A Brief History of Grifonton, Page 11

PANEL 1

The Gryphon taunts Thomas, daring him to attack.

GRYPHON: "Do it."

GRYPHON: "Your family means nothing to me. Neither your ugly, drooling babes nor your knocked up wife!"

GRYPHON: "Man-child, what fool you were to think that Id find value in human life."

GRYPHON: "You and your kind are no more important to me than deer or cattle."

PANEL 2

Thomas swings a blade at the Gryphon in fury.

SFX: WHORE!

WILLIAM: "Thomas, no!"

PANEL 3

The blade makes contact but simply slides off harmlessly.

SFX: SSSSSSS

PANEL 4

The blade melts in Thomas hand. He gasps in shock while William watches.

SFX: GASP

SFX: melt

THOMAS: "Th-the blade melted?!"

WILLIAM: "It must be some sort of magical shield..."

PANEL 5

The Gryphon explains her invulnerability smugly.

GRYPHON: "Did you think it would be so easy to kill me?"

GRYPHON: "There is not a metal, stone, or poison capable of harming me. I made sure of that back in the Age of Magic.*"

*Footnote: "*Started 200 years after the end of the Age of Industry"

Everything that follows is original 2005 commentary except where noted “–RN 2012″:

She’s diabolical! I got the idea of immunity to metals from Mercedes Lackey’s Black Swan. In it, the sorcerers are immune to all but silver and gold thanks to powerful charms. They had special knives coated with silver or gold with which to cut themselves, though, because their own blood was needed to make said charms and such. Well, there was a whole page in which William asks if she is immune to even silver, to which she replies, “Of course!” Then how did she cut herself for the blood?

Oh, I have a habit of picking my nose, and sometimes I get a nosebleed.

I wish I could have kept that skit! There’s nothing more hysterical than a homicidal Gryphon picking her nose with one claw in front of disgusted bishounen! I admit, my humor is twisted. And, I hope there will be an Age of Magic. Then I can laugh and say, “I told you so” to all those hard-core scientists who can believe in a god but won’t give the notion of telepathy the time of day. Dear Past Rachel, as we’ve grown older, we have found less and less evidence for telepathy and the like. Sorry. Your Age of Magic is probably going to be a backward slide into the Age of Religious Superstition. –RN 2012

Suggested listening: “Hard Luck Story” by Men at Work