The standing body of an unknown god who has a piddling of adherents still who honor them with jars of buttons arfully cut from unsuspecting sleeves. Nobody knows why anymore, other than it supposedly brings good fortune for petty thieves and pickpockets who undertake the small devotion.
I think abramdemski is referring to how the angle of the scars inflicted by a protean predator defined by perception and legacy reputation shifts direction so that they’re perceived the same way, even in reflection.
You know, she has all this great potential that she could transform herself into any manner of form/shape/being – yet she holds on to her humanity – as flawed as that might be… it is noble and at some point True.
The difference is that Zoss was an extremely powerful Vatra before ever gaining the names of God. He had surpassed humanity in many ways that Allison has not yet.
True. Remember, it was said a while back of normal angels like White Chain that only another angel had ever defeated an angel And Zoss killed all the Prime angels before he even got the Key. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could still take out any of the seven Demiurgs any time he wished.
“To feel at home in their own body is to feel at home with the universe”,
A saying to be further examined, overheard in a crowded eatery on my many journeys.
Now it is I who must find their way home.
I think the central issue of this story is that Zoss felt a woman was needed to birth a new reality. I see no coincidence that he chose a virgin female.
Zoss had thousands Earths, full of virgin women to choose from, many of which would be better versed in the ways of the multiverse.
He needed an outsider, unalloyed with the corruptive influence of infinity, and choosing Alice, while setting up Zaid as a red herring, gives her time to find her feet.
He needed an adolescent, whose identity was not yet fixed.
He needed a passionate soul, to leash the power of God.
He needed a person who had faced cruelty, and valued kindness.
He needed to find the one true Rising King.
52 Green Alpha Bathes in the Burning Sunlight, Vagrant Angel of the Knights Mendicant, Scholar Under the Seven Stars
Or perhaps it was simply random chance, an unfortunate coincidence, a roll of the dice that, by the very fact that such an outcome was so unlikely, produced an individual capable of withstanding the task.
I find it hard to believe that any conscious decision could have ever resulted in a positive outcome, nor that Allison’s fate was in any way prophecied or preordained.
In addition to what Me said, while Allison isn’t trans gender herself, her compatriots certainly are. Clio transitioned from chaotic monstrous being to a woman while White Chain is on her way from male-coded gender neutral to woman, or maybe female-coded gender neutral, we’ll see. Neither of these transitions are the man to woman transition that humans can have, but they are reminiscent of those. Taken as a whole this comic is trans.
I’m sure this part wasn’t explicitly intended to be a metaphor foe the transgender experience, but hating your appearance for your whole life and then finally seeing /yourself/ in the mirror for the first time ever… it’s very relatable, to say the least.
Allison, you keep changing, growing, learning. I’m cheering you on and want to see you achieve your Awesome potential. You’re on a great and terrible heroic quest with numerous challenges. One of those challenges is in how you see yourself. You’re transforming into a Heroic figure with the build and abilities to match. As you achieve heroic proportions we mustn’t forget – “THERE’S MORE TO YOU THAN MEETS THE EYE !” You’ve also grown emotionally, and one assumes you’ll find a way to grow spiritually too.
No I don’t expect you to change into a cybernetic entity.
No borgs, or bots here. “We don’t serve their kind !”
Hey Abbadon, this page really meant a lot to me. Is there any way you could have the 6th panel where Allison is putting on lipstick as a print or something?
Something I noticed. Alison comments on how her appearance has changed-her hair, her scars, her body-but not on the Key in her brow. It seems out of all the marks of her transformation, that one feels the most natural.
I’m glad you made this page: I’ve been wondering how Allison would feel about the scars and how it all affected the rest of the team, Cio in particular.
A very satisfying page.
Don’t get too close to my fantasy
Don’t be afraid to clutch the hand of your creator
Stare into the lion’s eyes and if you taste the candy
You’ll get to the surprise
Mammon’s beard! Allison lives in a hovel! How can she be content with herself in any way outside of a mansion? Seeing my hero live like this, I almost feel compelled to give her a sum of…
No! Not even for Allison. I shall not betray the primal virtue of Greed.
The Ocean, eternal obstacle to fortune, speaks only lies and heresy. There is nothing but material assets! Even I, with my blood of molten gold, am a material asset in the fathomless ledger of Mammon, whose worth is without bounds.
Still thinking like how Earth societies want straight women to think about their bodies, eh Allison?
