The story itself

[AllieFiona]

Sort of.  Large neo-cortex bearing animals tend to mature later.  Elephants, dolphins, and chimanzees all mature around 10 to 13 years old.  Humans generally mature around the same age, perhaps slightly later.  Current research has reavealed the neocortex goes through a lot of development over that amount of time.

You will also note that the morphs are a lot closer to each other in size than their corresponding animals are.  Though the reasoning is not rigorous, I'm following the supposition that the original geneticists working on the Morph project found that there was an optimum size for the transformed creatures to maximize the development of the neocortex and upright posture.  Big morphs were reduced in size, and small ones increased.

[cairn destop]

A nice way to end this story.  We don't need to know how the forest king ruled regarding the crew, it isn't important.  The same with Sandy joining Tyco or his mother joining the sanctuary.  Even leaving the fate of our two foxes is not needed since the story has been about their journey, and that is over.

As for the final panel regarding the white fox, that can be perceived as a prelude to a future adventure.  Though he wonders about Rif, my thinking is the white fox has his eye on Rhene.  That too could become fodder for a future story.

The announcement regarding this story's ending is not unexpected.  I'm glad the authors/artists are considering another adventure.  Looking forward to it.

And if the old hedgehog hasn't said it already, a job well done by one and all.

[AllieFiona]

Thank you for your kind words.  We enjoyed putting this together.  I'm going to take some time off and turn my attention to other projects for a while.  (It's been quite a long haul)  Joe is continuing with the planning of the next adventure, and may work with me in the future, or do the next installment with another artist.  Stay tuned.