I’ll be at Phoenix Comicon today! Come see me and Joel Watson at Booth #243 #1749! That’ll be an Artists Alley corner booth in the far back corner next to the “LEGO Display” and “Star Wars Neighborhood.” Check out John Troutman’s map.
Discussion (177) ¬
[ Comments RSS ]
Loading ...
Amber, are you hiding something?
Amber’s not fooling anyone….or should I say…..SPIDER-CAR!!!
Amber’s not fooling Spider-Car? Does Spider-Car even exist in this continuity?
If Robo-Vac can exist in this continuity, then Spider-Car had better!
If Spider-car doesn’t exist in this continuity then of course she isn’t fooling him. You can’t fool that which has no cognizance to fool.
No. Amber is Robo-Vac. Because we all know the truth.
Is Spider-Car part of the Dexter and Monkey comic or does he/she have her/his own series?
The correct way to say that is “does Vrrrm have vrrrm’s own series?”
I like and favorite this despite lack of support for such things on this site.
+1
Yikes, does Amber buy ALL the comics, LITERALLY? D= [Do they even MAKE that many a week?]
I don’t know about comics but when I get a call from Pulp Fiction about my orders, there can be quite a few manga for me to pick up.
Plasma, excuse me for asking, but where do you hail from? I just ask because there’s a Pulp Fiction Comics right near me… probably just a coincidence…
Plas is an aussie. Da’s all I know.
and here I thought I couldn’t be more of a Plas fangirl lol.
(And no, I’m Swedish myself)
I haz fangirl? OH MY! 🙂
You’re the commenting super star! 🙂
The Pulp Fiction store I go to is located in King William Street in Adelaide.
Snap 😀
To go to a Pulp Fiction store, Do you have to speak “ENGLISH, MUTH FUCKA!!”?
That was Samuel L. Jackson’s line, wasn’t it?
english motherfucker, you speak it? what?! say what one more time i dare you i DOUBLE dare you.
on a side not, one of the most disturbing moments of my life was when my 12 year old female cousin recited 2/3rds of that scene to me against my will, language and all, and my uncle commented “damn, she memorized THAT quickly.”
Manga is comics.
True, but I have only seen manga in book form not comic form.
Manga is people!
manga is green?
Marvel had 15 superhero issues out this week. I think DC’s still doing 13 a week so it adds up to 52 a month? There are quite a few non-big-two superhero titles out these days too. So there could be well over 30 on any given week.
Are you telling me she gets a New 52 every month?
Well she’s getting Aquaman at least! And if she can stand that, I don’t see her snubbing much else in the line.
Actually, I’ve heard that the Aquaman stuff has been good lately.
By “they”, do you mean the comics industry in general? Because yeah, I’d say all of the comic companies out there would put out that many comics a week.
I think I can speak to this – that’s me handing Amber her comics in the strip up there! (Hi, I’m Matt, manager of Vintage Phoenix Comics in Bloomington) Each week we have between 100 and 150 new titles on the racks, and while we have a diverse selection, we don’t order nearly everything that the comic book industry produces each week. We really do have customers who purchase stacks resembling this.
On an unrelated note, I think I need some new clothes – I recognized the shirt I’m wearing in the strip immediately, and I’m wearing it today.
Well there you have it. That is a pretty definitive answer, I would say.
That is one hilarious coincidence.
Good god, how much does a stack like that cost?
Oh, okay, so Amber’s singlehandedly keeping the comics industry in business. *thumbs up*
[no Youngblood or Zen: Intergalactic Ninja, tho]
Matt needs to be tagged! At the very least call him Comic Book Guy (or is that name already taken!?!)
Well, she doesn’t buy Action Comics.
Misplaced? She is clearly placing it on that man’s chest.
Glad to see Robo-Vac is back.
I hear he was different after the “New 12” re-imaging though
I mean the explaination of him merging with a vacuum cleaner became so weird after they modernized it with a roomba.
Robo-oomba never had the same ring to it, did it?
Yeah, but at least the Christopher Nolan movies seemed to go too.
“The Vac-Knight” Was a box office smash!
“The Vac-Knight Sucks” was a bit of a let-down though. Probably should’ve gone with a better title.
At least the villains were good. I loved how such an utter mess the villain, The Hair was.
yes, but the Dust bunny is still unbeatable!
Nicholas Cage’s best role ever in my opinion!
“YOU WANNA KNOW HOW I GOT THESE EARS?”
I still get goosebumps.
Yeah I guess… but having giant mutated superfleas as minions just a little TOO over the top.
I’m still waiting for the sequel though.
My favorite is the end of the story about the shag carpet:
“So how’d you finally get it clean?”
“We tore it out and put in hardwood floors.”
At least it was better than the final movie of the
original movie series: Robo-Vac and Dustpan. That
movie nearly killed the Robo-Vac franchise.