I don’t know what should have had a bigger positive effect on your self-image by now: the fact that you are surrounded by varying hominids each possessing their own unique beauty standards or the fact that any human not a man that fancies a woman would be fawning and fainting over your bulging muscles, badass scars, silvery locks, and literally angelic fighting prowess.
Your soul is a fire that flaps in your stomach. The wings of your soul are your lungs. When you are angry, the fire burns brighter and the smoke will blind you in rage.
When you are lonely, the fire grows violet and small, damping your spirits and making you colder.
When you love, the fire burns hotter, and your heart
moves faster to keep itself from burning out.
Tame your fire, and you will be a master of your emotions.
Or wear a mask to hide them. I, for one, don’t want to show all my will in public. Can’t have it flapping around in front of my enemy’s and anyone else wandering by.
The “she tried to leave” thing is in reference to an event we saw at the end of the last book. Furthermore she;s on the cover of this book, isn’t she? Or at least in recent art by Abaddon.
In Yisun’s name, quiet your blathering before I must silence you myself. In the words of a wiser one than I, It is not illegal, but it is displeasurable to me.
Alison still was lucky. The scar about her eye managed to miss her eye, and the one across her mouth left the shape of her mouth intact. She could just as easily have ended up with a permanent sheer or even a large gap that showed more of her teeth and gums than she would have liked. Instead, she’s still got a beautiful face, and the white hair and muscles look good on her. I guess Clio held back at the last moment when she struck Alison, bcause deep down she still WAS Clio, not Yabalchoath.
… and so i’ve reached the end, which is to sat i’ve reached the beginning.
This most unwise man pledges to follow this story’s steps, for the universe it depicts is wide and most interesting indeed.
I have quite a few scars and I never really cared about any of them except for the one on my face. Thankfully it healed well, but after having the injury I did wonder if my life would be the same again. Appearence is very meaningful, even if people say it’s only ‘skin deep’, nobody wants to be ugly.
Are they perhaps living inside an empty angel, or perhaps a dead god? In my experience, occupying a corpse could certainly explain the close quarters.
I vote for large stuffed teddy bear.
LARGE STUFFED TEDDY ANGEL
The standing body of an unknown god who has a piddling of adherents still who honor them with jars of buttons arfully cut from unsuspecting sleeves. Nobody knows why anymore, other than it supposedly brings good fortune for petty thieves and pickpockets who undertake the small devotion.
I wasn’t gonna believe you.
But of course they are. This headspace is a fixer upper!
I love you Allison. I’m never gonna stop lovin you, Allison!!!!
It’s important to love yourself.
Gonna be honest, I think she looks awesome. Plus I have a thing for muscly women so hey! There’s more than way of being beautiful!
A bold move, Abbadon. As much as I admire your peerless skill, all of creation is imperfect, so answer me this:
How long until the unique scars get drawn on backwards?
… yep. This is telling, but:
mirror|rorrrim
The mirror adds less weight than the camera, but it might slip an extra r in there?
I think abramdemski is referring to how the angle of the scars inflicted by a protean predator defined by perception and legacy reputation shifts direction so that they’re perceived the same way, even in reflection.
a low-tech magic makeup mirror, shows your face as it actually looks, so you don’t get the whole “mirror-image” confusion.
Not possible, unless something is *really* wrong with Allison’s hands
You going on a date Allison? I haven’t been on a date in years. People say its my crocodile smile.
Others say its my madness. Who can tell?
You know, she has all this great potential that she could transform herself into any manner of form/shape/being – yet she holds on to her humanity – as flawed as that might be… it is noble and at some point True.
Zoss is always portrayed as human. Apples, trees.
The difference is that Zoss was an extremely powerful Vatra before ever gaining the names of God. He had surpassed humanity in many ways that Allison has not yet.
True. Remember, it was said a while back of normal angels like White Chain that only another angel had ever defeated an angel And Zoss killed all the Prime angels before he even got the Key. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could still take out any of the seven Demiurgs any time he wished.
That mirror stand is loud.
its rusty as hell.
Indeed. And filled with the weight of a thousand self-reflections.
Despite everything, it’s still you.
Putting on red lipstick…
It fills you with determination.
Suddenly I want a roguelike where that is a mechanic.
“To feel at home in their own body is to feel at home with the universe”,
A saying to be further examined, overheard in a crowded eatery on my many journeys.
Now it is I who must find their way home.
Let us hope you are comfortable in your body and are uncomfortable in this universe because it is not your home.
For if you are uncomfortable in your body you will not recognize your home even if you find it.
I remember the first time I looked in the mirror and said, “Yeah. That’s me.”
