HEY! GUYS!
I will be at Laughing Ogre Comics here in Columbus, Ohio, today (Friday) (St Patrick’s Day) from 5-7pm! I will have books and probably magnets with me to trade to people for money. That’s right, I have one single event scheduled this year that I’m currently aware of, and this is it! No ECCC, no SDCC, Webcomic Rampage is over, and it’s too soon to schedule my annual Bloomington trip, SO THIS IS IT, THIS IS IT, COME SEE ME I GUESS
FRIGGIN’ MILLENNIALS
YOU SADDLE THEM WITH CRIPPLING DEBT AND DESTROY THE HOUSING MARKET AND WHAT THANKS DO YOU GET
Sarcasm, mostly. But, hey, it’s what we know!
It’s all we can afford.
Is that why Donald Trump wants to murder it?
Hey, comedy is just tragedy plus time. Which is why the people who suffer the most produce the best comedians.
“Tragedy is when I stub my toe, comedy is when some other guy slips on a banana peel and breaks his hip”.
“Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die.”
Mel Brooks
What do you mean, “I’m only still living here because I have no other options?” You’re making it seem like such a chore to live with your family.
Trust me; in some cases, living in hell would be preferable to living with one’s parents after 20…
I KNOW, RIGHT?!? Next, they’re going to say the oil industry is bad for the environment. Bad for the environment? HA! IT’S GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY!
But oil is natural and as everybody knows, natural stuff is great for the environment.
and coal is clean because we just said so.
Dusting off all those pieces of coal will mean jobs for ALL Americans!
This may be relevant to your interests.
or https://twitter.com/sickofwolves/status/821782575106629633
also https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2017/03/16/trumps-budget-makes-perfect-sense-and-will-fix-america-and-i-will-tell-you-why/
The best is that White House linked that piece on its daily briefing page.
Not just evil, but also incompetent.
Nice forehead bro.
he is so damn ugly. I though toedad was bad
Maybe they’re related somehow.
They have the same cane maker.
How much do you want to bet that there’s a flask in that cane?
Irrelevant. I call ad hominem.
THANK YOU!
I’m sure there are plenty of actual reasons to dislike this guy, and I for one look forward to learning about them in detail.
It’s interesting that you can barely see the scars where they removed the horn on the right side. I can’t tell if they did a better job on the left, or if the angle hides it.
Some of us don’t even bother to hide our scars when we have our horns removed. 😛
Nah but seriously, when people ask me about my psoriasis, I about 50/50 tell them that I had my horns cut off just ‘cos I like to wear hats.
The reactions must be wonderful to watch.
Saywhatnow?
the underwhelming anti climax, or is this going to get bad once ruth and granddad get into the hall.
I worry the way he says “investment”
I’m equally worried about that.
Yeah, that’s a worrying way to speak about a young person’s life.
It’s like “yaaaaaaaaay you fixed everything for me but seriously HOW and just how much am I gonna owe you for this down the line? And I don’t just mean monetarily either”
Also, “‘Fixed’? What do you mean, ‘Fixed’? What precisely have you just done?” =.=
Dumped a bunch of money on the university to sweep Ruth’s “close call” under the rug. 😐 It happens more than you’d think.
University is an investment tho
“he fought in wars, kids”
I starting to have a sneaking suspicion he should have died in one too
I’m reminded of the businessman in the train compartment with the Beatles when he gets flustered and states; “Don’t take that attitude with me! I fought The War for your sort!” And Paul responds; “I’ll bet you’re sorry your won!”
And yes, the way he says it, you can hear the capital “W”
It’s not great now – Ruth was looking forward to no longer needing to look after everyone else and being able to look after herself, and now he’s thrown her right back in when she isn’t in a good position to do it.
“This is not happening as I had foreseen it.”
The meeting is not over yet, nor is the full purpose of the meeting on the table. There is a lot more to happen, both with and without Chloe.
I take it next week we find out what the price is.
Turns out it’s just 4 easy payments of $24.99!
Free, for only 99, 99, 99!
…Mike?
Well, if she keeps her job as RA, she can’t be fraternizing with her residents…
Yeah, because that’s stopped her so far.
Bet you that’s going to be one of the conditions of her keeping her position.
Yeah, ‘cus who gives a shit about the suicidal girl who was being blackmailed, right? The important thing is that she stop being romantically involved with another woman.
That’s easy. Billie relocates to a free room in another hall, leaving Sal “without a roommate” for the rest of the term.
Given this guy’s character, I’m predicting something along the lines of the following:
“Now, you understand that fraternization with the other students is not permitted. You have obligations to fulfill, and appearances must be maintained. If you choose to ignore my advice, well, I’m familiar with Mr. Billingsworth. He is a salesman, and he also understands the value of appearances. So you can imagine how he might react if his daughter were to appear to have spread her alcoholism to a poor victim and nearly caused a suicide. Just something to think about.
It’ll be more private, and more threatening. “Screw up again and I’ll have you back at home where I can make sure you’ll behave.”
^ This. It annoys me how often this type gets away with being outright abusive in private because they’re “caring, but firm” in public. 😐
At the very least, Billy would have to move to a different floor.
*Edit* Billie
But I also wouldn’t be surprised if that’s one of Ruth’s Grandfather’s demands.
Which would free up a bed for Becky. I am sure there will be consequences, I don’t think that will be the only one.
Hmmm… I didn’t know one’s soul went for so cheap a price…
Oh he seems nice
Hoping that I was right, and Ruth IS just overblowing shit and he’s not that bad
Nope. He’s a monster. His thought wasn’t to ask how she’s doing but to say that’s he’s fixed everything and the investment wasn’t wasted.
Exactly my thought. That made alarms go off in my head.
Yes. It is possible for a non-terrible person to inclusively reflect that they invested together (his money, her time, or both of their money and her time)…. but it’s not likely, and not to the exclusion of concern over her nearly dying.
With zero input from Ruth, he’s perpetuating the circumstances under which she literally wanted to die. You’re welcome!!
Plus I reeeeally don’t think Willis would do a storyline where a percieved victim of abuse is just overreacting. Ruth knows what this guy is like.
That last paragraph exactly. It’s the same reason we’re not going to learn Amber is really just toxic and evil and needs to be AG for everyone’s own good at the end, or that the Walkerton’s racism is really all just in Sal’s head, or that Joyce just misunderstood the teachings she was raised with all her life.
“He’s a monster”? Really?
Overblowing it there just a smidge, boyo. He’s an army man, he’s probably not super emotionally open and is kind of distant, so he’s probably not the type to be sobbing over his granddaughter’s suicide attempt.
He’s clearly happy to see her, and is trying to help her out the best way he (presumably) can, because he:
A) Doesn’t have all the information we have on the situation, as far as we can tell.
