Housepets!

Gotta love Pueblo being Gale's cheerleader.

But speaking of Pueblo, something tells me that Gale is going to do something that'll have him turn against her.

HA! That's awesome. Pueblo just doesn't stop getting more adorable.

Okay, so reasoning is not working. I can't tell what is going on in Gale's head. She clearly still has deep issues that just...wow...
Honestly I'm wondering if there is even the slightest possibility that Pueblo is adopted. I know that's silly but if she is this upset about something that doesn't even matter then there is clearly more than just "I wanted a kid, you didn't let me until you left then I hooked up with the first male that entered my territory."

when your mom starts arguing with the manager

Wait how does she know what tailgating is?! She lives in the middle of nowhere... why would there even be a tailgating party in the woods away from the football field?

I love that cub.

Pueblo is super cute, as always. I don't know if a finger counts as a tool, but at least we know where it came from (how is it the right size for his hand? He's only like 2'-3' tall). The "SWIPE" effect in the first panel is a nice touch. Did Pueblo turn on the studio lighting, because Miles and Daryl went back to their daytime shades of gray.

Saturn381 wrote:But speaking of Pueblo, something tells me that Gale is going to do something that'll have him turn against her.

Pueblo seems pretty on-board with the whole anti-wolf thing. If Gale was to alienate him somehow, it would be by being weird.

I don't know what's keeping Miles' glasses firmly stuck on top of his muzzle, but whatever it is, he should patent it.

There’s no logic here, Miles,
rage has eaten it all away.
Nothing remains of your friend;
vengeance now holds sway.
The slights she passed returned
when you did this morning;
the lightness she once possessed
fell into the darkness dawning.
So fight, dear sir, fight your past,
Wolf up and save the family.
But know you’ll have to fight hard;
Gale will not go down easily.

*Sigh* Pueblo, you’re adorable, but you’re cheering for the one who’s in the wrong. Miles and company left, giving Gale the opportunity to have a cub (delaying her, what, maybe five years max while the wolf pups were growing up?). She should understand and appreciate what Miles is trying to do here - convincing his progeny why they want to stay in human society - away from her turf.

Not to mention, with the Milton ferrets on the case, it wouldn’t be long before Gale and Pueblo were administered justice for disrupting a key part of their life’s work. If Gale really understood what was best for Pueblo, she’d probably want to stay on their good side and avoid killing the wolves.

I would say that all Miles needs to do is explain to her that they are not moving back into the territory; it's pretty clear that's what she thinks they are doing, but I don't think that would work here. She seems way to angry to care or believe him.

Let's see, If I were playing this like a strategy game, I'd say the smartest course of action right now would be to jump in the pit. Apparently the whole point was to capture the pack so that she could confront Miles One-on-One, a fight she feels she has a good chance of winning. By jumping in, if she really wants him she'll have to come and get him, and he'll have the numbers advantage she was trying to avoid.

Also, it doesn't look that deep, I'm sure working together they could find a way out of there eventually.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a looney tunes-esque style joke. It’s beem so serious lately it’s kind of nice to see a random cutaway to Pueblo in that irrational getup.

Okay did anyone else see Pueblo and the first thing they thought of was “is that Ash Ketchum’s hat?” Or was that just me.

Oh man, what are the odds that IF Miles and actually have a decent conversation with Gale that he can convince her to join the ECP? We need more Pueblo and to do that they need to move into Babylon a Gardens. She said she would do anything so I say we give Pueblo the cubs’s Nintendo Switch, cook him some burgers on the grill, maybe cook some pancakes on that portable pancake grill, and let nature take its course.

Pueblo is the second greatest thing I’ve seen today. If he was in the Kingdom Hearts trailer, I would be dead right now.

I didn't think that initially, but I can see it. Then again, it's not an uncommon hat style.

That's a good suggestion, and I definitely would enjoy seeing Pueblo around more. But I feel like it's going to take either some crazy good convincing, or an outside intervention before that can happen.

That looks like a Max Fleischer "Popeye the Sailor" fist Miles is about to unleash on Pueblo's mom !

Is the alt. text a reference to people heckling a batter at a baseball game?

IceKitsune wrote:I would say that all Miles needs to do is explain to her that they are not moving back into the territory; it's pretty clear that's what she thinks they are doing, but I don't think that would work here. She seems way to angry to care or believe him.

