WHEEL SMASHING LORD 1-20
Chapter: 1
“Lord Mana, a man that treats people as he hammers iron, and treats tools as his most tender lovers. No greater craftsman will ever exist, I am sure. Shame.”
-Payapop Pritram
“Lord Mana, a man that treats people as he hammers iron, and treats tools as his most tender lovers. No greater craftsman will ever exist, I am sure. Shame.”
-Payapop Pritram
the smoke of the forge lingers in the lungs of all who seek steel.
He looks very scary.
I wanted to verbalize my condolences, but, well…
“Thank you. But not necessary.
It was foolish of me. I had chosen the path of suffering.
As have you.”
Maybe the other half of the Maybe Sword is now lodged in Mr. Mana’s neck
Hah! I think it likely, but just as likely that there was not much sword to lodge, and far too much space between the neck and head for it to matter either way.
I would hope. Jesus gods this page made my skin crawl.
This could go two ways. Either he is a bad person, or he is a good one. Seemingly, he didn’t touch her, made her rest, fed her… Either it is for is own amusement, or he really did reshape her into who she now is. We will see in the next page… After all, he is a smith. Reforging a blade should be his kind of work.
I’d like to believe in the latter option, but the last panel doesn’t give that vibe.
Uh… I’d re-read the page. There was definite ‘touching’ going on, and he continually healed her back up afterward but billed her as well for the healing and food, meaning she was locked in an endless cycle of debt, always just about to purchase her sword but never quite able. Also: see the quote underneath the comic about the smith to confirm his mentality.
ah, the classic corpus approach to debt slavery. and yes, i agree-his soul is clearly as dirty as a naked man in mud.
Nef Anyo would be proud.
Scoundrels, heretics, believers! Listen! Do you crave redemption? Do you feel that burden of poverty crushing you? You need relief. But how? How can you ask for help unless you first help yourself? Give. Unto the Void. I was once a wretched crewman, breaking my back just to earn a credit. Then, I found that glorious energy. Oh, and when I gave my first offering, how its richness rained down upon me! Do you want what I have received? Do you want it for yourself? Then give. Unto the Void. Let your credits be the seeds of your prosperity. Give unto the Void! And you will be rewarded a hundredfold! The Void be the word, and the word be profit.
Spoken like a real Ferengi. Confratulations!
No, it isn’t explicit what occurred. I know it’s subtle, but it’s left for interpretation. Also, Maya says nothing about being charged for food, you’re reading into it.
As well, the quote from Payapop Pritram confirms nothing more than Payapop Pritram’s opinion.
Look again with eyes free from prejudice, and you might see the other way to read the story.
Saying that, yeah, I agree, he subtly manipulated a broken woman into staying with him as his sexual servant for six years. However, she is chained by nothing other than her mind. She was free to leave whenever she wanted. Let’s not paint Manamum the complete villain until more is revealed.
I mean, he charged her three days for forcefeeding her wine. It’s not a big stretch that anything else would also be asked for with her time in his bed.
??? no offence but i do not understand how it is subtle to you. it doesnt get more explicit that the guy literally saying “pay me with your body. share my bed.” like what did he hire her as a professional cuddler??
I implore you to use your eyeballs, and read the emotion on the page. Do you literally not understand what Rape is? If it’s not an enthusiastic yes it’s assault.
She did agree, though? Prostitution is not rape. It’s not like her survival depended on what she was asking, just her quest of revenge. It was her choice to make.
He was scummy in extending her debt, but it looks like he also nursed her to health in that time, which might have been the motive to extend the debt in the first place.
Rape via coercion is still rape. I will concede she chose initially to sleep with him, but the times after that she didn’t really have a choice. She ‘couldve’ just left if she wanted to be in debt to him forever. It’s kind of similar to the situation Mottom was in, way back in the start. Even though she (ostensibly) wasn’t significantly harmed and perhaps verbally stated her consent, she still didn’t have a choice. Her husband would have taken her and other women whether she liked it or not.