Oh my god, I KNOW. Who thought it would be a good idea to give Robo-Vac a ‘funny, cute’ sidekick?! Nozzle did fine on that front!
“I’m not cleaning THAT up!” Urgh, I still hear it in my nightmares…
Yeah his costume is a stupid turtleneck now
This needs a Robo-Vac tag, no?
Brilliant save there. XD
It is obvios now that Amber’s not Amazi-Girl, I mean, who has ever heard of a hard-core comicbook reader actually taking up the mantle of superhero for real, I mean REALLY? 😛
That’d be like me becoming a rubber pirate, looking for 7 dragonballs so I could defeat my girlfriend’s 7 evil- exes.
That was YOU?
If you had rubber powers, you shouldn’t even need any dragonballs to defeat some mere ex-boyfriends.
Naw, instead of rubber powers you should learn three sword style fighting. Then you can use the “Power of love” the “power of self-respect and the “Z sword” at teh same time!
Nah, I’d prefer to grow body parts. Grow some arms or legs to trip the ex up. Grow some arms to pin the ex down spread eagle. Grow a pair of legs (or four) for alternating groin stomps.
I haven’t decided if I’d stand off to the side, hands on hips with my head thrown back laughing manically, or perhaps conducting this symphony of pain with a little baton.
And yes, I have given this some thought–I used to be part of a One Piece online roleplay. You get one guess who I played.
I don’t know about you guys but I really want the power to transform into a human. Man, that would change everything.
It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
After my old friend the comedian was killed I decided to spread anarchy by blowing up the parliament and all people who had experimented on me when I was interned in a prisoner camp. But then my robot side kick turned out to be posessed by a weirdly named Alien who wanted to eat all of reality and in the process created 52 parallel universes. I only maneged to defeat him by swallowing a deaging poison and now I must pretend to be some random ten year old while living next door to my not-girlfriend.
Attach ‘Directed by Ron Howard’ and you got yourself a Hollywood smash
She’s just embarrassed to admit she reads Aquaman.
Hey Aquaman is awesome. I’m personally more impressed she can afford so many titles. I do wonder if there are currently any superhero comics on the market now that begin with Y or Z?
And what about those poor numbered superheroes?
Young Avengers?
Also if her list starts at Aquaman, this means she’s not reading Animal Man.
Presuming she gets her pull regularly, Animal Man and Aquman don’t come out in the same weeks. The latter came out this week, the former last week.
Of course, reading Aquaman but not Animal Man is perfectly understandable, as Aquaman continues to be a good book, but Animal Man went to hell with the Rotworld crossover (which didn’t do Swamp Thing any favours, either).
Young Avengers.
Zatanna had her own series a couple years ago. Currently? Uh…I think Zaucer of Zilk has some superhero elements in it maybe?
I think they stopped printing Zorro a few months ago, which is a pity, since Batman probably subscribes to it.
Aquaman can control Cthulhu, now that’s hardcore.
Aquaman is not squashed by the pressure at the bottom of the ocean. He still can throw a punch at that depth! He is at least as strong as super man.
Just not as versatile. Superman’s just too OP.
Like Goku, but less screaming.
Yeah, funny how Aquaman rules 70 percent of the planet, while living in the crushing depths of the ocean gives him inhuman strength and the ability to leap several stories on dry land. Plus his skin is so dense it’s nearly bullet-proof, he has untapped telepathic potential that impresses even the Martian Manhunter, AND he managed to land a gorgeous, interdimensional mermaid assassin for a wife … and people think he’s lame because he “talks to fish.” I personally think the current Aquaman book is among the best DC is producing.
I’m glad to know Amber is not one of those indy snobs who looks down on superheroes like most female comic readers are portrayed in other comics
I dislike snobs. They’re always trying to one up you by being obnoxious and elitist.
Less than a month and she’s already recognisable as soon as she walks in the door? She must love that place.
If she is not on screen, just assume she’s in there.
Uh… are Amber/Ethan/Mike from nearby the school?
If she buys a huge stack on a weekly basis they’d recognise her pretty quickly.
Presently whenever I go to comment on a comic I see the animated Sal Gif… it makes me think this is her reaction to reading the current strip
And I thought I was buying too many comics every week.
Y’know, it’s okay to say you read superhero comics, Amber, I don’t think he’d get THAT suspicious of you being Amazi-Girl. Hell, my headcanon is basically Danny getting all the hints and STILL not realizing the connection.
Of if you’re gonna lie, I’ve got a list of independant stuff you can rattle off: Love and Rocket, Saga, Maus, Walking Dead, the Sonic and Mega Man comics, Usagi Yojimbo, the TMNT comic series that is still ongoing despite Nickelodeon’s buying the franchise…
I have a friend who talks a lot about indy comics, so I could go on. 😛
I’m sure she is buying those too
i didn’t see the part about x-men at first so i thought she was trying to hide that she’s a dc fan while he’s a marvel fan. the joke works both the original way and that way
“Oh hi Frank! Say, we got that Model D-83 Swedish Sure-grip Suck Machine you ordered!”