B) Is an old guy, different generation/different time, probably hasn’t got as much of an idea what kind of a shitty thing depression is as we do.
He has not, as of yet, DONE anything that’s actually BAD, just a little not-super-sensitive/nice. The ONLY reasons we assume he’s bad are:
A) Ruth’s word. Which I don’t trust cuz she’s her.
B) The fact that he’s a parental figure in this comic, which means there’s a running 60% chance that he’s not a nice guy. But I have hope!
Point is, we have NO reason to ACTUALLY think he’s a bad guy yet. He’s, at worse, tone-deaf to the situation/old fashioned and out of touch with his granddaughter.
If I’m proven wrong later on, fair. But for now, anybody hating on Grandpa is just being overreactionary.
Yikes
I don’t think there’s justification to call him “a monster,” yet, by any means, but he’s exhibiting a form of pseudo-charm so totally at-odds with every bit of circumstantial info we have about him that it seems incredibly unreasonable to simply assume he’s harmless. And he’s also taking complete and utter control of this situation before she’s even gotten a word in, edgewise. At best, he’s coming across as unintentionally controlling.
And recall the time Ruth was on the phone with him in a much earlier comic. Whether or not her view of him is distorted, that’s not the kind of reaction you get out of someone if your relationship with them is even sort of healthy. Her fear of him may well be somewhat out of proportion, but I somehow don’t think someone who puts on as tough a face as she does would immediately retreat inward in response to his very presence if there was not some basis for it. It’s not a matter of her word, which she controls, it’s a matter of the responses she *doesn’t* control.
I agree with TemporalShrew here. Just because someone genuinely means well and seems charismatic and friendly in a public setting does not mean their behavior can’t be harmful and certainly doesn’t mean his relationship with Ruth is totally healthy. Parents/guardians who are extremely controlling can do plenty of damage to their kid’s emotional well-being even if they genuinely want the best for their kid.
It could be he has a temper we haven’t seen and/or he’s extremely critical of Ruth to the point where he’s made her feel like a failure her whole life. The way he behaves in this scene here really reeks of “I’ll handle everything because I don’t trust you to,” along with hints that Ruth isn’t ever allowed to question his authority/opinions/decisions.
This wouldn’t make him a “monster” and he may even be a generally good person who cares deeply about his granddaughter, but his own flaws may still be deeply damaging to her self-worth and emotional health.
tl;dr Parents can do harm to their kids without being obviously stereotypically abusive.
We’ve seen him for like two panels, sure… but Ruth has known him her whole life. I’m very, very inclined to believe her.
I’m not. She’s abusive, alcoholic and a general asshole. Er, was.
Why would we take her word over the guy who’s biggest on-screen crime is “Is kind of assertive in this meeting.”
Though it may just be me being biased against a character I’m not a fan of, who knows.
None of that is good evidence she’s a liar or that she’s been lying about this.
Why should we NOT believe someone who’s asserting someone else is abusive just because they’re an asshole? I’d hope that’s not your real life policy, or you’d end up leaving a lot of abusive victims in the cold.
Never meant that she was a liar. Just that she may be overblowing it.
That’s THE SAME FUCKING THING.
…no it’s not?
A liar is somebody who is INTENTIONALLY spreading falsehoods.
Somebody who’s blowing something out of proportion MAY NOT BE DOING SO INTENTIONALLY.
I never said she’s TRYING to mislead people. She may BELIEVE everything. Doesn’t make it true.
Both have the affect of saying she is not being abused. You’re basically saying that the person alleging abuse is exaggerating. Do you have any idea how fucking shitty that is?
It’s still not a great thing to say and especially so when you post on a forum filled with people who have been told they were exaggerating abuse claims.
Fair enough. Dunno why my previous comment got deleted, but fair enough.
Let’s just… let’s agree to wait and see where this goes, yeah?
Because the things you said were supremely dickish on a forum full of people who have been saying Ruth’s grandfather reminds them of their own experiences, and you basically said they were exaggerating?
By saying “I personally don’t think this character is what everybody is claiming he is”, I’m being a dick?
That’s not how life works tho people are allowed to have different opinions on a fictional old man
You said an abuse victim was exaggerating on a forum full of abuse survivors. When called on it, you agreed it was shitty. You then tried to say ‘well, the specific abuse victim I’m talking about is fictional, so it’s not actually bad!’. That is a dickish thing to say because you still said an abused person is exaggerating. You even said it was a shitty thing to say. You just also tried to qualify it.
Comments like that get deleted all the time. This isn’t really a new thing.
FYI, I am an abuse victim, and I’m never going back to that fucking hellhole again. Him being assertive and an asshole doesn’t make him abusive if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. If he has the behaviour pointed out to him and makes no effort to change, that’s when I’ll start to hate him.
I am sorry you had to deal with that, and i’m glad you’re safe now, but the idea that someone who doesn’t realize they’re abusive is not abusive is simply not true. The affect of your actions matter and if the affect is abuse, you’re still abusive, intent be damned.
Maybe I misspoke then. I’m saying we shouldn’t treat him like a cartoon supervillain for something he doesn’t realize he’s doing.
Like… you ever see the Ant Bully? Like that.
And I’m saying I couldn’t give less of a fuck about whether he realizes he’s doing it or not, because he’s still fucking causing harm and he is not a small child like Ant Bully, he’s a grown ass man who should fucking know better. Until he stops being a complete and utter cockbite, he absolutely deserves to be treated like one, intent be damned.
…he’s literally a cartoon villain.
“Him being assertive and an asshole doesn’t make him abusive if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it.”
OH MY GOD. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THIS.
I’m sorry, are you under the misapprehension that people wake up in the morning and say “Today I am going to hurt the people around me because I am EVILLLL”? Because that’s not how abuse frigging works for the vast majority of people. Abusers do not THINK they are doing anything wrong. They think they are fully justified in what they do, for any number of a variety of reasons.
And your core conceit in this whole thing is that we shouldn’t believe he is abusive, because Ruth, who is so terrified of him that she is constantly suffering from it, is not trustworthy enough? Because she exhibits symptoms of being abused?
And you’re willing to judge her for “overblowing” all of this, even though you yourself said “She may BELIEVE everything. Doesn’t make it true.” Yeah, well, he may not BELIEVE he’s abusive, but that doesn’t make it any different that he is.
Like… How do you even get to the point where you hate Ruth so damn much that you’ll trust anyone in the narrative before her? How do you get to the point where you think it’s okay to say these things in front of an audience you should know by now has gone through abuse and identifies strongly with Ruth?
Please stop it.
“Him being assertive and an asshole doesn’t make him abusive if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it.”