I gathered Gale's grievances with Miles were simmering while he was away and she has decided that Miles deserves to die for his earlier transgressions, let alone any offense he commits modern day. The relevance of his return is she already told him she never wanted to see him again and the memories he brought back were too painful and him leaving won't fix that and/or Gale was resolute to kill him regardless if he ever planed to retake the territory, but not enough to seek him out. The Pack returning gave her the perfect opportunity to challenge him on her own terms.

fenrirblack wrote:...cook him some burgers on the grill, maybe cook some pancakes on that portable pancake grill, and let nature take its course...

Cook? We were supposed to cook the meat? That's what we forgot!

Champion Wallace wrote:

fenrirblack wrote:...cook him some burgers on the grill, maybe cook some pancakes on that portable pancake grill, and let nature take its course...

Cook? We were supposed to cook the meat? That's what we forgot!

That’s why we let King do the cooking.

Champion Wallace wrote:Is the alt. text a reference to people heckling a batter at a baseball game?

I believe the alt text is a reference to Gary Glitter's Rock & Roll Part 2, which is commonly played at American sporting events to rile up the crowd.

Pueblo cheering for Gale is adorable, the finger and hat are so random. (Not that I'm complaining)

Ya know, all things considered, Gale (and the Wolves) have probably killed for less, I don't know why we're surprised. When your entire livelyhood is based on killing numerous rabbits, deer, raccoons, the rare case of human that no one will care to search for should they go missing, killing someone for screwing your chances of having a kid, mate, or possibly killing someone you cared about isn't really that far off of a solution.

What's that song?

Douglas Collier wrote:*Sigh* Pueblo, you’re adorable, but you’re cheering for the one who’s in the wrong.

Children are simple: when in doubt, root for the home team. To remove doubt, ask mom.

Frank wrote:What's that song?

Douglas Collier wrote:*Sigh* Pueblo, you’re adorable, but you’re cheering for the one who’s in the wrong.

Children are simple: when in doubt, root for the home team. To remove doubt, ask mom.

This applies double when Mom IS the home team!

...
...
...

*secretly gets his own finger and quietly stands outside the cave and cheers with Pueblo*

Well, Gale, if you have a son, then you have got a family, but, we still don't know where's your mate now... Yeah, do as Miles says and keep the bad past back... Eheh, you can see what this is doing to her son, Miles. Aww Gale, you show to be a really good mother to even give Pueblo the equipment to support you.

Pueblo's not a Cubs fan?

GameCobra wrote:...
...
...

*secretly gets his own finger and quietly stands outside the cave and cheers with Pueblo*

*joins in wearing a vaguely feline beige costume swiped from a sports mascot*

Oh no, toxic masculinity is fostered by toxic femininity! That's a really bad combination.

I have to confess, given how strongly Gale felt about having cubs back then, why she didn't just tell Miles to "Go
pound sand!" when he said she should not have children ...

... but, then, no story, I guess.

Except Miles was absolutely correct when he said that the area couldn't support any more predators. She clearly recognized the truth in that statement and put herself through a lot of pain for the greater good.

I'm just kind of confused about Gale's motivation right now. First she's angry they're on her territory. Then she's angry because they're hunting on her territory. Then she's angry because Miles was hypocritical (which is debatable because he and his pack did leave the forest entirely when their pack became too big for it). Now she wants to flat out kill Miles for making her hold off on starting a family, even risking her own life in the process.

None of these I would think would be motivation for a thoroughly laid out trap and murder plot. Especially now that she should be considering the possible risk of her getting seriously hurt in this fight and Pueblo loosing his only parent. Honestly I feel the only action she should have taken would be to say "Get out, jerk. You aren't welcome here anymore." And the pack would have cut the trip short and headed back to town.

Uh oh, Rick’s mad that we don’t understand what’s happening with Gale or why she’s trying to kill Miles.

Okay she wanted a family, Miles said no, years later she has a family but is bitter that it took so long? So now she’s projecting all those years of frustration out on Miles in an insane way?

I guess people have killed for less but her reaction just feels overly dramatic. She’s angry and bitter at Miles. I guess unless you’ve personally been in that kind of situation there is no way to truely understand what she’s feeling. She feels wronged and is now retaliating. We know what the motivation is, the problem is the reaction.

