The Punisher, no. Frank Castle is pretty much gone, or at least was back in the 90’s. Particularly in Miller’s Return of the Dark Knight, the Batman and Bruce aren’t necessarily the same person. Most other writers, though, seem to make Bruce an act the Batman puts on, so for that character what Amber is doing is still another level of nuts.
I don’t see why. Her only two friends up til now were Ethan and Mike, and they went to the same school together. They didn’t need to text to schedule hanging out and if they wanted to talk long-distance they could IM each other. Amber has better things to spend money on, like World of Warcraft and DS games and custom jumpsuits.
Actual body armor — bulletproof flak jackets or the like — would be better, of course, but she doesn’t seem to go for that, whereas this can be tailored to give a superheroish profile pretty easily. Also, motosport uniforms have a better freedom of movement which she’d likely need.
Failing that, unitards and the like aren’t that hard to find (or sew), but given her gear and fighting style, they’d also lead to a lot of injuries.
Okay, sure, it’s eleven or twelve hundred bucks before getting to boots, gauntlets and mask (not to mention her other gear), but that’s not a huge amount of money over time for something she would be relying on so heavily.
Of course, that would also explain her trying to save money on her texting plan.
I am fairly sure amber made her outfit herself, although those motorsports things look cool. I also don’t think her outfit provides protection, she just relies on her physical abilities.
I am too. But I wanted to answer the asked question.
The up and coming tech for motosport protection was called Deflexion, by the by, and it was full on Batman crap. It was flexible (to the point of being able to be worn as fabric, they claimed) but immediately went rigid upon impact — kind of like a non-Newtonian liquid, only not… you know, being liquid.
It was a Dow Corning thing, and they were touting it heavily both for motosport protection (which is where I came across it) and then for military and law enforcement use. And then it was just taken down without comment and they never mentioned it again.
You could assume that therefore the material didn’t work out or failed in testing. I assume that any day now, a descendent of Herbert Henry Dow will emerge as Batman.
I know a couple guys who use non-Newtonian fluid protective gear as part of their SCA armor kit – vests and pads covered with flat gel sacs that act like plates under high-velocity impacts. I haven’t tried it personally, but it’s apparently soft and flexible in normal wear, but hardens enough to be effective at least as supplemental armor when hit. It’d suit Amazi-Girl’s needs nicely in hand-to-hand combat situations, and provide decent protection in a fight with Bat-Woman (I mean, Sarah), though I doubt it’d be useful against a gun, and I have no idea how it performs against blades.
Not sure how expensive it is, either, but maybe A.G. could roll her own with some baggies of corn starch…
I wish I could be spinning a tale of plausible deniability while quietly building my arsenal and taking to the streets as a one man war on the darkness that plagues our society, but I think that would necessitate me being physically capable of fitting inside of motocross gear, first. And necessitate me being able to take to the streets. And other things that dance around the fact that I’m kind of a load.
It doesn’t matter. Unless she is using Blackberry Messenger or Apple’s iMessage — which are more like the old AOL IMs and do use data.
Text messaging does not use the data network, it uses the same network as the voice calls do. This is why old non-date phones like the original Motorola RAZR flip-phone was still able to do texting.
My provider, at least, includes text messages in the data plan. I have to pay a dime per text (a quarter for image messages), incoming or outgoing, because I don’t have a data plan. The very fact that Amber brought up her data limit in the context of sending a text indicates that this is also the case for her provider.
Unlimited texts plans are extra. Amber may not have thought she needed them, given her circle of friends (and the fact that the circle is so small as to approach being a dot).
Messaging services use very little data to begin with though. WhatsApp (you know, the company that Facebook bought for US$19 billion) on my phone has only used a couple hundred kilobytes for several hundreds of messages!
I work for Verizon and all of the major companies (Sprint/ATT/T-mobile/Verizon) have plans that offer unlimited talk and texting. There are some plans on all carriers that have lower levels, but these are either a “little old lady who wants a phone for emergencies” plan or a so-called “legacy” plan that date back to the earlier days of cellphones.
I can see Blaine as being the kind of guy who would have parental controls on Amber’s phone and be restricting her voice/texting/data usage just to show her that he’s the one calling the shots.
I know Verizon, at least, stopped offering unlimited data years ago, when they hit upon the “we can get more money by limiting people’s monthly bandwidth” idea in the first place. The only people who have unlimited data with Verizon are those who registered for that plan before it was discontinued.
Recently, they even stopped the “free phone every two years for renewing your contract” thing with the grandfathered unlimited data plan. Capitalism!
I don’t know what the other companies are doing, or if Amber’s phone is serviced by Verizon. But there it is, for what it’s worth: no unlimited data because money.
Depending on who writes him, though, he is either a criminal mastermind constantly keeping up his insanity plea, a schizophrenic who believes his puppet is his boss, or the victim of some sort of possession.
Nothri sees nothing wrong with Amber’s desire to talk in the third person, and in fact Nothri finds the provides an almost giddy sensation of empowerment. That said, Nothri probably won’t make a habit of doing it. Unless Nothri is amused by Nothri’s own antics, which Nothri probably will be because Nothri is all too easy to amuse.
