Yeah. I bet all the baby books say its okay for dads to beat their daughters until their little girls turn bitter and resentful enough to beat the living pulp out of their abusers in a AAA parking lot just a few weeks into college.
Everyday abusive Assholes throw themselves off bridges with knives in their backs. For just 50 cents a day you can help more of these abusive pricks with their wishes of stabbing themselves in the back and throwing themselves off bridges.
Enjoying His miracles is so thrilling –
Performing sacrificial rites –
Praying and giving are so fulfilling –
Be careful that you aren’t the one he smites –
Nah, she’s like Batman. She can beat the tar out of you but if she kills you she’ll consider herself as bad as if not worse than the dickwad abusive partner
From “Superman Grounded””
Batman — “How are we supposed to play good cop-bad cop if we’re both bad cop?”
Superman — “We’ll just play bad cop–psycho cop. Guess which one you are.”
Nah, just make him an Eversor assassin – the cocktail of combat drugs that lot take would turn a field mouse into something capable of tearing Tyranid hive fleets apart XD
Also, Amazi-girl’s mastery of disguise clearly makes her a Callidus assassin.
Huh, I initially read that as AmaziGirl talking to young-Amber. Didn’t realize until your comment that it was probably Blaine being a dick, instead of self-loathing.
Dude, DOA fighting game!
-Ruth: wielding a femur Special Move: “Canadian Spirit” makes her stronger or something
-AmaziGirl/Amber: like Shiek and Zelda
-Joyce: with a broken glass handy
-Sal: street fighting (and knife?) Special Move: motorcycle wheelie
-Mike: punching.
-Billie: projectile booze Special Move: “hangover” makes her slower an less accurate, but does more damage
-Sarah: Tank
-Dina: can call upon the strength and/or powers of Dinosaurs thanks to her extensive knowledge on the subject
-Walky: random fighting style, difficult to predict Special Move: “Pajama Jeans” +50 comfort (increases accuracy and regains health) -60 charisma (disables ability to do a combo attack with Dorothy)
-Dorothy: high endurance and accuracy Special Move: “Study Up!” Increases abilities in the area of opponent’s weakness
-Lord Galasso: all moves relate to some power of pizzas (and subs) ex: pizza SLICE, Mozzerella Mayhem, etc.
-David Willis: mans transformer/mecha exosuit. Very OP. Special Move: “Damn You Willis!” the game (will have) changed
Not bad, but I’m pretty sure that high kicks would play a much bigger role in Billie’s fighting repertoire. As we’ve seen, that’s how she takes out the trash.
Much of an asshole as Gendo was, he just wanted to be with his dead wife in the end. He had a reason, even if he was a total prick in pursuit of that. Blaine, on the other hand, doesn’t have a reason, he’s just an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.
I know this much though, Gendo could kick Blaine’s ass in a heartbeat.
Oh God, yes, this so won’t end well, which is why you gotta sit back and savor Blaine finally getting his ass hand to him for a little while.
Between this and Shortpacked, he’s had this comin’ for way too long.
I fully expect Danny to try pulling her off the beaten and bloody Blaine, and she backhands him without thinking, and he’s just kneeling there, holding his bloody face and she just BSOD’s.
then Sal comes in and breaks up the “fight” and danny falls harder for her, utterly destroying Amber.
First I see something about puns
then I see the word ‘schat’
And this has gone horribly, horribly wrong somewhere.
By which I think I mean horribly, horribly right.
Yeah. see, this strip is why, if you’re going to be a lunatic who trains your daughter to fight, you need to deliberately target her at somebody who is not yourself.
It’s worth noting that the red flashback actually runs the entire length of the strip, with the ‘current time’ fight panels superimposed on top of it. So there’s good reason to see this as being from Amber’s perspective.
Also close examination reveals that the first and third panel Ambers are actually a single entity with two heads. I presume she grew out of that as she got older.
Is there really anyone else in the Dumbiverse who’d stack up against the Abductees in this hypothetical game? I mean, maybe Sal, but honestly I think that’s it.
I understand Amber. My father was exactly like Blaine. Every abused kid fantasizes about this moment. But it’s a double edge sword. You give the abuser what he gave you verbally and/or physically expecting to feel vindicated only to be horrified that you have that very same rage that was aimed at you. As my father was dying, I verbally berated him about all the shit he put me through. After he died, it was a similar scene as the funeral scene in Shortpacked. No. It doesn’t feel better. You have to learn how to let it go and not let it control you. You have to learn how to be aware of that rage and never, ever let it get out and lash out at others. And at times it will. Maybe not with a loved one. Maybe not with a friend. But the random asshole in the street. Or when you get too drunk in a bar and the alcohol uncovers that rage and makes you want to pick a fight with somebody who reminds you of the abuser just to get it out of you. No. This does not help. You need therapy and lots of it. You will live in an eternal Bruce Banner state, afraid of the Hulk that lurks beneath unless you get therapy and learn how to deal with this. Listen to me talking about a cartoon as if it is real life. No. Amber needs to learn to cool this rage. This is why living in college towns can be so dangerous for those who have psychaitric issues. Willis is a master at observing the human psyche and experience.
Yeah. I spent 20 years terrified of that rage, tying myself up into a tight little ball of repression, my greatest fear that I’d some day lash out and hurt someone else the way he hurt me for years. I was so afraid of myself, because I thought I had him inside of me – just like Amber does. I couldn’t even let myself feel. It took something unbelievable to get me past that.
I’m trying to articulate a sentiment coursing through my head at the moment that says there are exceptions to what you’re saying. The beatdown we’re seeing here, to me, is one of those exceptions. Blaine grabbed Dan in a similar manner to when Sal grabbed Ethan, and Amber no doubt felt she had to defend him. I don’t know that she would have fought Blaine had that not occurred; she was, after all, telling him to leave town. She didn’t hit him until after he grabbed Dan.
But I get what you’re saying. Anger is a terrible thing to lose control of, especially because, at least in my case, it can feed itself. It feels good to be angry and justified in being angry. But it’s dangerous and unpredictable, and can lead to one doing things they normally wouldn’t. Like lashing out at a stranger. Like beating one’s abuser senseless. I still struggle with it at times.
I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say at the moment, but you definitely have a good point. It’s not healthy to be in a state of constant rage; justified as one may feel, justified as Amber may feel, in being furious with one’s abuser…at some point, one has to let go.
But for now? Fuck it, I see Amber defending her friend.
I think we’re on the same page here, more or less. I’m thoroughly enjoying this moment of beatdown. But I see the pattern of rage that’s been set. I see why she has such rage, that she’s defining herself against her father, even if she’s not acting the victim anymore. That she’s being active because (in part) he mocked her for being passive. That she refuses to stand down so much that she could become her father, like Mike said.
If she saved Danny, beat down Blaine, and gave up violence, then I would be happy. But like Nena and Quatoria said, it stays with you. You don’t have that moment of catharsis and get over your trauma.
I’m rooting for Amber 100%. If this is what she needs right now, I can’t blame her. But no more, after this. Heal. Become her own person.
And, you know, you mentioned the fantasizing abused kids do about lashing out at their tormenters – and that’s probably exactly what Amber did, for *years*, fantasizing about what she’d do different, how she’d stop it, if it ever happened again, if she could go back to that moment. And now, here she is. And he made it happen again.
Oh, please let Danny somehow be killed in the crossfire. PLEASE! It would be a perfect character-defining moment for Ultracar, and let’s face it, he’s not good for anything else.
While it may not be a crime, Danny’s stupidity will inevitably lead to his death. Stopping Blaine’s heretofore hidden switchblade with his spleen (or perhaps an errant Amazi-punch with one of the numerous soft spots in his skull) is the most noble, least idiotic death he can hope for. If he misses this chance, he’ll probably die after eating shards of broken glass that a malicious stranger convinced him were really yummy candy, or decide that it’s safer to run with scissors if he sticks them up his nose first.
So… he ridiculed her for doing nothing.
Instead of wondering about her physical and emotional well-being.
Well, she sure took that lesson to heart.
Never just stand there if someone takes a hostage.
Good job, Blaine.
Enjoy getting your ass handed to you.
I am surprised Blaine is fighting back. He doesn’t strike me as the type, and the comment he made about Amber’s mother (“You’re too much like your simpering mother. Touch her once and she quits.”) made me think that he was more of the typical bully and that the people he has been controlling all his life were meek and submissive. No one had ever stood up to him so he would not have a working knowledge of how to react when someone like Amber does push back.
Keep in mind he was more than willing to fight her earlier after she clocked him. He wanted a fight, he just didn’t count on Amber being able to beat him senseless.
As far as Danny knows, he’s watching Amazi-Girl beat the hell out of a mutual acquaintance’s dad with very little provocation. This isn’t going to help their relationship very much.
Hey! Notice how Blaine didn’t recognize his own daughter? Let’s stop acting as if it’s only Danny who is being a dummy by following the rules of the universe.
Yes, I know you’re talking about a different instance, but even then, he’s still seeing it in a reasonable way, from his perspective.
Aw come on, let’s at least try to be fair. He did not MISTAKE Sal for Amazi-Girl. He RELUCTANTLY conceded to Billie’s claims, who was extremely confident in her “knowledge”. In fact, Dan took one look at Sal and *immediately* said there was no way they were the same person, and it took a while of conversation with her to actually really believe it (because he misinterpreted her Wiggler choice to be a hint.)
Also, as has been mentioned above, the text says “little” friend. I don’t think Amber would use a dismissive diminutive, even if she internalized Blaine’s words.
To be fair, Blaine manipulated him into thinking he was actually a decent human being and father. It’s not uncommon for abusers to do this when they’ve identified a new, unsuspecting target.
Danny met a man, on campus, on parents day, who immediately proved he knew Amber by name and introduced himself as Amber’s father. Danny thus concluded that he was Amber’s father. He IS Amber’s father. Stupidity level so far: zero.
His friend’s father invites him to lunch at a nearby establishment. Blaine does nothing at all unkind or suspicious in the slightest. Danny proceeds to not lunge to the conclusion that all parents are abusers. Stupidity level: zero.
Blaine continues to act perfectly innocent. Danny proceeds to act accordingly. Stupidity level: zero.
There’s stupidity here, alright, but it’s not with the person who FAILS to go around accusing random people of child abuse for no reason.
