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Starting February 1st ALL new Exiern pages will post ONLY to Exiern.com and Our Patreon. Please read and support us there!
Swords, Sorcery, And Then Some!
Howdy, New Readers! Thanks for reading Exiern!
Written by Scott T. Hicken with art by Antipus, the comic updates Mondays. Please check out the Archive to enjoy the earlier adventures of Typh and Peonie!
Exiern contains mature themes and is best for readers 18+.
Of course she tripped. That’s what happens if you let your weight shift back to your heels. If she’d keep her weight forward, little obstacles wouldn’t be a problem.
Heels? Right, there was supposed to be a wedding c!m arrest going on, and this whole swordfight is just a distraction while the bad guy plans his getaway, maybe taking out the daughter of the guy who figured him out. Meanwhile, the ladies were in heels, because it’s the medieval thing to wear.
@Tssha @Chaucer59
Thanks to panel 2, we get a very slim glimpse of Olivia’s buttcheek. So she’s either wearing a very nice thong, or has gone commando for the wedding and all events thereafter.
Bah! Stop complaining about the arc. It’s fine. This ain’t a nice and fluffy church. It’s used to telling people what they have to do and branding them heretics when they disagree so the idea that they had some ancient tradition that compelled two people to fight to the death in order to prove a case works for me. And reading further into it than, “This is a comic book meant to entertain me.” or expecting it to be historically accurate in it’s portrayal of swordfighting stances might be needing to look elsewhere.
So… all, that said, commenting on the story:
I love Peonie… but what happens if she dies? This is a story about Tiff, after all. Watching her deal with the death of the one constant in her new life could be awesome… or it could be shark jumping. I’m not sure which.
Not predicting but it could be worth speculating:
Peonie dies.
Tiff eviscerates Count Kid-toucher
Tiff has to escape… get help from lizard chick.
They head off to find Denver evading nastiness sent by the church
Denver shows up in all his glory at a dramatic moment…
Denver somehow expresses unchanged feelings for Tiff
Tiff learns that what you are doesn’t define who you are and, in the long run, who you are matters far more.
@joe bots you’re welcome to your opinion, but so are the rest of us. However, as to your suggestion that anyone who disagrees with your expectations might need to look elsewhere, allow me to invite you to go f!!k yourself.
Chaucer59 – No need to be so formal. I don’t need an invitation!
I’m taking the high road because I think my words might have been vague enough to be taken to mean something I wasn’t intending. I could see how it might look like, “Hey, you! Go away with your esoteric knowledge!”
That wasn’t my intention. I just don’t think a comic – and definitely not this comic – is the place to be looking for the sort of accuracy in the things a lot of people tend to point at in their critiques. In addition to enjoying this comic, people who enjoy such conversations are sure to find that there are places where such conversations might be better suited. I haven’t seen the comments section to be one of them and hoping to find that sort of accuracy here might be detracting from your enjoyment.
It seems to me like meybe Michio Kaku and Neil Degrasse Tyson and add-your-favorite-physicist-here all getting together to seriously lament the shortcomings of Star Wars when it comes to astrophysics. It’s kinda funny when they might do it for the funnies and definitely interesting when they do it for serious movies (like Tyson has in several YouTube videos) but if they were serious, we’d probably all agree that that is was misplaced.
I hope that gets me out of GFY territory but I suppose we’ll see…
All right, @joe botz, now that we’re on the high road, I respectfully disagree. Oh, I realize many fans—and even some critics—will allow the fact that a work is of a genre that doesn’t expect to be taken seriously (comics, pulp fiction, YA fiction, etc.) to excuse all manner of flaws, inconsistencies, and untruths. However, the reason you see people like N. D. Tyson critiquing SF and comics is that they know those works could be all the more interesting if they would stick to the facts. Movie makers argue that they need spaceships that can swoop in space, lasers that scream and flash, and things that go BOOM in a vacuum because without them the audience would be confused. I argue that those movie makers are being lazy. Why can’t the Deathstar wink out of existence with a brilliant flash of light in utter silence?
Similarly, having once wielded a sword, you can never again be excited by bad ballet moves attached to so-called swordplay that results in heads being lopped, armor being slashed, or armored opponents being dispatched by a single mid-torso swipe of a longsword. Real swordplay fascinating, but it’s also grueling work. The best of the Medieval and fantasy graphic novels are the ones that treat swordsmanship with the respect it deserves.
