Shields can be cumbersome (p.027)

@Dennis Sweatt : hey thanks !!!
Being a huge fan of Frankin, I personally like your Gaston very much !
http://sweattshop-graphic-artist.bl...
One of the best Belgian characters ever.

Hi Stephen. I Knew someone would ask !

ha ha !!! This has been a long debate between Illustrator and scriptwriter (and one of those rare times when we don't exactly see things the same way)
Sorry, but we'll have to wait till next week to give you an answer about that.

The mighty roof thatching straw of death

something i forgot to say until now, i loved the transition from panel 2 to 3, Setanta has this look of"hell yah, im soo coo-*CRACK!!!* wha-? OOOOWWWW!!!!!" Onward and forward, little warrior. and*spoiler* keep that Hurling arm strong, your gonna need it soon.

@Cathbad : Ookay..i don't understand a lick of french,..but, from waht i can figure, you guys just lost your marbles, and took up insane doodling!

i never thought shields would be very comfortable....and, i'd be the odd ass out, since my primary hand is my left hand, and the rest of the world is made up of mostly righties. takes a shit load of training to learn how to wield a shield right, even more to make it a weapon all its own. then add the sword work and how to use one without banging into yoru shield every 20 seconds....you can see why the boys of the Iron Age were put to work becoming soldiers from the moment they can walk, talk, and perform rudimentary toileting skills

....i think i'd of prefered being an archer...much safer in teh back. and you can turn people into pincushions!

Now I like the idea of crossbowing from behind a tower shield - to bolt them down while having cover from the other side's cowa-EEERM clever ones prefering projectile weapons like myself...

But back to the iron ages. I like the idea of the ogham inscriptions on the doors. Very decorative and definitely nicer than modern bell signs. What do they say? Is there evidence for something like that?

By the way - don't be to disappointed about me frequently praising mirliks art. Your storytelling is of the same high level. I really wish I could understand french and read the original lines to grab every last ounce of this masterpiece!

And I forgot to answer your other question : did they paint doors with Ogham back in Celtic Ireland ? No text mentions that.

<Prof Cathbad mode on>

On the other hand, oghams were used to fashion magical seals/boundaries. Stones engraved with Ogham often marked the boundaries of territories (later replaced by Christian saints more or less serving the same function ; very interesting here in Bretagne, the saints 'Leonard' 'Peter in bonds' mark the exact delimitation of gallo-roman provinces (Pagi) whose frontiers most likely reflect that of the local Celtic tribes of before the Roman conquest. Most interesting of all, all those saints have been at some point, represented with "Oghmian" attributes, the most striking being the "bonding thing" (strings linking the saint's tongue to peoples' ears, arms, or limbs in general).

This is a main Theme in our version of the Cuchulainn epic. Cuchulainn being a guardian of Fords, resorts to the use of Ogham (learnt from Cathbad and maybe also Scattach, even if this isn't in the texts either). Those special warriors from the second dumezilian class, the ford keepers, the protectors of frontiers and, symbolically, of the integrity of tribes, shared a lot of attributes with Ogme/Ogmios, or Varuna if you want to go into indo-european comparison.

Then, in almost all indo-european cultures, the passing of the year was a time for the dead spirits to roam our physical world. Obviously Samaïn falls into that category, but one less known example is that of ancient (pre-republican) Rome, in which, on the new year's eve and night, the MUNDUS opennend its doors. The Mundus was supposed to be a closed edifice, placed at the centre of Rome, with some sort of pit. All closed. Just before the night fell, on new year's eve, kids (yeah , kids) would run across the streets yelling "mundus patet" ("the mundus is opened) ; people had gathered offerings on tables in the streets during the day, for the spirits to feast upon during the night. Then, everybody would get inside, seal all openings, and wait for the spirits to eat.

In Ancient Ireland, Samaïn was no joke, as you know. People were ordered to gather themselves inside dwellings, and any trespasser was to be sentenced to death. This is the reason why, although the texts don't tell that, we chose a Samaïn night for Setanta's departure. We think it doesn't do the original stories wrong, but instead reinforces the fact that Setanta, being no ordinary boy, breaks a human (law) proscription. Nobody would leave his house on a Samaïn night.

As for the Ogham paintings on the doors, this is artistic license. It reminds a lot of the Jewish "easter", in the bible, the killing of the first born by pharaoh & all that.

</Prof Cathbad mode off>