From Shadow to Shadow

From Shadow to Shadow is a comic inspired by The Lion King.

Plot
At the start of the comic, Mufasa is seen napping under the shade with his son, Simba. But suddenly, Mufasa leaps to his paws and tells Simba to run. Confused, Simba asks what's wrong, but Mufasa just directs him to a gap in the rocks and tells him to hide. Simba, frightened, again asks what's wrong and looks up to see a giant eagle swooping toward him. Mufasa roars and leaps at the eagle. As Mufasa fights the eagle, Simba watches with pride, impressed at how strong his father is.

After the eagle is gone, Simba asks his father why they had run when Mufasa could have just as easily driven it off. Mufasa explains that Simba would've been "eagle food" otherwise. The eagle wanted Simba right in front of Mufasa. He then tells Simba that the more important question was how had Mufasa known the eagle was coming after them. Simba asks if he'd smelled it, but Mufasa denies this, reminding Simba that they were too high up for them to be able to smell anything. He tells Simba to be watchful, but Simba asks how Mufasa had seen the eagle. Mufasa explains that he had seen its shadow moving along the ground. Simba thinks this a clever idea and tells his father that he would look out for shadows from now on. Mufasa is pleased, sure that Simba can play alone now, and goes to check on Sarabi.

Later, Nala comes up to Simba and asks him how he's doing. Simba, trying to act big and important, tells her he is doing "lion business." Nala is doubtful, but Simba invites her to come with him and learn a skill that could save her life. He leads her to a patch of rocks and begins sniffing along the ground. Nala asks him how he could teach her anything if he was just looking at the ground, but he tells her to stop distracting him. He suddenly exclaims that his dad was right and that it was important, but Nala, having no idea what he's talking about, is confused. He explains that you can spot dangerous animals by their shadows and points to a nearby shadow of an antelope. Simba explains that if the antelope was angry, it would impale them on its horns and tells Nala to run into the rock patch.

While they're walking through the rocks, a snake spots them from behind. As it starts to follow them, Simba thinks to himself about how convenient it would be to have eyes on the back of your head in the wilderness. As they come to the edge of the rock patch, Simba leads Nala to a safe area at the bottom of a slope. The snake, still trying to follow them, slides down the slope and hits its head on the bottom, letting out a sharp hiss as it lands. Simba, thinking it was Nala who hissed, asks why she'd thank him for saving her life by hissing. Nala tells him that she hadn't thanked him or heard weird noise, and tells him to go wash his ears. Simba walks away, telling Nala that she's just jealous, but Nala laughs and says, "I think not!".

Simba and Nala walk to the river, but Simba suddenly tells her to stop. Nala asks what's wrong and Simba points to a floating log. He explains that it was really a crocodile, pretending to be a log. It would lie motionless and then SNAP! He tells Nala to back up slowly so the crocodile wouldn't see them. But as they're backing up, a real crocodile sneaks up behind them and opens it jaws. Nala asks if they were far enough from the river, but Simba tells her to go a little further, for as his father always said, "Better safe than sorry!" And so Simba and Nala, completely unaware, walk right towards the gaping jaws of the crocodile. Suddenly, Simba spots another shadow and points it out to Nala.

Simba tells her that they had to take the risk with the crocodile and the two bound across the river and over the floating log, the crocodile snarling in defeat behind them. On the other side, Simba comments that they were lucky and Nala points out that it had just been a tree trunk. Simba proclaims that the river was too dangerous and that he was going home. He would never have seen that elephant shadow if he hadn't been there. But as they leave, the viewer sees that the elephant shadow was really just a stump in the shape of an elephant. Oblivious, Simba tells Nala that she had learned an important trick today and Nala says that it's good to know things like that.

That night, Simba tells Mufasa that he had gotten good at spotting shadows and that the trick had come in handy. Mufasa praises him and tells him that he was glad he had listened. Suddenly, Simba spots two strange-looking shadows and frantically warns his parents that two snakes were drawing near! However, Sarabi gently points out that it was just Nala and her mother Sarafina coming to say good night. Nala laughs and tells Simba that he should be more watchful next time.

Trivia

 * Obviously, a mistake by the artist, Mufasa's mane is colored brown instead of red as depicted in the films.