Yeah. My Dad beating the shit out me doesn’t make him abusive since he didn’t realize there was anything wrong with that (/sarcasm)
yeah, I’m gonna go with that last one.
And where exactly do you think her issues might have come from? This guy is giving off serious “does everything in his power to establish himself as an upstanding citizen in public so that no one believes what he’s like behind closed doors” vibes to me.
This isn’t the only thing we’ve seen him do.
And he’s like, textbook villain?
My guess is that he’s
[competing above post]
less sensitive to the idea of death and suicide from the war; he probably suffered through some pretty horrific experiences, and probably (given the insensitivity he’s displaying here) thinks that Ruth should learn to toughen up, as she never had to experience what he did.
So basically he’s a fucking prick and a complete monster.
That’s… not what comes to mind when somebody who has experienced genuinely more horrific conditions is numb to less horrific conditions.
He may well be a “fucking prick”, but being desensitized is not the reason. What he does as a result might be, but *we don’t know that yet*.
Speaking as the child of someone who has at least of some of the “toughen up” mentality, while it sucks if they can’t understand that their survival/success is selection bias, and that not everyone is made of such stern stuff, it is hardly cause for the kind of aspersions you’re casting.
Please try to separate the different facets of his character, and apply blame where blame is due, i.e. not here.
I dunno. My (limited and unprofessional) experience with vets is that they’re actually pretty darn sensitive to the prospect of suicide among those close to them. Especially if they’ve had some time away from the Service and thus know the suicide risk for themselves and their old buddies once they’re back in civilian life.
Yeah, most vets I know are strong anti-suicide activists because of how many of their friends end up committing suicide. It’s painfully real for a lot of them, because the rates are just too damn high.
Only 60%? You’ve seen the other parents in this comic, right?
99% and Joyce’s Dad.
And the Keeners.
And Dina’s parents. And Carla’s.
And Sierra’s.
People like Mike and Carla’s parents don’t count. What sort of good parent raises a child who’s an obnoxious dickbag and like those two.
Plenty of assholes have good parents who have healthy relationships with their kids. The fact they’re assholes doesn’t make their parents bad people.
And seriously, Carla?
Carla is really so horrible at being an asshole. She tries, but she just can’t do it.
This is a Willis comic, no guy with a face like that could possibly be a good guy.
I thought something similar the first time I saw Seymour on my first playthrough of Final Fantasy X. Now that was a guy with a bad case of Chronic Villain Face.
I would not hesitate to call him a monster: because he is somebody’s (Ruth) monster. We’ve seen Ruth’s response to him in a private space, and it was not a happy response.
The worst abusers (that is the best at abusing, which makes them the worst people) are those capable of creating a non-abusive persona to project outward as a show of grace for those who are not the target of their abuses.
They are the worst abusers not only because they are able to inflict harm for
longer (since the facade rarely gets stripped away), but also because they can inflict the harm of having one’s allies turn against them.
The reason we’re not seeing the monster in him is because this is a public place and he is wearing his public persona.
I believe the main reason Ruth sent Billie away was because she didn’t want Billie to turn against her after seeing her grandparent’s outward projection. I don’t think she sent her away in fear of her grandfather blowing up at the lesbian matespriteship (which is still a separate possibility) but rather because she feared that Billie meeting her grandfather’s public face would lead to Billie siding with the grandfather and delegitimizing Ruth’s claim as out of proportion and “overblown.”
Additionally, outside the relation to real world thingies, this is Willis we’re talking about: he follows a single formula of a four act structure fairly strictly (That’s not an insult since he does it so well: it’s just an observation). 1 Introduction, 2. Action with an Anti-climax, 3. Climax, 4. Resolution.
We’re near the end of act two for the “Ruth gets fired arc” and the storm is coming.
The sense of foreboding and hatred towards this new-ish character is perfectly justified given the comics meta and mo.
I think Ruth is terrified that her grandfather might use Billie against her or her against Billie, i.e. that she’s protecting herself and especially Billie from him. I wonder what he has done to former friends of her’s or her because of former friends because she’s obviously terrified. Poor Ruth!
Liberals: As oblivious as ever.
Like, why are queer folks like me supposed to regard them as reliable when they’re that obtuse?
It’s weird to me that your mistrust of Ruth is so severe that you’re willing to discount not just everything she’s said but everything she’s DONE in relation to “sir,” all because “he seems nice” at first blush. I mean, yeah yeah, circumstantial evidence, unreliable narrator, innocent until proven guilty, I get all that. But even if you hate Ruth, it’s surprising you’d discount Sir causing her entire personality to bluescreen.
Given this strip’s history with abuse, I’m really not expecting some kind of “it’s all in her head” arc, even if it would explain what the deal is with Howie.
I would be very surprised given Willis’s modus operandi that this particular character isn’t a baby eating monster. I bet he abused her relentlessly and eats babies. Babies.
On the other hand, I would be pleasantly surprised if he was actually a nice guy, if not distant and emotionally crippled from PTSD, and is unable to cope with the fact that his granddaughter hates him for reasons that may in fact be completely spurious.
That would make some great storytelling.
If he could actually pull that off, it would be great storytelling. If he could make Ruth’s obvious fear and hatred of him seem justified and natural, while still making him sympathetic and not villainous. If he could do it without making Ruth seem like the crazy girl inventing abuse, like so many abuse victims are accused of. If he could do that to the satisfaction of most of those here with experience of abuse who are pointing out the red flags to the rest of us, that would be very impressive storytelling.
I don’t think he could do it. I’m not sure anyone could.
The thing is, it is actually very rare for people to be abusive because of mental illness. While an interesting way to nuance a subject, it’s not actually constructive to consider WHY abusers do what they do, because the answer is usually “they think it’s okay”. Clint’s ability to wear a public persona leads me to think he is definitely not “emotionally crippled” since that suggests he doesn’t have the self-control necessary to be responsible for his actions.
Also, being mentally ill doesn’t excuse abusive behaviour, and I think using PTSD as an “explanation” for his abuse would inevitably carry that implication.
I think monster is a bit of an overstatement. He doesn’t seem so much abusive as emotionally removed from her. He probably thinks that he’s doing the best thing for Ruth here (see: “putting the train back on the tracks”), and that this was a kindness to her. Of course, the belittling in the last panel isn’t great, and neither is putting her in a position of authority without her consent (especially given she just tried committing suicide). But he could just be bad at the whole “dealing with emotions” thing, and not actually evil.
Precisely my point. Good intentions. 7/10 grandpa, better than mine cuz he hasn’t said the n-word yet
I’d give him a 4.5/10. Again, he’s definitely condescending on the last panel, and at least gives the impression of being super unsympathetic to the whole “my granddaughter just attempted suicide” thing. I’m sure he has his reasons for it, but it still isn’t the best reaction.