It was a good day.
I am still waiting. But if there is one thing the Black Flame excels at, it is change. And change I shall.
May we all see whom we seek in the mirror one day soon.
This comic gets more and more trans by the update
Erm, no? Women can be scarred and muscular whilst still remaining women.
Well, a state of transition – even if not identical – echoes from soul to soul.
While Alison may not be transitioning along the gender continuum, she is still *transitioning.* And just as dramatically!
This comic is quite trans.
I think the central issue of this story is that Zoss felt a woman was needed to birth a new reality. I see no coincidence that he chose a virgin female.
A man to cut and a woman to heal. I must meditate on this dynamic unity.
It cannot be that simple.
Zoss had thousands Earths, full of virgin women to choose from, many of which would be better versed in the ways of the multiverse.
He needed an outsider, unalloyed with the corruptive influence of infinity, and choosing Alice, while setting up Zaid as a red herring, gives her time to find her feet.
He needed an adolescent, whose identity was not yet fixed.
He needed a passionate soul, to leash the power of God.
He needed a person who had faced cruelty, and valued kindness.
He needed to find the one true Rising King.
Or perhaps it was simply random chance, an unfortunate coincidence, a roll of the dice that, by the very fact that such an outcome was so unlikely, produced an individual capable of withstanding the task.
I find it hard to believe that any conscious decision could have ever resulted in a positive outcome, nor that Allison’s fate was in any way prophecied or preordained.
YISUN is a gambler and a liar.
In addition to what Me said, while Allison isn’t trans gender herself, her compatriots certainly are. Clio transitioned from chaotic monstrous being to a woman while White Chain is on her way from male-coded gender neutral to woman, or maybe female-coded gender neutral, we’ll see. Neither of these transitions are the man to woman transition that humans can have, but they are reminiscent of those. Taken as a whole this comic is trans.
I’m sure this part wasn’t explicitly intended to be a metaphor foe the transgender experience, but hating your appearance for your whole life and then finally seeing /yourself/ in the mirror for the first time ever… it’s very relatable, to say the least.
Having this conversation with yourself is part of the human experience.
Is my outer self satisfactory, and how should I feel about/change it?
Allison, you keep changing, growing, learning. I’m cheering you on and want to see you achieve your Awesome potential. You’re on a great and terrible heroic quest with numerous challenges. One of those challenges is in how you see yourself. You’re transforming into a Heroic figure with the build and abilities to match. As you achieve heroic proportions we mustn’t forget – “THERE’S MORE TO YOU THAN MEETS THE EYE !” You’ve also grown emotionally, and one assumes you’ll find a way to grow spiritually too.
No I don’t expect you to change into a cybernetic entity.
No borgs, or bots here. “We don’t serve their kind !”
The white and brown further accentuates her already considerable resemblance to Ciri. Looks good.
I am reminded of a saying: “Your body is not ruined. You are a Goddamned tiger who has earned your stripes.”
Today’s word is “kintsugi”.
Hey Abbadon, this page really meant a lot to me. Is there any way you could have the 6th panel where Allison is putting on lipstick as a print or something?
I absolutely adore this page, and what I’m going to say next is really just nitpicking.
Is it just me or is that mirror not working right? Shouldn’t the scars go the other way on it?
Hrmm… interdimensional flux is twisting the way light behaves. Either that or it isn’t really a mirror >.>
Something I noticed. Alison comments on how her appearance has changed-her hair, her scars, her body-but not on the Key in her brow. It seems out of all the marks of her transformation, that one feels the most natural.
Chio tried to leave.
But I didn’t let her, and no I am walking down the stairs to the dungeons in the third basement to visit her.
I’m glad you made this page: I’ve been wondering how Allison would feel about the scars and how it all affected the rest of the team, Cio in particular.
A very satisfying page.
Don’t get too close to my fantasy
Don’t be afraid to clutch the hand of your creator
Stare into the lion’s eyes and if you taste the candy
You’ll get to the surprise
I am, as always, impressed by your ability to make every line feel so raw and full of hidden meaning.
I like the potted plants in the window.
Rise and grind.
I kindof want her to take a trip back to earth at some point, i want ro see how her roommates reacts to the new swole allison.
She can visit her old friends, after she kills the Seven Black Emperors.
But I do want to see that.
Scars are a thing of beauty.
They show that the world has tried to destroy you.
And has failed.
“Evidently, his wound never closed up properly”
Filed under: favorite protagonists!
