Ferdinand Appreciation 2019

[kjn]

Dedicated to Wonder Woman's marvellous and loyal chef, the world's only known Kithotaur: Ferdinand.

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Images from "Barbecue Season" in Dog Days of Summer by G Willow Wilson and Stjepan Sejic.

[kjn]

And the answer to Ferdinand's hamberger conundrum should have been apparent to everyone:

spoilers:

Halloumi

end of spoilers

[Fuzzy Mittens]

I want to say that seeing Wilson go full silly on a story was a huge delight to read. And having the ten page story drawn by Sejic of all people is a huge boon for it with glorious beef cake and the most sinister of mustaches on that familiar looking scientist.

In general though, Ferdinand is quite awesome. Ferdinand is as far as I know the only professional chef in DC comics and we need more stories of Ferdinand on cooking quests! Defeating supervillains in an effort to aquire the highest quality of oregeno and battling monsters to obtain the tofu of the gods!

[Koriand'r]

Ferdinand went thru a subtle change in design since his first appearance. Do you like how he was originally, a normal well built man with the head of a bull or Liam Sharp's bigger, more bestial version with cloven hooves instead of feet?

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[kjn]

I think Liam Sharp's take on Ferdinan is heavily influenced of his penchant for drawing monsters and beasts in a bestial fashion. However, I do like that he moved Ferdinand in a more bovine direction. Earlier versions were more just a man with the head of a bull, not an attempt to make a bull shaped like a man.

To be frank, I wasn't that fond of Rucka's Ferdinand, and it wasn't really the design. He was just… there. He really played no role in the stories that felt unique to him, or had any real personality except being devoted to Diana. Wilson gave him a real voice in #63, and the way she and Šejić managed him in "Barbecue Season" was simply fantastic. Balancing the silliness of the tale while giving Ferdinand gravitas was an exceedingly tricky act, but they managed.