Uhhhh, see my comment below. It was originally a reply to you. Anyway, point is, she’s not really speaking in third person. Which kinda makes this not so much a strange verbal tic, and into something psychologically concerning.
Texting is still a kind of data. it’s just many contracts will place it seperatly. I’m guessing amber’s does not from her comment. not that rare unless its something like a top of the line phone
and considering amber had 2 freinds before this, I doubt she splurged on a fancy phone rather than a basic one
I’ve cracked it! Amazi-girl and Amber are like Bruce Banner and Hulk. They’re two people in one body: the sweet, innocent nerd and the rampaging yet goodhearted badass. Bruce can still control Hulk in small amounts and influence his personality, but Hulk is the creature that is largely in control. And Sal robbing the convenience store while Amber and Ethan were in it was like the gamma ray explosion that created Banner’s Hulk persona! Now Amazi-girl is slowly gaining more control over the physical form she and Amber share and she’s going to use that extra control to (Most likely) completely override the pure heart of the Amber persona and go after Sal in the next storyline! BOOM!
“The void breathed hard on Amber’s heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Amazi-Girl. Does that answer your question, Darth?”
I’m pretty sure Amber’s doing it cuz she’s still mad at Ethan. Kind of like a “Can you tell HER that I’ve had it with her” (when she’s a foot away from you)
The scary thing here is she isn’t really speaking in third person. Notice that she says “I just thought I should warn you” in the last panel. She’s speaking about Amber as if she’s a different person even to someone who knows better, and who she is being really obvious to (she’s not completely in costume). But she’s in her Amazi-girl mode, and she has compartmentalized so thoroughly that it feels “natural” to her to refer to her alter ego as if it was a different person. It’s very worrisome. She has very serious mental health issues. She needs therapy, bad.
It’s kinda funny how what started out seeming like a silly addition to a more realistic comic has become so serious. It’s really incredible writing here. Kudos Willis.
Thats really very close. For most people multiple personalities have triggers. However when Amber decided to ‘compartmentalize’ her feelings she subconsciously enabled the Amazi-Girl personality to be called on, thus no longer needing triggers. This is why she was able to quickly change her voice while talking to her dad (unless the Amazi-Girl was mimicking her voice, I’ve heard of that). Unfortunately Amber has been facing large amounts of triggers which gives Amazi-Girl full control and, because she has told herself she’s compartmentalizing she isn’t completely aware she is third person speaking even in her normal voice.
In other words, she embraced the Amazi-Girl personality not realizing:
1. That it is in fact another personality not a persona.
2. She doesn’t have as much control over it as she thinks.
ugh, this whole 3rd person phenomena scares the crap outta me. almost like some foreign entity has taken control… can’t help but think that the rational “real” person is inside screaming to take back control, but just can’t for some reason.
I’m gettin’ a real “Hunt the Dark Knight” vibe off Amber’s story lately. It’s not just her own mental state, though that clearly ain’t helping matters, but events with Ruth, Sal, Danny, and even Dina seem to be falling together like dominoes. There’s got to be a way this ends without Amber being escorted off campus in handcuffs, but hell if I know what it is.
(Oh, and while we’re at it, I don’t think Amber is anywhere close to her monthly data limit– I mean, I guess maybe, given as much texting as she’s done with Danny– but the real reason she got in there was because she had a burning need to do SOMETHING super-heroic after maybe twelve hours of trying to quit the hero game cold turkey. Like getting antsy after missing your morning workout.)
She might be able to reintegrate both personalities on her own; Amber and Amazi-girl need to have a face-to-face meeting.
Right now, Amber is broken, so naturally Amazi-girl is taking more and more control. Either Amber needs to put herself back together (thus re-establishing the unhealthy status-quo), or she needs to shatter the Amazi-girl persona (she’s the only one who can), and reassemble the pieces into a whole identity.
Now people are going to have to help her, starting with Ethan, I hope.
And as T Campbell points out, I would like to see it end without her being escorted off campus in handcuffs: but, I think it will likely be in a straightjacket.
Serious Professional Help in her immediate future. I hope. If that can be done without revealing the fact that she’s the one who curb stomped her father.
Amber should probably know that non-picture texts aren’t a part of your data limit for MOST carriers. Normally, your phone is one part of the bill, texts another, and data a third part.
Maybe she does know that and it was just a terrible excuse (that’s probably it).
Cellphone nerd: If she and Ethan both have iPhones, iMessaging does come out of the data allowance. Of course, she could always turn iMessaging off in that case and it’d revert to ordinary SMS.
Yeah,..
She’s Bent.
Up to this point I thought this was a clark kent / Kal-el thing where the person remained the same between two persona.
Instead we have a Marc Spencer / Moon Knight thing going on.
I like how Ethan doesn’t seem to care about Sal being at the university. His first concern, despite their fight, is the fact that Amber’s mental health seems to be further deteriorating. Though given Amber’s slipping grasp of reality, Ethan might not even believe that she actually saw the would-be robber here.
I mean, I don’t think he should be worried. I don’t think Amber should be worried- it was a long time ago, and Sal was like 14 then. Things have changed, naturally.
I mean, I understand why sh’es upset/scared, I just don’t think that’s about the situation as much as it is about Amber.
