the final boss, etc. I’m pretty sure this comic won’t go that way, but, for the record – that part of me is wondering just how weakened Sweetgrass Voice is: Is it weakened to the point where it couldn’t put up enough of a fight, or weakened in the final-boss-y sense that this was a godlike entity and our heroes are only now capable of defeating it at all because it is weakened, but still a very formidable foe.
Almost certainly not that, given the nature of the comic. But, hey, I can daydream, and still happily wonder how it will actually play out.
Last thing (this comic is TERRIBLE for my being on-time to work) for now. Demons seem to have a pretty unique disposition towards cannibalism as a species, which I think is kind of fun, in that they are made entirely of their own food supply (I wonder if a demon could eat itself). It’s like a hyena made of cooked meat, no blood nor organs nor bones nor skin.
And, since we’ve yet to see any sort of other demonic powers aside from “projection” and pseudo-shape-changing, it looks like the determining factor in a fight between them is who is bigger (not who can look bigger, since Shadowchild already pointed out that you “can’t do much” when all stretched out like that) – so each adult demon has significant interest in eating young demons before they grow larger.
Funny stuff.
Again, I like how it fits into the idea of how demon…zoology, for lack of a better term, plays into and/or explains the simpler concept of a universally evil species. For example, Sweetgrass Voice’s command to have Shadowchild kill Murai, Grim Eyes, and Digger comes not from spiteful malice, but self-preservation (it doesn’t want to die).
We don’t, as yet, know Sweetgrass Voice’s intentions (if it had any) in leading He-Is to attack She-Is. Maybe it was just giving what seemed to it to be good advice; not all people who think they are your friend are actually good company.
Hell, if He-Is had no-one of the tribe to speak to after his exile, and could go to no-one other than Sweetgrass Voice, then a sick kind of friendship might be exactly what happened. If that’s the case, his demand to suicide, and to kill Sweetgrass Voice in the process, seems perfectly reasonable only under the assumption that demons are so inherently malicious and dangerous that they have no right to self-preservation or autonomy. It’s a murder-suicide; we forgive the murder because it’s a demon that’s being killed, and for that fact only.
Of course, that’s all speculation. But. Ooooh.
Thank you, Ursula. As always.
I like the idea that Shadow is talking about changing things for future generations of demons.
How cool would it be if Digger, just by being herself, inadvertently introduced a value system, complete with full moral and ethical code, to an entire supernatural race, thereby changing their nature forever?
Heady stuff for a wombat … (or anyone else, for that matter … )
😉
Seems I had it backwards.
Digger is Patron Wombat of Demons.
🙂
Sounds to me like the founding of the first demon orphanage is in the offing. SC can go around collecting other feral demon children and raising them with wombat morals, some day demons may be good.
Everyone else got such a positive impression from this strip, it looks like. To me it says “Shadow is going to die in a horribly tragic but necessary manner”, but maybe I only think that because it’s what I really want not to happen 🙁
I am sooooo proud of Shadow! Digger has done so well…. I think that the “lost generations” Shadow so regrets are, as AlpineBob said, all the generations of demons who never got a chance to choose, because they never knew they had a choice, due to both nature and nurture.
Well, that ends now (apparently) :D. There’s so much to do, or that can be done or attempted, on so many fronts… I wonder what Shadow will choose (after we get our current task done).
I would be pleased to at last offer Shadow a hug of jubilation, rather than another of sympathy and support. It’s a wonderful thing to be 100% behind yourself and your decisions/choices — “I am as I am and I am the one who can do what can be done”– and that deserves a fair bit of “hooray!”- ing and general celebration (not to mention an extended “happy dance” in Shadow’s honor).
Hooray!!!
*snif* They grow up so fast.
I think at this point “Shadowlescent” might not be such an appropriate name. Making that kind of decision to assume responsibility for the world around you is a very adult trait…
… the time has come for a Demon-Child Orphanage?
Similar to EBO?
>>;
Anyone? Vlogbrothers reference? No?
The previous comic’s mention of men with demon-killing swords is the foreshadowing I’m following, fwiw.
“….’Cause……. sometimes, a Shadow’s gotta do what a Shadow’s gotta do…”
(Pity Shad doesn’t have a belt to hitch up on that line…..) 7@=e
I too am jubilant for Shadow…but very, very apprehensive. Look at Digger in these panels. She is gravely worried, and I would be too.
There’s been talk of killing a deity…very serious and very dangerous business…and now Shadow speaks of “doing what must be done” with such solemnity.
I fear for our new old friend.
How are we sure the shadow has become an adolescent?There is just as much evidence to suggest it is now a shadult.
> There is just as much evidence to suggest it is now a shadult.
Now you’re just obscuring the issue, arguing shades of meaning …
😉
Ursula:
I read up to the first couple pages of Ganesh when I first discovered this strip, many years ago, and then it went for-pay. I could never convince myself to shell out my meager amounts of college-money for a comic, as fantastic as it was. I was so, SO happy to find this comic again and find out that I could finally read it in its near-entirety! I’m caught up now and desperate for the next page. This is by far one of the most amazing, well-drawn, humorous, and touching graphic works I’ve ever read. You are unbelievable.
… time passes, moments, hours, who can know …
… and then, an encounter …
Shadowlescent: Sweetgrass Voice, stop talking.
Sweetgrass Voice: Excuse me? What? But why, youngling?
…
Shadowlescent: Because I will eat you now. Hush. No more Voice…