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Queen of the Dead part 2, 129

"The motif of the famine or drought plays a role in many other versions of the myth. As a grief-stricken Demeter searches in vain for her daughter, the crops cease to grow. The famine thus constitutes an outward manifestation of the overwhelming grief of the goddess of vegetation. As we have seen, the Hymn to Demeter suppresses the theme of the Search for Persephone, and the famine is deferred until after the events in the palace of Celeus."

"Demeter's first plan, to immortalize and adopt a human child - and thereby to subvert the order of Zeus - has been thwarted. After its failure, the goddess conceives a second plan: to starve men so that they can no longer bring offerings to the gods. While Demeter may still be irritated at mankind for interfering with her designs, the true object of her wrath remains the gods, Zeus, above all. But she is quite willing to sacrifice mankind to her own purpose. The cessation of vegetation is consciously - and somewhat heartlessly - willed and planned by Demeter to achieve her goal."

The Politics of Olympus by Jenny Strauss Clay

This is the last page of part 2. But my work is not done. Oh no. Now begins the editing. I want to change a few scenes and maybe add something. Part 3 will start, at the earliest, some time next year.

#queen of the dead #demeter #persephone #hades

Queen of the Dead part 2, 128

Finally managed to finish this page! I got stuck on details all the time, and last week it was decided a bit last minute that a friend would visit me for a few days, so I had to clean my apartment. Sometimes I just want to shut the rest of the world out so I can focus on the comic and finish it already XD

#queen of the dead #demeter

Queen of the Dead part 2, 127

In the Hymn, Demeter demands that the people of Eleusis build her a temple and an altar on the rising hill above the Kallichoron well. Keleos summons the people and make sure that this is done. Demeter then withdraws into the temple. I didn't include that part of the story for two reasons. 1. In my comic Demeter already has a temple and cult in Eleusis. 2. Building a temple takes a very long time. In the Hymn it almost sounds like that all it took was a day's work, but building a temple, at least a big one, normally took several years.

I based Demeter's temple on reconstructions of the so called Megaron B that stood there in the Mycenaean period (which may have been a cult building but we don't know if it was dedicated to Demeter), and on early archaic temples that drew on earlier megaron-type structures, like the temple of Apollon in Dreros and the temple model found at the Argive Heraion.

#queen of the dead #demeter #iambe #baubo #metaneira

Queen of the Dead part 2, 126

#queen of the dead #demeter #iambe #baubo #metaneira

Queen of the Dead part 2, 125

In the Hymn, when speaking about Demophoon's everlasting honor, Demeter says: ... "the sons of the Eleusinians will join in war and dreadful battle against each other forever" (Athanassakis, 2004). It is thought that this refers to the Ballétys, a local festival involving a mock battle among the young men of Eleusis.

I drew the warriors in the last panel from the Chigi Vase.

#queen of the dead #demeter #demophoon #metaneira #baubo #iambe

Queen of the Dead part 2, 124

In The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter herself takes Demophoon from the hearth and places him on the ground when Metaneira interrupts the ritual, which implies that this magic could only be worked in secret. It says nothing about the child dying. However, some scholars argue that the hymn-poet clearly alludes to his approaching death by using the word aspaironta for when he is left gasping on the floor, a word used elsewhere of dying heroes. In other versions of the story, the child is immediately burnt up in the fire when the ritual is interrupted (Apollodorus Bibliotheca 1.5.1 and Orphic frag. 49, 100ff). In Hyginus Fabulae it is the father, here named Eleusinius, who interrupts the ritual. He was killed by the angry goddess, but the child (who here is Triptolemus) was honored by Demeter and was given her chariot with flying serpents to spread the cultivation of grain to rest of humanity.

This was one of the hardest pages in part 2 to draw, because I really didn't want Demophoon to die. But at the same time I realized that his death was necessary to push Demeter into putting her second plan into action.

#queen of the dead #demeter #baubo #iambe #metaneira #demophoon #tw death

Queen of the Dead part 2, 123

#queen of the dead #demeter #baubo #iambe #demophoon #metaneira

Queen of the Dead part 2, 122

#queen of the dead #demeter #demophoon #baubo #iambe

Queen of the Dead part 2, 121

Back to Demeter in Eleusis.

#queen of the dead #demeter #demophoon

Queen of the Dead part 2, 120

There is only one or two scenes left and then part 2 is complete (minus the editing, of course). However, I haven't fully written down those scenes yet, so the next page might take a little longer than usual. Especially since I'm going to the Stockholm International Comics Festival this weekend.

#queen of the dead #sisyphus #merope

Queen of the Dead part 2, 119

#queen of the dead #sisyphus #merope

Queen of the Dead part 2, 118

In Euripides' Alcestis, Alcestis may not speak with the living until three days have passed and she has fully left the custody of the gods of the Underworld. That gave me the idea that Sisyphus' transition from dead to living wouldn't go completely smoothly.

#queen of the dead #sisyphus #merope

Queen of the Dead part 2, 117

#queen of the dead #merope

Queen of the Dead part 2, 116

This page kicked my ass. Night scenes are so tricky to ink!

#queen of the dead #sisyphus

Queen of the Dead part 2, 115

#queen of the dead #persephone #hekate

Queen of the Dead part 2, 114

I struggled with this page all week. I realized I didn't like the dialogue, rewrote it several times and ended up redrawing half the page. It was so frustrating and mentally exhausting. The work on this comic goes slow enough as it is.

#queen of the dead #demeter #hekate #persephone

Queen of the Dead part 2, 113

#queen of the dead #demeter #hekate #persephone

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