Hey DW pals, Jason here.
So, I finally wrapped up the third part of Matt Zimmer's Gilda and Meek and the Un-Inverse's epic arc, "The Pontue Legacy". Before I begin though, I'd like to say a few words on this episode.
I was in a very sad place after the news about my high school's Class of 2024 Graduation Commencement Celebration. I never thought such a tragic thing would befall my alma mater, especially given my experience there. There was only one time in my high school where I generally feared for my life, but there was someone looking out for me who got me home safely. I'm grateful to have gotten my diploma in spite of that one incident, and my fond memories of my time at high school far eclipse the anger I felt upon hearing the news about what happened.
I was dinged on social media for posting a message on my high school's Class of 2005 page calling for thoughts and solidarity to support and help the new graduates, their families, the staff, and the two victims. I was initially enraged, as I thought Facebook was taking my post out of context. But rather than fight with the admins, I choose to acquiesce and accept the removal of my post. It's been only two weeks since my current mental health situation forced me to resign from my third job -- undoubtedly the best job I have ever had -- and to obsess over this would not be good for my road to recovery. I've carried such a burden, so much emotional baggage that just thinking about this injustice and the state of things in America literally gave me a throbbing headache. Right now, that's the last thing I need.
So, after I cooled off, I decided to finish up the remaining few pages of Gilda and Meek, since last time I spent four hours reading and journaling my thoughts into the review you'll see below. And upon finishing the episode, I felt a sense of calm -- this was a feeling I haven't had for nearly a year, given what I've been through. In that moment, I returned to the Serenity Prayer I re-discovered in 2022, and decided to just appreciate where I am now, what I've accomplished, what I've learned, and reflecting on the lives I helped to make just a bit better. As a result, I can allow myself to once again let go of my ruminations on the world's problems and focus on what's best for myself at the moment. I told Matt about this positive reaction near the end of my writing the review, so you could say this is also a thank you to him for being one of the rocks I hold onto in life. Thanks, Matt. You are awesome.
And without further ado, here we go...
Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse #11: "The Pontue Legacy - Part III: The Magician and the Swordman" Review
⦁ Well, Henry's starting off his swordfight with Pedro/Inigo with a meme statement, plus the obligatory menacing, P.O.ed face. Memories of that meme being used in reference (and origin) during The Super Mario Bros. Movie wisped through my mind for a moment. But now, once more unto the breach... oh, and Henry's out-bladed by one, btw. Dual-wielding swordsmen are not to be trifled with, as Henry soon finds out for himself. Outmatched and outclassed, the advantage is Pedro's, and it's game, set, and...
⦁ Princess Sarah thought showing up at the opportune moment to play referee would make Pedro yield to royalty, but the dashing monocle-sporting master of blades states that his allegiance is to no one. A regular Aragorn, a lone ranger. Love it. But then we're informed that Pedro's beef ain't with the princess, it's with Sorceress Augatha. He's the last of Pontue's elite guard, who witnessed her murder at the hands of Augatha, the latter procuring the Dark Idol of the Gragnocks. The whole "stand and deliver" deal with the bridge is to prevent any of Augatha's crew from reaching the Dragon's Council. Have to say that's pretty tragic, not only being the last of your kind but also having seen your liege slain in cold blood right before your eyes, topped by the assassin becoming the inheritor of an omen. Being alone and guarding a bridge in the netherlands of your kingdom would probably invite misery, then delusions...
⦁ Pedro once again expresses the gravity of the situation; with Mistress Pontue and the Knights of Pontue extinguished, failure to put an end to Augatha's agenda pretty much means the End Times are coming. Overcome with emotion and at Princess Sarah's request, Pedro fills the crew -- and we, the readers -- in on the whole shebang: he and the Kingdom's citizens were on the lookout for a sacred realm that Pontue claimed would be the only sanctuary left once Augatha fulfills her agenda of laying waste to the entire planet. The Sancturary -- the "paradise" Pedro menacingly invoked at the cliffhanger of the previous episode -- is known as Piranhnala. It's described as Heaven on Earth, and for good reason; for one thing, aside from the obvious beauty and wealth, these folks got advanced magic. They call it... technology. Oh, yeah -- this is definitely Heaven on Earth all right. The only question I have is, just how advanced is their tech? Are we talking techno-kinesis, or even technomancy? The possibilities are endless... and, of course, fish have made this wonderland their crib. And, according to Winifred's mother, this sanctuary does indeed exist.
