8 pages left!
I know it's not fair to make you wait to post what amounts to a single panel, but p35 is not far behind, I'm almost done with it. Originally this was supposed to be the last panel on p33, but I started feeling like I couldn't do the scene justice without giving it a full page, so what was previously a 2-page scene became a 3-page scene... messing up my calculations, but I figured it out so no harm done. Also don't think that splash pages like this one require less work since they're a single panel... You have to make up for it by making it spectacular, otherwise it's a waste of space.
Before I share some close-ups, let me mention again that the first mailing-list-exclusive activity has begun, and there are gifts involved. I will announce it again with the next page I post, so if you want in on it make sure to click the "subscribe via email" button on the right.
Now here's a closer look at some details. The Star of Ashtart:
I did not make up this object, it is a historically recorded artifact, though we don't know what it looked like exactly: a "sky-stone" that was kept in the temple of Astarte in Tyre (Sur), and that was said to have been brought there by the goddess herself. Without the shadow of a doubt, it was a meteorite stone: those were worshiped everywhere, and in the Middle East specifically they were consistently used to signify the divine, and in that context are referred to as baetyl ("house of god".) As an example, the stone on which Jacob laid his head when he had the famous dream of the ladder and angels, is thought to have been a baetyl. In any case, let me not digress too much here, this may be the subject of a future Themes article.
Here's a better look at Yodashtart at work:
Next page will finally reveal Barkshamash's fate!