At some point between “lurking outside the dorm to accost Amber’s friends instead of actually going in to see her” and “taking Amber’s friend to an isolated location off campus, borrowing the friend’s phone to call her, and making her walk 2.5 miles in the rain to meet them”, Blaine crossed the line between “perfectly innocent” and “kind of weird, but, okay, maybe there’s an explanation”, and then charged on full-tilt into “suspicious as hell” territory.
Being completely oblivious to how increasingly sketchy this situation has gotten, to the point of not even realizing that he’d been no-shit kidnapped and held hostage… stupidity level: PRETTY FUCKING HIGH.
It’s a good thing Danny’s got his own personal superhero around to save his dumb ass.
“By G’Quan, I can’t recall the last time I was in a fight like that. No moral ambiguity, no … hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. They were the bad guys, as you say, we were the good guys. And they made a very satisfying thump when they hit the floor.”
Blaine makes a very satisfying thump, indeed.
…
Did I just compare Willis to JMS? Yes, yes I did.
To be fair, we have no actual evidence that Amber’s not the sort of crime-fighter that leaves a trail of corpses in her wake. Sure, we haven’t seen her do it on screen, but it’s not like we’ve seen her every waking moment.
Rough guess: Either do nothing, or call the cops. Either option is the intelligent course of action, depending on how long the fight is and whether Amazi-girl continues to definitively win.
Also, Blaine has so far not done anything worth this beating in at least our short term experience of him. I mean, he deserved at least…one of those punches.
Yeah. On the one hand we all know he’s an asshole and we love the idea of assholes getting their asses handed to them. On the other there is nothing remotely healthy about this situation.
The asshole kidnapped somebody. (This was debatable until the instant he grabbed Danny and started dragging to the car; after that it was not.) As a kidnapper, he deserved exactly as many punches as it takes to 1) get him to stop with the kidnapping, and 2) stop punching back. Not a single punch less, so says actual laws.
Eh, actual laws say he wasn’t a kidnapper at all. Just your run of the mill assault /battery when Blaine glomped on to Danny. But then I didn’t think he was dragging him towards the car – hence no asportation.
But I mean, even then, you’re only justified in using reasonable force to protect others from crime. Amazber is well past that by now, I think. She’s gone straight-up Berzerker.
Blaine fought back, though. That helps her case. As does his history of violence and the fact that he is significantly larger, older, male, etc. “Abused teen cripples her abuser when he attacks her friend” is not a case any law enforcement officer wants. Most cops, even in Indiana, would make sure it gets lost in paperwork long before the DA laughs them out of the office.
Wait. The last panel is confusing me. She throws a cross with her right arm, but it kind of looks like Blaine is being thrown in the opposite direction.
No, I get that, but look at Blaine. He’s falling in the direction of her left fist. If she clocked him with the left fist, wouldn’t he fall the other way, in the direction the punch moved?
This is something that drives me nuts in comic art critiques. Nothing against you personally, but I can’t stand when people try to deconstruct the action ofa comic panel. Linkara does this a lot, and it just feels pedantic.
A comic panel, at least in a well drawn comic, is not a freeze frame of a moment. It is an expression of the essence of a moment. It needs to carry the energy and the intensity of the moment, which doesn’t happen in a simple still frame, and it needs to be well composed and balanced. Take the most well crafted action scene in film, and make a comic out of freeze frames of that action scene, and you’ll have a terrible comic.
The last panel has energy, it’s dynamic, it’s chaotic, and it’s visceral. It draws the eye, it conveys the idea, and it’s steeped with emotion and expression. Even -if- the actual movement was impossible (See Willis’s response), it doesn’t -matter-, because that’s not he -point-.
I mean. I’m not trying to make a critique here. I didn’t mean it like “BER! This is bad because it doesn’t make sense HURR-DURR-DURR!” I just meant that I didn’t understand what physical… movement… whatever… Willis was attempting to convey in the panel. It was a request for clarification, not a critique of technique or what-have-you.
That’s the way it works if Blaine is standing perfectly still on both feet. But he’s not. Any shift in how his weight is planted prior to the fist connecting can change his trajectory.
And then despite being punched Danny continues to try to help her and calm her down, because he’s a very nice guy who cares and likes to help people, particularly ones he likes, like Amazi-girl.
And all the people who don’t have mindless hate-hardons for him will be happy.
As a child, Blaine was visited by his time-travelling future self, who told him that the entire space-time continuum would be doomed unless Blaine could somehow arrange for his own teenage daughter to kick the shit out of him. Everything that has happened until now has been part of a carefully thought-out plan.
You’ve just found out that your daughter has been present for an armed robbery where her best friend was taken hostage. She is clearly traumatized by this event.
Do you:
A: Comfort her?
Or
B: Berate her for being scared and not doing anything?
If you chose B, congratulations, you’re an asshole. Your prize is a brutal beating 5 years from now, which will be presented to you by your daughter.
I hear it’s amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!
Yotomoe, something happened to me last Thursday when I was driving home. I had a couple of miles to go – I looked up and saw a glowing orange object in the sky, to the east! It was moving very irregularly… suddenly there was intense light all around me – and when I came to, I was home. What do you think happened to me?
“You wouldn’t be trying to give yourself a bogus score using some ingenius trick would you?
That’s just as low as anyone could possible stoop!
I can’t believe you some times!”
“What’s that baby? You didn’t try to fight the older criminal girl who had a knife to your best friend’s throat? Gee, wasn’t that a sane and sensible decision.”
Danny could perfect a plan for world peace, inexhaustible free energy for homes, vehicles, and anything else needed, locate alternate worlds habitable by Human life, locate intelligent peaceful extraterrestrials that boost our knowledge of science, AND find perfect Zen while WRITING THE MOST AMAZING MOVIES TO EVER BE MADE, USING HIS FEET..
Fans would still call for his head, tarred and feathered, on a pike.
I’m completely in love with the detail on the last panel, Amber’s fist actually cutting a swath through the storm and mingling the raindrops with her father’s blood. It’s perfectly exemplary of your style, which looks quick and clean but never rushed. Thanks for putting so much thought into Blaine’s suffering!
This strip is a tiny little miracle. It actually has me hoping we get to see Blaine again, if only to see what he looks like absent a few teeth.
(Blah, blah, compulsory sidenote about hoping Amber reins in her control issues before she becomes her father, blah, blah. Let’s just enjoy the Blaine giblets for now.)
As satisfying as this seems, I’ve dealt with people like Blaine and I know what happens next. When you beat a bully with your bare hands, he comes back with a weapon. It doesn’t end until one of you is dead or in prison.
And that’s why you take two eyes for an eye and all teeth for one tooth. Getting even gets you nowhere, you must hurt your enemy so horribly that the very thought of hurting you again will fill them with panic.
I agree with this, I really hope that at the end Amber tears off the mask so Blaine can see exactly who has done this to him, and what he has made of his daughter. She’ll be shooting any chance she might have with Danny in the foot but I hope she’ll decide that getting away from her father will be more important in the long run.
See, Blaine just doesn’t release a level of low-grade evil that slowly sweeps across the world(Such as caused by tying up every phone line for 5 minutes around lunchtime), he releases a constant energy that causes the subconscious of certain people to scream “BEAT HIM SENSELESS!”.
This is normally ignored, for voices like that, much like talking dogs, is treated by the rest of the brain as nonexistent. Yet, for some reason, they still stick a leg out and try to trip him.
As much a fan as I am for seeing Blaine punched in the FAAAAAAACE!
This is a bit too far. If she leaves him bleeding and unconscious by his car and she just leaves, the police are going to get involved no matter his crushed pride.
This could spell trouble, and not just for Amber.
I’m not sure i’ve said it before, i’ve definitely wanted to, but… Mr. Willis, dumbing of age is so amazing. I’m loving the art, the writing, the drama, the humor (well not NOW, of course), and the way you deal with several different topics.
I love how this whole recent amazi-girl arc has looked and how much can be said about what is happening right here.
I feel like Willis is preemptively chastising the audience for possibly feeling this way about Amber. “oh, THIS traumatized you? that isn’t traumatizing enough to warrent that. you shouldn’t be so traumatized.” <– 100% BS
I know punching the bad guy is cathartic and all but the rage hard-on people have had with killing this guy for the last few days is getting a bit creepy.
Seek medical advice about your days-long rage hard-on.
People are looking for a socially-acceptable outlet for their rage and impotence (or fecklessness). For many people watching (or reading) a comic of a comically bad man getting the ever-loving crap beaten out of him satisfies that need.
Amber has a lot of pent-up rage toward her father for sure. At least she’s directed it to the source of her anger – which is kind of rare. I like how David has explained Amber’s rather unusual way of dealing with her anger in donning the costume.
Yeah, Blaine is an asshole. Yeah, he had it coming and Amber was the one to give it to him. But Blaine himself didn’t become what he was in a vacuum, and although we’re unlikely to see it – he probably came from an abusive household himself.
Isn’t he paying for her education? Will he retaliate? Will this be a moment of gestalt and growth for him? Stay tuned – we’ll all see where this ride takes us.
Probably another reason Blaine is not recognizing Amber. Not just the mask—and the rain (changing hairstyle and darkening hair)–but even after the blow in the dormitory, he just can’t visualize his daughter as a violent person–even if he made her it.
I should be appalled. Instead, I want to pop popcorn. This is cathartic. If it were a human being, it would be one thing, but this is Blaine: an abusive asshole with little claim to humanity.
Posts with more than one link in them require approval. Posts that are made up entirely of a link go through without approval, but the link is removed. The name of a certain ex-SUV who doesn’t exist in this universe is replaced with ~s. And sometimes Willis just gets annoyed by things and deletes them.
Sometimes a man can get tired of everything being turned into sexual observations, especially when a father and daughter are concerned. You don’t have to post everything that comes to mind.
Not sure if someone pointed it out but… Doesnt it seem a bit like it was Blaine telling her that in he past? And she agreed him which is WHY she fights crime so never to feel helpless again!… Damn she really is like Batman huh.
I really hate this particular strip. Yesterday’s kick to the face was fine, but today we have Amber just beating Blaine senseless (narrated by Amber’s traumatic memories). It looks like he’s barely trying to defend himself, and probably doesn’t even know who this girl is or why she’s pummeling him; there’s no evidence yet that he or Danny recognized the voice shift from yesterday.