He can’t do shit to enforce the “debt” on her. She’s not actually in danger at any point.
That’s booze, not medicine, and calling it medicine is a mocking euphemism. It seems his goal is likely to addict her (which, like the debt trap itself, is a method common to many pimps and traffickers).
Prostitution is not, *by itself*, rape. Coercion is. And using someone’s absolute and obvious desperation to coerce them into sleeping with you, even with a promise of reward, is absolutely rape, even if it is also prostitution. Two things can be true at once.
Maya herself says she was barely clinging to life when she arrived; the bandages are gone in the last panel, to me that implies she was healing from what Incubus did to her, not what Mana did or else she’d still be bandaged six years later, wouldn’t you agree?
I agree, she’s definitely damaged in the latter panels, just not in the same way.
Ew.
Maybe if someone sexually abused you you wouldn’t be so confused about whats on the screen in front of you. This dude is a monster, stop being a devil’s advocate
“Hey wanna pay me with sex for the opportunity to pursue your revenge” “Sure” <= not, in fact, sexual abuse.
Seems like a bad person to me, good people don’t demand sex as payment and then string you along for years even if they do let you have the occasional day off
He kept stringing her along and using her for painful sex. Why are you acting like there’s any other possibility here? Read the page, the only way it’s more obvious is if we saw her getting practically raped while asking for the sword.
Don’t be a rape apologist
Yeah, this one… this was a tough read. The last line felt like a rock in my stomach.
Maybe
Of course, wondering if the other half was lodged in his neck assumes he had a neck afterwards for it to be lodged into
precept one, Consider: there is no such thing as a sword.
precept sixteen, The weak swordsman clings to his instrument. It is better you have a sword, but death must lie under your fingernails, if need be. Learn death with your elbows, death with your knees, and death with your thumbs and fingertips.
I think Methangi only carries a hilt because it is now all she needs, the sanctioned action is to cut
Hell yeah
Welp, here’s to hoping for a case of ol’ Manamum joining the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party
You know, I think that Manamum is fully cogizent of his fate. If the weapon is powered by the anger and humiliation of the recipient, then it is only natural that they will lash out in revenge the first thing they do with it. Knowing this, why would he agree to forge the weapon?
I think it’s out of Pride. He is the best weaponsmith of the age, and such weapon can be made only once as the pinnacle of his trade. He simply cannot refuse the challenge despite knowing it’ll cost him his life.
I’ll propose you one better, what if the maybe sword is an emotion or a state of mind. Maybe he’s saying “let me play with you, torment you for fun, then when your hate is sharp enough to kill me i’ll know i’ve made a good sword”
I think it’s pretty clear that he does not intend to give her a weapon at all. Keeping her in a weakened state, forcing her to stay perpetually drunk, dangling the idea of freedom above her head but always pulling it further away – he thinks he has disarmed her and that he can keep her forever.
That would be a trivial abuser story. And where would be the value in that?
I like to think our host is more elegant than that.
What you like does not manter.
“You want your god killing sword, little thing? Here. I made it.” Cracks the blade, drops it to the ground. “Woops. Such a shame. Another six years, the-”
Mana uses the Maybe sword anyways. One swing and Manamum’s head rolls. It’s not about the metal, or the handle, or even the edge. It’s not about the tool. She is, after all, an exceptionally fine swordsman.
This will end well, I wager.
A well of blood! By Aesma!
One of such size is well likely to be full of such blood, yes.
Those who claim a broken sword is worthless have never felt the pain of a rusted, dulled, chipped blade lodged firmly in their belly. A burnished crown and a polished weapon will cut quickly, cleanly, purposefully. Spurned royalty and rusted gladii provide no such respite. Fear not the resplendent, servile Knight, equipped by the finest blacksmith; dread the haggard, royal urchin, rusted dagger clenched firmly in hand.