Please try to talk some sense into her about how pretending to be two different people is bad for one’s mental health, Ethan. And having articulated that advice, please have an epiphany and follow your own advice, you silly closeted little man you.
I think people are over-reacting here. Amber may indeed have a lot of issues, but I don’t think being nuts is necessarily one of them. Unless you think attempting to be a super-hero in reality is nuts to begin with, in which case it’s another discussion and you have to take into account she’s doing pretty good at it.
However….
As the veteran of some pretty strange RPGs with meta tendencies, I have to say that when you are dealing with multiple assumed identities that when you are in one role, referring to yourself in another role in third person is completely natural, even when that other role is your everyday self. It doesn’t necessarily reflect any loss of connection to reality. It’s just the most efficient and natural way to think about it. Well, no loss of connection to reality unless of course you hold that fantasy role playing is nuts to begin with, in which case it’s another discussion.
So… Trying to be a superhero, that’s pretty different. Referencing or even thinking of your ordinary identity as separate when in the superhero role, a natural thing to do. Compared to beating your abusive father into the pavement, not really a sign of having lost it. She’s concerned about Ethan. She lets him know. Amazi-girl is still providing structure for Amber to deal with her more violent tendencies. So in my opinion, no more crazy than usual.
Opinion subject to change of course if given further evidence.
Jerden is pretty sure that the creation of an alter ego to deal with your problems suggests you’re either nuts, or have way too many issues to deal with, and are likely to try insanity as a coping mechanism.
Worried for Sal and Amber rn. If Amber was in a better place, I think she’d realize that someone committing a crime as 14 year old does not make them a threat in the present. It doesn’t seem like Amber gets that right now, given how triggered she is. It just sucks.
Well, sadly, I think seeing Sal as a threat would happen regardless of what kind of place she was in mentally. As long as the event from the past was traumatising, I feel that she was always going to be afraid of her and what she might do. I think all that would have changed if she was in a better place mentally was how she handled it and how severely she reacted really.
Should Jerden be worried about Amber’s use of the third person? Should Jerden assume that this is another step towards insanity? I mean, she dresses up like it’s Halloween every night, had a pretty messed up childhood and can get rather violent…
Jerden fears that Amber’s already lost it. He also fears that the 3rd person thing is infectious.
Amazi-girl: Meeting with Ethan left a bad taste in my mouth. He’s pampered and decadent, betraying his own shallow liberal affections. Possibly homosexual? Must remember to investigate further.
Y’know, Amber barging in through a window reminds me a lot of the first time I met Arcee. There I was, falling to certain death in an escape pod jettisoned from Kimia, when Arcee leaps out of a shuttle Hardhead’s piloting, controls her descent, and uses a pair of vibroblades to pry open the airlock, and then launches into a spiel about Jhiaxus, Galvatron, the Dead Universe and a threat to life itself. I’ve never enjoyed myself more when I was in mortal peril, let me tell you!
Ethan manages to patch some of his relationship with Amber, and they leave out the door together. However, Joyce sees Ethan close with Amber and reacts as she is fairly to do, which turns into a crazy mishap that they can talk about in the reunion in 25 years.
Honestly, my heart breaks for Amber in so many ways. She comes from a history of abuse and fear that no one around her knows about nor understands fully. Her problems are being goaded and exacerbated rather than faced. The last two strips emphasize, more than ever, that she seriously needs help, but, like so many, no one is aware enough to get her to help.
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Ohhhhh dear
Yeah… Not much else to say
Seeing sal made amber want to be come sales partially to convey a message that wouldn’t have been relevant to anyone but Ethan and amber
HE COMES
ZALGO COMES
She’s completely lost it.
Not completely, there’s still some of her there… you just gotta go a little deep.
Which Mike will do on Monday.
(And now it sounds like Mike’s lost it as well…)
But only if she provides the required Amazi-nickel… (I know what you’re thinking, but once we’re done with her, she’ll be someone’s mom! >:3)
Too many epic hatefucks does that to you.
But she has found…Her Inner Batman!
Not quite yet. But the lines are… blurring.
Actually, the lines are forming. She’s dividing A-Girl from Amber. It sounds like she’s drifting into a “Dissociative identity disorder.”
“Amber must go. Amber is late for her dailies.”
Is that where Faz gets it =|
It runs in the family.
So does violence and awkward hook-ups
And referring to oneself in the 3rd person.
Did Batman or the punsiher ever do that?
Batman has spoken about “Bruce Wayne” in the third person
Well yeah, but when it makes sense in context.
Batman am Batman.
The Punisher, no. Frank Castle is pretty much gone, or at least was back in the 90’s. Particularly in Miller’s Return of the Dark Knight, the Batman and Bruce aren’t necessarily the same person. Most other writers, though, seem to make Bruce an act the Batman puts on, so for that character what Amber is doing is still another level of nuts.
The Amazi-Phone doesn’t have unlimited data?
Yeah, that struck me as the kind of thing that Amber would try to acquire.
I don’t see why. Her only two friends up til now were Ethan and Mike, and they went to the same school together. They didn’t need to text to schedule hanging out and if they wanted to talk long-distance they could IM each other. Amber has better things to spend money on, like World of Warcraft and DS games and custom jumpsuits.