I say this out of sympathy for Amber, not for Blaine, as I have no sympathy for him. Blaine’s still going to be a horrible, controlling, abusive father and overall asshole, and Amber’s actions here are probably just going to make things worse for her.
Then there’s Danny, who thinks Amazi-girl is pretty rad, and is presently watching her beat Amber’s father bloody. Granted, the beating is not unprovoked, and it’s supposedly in his defense, but it is grossly excessive. In the closest thing to a happy ending for this arc, Amber’s identity is revealed, Danny recognizes that she’s struggling with a lot of past trauma, and decides he’s willing to help her however he can. But a more common (and sensible) reaction is to get back to a safe distance.
Oh, and by “hate” in that first block of text, I mean something along the lines of “Willis is making me feel anger and sadness and a lot of other feels with his story-making prowess.”
In the dark, in the rain, while getting brutally beaten… I can buy that Blaine hasn’t realized that it’s his daughter, with whom he’s had only one brief contact in the last several years, delivering the beating. He’s got other things on his mind at the moment than exactly whose fist it is punching his face in, and he remembers Amber as that timid and helpless girl in the red panels.
Though given that the brief contact was also Amber’s fist with his face, maybe this should be feeling familiar.
Shouldn’t Blaine by now recognize that fist? Actually, it would appear that Amber will have quite a torn set of knuckles to explain away next time she meets Danny in civilian clothes.
I’ve seen some folks predict (and hope) that if Danny tries to stop her he’ll get caught in the cross-fire. I was expecting that Danny would pull her off him and get her to come to her senses.
I hope Amber doesn’t face too harsh a punishment for this, and that she finally realizes she needs help.
I don’t think I can express how happy this arc is making me. People are saying “Oh, Amber has deep-seated anger issues, she’s expressing them through violence, she needs help” NO. Amber is being violent because her father is violent. She knows perfectly well which situations don’t call for violence, because she hasn’t shown this much anger throughout all her time at school. She is rightfully angry now because her father has pulled her friend, a boy she has a crush on, into the charade and has put him in harm’s way. And she is taking back power that is rightfully hers, and making sure that he will never hurt her or try to attack her weak spots again. I am so proud of Amber, and people who think she needs help need to realize that she is HELPING HERSELF.
I was thinking something similar myself. Wouldn’t it be something if this is what allows Amber to re-integrate Amazigirl and herself? It’s like years of therapy concentrated into a few minutes, but with fists!
I don’t think I can express how happy this arc is making me. People are saying “Oh, Amber has deep-seated anger issues, she’s expressing them through violence, she needs help” NO. Amber is being violent because her father is violent. She knows perfectly well which situations don’t call for violence, because she hasn’t shown this much anger throughout all her time at school. She is rightfully angry now because her father has pulled her friend, a boy she has a crush on, into the charade and has put him in harm’s way. And she is taking back power that is rightfully hers, and making sure that he will never hurt her or try to attack her weak spots again. I am so proud of Amber, and people who think she needs help need to realize that she is HELPING HERSELF.
While I greatly agree that she’s doing what I feel is right in taking back what was hers, violence be damned, I do feel she should consider just a wee bit of therapy for the duality complex she’s developed with Amazi-Girl. Sure, it’s a great way for her to vent and she easily compartmentalizes her emotions, but that is in no way healthy for herself. She has to vent. ALL of it. Otherwise it’s going to either a) fester within herself or b) she’ll reach a breaking point in the worst possible way. Right now, she’s handing that worthless cum stain survivor excuse of a human being we know as Blaine his well deserved pompous ass and she’s using the strength she both did and didn’t know she had to do it. Is she wrong for it? Hell no! Well she need help dealing with the trauma he’s caused her up to now? Yeah, she will but because she was a victim as much as she’s been the aggressor.
We’re told ‘violence is not the answer’ and I do believe that, but this is about more than Blaine getting a richly deserved ass-kicking. This is about Amber breaking free of all the insecurities and self-doubt he’s saddled her with and internalising the idea that she’s stronger then he is, that his view of her doesn’t matter.
That said, this is just the first step in the healing process. The next step is to deal with the anger she’s carrying and her fears that it makes her too much like her father.
I have a feeling Amber won’t need to be Amazi-Girl anymore after this is over. And I suspect there will be an angry, tear-stained unmasking as soon as she stops beating the shit out of Blaine.
So…..by Sunday’s strip then cause at the rate she’s going, I can bet she’ll black out into pure rage. Also, I call she get’s unmasked mid suplex. PLEASE don’t let that be a game changer in Blaine’s favor!
To be honest, I’m kinda hoping he realises, then apologises profusely, asking if she can ever forgive him- she passionately kisses him, and says “of course I forgive you- what sort of person would hate you for an honest mistake?”. The she glares us us through the fourth wall.
That’s an interesting twist put on it, and explains a lot about Amber. It wasn’t just that she felt powerless in the situation; instead of any kind of situation or comfort, she was told she was a coward for not standing up to a robber with a knife.
“It was just a knife.”
Yeah, a knife is plenty if all you have is your hands and you aren’t some kind of trained fighter.
Knife is a lot even if you *are* a trained fighter without a weapon of your own.
Real people get their hands ruined that way (and if you want to say that they weren’t *properly* trained, well, the knife-wielder wasn’t properly trained either).
I imagine this fight is going to end with Blaine in a full body cast, Amber with blood sexily splattered across her face, and Danny with the hardest erection that he ever has had or ever will have.
nice for if nothing else blaine will hopefully know that amber is not weak as he made her and never ever be able to mess with her. though think her behavior is also a little pts due to what happen with ethan and the robber at the convince store. at least amber has the perfect outlet for her metal issues now using blaine as a punching bag.
i’m honestly not sure if i care how badly this ends at this point, because those two panels of Blaine getting beaten to a pulp are the most cathartic thing i’ve ever seen in a webcomic since 2008
Willis, did you just censor me or was that a technical glitch? I ‘ve had a lot of posts just disappear when I hit “Post Comment”, and I’d like to know.
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YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Small Correction:
HEELLLLLLL YEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
Daddy’s proud of her now!
Yeah. I bet all the baby books say its okay for dads to beat their daughters until their little girls turn bitter and resentful enough to beat the living pulp out of their abusers in a AAA parking lot just a few weeks into college.
What is this, CSI?
Just the pure unmitigated joy of watching Blaine fall down a flight of punches.
And then stomped on by a couple of kicks, and maybe crushed by one or two body slams.
What? No, no, I…uh…ran into a door knob.
…..twenty times.
He stabs himself in the back and then throws himself off a bridge. Tragic.
Ehh, I knew a guy that fell on his own knife 28 times.
Some people should be more careful.
Well, I know a guy who jumped backwards on a knife(which is held together by a block of ice).
The police said he fell down an elevator shaft . . . onto some bullets.
. . . I suspect foul play.
Case Closed reference?
Yes indeed, Izzy.
Woo!
No, Izzy, Detective Conan!
MANGA>ANIME
“And then he ran into my knife! He ran into my knife ten times!”
lol Chicago
I read that in Phil Rodriguez’s voice. And I’ve never even heard his voice.
Everyday abusive Assholes throw themselves off bridges with knives in their backs. For just 50 cents a day you can help more of these abusive pricks with their wishes of stabbing themselves in the back and throwing themselves off bridges.
And pollute the river? No thank you. I prefer my abusive assholes vaporized, thank you very much.
I don’t think Amber can punch Blaine that hard.
Unless she rolls a crit, good chance for him to turn gaseous then.
so you trade your water polution for air polution then?
Vaporized? I would’ve gone with complete annihilation, but then I’d feel sorry for the anti-matter.
Seems like you’d save money if they took the knife out before tossing themselves over the bridge; let other assholes have a chance to use that knife.
And spread diseases? No thank you.
If it’s only the assholes who get the diseases, no big deal.
Yeah, he needs to invest in some nerf doorknobs.
And kicks. Don’t forget the kicks.
He sure won’t.
immigrant song started playing right when I started reading that comment.
Bulk Biceps, is that you?
Well he’s just so EXCITED about the Equestria Games, y’know?
And, also Blaine getting his. Bulk doesn’t like bullies.
Damn. Maybe she will kill him.
Fuck your rite, maybe thats going a little to far.
Yeah, fuck your rite. How dare you practice a religious custom.
There is no god, only Tiny Thunder!
There is also Faz
There is no god…
Only Zuul!
Even if there is no God or Buddha…there is Kamen Rider.
Aizat.
Can we get married?
Yes. We can.
There is no God like our God, like no God I know…
Enjoying His miracles is so thrilling –
Performing sacrificial rites –
Praying and giving are so fulfilling –
Be careful that you aren’t the one he smites –
Let’s go on with the show!
Faz is God.
Be afraid… Be VERY afraid…
Nah, she’s like Batman. She can beat the tar out of you but if she kills you she’ll consider herself as bad as if not worse than the dickwad abusive partner
From “Superman Grounded””
Batman — “How are we supposed to play good cop-bad cop if we’re both bad cop?”
Superman — “We’ll just play bad cop–psycho cop. Guess which one you are.”
YESH!
“Just sat in the corner and DIDN’T GET STABBED.”
Wow, asshole.
Amber, why did I even bother teaching you CQC? You NEVER use it! This is why your love never blooms on the battlefield!
I’ll be back in a month, I have to write extensive 40K meta-fanfic wherein Danny is somehow a stoic assassin. It will not be easy.
Nah, just make him an Eversor assassin – the cocktail of combat drugs that lot take would turn a field mouse into something capable of tearing Tyranid hive fleets apart XD
Also, Amazi-girl’s mastery of disguise clearly makes her a Callidus assassin.
If Amber was male we would most certanly have a good candidate for a Angry marine.
She’d certainly make a good Sister of Battle!
I can’t remember the name of your avatar. Spider Jeruslalem?
Yeah, that’s Spider Jerusalem. Truth-speaking reporter and horrible bastard.
Huh, I initially read that as AmaziGirl talking to young-Amber. Didn’t realize until your comment that it was probably Blaine being a dick, instead of self-loathing.
Oh, yeah, hello alt-text. Good thing Amazi-Girl is immune to criticism.
Look at the tags, Amazi-girl checked out with that roundhouse kick. She’s just Amber in a mask when the red panels fly.