7 Rivers Rightly Flood the Sinful is observant indeed
same jug!
Looks like it
Does it? It’s the size of her entire torso.
Small is the bottle to one’s liver, large is the bottle to the onlooker’s eyes.
Beware the swordsman who carries no blade.
Merely a stone.
As the parable goes.
This is fucked up or what
Yeah gonna be honest stuff like this always upsets me a little. Kind of hard to read.
This one is a bit too real. K6BD is often dark but, like, cartoonishly so. This is just an abusive relationship
its generous to call it a relationship.
Yeah, regretted the word choice immediately after posting but there’s not an edit button.
“Cycle of abuse” was the phrase that eluded me.
Okay actually the next page brings me to peace with this. Such is the folly of webcomics.
Yeah, this really fucked up! I cant tell if he nursed her back to health, used her as a sex slave, or kept her from going on a suicide mission.
Likely yes to all 3.
Likely all of the above, and probably the first to have the Maybe Blade tested upon.
I don’t think she was a slave. After all, she was still a sword saint in a place filled with swords, and she entered willingly.
“It wasn’t literally slavery!” is, however, about the kindest thing that can be said of this arrangement.
She may have entered willingly, but he broke his word.
In the sense of “I could have killed him and everybody else in the room at any time” absolutely she was not enslaved. In the sense of being exploited, her lowest moments being manipulated by hope, she most certainly was.
I’m not sure she could have killed everybody there, in the state she was in–the state he kept her in, forcing her to be constantly drunk on wine and abusing her body.
I think she *did* end up killing him and everybody else in the room, but it took her a while, didn’t it?
That last thought bubble kinda gave me nausea.
Wow
-Owen Wilson
Now I wonder if Lord Mana is somehow related to Jagganoth, because of the teeth and size. Not something common across the people from the Wheel.
Yuan did not start his current size, and likely didn’t begin with this grimace either. Both were “gifts” from Jantris.
Not all large toothy guys know each other
They probably originate in the same world.
Their design is similar to a classical Vedic demon; as Abbadon has already said that he draws inspiration from Hindu literature the art style makes sense, and I appreciate him for it.
Well, I’d like to see ol Auntie Maya murder THESE gods and topple THESE thrones!
[1 to 3 pages later]
*Auntie Maya murders the gods and topples the thrones easily*
Ah! Well. Nevertheless,
I have a feeling that this man’s business acumen will serve him well, and lead him to a long, happy life.
Should have went to Hewg
Doubtful this man forged the sword of maybe- what is there to forge?! Doubtless, though, that Maya did not take a sword from him. She does have a penchant for castrating foul creatures as such
As these things go, while he will not give her the sword of maybe, what he will give her (and sadly what he already has up to this point) will be how she obtained the sword of maybe.
There is no sword of maybe. What he is doing is using her to forge the most powerful sword imaginable. The one that only exists in her mind.
Actually, that would Meti Ten Ryo who is known for this. However, it is about time we learn that Maya took a man’s “sword” for herself as well. Like master, as student.
I did not expect the story to take a gross turn like this. 🙁
To be fair, the story DID start with Allison getting dragged into a brothel. i don’t think these themes are too far off…but it’s still upsetting to see Maya having went through it too
And the first of the seven Alison encountered was Mottom, who was picked at a young age to marry Hastet-Om because he liked her hair. It is very heavily implied he abused her and gave no shits about consent, his tastes got increasingly more sadistic and depraved and he continued to be lustful and demand young women after he died. This is also implied to be the reason Mottom is obsessed with youth and appearance, because her background taught her that is the only power a women has and that she would be discarded if she stops being pretty and entertaining. Even after becoming a God she didn’t overcome that mentality and pre existing habits.
And Cio wasn’t working for her husband willing and wanted Alison to protect her from him.
This isn’t a new theme.
One presumes that after the six years he gave her just a hilt and said that she hadn’t earned a whole sword yet. Maybe, he said, she wanted to try for the blade? And then she cut him in half with her anger.
