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Wayward Page 18
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Wayward Page 18

on August 31, 2013
Chapter: Book 5: Wayward
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Discussion ¬

  1. ironmask
    ironmask
    August 31, 2013, 4:13 pm | # | Reply

    The question now is this a sign of compassion of not suffering the disease , lack of faith in her ability to cure the disease , or blinded by her though of revenge for Hunter.
    also , who going to tell the old man?

  2. Llama118
    Llama118
    August 31, 2013, 4:22 pm | # | Reply

    :’O

  3. Night Hawk
    Night Hawk
    August 31, 2013, 4:46 pm | # | Reply

    😮 Daaamn. Fire in her eyes yet cold as ice.

  4. Forry
    Forry
    August 31, 2013, 4:51 pm | # | Reply

    GAAAASSSSSPPPP

    Okay, I’m gonna root for John Hunter now.

    • Annie
      Annie
      August 31, 2013, 5:37 pm | # | Reply

      I’ll stick with rooting for Miz Black. Not because I think she has the moral high ground left any more after this page. But only because dying from a gunshot wound likely hurts less than being burned alive. And she’s kinda right about to hypocrisy thing…

      What is her trade exactly? Was it a weapon she was manufacturing? Also, why didn’t she go for one of her handguns and shoot him, she had an opening there, I’d say.

      • Max G.
        Max G.
        August 31, 2013, 6:50 pm | # | Reply

        > What is her trade exactly?

        I took it as her saying she’s dead outside, too …

        • Slinkythedrunk
          Slinkythedrunk
          September 1, 2013, 3:27 pm | # | Reply

          “plying her trade” was a reference to the last comic. she was trying to cure a disease and made it multitudes worse. so now she’s implying that her trade is indiscriminate mass murder.

          • Ben
            Ben
            September 5, 2013, 6:32 pm | #

            ^

  5. jsfury
    jsfury
    August 31, 2013, 5:47 pm | # | Reply

    Sweet Jesus Erin. Take a Valium. Man, point bank into the dog, and damn near the same for the boy. Mercy killings perhaps? Donno. But your lovin’ every pondering that will come from this page I’ll wager.

  6. Robin
    Robin
    August 31, 2013, 6:23 pm | # | Reply

    Not the dog! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! 🙁

  7. Robin
    Robin
    August 31, 2013, 6:27 pm | # | Reply

    Ok, JUST noticed what happened to the boy. OMG! Not him, too!!! Wonder how Doc will take this?

  8. arnly7
    arnly7
    August 31, 2013, 11:35 pm | # | Reply

    Wow. We plainly do not know these people the way we thought we did. There is nothing like a story unfolding in such a way that you have to go back in your mind and rethink it over and over again as new information emerges… I love the way there doesn’t seem to be anything contrived or deliberately hidden – we are just getting the story in an order that naturally causes these twists and turns. Masterfully done.

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 6:37 pm | # | Reply

      As always, very much obliged!

  9. Glass
    Glass
    September 1, 2013, 2:34 am | # | Reply

    Alright, from now on, I officially want them to kill each other.

  10. Nitrat
    Nitrat
    September 1, 2013, 4:42 am | # | Reply

    This here attitude of hers, is the reason why all my sympathy goes for J.H.Hunter, from the very beginning of this comic.

  11. Jaso11111
    Jaso11111
    September 1, 2013, 6:12 am | # | Reply

    Dogie noooooooooooooo!!
    :'(
    Aslo did she just shot that sick child?
    Man she really is dead inside…

  12. Maryz
    Maryz
    September 1, 2013, 6:48 am | # | Reply

    I don’t know why people are so surprised. Remember that Blacksmith that had his hand shot just because he wasn’t getting out of the smithy fast enough? Or any of other instances where she put bystanders in danger to get him.

    She shouldn’t have killed the boy. I’m not going to dissect her psyche to figure out why she did it, I leave that to the author and sit back and enjoy the wild ride that’s coming.

    9:10 that this town burns too by the time they leave.

    • Annie
      Annie
      September 1, 2013, 9:51 am | # | Reply

      I’d still say the blacksmith was a different issue, as she was having a flashback when she shot him. And yes, she’s put bystanders in danger, but this is the first time she’s directly harmed one purposely for the sake of harming, not as a means to an end and not as collateral damage and in a supposedly lucid state of mind. (There is of course the possibility that her mind/humanity is going the longer the spell has her reanimated for.)

      I don’t know how well towns burn in the rain, but yeah, it will probably see a lot more damage before they’re through with it. I’d wager she’s going to get her very own wanted poster very very soon, possibly the next town.

  13. okwari
    okwari
    September 1, 2013, 7:30 am | # | Reply

    Holy shit.