There has to be more to than that. Theory time. I said before Pueblo was more important than we realized. So looking at Gale’s comment, “Yes, and I would do anything for him,” must have something to do with her motivation (yes, I’m using that word). Is she dying, is he dying, does she think that they’re going to do something to him, or put him in some kind of danger. Clearly she believes that Pueblo is it, no more kids. She probably wanted more than the one. On average, cougars have 2 to 3 cubs per litter. Given her age, it’s possible that there was another that died or her body was incapable of producing more than the one. So following that logic she’s mad at Miles for forcing her to wait so long that she had to settle for the one cub.

She said last comic that she'd been "screwed over" by Miles, so it seems she felt betrayed by his lack of regard for her feelings. It's possible that she is simply angry. She's angry at Miles for what he did, and every other justification she's given has just come from the bitter anger that she's harbored.
This could go a few ways, maybe, but it could be that she simply is angry enough to kill Miles from that one incident (which was the culmination of (likely) a few years of pain denying herself the child she wanted) and that's all the reason she cares to have.

Okay. I'm seeing a lot of people here who think Gale's just crazy and going after Miles because she was told "no" to having a family, and I think they're forgetting that we're still missing context for this situation. We assume that Gale got her scar from falling off a cliff, but--whether that's the case or not--we still don't know WHY that happened. Her fear of Hawkeye could have just been for a joke, but he could also be the one who gave her the scar. We know that Jack had something to do with what happened and some of the other wolves were involved as well. Whatever it was, it centers around Miles and it looks to me like Gale's need for vengeance goes beyond just being hurt emotionally.

Mr. Whisper wrote:Okay. I'm seeing a lot of people here who think Gale's just crazy and going after Miles because she was told "no" to having a family, and I think they're forgetting that we're still missing context for this situation. We assume that Gale got her scar from falling off a cliff, but--whether that's the case or not--we still don't know WHY that happened. Her fear of Hawkeye could have just been for a joke, but he could also be the one who gave her the scar. We know that Jack had something to do with what happened and some of the other wolves were involved as well. Whatever it was, it centers around Miles and it looks to me like Gale's need for vengeance goes beyond just being hurt emotionally.

You mean Deadeye?

I think there's also the issue of Pueblo here. As others have pointed out, Cougars generally have more than one cub and Pueblo is clearly younger than the Cubs. Several years younger, in fact. It's quite possible that, despite her feelings about Miles, she agreed with him on the predators issue and kept up the 'no children' policy longer than Miles and Lucretia obviously did. (Possibly due to not having a mate).

Now we seem to know that whatever Mate she had is gone - permanently or not. We certainly know her eyesight is going (she asked Pueblo if he could see Deadeye) so she may well be past the age where she can safely give birth or even conceive. Pueblo is her only kit. He'll never have brothers or sisters. Because she waited.

Because she agreed with Miles.

And, coupled with everything else, that brooding resentment has turned into hatred over the years. And here he is.

It is, of course, possible that I'm completely wrong. Guessing where Rick is going with plot is like guessing the weather with a thermometer. It's correct once in a while but can't tell the whole story.

Quick footnote, Welsh. Gale's eyesight came up on my radar almost immediately in the arc. She recognized Miles immediately but needed her cub to pick out Uncle Deadeye even though - of all the wolves - he'd be the most distinctive at a distance.

...and Jack's disavowal of responsibility for her scar surely implicates the pack in Gale's injury (although Jack and responsible don't seem to belong together).

Since we're in "Rick's world", I'm never certain how reliable a guide the behavior of ferals in our natural world serves to explain the situations for his characters.

Regards.

NHWestoN wrote:Quick footnote, Welsh. Gale's eyesight came up on my radar almost immediately in the arc. She recognized Miles immediately but needed her cub to pick out Uncle Deadeye even though - of all the wolves - he'd be the most distinctive at a distance.

...and Jack's disavowal of responsibility for her scar surely implicates the pack in Gale's injury (although Jack and responsible don't seem to belong together).

Since we're in "Rick's world", I'm never certain how reliable a guide the behavior of ferals in our natural world serves to explain the situations for his characters.

Regards.

Yeah, all things are part of this rage which, having been set and left to burn rather than talked, is now a major fire of hate.