“He doesn’t seem so much abusive as [describes being abusive].”
^^^
Emotional neglect is abusive.
And then berate her for not being more grateful when she’s just been hit with a HUGE shock. Yeah, guy’s scum.
Jokingly poke fun = berate??
Yeah, when the joke is ‘haha, not even a thank you, just freezing up’
Making someone’s traumatized reaction to seeing you into a joke is not okay and is, again, a red flag for abuse you are ignoring.
We know that she “isn’t safe” at home. Depends on who IS at home, but the bad vibe I’m getting from him tells me he’s part of the problem.
Your granddaughter was on SUICIDE WATCH fer crissakes, and all you can talk about is “our investment”?
He’s Toedad with charm and influence instead of a rifle.
This seems like belittling and possibly manipulation to avoid her failures reflecting on him, but maybe I’m just paranoid.
*”failures” (Those quotation marks change everything.)
…Ultimate Deadpool? That’s who you chose to name yourself after?
It’s a really cool sounding name, the costume is cool, almost nobody else gets it enough to know he’s like… The Worst Deadpool, and nobody else is ever using it.
Plus my first time seeing him was in Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions, so Nolan North was a factor.
More like… Snolan Sssnorth.
g-gottem…
Something about the way he says “our investment” makes me think not. I get a very controlling vibe. He might not be abusive (I’m holding off on that) in the way the previous parents we’ve seen have been but I’m wondering if he’s the type to put a crippling amount of pressure to succeed on Ruth.
I’m sure this patriarch will be his very own special flavour of abusive.
“Real Man-Spread” with extra salt for a taste that really hits you.
Investment as in her college tuition, no doubt. That’s a LOT OF FUCKING MONEY, and we have no reason to believe (I thiiiiink) he’s rolling in the stuff.
And like I said before, old guy has different lingo probably. He’s doing his best.
Notice also that he does not mention “your life”, “your future”, or “oh sweetie how are you holding up?”, or you know, anything indicating concern for Ruth
Almost like this 70-something war vet with at least one dead child whose had to take care of two grandkids for a couple years has some sort of reason to be emotionally detached
….nah
Emotionally detached is one thing, not even asking ‘how are you feeling’ is another.
This is not a good man.
Though it could be that he’s one of those people that do not absolutely want to discuss feelings/family matters in front of others if not completely necessary. Could be that he just waits to be alone with Ruth.
As we all expect him to be abusive in some way, he’ll probably not ask her how she’s feeling, though.
Could also be that he is abusive in a way that he is not only emotionally detached, but sees her as a project he has to put on success, no matter what. So he’ll either just expect her to be now “fixed”, now that she’s out of the hospital, or he’ll tell her sthg like “failure is not an option” or things like that. Especially after he took the time to specifically take matters in his own hands.
…. now that I think about it, could he not maybe be a male chauvinist(too)? If Howie is happy with and not scared of him, he might not get what Ruth got to hear for those few years she spent with him, in the sense of “You’re a woman, still I expected things from you, of course I was wrong. You’ve proven me you’re weak.” …
Oh good, you’ve told us the definition of the word.
Now we know for sure that… oh wait what you just said is still awful.
Ummm…
Are you really not picking up on the gaslighting he’s pulling right now?
I just don’t think he’s doing it intentionally, yet. We have no idea of his motivation.
All I’m seeing is “He (in his eyes) helped out his granddaughter, and is saying it in a way that isn’t good, but not out of maliciousness.”
And your instinct is to side with the character we’ve never seen before, only heard bad things about, rather than the woman we’ve actually gotten to know, and who has shown clear signs of abuse?
Interesting.
It’s true, I do distrust the character I don’t like at all and think is both unreliable and an asshole. Weird how that… how that works.
But no you’re right, the former abuse victim is probably siding with a fictional character’s allegedly abusive grandfather because she’s a woman.
To clarify, though, I’m not siding with anybody. I’m saying that, based on what we’ve seen, he has yet to do anything actually BAD (or at least, anything bad but without good intentions behind it).
He’s probably just overbearing.
Look, as an abused kid myself, I feel you, but go back and read the one where Ruth gets a call from this guy. Her whole carefully-put-together persona shatters. It’s…pretty fuckin’ obvious what kind of person he is.
I have not speculated even slightly as to what motivates your position. I just think it’s a rather gross hill to die on.
Oh, that’s what you meant. The sarcastic, italicized “interesting” lead me to believe otherwise, ya see.
:T
I don’t like Ruth at all, too put it mildly, but I can tell this shite is worse. Christ, the neutron star class density.
Yeah, but I bet he smells amazing. Like aftershave, cedar, and a faint hint of aged whisky.
I’m sure the Walkertons aren’t intentionally racist towards their daughter. And let’s not get started on Becky’s dad, whose intention is to protect his daughter from eternal suffering in literal Hell (which, if it was remotely true, would have been a noble cause).
Having malicious intent really doesn’t matter much at all to determining whether the person is behaving abusively.
Abuse is based on behaviour, not intent.
Seriously people, there are two parts to evaluating an action for harm – intent AND affect. Something can absolutely be harmful and wrong without malicious intent.
So let’s… let’s get this straight, then.
Kidnapping/Threatening with a gun are now equal to “is overbearing”.
Aight, that’s how it is then, I guess.
Like I’ve said, I will totally be on the “fuck this dude with a fork” bandwagon when he ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING BAD.
Making her cry over the phone
Not bothering to ask how she’s doing
Referring to her as an investment
Making pissy jokes about her freezing up
Butting into a meeting on her employment he has no right to attend.
I hear you. This is kind of a trend with certain characters. Remember Josh….or was it John?….Joyce’s jerk older brother. When first met it’s natural to give a new character the benefit of the doubt. I was guilty of it! But most of the readers know at this point not to trust that and read between the lines of some troubling dialouge. While right now Clint is infinitely better than the guy who brought a LOADED GUN to campus I understand why there’s worry. There’s also a little more context with previous revelations.
The phone call
Billie claiming Ruth’s home isn’t safe
Possibly just the source of Ruth’s depression in general
But I do understand where you’re coming from. Kneejerk reaction is to call him a “monster” but maybe save it until he does something monsterous…probably within the next few strips.
That, and people are acting like he murdered Billy in front of Ruth when the worst he’s done is be kind of intimidating.
Intimidating your child is still an act of abuse.
I was one of the people who gave John the benefit of the doubt as well (until he opened his mouth anyway) but yeah, there’s been enough foreshadowing that if this guy ends up being genuinely “nice” in any fashion behind closed doors, it will be a pretty big twist.