  14. Javier
    Javier
    September 1, 2013, 8:36 am | # | Reply

    That was no mercy killing. The kid didn’t deserve that, even if he was sick with a fatal disease. And certainly Hunter wasn’t burning anyone there.

    Miss Black just crossed a moral event horizon. Hunter’s no saint, but at least he’s better than that.

    • JefLebowski
      JefLebowski
      September 1, 2013, 5:22 pm | # | Reply

      Don’t know about that actually… the dialogue about the “reddest parts of the town” and “doing it for her” might imply using human sacrifice to resurrect her. And he certainly has no qualms when it comes to colletaral either.
      And everyone else would be raging or crying right now. He is merely irriated by the looks of it.

      (And I think that is the most words Miss Black has said ever on a single page

      • Wizard
        Wizard
        September 2, 2013, 6:53 am | # | Reply

        Nah, she also mentioned that she “turn[ed] a blind eye”, implying that she was alive at the time, and was, or at least should have been, aware of his actions. My interpretation was that he was looking for prostitutes (“reddest” as in red-light district, “whores you could conscion killing”) that he could persuade, by money or force, to serve as test subjects for her vaccine. Still a pretty grisly thing to do, especially since the cure turned out to be literally worse than the disease.

        Or I could be completely wrong. I’m just going to sit back and watch the story unfold.

        • JefLebowski
          JefLebowski
          September 3, 2013, 3:52 am | # | Reply

          My thoughts were actually going in the direction of him allready working on a contingency plan if her vaccine does not work. Hunter allready preparing his antidote (for death).

  15. Karyl
    Karyl
    September 1, 2013, 8:49 am | # | Reply

    Whoa, didn’t expect her to shoot the kid–but maybe she could tell he was almost gone anyway? I don’t know why she didn’t shoot Hunter then though, instead. She’d have been at leisure for anyone else after that.
    I guess she knows that regular bullets won’t do it for him though-maybe she’s not loaded up right????? questions, always questions!
    and holy cow, look at the art!

    • Annie
      Annie
      September 1, 2013, 10:01 am | # | Reply

      Thought: why if she can’t kill Hunter? Either because the magic prevents her from killing him, because it wouldn’t work given his unnatural healing ability, because there’s still a little piece of her that loves him, or because she made him in a sense.

      I mean she’s apparently cured paralysis before her death, he’s got a very nasty scar where his spinal cord is, supposedly, and having his own flesh explode isn’t enough to stop him (she blew quite a chunk out of him at Baron’s Crossing, not to mention the grappling hook through the guts before then). So how much man is Hunter? We know she’s a walking corpse, but is he very different? Is he the steampunk equivalent of a cyborg?

  16. Sulucamas
    Sulucamas
    September 1, 2013, 10:42 am | # | Reply

    …

  17. jsfury
    jsfury
    September 1, 2013, 10:59 am | # | Reply

    Actually, on second review, I’m not sure she did shoot the kid. The blood spatter is from the panel below where she shoots the dog. Again Erin, great work. We got to get you hooked up with the Disney studios. This story needs animation. 🙂

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 1, 2013, 2:08 pm | # | Reply

      (She shot the kid.)

  18. Running Dreams
    Running Dreams
    September 1, 2013, 2:41 pm | # | Reply

    I got the feeling John’s getting the temptation to pull the plug on what used to be his magic assistant. We know he can kill and revive in fire, and I’m betting that’s what he did to Miss Black. I also have the feeling that for plot’s sake, he somehow lost the means to end her… undeath.

    • JefLebowski
      JefLebowski
      September 1, 2013, 5:27 pm | # | Reply

      His resurrected wife, by all we know. I doubt assistant is the right word.
      And we knew actually saw her rise from the dead in fire somewhere at the beginning of the comic… And I think the dialogue on the page before this one shows him still loving her? So that is why he won’t kill her.
      Nono of his firespells were aimed at her until now. The worst he did was explode her guns in her hands and string her up. And his comments about ‘So long, Darling’ and ‘Maybe next time, angel eyes’ imply he knew this was not going to kill her.

  19. Onasaki
    Onasaki
    September 1, 2013, 2:58 pm | # | Reply

    DID SHE KILL THE LITTLE BOY?! Yeah, I’m on Hunter’s side now.

  20. Tie Toter
    Tie Toter
    September 1, 2013, 5:16 pm | # | Reply

    Just when you think you’re starting to figure this strip out…

    This just gets better and better.

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 7:14 pm | # | Reply

      Glad you feel that way — was afraid this might put a lot of folks off, really.

  21. TofuBot
    TofuBot
    September 2, 2013, 3:17 am | # | Reply

    Dang, Erin. You did the two things the big studios say never to do in the movies: you killed the kid and the dog… at the same time!