Door’s still open to this being self-criticism, being taken out on Blaine. I’ll wait to see what The Willis does.
IMO, can’t be Amber talking. She woudd not have said “took your little friend”, but just “took your friend”…
KICK HIS ASS!~! FINISH HIM!!
YES, FINISH HIM! SHAO KHAN DEMANDS IT!
Please, Amber is clearly more of a Smash Bros person…
(and her final smash involves her bludgeoning people with her AMAZI-Popper Push)
Dude, DOA fighting game!
-Ruth: wielding a femur Special Move: “Canadian Spirit” makes her stronger or something
-AmaziGirl/Amber: like Shiek and Zelda
-Joyce: with a broken glass handy
-Sal: street fighting (and knife?) Special Move: motorcycle wheelie
-Mike: punching.
-Billie: projectile booze Special Move: “hangover” makes her slower an less accurate, but does more damage
-Sarah: Tank
-Dina: can call upon the strength and/or powers of Dinosaurs thanks to her extensive knowledge on the subject
-Walky: random fighting style, difficult to predict Special Move: “Pajama Jeans” +50 comfort (increases accuracy and regains health) -60 charisma (disables ability to do a combo attack with Dorothy)
-Dorothy: high endurance and accuracy Special Move: “Study Up!” Increases abilities in the area of opponent’s weakness
-Lord Galasso: all moves relate to some power of pizzas (and subs) ex: pizza SLICE, Mozzerella Mayhem, etc.
-David Willis: mans transformer/mecha exosuit. Very OP. Special Move: “Damn You Willis!” the game (will have) changed
man that would be awesome
1) DOA is already a fighting ga- oh, wait, nevermind.
2) You forgot Mike’s special move: every time you put a nickel in the coin slot, he fucks your mom.
That would indeed be awesome. And I read “exosuit” as “exoslut”, which might or might not be awesome.
Not bad, but I’m pretty sure that high kicks would play a much bigger role in Billie’s fighting repertoire. As we’ve seen, that’s how she takes out the trash.
I feel like Mike’s movelist should include moms and nickels.
Probably shouldn’t have baited her on, Past!Blaine.
Yeah, he’s real Father of the Year material.
He’s so passive aggressively supportive of his daughter’s future asskicking of him.
Seriously, the guy overtook Gendo Ikari on dickishness alone.
Hey now, at least Blaine isn’t trying to turn us all into yellow fluid.
Tang, the fan-term is Tang!!!
But I dun’t wanna be an Astronaut, Gendo!
… Why is HE LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?!
You know, I just found this demotivational poster of Gendo(http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/264/b/e/gendo_ikari_demote_by_sailmaster_seion-d5ffmdm.jpg) and I think we should change this to Blaine.
Much of an asshole as Gendo was, he just wanted to be with his dead wife in the end. He had a reason, even if he was a total prick in pursuit of that. Blaine, on the other hand, doesn’t have a reason, he’s just an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.
I know this much though, Gendo could kick Blaine’s ass in a heartbeat.
I think even Shinji would go Fourth Impact on Blaine.
“I mustn’t hide in the corner, I mustn’t hide in the corner…”
I want to be pumped for this, but there’s no way in hell this won’t have terrible, awful repercussions for Amber.
Oh God, yes, this so won’t end well, which is why you gotta sit back and savor Blaine finally getting his ass hand to him for a little while.
Between this and Shortpacked, he’s had this comin’ for way too long.
James, this is exactly how I feel about this.
I know, but I’m suppressing those feelings for now and just reveling in the joy of this beatdown.
Meh, worry about that later; sit back and enjoy the show for now.
Popcorn, anyone? Awww, Blaine bled from the second panel into mine! I’ll be back tomorrow with more popcorn.
3 Dinas in a thread! 3 Dinas in a thread!
I fully expect Danny to try pulling her off the beaten and bloody Blaine, and she backhands him without thinking, and he’s just kneeling there, holding his bloody face and she just BSOD’s.
then Sal comes in and breaks up the “fight” and danny falls harder for her, utterly destroying Amber.
“Amber? Why are you dressed up as Amazi-Girl?”
“Because she is Amazi-Girl, you moron!”
+1 for the second Batman movie reference.
I’m guessing this is Blaine berating her. Yeah, that makes the beatdown tastier.
Can Blaine see without his glasses?
It won’t matter once Amber gouges out his eyes with a rusty spoon.
Why a spoon, Ninja? Why not a fork?
Eh. Fork works as well. So does a ladle. Or a colander. Or the kitchen itself.
Why not just her own fingers?
Because that’s groooooooooooss and will get her gloves dirty.
Then cut him down with a piece of cloth.
You and your damn cloth,
NOT EVERYONE CAN BE MASTER ASIA!!!
Well, not everyone can be Batman too, but does that ever stop anyone?
Gloves are meant to get dirty, that’s why gloves exist
Not when they’re used for STYLE!
Because it’s easier to get purchase with a utensil. Plus, if you use your hands, you gotta clean it off later. And that’s just messy.
Because it’s dull, you twit! It’ll hurt more!
Dammit!
Word for word even.
What do you mean its dull? That sounds totally badass to me!
(Yes, I know not that kinda dull, and yes I know you are doing movie quotes, and no I don’t care if I ruined the mood muhahahahaha)
A spork. But a titanium one.
Because it’s DULL, you twit. It’ll hurt more.
To make sure he’ll never be able to see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
“Because it’ll hurt more, you twit!”
oops, badly ninja’d
Considering you worded it completely wrong I’d say you were actally ninjaed quite well.
Which is actually what being being “badly ninja’d” means!
The English language is fun. Quick, answer this: will something that’s inflammable burn?
Yes. Yes, it will.
Because it’s dull, you twit! It’ll hurt more!
A spoon will get the entire eye out! Fork might tear it and leave eye bits inside.
EYE GUESS
Apparently, Batman took over of the strip.
Or the Punisher.
Or Rorschach.
Punschatman.
A former cop turned millionaire who fight crime wearing Rorschach mask, an arsenal of weapons and logo that is a mix between a skull and a bat?
all of those things yes
Someone should get on that.
And the name will be a combination of Batman, Punisher, and Rorschach.
Bat . . sher . . . ch
. . . .
Batshark.
You mean, Punschatman?
Why not “Banishach”?
No, no, we’re going with Batshark.
Batshark. Definitely Batshark.
Banishach is too close to Banicek, which was a cool (but short-lived) TV series.
First I see something about puns
then I see the word ‘schat’
And this has gone horribly, horribly wrong somewhere.
By which I think I mean horribly, horribly right.
Or Hit Girl!
Yeah. see, this strip is why, if you’re going to be a lunatic who trains your daughter to fight, you need to deliberately target her at somebody who is not yourself.
Sound effects only cheapen it. I’m imagining rolling thunder in the background drowing it all out.
Don’t you mean “Tiny Thunder”.
Really loud rain drops falling.
I’m imagining 1960’s style Batman sound effects.
POW! BAM! NUT-SHOT!
Rib crack! Concuss!
Organ burst! Internal bleeding! Muscle tear! Bone shatter!
NUT-SHOT NUT-SHOT NUT-SHOT and PAUSE~.
I’m imagining it from Amber’s perspective, in that, she can literally not hear a thing except what she’s remembering Blaine saying.
It’s worth noting that the red flashback actually runs the entire length of the strip, with the ‘current time’ fight panels superimposed on top of it. So there’s good reason to see this as being from Amber’s perspective.
Also close examination reveals that the first and third panel Ambers are actually a single entity with two heads. I presume she grew out of that as she got older.
One would take panel 5 as evidence that you are correct.
Where’s my Amber DLC for tekken?
Damn, now I want a It’s Walky/Shortpacked/DOA mashup fighting game!
Yes. Only all of the opponents are Blaine, and he only fights back ineffectually as you utterly destroy him over and over again.
Great for anger relief.
Is there really anyone else in the Dumbiverse who’d stack up against the Abductees in this hypothetical game? I mean, maybe Sal, but honestly I think that’s it.
Ultra-Car, Jason, The Cheese? Nah, screw that, Cheesy’s would be Walky’s Finisher.
Ultra-Car and the Cheese don’t exist in this ‘verse, and we’ve seen no signs Dumbiverse!Jason has any particular fighting prowess.
Sal on her motorcycle, maybe.
Actually that fight sounds incredibly awesome.
No not a dlc how about a mod for the steam version of Tekken
You joke, but I bet someone’s going to make a mod for that now.
Yeah, I figured Blaine would give her shit about the robbery.
You know you’re punching fast when you catch all the raindrops in your swing, Matrix style.
Amber knows how to us The Ripple!!
Anyone got a song that would go well with this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IItV3A0npBA
Try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjnoM5-mnw
Called it a few days back.
If that’s the case…..it’s time for Amazi-Girl to let’er rip!
How many people wanna Kick Some Ass?
I wanted to say the Black Getter theme….but somehow the video was removed from Youtube.
OK, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1OGqGkism8
Here’s another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Y32JoK2Rg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GW3iArO-RQ
Or if we’re doing things from other things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NOLO5p-LZ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHQnDTd1y4
This song goes with everything and I refuse to hear otherwise!
No….this song goes with everything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGw8DWctAts
Only one came to mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lsn2tT5yTc
I feel anime has ruined my ability to think up fightscenes.
That’s why I prefer going with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOID9JXwkL8
Here’s my choice, an old favorite, first heard from one of the 1st Youtube videos I’ve watched, Wrath of Giga Bowser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olxIVcfY0hA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVBAeS5t5nc Better quality sound than the version I put up earlier in the week. Should be played while reading the last 3 comics.
I’d go with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqEkWY8ekQ just because.
Not really “fight music” but “punchy” so WTH? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jCJZEFIto
Well speaking of Cowboy Bebop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7R2Vl_hcCA
Oh yeah, I was wondering what was the name of that one.
Live in Baghdad?
This goes well with any kind of “fvck avthovrity” situations, with or without the beatdown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q
PAHAHAAHAHA! CRY SOME MORE!
Maybe don’t take your daughter’s friend hostage after beating into her that if her friend gets taken hostage she should do something about it?
Hoist by his own petard.
I am reminded of comedian Christopher Titus whose mother shot and killed her abusive husband that taught her how to shoot.
That was five years ago. I don’t picture him having that on his mind at the moment.