I think the whole six years is the process how he forges the Maybe Sword. Remember that it’s not a physical object? He shapes her body and mind this way so she is able to produce the weapon, which explains why she thinks that it should not be taught or learned to use by anyone.
Pretty damn sure he is taking advantage of her, not helping her. You don’t help someone become stronger for six years and end with them looking how they did in the last panel…
Also that post-chapter quote.
We are generally trained to believe that in media the greatest masters of a craft are good people who will help others, but this is a man who forges swords better than any other in a time of endless bloodshed. An enabler of senseless violence
He is absolutely taking advantage of her, which is the entire point. This immaterial weapon is created through abuse, which is why she literally told us that it’s “an awful, cursed technique.”
I don’t think he’s intentionally trying to forge her into a weapon by abusing her. He’s just abusing her.
Why call it awful, cursed technique then if the abuse is not integral part of it?
There are many ways to be cursed.
Pretty sure the technique does involve Maya to be horribly forged/maimed into getting that Maybe Sword, which is almost certainly not a physical object at all.
The abuse can be integral to the Maybe Sword’s creation without him intentionally crafting it through abuse. It could very well be that he is just abusing her, with no intent to deliver any weapon, and she (as an unintended consequence of her suffering) obtains the Maybe Sword without him ever knowing he was enabling that process.
Clean the forge, wash the clothes, and contemplate death as you give of your blood to your weapons.
The ground talks to me and says “Victory over the weak makes one arrogant, Victory over the strong makes one humble.” I tell them they are a fool, for Victory never makes anything but more fools. The ground nods it’s head slowly, and returns to God. I wait patiently for what’s to come.
That is indeed much true. One must understand that we all are fools, imitating other fools and trying to be special. To feel alive we need to see the blood, so we try to reach Heaven through Violence, whether by victory or defeat.
Everyone is special, fool. There is no effort. It’s only that peoples and individuals often rhyme like history, and in recognizing this, conform to each other, or conflict, instead of simply learning something, and doing what they were going to do with greater wisdom.
If everyone is special, no-one is. Cut god and see if he bleeds – this is the beginning of wisdom.
What a paradox!
Clean the forge, wash the clothes, contemplate death, dream about me
WTF? This is so gross it actually makes me want to drop this comic.
I am so disappointed.
Also, how does it makes sense: she has literally killed a god at this point in the story, and she didn’t need a special sword to do it…
Considering that she had her whole perception of reality shattered, abandoned a literal universe-spanning kingdom, and then had her whole life shattered and family butchered in front of her by her ex-partner (companion? fellow student), she was presumably in a pretty shitty state of mind at this point.
And I doubt she’d let him abuse her (because this is very claerly abuse) if she was alright.
It is supposed to be gross. You are supposed to feel revulsed by the abuse Maya endured in her quest for revenge. And like it has been said, we’re likely to see her tormentors get their comeuppance soon.
Don’t confuse depiction of abuse with condoning it, or you will miss out on a lot of good stories.
This.
Preface: This is a very dark page, and if you need to drop the comment or check out for the rest of this arc, do so. Be mindful of mental health and some things hit too close to home.
However, from a narrative perspective, it tragically fits. The Universal War did not produce a happy multiverse.
And, by this point Incubus had stolen her key. So she had less raw power. And Maya even told her student that the Demiurges are “Beyond revenge” (King of Swords 6-56). Still still desperately wants revenge, but knows she can’t take it.
And even with the Maybe Sword, she lost to Incubus (after decapitating him, at least). So it makes sense that she knew she couldn’t defeat him anymore with just her superior swordsmanship.
That said, there’s one grim solace ahead to look forward to, I suspect:
The blade will have sprung from the mind of its maker. Once completed, the two will be swiftly and forcefully reunited.
drop the comic*
Suffering violence and the death of her family, Jantris’ sex slaves, …etc. There’s a lot of gross stuff here. You do you.