At best he wants to do right by his grandchild he thinks he knows better than and isn’t afraid to manipulate her with emotional leverage to that end. That would be a character whose actions I would abhore, but is at least mildly sympathetic.
At worse, as soon as the doors are closed and they are alone, he’s going to angrily and intentionally start tearing into her and go for the emotional jugular over this upset of “their” plans and investment.
Considering how terrified Ruth seems of the guy and how shocked she seems at his friendly demeanor I’d put money on the latter. Then again, Ruth’s brother seems to be oblivious to Ruth’s fear of their grandfather, so maybe it’s more subtle than that.
The Walkertons are a better parallel, less hyperbolic, as they only use their words, not guns.
But, I don’t think we need to have it out here. If Sir hasn’t escalated enough for you on-panel yet to be comfortable calling it, I’m sure he’ll make it abundantly clear by the end of the day. I’ll save you a pitchfork.
Honestly I’m half expecting him to forcefully pull Ruth aside after this meeting and berate her for him having to come down there and fix her mess. But we’ll wait and see.
Fully expecting that, here. There may also be some literal arm-twisting involved.
Or there may be something even more insidious here.
Why go physical when he could just as easily hold her brother hostage?
Not exactly the same, but we recognize the patterns. There were plenty of people in the early Toedad strips, before the gun came out and the kidnapping happened, who talked about how they didn’t trust Becky and how she was probably just overreacting and Ross was just concerned for his daughter.
Or “Mary just wanted to study”.
You’re putting yourself in that role. Don’t get too attached to it. Even more in this case – The abusive parental figure who acts all normal in public so that others will dismiss any accusations is a pretty common thing. Don’t fall for it.
Hell, there were folks who were defending Toedad even as he kidnapped his daughter at gunpoint.
I’m hoping nobody would defend Clint if it got that bad, but I know those strips bring all the trolls to the yard, so I’d not be shocked if some turned up there.
I think bottom line is this situation may be more complex than “he’s bad, she’s a victim” situation. Dysfunctional parent/child relationships are not always clear-cut cases of obvious abuse.
A person can be generally nice, likeable, caring, and want to do what’s best for their kid, while still completely screwing them up emotionally because of toxic behavior (such as being extremely controlling and critical to the point of crushing their kid’s self-esteem, and having a temper to the point of the kid being constantly afraid of ever making a mistake).
He may not be a black-and-white supervillan who we can unquestionably hate, but that doesn’t mean Ruth is exaggerating nor does it mean he’s totally sympathetic/in the right or that she’s totally unsympathetic/in the wrong.
And you know what, that’s fair. I agree that it’s probably somethng along those lines.
It’s people acting like he’s as bad as Blaine who are baffling me.
They do this every time. I got called a heck of lot worse for withholding judgement on Joyce’s brother that one time. I feel for you, and I’m on your side. I’ll be on your side every time you withhold judgement until we have the full story, and we’ll always be in the minority. Sadly, that’s just the way it is in this community.
Sadly, they might even be right, though. I don’t really want to think badly enough of Willis as to call him predictable, but as people above have noted, what’s he going to do, show that the abuse(?) victim is exaggerating? So far, family that isn’t obviously good has a pretty good track record of being bad, so it’s a reasonably safe assumption that even after any twists come out, the people who are calling him abusive will have their definitions provably satisfied adequately within a week, if they have not already.
For all the shit I give this comic, I am a fan of it. But I agree on the predictability shit.
C’mon Willis, challenge us yo. Give us a twist. Make him a reptilian.
Everyone in this thread is making a lot of assumptions in both directions. There is a lot more to ne played out in this storyline.
Those assuming an extreme form of abuse tend to do that for every strip. I guess even a broken clock is right at least two times a day (occasionally more, allowing for daylight savings).
Conversation like:
Joyce and Becky aren’t traumatised by anyone yelling “Rapture!”
Sarah and Joyce did not have a major falling out over Jacob.
Ruth is not abusing Billie.
Become emotive and overblown daily.
Words like trauma and abuse get thrown around way too much in these comments section, usually incorrectly and always as an attempt to dominate and define any conversation.
We don’t know what is going on between Ruth and her grandfather. We can speculate, some speculation may be correct. Insisting and abusing others because they disagree with you is really irritating, as is the increasing spiral of drama that follows on from anyone presenting a differing opinion.
@ Angelbadman
Yeah, turns out people ignoring and dismissing red flags doesn’t tend to go well. As does asserting an abuse person is lying or exaggerating.
Sarah and Joyce falling out was speculation.
I didn’t see anyone saying they’d definitely be traumatized, more like it would be an upsetting trick to make that can easily backfire in light of recent events and that Walky was being douchey for doing so.
We have seen Ruth abusing Billie. Hitting her, stripping her naked in public, slamming her against a wall and kissing her, breaking in and stealing her stuff, threatening her, keeping her on the blackfoot with changing interactions (friendly vs tyrannical), and making fun of her body. These are all things we’ve seen. That is not speculation.
Sir being abusive is only an assumption if you’re not taking Ruth’s word for it. That’s fine – insisting he’s a good grandpa and that there are no red flags going on, is not.
In fairness to Ruth & Billie, while it definitely started out abusive and they obviously still have serious problems, the Ruth abusing Billie part basically ended before they actually started the relationship.
The bits that we’ve seen since then seem equal parts cover and sex play – they both appear turned on by the fighting. Billie also has been giving as good as she gets for quite awhile now.
Yes, that is true, apart from Ruth stripping Billie naked in public, which is still not okay and still abusive (Billie did not agree to having her shirt yanked off in public and one of the Patreon strips confirms she was not okay with that).
That’s because playing off ‘abuse victim is exaggerating’ is incredibly shitty and not a good thing to do. Again, that’s like having the AG storyline’s moral eventually be ‘yeah, no, Amber’s right, there’s nothing good about her, she needs AG to be a good person’.
I really don’t care you want to withhold judgement – I do however, care that folks have been ignoring and shitting on folks seeing red flags or insisting that this means Ruth is exaggerating. Both of those things are fucked up and neither are okay.
We’ve seen families members who weren’t obviously good proving themselves later to be better than initially presented – case in point, Hank, who went from the guy insisting Dorothy was an evil, corrupting atheist and speculating that Hitler was partly Jewish, to one of the best parents in the comic. That’s probably not going to be the case here, because, again, ‘the abuse victim is exaggerating’ is a terrible thing to do.
This is my discomfort with it too. We don’t know for a fact that Sir is abusive, and he may not be, but HOWEVER he acts, it clearly has had a negative impact on Ruth, and that shouldn’t be dismissed as her “exaggerating.” Especially when she hasn’t even defined it as abuse herself. There is clearly something problematic about his behavior/their relationship, whether it’s abuse or not.
