They're All Evil Sep-17-14

[Zathyr]

Let's all take a moment to consider Forgath's badassery... He grabbed his beard with his hand to block and break an axe... with his beard cladded fist he broke an axe, Kore's axe... :O Also it seems to me like Kore vanished or something :S ?

Actually, I think he just got Kore's helmet off... and is astonished at what he sees...

My impression too. The "camera" in the last panels has Kore's head just out of frame.

Forgath's "This is a helmet" helmet was explained in a bonus story in one of the print comics, but long story short what Forgath has said about it in the webcomic suffices. There is a strong sentimental value to it.

[stevedj]

Reading today's strip again, I think I'm coming up with what I expect is the same *joke* theory about Kore as has likely been shared before, but hey, its been a few months, right? What better time to restart all the Kore theories... So...

Hey, I know who Kore is!

...

...

...

He's Darth Vader! Seriously, the speech pattern fits perfectly...

[Babble]

One thing is for sure ... Kore isn't standing up again with that shield on... if he is even still in this fight?

I wish, but Kore's taken equipment-based feats for this situation. Freaking power gamers.

One of those rails got clipped. He may not be able to stand up and keep his shield, if he can stand up at all.

[DrinksBeer]

Gonna need a new helmet...

Art seems crisper. Thunt wasn't kidding about taking time to hone his style. I like it.

[DoodleMoogle]

I think things are gonna be alright. *80s freezeframe highfive everyone*

[stevedj]

One thing is for sure ... Kore isn't standing up again with that shield on... if he is even still in this fight?

I wish, but Kore's taken equipment-based feats for this situation. Freaking power gamers.

One of those rails got clipped. He may not be able to stand up and keep his shield, if he can stand up at all.

After Gryphonic reposted the prior strip, I realize that he used those levers to prop up when on the ground, shield already on his back, and Kore facing up ... the same position he is in now.

It was the maneuver before those levers, where he used the shield's rails to flip back over (from face down, to face up) that wouldn't work now... and I now see that trick isn't needed currently.

[Biscuit]

Goblins New Page! YEEEES!!! But now I am even more curious, what the hell is behind that helmet? My bet is some sort of Dwarf/Cthulhu hybrid

[Surran├│]

Forgath is not in rage because of his helmet. He's in rage because Kore's vow to purge his clan. The helmet is just a symbol of his clan, isn't it? As Kore said in panel 1.

Sooo... how long till the next page?

[PatchworkBBC]

Ha! The Bladebeard Dwarf took a blade to the beard!

[BuildsLegos]

Kore will need quite the amnesia to justify my theory that Kore is Forgath's dad.

[wanderingbishop]

Welp, looks like it's gonna be a few more weeks before we find out if Forgath is in the clear XD

Also:

[Insane Kitty]

Kore isn't his father, she is his mother!

[Gord_the_Rogue]

Awesome update!

[boneguard]

Man, Forgath got Medieval on Kore's ass...but the shocked look on his face begs me to wonder: Who IS Kore.

[SpiderDave]

Only one update and my emotions already feel funny.
Great work as always, Thunt. I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[Glemp]

SO question: Why are there three heltem labels and three axes? In panels two and five, it looks like three are falling at once. Is this some sort of clue?

EDIT: I eel so atisfyied and chathartisized now...wharer's the next one? Oh okay I guess...back to waiting. You know, it really doesn't feel dofferent, waiting for months vs weeks (or whenever, I do not care how long if it's good). That's a good, not a bad thing...feels like I was reading the olast page yesterday v(well, I was, but as a run-up - you get the idea).

EDIT: I meant to put this in at first but forgot...Kore using contractions sounds weird. Maybe it's just me, but when you want every word you say tou matter, when you're a badass (a bad badass, but still), contrations sound sotra...common, you knpow> Nit what a serious person spoeaking seriously would say.

[OldLion]

Well there is one important think you all overlook.
Forgath Helmet was crushed. This is no longer an helmet.

no wonder he is pissed.

[Bazuka]

Hang on, Kore says he's going to wipe out the Bladebeard dwarves with the racism axe, but throws the axe over the edge right before he says it.

What?

Other than that, this is awesome!. Beard Shield ftw!

[Sidewaysgts]

SO question: Why are there three heltem labels and three axes? In panels two and five, it looks like three are falling at once. Is this some sort of clue?