Yessssssssssssssssssssss
Nice. Extremely satisfying.
You know, I’m half-expecting Amazi-Girl to hit Blaine with his glasses.
At this point, she’s gonna rip his arm off and beat him with it.
“Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!”
You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would you?
No, but she’d hit a guy with glasses. It’d be well played.
I liked the movie. Except the end. With the falling. It reminded me of Huck Finn a little. Specifically when he says “Then I’ll go to hell!”
Are we all talking about Wreck it Ralph? Because I don’t remember the end with the falling
Well, he did fall and land on the mentos near the end.
That’s the part.
Animated movies where the main character willingly chooses death to save their loved ones are awesome.
WELL LOOK WHO IS DOING SOMETHING NOW BLAINE.
On the one hand; Blaine’s in pain!
On the other; I have a bad feeling about this..
Blaine is such a piece of human garbage that my extreme pacifism is being tested.
Also cringing in anticipation. Please don’t go to jail, Amber. Please don’t call Amber “Sal,” Danny.
You pretty much read my ind with that one….
Let’s combine the two, and have Sal get arrested for beating up Blaine! (There was a witness to her doing it!)
I’m going to take a guess and say that this is Blian taking
Yes, only a villain such as Blango would be so derisive in his tones.
Blaine
Blian, our mortal foe.
Welease Blian!
Oh, Amber. You deserve so much better. And I hope you learn that soon. I want you to stop being what your father has shaped you into being.
Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the beatdown, but it’s unhealthy, sweetie.
No need for qualifications. We understand. We feel the same way.
I understand Amber. My father was exactly like Blaine. Every abused kid fantasizes about this moment. But it’s a double edge sword. You give the abuser what he gave you verbally and/or physically expecting to feel vindicated only to be horrified that you have that very same rage that was aimed at you. As my father was dying, I verbally berated him about all the shit he put me through. After he died, it was a similar scene as the funeral scene in Shortpacked. No. It doesn’t feel better. You have to learn how to let it go and not let it control you. You have to learn how to be aware of that rage and never, ever let it get out and lash out at others. And at times it will. Maybe not with a loved one. Maybe not with a friend. But the random asshole in the street. Or when you get too drunk in a bar and the alcohol uncovers that rage and makes you want to pick a fight with somebody who reminds you of the abuser just to get it out of you. No. This does not help. You need therapy and lots of it. You will live in an eternal Bruce Banner state, afraid of the Hulk that lurks beneath unless you get therapy and learn how to deal with this. Listen to me talking about a cartoon as if it is real life. No. Amber needs to learn to cool this rage. This is why living in college towns can be so dangerous for those who have psychaitric issues. Willis is a master at observing the human psyche and experience.
I’m very sorry.
Yeah. I spent 20 years terrified of that rage, tying myself up into a tight little ball of repression, my greatest fear that I’d some day lash out and hurt someone else the way he hurt me for years. I was so afraid of myself, because I thought I had him inside of me – just like Amber does. I couldn’t even let myself feel. It took something unbelievable to get me past that.
I am so sorry you had this experience too. I hope that this story arc inspires those who have been abused to seek help and healing.
I’m trying to articulate a sentiment coursing through my head at the moment that says there are exceptions to what you’re saying. The beatdown we’re seeing here, to me, is one of those exceptions. Blaine grabbed Dan in a similar manner to when Sal grabbed Ethan, and Amber no doubt felt she had to defend him. I don’t know that she would have fought Blaine had that not occurred; she was, after all, telling him to leave town. She didn’t hit him until after he grabbed Dan.
But I get what you’re saying. Anger is a terrible thing to lose control of, especially because, at least in my case, it can feed itself. It feels good to be angry and justified in being angry. But it’s dangerous and unpredictable, and can lead to one doing things they normally wouldn’t. Like lashing out at a stranger. Like beating one’s abuser senseless. I still struggle with it at times.
I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say at the moment, but you definitely have a good point. It’s not healthy to be in a state of constant rage; justified as one may feel, justified as Amber may feel, in being furious with one’s abuser…at some point, one has to let go.
But for now? Fuck it, I see Amber defending her friend.
I think we’re on the same page here, more or less. I’m thoroughly enjoying this moment of beatdown. But I see the pattern of rage that’s been set. I see why she has such rage, that she’s defining herself against her father, even if she’s not acting the victim anymore. That she’s being active because (in part) he mocked her for being passive. That she refuses to stand down so much that she could become her father, like Mike said.
If she saved Danny, beat down Blaine, and gave up violence, then I would be happy. But like Nena and Quatoria said, it stays with you. You don’t have that moment of catharsis and get over your trauma.
I’m rooting for Amber 100%. If this is what she needs right now, I can’t blame her. But no more, after this. Heal. Become her own person.
And, you know, you mentioned the fantasizing abused kids do about lashing out at their tormenters – and that’s probably exactly what Amber did, for *years*, fantasizing about what she’d do different, how she’d stop it, if it ever happened again, if she could go back to that moment. And now, here she is. And he made it happen again.
That blow to the chest actually made me cringe a bit.
Personally, I think she is going overboard!!!
SHE NEEDS TO HIT HIM MORE.
CURB STOMP HIM!
I am tempted to say “Some things are just low”..
The rest of me? Screaming “DO I AMERICAN HISTORY X STYLE!”.
I’m a horrible person either way.
It*
Damn typos tonight!
THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES
Fuck it, Kick his ass Amazi-Girl…let’s see how far this goes!
Hell, give Blaine the Iron Sheik treatment.
Break his back…Make him Humble!!!
And there is that one part….what was it again?
Doing said “Backbreaking and making him humble” while he is in the Camel Clutch…sorry…got ahead of myself 😛
So I will reiterate…
She will put him in the Camel Clutch, BREAK HIS BACK! Make him humble.
Ah, Iron Sheik. He’s always awesome in my book.
Okay.
*Selects Sheik*
*Grabs Metal Box*.
Honestly I’m surprised he’s still up after that. Would’ve knocked the wind outta most people.
That one can actually be fatal.
I looked up the definition of Curbstomp and it showed me this.
Coincidentally I looked up Mc’Asshole and all it showed was Blaine posing.
Oh, please let Danny somehow be killed in the crossfire. PLEASE! It would be a perfect character-defining moment for Ultracar, and let’s face it, he’s not good for anything else.
Now, now. Stupidity in and of itself isn’t a crime, much less a capital offence.
While it may not be a crime, Danny’s stupidity will inevitably lead to his death. Stopping Blaine’s heretofore hidden switchblade with his spleen (or perhaps an errant Amazi-punch with one of the numerous soft spots in his skull) is the most noble, least idiotic death he can hope for. If he misses this chance, he’ll probably die after eating shards of broken glass that a malicious stranger convinced him were really yummy candy, or decide that it’s safer to run with scissors if he sticks them up his nose first.
HOLY SHIT!!!!
This may as well be more porn.
Again, thank you Willis.
This is on-par with Pacific Rim’s fight scenes! Of course, I’d pay a lot more than seven bucks to see Mecha-Amber beat up Kaiju-Blaine…
I’d pay to see Amber-Zilla beat up King Blaine-rah.
I’d pay 7 bucks to see Amber XLR beating up Blaine.
Not a giant robot Blaine, just Amber in a 10-story weapon covered in rockets and laser swords, utterly obliterating a small, pathetic little man.
Ya shouldn’t have done that, Blaine. Now Amber’s gonna use her Final Smash on you.
Blaine…
You’ve Met With A Terrible Fate Haven’t You?
Glad to see, but I wanna see the aftermath with Danny… you better not cut away to another story line again
Don’t tempt him, Evergreen! He is the puppet master and we are at his mercy!
There’s always Dina with her dino-romance novels…
Meanwhile, Joe and Sierra in the laundry room…
Pretty sure Willis wasn’t drawing porn three months ago, so that probably wouldn’t be as interesting as you’d wish it was.
Lucky for you, you all have Yoto.
Are you … on the job?
What a terrible parent! Amber was supposed to go up against a maniac with a knife? Blaine had and has a real deathwish for her.
I get that she became AmaziGirl TO PROVE BLAINE WRONG.
Technically she’s only doing what he told her to do. Amazi-girl is basically just her saying that Blaine is right and she SHOULD be fighting crime.
Well, it’s about damn time.
So… he ridiculed her for doing nothing.
Instead of wondering about her physical and emotional well-being.
Well, she sure took that lesson to heart.
Never just stand there if someone takes a hostage.
Good job, Blaine.
Enjoy getting your ass handed to you.
*Cues up the Cellblock Tango*
HE HAD IT COMING!
Sixth panel – windmill punch?
Amber is going to suffer over this so I feel bad about that.
But, she is has been suffering big time, and if this relieves it, then she is justified because Blaine is a huge bastard.
Maybe, just maybe, if Danny is smart enough to say Blaine kidnapped him, Amber may come out of this as a hero yet.
RETRIBUTION!
Moaning sword!
I am surprised Blaine is fighting back. He doesn’t strike me as the type, and the comment he made about Amber’s mother (“You’re too much like your simpering mother. Touch her once and she quits.”) made me think that he was more of the typical bully and that the people he has been controlling all his life were meek and submissive. No one had ever stood up to him so he would not have a working knowledge of how to react when someone like Amber does push back.
I would hardly call this fighting back. This is a beatdown.
Keep in mind he was more than willing to fight her earlier after she clocked him. He wanted a fight, he just didn’t count on Amber being able to beat him senseless.
Well, looks like she’s doing something now.
As far as Danny knows, he’s watching Amazi-Girl beat the hell out of a mutual acquaintance’s dad with very little provocation. This isn’t going to help their relationship very much.
But Amazi-girl used Amber’s voice last comic. He might catch on
I love how suddenly Danny’s extreme blinkeredness isn’t funny anymore.
Hey! Notice how Blaine didn’t recognize his own daughter? Let’s stop acting as if it’s only Danny who is being a dummy by following the rules of the universe.
Yes, I know you’re talking about a different instance, but even then, he’s still seeing it in a reasonable way, from his perspective.
The idiot who has gone to second base with Amber, whom has felt her glorious curves…mistook SAL for Amazi-girl….