Yeah, abusers are as bas as other abusers. Shocking. Different flavours doesn’t actually make them a different thing.
Buddy.
You can’t look at life so black and white. Every single thing in the universe is shades of grey, and should be judged case by case.
Yeah, and this case is still an abuser.
Literally what I’m saying is all abusers are not as bad as eachother. They ain’t a monolith. Both sides of the story do fucking matter.
Toedad was a maniac who kidnapped his daughter and threatened people with a gun just because she was gay.
So far, this guy just wants his granddaughter to be successful and is pushing her into it in a way that isn’t super good.
If you think those equate at all, I dunno what to tell ya.
No, they don’t. I do not care what reasons the abusive person has unless we’re referring to how to get them to stop. Again, different flavours doesn’t make a thing better. If your kid can barely enter the fucking room because she’s afraid you’re in there, it doesn’t matter if it’s because you’re physically abusive or emotionally abusive, what matters is you’ve terrified your kid.
The Walkertons can make that same reason. That doesn’t change that they’re emotionally abusive and negligent bastards. Same goes for Lessick here – his intent means fuck all. The affect of his actions is what matters here.
Also, we’ve seen him reduce Ruth to tears and a binging episode in a minute long phone call. She refers to him as something to escape from. She says one thing that might make him leave Howard alone is dying. That is not ‘wants them to be successful and is pushing them into it in a way that isn’t super good’. That is emotional abuse and I do not give a flying fuck if he intended it to be so or not.
Both Blaine and Clint are abusers. That there are different flavours and severities means fuck all at this point.
I just find the assertion she’s “exaggerating” kind of weird considering she hasn’t *said* anything (that I can recall, just checking her brother was OK); we’ve just to see her completely shut down when interacting with him. We’ve seen evidence of him being abusive, not a freaking discussion.
The fact is, taken in a vacuum his behaviour *could* be that of a jerk rather than an abusive jerk, but I take my cues from her overwhelming physiological reaction to his very voice.
Exactly. It’s theoretically possible her trauma stems from a different source and he just triggers it without meaning to and without being able to overcome that, but her trauma and her reaction to him is real and clear. Nah, I just can’t see it.
Even if that is true, the way in which he is talking about her issues to a stranger in her presence is certainly kind of shitty even if that turns out to be the only bad thing he does.
I’d completely forgotten about this until I saw someone else mention it in another thread (and which also narrows the possible contexts of the phone call reaction): She has presumably given Billie some information about her situation that led Billie to say to Carla that Ruth would not be safe at home.
There was a conversation someone linked elsewhere where she wondered if he’d be better to Howard if she died or if he’d just double down. There may obviously have been more we haven’t heard, but that’s likely enough.
Blaine seemed nice when new people met him too. Abusers don’t act like assholes in public.
Well when we see him be abusive, I’ll dislike him.
This isn’t reality. WE hated Blaine for three reasons, even when he first showed up:
1) We knew he was abusive BEFOREHAND.
2) When he showed up he was basically framed like goddamn Darkseid by the art.
3) He was abusive in the other universe, and Willis doesn’t really change character personality like at all between there and here. Shrug.
This guy? We have vague stories from Ruth and a sort of coarse introduction.
We view the comic from the third person, not first person. If he was actually abusive, it’d be inconsistent with Willis’ previous storytelling.
Emotional abuse is a thing.
Dude, this guy is a one-off character from Shortpacked! who threatened to beat someone up over a G.I. Joe.
Wasn’t he presented as a force for good in that tho
And like idk Snake Eyes is serious business
Shortpacked! was…different. Keep in mind, Mike was also generally portrayed in a positive light there.
Is he… not, here?
Yeah, I’m on the fence about Mike too. If he was a real person he’d be a monster, but so far in the comic, many of the things he’s done (as far as I remember) to mess with a person ended up being over some insecurity they ultimately end up having to face. Joyce’s mom comes to mind, Walky and his grades… not sure about this plan to seduce Ethan yet, but it might end up getting him to explore his sexuality more. We’ll see how that plays out.
Then there was punching Joe in the face as Joyce’s body guard. I’ll make exceptions for physical comedy.
And we know grandpa here is abusI’ve too??
Because his victim is clearly terrified of him?
Subtext????
Yeah and the art isn’t framing this guy as sinister at ALL.
He just looks so good and pure and innocent.
It’s really not tho
When she enters the room despite the fact that he’s saying seemingly frendly things his expression is cold and imperious. In the panels after that he is smirking. So yes yes it really is though.
You have repeatedly stated that the worst we’ve seen him do “on-panel” (because apparently it doesn’t count if we don’t see his face?) is be abusive. You can’t also state that you’ll dislike him when you see him be abusive.
It doesn’t count if we have no evidence that it actually happened that’s correct.
Because this is a comic with a third person omniscient perspective and flashbacks. If we haven’t SEEN abusive, we have no actual reason to believe it exists. It’s a relative of Chekov’s gun– if it’s important, it’ll be shown.
The problem here, also, is I didn’t say he’s being abusive right now. He’s being… I’m not really sure of the word, but he’s just sort of a conversation-runner type guy. Not abusive.
Ah yes, Ruth was acting. Specifically to fool hypothetical readers that may or may not be watching her while she was alone in her room.
We did see that. We also see this.
You did not say that he’s being abusive right now. I said it. It’s also true.
You didn’t say the true thing. You did, in fact, say the lying thing. Good for you and your apologism.
If you think this is abuse, what he’s doing right now… I guess that’d explain why we disagree so much on this situation then.
He finds out his granddaughter is suicidal and instead of asking her anything, expressing concern for her well-being, things like that, he tells her that he’s “solved” things for her without asking what she wanted. He uses words like “position” and “investment”, because apparently that’s the priority and that’s what needed solving. And while none of that is good, if I didn’t know anything else about the character I could maybe chalk it up to it’s a stressful situation and he doesn’t know how to handle it, but he genuinely means to be helpful. But panel six kills any benefit of my doubt, because when Ruth stares at him in confusion because a minute ago she didn’t even know he was going to be here and now she has to take in that everything is completely different all of a sudden, he makes a snarky remark–to someone he’s probably just met!–about how ungrateful she is. Again, HIS GRANDDAUGHTER IS SUICIDAL. She just got out of the medical ward an hour ago. And yet he thinks nothing of casually belittling her because she doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear as fast as he wants to hear it. He thinks it’s funny, in fact. If all I knew about this guy was what he’s doing right now, I would still want Ruth a million miles away from him.
Because you don’t think being abusive “counts” as abuse. Whatever that means.
Right.
I think your argument would be stronger to me if this was a real life scenario. Then I’d be agreeing that we should wait and see what happens.