Where do you even buy superhero clothes, though?
Probably your best bet for something durable and reasonably protective in the kinds of fights she gets in would come from the Motosport world. http://www.motosport.com/motorcycle/REVIT-Excellerator-OnePiece-Undersuit as an undersuit, with a good well armored outer layer — say http://www.motosport.com/motorcycle/DAINESE-WOMENS-AVRO-TWOPIECE-LEATHER-SUIT — would both conceal her outer dimensions (good for avoiding identity issues) and make it a lot harder to hurt her in a hand to hand donnybrook.
Actual body armor — bulletproof flak jackets or the like — would be better, of course, but she doesn’t seem to go for that, whereas this can be tailored to give a superheroish profile pretty easily. Also, motosport uniforms have a better freedom of movement which she’d likely need.
Failing that, unitards and the like aren’t that hard to find (or sew), but given her gear and fighting style, they’d also lead to a lot of injuries.
Okay, sure, it’s eleven or twelve hundred bucks before getting to boots, gauntlets and mask (not to mention her other gear), but that’s not a huge amount of money over time for something she would be relying on so heavily.
Of course, that would also explain her trying to save money on her texting plan.
I am fairly sure amber made her outfit herself, although those motorsports things look cool. I also don’t think her outfit provides protection, she just relies on her physical abilities.
I am too. But I wanted to answer the asked question.
The up and coming tech for motosport protection was called Deflexion, by the by, and it was full on Batman crap. It was flexible (to the point of being able to be worn as fabric, they claimed) but immediately went rigid upon impact — kind of like a non-Newtonian liquid, only not… you know, being liquid.
It was a Dow Corning thing, and they were touting it heavily both for motosport protection (which is where I came across it) and then for military and law enforcement use. And then it was just taken down without comment and they never mentioned it again.
You could assume that therefore the material didn’t work out or failed in testing. I assume that any day now, a descendent of Herbert Henry Dow will emerge as Batman.
I know a couple guys who use non-Newtonian fluid protective gear as part of their SCA armor kit – vests and pads covered with flat gel sacs that act like plates under high-velocity impacts. I haven’t tried it personally, but it’s apparently soft and flexible in normal wear, but hardens enough to be effective at least as supplemental armor when hit. It’d suit Amazi-Girl’s needs nicely in hand-to-hand combat situations, and provide decent protection in a fight with Bat-Woman (I mean, Sarah), though I doubt it’d be useful against a gun, and I have no idea how it performs against blades.
Not sure how expensive it is, either, but maybe A.G. could roll her own with some baggies of corn starch…
Should we be… concerned that you’ve apparently researched this?
Heh. I write superhero stories. Or did, once upon a time.
I wish I could be spinning a tale of plausible deniability while quietly building my arsenal and taking to the streets as a one man war on the darkness that plagues our society, but I think that would necessitate me being physically capable of fitting inside of motocross gear, first. And necessitate me being able to take to the streets. And other things that dance around the fact that I’m kind of a load.
http://www.superherosupplies.com
Well, iPhones are kind of over-priced for college students.
It doesn’t matter. Unless she is using Blackberry Messenger or Apple’s iMessage — which are more like the old AOL IMs and do use data.
Text messaging does not use the data network, it uses the same network as the voice calls do. This is why old non-date phones like the original Motorola RAZR flip-phone was still able to do texting.
My provider, at least, includes text messages in the data plan. I have to pay a dime per text (a quarter for image messages), incoming or outgoing, because I don’t have a data plan. The very fact that Amber brought up her data limit in the context of sending a text indicates that this is also the case for her provider.
Sorry,
AmberAmazi-Girl. Amber isn’t in this strip.Those rates are absurd.
Don’t tell me; tell Verizon.
I don’t text anyway; otherwise I’d have a data plan.
No unlimited text plan?
Unlimited texts plans are extra. Amber may not have thought she needed them, given her circle of friends (and the fact that the circle is so small as to approach being a dot).
Messaging services use very little data to begin with though. WhatsApp (you know, the company that Facebook bought for US$19 billion) on my phone has only used a couple hundred kilobytes for several hundreds of messages!
It’s only got one button and only connects to the commissioner. She has to use her personal phone to speak with friends.
I thought unlimited texts were a thing now in the USA? Or am I wrong?
I work for Verizon and all of the major companies (Sprint/ATT/T-mobile/Verizon) have plans that offer unlimited talk and texting. There are some plans on all carriers that have lower levels, but these are either a “little old lady who wants a phone for emergencies” plan or a so-called “legacy” plan that date back to the earlier days of cellphones.
I’m a little old lady, apparently. And I guess making any phone call whatsoever must be an emergency because I don’t have a landline anymore.
(Actually I do, but it’s only the DSL for my servers. No voice service.)
Who’d pay for that?
Certainly not Blaine.
I can see Blaine as being the kind of guy who would have parental controls on Amber’s phone and be restricting her voice/texting/data usage just to show her that he’s the one calling the shots.
I know Verizon, at least, stopped offering unlimited data years ago, when they hit upon the “we can get more money by limiting people’s monthly bandwidth” idea in the first place. The only people who have unlimited data with Verizon are those who registered for that plan before it was discontinued.
