Tiger Lung

Tiger Lung is a comic by Simon Roy and Jason Wordie, told in a series of shorts about an upper paleolithic shaman named Tiger Lung, with fantastical elements such as spiritual journeys. The setting started with the story "Dead Lands", published online in 2010. The story "Beneath the Ice" was serialized in Dark Horse Presents #21-23 in 2013. A collection with additional stories was later published in 2014, with another story, "The Guide" published in 2015 in Dark Horse Presents #6. "Dead Lands" and "The Guide" are uncollected.

Dead Lands
An unfinished earlier iteration of the Tiger Lung idea.

While hunting a Tarpan, Tiger Lung is attacked by several men. He fights back and kills them, but passes out. In the spirit world, he comes upon several Crow spirits around a fire. The Crows tell him he is not dead, and he awakes in the hut of a woman Willow, and her young son Grouse. Tur, the leader of the band, takes Tiger Lung to a meal with the men. The group, having no shaman, asks Tiger Lung to stay. He agrees to do so until spring. During the night, Crow emerges from the fire to tell Tiger Lung he mustn't stay among these people long. Tiger Lung sends him off. Later, Tur gives Tiger Lung locks of hair from the Tarpan warriors he killed. Tur asks for help with summoning game, but Tiger Lung lacks a drum. Tur tells him that Willow's husband, Stoat was their last shaman and she may know where his tools are. Willow leads Tiger Lung to a place where spirits congregate, and Stoats tools were left to be useful to him there. Tiger Lung takes only Stoat's drum, the other items being useful only for Stoat. Tiger Lung uses the drum to summon spirits that night, and flies away with Crow. The story was never finished.



Beneath the Ice
In the Eastern Alps circa 30 000 BC, Tiger Lung descends into an icy cave with only a small lamp of animal fat to light his way. Interspersed with his time in the cave are Tiger Lung's memories of the tales of his father, Running Lynx, concerning the "White Chief", a powerful spirit who dwells in the glacial caves and enslaves those who die in his domain, but will grant magical powers to those who can reach him alive. After Tiger Lung's lamp goes out, he remembers times he disappointed Running Lynx by breaking objects which contained demonic spirits, and he himself is assailed by the spirits of animals in the cave, then hears his name being called. Tiger Lung believes he is hearing Running Lynx's voice, and recalls how Running Lynx swore to dethrone the White Chief after his mother died of a sickness sent by him. Tiger Lung then tumbles into a cave and remembers his grandfather's funeral, where his head is raised high on a pole so that the soul that remains in the head forever can see a feast in his honor. In a large cave, Tiger Lung finds the corpse of Running Lynx, which comes alive and mistakes him for an evil spirit. As the two fight, spirits gather to watch the battle. Tiger Lung defeats Running Lynx, who finally recognizes Tiger Lung as his son. Tiger Lung beheads the corpse, and returns above ground with it, freeing his father's soul from slavery.

The Hyena's Daughter
Tiger Lung, Thigh Bone and Fa are awoken by the trumpeting of mammoths. Having been run out of the last village they stayed at, they are now living itinerantly, which Tiger Lung dislikes but Thigh Bone enjoys. They discover a large number of crows and investigate what they have gathered for, and discover a lone hyena. It flees, and they discover a number of scavenged corpses and a young girl. Thigh Bone worries she may have been intended to be the wife of Tarpan-riding raider and others will come for her, but Tiger Lung she is alive for a reason. They take her with them. When setting up camp, Tiger Lung takes her gathering sticks and speaks the Tarpan language to her. They are attacked by two large hyenas and flee to Thigh Bone. Surrounded by hyenas, they prepare for a last stand, but a muscular woman with black eyes, white hair and sharp teeth emerges from the hyenas. She tosses the skull of the Tarpan chief to them, which the girl calls "Papa", and demands the girl. Tiger Lung is reluctant and asks the woman why. The skull talks, telling Tiger Lung she is a demon. The woman tells Tiger Lung that the girl is her daughter and demands her back, transforming into a hyena when handed her skin. The girl chooses to go with her mother, and the woman spares Tiger Lung and Thigh Bone.

