#asmundr

Ok, so we’ve all seen and read this page right? Many of us readers were actually excited that Kique FINALLY hinted at a F x F relationship in his primarily M x M comic. It only took 881 pages to finally get SOMETHING new!!!

So fast forward, waiting almost two years and almost 100 pages later for an interaction between these two, this is what we get???

So did Kique forget entirely about page 881? Well here is his stupid excuse for all of this:

Truthfully I feel like he does these repetitive “walk out in the middle of a serious conversation” scenes so he can further stretch the comic to a point of no return ( although we are already there lmao ).

So obviously, we know that Ferah may harbor some fear from her past experiences with relationships. But it was FERAH that mentioned her feelings first about Felidae. She seemed to mention and speak about it confidently, acknowledging her fears and Kargo offering support and advice.. Even though the advice was way out of character of him and just makes him look like another creep in the comic, but that’s a whole different topic.

Anyway, one would think that Ferah would leap and bound at the opportunity that SOMEONE reciprocated her feelings finally, but NOPE! Instead we are further dragged into this shit hole comic waiting for a proper F x F relationship… STILL. Not only this, but I don’t understand why Ferah didn’t just TALK to Felidae, because now they will have a whole awkward silence managing the kill and a whole awkward walk back to the tribe. That could give plenty of time to Ferah to talk to Felidae about why she is turning her down. Or idk, be honest? Maybe say something like “I like you.. I do, but I’m just not ready yet.” It’s also a bit confusing for Ferah to say “I like you… You’re a good friend” ( basically friend-zoning ) when she literally went on a whole ramble about Felidae to Kargo? Ok, wtf. I am also sick and tired of Kiques “one personality fits all” characters. Why is it that just about every character one here avoids serious conversations, or questions? Why can’t we have one that COMMUNICATES?

We could argue that Ferah still has her fears, or that maybe Kique wants to flesh their “relationship” out further instead of rushing it, but naaaah, I don’t buy that. This dude is all about rushing this comic, he just has hater energy for his female characters. Notice how we no longer see Aira?? Yeah exactly.

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As literally any xenofiction reader on the internet, I have a strong opinion about a certain dog web comic that's been running for years.

I've been thinking a lot if I want to post it, because that would open a possible rabbit hole into reviewing any other comics I read but... Maybe that's not actually a bad thing? We will see. But first let's talk Home by Kique Nordin.

After the most recent public page I've realized something that I am sure was never intended. The Father (Utu) is actually secretly the real villain of both Asmundr and Home. Arguably on the same level, if not even worse than Marduk. Let me explain.

It all started in Asmundr when he gave a literal pup the same mark as the already crazed wolf bear. Let me repeat that. He knew there is a crazed wolf (his own creation but we will get back to it) and the best solution he could think of, to "cure" the said wolf, was to give the same mark to a few months old pup. And that's not all. The mark works like this: if you have at least two mark bearers, they will provide energy to each other, making the pair very powerful. But if you have just one, he will slowly fade away until he dies. This was confirmed in both Asmundr (with Lifa and Ranulfr) and Home (with Ninmah and the ship). So where does that lead us? To leave Lifa, another victim in a long line of Father's genetical experiments, slowly dying, abandoned on the peak of a mountain. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Actually this is not where it started. It really begun many years before the events of Asmundr when Father created Shield wolves as guardians of Asmundr territory. Then them being kidnapped and brainwashed by another Sky god (in Home we learn it was Marduk). But instead of trying to help his own creations, he abandoned them. Including a certain liulfr pup that was, back then, still mentally stable, so we could have avoided comic events in their entirety. But okay, story had to happen so let's proceed.

Except... In Home we learned that Liulfrs were not his first abandoned (experiment) I mean guardians. But third! First ones being Rabisu and Zioquas. What happened with them? Well, after Father abandoned them on a planet and flew (assumably) towards Earth, Marduk swooped in and committed a genocide. Rabisu in Home hint that Father never came back to check on them after that. Which is exactly the same thing that was, in-lore time-line, repeated exactly the same again with liulfrs of Earth.

But back to Asmundr. Forget liulfrs being abandoned and Lifa forced into "fixing" crazed wolf (we will get back to it in following paragraph). She was also intended to be used as a progenitor of wolf-dog hybrids! Father's newest experimental breed, fourth already, the akiulfrs! Also apparently Father can't help directly, just guide. Remember this line.

So after Father got from Lifa and Ranulfr what he wanted - his new toys - he left them both to rot. Quite literally. And the only one who prevented Lifa's death in Asmundr was Marduk. Not Father who used her as a breeding female. Marduk.

Oh and... Btw... When Father FINALLY decides to help Lifa, he reveals he could have prevented Marduk talking to Ranulfr and "cure" the red eye disease (aka madness) of both Lifa and Ranulfr the entire time. What a lad.