Likewise disappointed and grossed out, as well as confused about how this makes sense or is necessary in the context of the story, though not to the point of dropping the comic… But I’m hoping this plays out differently than I’m expecting.
As it stands, though, having the most powerful woman in the universe “humbled” through sexual coercion and abuse, when she already had her windpipe turned into mincemeat and her entire family barbecued on the previous few pages, feels like overkill of a sort that is less likely to advance the narrative than it is to trigger abuse/SA survivors who likely read this comic in part due to the powerful women in it. At the least, it might have been a good idea to wait to release this page alongside whatever revenge porn is sure to follow.
Love your comic, Tom, and normally you’re quite good at writing on women’s issues without being one, but this page–or at least the context in which you released it–is a miss for me.
This is a story of how Maya hit rock bottom before finding herself again. Let’s wait to see how it is dealt with before judging.
Incidentally, this doubles down as a depiction of a very real and sad truth: some people out there won’t have any qualm using and abusing you when you are down. I understand your concern about triggering survivors, but you’ve got to consider: how can we raise awareness about sexual abuse without representing it in all its horror? I’d say that by refusing to have it depicted in fiction because you don’t want to see it, you just participate in maintaining an omerta that silences the victims and lets abusers have their way.
I agree entirely with this, and I say this as a survivor of some pretty horrific SA. Like… really bad.
This comic deals with so many dark themes, many much much darker than this. The whole chapter of Allison with Jadis, wasting away to nothing and having her mental and bodily autonomy ripped from her… at the lowest point of her life, no friends, no love, and even the very concept of agency ripped from her, so utterly in despair that she doesn’t even have the energy to end her own life….
THAT was hard to read. Jadis physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually abused Allison.
That triggered the hell out of me on several levels…which is what kept me reading, because it meant that the comic perfectly captured emotion and trauma I’ve felt.
“If you are going to do such things you should at least do them properly.”
you get that this kind of storyline is not in fact repressed but in fact a dime a dozen trope that many stories write really really poorly, right? This isn’t “well how else do we raise awareness about sexual assault” this is “is this guy going to say ANYTHING new or nuanced about the subject?”
Totally agree. I don’t know what it is with straight guys and the necessity of having, at some point in their story, a female character/”strong female protagonist” getting raped to humble her – the excuse is always that it’s for the plot and “realism,” and not because it is a misogynistic porn fantasy or anything like that. Funny then, how many stories are there where only the male characters endure sexual violence at the hands of other men, written by men?
The replies by all the Tom, Dick, and Jerry’s are also the same tripe they always spout whenever men pull out the “female character gets raped” card.
“Oh, and all the other violent acts weren’t repulsive??? Hypocrite!!!” – Remind me when those other repulsive acts are eroticized tropes of a reality that has followed an oppressed minority for thousands of years and is still not taken seriously on any court on this planet. And of course, used ad infinitum in every other story as an example of ~true literature~.
“It’s SUPPOSED to make you feel repulsed, silly woman” – A point which deflects from the noted issues
“Oh so you think sexual abuse of women and girls should never be in stories? Wow, sounds like YOU were the real sexist all along” – Reminds one of how White people say the same shit to Black people sick of the preponderance of slave and ghetto movies (esp when made by White people). It’s almost like context, fictional and real life, matters in how (or whether, and to what extent) you portray these very difficult realities.
Anyway, this was a massive disappointment. Sure, there were points where the story/character designs were kinda questionable, but for the most part I was impressed a dude could write actually interesting female characters without making it gimmicky. Scenes like Allison being taken to the brothel (but saved) or showing sex slaves in the bg helped serve the story by showing that this is a dark and sexist universe, but that rape isn’t an inevitability cuz female.
