Wayne’s musical vision, courtesy of what could perhaps be a redefined type of “command performance” by trombonist Myra Fine, settles in on a scene from his early youth. Here among the trees laced with Spanish moss (err… Silnai moss, that is), growing in spiraling pathways, are the dodecahedron-shaped fruits known as henchberries. A most controversial plant, the henchberry. But one that is deeply entwined with the cultural roots of the Silnai. Here amid the sun-dappled pathways, we see the cultivators of the henchberry orchards making their rounds, playing the rhythms that help the berries ripen. It gives me a deep joy to draw people beatboxing on behalf of berries.
Wayne refers to “Thirsty Coin” Grady as his mentor and his jourai sonsaiun. This is a Kuranai term (Kuranai being the name of the alligator-like people of whom Wayne and Thirsty Coin are both) that is explained in more depth about twenty pages from now, but in a rather broad stroke it refers to a particular type of mentor. Informally, jourai are addressed as aunt or uncle, although they aren’t blood relatives.
This is also a notable page because it’s the last page of Zoonbats that has been published in any form – it was the final page of the ninth issue of the series of blue minis. And that ninth issue had a pretty limited print run compared to all the previous ones. So, that’s pretty exciting… beginning with next week’s page, everyone will be seeing pages that have never been seen before.