This guy’s not just a dummy, he’s the king of them ;P
Aw come on, let’s at least try to be fair. He did not MISTAKE Sal for Amazi-Girl. He RELUCTANTLY conceded to Billie’s claims, who was extremely confident in her “knowledge”. In fact, Dan took one look at Sal and *immediately* said there was no way they were the same person, and it took a while of conversation with her to actually really believe it (because he misinterpreted her Wiggler choice to be a hint.)
He’s the Mikio Jinno of Dumbing of Age: he isn’t merely any old fool, he’s a professional fool.
I honestly take this as just another sign of how bad a dad he is.
Oh no, Amber…
“Conscience Cat says: Assault is not an ideal way of dealing with emotional trauma.” 😉
(Bonus internets to the first person to identify what this is referencing!)
Sam and Fuzzy, of course!
*High-five*
I kinda feel sorry for him now.
That’s the opposite of how you should feel.
Seriously
Damn. Overkill. Awesome.
This is not a fight…it’s surgery. And Amber’s the surgeon.
“Time for some malpractice.”
dammit you posted before me AND I like yours better
I try.
Oh, I got one: “I can hear your heartbeat…for the very last time”
“Your insurance doesn’t cover vengeance!”
Weird Al for the win!
Speaking of Weird Al
…this weekend he’s gonna be voicing a character on My little Pony!!!
And it’s a musical episode!!! 😀
Like a surgeon
Well, tell Kevorkian he’s just been outdone
“Now? Let’s go practice medicine.”
Yes good reference, I like you.
“Ze healing is not as revarding as ze hurting!”
“Oops! Zat vas not medicine!”
“Zat vas doktor-assisted homicide!”
I got one more: “The doctor will see you now.”
In the most recent two comics, I’ve seen falcon kick, falcon punch and elbow of justice.
I’m pretty sure Amazi-girl gets her “moves” from a certain Super Smash Bros character.
Can’t wait to see the final smash.
Blaines probably only at around 75% damage. I hope the next one is a knee of justice, and then meteor smashing his face into the ground.
For a final smash she could be true to her inspiration and just run him over with the car.
Or
And hear me out here
Giant corn popper
…..go on…….
Of all the times I have ever desired a like button!!
I’m loving all these action poses!
“What took so long?”
“The store got held up and my friend was taken hostage with a knife.”
“God, is that all? You can’t deal with anything, can you?”
…I don’t know why it surprises me that Blaine is this loathsome, and yet somehow it does. Jesus Christ.
Yeah and as she’s traumatized and crying about it
Hey Guys. What if…
What if that’s not Blaine talking to her?
What if Amber is telling this to herself.
Then Blaine’s abuse has gotten to her deeper than we thought before.
It can be both, if she internalized his words. But, from the alt-text, sounds like it was originally him.
I actually thought that was it at first, but then I realized it was Blaine being a macho ass.
Also, as has been mentioned above, the text says “little” friend. I don’t think Amber would use a dismissive diminutive, even if she internalized Blaine’s words.
And then she beats up Danny, right?
…Right?!?!?
Why the hell would she do that.
Yeah, Danny has not done anything…that warrants a beatdown anyway.
Maybe a verbal berating, ending in a breakup but with them staying friends.
He stupidly got in the car with someone he doesn’t know, and let said person lure his FRIEND off campus 😐 He deserves a wedgie at the least!
To be fair, Blaine manipulated him into thinking he was actually a decent human being and father. It’s not uncommon for abusers to do this when they’ve identified a new, unsuspecting target.
God, you people.
Danny met a man, on campus, on parents day, who immediately proved he knew Amber by name and introduced himself as Amber’s father. Danny thus concluded that he was Amber’s father. He IS Amber’s father. Stupidity level so far: zero.
His friend’s father invites him to lunch at a nearby establishment. Blaine does nothing at all unkind or suspicious in the slightest. Danny proceeds to not lunge to the conclusion that all parents are abusers. Stupidity level: zero.
Blaine continues to act perfectly innocent. Danny proceeds to act accordingly. Stupidity level: zero.
There’s stupidity here, alright, but it’s not with the person who FAILS to go around accusing random people of child abuse for no reason.
At some point between “lurking outside the dorm to accost Amber’s friends instead of actually going in to see her” and “taking Amber’s friend to an isolated location off campus, borrowing the friend’s phone to call her, and making her walk 2.5 miles in the rain to meet them”, Blaine crossed the line between “perfectly innocent” and “kind of weird, but, okay, maybe there’s an explanation”, and then charged on full-tilt into “suspicious as hell” territory.
Being completely oblivious to how increasingly sketchy this situation has gotten, to the point of not even realizing that he’d been no-shit kidnapped and held hostage… stupidity level: PRETTY FUCKING HIGH.
It’s a good thing Danny’s got his own personal superhero around to save his dumb ass.
“By G’Quan, I can’t recall the last time I was in a fight like that. No moral ambiguity, no … hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. They were the bad guys, as you say, we were the good guys. And they made a very satisfying thump when they hit the floor.”
Blaine makes a very satisfying thump, indeed.
…
Did I just compare Willis to JMS? Yes, yes I did.
And Amber to G’Kar. Not a bad analogy.
Would this make Sal Londo? (I can see them eventually ending up sharing a cell.)
This kind of brings the comments back full circle to the ones above re: removing eyeballs with spoons… 😀
(Also B5 is awesome)
What?!? Amazi-Girl doesn’t…
Aw, screw it. Kill the sonuvabongo.
To be fair, we have no actual evidence that Amber’s not the sort of crime-fighter that leaves a trail of corpses in her wake. Sure, we haven’t seen her do it on screen, but it’s not like we’ve seen her every waking moment.
Those sign vandals are totally dead now.
FINISH HIM.
I seriously wonder how Danny is going to react to seeing Amazi-girl going berserk on Blaine!
Maybe he’ll hide in a corner and do nothing.
Or think She is psycho and wants nothing to do with her anymore!
Wet his pants, and look confused when he’s told he’s her Otacon?
Rough guess: Either do nothing, or call the cops. Either option is the intelligent course of action, depending on how long the fight is and whether Amazi-girl continues to definitively win.
Also, Blaine has so far not done anything worth this beating in at least our short term experience of him. I mean, he deserved at least…one of those punches.
This! Definitely!!!
Maybe two at most!
HE DESERVES EVERY PUNCH.
Every last one of them….yes even the finishing curb stomp.
If Blaine leaves this with all of his teeth I’ll be disappointed.
If Blaine does not leave by limping or crawling, I’ll be disappointed.
If Blaine leaves with a working man-bit, I’ll be disappointed.
So, we want Blaine to lose a couple of teeth, limping/crawling and castrated? Anything else?
Well he really doesn’t need four limbs.
Yeah. On the one hand we all know he’s an asshole and we love the idea of assholes getting their asses handed to them. On the other there is nothing remotely healthy about this situation.
Beating up your dad doesn’t fix your childhood.
The asshole kidnapped somebody. (This was debatable until the instant he grabbed Danny and started dragging to the car; after that it was not.) As a kidnapper, he deserved exactly as many punches as it takes to 1) get him to stop with the kidnapping, and 2) stop punching back. Not a single punch less, so says actual laws.
But you’re not counting the flying kick to his face!
Eh, actual laws say he wasn’t a kidnapper at all. Just your run of the mill assault /battery when Blaine glomped on to Danny. But then I didn’t think he was dragging him towards the car – hence no asportation.
But I mean, even then, you’re only justified in using reasonable force to protect others from crime. Amazber is well past that by now, I think. She’s gone straight-up Berzerker.
Blaine fought back, though. That helps her case. As does his history of violence and the fact that he is significantly larger, older, male, etc. “Abused teen cripples her abuser when he attacks her friend” is not a case any law enforcement officer wants. Most cops, even in Indiana, would make sure it gets lost in paperwork long before the DA laughs them out of the office.
Well, this is going to end badly for all parties… I know Blaine’s been deserving of it, but daaaaaaaaang!
Yeah, I’m glad this is fiction because in the real world there would be absolutely no positive outcome from what Amber has done here…
Wanna bet Danny’s going to stop her from killing him?
And end up getting hit in the crossfire!
Was just thinking he’ll be bringing her back to reality here in a sec.
Wait. The last panel is confusing me. She throws a cross with her right arm, but it kind of looks like Blaine is being thrown in the opposite direction.
She punched him with her left. The right arm is preparing another punch.
No, I get that, but look at Blaine. He’s falling in the direction of her left fist. If she clocked him with the left fist, wouldn’t he fall the other way, in the direction the punch moved?
Or rather, he’s falling to her left, not the direction of her fist.
This is something that drives me nuts in comic art critiques. Nothing against you personally, but I can’t stand when people try to deconstruct the action ofa comic panel. Linkara does this a lot, and it just feels pedantic.
A comic panel, at least in a well drawn comic, is not a freeze frame of a moment. It is an expression of the essence of a moment. It needs to carry the energy and the intensity of the moment, which doesn’t happen in a simple still frame, and it needs to be well composed and balanced. Take the most well crafted action scene in film, and make a comic out of freeze frames of that action scene, and you’ll have a terrible comic.
The last panel has energy, it’s dynamic, it’s chaotic, and it’s visceral. It draws the eye, it conveys the idea, and it’s steeped with emotion and expression. Even -if- the actual movement was impossible (See Willis’s response), it doesn’t -matter-, because that’s not he -point-.
I mean. I’m not trying to make a critique here. I didn’t mean it like “BER! This is bad because it doesn’t make sense HURR-DURR-DURR!” I just meant that I didn’t understand what physical… movement… whatever… Willis was attempting to convey in the panel. It was a request for clarification, not a critique of technique or what-have-you.
Fair enough. I believe he was trying to convey that Amber is beating the shit out of Blaine. ;p
That’s the way it works if Blaine is standing perfectly still on both feet. But he’s not. Any shift in how his weight is planted prior to the fist connecting can change his trajectory.
MACHINE GUN PUNCH!!!
THIS HAND OF MINE BURNS WITH AN AWESOME POWER!
IT’S LOUD ROAR TELLS ME TO DEFEAT YOU!
TAKE THIS, MY LOVE, MY SORROW AND ALL OF MY ANGER!
SHINING FINGER!!!
GO! GO! GO!!!