In the matter at hand, Princess Peonie has supposedly been studying swordplay with a highly skilled teacher. By all reports, she’s learned a lot. So, let us see that. Show us a Peonie who can wield a sword—with all the strength, grace, and patience that requires. I think it would make for a better comic. Otherwise, based on what we’ve seen so far, reports of Peonie’s learned prowess appear to have been grossly exaggerated.
Chaucer59: we are also talking about magical swords that can slice through someone leaving them physically intact in publically humiliated (not even a scratch but completely naked, or in nothing but your heart-boxers)
Also, it is not P-cups who is in full control of her actions, she is a puppet to Terry (a former priest) pulling her strings
@Chaucer59: I’m not saying the inaccuracies aren’t worth considering. I’m saying this doesn’t seem like the place to worry about it.
Arguing about that sort of stuff here seems as out of place as arguing about the science mistakes in a Star Wars movie while you’re sitting in the theater watching the movie.
I’m sure the vast majority of us haven’t wielded a sword (like you, I actually have) and wouldn’t notice or care that she’s in an incorrect stance. It would make more sense to discuss it where people could actually appreciate such subject matter.
Ultimately, neither of us is making a rule. However respectfully we may disagree (even if GFY were still part of the equation!) you’re going to remain free to discuss stuff like the inaccuracy of the thread count in the trim in Tiffany’s outfit. Similarly, I’ll remain free to point out that there’s too much about the “as is” comic worth enjoying to discuss it here but there’s probably an embroidering forum somewhere that might care.
@Guesticus, that’s only true for one sword, and it’s only true in limited applications. None of which changes the way people train to use swords. Also, I want to remind everyone that my point about stance was true of any kind of physical confrontation. If you fight with your weight back on both heels, someone’s going to knock you over. It’s really something of a no-brainer, and magic swords won’t save you from your own clumsiness.
@joe botz—not the place for such criticism? It’s the perfect place. The author monitors this comment stream and has responded favorably to criticism in the past.
I will add some small portion to this discussion. I have been reading this ‘comic’ for quite a while. I find I enjoy the “criticisms”. Often noticing that they encourage me to find more information on certain thoughts, ideas and customs- such as sword play proper.
As long as everyone stays civil, and also as long as no one seems to think they have better ideas than the author, the comments have been enlightening, thoughtful, interesting, and welcome (to me anyway). And if something does get into the comic, all the better- since it must have been a good idea. Lately I have noticed we seem to be missing a blowhard or two in the comments, and wonder what happened.
No matter, life is better that they are gone. Thank you Scott and Shipeng.
If there are more people like Migraine Maldete than I assumed, then I guess I stand corrected. You can tell your grandkids you were here when someone on the internet admitted they were wrong!
Now that the complaint portion of my post has been dealt with, how about the rest? Anyone else see the possibility that Peonie can bite it in this fight? In your opinion, would that be a monumental development or a shark jump?
BTW, I’m pretty sure the fight is far from over. Peonie still has most of her clothes on…
@joebotz- I beg your pardon if you mistook what I said about ‘blowhards”. I have been ‘missing’ (not really) someone who seemed to think they spoke for the author. Hasn’t been here in a while, and I find the comments and discussions that much better for the absence.
When you add something about “proper stance” I find that interesting, whether or not the author cor other readers care to follow up or make changes. It is after all- a work of fiction, meant to entertain. Spaceballs wasn’t exactly true to life, but funny nonetheless. It wouldn’t be science fiction, or any other type of internet fiction, if there was’t a core of truth, with some liberties taken along the way to make it interesting and novel.
And Peonie seems to have a guardian angel in those respects, considering the tight spots (not counting her clothing or lack thereof) she has been in…or out of… Just sayin’.
Be a Producer!Your name/title with an optional SFW hyperlink will be posted prominently HERE following the close of the month! You’ll also receive monthly mailings from Exiern’s author, Scott T. Hicken!
Of course she tripped. That’s what happens if you let your weight shift back to your heels. If she’d keep her weight forward, little obstacles wouldn’t be a problem.
I wonder – did she trip because the rock was there, or was the rock there because she needed to be tripped?
@Mogster – the way her feet are planted, she would have tripped even without that little pebble.