Hahahaha oh Amber, you just gave that man a mild concussion…..
You know, now that I think about it, Amazi girl seems like just the type of girl who would read a bunch of super hero comics…
You think she shops there too?
Though now that I’m ACTUALLY thinking about, why would Amber come here with Danny, when she knew there was good chance that might happen?
Ah, the old Intage Comic store.
That would be a great name for a store.
“It’s pronounced “in-ta-jay”
Poor comics guy, suffering from such a spontaneous random act of violence.
I’m sure he’s used to it, but normally when comics are delayed!
Worst customer ever!
She’s just annoyed because him putting Aquaman first implies that he forgot her Amazi-Girl titles.
I read that as: He forgot her amazigirl titties.
Damn brain get your head out of the gutter!
Don’t be silly. No one forgets the Amazi-Rack!
Except for Ethan who fails to notice its there.
Well he only uses them to cover his head.
It makes for an excellent hat!
http://sadpanda.us/images/1614797-8MICCC7.png
YES!
Why would she hide that she reads comic books?
I think by know she should have realized that Danny wouldn’t get that she’s Amazi-Girl if it hit him in the face.
She’s worried that even Danny might be able to catch such a big clue like that.
This Danny we’re talking about. He was excited when his ex-girlfriend said “We need to talk”.
Hey Amber, why is there a Amazigirl costume in your room?
*Gasp*
COULD YOUR ROOMMATE BE AMAZIGIRL??
Gilligan cut to Dina being perplexed when Danny talks about playing mario cart.
“Are… are you an Amazi-Girl cosplayer?”
(I was going to take this somewhere else, but I decided I don’t really feel that Shortpackedy tonight.)
Danny:”Are…are you Amazigirl?”
Amber:”N-no! I I I… want to be her sidekick!”
Danny:”NEVER! I WILL BE HER SIDEKICK!”
So who is the supervillain(ess) to our super-heroine, Amazi-girl?
Yea. It doesn’t really seem like a natural reaction. I don’t feel that anyone would suspect someone of vigilantism just because they read a lot of superhero comics.
So she doesn’t read Aardvark Man or Zebra Girl? 🙁
Or Matter-Eater Lad!? The most specific superhero name I can think of!?
WHAT ABOUT SQUIRREL GIRL???
Zebra Girl’s update schedule is too slow to have a book every week.
Alas!
Holy crap, that’s a stack of comics! And that’s this week’s? Wow!
There’s Dexter on the front wall.
Yes, and why isn’t he tagged?
Stop worrying Amber. Danny is not just oblivious, he’s totally out of it.
Danny wouldn’t get the point if you stabbed him with it.
Dammit, Amber, it’s okay for you to admit to Danny that you like comic books! He’s not the type of person to look down on you for it, in fact, it may make him like you better…
Okay, maybe I can see why she wouldn’t want him knowing.
…so, Amber, your plan was to go to the comics store with Danny but not let him see which comics you were buying or even talk about the comics you were interested in? I don’t think you have really thought this outing through.
Ah the Vintage Phoenix, where I spent many a dollar on Star Wars comics and met David Prowse instead of going to class.
Amber, this is like responding to someone saying, “Hey there,” with “WHAT BODY?!?”
Billie’s body of course. Yesterday. DAMN.
DAMN, indeed.
“Yo, man. What’s up?”
I didn’t kill him!!!
“What’s up?”
“I didn’t do it! I don’t even have an axe!”
I know it’s probably for the joke but CHAIRMAN WOW! At at least $3 per comic (and probably more in some cases), that is a healthy pile of cash represented by that weekly pull.
She gets the bulk discount.
And look at his smile!
~$120 by my estimate of the size of that stack, which, considering she’s also a WoW addict, and has a cell phone means Amber is laying out a good amount of money on a regular basis. With school, WoW, and her…other hobby, I don’t see her having time to work, so…it’d be interesting to see where Amber’s moneys are coming from.
Sounds like Batman to me
Amber, Amber, Amber. You were doing pretty well with the mussed hair and the blue voice, and most importantly, you didn’t seem too WORRIED that Danny might catch on. He’ll figure it out when he figures it out! Relax and enjoy him in the meantime, and he’ll be attached to you in both your identities, hopefully enough to overlook that whole “lying to him over the entire course of your relationship after he already got serious trust issues from his ex” thing.
Then shortly afterwards, he gets stuffed into a fridge.
+1
You’re forgetting the part where Danny is chronically pathetic. I honestly doubt it will even occur to him that he should be totally pissed that she’s been lying to him all this time.