I was under the impression that it was just thunts artistic way of showing "how" the object fell/moved

[Causes_Chaos]

Kore isn't his father, she is his mother!

bwahaha!

The battle of the beards is back on!

[willpell]

IT'S BACK IT'S BACK IT'S BACK!!!

But as glad as I am to have it back, and as much as I don't want to be negative, I found this page difficult in the extreme to follow. The new art style is more detail-heavy and generally grittier, and while it's objectively better than the old style of almost cartoonishly clean lines, I personally like it less, both on an aesthetic-preferences level and in terms of being able to read the page. If I didn't have this community to explain what I was seeing, I'd probably never be able to figure out any of the content of this page beyond "axe of racism falls in chasm, Forgath's helmet destroyed, somehow Forgath beats down Kore with one hand, and then looks surprised and horrified". All the other details - the beard being used, Kore's axe breaking, etc. - were impossible for me to sift from the rather "messy" overall look of the page. Again, I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying that I, personally, both struggle to understand it and am less inclined to like it.

But once again, I really am glad to have Goblins back. And to be getting more of it "soon", even if that turns out to mean about what it did this time last year.

I don't remember this, but is there a special sentimental value that Forgath's helmet has to him? He lost it when the helmet was smashed. But I don't remember anything explained on how he got the helmet.

Not having access to book extras, I don't know exactly what the helmet's value is, but I know it has some. According to a page which I have seen, "THIS IS A HELMET...without those words, I wouldn't be here today".

Did anyone ever mull over why Kore doesn't use the Paladin ability to "detect evil"?

My theory is and has always been that Kore's Detect Evil sense is overloaded, constantly detecting everything around him, and can't be turned off; this strikes me as the best explanation for his brand of insanity.

[JustRight]

I also have questions and more questions. What are the three rectangular plates falling in upper panel 5 -- runes from Forgath's helmet? What have I missed from the storyline?

What appearance of Kore's uncovered head could be so strange that Forgath stops his fist in mid strike - a blow that must be delivered if he wants to live and save all the others Kore wants to kill? There is probably a screen or script writer who has a name for when the hero stops in mid critical stroke due to some astounding revelation that then gives the villain a chance to do more harm or pull a reverse.

Welcome back Mr. Hunt, very glad to have you back in the saddle.

[willpell]

Cthulhu-dwarf isn't a very sensible theory, but I just thought of one that would make perfect sense and have basically the same effect: undead dwarf! Maybe inside Kore's helmet, there's just a skull (with a beard - okay, not a perfect theory, but maybe dwarf hair never rots), with one and only one remaining eye, and a normal voice generated by undeath-magic despite the lack of a larynx (unlike in Order of the Stick, where undead always have "reverb" voices). It would certainly fit nicely with his IME - the souls of his victims are bound because his own soul is bound, he's become the very manner of abomination he was once driven to destroy, and pursues his mission with the same single-minded relentlessness that mummies display when avenging the desecration of their tomb.

Hang on, Kore says he's going to wipe out the Bladebeard dwarves with the racism axe, but throws the axe over the edge right before he says it.

It's not like it says "racist axe" right on it; sure he probably noticed that it was functioning at a +7, but he may not have cared, since his own weapons might well be equally good and he's more used to them. Or maybe he suspects that all weapons other than his own are Evil.

[Sidewaysgts]

I also have questions and more questions. What are the three rectangular plates falling in upper panel 5 -- runes from Forgath's helmet? What have I missed from the storyline?

Its not 3 runes. Panel 4, we see the "this is a helmet" piece break off when the helmet is smashed. Panel 5 shows "how" the insignia tumbled. (Amusingly- The noise they make is done in forgaths ime, instead of kore ime- Im not sure if that was intentional or an oversite, as pretty much any action "caused" by someone has been done in their ime- and that bit of metal tumbling was caused by kore, it even shows the helmet smashing sound in panel 4 in kore ime)

Hang on, Kore says he's going to wipe out the Bladebeard dwarves with the racism axe, but throws the axe over the edge right before he says it.

What?

He stated he was going to use the axe of prissan- Which is currently in the hands of Big Ears.

[Synch]

Kore isn't his father, she is his mother!

This! Maybe not his mother, but I reckon Kore is female and her hair is draped over her face and out the front of her helmet to resemble a beard. It looks more like hair to me than a beard or facial hair. Korgath is shocked that he was just punching the snot out of a dwarven woman.