⦁ Pedro joins the party, equipped with his dual blades, Henry with his single blade, and Sarah and her canine escorts are now under the protection of both swordsmen as they head for the Dragon's Council. The first order of business, of course, is to find the magician known as Agnor, who was mentioned in the previous episode. Makes sense; Agnor is a magician, and the Crew will need all the extra aces in the hole they can get for what they're up against. However, Sarah knows that Agnor won't exactly be giving her the "Pumbaa gravel at Her Majesty's feet" when they meet the magician. She and Agnor have a history involving a student of his, which cost him something so near and dear to him, and apparently irreplaceable. And for that, Agnor holds quite a grudge against Sarah that has yet to be quelled. Sounds deep. Sarah proceeds to bring up the slideshow to explain it all...
⦁ Flashback time! Three years ago a procession from the Capitol of Korsam arrives at the welcoming gate of the Kingdom of Finn. The honored guests are Agnor and his apprentice. An interesting fact about Korsam is that it isn't a monarchy; there are no coronations, crowns, or thrones. Nope, this is a democratic kingdom, playas. The people of Korsam elect their president, who just happens to be Agnor himself. Agnor's remark about Henry's skin complexion drew a slight chuckle from me. For the uninitiated, a diverse kingdom is a JUST kingdom.
⦁ And now we're introduced to the yet-unnamed apprentice of Agnor, and he's not too fond of the kid. He's Zyle, and he's a regular heartthrob nobody can will themselves to despise at first glance. Unfortunately, that's one type of magic that Agnor is NOT skilled in. Zyle owns a confidant in his teddy, Gerf. And don't be fooled; Zyle may be the dashing hero, but man alive does he LOVE that teddy. And Gerf is a living being to boot. Sarah makes an interesting remark about that quality, to create life from nothingness. As a self-taught artist, that's something I believe truly defines the magic of art, of creation. Many world religions speak of an omnipotent, almighty entity (God, Allah, Krishna, etc.) responsible for bringing the universe into being. That aspect, creating something from nothing, is the connection between human and metahuman/entity/higher power. Both beings share that ability, just in different literal shares. Humankind can't create other living humans of their own will (unless reproduction is considered), but the ability to make images of any shape, sometimes in sequence, is still an act of creation by that human, and thus creation is a common ability for both humans and higher beings in that regard. That's a nice little "soul statement" from the princess, and it reminds me of why I do what I do in art.
⦁ Well, well... though it's obvious that Princess Sarah has the hots for Zyle, the young apprentice seems a bit... reserved. He admits that he finds our princess here at a 10 our of 10 on the "Damn, is she HOT or WHAT?" scale, but he's also wary of the stereotypical "If the Princess's dad catches me getting intimate with her, which could very well happen REALLY soon, I'm most certainly a dead man" response, so he holds his admiration back. I can sympathize with him in a way, since the kingdom doesn't think too highly of King Farrell, and also... well, Sarah's a princess. That's pretty concerning territory on which one would be wise to tread lightly on. Also, Zyle has respect for Winifred despite her station as a servant, and stands with Sarah for having the pup join in on getting their cake-grubbin' on. I gotta say, Winifred obviously commands a certain level of respect for someone of her position, which does remind me of many story tropes involving the protagonist finding great worth in a character that, at first glance, would seem like a throwaway or just a lowly plot device to advance a story.