@anony – as much as I’d like to see Peonie win, you have a point. The pace of this arc has not been up to Scott’s previously high standards.
@Bad Taiming & @Uhl – yeah, what is it with comic book heroines? Real women know better than to fight in heels.
>peonie bends backwards
>the incoming blade slices only the orb
>we move on from this story arc
And not a bit too soon, I might add. Yeesh.
why the hell don’t they lose the shoes?
Why is Peonie even IN heels?
I love how I failed to notice that she was cute in the last page, cause of focusing on the other part of the situation there.
Ah dumb luck. It has serves Peonie well over the years…
Heels? Right, there was supposed to be a wedding c!m arrest going on, and this whole swordfight is just a distraction while the bad guy plans his getaway, maybe taking out the daughter of the guy who figured him out. Meanwhile, the ladies were in heels, because it’s the medieval thing to wear.
Princess P-cups could at least have kicked off her shoes (if her controller thought of it), but Olive is wearing knee-high boots
…just where is Olivia’s underwear anyway? o_O
@Tssha – just a wild guess: under her clothes? What makes you think her underwear is missing?
@Tssha @Chaucer59
Thanks to panel 2, we get a very slim glimpse of Olivia’s buttcheek. So she’s either wearing a very nice thong, or has gone commando for the wedding and all events thereafter.
And the princess’ infamous luck strikes again (but in her favor for a change)
@Frith Ra- Quite right. Of course if Peony hadn’t jumped in and become Teresa’s champion she might be wearing the blue orb instead.
Bah! Stop complaining about the arc. It’s fine. This ain’t a nice and fluffy church. It’s used to telling people what they have to do and branding them heretics when they disagree so the idea that they had some ancient tradition that compelled two people to fight to the death in order to prove a case works for me. And reading further into it than, “This is a comic book meant to entertain me.” or expecting it to be historically accurate in it’s portrayal of swordfighting stances might be needing to look elsewhere.
So… all, that said, commenting on the story:
I love Peonie… but what happens if she dies? This is a story about Tiff, after all. Watching her deal with the death of the one constant in her new life could be awesome… or it could be shark jumping. I’m not sure which.
Not predicting but it could be worth speculating:
Peonie dies.
Tiff eviscerates Count Kid-toucher
Tiff has to escape… get help from lizard chick.
They head off to find Denver evading nastiness sent by the church
Denver shows up in all his glory at a dramatic moment…
Denver somehow expresses unchanged feelings for Tiff
Tiff learns that what you are doesn’t define who you are and, in the long run, who you are matters far more.
I’d be happy with this…
@joe bots you’re welcome to your opinion, but so are the rest of us. However, as to your suggestion that anyone who disagrees with your expectations might need to look elsewhere, allow me to invite you to go f!!k yourself.
Chaucer59 – No need to be so formal. I don’t need an invitation!
I’m taking the high road because I think my words might have been vague enough to be taken to mean something I wasn’t intending. I could see how it might look like, “Hey, you! Go away with your esoteric knowledge!”
That wasn’t my intention. I just don’t think a comic – and definitely not this comic – is the place to be looking for the sort of accuracy in the things a lot of people tend to point at in their critiques. In addition to enjoying this comic, people who enjoy such conversations are sure to find that there are places where such conversations might be better suited. I haven’t seen the comments section to be one of them and hoping to find that sort of accuracy here might be detracting from your enjoyment.
It seems to me like meybe Michio Kaku and Neil Degrasse Tyson and add-your-favorite-physicist-here all getting together to seriously lament the shortcomings of Star Wars when it comes to astrophysics. It’s kinda funny when they might do it for the funnies and definitely interesting when they do it for serious movies (like Tyson has in several YouTube videos) but if they were serious, we’d probably all agree that that is was misplaced.
I hope that gets me out of GFY territory but I suppose we’ll see…
All right, @joe botz, now that we’re on the high road, I respectfully disagree. Oh, I realize many fans—and even some critics—will allow the fact that a work is of a genre that doesn’t expect to be taken seriously (comics, pulp fiction, YA fiction, etc.) to excuse all manner of flaws, inconsistencies, and untruths. However, the reason you see people like N. D. Tyson critiquing SF and comics is that they know those works could be all the more interesting if they would stick to the facts. Movie makers argue that they need spaceships that can swoop in space, lasers that scream and flash, and things that go BOOM in a vacuum because without them the audience would be confused. I argue that those movie makers are being lazy. Why can’t the Deathstar wink out of existence with a brilliant flash of light in utter silence?