I guess in a comic I’m a lot more willing to roll with foreshadowing and subtext to make assumptions about characters.
Yeah. We’re definitely used to adults doing that.
Sure is easier, I guess.
We’re seeing him be abusive right here, on this page.
I… don’t agree?
You don’t “disagree” with facts.
I’m with Sageress on this one. If this is abusive, then I don’t agree with your definition of abusive. If you take *this*, and you take intentional gaslighting, physical beating, and severe emotional manipulation, and call them all the same thing, you are suffering from overly broad definitions. It’s epistemically disingenuous.
“Call them the same thing”? This comic is a depiction of two of the three things you named!
You “disagree” with words having coherent definitions?
What the Hell is with the abuse of the word “disagree”? That poor word has taken enough of a beating from homophobic hate groups, and I’ll thank you to leave it alone and let it rest.
Aight nah I can’t sit this out.
If you sincerely believe this is ‘severe emotional abuse’, then I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not talking about the implied shit that happened off panel, in the past, I’m talking about THIS PAGE. It’s not severe emotional abuse.
Severe emotional abuse is when, say, a father tells their child he’s a massive disappointment and a waste of his effort, and that if he’d never been born everyone would be happier. That’s severe emotional abuse.
I wish I’d lived a life so nice that I could believe THIS is what “severe emotional abuse” is.
I won’t minimize your suffering, but there doesn’t exist a sliding scale for severity of abuse: abuse is abuse.
‘Small’ acts of abuse are not small because they play a part in making the severe abusive pattern. This may not be a severe act by itself but it is a reflection of a combination of very common patterns: the theft of agency (where decisions are made without consent: panels 2&4), the absolute authority (demanding to be referred to by titles as a form of ego masturbation: “Sir”), and the masked monster (where the abuser steal away allies: Panel 6). The undertones are all present, about two layers deep.
There is also an implied link between the badness of an action and the abusiveness of an action: a link which I don’t believe exists on the micro- nor macro- levels.
My mother is one of the nicest people I know. My mother is also abusive. I can say these two statements as non-contradictory facts because both are equally true. But because of the way the terms are defined I was stuck in a loop of cognitive dissonance until I decided that the two couldn’t be mutually exclusive: nice people can be abusive and nice action can be abuse.
As weird is this statement is for most people to accept, this is the determination I’ve arrived at. It took three years of thinking on it extensively to decide that this is the logical way to solve the conflict of terms, because objectively speaking my mother is both nice and abusive.
So to make sure that I understand, everyone is saying that ‘Sir’ carrying out this nominally charitable act of getting Ruth her job back puts her further in his debt and gives emotional leverage over Ruth.
This by itself and in a vacuum is indistinguishable from someone doing so for emotional leverage and somebody doing so with no ulterior motives.
You are stating that in the absence of any observed attempt on his part to use this leverage to manipulate Ruth, we don’t know beyond reasonable doubt which scenario this is.
Others are saying that due to Ruth’s behavior regarding ‘Sir’ we can draw the conclusion that he has done something like that in the past, due to her terror, and what she has directly said about him (which I don’t remember explicitly). And also the subtext.
I can understand your viewpoint. I think we are probably going to see a turn in the next few panels, but if this were a real scenario, I’d be hesitant to draw conclusions before actually observing the behavior of everyone involved.
The “See, she just closes up, withdraws” bit is especially nasty. Subtle, but nasty. Obviously following on from something he’s been talking about with Chloe. He’s been setting Chloe’s expectations for Ruth, reshaping her opinion of her and setting her up to dismiss any concerns about Ruth’s reaction to him.
He knows what he’s doing.
@Ellegos: I’d like to point out that nobody has yet told Ruth (nor us) how he has “fixed” everything.
Did he persuade Chloe and the school to give her another go, penalty-free, with the provisio that she keep attending therapy?
Did he persuade them to close her transcripts without penalty for health reasons and to let her come back home with him so she can nominally “rest and recover” until such a time as she is “well enough” to return to the school and pick up her courses from where she left off, putting her back under his direct control? (“And they never saw her again. The end.”)
Something else entirely? I have no idea. But I want to point out that him and Chloe saying, “Yay! We fixed everything!” does not necessarily mean what we’d likely consider to be “fixed”.
I’m keeping my mouth in a horrified grimace until they actually get around to stating the actual arrangement they’ve made (at which point I’m sure it will be perfectly justified).
@Kryss: It’s really hard for me to read ” Your employment! Your position. Our investment. I’ve put the train back on the tracks.” as anything other than “You’re keeping the job.” There may well be conditions and it puts Ruth back in the hot seat she was happy to escape, but “back on the tracks” doesn’t really make sense “we’re going to do something completely different.
@Ellegos: Exactly, thank you.
@Sebastion: I see your point, there. This would be an interesting discussion to have some other time, actually. But, taking that example of your mother into account, can you at least see why I’m aggravated with the people already calling this guy a monster and saying he should get his ass whooped? Abusive =/= Evil is something a lot of people don’t seem to understand.
Abusive pretty much is Evil, as much as anything is. At least when it’s to the level this seems to be – reducing Ruth to cringing at the door or to a drunken stupor after a phone call. I strongly suspect we’ll see that revealed clearly enough in the near future – probably not in this sequence, but in the next. (My narrative senses suggest this is the gaslighting introduction of the villain and the actual climax of this arc is still an Act away.)
I wouldn’t go so far as to say all abuse – the Walkertons and Wilcoxes and Seigals are abusive in their own ways and have screwed up their kids, but they don’t sink to the level of evil. None of their kids react the way Ruth does either.
If you can’t see it yet, you can’t see it yet. Testimony to Willis’s skill at gaslighting his audience, I guess. In theory, you’re right – we haven’t actually seen any specific action from him that would warrant legal action. In theory, Willis could reveal how it’s all a misunderstanding, he’s really a nice guy and Ruth’s just messed up or something. I’m sure he’s not going to and I don’t really see how to make that work as a satisfying resolution – but it’s not out of the reach of theoretical possibility.
Anymore than it wasn’t possible that Ross was just concerned about his runaway daughter, up until the gun came out. The gun isn’t out here yet, but the signs are clear that it’s there (metaphorically at least.)
…that is literally exactly what he’s saying.
“We knew he was abusive beforehand”
We knew THIS GUY was abusive beforehand. The only reason you don’t is that you’ve decided Ruth is incapable of telling the truth and made up being abused.
Because that is what “overblowing” means.
In the first panel he is death glaring her while saying seemingly friendly but at the same time threatening things. He follows this up be robbing Ruth of her agency while referring to her future as an “investment.” After that makes a dismissive comment about her silent fear of him. Almost all of this is done with an evil smirk on his face. “Nice” is not a word I’d use. I’d use words like “creepy” or “terrifying” or “Oh god he’s only been in one strip but already I find this guy way creeper then Blaine and he’s only been in one strip.”