⦁ Zyle's statement about his liege being super conservative despite leading a democratic kingdom reminds me of a conversation with another webcomic artist about a crucial theme in his story, covering looking past someone's appearance and into their hearts. I'll explain how:
⦁ The protagonist in this story, titled "Good Words with Sako", is a young Japanese girl named Sako Fujita who falls victim to a horrible tragedy that inadvertently turns her into a large, humanoid Stegosaurus. Though her appearance turns off nearly everyone else in the fictional city of Margoda, Sako finds respite through a webshow in which she shares messages about the goodness in people, forgiveness, and even failure and disappointment from seemingly dead dreams. I gravitated to this comic during a point in my life last summer when I had been questioning if I was being my true self or keeping up appearances just to feel tolerated in my family. Recently I was able to reclaim my identity, but it was by no means easy to reach that point. Anyway, Sako soon finds a boy who works at her local manga bookshop, Zan Sudo. Over time, Sako develops very strong feelings for Zan, but she's dismayed at the fact that Zan already had a girlfriend, and she was currently a literal humanoid dinosaur who society would surely mock for romanticizing about a human. However, it is soon revealed that Zan's girlfriend got drugged by a bullish dude at a party and shared explicit photos of herself and this guy having sexual relations on the internet. When Zan found out, he was heartbroken. At the same time, he had also developed feelings for Sako, refusing to judge her by her scaly appearance, but by the general goodness of her heart through her messages on her webshow. Eventually things got to a head and Zan met with his remorseful girlfriend to voice his pain. And though his girl tried to patch things up and start over, Zan had had enough. He declared he was now in love with Sako, and formally broke up with his former beau. The relationship between Zan and Sako grew up to a moment at a dance party where Sako accidentally bumped her spiky Stegosaurus tail into another woman on the floor, who proceeded to berate the dino-girl for being so careless. Zan hurried to Sako's defense, basically telling the woman to piss off since Sako didn't hit her intentionally. But the damage was already done; Sako fell into a self-pity, hating that this was what she was now. Zan later cheered her up by asking for one last dance, to which Sako reluctantly agreed. Turns out that Zan asked for that dance to prove to Sako -- and the whole crowd -- how he felt about her by embracing her and slowly leaning into a kiss that took Sako by surprise, which then turned to reciprocated love as she too fell into the kiss. At that point, Zan had considered Sako his girlfriend, refusing to judge her by her appearance. Sako happily accepted that notion, and the two were happy for a time.
⦁ But Zyle mentioning "super conservative" in a democratic concept reminded me of how Zan's father took the news. Mr. Sudo and Zan never saw eye to eye on anything, with Mr. Sudo having become even more bitter since the passing of his wife/Zan's mother. He wasn't at all happy with his son dating a dinosaur. Zan retorted that he wasn't in love with her for her appearance, but for her good heart and soul. Mr. Sudo shut down that point by doubling down on the fact that Sako was not human, despite acknowledging the unfortunate circumstances of her current state. Plus, he was concerned about the effect Zan and Sako's pairing would have on his business partners and interests to provide fot himself and his son. He then gave Zan an ultimatum: break up with Sako or be cut off from all family inheritance. Zan chose Sako, and vehemently disowned his dad in a show of raw contempt.
⦁ It was at this point that I left a comment lambasting Mr. Sudo for being so cold-hearted and willing to even cut his own son out of the family will for dating someone who wasn't human, especially in the interests of keeping up appearances with his business partners. I sarcastically labeled him a "conservative" who was afraid of change. The artist, who goes by the username "KaijuKid" (he's a major Godzilla fan), replied to my comment the following day gently telling me that I should hold back on the harsh comment on grounds of conservatism -- KaijuKid himself hold some conservative values too, but not at the expense of alienating open-mindedness. He also added that Mr. Sudo's actions weren't to drive his son away from his new, scaly girlfriend out of scorn; he was masking his real concern for how society would reject Zan for dating a dinosaur girl. Yes, his approach was harsh, but not in the interest of "conservatism". He was truly concerned about how Zan would likely be targeted by hate groups and paparazzi hack writers. I think my response was due to the divide I had with my own dad, which had reached its peak last summer, and I felt like I was seeing my own father in Zan's father; not allowing for me to follow my dreams and instead forcing myself to be a bookworm so my dad could our extended family and friends a son he could be proud of. Now, while that doesn't excuse MY dad's actions as they were purely for his own pride, Mr. Sudo was looking out for his son's safety. And soon after Zan abandoned and moved in with Sako, Mr. Sudo arrived to finally tell his son that he was okay with Sako being his girl, on some temporary conditions until Zan would be able to fully provide for himself and Sako. He was also touched prior to this by hearing Sako's case in a personal meeting. In the end, Both Sudos and Sako were content, though there were other, graver things happening in Margoda that threatened only them, but many others in their circle of friends. I haven't caught up in a while, but I can certainly say that the stakes saw a huge spike in a VERY short amount of time.