And remember how Father said he can't intervene? Well... he brought Ranulfr back to life, he brought Kainan back to life (by the end of the comic), he used Lifa and Ranulfr as a breeding project, he saved his newest toys (akis) repeatedly and also randomly saved Kainan's parents just to drop them in alien planet and left them there to die. Making Kainan an orphan and his parents to die without a chance of seeing their son ever again.

In Home he is absent the majority of the plot because he abandoned his new toys (akis) for even newer toys (humans). At least he is consistent in this.

And you know what? Now that I've done a quick re-read of Asmundr, I think Father's actions on pages 935 - 938 are very out of character. Up to this point he shown no interest towards anyone and anything except his current favorite toy. He was always very distant and just seeing him here, supportive and hugging Jahla is just... No? It doesn't fit at all. Except him asking someone to fix problems he created again - he did that plenty before (see Lifa or Kainan in Asmundr).

Overall, he is one of the most consistent character in Kique's stories. Constantly creating new experiments, never truly caring about them and eventually abandoning them all when he gets bored. He is actually a fairly decent villain.

Except Kique (and in extend all of his characters) insist that Father is actually good and kind god.

So besides the video showing how nothing that Marduk does make sense I want to point out a few additional things for a villain that you should keep in mind:

They need a clear motive. Taking over the world, the universe, killing those who oppose them, it should be plainly obvious what is driving them to their goals. Marduk had such contradictory reasons and nothing that he did make sense. If he wanted to take over Asmundr, kill Kainan. If he wanted to kill Father, he'd be in the Sky, not on Aedra. He has interest in Jahla, but never bothered to go to her or the Akis on their island? Seriously, what is this guys problem outside of being a dick because reasons.

Give the audience reasons to hate them so much they love them. They could be cunning, they could be manipulative, the way they talk and how they can sway others to do what they say should be obvious. These one note displays don't really stick with you and it's pretty infuriating considering Marduk had all the tools and chances available to him. If Father was such a sticking point with this character, he could have swayed Asmundr away from him. "Look how I am here when your dear Father is not". Shower them in affection and gifts. I state again, this is a GOD. He has the ability to make it happen but because Kique is so fixated on other characters like Roamer, Ranach, and Rogio he can't develop the characters that need to matter in his stories.

When a villain falls, it should be cathartic in nature. All of those actions that they did, all of that scheming, lies, and manipulating comes down to this one moment. All of the choices that they made caused them to be put in this situation. There is none of that felt for Marduk because we don't understand anything about this character, his motive, and why he deserved to fall. Hell even the 'hero' Jahla has no build up to why she is behaving like this. Did you see her speak about Father for anything since coming to Aedra? Pray to the Sky Gods she cares so much about? Hell, this sudden act of rage shows that she has learned nothing when she approached Roghir and got in a fight with her brother, and we are 900 pages in! She is still this hot-blooded bitch that acts impulsively, another reason why I didn't care when Rome died. In the time that been shown in the comic, how much have all of the 'main' characters changed? If anything Marduk's arc only opened up more confusion as everything transpired the way it did. Kainan is so out of character it's not even funny.

In all, after reviewing Marduk's old pages, breaking down the issues with Kique's writing, it's painfully clear that he needs to go back to the basics when it comes to storytelling. You can't expect to write a full blown novel if you can't even explain why there are contradictory scenes within the same chapter - sometimes mere pages from each other. I'm pretty sure I pointed out over 15 story errors on Marduk alone, and he is not even a main character. That is horrible narrative writing.

Also, going off on what I said in the last part. You need to respect your audience as a writer. You need to understand who you are writing for and gauge their expectations. This is supposed to be a mature themed comic, yet even for Marduk, what is he supposed to represent? What do you get when you reflect on his entire character arc? Just a guy that bullied a bunch of elderly dogs because this fucktard author decided he wanted to get back at J-Harper and kill his character for shits and giggles.

I need people to understand that. This author, changed Marduk's entire personality, not for any narrative choice/reason, but to be petty. Kique got what he wanted, but he fucked up his entire story by doing that. Home doesn't make sense from any standpoint. Sky Gods apparently are fighting against humans armed with sticks and stones and they can't defeat them because... 'reasons'. Marduk said that he tried to use floods and plagues to stop them, but he has the technology to create a death dildo. Why wasn't that used on the humans? Do you see how stupid all of this is? It's clear the only thing the Sky Gods do is experiment on species, nothing else. Hell, the Sky Gods have access to their guardian species the Rabisu and Zioqua and Father didn't acknowledge them in Asmunder, which makes why Father chose to be involved with Kainan contradictory. Asmundr was put on Aedra last so clearly Father doesn't give a shit about them, hell none of the Sky Gods do because they abandoned the Shield Wolves to die AND their own fucking guardians! Asmundr just needed to move from to planet because of the big bad humans.