Similarly, having once wielded a sword, you can never again be excited by bad ballet moves attached to so-called swordplay that results in heads being lopped, armor being slashed, or armored opponents being dispatched by a single mid-torso swipe of a longsword. Real swordplay fascinating, but it’s also grueling work. The best of the Medieval and fantasy graphic novels are the ones that treat swordsmanship with the respect it deserves.
In the matter at hand, Princess Peonie has supposedly been studying swordplay with a highly skilled teacher. By all reports, she’s learned a lot. So, let us see that. Show us a Peonie who can wield a sword—with all the strength, grace, and patience that requires. I think it would make for a better comic. Otherwise, based on what we’ve seen so far, reports of Peonie’s learned prowess appear to have been grossly exaggerated.
Chaucer59: we are also talking about magical swords that can slice through someone leaving them physically intact in publically humiliated (not even a scratch but completely naked, or in nothing but your heart-boxers)
Also, it is not P-cups who is in full control of her actions, she is a puppet to Terry (a former priest) pulling her strings
@Chaucer59: I’m not saying the inaccuracies aren’t worth considering. I’m saying this doesn’t seem like the place to worry about it.
Arguing about that sort of stuff here seems as out of place as arguing about the science mistakes in a Star Wars movie while you’re sitting in the theater watching the movie.
I’m sure the vast majority of us haven’t wielded a sword (like you, I actually have) and wouldn’t notice or care that she’s in an incorrect stance. It would make more sense to discuss it where people could actually appreciate such subject matter.
Ultimately, neither of us is making a rule. However respectfully we may disagree (even if GFY were still part of the equation!) you’re going to remain free to discuss stuff like the inaccuracy of the thread count in the trim in Tiffany’s outfit. Similarly, I’ll remain free to point out that there’s too much about the “as is” comic worth enjoying to discuss it here but there’s probably an embroidering forum somewhere that might care.
@Guesticus, that’s only true for one sword, and it’s only true in limited applications. None of which changes the way people train to use swords. Also, I want to remind everyone that my point about stance was true of any kind of physical confrontation. If you fight with your weight back on both heels, someone’s going to knock you over. It’s really something of a no-brainer, and magic swords won’t save you from your own clumsiness.
@joe botz—not the place for such criticism? It’s the perfect place. The author monitors this comment stream and has responded favorably to criticism in the past.
I will add some small portion to this discussion. I have been reading this ‘comic’ for quite a while. I find I enjoy the “criticisms”. Often noticing that they encourage me to find more information on certain thoughts, ideas and customs- such as sword play proper.
As long as everyone stays civil, and also as long as no one seems to think they have better ideas than the author, the comments have been enlightening, thoughtful, interesting, and welcome (to me anyway). And if something does get into the comic, all the better- since it must have been a good idea. Lately I have noticed we seem to be missing a blowhard or two in the comments, and wonder what happened.
No matter, life is better that they are gone. Thank you Scott and Shipeng.
If there are more people like Migraine Maldete than I assumed, then I guess I stand corrected. You can tell your grandkids you were here when someone on the internet admitted they were wrong!
Now that the complaint portion of my post has been dealt with, how about the rest? Anyone else see the possibility that Peonie can bite it in this fight? In your opinion, would that be a monumental development or a shark jump?
BTW, I’m pretty sure the fight is far from over. Peonie still has most of her clothes on…
@joebotz- I beg your pardon if you mistook what I said about ‘blowhards”. I have been ‘missing’ (not really) someone who seemed to think they spoke for the author. Hasn’t been here in a while, and I find the comments and discussions that much better for the absence.
When you add something about “proper stance” I find that interesting, whether or not the author cor other readers care to follow up or make changes. It is after all- a work of fiction, meant to entertain. Spaceballs wasn’t exactly true to life, but funny nonetheless. It wouldn’t be science fiction, or any other type of internet fiction, if there was’t a core of truth, with some liberties taken along the way to make it interesting and novel.
And Peonie seems to have a guardian angel in those respects, considering the tight spots (not counting her clothing or lack thereof) she has been in…or out of… Just sayin’.