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.
