Vol 2 New Pages Update #3

First— sorry for being quiet! The last week and a half has been filled with nonstop time consuming and uninteresting hassles (for instance, a few nights ago someone hit my parked car so I’ve been dealing with the insurance agency, trying to find a decent body shop, etc.) I am behind on a bunch of things but hope to get back up to speed here soon.

Here is the final new page I am adding to the printed version of Volume Two. This is the bookend to the previous new page I added. As I mentioned last time, I have to add things in pairs to preserve intentional double-page spreads and layout, etc.

I figured I’d take the opportunity with this new page to round out a few questions some readers had about Rask’s diet. Martens are omnivorous, which is why I chose the species as the ‘middleman protagonist’ between predators and prey. I never really said much about Rask eating berries or nuts because in my mind, I thought it would be clear that a condensed group of mice, squirrels and rabbits would have picked the area pretty clean of wild edibles. A lot of readers on the public side of it seemed to miss that connection so that’s on me for leaving it so ambiguous as to be seen as oversight.

In my defense, I try to keep the comic as lean as I can— largely, because I get afraid of unnecessary bloat or stalls, especially when people have to read a page a week. I pick and choose the details I think are most salient to the story and I didn’t feel like running down the list of all the things Rask could eat but can’t find was very compelling. I try to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ when I can but I think Rask’s line will help people connect the food scarcity dots and serves the narrative overall. Plus, Sprig is due some remembrance and it makes a good callback to his part in the fake bear sign.

All in all, a net positive in my opinion.