GET ‘EM A BODY BAG, JOHNNY
In looking for a reference clip for “Sweep the leg…” I have discovered there’s a band called Sweep the Leg Johnny…
You sure you don’t mean Kings of Leon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3iYmgDJ4FE
Nope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Tf_qVEccM
Calling it now. Danny tries to pull her off the guy and gets Falcon punched for his trouble.
And somewhere in the world I’m sure someone will care. Maybe even two people.
And then despite being punched Danny continues to try to help her and calm her down, because he’s a very nice guy who cares and likes to help people, particularly ones he likes, like Amazi-girl.
And all the people who don’t have mindless hate-hardons for him will be happy.
As a child, Blaine was visited by his time-travelling future self, who told him that the entire space-time continuum would be doomed unless Blaine could somehow arrange for his own teenage daughter to kick the shit out of him. Everything that has happened until now has been part of a carefully thought-out plan.
Nah, Blaine’s just a jerk.
Pop Quiz Time!
You’ve just found out that your daughter has been present for an armed robbery where her best friend was taken hostage. She is clearly traumatized by this event.
Do you:
A: Comfort her?
Or
B: Berate her for being scared and not doing anything?
If you chose B, congratulations, you’re an asshole. Your prize is a brutal beating 5 years from now, which will be presented to you by your daughter.
Wait. What if I spent my daughter’s entire life training her for nothing BUT this exact situation. Am I allowed to berate her then?
Nope. Still an asshole. Also, why are you spending so much time on defense training on that weirdly specific scenario anyway?
I want my daughter to protect the weak. If she can’t defend those that are close to her, how can she hope to protect complete strangers.
Yotomoe…if there is an award for awesome parent…congratulations, you won one.
Possibly because you are a family of ninjas.
Just a quick check to see if something is like this.
~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~
A M A Z I G I R L
LA LI LE LO LU
LA LI LE LO LU.
Yotomoe, snap out of it. Yotomoe! YOTOMOE!!!!!!!
Aizat. turn the game console off right now!
The mission is a failure!
Cut the power right now!
I hear it’s amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!
I was just checking the new filter, but now i wonder if anyone else understands what’s going on here.
Well, Yotomoe gave me an easy one and I just went with it.
Kawanishi-Noseguchi, Kinunobebashi, Takiyama, Uguisunomori, Tsuzumigataki,
Tada, Hirano, Ichinotorii, Uneno, Yamashita, Sasabe, Kofudai, Tokiwadai,
Myoukenguchi.
Yotomoe, something happened to me last Thursday when I was driving home. I had a couple of miles to go – I looked up and saw a glowing orange object in the sky, to the east! It was moving very irregularly… suddenly there was intense light all around me – and when I came to, I was home. What do you think happened to me?
“You wouldn’t be trying to give yourself a bogus score using some ingenius trick would you?
That’s just as low as anyone could possible stoop!
I can’t believe you some times!”
I was a North American Fall Webworm in my past life. Those were the good old days… What were you in your former life?
LEFT CROSS! Almost as good as haymaker! Yay! Broken teeth! Bruised sternum! Visceral beating of someone in desperate need of it!
I see Am Azig Irl is now censored to represent the fact that Amber is her own person now.
Cool. Gonna make discussing the current story line a bit difficult tbh
The rain didn’t deserve that
To everybody saying Amber’s going overboard, I respectfully disagree.
She’s not hurting him enough
These must have been fun to draw. 🙂
God I could read this strip over and over for hours
Blaine incapacitated, Amazi-Girl and Danny leave him at the hospital.
“What’s that baby? You didn’t try to fight the older criminal girl who had a knife to your best friend’s throat? Gee, wasn’t that a sane and sensible decision.”
^
Pretty much what anyone BUT Blaine woulda said.
Older? They are all the same age (give or take a year)considering they all are freshmen in college.
Sal and Amber are no more than a month or few apart in age, correct.
No, Sal and Walky are in their thirties. They just look younger because of genetics.
Although I do find issue with that simply because anyone of any age (young adult) can be a freshman in college.
hahaha shes going to kill him
Nah, Danny will stop her before that.
Wich means that Danny will finally do something usefuls, and yet will be even more despised by readers.
Danny could perfect a plan for world peace, inexhaustible free energy for homes, vehicles, and anything else needed, locate alternate worlds habitable by Human life, locate intelligent peaceful extraterrestrials that boost our knowledge of science, AND find perfect Zen while WRITING THE MOST AMAZING MOVIES TO EVER BE MADE, USING HIS FEET..
Fans would still call for his head, tarred and feathered, on a pike.
Why would they want to put his head on a fish?
I lol’d. Good job, sir.
I’m completely in love with the detail on the last panel, Amber’s fist actually cutting a swath through the storm and mingling the raindrops with her father’s blood. It’s perfectly exemplary of your style, which looks quick and clean but never rushed. Thanks for putting so much thought into Blaine’s suffering!
This strip is a tiny little miracle. It actually has me hoping we get to see Blaine again, if only to see what he looks like absent a few teeth.
(Blah, blah, compulsory sidenote about hoping Amber reins in her control issues before she becomes her father, blah, blah. Let’s just enjoy the Blaine giblets for now.)
As satisfying as this seems, I’ve dealt with people like Blaine and I know what happens next. When you beat a bully with your bare hands, he comes back with a weapon. It doesn’t end until one of you is dead or in prison.
And that’s why you take two eyes for an eye and all teeth for one tooth. Getting even gets you nowhere, you must hurt your enemy so horribly that the very thought of hurting you again will fill them with panic.
I hate that I have to agree.
“I have to win this now, and for all time, or I’ll fight it ever day and it will get worse and worse.”
I agree with this, I really hope that at the end Amber tears off the mask so Blaine can see exactly who has done this to him, and what he has made of his daughter. She’ll be shooting any chance she might have with Danny in the foot but I hope she’ll decide that getting away from her father will be more important in the long run.
……………. And,.. I am Quietly content.
(Meh,.. I remain a bad man.)
Holy freaking crap! As if Amber didn’t have enough of a reason to beat the shit out of Blaine!
It seems there is an endless well of reasons.
See, Blaine just doesn’t release a level of low-grade evil that slowly sweeps across the world(Such as caused by tying up every phone line for 5 minutes around lunchtime), he releases a constant energy that causes the subconscious of certain people to scream “BEAT HIM SENSELESS!”.
This is normally ignored, for voices like that, much like talking dogs, is treated by the rest of the brain as nonexistent. Yet, for some reason, they still stick a leg out and try to trip him.
Let the hate flow through you, Amber.
I love how that punch is cutting through the rain!
Tsk tsk, Blaine. You called down the thunder and Zeus himself responded.
She is going to regret this beatdown so much as soon as this is over.
Augh, Blaine. Fuck you.
As much a fan as I am for seeing Blaine punched in the FAAAAAAACE!
This is a bit too far. If she leaves him bleeding and unconscious by his car and she just leaves, the police are going to get involved no matter his crushed pride.
This could spell trouble, and not just for Amber.
I think this might be Amber’s theme song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO0U2wTAHv0
Now only Faz remains…
“Amazing-girl is dominating” +500 gold
“An enemy’s rampage has been shut down” bounty +800 gold
I like the way you have her fist cutting through the rain, sort of taking the place of a motion line. Well done.
Blaine used Beat Up! Blaine’s attack missed!
Amber used Close Combat! It’s super effective!
[Zim voice] Nothing…. Or SOMEthing? [/Zim voice]
This is freakin’ awesome, sometimes violence is the answer!
From yesterday’s comic and still going with todays; this comic just turned great.
GreatER.
waiting for Amber to unmask after she’s finished putting the pain to Blaine in the rain.
I’ll be in my bunk…
Blaine continues to get beat up by girls.
I’m not sure i’ve said it before, i’ve definitely wanted to, but… Mr. Willis, dumbing of age is so amazing. I’m loving the art, the writing, the drama, the humor (well not NOW, of course), and the way you deal with several different topics.
I love how this whole recent amazi-girl arc has looked and how much can be said about what is happening right here.
Oh man, Poor Amber. There’s no way this will end well for anyone involved.
Do the twist amzagirl!
break him untill nothing remains.
Welp, this certainly raises the stakes on Amazi-girl’s identity being publicly revealed.
I feel like Willis is preemptively chastising the audience for possibly feeling this way about Amber. “oh, THIS traumatized you? that isn’t traumatizing enough to warrent that. you shouldn’t be so traumatized.” <– 100% BS
I know punching the bad guy is cathartic and all but the rage hard-on people have had with killing this guy for the last few days is getting a bit creepy.
Seek medical advice about your days-long rage hard-on.
Yeah, it is getting creepy. Funny how blood thirsty people can get.
People are looking for a socially-acceptable outlet for their rage and impotence (or fecklessness). For many people watching (or reading) a comic of a comically bad man getting the ever-loving crap beaten out of him satisfies that need.
I’m moderately confident nobody actually wants or expects Amber to kill Blaine.
But they want bad things to happen to him, and they (and I) want Amber to get some closure regarding her abusive father and past traumas.
Amber has a lot of pent-up rage toward her father for sure. At least she’s directed it to the source of her anger – which is kind of rare. I like how David has explained Amber’s rather unusual way of dealing with her anger in donning the costume.
Yeah, Blaine is an asshole. Yeah, he had it coming and Amber was the one to give it to him. But Blaine himself didn’t become what he was in a vacuum, and although we’re unlikely to see it – he probably came from an abusive household himself.
Isn’t he paying for her education? Will he retaliate? Will this be a moment of gestalt and growth for him? Stay tuned – we’ll all see where this ride takes us.
Probably another reason Blaine is not recognizing Amber. Not just the mask—and the rain (changing hairstyle and darkening hair)–but even after the blow in the dormitory, he just can’t visualize his daughter as a violent person–even if he made her it.
I should be appalled. Instead, I want to pop popcorn. This is cathartic. If it were a human being, it would be one thing, but this is Blaine: an abusive asshole with little claim to humanity.
I do not understand the rules that are used for filtering posts.
Your first post is filtered and then all your future posts are unfiltered.
Now I want a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke!
Posts with more than one link in them require approval. Posts that are made up entirely of a link go through without approval, but the link is removed. The name of a certain ex-SUV who doesn’t exist in this universe is replaced with ~s. And sometimes Willis just gets annoyed by things and deletes them.
Commented on a quirk of the way one of the panels was drawn and my post apparently got deleted. I didn’t even say anything negative. Sigh.
