Welcome to Reader Questions! Are you looking for the regular comic? You can use the “chapters” button on the menu to navigate to any comic arc! The navigation buttons will only sort through previous Reader Questions while Reader Questions are updating. I do this so if you want to binge Skin Deep you won’t be interrupted every once in awhile by a bunch of Reader Questions!
The Southeast Asia is FULL of really cool mythical creatures, and I really need to look into more of them, because “turning into a boar monster to steal someone’s money” is pretty radical. I gotta draw more!
This week/weekend I will be at San Diego Comicon! I’ll be at the Topatocon booth, 1229, with Kel McDonald, Alina Pete, and Sam Logan! There’s gonna be a lot of great stuff there, come say hello!
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How exactly do heraldic species work?
Do they just show up once a significant number of people recognize a (new) heraldic animal?
Does it have to be a real heraldic animal or can there be heraldic species born from fictional heraldry?(Could there one day be Kislevite Bears, Khemrian Hawks, Serpents of Lybaras, Lannister Lions, Baratheon Stags, Stark Direwolves, or Targaryen Dragons (unrelated to actual Dragons)? *)
Will they die out (by no longer reproducing) when the country or organization they belong to is gone or forgotten, similar to animal spirits disappearing when their corresponding animal dies out?
How strongly, if at all, do stereotypes about the country or family they are tied to influence them? What about slogans or mottos?
Did I just break the concept of heraldic species by poking too many holes?
* Warhammer Fantasy and Game of Thrones, in case anyone is wondering where either of these would come from, though I would expect that people at least remember GoT, some of it even fondly (even if it should actually be A Song of Ice and Fire)
Also, the 2022 and 2023 Reader Questions are not linked in the Reader Questions hub.
If you allow stuff from contemporary fiction like GoT or WH, then what’s the limit? There could be mythical creatures from contemporary fiction too. Soon it’d be Alien vs Predator vs. Freddy vs. Jason… You’d have daedra from Elder Scrolls and space monsters from Star Wars…
Personally I believe Heraldic Critters and Totem Animals have the same origin like I envision Gods have: People went: Hey, that animal looks awesome, let’s hypothize what it could do. Human belief created those critters/gods, so why stop by what we have?
Are Ogres a real thing in Skin Deep? Is there a real version of Shrek in this world? (I’m mostly joking here.)
The comic is set in a magical time where All Stars isn’t completely played out.
They wouldn’t look like Shrek with his distinctive antenna-like ears, that’s for sure! The oldest descriptions of ogres are basically “man-eating giant”, and they tended to be depicted as very hairy, with a huge beard. So overall looking like a human, but scaled up, and with an unkempt, frightful mien.
What’s genealogy or historic research like in Skin Deep? (if you wanted to know details about your non-human origins and communities) Is much omitted from written record due to hiding? Are there many families that keep records in avalons, or maybe most can’t do that?
A Babi Nyepet does make for a great babi guling, though…