⦁ So that, along with Zyle's "conservative" father leading through being elected leader of his kingdom via democratic means reminded me of how rigid my own views of conservatism were, mainly due to how Republican politicians had basically rewritten the definition of such into an extremist agenda championed White men who profited from growing up in the Jim Crow and saw an opportunity to recreate that style of "government" for the modern age. But that isn't conservatism. I interpret that term from a non-political standpoint, one that believes in holding some societal norms in place in the interest of a peaceful existence; things like declaring murder is wrong, that the proliferation of hatred coupled with that of unrestrained violence can and will destroy society, the rule of law and mutual respect for each other regardless of personal views -- basically the Golden Rule. These days people worldwide are renouncing that simple concept and replacing it with complicated "power dynamics" that don't maintain a society, but fracture and eventually destroy it. Unfortunately in America, there's a lot of that kind of rebellious vigor that is considered conservatism today, and it spreads a bad message about REAL conservatives not affiliated with politics, as it had with me. BUUUUT anyway, ahem. Okay, moving on...
⦁ Using a clever (and loud and messy) diversionary tactic, Sarah, Zyle, and Winifred score BIG on the cakes. It may've been a bit noisy and disorganized, but hey, it worked. And isn't that what's most important? Of course, they gotta keep their plan unnoticed by King Farrell and Magician Agnor, lest they pick up the act. All the while, Sarah becomes more open about her attraction to Zyle, to the point of the ol' touching-your-crush's-hand during a moment that couldn't be more romantically fitting before Gerf decides to literally break the silence. Kinda reminds me of that girl from 11th grade, Nina; aside from her flirtatious remark about the similarity between our names and slyly asking about what our kid's prospective name could be, there was a moment -- during Valentine's Day of all days -- where I ran across her and two of her friends during the passing period between classes. She advanced towards me with arms wide for an embrace, which I nervously gave into while greeting her by name, which really lit her eyes up as she acknowledged that yes, I remembered her name. Her friends wished me a happy Valentine's Day while Nina smiled fondly. That whole thing was so sudden that it took me completely off guard, leading to me somewhat absentmindedly welcoming her hug. I'm an introvert and really shy, especially around women. Even if a girl walks up to me and tells me that I look "cute", I usually either pretend not to have heard them or acknowledging it sheepishly. Yep, I got next to NO experience if a girl is close by and wants to strike up a conversation, whether I'm attracted to them or not. I'm not sure why. Mysteries of my life, heh...
⦁ Lady Heather, Princess Sarah's monotonous cousin, doesn't approve of Zyle. Like, at ALL. Never mind that she sees his father's kingdom as FAR beneath hers, but by that virtue she dubs Zyle as likable as a dumpster truck. Zyle retorts by telling Heather that she has the literal ODOR of a dumpster truck. Heather declares Zyle to be sent to the guillotine for such a smart-alecky quip, but it turns out that she in fact DOES reek of an odor, but instead of a dumpster truck as I had earlier imagined, it was rather that she didn't know where she was sitting; turns out that the seat of her chair wasn't a cushion, but rather something that a bear had done -- the bear in question being the stuffed teddy, Gerf. Apparently housekeeping forgot to clean that up. Damn, that MUST have been totally humiliating.
⦁ Later on, my "foresight of the stereotypical" begin to come to pass, with King Farrell not thinking to highly of Zyle in terms of status; Agnor is a powerful magician, but where he comes from apprentices apparently aren't worth jack. They're essentially guinea pigs exploited for the most optimal use by Kosram's leadership, regardless of government by democracy. King Farrell responds with even more proof of my "foresight" by stating a person of such lowly status such as Zyle is NOT what he considers monarch material, discouraging Sarah from seeing him. When he invokes his wife/Sarah's mother, the princess remains unmoved as well as offended that the King would even go that far. Daddy states that Agnor is already preparing to send Zyle on his way anyway, so it's already a done deal, and tells Sarah to give her parting ways speech and to make it fast. Oh, and Farrell has seen to it that our two lovebirds will be permanenty separated. As in, forever.
