Polite Dissent

Strangers in Paradie #36 Requiem
Terry Moore, writer and artist

Anna has some questions about Strangers in Paradise #36 involving the fight to the death between Tambi and Bambi. The first involves Bambi’s kick to Tambi’s head, and the second concerns the end of the fight when Bambi is shot and subsequently dies.

In the beginning of the fight, Bambi lands an impressive looking kick to Tambi. Tambi is facing forward, toward the reader, but has her head turned towards her right when Bambi delivers a kick to the back of her head. Tambi rolls with the kick and gets right back up.

If Bambi’s kick had been more to the left side of Tambi’s head, she would have had a better chance of breaking Tambi’s neck. As it was, the kick she lands looks more impressive than it actually is. Plus, Tambi points out there is no strength behind it (and I quote: “You kick like a girl!”). As for what went “Krak”? It’s unlikely that it was Tambi’s skull or spine since she’s not showing any signs of injury, so it might have been Bambi’s leg (she’s on the ground for pretty much rest of the fight), or some really tough shoe leather. More likely it’s just a bad sound effect.

Later, Bambi is shot in the upper back and is seen clutching her left side with blood pooling behind her and more blood oozing out of her mouth.

Bullet injury depends a great deal on the velocity of the projectile. A high velocity projectile will go straight in and out. A lower velocity projectile can bounce around inside a person doing serious internal damage. Sometimes these bullets come out, but usually they remain inside. I suspect Bambi was shot with a low velocity bullet that did some significant left-sided lung damage. She’s clutching her left because of the pain and difficulty breathing on that side. The blood coming from her mouth is from this injury to her lungs. Most of her bleeding is coming from her back. She has some blood on her front, but most of this is due to her moving around after she was shot. Based on where she was shot, her aorta was probably injured and that’s why she’s lost so much blood and dies so quickly.