Song for the Dead
Tiger Lung travels to a village he has not visited in years to tend to a woman. Sick for a month, her soul pulled out of her body, after losing a child the year before. Tiger Lung agrees to help with the aid of an old woman. During a drumming ceremony, Tiger Lung's soul leaves body and enters the spirit of a crow, who carries him far away. They alight on a tree to avoid crossing paths with a war party of spirits, and the tree tells them where the woman's soul is. They find a black oily spirit dragging it, and Tiger Lung fights it, snatching the woman when it drops her and flying away. Waking up, the girl's situation has improved. However, Tiger Lung is suspicious that such a strong spirit would snatch the woman randomly. In the middle of the night, Crow awakens Tiger Lung, who sees the evil spirit snatching Shrike. Accosting him, Tiger Lung demands to know why. The spirit claims a song was sung for him, and if he cannot have the singer, he will take Shrike. Tiger Lung attacks it with bone spears, and warns him off, finally killing the spirit. Afterward, Tiger Lung questions the young woman. She had lost a child, but when she returned and found its bones a year later, she left it some hair and sang a naming song for it. The bones, hair, name and song gave form to a spirit, which thought the woman was its mother. It was merely a wandering spirit, and not the soul of the baby, since they do not acquire souls until they are several years old. Tiger Lung tells her to scatter the bones and burn the hair.

The Guide
In his youth, Tiger Lung is bashed by a caribou, and one of his souls is knocked free of his body into the Great Lake of the dead. Spirits at the lake bottom try to trap him there, but a passing giant fish spirit (a pike) crushes them. Tiger Lung crawls into the roots of a tree, where he meets Crow, who knew Tiger Lung's father. Tiger Lung tells crow how he came to Crow's hearth. Crow takes him upward, and shows his father's spirit inside the Pike who saved him. Crow tells him they will meet soon enough, and Tiger Lung is swallowed by the Pike, and awakens next to his father.

Characters
Paleolithic nomadic seasonal hunter-gatherers. They believe humans have three souls, residing in the lungs, liver and skull. Wisewomen and wandering Shamans combine the role of priest and doctor in their society.
 * Tiger Lung, a middle aged shaman of the Ibex clan. He learned the ways of spirits and magic from his father. He knows the language of the Tarpan-riding raiders.
 * Running Lynx, a shaman of the Ibex clan. He taught Tiger Lung, but was continually disappointed in him. After his wife's death, he swore revenge against the White Chief, but perished in his caves.
 * Thigh Bone, brother of Tiger Lung.
 * Fa, a "Leshyy woman" who accompanies Thigh Bone and Tiger Lung. She speaks a different language than them.
 * Ten Livers, chief of a group of Tarpan raiders. He raped the hyena woman and raised her daughter, but was killed by the hyena woman when he tried to marry his daughter off to another tribe.
 * Little Fang, daughter of Ten Livers and the Hyena woman. She goes to live among the hyenas.
 * Shrike, an old woman who taught Tiger Lung.
 * Stoat, a deceased shaman.
 * Willow, Stoat's wife.
 * Grouse, Willow and Stoat's son.
 * Tur, the leader of Willow's tribe.
 * Gulon, a man of Willow's tribe.

Spirits
Taking a variety of forms, and with a variety of demeanors, spirits interact with humans in many ways. Only shamans have the knowledge required to safely interact with them, and travel in their realms. They can be harmed by weapons of bone.
 * White Chief, Lord of the Winter-killed Dead. A powerful spirit and the outcast brother of the Moon, he enslaves humans and animals who die in the glacial cave he rules, then sends them out to spread sickness and cold. If the living can reach him in his cave, he will teach them ancient magic.
 * The Hyena Woman, who can take human form when she takes off her hyena skin. Mother of the human Little Fang.
 * Crow, a flying spirit who aids Tiger Lung.
 * The Wandering Spirit, an evil spirit given form by the misguided song of a young woman.

External

 * |Dead Lands Flickr album