Enter the Big Chief – Chapter 7, Act 4, Strip 41

While the crew is out fishing, the massive horde of enemies are biding their time. Not like there’s much else they could do. Especially since they heavily rely on leadership to direct the course of their actions, and their leadership was absent until now. It’s, apparently, not the sort of leadership that’s keen to arrive somewhere with the first ranks of their charging horde, but rather prefers to tag along a good deal behind the hindmost rank – you know, to each their personal style.

But now the big boss has arrived, and has made his entry in style. It’s not this guy’s first appearance, of course, but he still tries to make it count. A portable throne is a very stylish way to travel, and lets everyone you meet know right away that you’re the big cheese. And it’s been properly set up here, starting with ominous sounds, through tantalizing detail shots to the big reveal. On the other hand, it’s not the fastest way to travel, and the ride quality largely depends on the competence and strength of the bearers. Using Trolls for this task is an arguable choice to begin with – since they are high-strength but low-competence – but it gets even more questionable when all you’ve got are paper fold-ups of Trolls, instead of something properly three-dimensional. The bus might have been the more comfortable alternative, indeed, but I still doubt the Big Chieftain would have seriously considered it…for one thing, it just lacks the necessary impact for a proper grand entry, and for the other thing, buses don’t even exist in a fantasy setting.

As for the throne’s decoration…well, this sort of thing calls for some fanciful and gruesome decoration, but I couldn’t get myself to strap a cat carcass or something like that to it. A captured cat is slightly more humane and still fanciful, I think, and since that particular cat still had to be somewhere around…

More on Thursday.