These 'main' characters we are following around have nothing to do with the Sky Gods or even the Spirits around this planet. Rogio made the bad nightmares go away by going to the Elk so he can fuck Roamer without interruption/guilt but when is the last time you've seen Kique DO anything else to worldbuild anything else? The more I looked at Father when I was going over this script, the more I'm convinced that he is a self insert too and why he is so fucking unlikable with the things he says and does.

Genuinely, I do not know who Home is for audience wise. I do not know the purpose of this story. Earlier chapters (1-6) it was surviving in this new and alien land with the new Asmundr generation as our guides. Now? It's just gay furry porn with such ill conceived plot tropes that are used badly and for shock value. There is nothing a reader can take away while reading Home, and that is honestly depressing considering how long it is.

Rome dying like he did meant nothing. I hated him when he first started out because he made no sense. He was portrayed as a morally upstanding citizen in the Ravencrest tribe. Supposedly he didn't like the way the brothers behaved, but he never left. He knew Jahla was never in any danger but didn't go seek help from Solar Stag tribe which he magically knew they were allies with. Instead, he tried to kill his tribe mates, he fucking stole their horse! He had all of this knowledge of herbs to draw the bulls to injure his pack mates, but not put them to sleep. And through all of this, the only thing that he ever did was agree with Jahla about everything. He had no personality outside of 'pleasing' her. Why in gods name would anyone expect any emotional impact for his death when he didn't do shit to begin with. Not only that, but notice that Kique spent all that time making sure that Rhov and Jahla were 'over' each other only to cut his life short. There was no build up, no reason for Marduk to kill him like that, he didn't even try to torture his victims. Just like a rag, he's discarded.

Same thing with Marduk. He had no clear goal or reason to do the things that he did. He wanted to be a part of the pack, then he demanded Asmundr to bow down to him but I still have no idea what he was trying to achieve in the grand scheme of things. He had the Solar Stag and the Sky Gods to go after. The Rabisu/Zioqa rendered Asmundr redundant. They aren't special, they aren't heroes because how do you compare them to a Sky God Guardian?

And his death was so ill conceived. He caused a Magical Girl transformation (not even that interesting mind you) and suddenly he can't snap Jahla's neck with this obelisk because reasons. You honestly expect me to believe that Marduk was unable to do that? What does that crest fucking do beside make the dogs look like a mal-formed cockatoos? What power does it give her? You did a magical girl transformation WITHOUT the power to go with it. That's the point of doing the magical girl transformation.

You cannot own a pose

You cannot own an colour palette

You cannot own an artstyle

"Style trace" is not a thing. "Canine with saber teeth" is not a concept you own. (And just a sidenote. I love how he, the King of Theft and Tracing, is now complaining somebody else is "stealing" from him.) You cannot copyright a style for the same reason you cannot copyright a colour, an idea, a concept, a musical note, a name, because those are free, abstract, widely ranging concepts that stem from pure thought and creativity and therefore cannot be owned by anyone. I cannot believe I'm telling this to someone who's in his 30s and has been an artist for nearly two decades, but here we are, I guess.

oh no how shall i ever recover for i have sinned!

(I've never been on Tumblr before, so my apologies. I have no idea how to use this platform.)

I've been a silent fan of this comic for about 4-5 years now, and for a long time, I chose not to reveal my existence. I was around 15 when I first got into it and started reading. But after seeing the new pages that have been leaked under this hashtag, I don’t know what to say or think. I feel like my time following this comic and its artist is coming to an end.

I admit that, back then, I was one of the people who leaked pages. That’s the main reason Kiq started putting copyright watermarks all over his pages on ComicFury. But I didn’t want to get into trouble, so I deleted the shit.

Now, after years of denial, I have to admit- this comic is garbage. Characters are killed off for no reason, and the writing is so poor that there's no emotional weight or impact when a character dies. It feels pointless, like the character never even existed in the first place. This is not how you write a story. How are readers supposed to feel pain when the comic itself doesn’t depict any? It just doesn’t make sense.

I’m very sensitive when it comes to character portrayal, and Kiq is definitely not doing it right. I love these characters, but not their creator. I have to say, when Kiq had his girlfriend, at least some things made sense, but now? Everything feels rushed and emotionless. It’s as if nothing really happened for hundreds of pages, and then suddenly, everything is happening at once.

That wouldn’t be such a big issue if it were written and illustrated properly. But we get a total of maybe 5-6 pages for the big fights, after waiting 300-500 pages for them to even begin. And what about the supposed "main characters" who are barely even shown, just mentioned in passing? Like, what the actual bone is going on in this comic? How can someone be a main character when they’re not even in the damn story?

So I don’t understand why Kiq acts surprised when people leave or turn against him. Readers have to criticize things when they make no sense at all. This kind of storytelling completely ruins both the plot and the characters’ personalities and purpose- and it’s damaging his reputation as an author. He should know that he bears the responsibility for the way his comic is received. If this continues, more people will leave. And not just a few, but many.

I’m not going to get into the personal drama, because I don’t know the full story of what happened between him and his staff and ex-staff members.