Recently, they even stopped the “free phone every two years for renewing your contract” thing with the grandfathered unlimited data plan. Capitalism!
I don’t know what the other companies are doing, or if Amber’s phone is serviced by Verizon. But there it is, for what it’s worth: no unlimited data because money.
I have sprint and I have unlimited text/data, and god knows I need it, just last month I used 15 gigs of data.
I am Darkness.
I am The Night.
I am… Color Coordinated with the rest of Ethan’s decor.
And Ethan.
I thought “she’s here” was Amber announcing Amazi-Girl, which, amazingly, would be even crazier than what she’s doing now.
“Amber is the terror that flaps in the night!
Amber is the person who has inexplicably started referring to herself in the third person!
Amber is Amazi-Duck!”
“When there’s trouble
Just call AW.”
“…the soda?”
Rootbeer does help to relieve stress. Also normal beer works too.
This is gonna end badly, ain’t it?
Hopefully
This is a DamnYouWillisverse, what other way could it end?
Hatefucks?
All Universes are DamnYouWillisverses. It’s an immutable law.
All Willis universes share the common multiverse called DamnYouWillis.
Yes, but you’re missing the fine point that this a DamnYouWillisverse also. It’s why the strip resonates so well.
Of course not. If it ended, the suffering would end too.
ZHUULLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is no Zhul, only Amazi-Girl.
The fringe is gone.
Looks like AG can borrow Amber’s body whenever she likes.
She just posseses her once a day to tone those amazi-thighs so she can do all those acrobatics.
The third person’s not the most worrisome part. Apparently she’s forgotten how to use the door. That can only mean she’s merging with Sal, too.
That’s a Batmanism, if we’re going by the “Sal is basically Batman” thing.
I’m calling it now. Amber and Sal meet halfway up a drainpipe trying to get into Danny’s window.
Holy split personalities, Batman!
I wonder when she will start flipping a coin to decide things.
Or start talking through an Amazi-Girl ventriloquist dummy.
I feel like there should be a batman villain that does that. Because that’d scare the shit out of me.
There is Arnold Wesker, otherwise known as The Ventriloquist..
Depending on who writes him, though, he is either a criminal mastermind constantly keeping up his insanity plea, a schizophrenic who believes his puppet is his boss, or the victim of some sort of possession.
If it’s in the DSM, there’s a Batman villain for it.
Nice to know Ethan’s interests carry on through universes!
What you mean being Gay ( which he’s completely trieing to hide) or being a completely selfish inconsiderate basterd?
Pretty sure he was referring to the batman/transformers stuff on the window…
We can plainly see I’m not much of a fan of Ethan.
Amber doesn’t live here anymore.
She’s not in the tags, at least.
That’s because “Amazi-Girl” is the goa’uld’s personality not Amber’s.
That’s how Head Alien did it! Stargates, and sun flairs, and worm hole theories, probably kidnapped Carter As well. … -Goofy Grin.-
So….who in DoA are the members of SG1?
That might be interesting.
“And where do you live, Amazi-girl?”
“I live in the weak and the wounded…doc.”
I get it and I approve.
Nice to know that Ethan’s clued in – and I like the funny side note about him and Amber speaking again.
And her new voice as well.
Damn, what messed up phone plan counts text messages as data?
First rule of superheroes… Get an unlimited plan!
Not just a problem now that we have cellphones. The Mk 1 Bat-Signal ran off two D-Batteries. One time they ran out of juice and seven people died.
Or a prepaid cell phone!
Nothri sees nothing wrong with Amber’s desire to talk in the third person, and in fact Nothri finds the provides an almost giddy sensation of empowerment. That said, Nothri probably won’t make a habit of doing it. Unless Nothri is amused by Nothri’s own antics, which Nothri probably will be because Nothri is all too easy to amuse.
Uhhhh, see my comment below. It was originally a reply to you. Anyway, point is, she’s not really speaking in third person. Which kinda makes this not so much a strange verbal tic, and into something psychologically concerning.
Please be careful – there’s a reason Waspinator gets shot all the time.
Zathras agrees. Zathras have to go to great lengths to have fulfilling conversation.
Please, please, please, Ethan talk some sense into her. Unless they just want an apology Sal’s presence means absolutely nothing.
I’m sure Ethan can talk her into the right mindset. He won’t Danny this up.
Unless…
Oh God where is Danny?
Fraternizing with the enemy.
And Bruce Wayne…?
Why are you dressed up like Batman?
/Walken
Oh..great. Now Amber is channeling The Spider. What’s next, clones from the 70’s?
??? I’m going to haft to look those things up
Well, sometimes in the 90’s, Peter Parker went nuts and refer to the Spider man persona as The Spider.
I know how Amber and Sal can settle their differences: Mario Kart Race.
Loser keeps Danny.
Geez, man. That’s not right.
Loser gets punch in the face by Mike.
Some hot Wiggler on Wiggler action.
Texting is data? I have 3 limits, Data, Texting, and Calls. With my package now, I have unlimited text and calls, so… am… I missing something?