⦁ In a fit of frustration and rage, Sarah rage-slams the nearby door, clearly ready to blow like a Hawaiian volcano. Zyle just happens to be nearby, and is already jerky at the sudden explosion of a scorned woman on a hellish warptah. Almost instantly upon seeing him, Sarah goes from "there's gonna be HELL to pay now!" to "Ohmygod-he's-right-here-and-I...I...come here, you fine little guy!" and locks lips, momentarily wowing Zyle. But then he quickly collapses into a self-conscious panic attack, in disbelief that Sarah would even find kissing him something even remotely considerable. But though Sarah begs to differ on those grounds, she has to keep it real with Zyle: as the heir to the throne, Sarah's royal obligations take all precedence over other matters -- even matters of the heart. Plus, there's also the issue of her cousin; if Sarah abdicates the throne to Heather, well... she'd effectively King Farrell seems like the late Queen Elizabeth II. And Sarah says this with veritable fear in her eyes and in her voice. Unfortunately, she and Zyle can never be.
⦁ Angor's unique enchantment, the Whahuma Talisman, stands ready for use to end the Kingdom of Finn's catastrophic drought dilemna (too many fond memories of a dinner hosted by Barack Obama and a well-known Black comedian who commented on California's predicament at the time: "Hey, if y'all haven't noticed, California is BONE DRY. It's like Mad Max up in here!" Too bad I can't remember the dude's name, but he had a perpetual fury-eyed glower that I can't believe Obama didn't flinch at...). I'm reminded of a recent plot device in my own comic book series Sneakers' U-Force in the form of an ancient relic called the Eco-Scepter, which has the ability to manipulate the weather for better or worse for two full hours of beautiful bliss or Hell on Earth. But that's just for two hours. The Whahuma Talisman here? This baby can change not only the weather, but the very fabric of reality. That's GODLY power there, folks. You do NOT want that in the wrong hands. The king mentions a disaster of apocalyptic proportions were this artifact to fall into the hands of Sorceress Augatha, but Agnor slighty rebukes that statement on the grounds that Augatha does not believe in domination through "video game cheat codes" -- Augatha a sorceress of standards, and will do things by the book. Better to earn your right as Goddess of the Cosmos than to just buy an Infinity Gauntlet complete with all six Infinity Stones off of Amazon and do your thing once it arrives on your porch and you unbox it. Where's the feeling of victory, of ACCOMPLISHMENT in that?
⦁ Farrell questions Agnor's view on the use of the Whahuma Talisman for his own ends if he so desired. Turns out Agnor doesn't like using cheat codes either; he too believes in using the power to warp the space-time continuum with a level of restraint and formality. He will never go out of his way to just snap his fingers and all that was shall cease to be; like Thanos from the Avengers fame, Agnor would rather work his way there and earn his victory. I gotta respect both Agnor and Augatha on at least those grounds; even with my own comics, I had to learn to really enjoy the process of making each page rather than to rush through them to make self-imposed deadlines in the interest of maintaining update schedules, especially given that I'm not charging money to view the work (I could've chosen to do it that way on GlobalComix.com, but that would be a losing battle against the likes of Image Comics, Oni Press, and Antarctic Press, which have acquired FAR MORE exposure than I could hope to build in such a short amount of time... plus, it's just not my M.O.). The feeling of accomplishment after doing things that way is seldom matched by any other euphoria I experience in life.
⦁ Eventually a mysterious figure sneaks into the King's study and steals the Talisman, then makes a break right though a nearby window. Upon discovering the theft of the artifact, both King Farrell and Agnor order Winifred to use her canine senses to identify the culprit. Unfortunately, Winifred loses the scent just quickly as she had picked it up, prompting the two angry old men into a fit of serious animal cruetly towards the helpless servant. Naturally, Winifred, having just been on the receiving end of the " Screw 'never kick your dog, not even if your upset with it', this mutt needs to learn some RESPECT" plus a dose of domestic violence seeing as she is a female and this is King Farrell's Crib, breaks down into tears and makes herself scarce, with Henry looking on in horror at the sight of what just transpired. The two men immediately committ to retrieving the Talisman as they know that whoever owns it now has frickin' REALITY at risk, with Farrell promising full compensation in wealth to Agnor in the event the Talisman is forever lost. BUT... well, the Narrator doesn't dub Agnor a douchebag for nothing. In his mind, the only thing that's worth mentally salivating for is just how much bank he could be potentially be rolling in. They say that "the love of money is the root of all evil", and Agnor looks like he wants to maintain the veritability of that adage.