But no, the call of the “and then she was raped” was too strong. I’m guessing Maya’s going to kill him in a triumphant show of “girl power”, as is sometimes done to justify the trope. An unlikely possibility is that she’s lying about the story, but that would be awful storytelling – and bait. This development didn’t need to happen to progress the story, or Maya’s story (she already lost everything ffs, we get it), yet here we are.
So yeah, I don’t know if I’ll be continuing with the comic. This is, in my opinion, one of the worst tropes in storytelling there is, if not the worst. Which sucks because I was so excited to finally find a story where the women are front and center, have actual friendships with other women, are badass, incredibly flawed, but ultimately human – and in a sci-fi context no less! Now I just feel like an idiot.
“I don’t know what it is with straight guys and the necessity of having, at some point in their story, a female character/”strong female protagonist” getting raped to humble her – the excuse is always that it’s for the plot and “realism,” and not because it is a misogynistic porn fantasy or anything like that.”
Oh you think it’s just male authors? Clearly you don’t read a lot of female-written erotica. Both genders write this kind of thing, but between you and me, I think women do it more. There’s a lot more female writers than male writers. There’s a whole niche market of books whose plot consists solely of some woman getting forcefully taken by some sort of barbarian warlord. Written by women for women. The biggest difference between male-written erotica and female-written erotica is that women love slow-burn so it takes like a 100 pages (and often more) before any real sex gets described, whereas men often get to it very quickly. In this I prefer women.
And don’t get me started on bully romances and all other weird shit like that. You always see men on the internet ranting about how much they love femdom and how they want to get stepped on by some tall muscular dom mommy. Many girls are just like these men, they just don’t talk about it online.
you probably wont be here to read this but my condolences to you (and others who took issue with this page) for any asinine responses you may get. none of the responses ive read so far are satisfactory to me, and i /am/ someone who thinks that dark themes have a place in storytelling.
i think the author’s writing up until this page has usually been pretty solid, though there were times when i thought “this page feels really voyeuristic about the women” or “you can do better than this”. this is certainly one of those times.
what strikes me is the alt text that this part was written 8 years ago. i wonder if every detail was so important that it needed to be kept for so long, because i can think of plenty of other ways this couldve gone already. then again, its possible that the first draft of this was even worse and its already gone through revisions. not sure that makes it any better though.
So in the end, what you’re saying is that you want a power fantasy where characters are constantly awesome and do not have to deal with any real life issue. That’s completely fine, but in that case you’ve picked the wrong comic. Since its start, KSBD has been nothing but a story peeking behind the curtains of an epic mythology to show us the very concrete and grim trauma of the characters. See literally all other demiurges’ backstory, minus maybe Gog-Agog.
Depicting sexual violence is a delicate thing, especially when the author is male. Your mileage may vary when it comes to determining whether Abbadon pulls it off here. Some people presenting themselves as abuse survivors are saying that this page is cathartic for them, so maybe there is some value in it?
You’re not really explaining what bothers about the way it’s depicted and seem more pissed off about the fact that it is depicted in the first place, so it’s hard to discuss that further.
“Totally agree. I don’t know what it is with straight guys and the necessity of having, at some point in their story, a female character/”strong female protagonist” getting raped to humble her – the excuse is always that it’s for the plot and “realism,” and not because it is a misogynistic porn fantasy or anything like that. Funny then, how many stories are there where only the male characters endure sexual violence at the hands of other men, written by men?”
Big agree. We have no end in sight to sexual violence of female protagonists in media. No end at all. It’s not revolutionary or cool to see it here, and we know from the 001 splash reveal debacle that Abaddon already doesn’t necessarily have the greatest depictions of women and sexuality on the first try. It’s kind of stunning that he had this planned out for eight years.
I also felt a strong need to contain an eyeroll when I read the page.
Though I don’t think I agree as this being a prime example of the ‘strong female character needs to be humbled so here comes the sexual violence’ trope. She was already humbled, her family was killed (that we as readers had no emotional connection to because we never even saw a page of them), she was brought to the brink of death. If anything this a ‘kicking them while they’re down’ trope. Sadly though, there are a lot of tropes around sexual violence and women so I guess my issue is mostly one of pedantry, not of the overall form of the criticism, which I agree with.