Prepaid phones: cheaper each month but they limit your talk minutes and/or texts
I got limited talk but unlimited text.
Texting is still a kind of data. it’s just many contracts will place it seperatly. I’m guessing amber’s does not from her comment. not that rare unless its something like a top of the line phone
and considering amber had 2 freinds before this, I doubt she splurged on a fancy phone rather than a basic one
I’ve cracked it! Amazi-girl and Amber are like Bruce Banner and Hulk. They’re two people in one body: the sweet, innocent nerd and the rampaging yet goodhearted badass. Bruce can still control Hulk in small amounts and influence his personality, but Hulk is the creature that is largely in control. And Sal robbing the convenience store while Amber and Ethan were in it was like the gamma ray explosion that created Banner’s Hulk persona! Now Amazi-girl is slowly gaining more control over the physical form she and Amber share and she’s going to use that extra control to (Most likely) completely override the pure heart of the Amber persona and go after Sal in the next storyline! BOOM!
Appropriate avatar is appropriate.
She looks better without glasses.
It’s the 80’s nerdy chick effect. Take the glasses off and they immediately shoot up the hotness scale.
The good news is that this increase in hotness does not come with an increase in craziness, thereby keeping them well below the Lisa Mendoza diagonal.
If only she was wearing overalls and a ponytail it would have had a greater effect.
Eeeeh, thats debatable.
So, is Amazi-Girl actually a full on split personality? I never really got that impression before…
“The void breathed hard on Amber’s heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world. Was Amazi-Girl. Does that answer your question, Darth?”
Well she said she was compartmentalizing, seems as though that compartment may have fallen off.
Nah, she just decided to rearrange compartments.
I’m pretty sure Amber’s doing it cuz she’s still mad at Ethan. Kind of like a “Can you tell HER that I’ve had it with her” (when she’s a foot away from you)
“Shock of the impact ran through my arm. Amber closed her eyes, Amazi-Girl opened them.”
Dammit, this is what I get for not refreshing.
I could feel my spine shatter.
It hurt.
A lot.
…Goddammit, I’m trying to remember where this is from.
Calvin & Hobbes strip about violent comics.
Oh yeah, now I remember! That was a good comic.
Willis, you’ve… you’ve made one deeply disturbed character here.
Damn.
“Amber’s past has come back to hunt her down. Hunt the both of you down, and I’m the only one who can stop it.”
Ya… I’m not sure I like how this is going. I’m worried she’s going to get proactive in the worst way possible.
The scary thing here is she isn’t really speaking in third person. Notice that she says “I just thought I should warn you” in the last panel. She’s speaking about Amber as if she’s a different person even to someone who knows better, and who she is being really obvious to (she’s not completely in costume). But she’s in her Amazi-girl mode, and she has compartmentalized so thoroughly that it feels “natural” to her to refer to her alter ego as if it was a different person. It’s very worrisome. She has very serious mental health issues. She needs therapy, bad.
It’s kinda funny how what started out seeming like a silly addition to a more realistic comic has become so serious. It’s really incredible writing here. Kudos Willis.
She’s not in costume at all after panel two, and “amber” isn’t even tagged in this strip…
Yep, that too. Forgot to mention that.
See my comments (way) below.
Damn. Hello psychotic break.
How did Sal get changed so fast!?
You’re talking about someone with a 1:38 in Rainbow Road. Girl’s quick.
Wow yeah, this one just breaks my heart in all sorts of ways.
nothing good can happen here.
Was the abuse from Blaine and the trauma of the robbery that bad that a 2nd personality emerged?
I’m guessing/hoping that she’s just having trouble with stuff right now because of the relapse triggered by seeing Sal.
Thats really very close. For most people multiple personalities have triggers. However when Amber decided to ‘compartmentalize’ her feelings she subconsciously enabled the Amazi-Girl personality to be called on, thus no longer needing triggers. This is why she was able to quickly change her voice while talking to her dad (unless the Amazi-Girl was mimicking her voice, I’ve heard of that). Unfortunately Amber has been facing large amounts of triggers which gives Amazi-Girl full control and, because she has told herself she’s compartmentalizing she isn’t completely aware she is third person speaking even in her normal voice.
In other words, she embraced the Amazi-Girl personality not realizing:
1. That it is in fact another personality not a persona.
2. She doesn’t have as much control over it as she thinks.
It’s like with Clark Kent as Superman! No one recognizes her without her glasses on. Come on, Ethan
Oh damn. She’s separating herself into Amazi-Girl and Amber WITHOUT the full costume now, she’s getting worse.
Doesn’t anyone remember? Danny : oh god are you amber under there? Amber/Amazi-girl: I don’t even know anymore.
Now I picture her doing that awful Bale Batman voice.
Hate on Throat Cancer Batman all you want, but at least you could be damn sure no one would recognize his voice.
Yup
Amber isn’t home right now, please leave a message and I’ll get you I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL GET YOU, bongo! YOU’RE FUCKIN’ DEAD!
On a more serious note, she’s just about cracked now; some time soon things are about to get real. Like “life imitates art” real.
oh c’mon, if you think about it that girl amber is talking about could have been anyone
I mean just because she looks like Sal, and Sal robbed two convenience stores… and wears gloves that would be perfect for covering a……
y’know on second thought forget i was talking
She’s a smart girl and could be doing so much more with her time.
