25 2139

PANEL 1
MENTL: They can rest here - you all can come back for them later. When all this is … over.
PANEL 2
YATTA-TA: It’s … It looks like it never happened.
ZONA: Yes. But - it did, my friend. All of it. Let’s go back.
PANEL 3
TULA: Mentl …
MENTL: Yeah?
TULA: Did you mean to do that?
MENTL: Mean to do what, exactly?
PANEL 4
TULA: You marked it. Very specifically.
MENTL: Well, I wanted us to be able to find them again. Us and, of course, nobody else,
PANEL 5
TULA: You … you blessed the place. There is a powerful blessing here. The ground is consecrated. Did you intend to do that?
MENTL: Well … not in so many words, I guess, but … it’s like …
PANEL 6
They gave everything, didn’t they? They’re worth a blessing.
25 2139

A Blessing – Page 1150

TRANSCRIPT PANEL 1 MENTL: They can rest here - you all can come back for them later.  When all this is … over.  PANEL 2 YATTA-TA: It’s … It looks like it never happened.  ZONA: Yes.  But - it did, my friend.  All of it. Let’s go back. PANEL 3 TULA: Mentl … MENTL: Yeah? TULA: Did you mean to do that? MENTL: Mean to do what, exactly? PANEL 4 TULA: You marked it.  Very specifically.  MENTL: Well, I wanted us to be able to find them again. Us and, of course, nobody else, PANEL 5 TULA: You … you blessed the place.  There is a powerful blessing here.  The ground is consecrated. Did you intend to do that? MENTL: Well … not in so many words, I guess, but … it’s like  …  PANEL 6 They gave everything, didn’t they?  They’re worth a blessing.  

25 thoughts on “A Blessing – Page 1150

  1. If Mentil’s not careful they’ll make a saint out of him.

    1. I tend to think he’d want to be careful. 🙂

      Warm regards,
      JED

  2. This is now an Erogenian Military Cemetery.

    1. I had that same thought, but Erogenians don’t bury their dead – they cremate. 🙂

      Warm regards,
      JED

      1. They would still have monuments, or special places where they scatter the ashes from, would they not?

  3. For Those Who Give All
    All Our Blessings
    So Mote It Be

    1. Omeyn.

      Warm regards,
      JED

  4. I theorized this before, when the Kevin/Hercules reveal came, and it was revealed that the old Pantheons were powerfull enchanters from “Another Place”.
    If this is a clash between the old gods of Erogenia(haven’t seen Thrassu do much uptill now), then maybe Mentl might become a new god in this world, seeing as he consecrated the ground without even trying.

    1. Oh, now, don’t you go giving me story ideas, I’ll have to pay you royalties and this silly comic still isn’t making enough to support itself! 😉

      Warm regards,
      JED

      1. Except, Mentl doesn’t want the godhood bullcrap, so he strikes a deal with the Sun and Moon, they keep their godhood, under the condition that Mentl skedadles of to Berdoo, and
        doesn’t come back to build his own cult. This would explain the partial exile Mentl and Zona were in, that we’ve seen in the future daughter arc.

        And I’ll accept the universal internet currency as royalty. Namely the right to say: “Called it!” ??

        1. Why would Mentl want to deprive the Sun and the Moon of their godhood? O_o

  5. @JED:
    “…in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…”
    (…excerpted from Lincoln’s Gettysberg Address)

    Mentl might not remember the exact WORDS, but his deeds prove that he totally gets the POINT.

    1. He does, indeed.

      Warm regards,
      JED

  6. JED … this is beautiful. As a vet with friends that gave everything and did not come home (and yet are with me every day), this particular page resonates with me. Thank you.

    1. You’re quite welcome.

      Warm regards,
      JED

  7. Eternal Father, grant we pray
    The strength we need for each new day.
    Grant now to those whose loss we
    share,
    The affirmation of your care.
    When death has made its sure
    demands
    We rest ourselves in your firm hands.

    1. I looked that one up and find it’s in a collection of Navy hymns and prayers. I wonder if I can find any of them in my Dad’s old stuff from his days in the Coast Guard.

      Thank you.

      Warm Regards,
      JED

  8. It may look like it never happened, but I guess there still are dead Urtts and assorted monsters around. (I’d be very surprised – actually, pleasantly so – if Mentl had blessed them as well.)

    Second, I’m impressed yet again by Tula, who is a priestess, sees a non-consecrated blessing, and reacts with awe and a smile (if a frown in the beginning, quite understandable). I like that she readily gives up any notion of priestly exclusivity on the process.

    Third, that’s a beautiful prayer in the hovertext. Does it come from a particular source, or is it, as a lot of beautiful things, a creation of our beloved storyteller?

    1. No, the Urtts and ogres are where they fell. Whatever rites they do for their fallen Mentl left to them.

      Tula is a spiritual priestess, not just a functionary. She recognizes that the Divine exists in an infinity of forms and from an infinity of sources. She’s just impressed. 🙂

      And the hover text is the actual Jewish prayer for the dead, the El Maleh Rachamim, with Sheahla’s name and gender, as is done. Not to be confused with the mourner’s Kadish, which is what is commonly said at funerals, but which doesn’t actually even mention death.

      Warm regards,

      JED

  9. Oh, I forgot. Zona’s expression is great in that second panel.

    1. Thanks – I actually had to work at that one. 🙂

      Warm Regards,
      JED

  10. Okay, that’s was beautiful. I love Tula’s expressions as they go from ‘what…?’ to ‘Mentl, what did you do?’ to ‘mildly concerned he might have done it unintentionally’ to ‘This is amazing.’
    Such great facial expressions as always.

    (Oh, and Guntig never did take to the air. Tch, tch. Haven’t seen magick before, Guntig?)

  11. And in the silence
    Taps hangs in the air,
    Heard in the heart,
    Soaks into the soul.
                 ~
    Green be their grave,
    And green be the hope
    To which they gave life
    That shall not die.

  12. God, Jed, you’re making me cry.

  13. Mentl isn’t one for doing anything by halves, is he?

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