I can’t really verbalize exactly why but it felt really cheap and badly handled, and all I can do is wait for the next few pages and hope this has some kind of twist or resolution. If I can make an educated guess based on the comic so far, this blacksmith hasn’t been in the story at all and we are in the final arc, so he will probably end up being irrelevant/being killed the next page and never showing up again. And that concerns me.
If my assumptions are true, then what is the point of this section? If it’s to establish that this blacksmith is a bad person and deserves to die in a next page? That’s cliche and bad writing. If it’s to establish her past trauma so that we as readers feel catharsis when she overcomes it? She already has a ton of trauma from her family being killed. So what’s the point?
To piggyback on your comment, and a question to the few people saying ‘umm excuse me but sexual violence exists and also women write about it too snowflake’:
For me, it’s not about the content, it’s about how the topic is being treated and the pacing. The Imagine if a page from now maya turns around and asks “Allison, what do you think of rape?” and she replies “actually, I don’t think about it at all”. What a slap in the face that would be. That’s kind of how I felt a little bit reading the page. Like there’s little to no thought put into it. Just something edgy to sprinkle in. But I do hold out hope that from prior handling of themes, this will be handled with more tact in the following pages.
I await to see where this story goes, maybe I’m all wrong about this.
See, I feel your point is much more interesting, because you actually mention that you have an issue with HOW sexual abuse is depicted here, not with it appearing in the first place.
I understand it may feel like overkill to have Maya, as a character, go through that after losing her family. But I feel the point is to show how badly broken she is at this stage. One of the most powerful women in the universe is going through such a dark time of her life that she falls prey to a classic and despicable abuser’s scheme. This is an incredibly disturbing and tragic moment, here to emphasize the severity of the mental breakdown Maya is experiencing. I personally understand why the author found it necessary for the story, but I also understand some people may disagree.
I do agree with you on the fact that dealing with such a heavy topic in what will probably only be a few pages may not be enough though. But let’s see where the story takes it.
I wish you would be less condescending about the other commenters. Sexual violence is an unfortunately common experience with a lot of baggage behind it; you can’t expect everyone who complains about it to have a coherent argument in criticism or in defense.sorry they don’t all reach your bar of respectability.
Maya says “this is the story of the maybe sword”. I assume Maya being at an absolute low is relevant to its thematic meaning within the story. The context of that low, sexual exploitation and manipulation, could have been done differently, but seems to be as such because it *is* particularly horrible.
There is a trend of needlessly including sexual violence against women in a lot of stories, but here it doesn’t seem to be heedless. Perhaps I’m ignorant, but I have difficulty seeing why this example in particular is bad, and reading commenters who dislike it haven’t helped me understand their views so far.
Yeah. Waiting and seeing how the rest of it plays out is a good call, probably.
While I think that this isn’t out of place in the story’s consistent display of the multi-verse being a crappy place live, I’m a cis dude and don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to weigh in much on the overall trend of the depiction of such things in the media of the frequency thereof. Certainly it’s not my place to judge people for being upset by it, though I again reiterate that people should mind their mental health if it hits too close to home and take a break if needed from the story. I had to do that with Worm when it got too depressing.
Though one opinion I do have is this: Sexual violence may and their depictions may be sadly all too common for women…. but men at least I feel could stand to be reminded of it more often. We don’t suffer from it to anywhere remotely resembling the same degree, so we should be made to feel uncomfortable about it now and then lest we forget. Though perhaps in a way that doesn’t simultaneously affect people who need no such assistance keeping it in the forefront of their mind.