Amber/Amazi-Girl is going to stage her “heroic” fight with Sal and barge into her room, only to find Danny there. She will feel betrayed.
This is me trying to actually contribute to the conversation for once
That’s a thing to worry about. New boy friend, old nemesis, together in the same room. I sense a full-blown mental breakdown soon.
Jerden just knows that she will burst in at the exact moment that Sal is doing something harmless but seemingly aggressive.
oh balls this is not going to end well in any way at all
Amber talking about herself in the third person.
I have a bad feeling abut this™
ABOUT arghghgh Speed typing isn’t my forte
ugh, this whole 3rd person phenomena scares the crap outta me. almost like some foreign entity has taken control… can’t help but think that the rational “real” person is inside screaming to take back control, but just can’t for some reason.
It’s all in the eyes…
You know what would be funny, both Amber and sal try to see Danny at the same time and they try to come in through his window.
Which one will be protected by a silver spoon?
I can only see this ending badly and with Amber in tears. *reaches for popcorn*
… I’m Batman.
I’m gettin’ a real “Hunt the Dark Knight” vibe off Amber’s story lately. It’s not just her own mental state, though that clearly ain’t helping matters, but events with Ruth, Sal, Danny, and even Dina seem to be falling together like dominoes. There’s got to be a way this ends without Amber being escorted off campus in handcuffs, but hell if I know what it is.
(Oh, and while we’re at it, I don’t think Amber is anywhere close to her monthly data limit– I mean, I guess maybe, given as much texting as she’s done with Danny– but the real reason she got in there was because she had a burning need to do SOMETHING super-heroic after maybe twelve hours of trying to quit the hero game cold turkey. Like getting antsy after missing your morning workout.)
Have we seen her texting? I thought that was a chat function or instant messenger on her DS in those strips.
I agree. This is really good stuff. It’s good enough to form a superhero comic on its own, nevermind a comic on college life.
It’s both inspiring and sobering to read this strip after the Temptation of Leslie Bean.
I just seeing Amber end up like Hit Girl in Kick-Ass 2 (comic, not movie )
She might be able to reintegrate both personalities on her own; Amber and Amazi-girl need to have a face-to-face meeting.
Right now, Amber is broken, so naturally Amazi-girl is taking more and more control. Either Amber needs to put herself back together (thus re-establishing the unhealthy status-quo), or she needs to shatter the Amazi-girl persona (she’s the only one who can), and reassemble the pieces into a whole identity.
Yes!
She is Baaaaack!!!!!
That’s all she wrote folks!
Now people are going to have to help her, starting with Ethan, I hope.
And as T Campbell points out, I would like to see it end without her being escorted off campus in handcuffs: but, I think it will likely be in a straightjacket.
Serious Professional Help in her immediate future. I hope. If that can be done without revealing the fact that she’s the one who curb stomped her father.
She still needs to get the sudden dissappearance thing down though.
She totally Batmanned Danny last night. And she did it while she still had her pants around her knees.
So the question is, is Amber dead or just hiding?
Amber should probably know that non-picture texts aren’t a part of your data limit for MOST carriers. Normally, your phone is one part of the bill, texts another, and data a third part.
Maybe she does know that and it was just a terrible excuse (that’s probably it).
Cellphone nerd: If she and Ethan both have iPhones, iMessaging does come out of the data allowance. Of course, she could always turn iMessaging off in that case and it’d revert to ordinary SMS.
And considering how FRIGGING LONG this month is lasting, we need to save every scrap of data we can!
Yeah,..
She’s Bent.
Up to this point I thought this was a clark kent / Kal-el thing where the person remained the same between two persona.
Instead we have a Marc Spencer / Moon Knight thing going on.
Sigh.
Uh oh, now she’s Ultra Darkness Amber! Like back when Batman quit being Bruce Wayne because Bruce was the mask.
There is no Amber…Only Amazi-Girl.
Uhm…Amber?
I’m worried about you, so let me put this in terms you are sure to understand:
Punch/Counter-Punch.
Mmmmkay?
I like how Ethan doesn’t seem to care about Sal being at the university. His first concern, despite their fight, is the fact that Amber’s mental health seems to be further deteriorating. Though given Amber’s slipping grasp of reality, Ethan might not even believe that she actually saw the would-be robber here.
I mean, I don’t think he should be worried. I don’t think Amber should be worried- it was a long time ago, and Sal was like 14 then. Things have changed, naturally.
I mean, I understand why sh’es upset/scared, I just don’t think that’s about the situation as much as it is about Amber.
Ethan needs to understand that Amber isn’t the real person.
Amazi-Girl is.
Uh-oh. Third person? Bad sign. Throng is very concerned about Amber.
So is Cragalanch
Jerden is also concerned.
I passed Waspinator in the infirmary. He told me “Waspinator worried about Amber! Amber have planzzz!”
Amber: now featuring more issues than National Geographic
Amber: she doesn’t have issues, she has subscriptions.
Ethan needs to pick a side, dammit! You can’t rep both Autobots and Decepticons!
You can if you’re Gaius Baltar.