...and in the "flashback" strip, The Face of the Enemy, Gale is sewing up the face sound that becomes her scar while Miles is apparently trying to make amends. He asks her to face him, meaning expose her wound, and, seething, she orders papa wolf out of her den and out of her life. A request made perhaps as a gesture of apologetic empathy is taken by Gale as one more in a series of apparently esculating belittlements she's suffered from the wolves. So the puma is done. This slash "tears" it, and no repair is possible.

...and that returns us to the persistent perplexity - how'd Gale get that gash?

Welsh Halfwit wrote:

Mr. Whisper wrote:Okay. I'm seeing a lot of people here who think Gale's just crazy and going after Miles because she was told "no" to having a family, and I think they're forgetting that we're still missing context for this situation. We assume that Gale got her scar from falling off a cliff, but--whether that's the case or not--we still don't know WHY that happened. Her fear of Hawkeye could have just been for a joke, but he could also be the one who gave her the scar. We know that Jack had something to do with what happened and some of the other wolves were involved as well. Whatever it was, it centers around Miles and it looks to me like Gale's need for vengeance goes beyond just being hurt emotionally.

You mean Deadeye?

I think there's also the issue of Pueblo here. As others have pointed out, Cougars generally have more than one cub and Pueblo is clearly younger than the Cubs. Several years younger, in fact. It's quite possible that, despite her feelings about Miles, she agreed with him on the predators issue and kept up the 'no children' policy longer than Miles and Lucretia obviously did. (Possibly due to not having a mate).

Now we seem to know that whatever Mate she had is gone - permanently or not. We certainly know her eyesight is going (she asked Pueblo if he could see Deadeye) so she may well be past the age where she can safely give birth or even conceive. Pueblo is her only kit. He'll never have brothers or sisters. Because she waited.

Because she agreed with Miles.

And, coupled with everything else, that brooding resentment has turned into hatred over the years. And here he is.

It is, of course, possible that I'm completely wrong. Guessing where Rick is going with plot is like guessing the weather with a thermometer. It's correct once in a while but can't tell the whole story.

I'm sure i mentioned this in the last topic, but i'm certain you're right about this. Coupled with newfound knowledge about possible territorial control being lost to the wolves, Gale is possibly lashing out against Miles.

I wanted to apologize to Rick for my lack of understanding of what is happening and why Gale is so angry. I think I understand now. She has said her reasons repeatedly and it looks like things might go deeper than what we've seen so far. For example, we still don't know how she got her scar.

I think I stayed confused for so long because, well, I can't emotionally relate to what Gale is feeling. I never wanted to start a family or have kids, so I don't understand how angry being denied that can make someone. In addition, I don't tend to get angry over offenses that were not intentional, no matter how bad they were. As such, even though Gale has said exactly why she is so angry, I could never fully understand the character's anger because I get angry over very different things.

I'm sorry again that it took me this long to understand. I am sorry if I contributed to any annoyance because of my repeated questioning of Gale's motivations.

Since were on the topic of the scar, I want to throw this out. I feel like it’s been mentioned before but I think that scar might have been a “turn off” for a potential mate which may also be part of Gale’s underlying anger. She wanted a family but let’s face it, a giant gash like is not attractive. Who knows who she finally had to settle for to have Pueblo?

CyberDragon wrote:I wanted to apologize to Rick for my lack of understanding of what is happening and why Gale is so angry. I think I understand now. She has said her reasons repeatedly and it looks like things might go deeper than what we've seen so far. For example, we still don't know how she got her scar.

I think I stayed confused for so long because, well, I can't emotionally relate to what Gale is feeling. I never wanted to start a family or have kids, so I don't understand how angry being denied that can make someone. In addition, I don't tend to get angry over offenses that were not intentional, no matter how bad they were. As such, even though Gale has said exactly why she is so angry, I could never fully understand the character's anger because I get angry over very different things.

I'm sorry again that it took me this long to understand. I am sorry if I contributed to any annoyance because of my repeated questioning of Gale's motivations.

I want apologize too for anything I may have said that caused any unpleasant feelings for Rick. We love the comic which is why we talk about like we do. If we didn’t care we wouldn’t be here now.

NHWestoN wrote:Since we're in "Rick's world", I'm never certain how reliable a guide the behavior of ferals in our natural world serves to explain the situations for his characters.

Here’s a writing tip for everyone. Fundamental Character behavior, like world-building, are developed early in the story. The author has to teach the reader how to read the story and understand the laws of the world they create. Something that repeated time and time again at school.