Sometimes a man can get tired of everything being turned into sexual observations, especially when a father and daughter are concerned. You don’t have to post everything that comes to mind.
OK, fair enough. I’m sorry.
Haha, excellent!
Not sure if someone pointed it out but… Doesnt it seem a bit like it was Blaine telling her that in he past? And she agreed him which is WHY she fights crime so never to feel helpless again!… Damn she really is like Batman huh.
YEP!!!
Blaine, when you said she was ruining everything you had no idea how right you were.
… oh god, there is no Amber, there is only Zuul.
Gawd Damn.
I know nobody’s reading down this far, but this has gotten 365 views in the 8 hours it’s been up.
REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED IN THE RAIN!
Hello, my name is Amber. You killed my childhood, prepare to die!
Stop saying that!
NEXT – SAL!
This is like in Spider-Man 3 when Black Suit Peter believed he was “killing” Sandman and fully intended to let him die.
Best hovertext yet.
Did This To Himself.
…and that’s what really hurts?
Awww…his little girl is all grown up now.
Sure hope he has a good dental plan.
This is very sad! This makes me feel sorry for Amber. She’s supposed to be better than that.
I really hate this particular strip. Yesterday’s kick to the face was fine, but today we have Amber just beating Blaine senseless (narrated by Amber’s traumatic memories). It looks like he’s barely trying to defend himself, and probably doesn’t even know who this girl is or why she’s pummeling him; there’s no evidence yet that he or Danny recognized the voice shift from yesterday.
I say this out of sympathy for Amber, not for Blaine, as I have no sympathy for him. Blaine’s still going to be a horrible, controlling, abusive father and overall asshole, and Amber’s actions here are probably just going to make things worse for her.
Then there’s Danny, who thinks Amazi-girl is pretty rad, and is presently watching her beat Amber’s father bloody. Granted, the beating is not unprovoked, and it’s supposedly in his defense, but it is grossly excessive. In the closest thing to a happy ending for this arc, Amber’s identity is revealed, Danny recognizes that she’s struggling with a lot of past trauma, and decides he’s willing to help her however he can. But a more common (and sensible) reaction is to get back to a safe distance.
Oh, and by “hate” in that first block of text, I mean something along the lines of “Willis is making me feel anger and sadness and a lot of other feels with his story-making prowess.”
…Damn.
This is taking a somber turn.
I’m also really to suspend my disbelief over Danny not recognizing Amber. But her own FATHER?.
Amber and Blaine hadn’t seen each other in years before this storyline.
However silly Amber’s Amazi-girl outfit looks to us, it appears to be an in-universe rule that it is an effective disguise.
In the dark, in the rain, while getting brutally beaten… I can buy that Blaine hasn’t realized that it’s his daughter, with whom he’s had only one brief contact in the last several years, delivering the beating. He’s got other things on his mind at the moment than exactly whose fist it is punching his face in, and he remembers Amber as that timid and helpless girl in the red panels.
Though given that the brief contact was also Amber’s fist with his face, maybe this should be feeling familiar.
For some reason this got stuck in my head reading this comic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EWozJkSML0
Knives can be pretty deadly.
Shouldn’t Blaine by now recognize that fist? Actually, it would appear that Amber will have quite a torn set of knuckles to explain away next time she meets Danny in civilian clothes.
Amber is wearing Amazi-gloves.
I’ve seen some folks predict (and hope) that if Danny tries to stop her he’ll get caught in the cross-fire. I was expecting that Danny would pull her off him and get her to come to her senses.
I hope Amber doesn’t face too harsh a punishment for this, and that she finally realizes she needs help.
I don’t think I can express how happy this arc is making me. People are saying “Oh, Amber has deep-seated anger issues, she’s expressing them through violence, she needs help” NO. Amber is being violent because her father is violent. She knows perfectly well which situations don’t call for violence, because she hasn’t shown this much anger throughout all her time at school. She is rightfully angry now because her father has pulled her friend, a boy she has a crush on, into the charade and has put him in harm’s way. And she is taking back power that is rightfully hers, and making sure that he will never hurt her or try to attack her weak spots again. I am so proud of Amber, and people who think she needs help need to realize that she is HELPING HERSELF.
I was thinking something similar myself. Wouldn’t it be something if this is what allows Amber to re-integrate Amazigirl and herself? It’s like years of therapy concentrated into a few minutes, but with fists!
THIS.
I don’t think I can express how happy this arc is making me. People are saying “Oh, Amber has deep-seated anger issues, she’s expressing them through violence, she needs help” NO. Amber is being violent because her father is violent. She knows perfectly well which situations don’t call for violence, because she hasn’t shown this much anger throughout all her time at school. She is rightfully angry now because her father has pulled her friend, a boy she has a crush on, into the charade and has put him in harm’s way. And she is taking back power that is rightfully hers, and making sure that he will never hurt her or try to attack her weak spots again. I am so proud of Amber, and people who think she needs help need to realize that she is HELPING HERSELF.
While I greatly agree that she’s doing what I feel is right in taking back what was hers, violence be damned, I do feel she should consider just a wee bit of therapy for the duality complex she’s developed with Amazi-Girl. Sure, it’s a great way for her to vent and she easily compartmentalizes her emotions, but that is in no way healthy for herself. She has to vent. ALL of it. Otherwise it’s going to either a) fester within herself or b) she’ll reach a breaking point in the worst possible way. Right now, she’s handing that worthless cum stain survivor excuse of a human being we know as Blaine his well deserved pompous ass and she’s using the strength she both did and didn’t know she had to do it. Is she wrong for it? Hell no! Well she need help dealing with the trauma he’s caused her up to now? Yeah, she will but because she was a victim as much as she’s been the aggressor.
This.
We’re told ‘violence is not the answer’ and I do believe that, but this is about more than Blaine getting a richly deserved ass-kicking. This is about Amber breaking free of all the insecurities and self-doubt he’s saddled her with and internalising the idea that she’s stronger then he is, that his view of her doesn’t matter.
That said, this is just the first step in the healing process. The next step is to deal with the anger she’s carrying and her fears that it makes her too much like her father.
I agree, there are times when righteous anger is needed and a beat down is needed and this is one of them.
WIN.
That is all.
I have a feeling Amber won’t need to be Amazi-Girl anymore after this is over. And I suspect there will be an angry, tear-stained unmasking as soon as she stops beating the shit out of Blaine.
So…..by Sunday’s strip then cause at the rate she’s going, I can bet she’ll black out into pure rage. Also, I call she get’s unmasked mid suplex. PLEASE don’t let that be a game changer in Blaine’s favor!
I suspect there will be an angry, tear-stained unmasking as soon as she stops beating the shit out of Blaine.
Followed by an anguished declaration that Danny is simply Too Stupid To Love.
To be honest, I’m kinda hoping he realises, then apologises profusely, asking if she can ever forgive him- she passionately kisses him, and says “of course I forgive you- what sort of person would hate you for an honest mistake?”. The she glares us us through the fourth wall.
Daaaaaaaaaang Amazi-Girl.
My prediction for tomorrow’s comic.
Amber is about to pummel Blaine’s brains onto the pavement, when, off-panel, Danny says, “Amber?”
Everything stops. Amber is still. Then she breaks down crying.
That second action panel with Amber gritting her teeth and glaring up at Blaine… wow! It really expresses so much.
“I not only can take a punch, I can throw one too.”-Darling Cruel
Perfectly sums up Amber as well. Blaine only knows how to hit people. Amber know how to fight.
Looking for a more satisfying crunch?
Not me.
Reading alt-text before comic: comprehension fail …
That’s an interesting twist put on it, and explains a lot about Amber. It wasn’t just that she felt powerless in the situation; instead of any kind of situation or comfort, she was told she was a coward for not standing up to a robber with a knife.
“It was just a knife.”
Yeah, a knife is plenty if all you have is your hands and you aren’t some kind of trained fighter.
Knife is a lot even if you *are* a trained fighter without a weapon of your own.
Real people get their hands ruined that way (and if you want to say that they weren’t *properly* trained, well, the knife-wielder wasn’t properly trained either).
Now this..ladies and gentlemen, is called Stomping a mud hole and walking it dry!
This comic approved by Clubber Lang
Awesome, now break his neck and make him cry like a bongo!
Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everyone:
A pummeling tonight!
Something appealing,
Something appalling,
Something for everyone:
A pummeling tonight!
Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns;
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns!
Old situations,
New complications,
Nothing portentous or polite;
Tragedy tomorrow,
Pummeling tonight!
Something convulsive,
Something repulsive,
Something for everyone:
A pummeling tonight!
(Apologies to Zero Mostel and Stephen Sondheim.)
How odd is it that I was actually humming the tune as I read your post?
I don’t find that at all odd. I was humming the tune as I posted it.
Why am I not surprised you said that to your probably still terrified daughter? Asshole.
I imagine this fight is going to end with Blaine in a full body cast, Amber with blood sexily splattered across her face, and Danny with the hardest erection that he ever has had or ever will have.
Starburst Stream!!
nice for if nothing else blaine will hopefully know that amber is not weak as he made her and never ever be able to mess with her. though think her behavior is also a little pts due to what happen with ethan and the robber at the convince store. at least amber has the perfect outlet for her metal issues now using blaine as a punching bag.
Sorry, but when I see the NSFW ad, I just totally imagine those two going at it in the rain right around the corner while this ensues.
She is giving him the business.
Well, goodbye Amazigirl, it was nice knowing you.
I really like the rain effect in that last panel. Really gives emphasis to her punch.
i’m honestly not sure if i care how badly this ends at this point, because those two panels of Blaine getting beaten to a pulp are the most cathartic thing i’ve ever seen in a webcomic since 2008
What did you see in 2008?
Excellent question. I, too, am curious as to the answer.
In eager anticipation of your elucidation,
Anon
Basically all of It’s Walky. Watching Sal practically curb stomp the head alien had me at my desk screaming “YES!” for half an hour.
Willis, did you just censor me or was that a technical glitch? I ‘ve had a lot of posts just disappear when I hit “Post Comment”, and I’d like to know.
The only thing this website censors are names of people who are definitely not Amazi-Girl.
What does that mean? I had a post with what I thought was an innocuous comment disappear as well, maybe the server was on the fritz.
So much red.
so much… red red red red red red red RED