⦁ Winifred suddenly recalls the scent of the thief as she meets up with Sarah and Zyle, who were having a fond moment. The canine, whose nose has never led her astray reveals the identity of the culprit... as Zyle himself! Sarah immediately gives a stark rebuttal, stating that if that were the case, then Zyle would've already taken the Talisman for himself back in Korsam. Zyle adds that he's never even been in the King's study to begin with, so what the hell with the Sherlock Holmes "A-HA!" spiel?
⦁ Winifred recalls the little "whoppie cushion prank" with Gerf's little deposit after ingest some of those decadent cakes to prove her point. And to Sarah and Zyle's surprise, the menacing teddy looks at them with a face that while completely vacant, is also completely telling. Gerf is one who procured the Whahuma Talisman, displaying a sudden example of intelligence the whole crew is almost floored by upon witnessing it. Turns out he was summoned from the Whahuma Plain by Zyle at the age of three, but simply bided his time for a dozen years before making his big play. Seems like he's also trying to rewrite history by stealing the Talisman with the intent of surpassing Zyle's supposed magical prowess. And when Zyle, and shock and sadness, asks why Gerf would do such a thing (while Sarah poses the "why didn't you just steal it back in Kosram" question to Gerf as well), Gerf lays it out, plain and simple: the intent to sow as much of a false sense of friendship and trust as he could before taking an axe and finally cutting through it all just to enjoy the resulting wound bleed out dry. Simpler still: it was for pure sadistic pleasure. Now that the work is done, it's time for Gerf to make his Exit, Stage Left.
⦁ But Gerf doesn't really just how deadly STUPID making that statement, as Zyle's eyes go bloodshot, and his dormant magical abilities go in into overdrive; the proverbial "it's over 9000!!!" act has just begun. He gives Gerf a taste of that raw power, channeling his pain at this deliberate betrayal in a focus beam of enegry with the intent to literally INCINERATE this cocky piece of pompous fluff... only for Gerf to survive completely unscathed and unsinged, restating his intentions mattor-of-factly, and bounces by teleporting away. Wow. God...DAMN, just... I need a moment, guys. Hold on...
⦁ As Zyle returns to a sense of calm, collected sanity, Winifred reiterates Sarah's feelings toward him: "What'd I tell ya, huh? HUH? He's SOOOO HOT! You really got GREAT taste, girl!" Zyle, who is not at ALL flattered, chastises the canine for absentmindedly calling him out as the thief, to which she remorsefully apologizes. Zyle admits that he himself is also remorseful for putting his faith in a companion who had totally owned him at the eleventh hour, and that he's devasted that he so easily allowed this new evil to ascend to unholy heights. But at the same time, Agnor is also well aware of Gerf's stunt... and he's beyond pissed. Now it's HIS turn to go full rage-mode. And rage-mode he does indeed, viciously brutalizing Zyle, Sarah, AND Winifred ALL AT ONCE. You don't fuck with a magician. Uh-uh, that's a line you NEVER cross.
⦁ But somebody benefited from Agnor crossing that line, and that person is Sarah herself. Having provoked Agnor into rage-mode, now the ball's in HER court as Agnor realizes he just beat the heir to the throne of Finn to within an inch of her life. And he's well aware of what happens when you fuck with the crowned PRINCESS. Agnor tries to counter her threat by reassuring her that the King will never get word of act of child abuse (okay, not CHILD abuse, but you get my point, right?). But Sarah doubles down that King Farrell will indeed hear about this... unless Agnor agrees to some really humiliating terms in exchange Sarah's mercy, and by extension, that of King Farrell. Agnor, having been soundly outwitted and outplayed by a young princess who knows wassup, has no choice but to bow to Sarah's demands, but not without a really big grudge. And if that wasn't painful enough, when Agnor tells Zyle to pack up as they make haste back to Korsam, Zyle drops another bomb: He's going back to Korsam, all right. But he ain't going with Teach here, citing not only his disdain for being Agnor's apprentice but also the fact that magic-wise, Agnor is FAR beneath him, to the point of insignificance. In a surprise move to prove his point, it is revealed that Zyle is also apparently trained the Dark Side of the Force, as he uses the popular Sith ability to telekinetically choke Agnor to within an inch of HIS life. At that point, Agnor takes the hint and is ghost in seconds.