This is an altogether unhappy page.
oh nooo
K6BD has always been a story about violence. It’s a story about how to live in a world constructed from violence, perpetuated by violence, one that forces you to make violence a part of yourself or else be broken by it. As a woman and a survivor, this is what makes it one of the most personally meaningful stories I have ever read, and I’m glad to see it confront these themes directly. I don’t blame you if you want to stop reading here, but kindly refrain from putting words in my fucking mouth.
hhello Ryona Ultra Nightmare i would like to co sign this because its thats some real shit you said right there n id trust you w my life 🤝
and you with mine
Wow thanks “Ryona Ultranightmare” I’m sure you’re completely unbiased with regards to the depiction or implication of sexual violence.
…you did not just invalidate someone’s trauma because of a username, I refuse to believe it
Behold the 21st century puritanism, which sweeps issues under the rug and tries to gag the victims in the name of “progress”. They would rather build an imaginary world where everything is safe and perfect over addressing disturbing but very real themes and problems. Which would still be fine, if they didn’t try to force their uncompromising escapism over everybody else.
If you don’t get it, you don’t get it lmao.
i get it and i disagree with you
I have already disclosed my bias with regards to these matters. If that was not explicit enough for you, then come over here and let me beat my stomach until I vomit static at your feet.
Thank you Ryona, I feel the same way.
Stories about the very nature of violence should never pretend that sexual violence doesn’t exist.
But if she killed him then she would have no sword, so she had to do it in order to for him to make the sword, or at least that’s the logic in her mind. (Also no offense but we’ve seen equally disgusting things before in this comic)
Ok for some reason the other replies didn’t load, I think it is probably a little weird that this is neccessary in terms of the story
If you can’t handle unpleasant topics then maybe you should just go back to preschool.
and if you cant handle people feeling rightly upset and/or triggered at/by those topics, you should fuck off.
and this is the only thing i’l say about this subject, as i lack the ability to speak meaningfully about it, and therefore will not attempt to do so.
Well you’re right in that you’re an idiot. There’s a difference between “feeling upset” and having an insane bitchfit because someone dared to have something not good in it. If you have to announce you’re going to drop a comic because of one scene, there’s no worth in that whatsoever.
Was the use of a sexist term like “bitchfit” really necessary? Such language makes you sound misogynist, does nothing to prove your point, but does plenty to invalidate your opinions.
On the other hand: it’s useful in that it told me that this was an unserious ass who could safely be ignored. Nothing of value would be missed.
Go fuck yourself. I can call something a bitchfit if I want. And I don’t have to stand for your own bitching. You’re no moral arbiter. In fact, Just by listening to how you decided my use of langauge makes my points invalid just further shows how twisted your own mind is. If anything, it’s more appropriate to dismiss your intellectually bankrupt way of thinking than my simple use of language.
Youve got a bunch of shitty comments about how wrong you are for not wanting to see this, but i think they are missing the point. This is a person being as despicable as is possible to show a false persuit of strength from external sources isnt a solution to finding oneself, and also that those who forge weapons are not good people just because they are masters of their craft
Pretty sure the next page is going to be maya cutting this guys head off, specialy since the post-chapter text explicitly states this blacksmith is to be thought of as evil
I agree with you. And also I think the design choices made with this character and his retinue is despicable. I love this comic, but the orientalism in it is all over the place, and now you bring in this character who is explicitly a sex pest and you make him look like a racist charicature of a south asian man? And his retinue all look like tropes of “Evil is ugly”. Come on Abbadon, you’re better than this. If this really is the oldest part of your story, you should have had some people give you some feedback on these designs, cus it fucking sucks.
See the vedic demon comment above. Politely accusing someone of racism is still accusing someone of racism. We have no way of knowing your background, but you can learn about Abbadon’s. Do research.
Manamum Mana: “Congratulations, the god-killing sword was within you all along!”
Maya: “Congratulations, it’s now in you”
As my old teacher used to say, “Visionaries tend to be pricks.”
As there are no used cars salesmen on the Wheel somebody needed to fill that niche.
damn, the interest rates are soaring