Amber needs to learn how to use free wi-fi to circumvent wireless data plans.
Please try to talk some sense into her about how pretending to be two different people is bad for one’s mental health, Ethan. And having articulated that advice, please have an epiphany and follow your own advice, you silly closeted little man you.
See comments below.
I know the Amazi-Girl voice is supposed to be intimidating, but it just sounds stupid in my head.
I think people are over-reacting here. Amber may indeed have a lot of issues, but I don’t think being nuts is necessarily one of them. Unless you think attempting to be a super-hero in reality is nuts to begin with, in which case it’s another discussion and you have to take into account she’s doing pretty good at it.
However….
As the veteran of some pretty strange RPGs with meta tendencies, I have to say that when you are dealing with multiple assumed identities that when you are in one role, referring to yourself in another role in third person is completely natural, even when that other role is your everyday self. It doesn’t necessarily reflect any loss of connection to reality. It’s just the most efficient and natural way to think about it. Well, no loss of connection to reality unless of course you hold that fantasy role playing is nuts to begin with, in which case it’s another discussion.
So… Trying to be a superhero, that’s pretty different. Referencing or even thinking of your ordinary identity as separate when in the superhero role, a natural thing to do. Compared to beating your abusive father into the pavement, not really a sign of having lost it. She’s concerned about Ethan. She lets him know. Amazi-girl is still providing structure for Amber to deal with her more violent tendencies. So in my opinion, no more crazy than usual.
Opinion subject to change of course if given further evidence.
pretty good at it -> pretty well at it
Damn you lack of editing capability.
Jerden is pretty sure that the creation of an alter ego to deal with your problems suggests you’re either nuts, or have way too many issues to deal with, and are likely to try insanity as a coping mechanism.
Insanity is a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.
Coping mechanism…..or defense in court?
Uh oh.
… Even if this is still her compartmentalizing, it is an extremely worrying sign.
Amber. SEEK HELP.
In the end, she must choose, and when Amber does–Amber will die and Amazi-Girl will live.
Then the nightmare for Indiana’s criminals will TRULY begin.
True…but I just can’t see Indiana as a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
BORING highways trying to get to Fort Wayne for Botcon sure, but I don’t see the next Gotham springing up there.
Worried for Sal and Amber rn. If Amber was in a better place, I think she’d realize that someone committing a crime as 14 year old does not make them a threat in the present. It doesn’t seem like Amber gets that right now, given how triggered she is. It just sucks.
Well, sadly, I think seeing Sal as a threat would happen regardless of what kind of place she was in mentally. As long as the event from the past was traumatising, I feel that she was always going to be afraid of her and what she might do. I think all that would have changed if she was in a better place mentally was how she handled it and how severely she reacted really.
Ok, Amber reffering herself in 3rd person is getting creepy.
Should Jerden be worried about Amber’s use of the third person? Should Jerden assume that this is another step towards insanity? I mean, she dresses up like it’s Halloween every night, had a pretty messed up childhood and can get rather violent…
Jerden fears that Amber’s already lost it. He also fears that the 3rd person thing is infectious.
I said it before, I will say it again:
Willis loves to draw crazy people.
Oh, Amber. Maybe you should kinda think about the fact that Ethan doesn’t seem at all concerned about Sal and that you’re the one he’s worried about?
I do really wonder how she’d have reacted to seeing Sal if Blaine hadn’t barged in on family day and stirred up that trauma.
Plot hole! Texting doesn’t require data.
The comic is going down a plot hole! Suddenly none of this is believable!
Amber doesn’t like being criticized for plot holes!
There are a number of people on this very page who say their phone plans count texts as data.
Amazi-girl: Meeting with Ethan left a bad taste in my mouth. He’s pampered and decadent, betraying his own shallow liberal affections. Possibly homosexual? Must remember to investigate further.
Tackle her, Ethan! Hug the crazy out of her! Please!
Y’know, Amber barging in through a window reminds me a lot of the first time I met Arcee. There I was, falling to certain death in an escape pod jettisoned from Kimia, when Arcee leaps out of a shuttle Hardhead’s piloting, controls her descent, and uses a pair of vibroblades to pry open the airlock, and then launches into a spiel about Jhiaxus, Galvatron, the Dead Universe and a threat to life itself. I’ve never enjoyed myself more when I was in mortal peril, let me tell you!
Aw crap
Calling it now, in this order.
Ethan manages to patch some of his relationship with Amber, and they leave out the door together. However, Joyce sees Ethan close with Amber and reacts as she is fairly to do, which turns into a crazy mishap that they can talk about in the reunion in 25 years.
Honestly, my heart breaks for Amber in so many ways. She comes from a history of abuse and fear that no one around her knows about nor understands fully. Her problems are being goaded and exacerbated rather than faced. The last two strips emphasize, more than ever, that she seriously needs help, but, like so many, no one is aware enough to get her to help.
Oh Amber honey….
Awwww, just like Batman……And the Green Goblin…And Two-Face…
Hopefully with what follows nobody’ll get expelled.
Given her circumstances, as well as her current stressors, somehow I’m not surprised at her apparent dissociation.
Welp, here’s the incoming psychotic break.