Scars show were we have been and survived. Like the scars I got in the 7293rd siege of the Absurd Fortress
Line of blocks are facing east
On the coast where tide retreats
and land grows out and lichen eats
Mammon’s beard! Allison lives in a hovel! How can she be content with herself in any way outside of a mansion? Seeing my hero live like this, I almost feel compelled to give her a sum of…
No! Not even for Allison. I shall not betray the primal virtue of Greed.
To live in a hovel is the height of comfort and to live in a mansion is the height of suffering. Material asset brings only worry and woe.
The Ocean, eternal obstacle to fortune, speaks only lies and heresy. There is nothing but material assets! Even I, with my blood of molten gold, am a material asset in the fathomless ledger of Mammon, whose worth is without bounds.
Scars are badass. And badass is never ugly.
Still thinking like how Earth societies want straight women to think about their bodies, eh Allison?
I don’t know what should have had a bigger positive effect on your self-image by now: the fact that you are surrounded by varying hominids each possessing their own unique beauty standards or the fact that any human not a man that fancies a woman would be fawning and fainting over your bulging muscles, badass scars, silvery locks, and literally angelic fighting prowess.
It can take a long time to change one’s thinking. Water doesn’t wear the edge off a stone overnight. Changes of thought are slow and continuous.
Even good Yisun had to war with herself before loving herself. There’s always hope.
Methinks your name ill fits you, Jon.
I hardly see how ‘Jon’ is unfitting of me, but to each their own I suppose.
Ah, so vacuous you are when it suits you.
“Eat spicy food.
Your soul is a fire that flaps in your stomach. The wings of your soul are your lungs. When you are angry, the fire burns brighter and the smoke will blind you in rage.
When you are lonely, the fire grows violet and small, damping your spirits and making you colder.
When you love, the fire burns hotter, and your heart
moves faster to keep itself from burning out.
Tame your fire, and you will be a master of your emotions.
Twentieth student of Bagoret – FBC 082
Despite everything, it’s still you.
Your scars show your will. Claim them. Own them.
Or wear a mask to hide them. I, for one, don’t want to show all my will in public. Can’t have it flapping around in front of my enemy’s and anyone else wandering by.
Odd mirror. Backwards reflection. Would be nice to chalk it up to metaphor, but almost certainly a mistake.
I really hope we get to see Cio again.
The “she tried to leave” thing is in reference to an event we saw at the end of the last book. Furthermore she;s on the cover of this book, isn’t she? Or at least in recent art by Abaddon.
Our scars are our journey, in a way. Never forget them, but never let them define you.
Also please don’t hit me I didn’t do anything wrong.
They’re also a sign of stupidity and mistakes. Like me. Like mine. I got a lot. I done some things, ran from some things. Yea. I’m… just gonna go now.
She has gotten fat and ugly tho. Not a fan of the new design
It’s almost like Alison’s role in the narrative is something other than “eye candy for Hayes.” God forbid.
In Yisun’s name, quiet your blathering before I must silence you myself. In the words of a wiser one than I, It is not illegal, but it is displeasurable to me.
Wow. Mature.
You mirror the words and thoughts of our beloved protagonist too closely for the comfort of many here. Only she is allowed such vanity.
nobody cares neckbeard
fatty discovered
I dig scars. nothing makes a woman more interesting in bed and in life than knowing she’s been through some shit.
“My terrible body image. Good to know *you’re* still with us.”
You didn’t think one dream quest to kiss her dark side would complete all of her character development forever, did you?
I was afraid it might, but I am glad to see that she has to to some normal growing up too.
Alison still was lucky. The scar about her eye managed to miss her eye, and the one across her mouth left the shape of her mouth intact. She could just as easily have ended up with a permanent sheer or even a large gap that showed more of her teeth and gums than she would have liked. Instead, she’s still got a beautiful face, and the white hair and muscles look good on her. I guess Clio held back at the last moment when she struck Alison, bcause deep down she still WAS Clio, not Yabalchoath.
Yabalchoath, (sigh), now there was a woman with a fine figure!
Replace “hideous” with “totally fucking badass”
… and so i’ve reached the end, which is to sat i’ve reached the beginning.
This most unwise man pledges to follow this story’s steps, for the universe it depicts is wide and most interesting indeed.
Welcome to a most treacherous and rewarding road. May the teachings of Prim guide your way.
I have quite a few scars and I never really cared about any of them except for the one on my face. Thankfully it healed well, but after having the injury I did wonder if my life would be the same again. Appearence is very meaningful, even if people say it’s only ‘skin deep’, nobody wants to be ugly.