⦁ Sarah appeals to Zyle to stay with her in the Kingdom of Finn, but Zyle sadly echoes her statement of lineage in the family having to be put before all else; in two years' time, Zyle will reach the age of 17, at which point he'll be able to run for the Korsam presidency -- and as far as the election is concerns, Zyle intends to win in a landslide victory. Sarah offers an embrace as her sign of coming to an understanding, and the next day, Zyle takes up a horse offered by Sarah to travel back to Korsam with. Interesingly enough, he adopts the name "Gerald" to his new steed -- the same name as that of his father, whom he's not ready to tell stories about yet. And with a promise that he guarantees their paths will cross again, Zyle bids Sarah farewell and takes his leave, with the set piece of the obligatory sunset via green screen rolling for the final time before the director calls it a day and the cameramen shut off their equipment.
⦁ With their work laid out, the crew takes the road through an unholy place known as The Valley of the Running Noses. Didn't know that name was a literal one, but all the same, I'd be terrified if I ran into one of its inhabitants. It's been my experience that any creature out of the ordinary by any standards is not one to be trifled with. It also turns out that Pedro wasn't using his full skills in swordsmanship as he's actually taken a liking to Henry. Not gonna lie, that turned out pretty nice. After all, three swords are way better than one. As for the ladies, Sarah is due for some amusement after everything that's gone down. Escapism IS a valid pastime, nobody wants to mull on how the world often sucks ALL the time, now. The ferocity of the natives in the Valley still scares me, though. Seriously, their persistence is... ahem. Looks like we got away from 'em, so on we go!
⦁ Upon arriving at the Citadel of Korsam, the defenses are up and guards at the ready to deter any suspicious travelers. However, Sarah's royal swagger is enough for them to yield. "Queen of Finn" DOES carry A LOT of weight -- that's power right there, people. Genuflect for sure. Inside, it is clear that Agnor has spruced up the Citadel to a level comparable only to the likes of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He's in the money, yup. All that's missing is the Hand of Midas, and maybe the Crown Jewels. But then again, we already have a Queen in the house here, so maybe we'll just keep the Hand. Don't wanna be redundant.
⦁ Upon entering the castle, a VERY FAMILIAR face awaits at the Front Desk, asking if our crew here is on any kind of business here. Naturally, "Queen" Sarah requests a word with Agnor. To her shock however, it is revealed that Agnor became one with the Force six weeks ago, and isn't The Man anymore. But before Sarah can grieve or panic about who 's in charge now, her shock turns to joy as we meet the new Magician in charge... I guess dreams do come true after all, 'cuz the new head honcho is none other than our boi Zyle! Bust out the party hats and pump the music up, y'all! A celebration is in order!
And that, my friends, is where Part III of The Pontue Legacy comes to a surprisingly "happy" cliffhanger. Things are looking bright, our fair pair are finally one again. I agree with Matt on the reunion; Sarah and Zyle embracing at the end just really ties the bow on the feeling of a connection yearned for so long, and I do love Zyle's grin -- it pretty much says, "Man, Sarah here has NO idea how long it's been since I felt this close. Dreams do come true, so I'm just gonna put our mission, the egg, Augatha, all of that outta my mind and just take a moment to enjoy this." Which is fitting for me as well, since I've been able to focus on my health after resigning from my job. I received my last couple of checks, and after speaking with management to once again thank them for the opportunity to serve our clients, I can rest easy knowing no bridges were burned and that I am free to drop by and visit anytime. Despite the awfulness of current events in the country and around the world, I'll do like Zyle did here and just take some time to appreciate where I am right now; I have a place to live, a roof over my head, the company of the best mother a guy could ever ask for, and the living proof of my accomplishments in the five graphic novels sitting right next to this laptop. It's human nature to want to be happy, and right now I'm able to do so.
I'll see you all once I've read the next chapter in the Pontue Legacy arc, "Part IV - The Blessed Child"! Judging by the name, I'm sure many surprises are in store, possibly beyond what I'm expecting!
Peace and love to you all,
Nana
--J.D.
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