    It’s things like that that make this story so delightfully unpredicatable. I especially love the fact that Vane has gone from this vigilante hero type to someone who is quite possibly the villain of the story. I’d be surprised (but I wouldn’t consider it beyond your story telling abilities) if she can find her way back to the readers’ good graces. I mean, even as a mercy killing, this is extremely shocking and cruel.

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 7:16 pm | # | Reply

      I am amazed at how many Vane Black White Knights there still are even as of this page. Hmm. Black Knights?

  22. Librarian
    Librarian
    September 2, 2013, 4:20 am | # | Reply

    Do you know what kind of torture it is to see the dates under the strips rapidly approaching today?

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 7:18 pm | # | Reply

      Intimately! I used to have a 20 page-ish buffer; watching that dwindle away to today, as I now finish pages on the Saturday they post, was pretty excrutiating!

  23. Songbird
    Songbird
    September 2, 2013, 1:51 pm | # | Reply

    Ha, wait until Hunter burn down another town. Or we got more revelations on his own ugly past…

    By the way, we don’t know what is the late stage of violet fever. Is it hideous amount of pain? Remember one thing : she knows too well. Okay, she could have used some drug to put the kid out of his misery quietly, but she’s a cold pragmatic : same result with a bullet, only faster. And the dog? Healthy carrier.

    Anyway, congratulation to the author for not sugar-coating it. It’s a cruel world out there.

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 7:13 pm | # | Reply

      Thanks!

  24. der matologe
    der matologe
    September 2, 2013, 2:11 pm | # | Reply

    Whoa.
    This page really is a litmus-test.
    Far beyond the usual stuff on the internet – and i absolutely love it.
    Dang, Kudos!

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 7:12 pm | # | Reply

      Ha! Thanks so much.

  25. gothold
    gothold
    September 3, 2013, 9:10 am | # | Reply

    I don’t know who to root for, Ms Black or Hunter. Both have shown that they are willing and capable of killing.
    My guess is that Black shot the kid to spare him a slow painful death from a illness she created.
    Has for Hunter, Black is right about how he has burned to the ground towns less deserving as this one.
    I’m waiting with baited breat (Or breath that smells like bait) to learn more about hteir mutual pasts to take side yet.

    Also, great story telling Erin!

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 6:37 pm | # | Reply

      Thankee!

  26. Molewar
    Molewar
    September 3, 2013, 6:32 pm | # | Reply

    My prediction: He either runs or temporarily holds her off somehow… Maybe buying time enough to reanimate the dog and maybe the kid too… though my money is on him getting a hell hound as a companion. Fighting causes the building to catch fire, and the barkeep/surgeon ends up joining the party of people also on his trail.

  27. Guest
    Guest
    September 4, 2013, 3:46 pm | # | Reply

    NOOOO NOT THE DOG!

    ..or the kid!!!

  28. Vairan
    Vairan
    September 5, 2013, 4:59 pm | # | Reply

    I’m just enjoying the fact that there is no “hero” in this story.
    Loving the art and the story.

    • Ben
      Ben
      September 5, 2013, 6:37 pm | # | Reply

      Thanks so much!

  29. Zenu
    Zenu
    September 7, 2013, 1:33 am | # | Reply

    !?!?

  30. knykills
    knykills
    October 25, 2013, 7:05 pm | # | Reply

    She was trying to shoot hunter the dog knocked the rifle in the kids direction. I don’t think hunter really wants to kill her, so lets hope she kills him before too many more innocent people get caught in the crossfire.

    • theotherghostgirl
      theotherghostgirl
      May 4, 2015, 8:11 pm | # | Reply

      it looks more like she wasn’t paying attention when she was pointing it to me. That’s kind of what happens when you’re waving around a big gun with your finger on the trigger, especially considering it doesn’t take a lot of pressure to pull it, and you’re trying to do the big dramatic swing n’ shoot move

  31. theotherghostgirl
    theotherghostgirl
    May 4, 2015, 8:05 pm | # | Reply

    Honestly it’s probably a gentler death than whatever he would have had if they hadn’t shown up. I mean, he technically died in his sleep (hopefully)

  32. Jackarais
    Jackarais
    February 10, 2017, 3:58 pm | # | Reply

    Oh my gosh, what is with these people and murdering animals? As soon as that poor pooch came on screen I knew he was doomed ;__;

  33. Emm
    Emm
    April 10, 2021, 2:06 pm | # | Reply

    I’ll be honest I was expecting Hunter to burn this place down to put these people out of their misery I was not expecting her to just straight up shoot a child and his dog

    Although I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s been well established that Hunter and Black aren’t as different as it might appear. They’re both murderers, they’re both thieves, and they both only really care about themselves.

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