But what WAY is he pathetic? Will he go the “obsessively forgiving doormat” route, which is convenient but eventually creepy, or will he be the sort who now throws the best thing in his life away because of his cauldron of not-that-difficult-to-resolve issues? It’s not really a simmering cauldron. More room temperature.
Oh God! There’s going to be so many bent pages!
Particularly since she seems to have shoved him through the comic stack!
What do Amber think of Sailor Moon?
falcon SHOVE!
ouch
How can she have a weekly pull of comics if they’ve only been there for a couple of weeks…surely that’s not enough time for her to be a regular customer enough for that (and for the shop guy to know her) already
I worked at a comic book store for about three years, and weekly/monthly pulls were something that we set up for anyone who wanted one, not just regulars. We also took a deposit, enough to cover approximately a month if the person just dropped off the planet. People who set up pull-boxes became regulars, but they didn’t have to start that way.
Aquaman.
X-men.
And everything in between.
That’s one hell of a sandwich!
Ruh-roh Raggy
… Giggity.
“I’m shocked! Shocked to find gambling in this establishment!”
Oh, Amber …
“Your winnings, sir.”
I don’t understand why Amber’s so worried. I mean, we already know that Amazi-Girl is Mike….
Very Drunk Mike.
….Why does the comic shop owner look so smug about bringing Amber her pulls?
I was confused about why Amber would be so… defensively secretive about her love of superheroes… But previous commenters deciphered that one for me.
I think he’s just smiling. It doesn’t help that he’s looking downwards (because he’s tall), or that his eyes are beady.
Beady eyes?! Thanks a lot, begbert! Seriously though, I take customer service very seriously, I’d never act smugly toward such a good customer (with such a large subscription list!).
-Matt (manager of Vintage Phoenix Comics in Bloomington)
X-men?
HOW DARE YOU. *SHOVE*
The only reasonable explanation.
Please. She probably just pretends to read those comics to get boys to like her so she can spike them into the friendzone. I bet she can’t even name every Batman pencil artist since 1980 in alphabetical order. Plus, those glasses are probably fake too.
I’m going to get banned for that, aren’t I?
I think I may have startled the neighbors with that sudden laughter.
I’m more confused as to how she can afford that many comics in today’s economy. As a poor college student, I was only able to get a few titles a week and the occasional graphic novel.
Perhaps she inherited her parents’ billions after they were gunned down in front of her.
Also, I look forward to the inevitable Robo-Vac/Dexter crossover.
Also, it’s probably worth noting that Danny takes Amber’s “no superheroes” official policy in a lot of stride. If you’ve read Shortpacked, you know that superhero fans can sometimes get… defensive about their literary preferences.
Huh. What if Danny actually DOES know? He knows the tropes, after all, and he thinks of himself as “Lois Lane,” which would make Amber “Clark.” I know he comes off as pretty thick, but I think most of that is emotional immaturity and willful denial, not an actual lack of intelligence. He might have witnessed this little exchange and just thought, “Aw, look, my cute little Clarkette’s freaking about her secret ID again.” Playing dumb would be part of the game.
Nothing has actually happened to disprove this theory – it would actually be a FAR more flattering explanation for his obliviousness than anything else that comes to mind. I would be quite pleased if this came to pass.
On the other hand, this comic isn’t called “Smarting of Age”.
That’s what I’ve been saying!
Jesus fucking Christ, how much money is that?! How the hell can she afford that many comics? Ooh, does DoA!Amber have millionaire parentals? Is she secretly earning money through product endorsements as Amazi-Girl? Did she sell her story to some comic writer for a 6-figure advance and is soon going to be collecting Amazi-Girl titles too??
I am so jealous of that comics pile, though. I wanna afffffooooord those toooooo.
In a shocking plot twist, Amazi-Girl turns out to be a common mugger, stealing the wallets of those she doles out ‘justice’ to.
Or maybe it’s the inheritance from her dead rich parents whose horrifying death inspired her to become a superhero in the first place. Either or!
(Man, though, I know the feeling. Heck, I want to be able to have any comics at all. There aren’t any comic book stores in our area, and the closest thing is a sci-fi store that sells graphic novels/compilations, which are fine but so expensive…)
Why do I love the fact that Amber doesn’t even look at him as she shoves comic clerk dude to the ground?
Right. Display your upper body strength. Good move, Amber.
Ah, it just wouldn’t be a college freshman relationship if it didn’t involve inexplicable, pointless lies.
Oooooh, I get it now, it’s because she’s exhibiting misplaced aggression herself!
If we’re doing comics in alphabetical order wouldn’t Alpha come before Aquaman? Or does Amber not read it?
Could Amber go to jail for the crime of death-by-paper? Homicidal papercuts are no joke people.