He literally has that face in every panel are you kidding
“Robbing her of her agency”? She hasn’t had the chance to respond yet. If he starts saying “No fuck you, you have to do this,” then you’ll have an argument.
All that aside though, if you think this guy is even a little bit as bad as Blaine you… actually, uh, you keep doin you man. Sorry to bug ya.
“He literally has a death glare as his expression in every panel he talks to his granddaughter in” is a rather poor defense.
Your right she hasn’t had a chance to respond yet. Y’now because she’s frozen in fear the minute he starts speaking. something which he causally dismisses as ingratitude.
Yeah I think that the guy who is clearly being written in a way to suggest he’ll be an abuser is as bad as an abuser. Fancy that.
“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way” – Grandpa Clint 2017
He doesn’t casually dismiss as ingratitude. He gaslights to Chloe as ingratitude.
And why hasn’t she had the chance to respond yet?
Because we haven’t seen the next comic yet, buddy.
Yeah clearly its just a coincidence that theirs a panel showing her standing silent in cowed fear before the last panel. And that he causally jokes about it treating her fear of him as ingratitude. I’m sure that won’t be significant at all.
I forgot that Clint Lessick, as a psychic, can read emotions and automatically knows that she’s quiet because of fear.
That’s why he wouldn’t otherwise assume that it’s because she’s:
A) Shocked (as I am) that she kept her job somehow
B) Confused (as I am) that she kept her job somehow
C) Is processing what she’s been told
or anything else.
No, yeah, it’s gotta be because he’s reveling in the delicious fear she’s producing, like goddamn Sinestro.
“Not even a thank you”, likewise, couldn’t possibly just be a joke. Why would he be trying to keep the mood light considering the situation, that’d be silly.
Did you strain a muscle doing all of those mental gymnastics? Yeah that’s clearly the expression of a woman who’s just processing what she’s been told. This is a totally innocent conversation. And if you’re going to make a sarcastic remark about his behaviour maybe don’t make your sarcastic remark be literally the most likely scenario. Because yeah when I see a man smirking after we see someone reacting with fear to him I think Reveling in there fear is the more likely scenario not “Oh he’s just joking around, what a delightful old codger!”
I have a medal in mental gymnastics actually thank you.
Well then we’re at an impasse, the limits of Willis’ art I guess. If you were to show panel 5 to… 10 people, out of context, I don’t think all of them would say it’s fear.
“Hey I just showed up with no warning and did something to heavily impact your current life plus your future but I’m not telling you what why the hell aren’t you thanking me for doing it see total conga amirite?”
No, this is an unmitigated asshole we’re seeing right now.
“I have organized your tuition. My good friend John—You remember John, don’t you? He remembers you quite well.—is going to come by weekly to bring the installments. Be nice to him.”
Do you even read this comic?
Oh, dear.
“I took away your relief at one less (big) thing to worry about, display no concern over your mental health and suicidal ideation (only your job), and am putting you back onto the track I’ve laid out for you (no deviations!). Why aren’t you falling over yourself in gratitude?” <- Ruth's grandpa, I guess.
The first panel is enough to give a little hope, with every subsequent one immediately taking it away and stomping all over it. Good strip, good storytelling. I am wincing on Ruth's behalf.
Relief he had no way to know about.
He’s prolly got god intentions.
Typo, or sneaky insinuation? “God intentions”?
Freudian slip, maybe.
Seems like maybe she gets to keep being R.A.? If so, what’s the catch? If not, then what the hell is he getting at. Stupid old people, always being vague about literally everything.
The catch is she keeps being R.A.
I just hope that’s the only catch.
The catch is, she owes him(or at least he sees it that way) and they both know it. Also the fact that he feels like he saved her bacon gives him a looooooooooooot of leverage. Or at least he feels that way. Especially if her continued employment/position/education is dependent on it, but even if not.
Sure, but this time around, instead of being a depressed loner, she has a girlfriend, therapist, medication, and possibly even a support group in the form of her floormates.
The catch is he owns her.
God, old people are so insufferably competitive when it comes to video games. I bet he’s a fucking Maxi main.
I want this meeting to end with him saying “GG EZ” and tea bagging Howie.
That’s a felony.
Oh he looks like the sleaziest sleemo ever.
To me he looks like an older Mr. Incredible from well, The Incredibles.
Oh! Right! You are so right!
How did I not see that before?
He does NOT look like DC comics’ Sleeze how dare you
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/d/d7/Sleez_01.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120915192715
Isn’t that the guy who made Superman into a porn star?
Yes, yes it is
A true american hero
Wait, whaaaatttt?? When did this happen? And who were the co-stars? Was Batman involved or Wonderwoman?
It happened years ago, and the co-star was a character named Big Barda. I haven’t looked very far into this one, not being a particular fan of Superman to begin with.
It is one of the worst Superman story’s ever made.
*squints* He doesn’t look anything at all like Ryan.
This is worse than I could possibly have imagined.
Now, to be fair
He could have busted out of the room with a singlet on and broken her back like Bane.
Okay, but I didn’t IMAGINE that.
Now I did.
This is no longer worse than I could possibly have imagined.
Thanks⸮
Other possible worse things:
He could have been a graboid from Tremors, and eaten her and Billie alive.
He could have just literally been Ross with a fake set of glasses on, come back fer his daughter. His gun would also have a fake set of glasses.
He could have been wearing Chloe like a mask.
Please stop
Toedad came with a gun that he was willing to use. Considering this fact, while this is indeed horrible, it is not worse than what we have already seen.
Nah, it’s much closer to when Toedad first showed up on campus, putting up posters about his missing daughter.
There were posters wondering if Becky had exaggerated and he really was just concerned then too.
The gun is the next Act, not this one.
This is a man with a radio show.
With a smooth, buttery voice. Kinda like Casey Casem on a strict diet warm honey and butterscotch..
Honestly I’m imagining less Casem and more, like, modern day not-doing-a-voice Frank Welker.
Welker is also a good fit. I may have a bias, though, because I’ve spend the last decade being compared to one of Casem’s most famous characters.
Rly? I tagged him with sorta a scratchy Dick Cheney growl.
Like Rush Limbaugh? (Yes I forgot how to spell his name, no I don’t respect him enough to check to see if it’s right or wrong) Cause he totally looks like one of those types of pricks. Where’s Joyce’s fists of Justice and righteous fury when you need them?
You got the spelling right anyway.
I spell it as “Rush Limburger”.
That’s actually pretty funny. Good pun on the name, plus the object and subject are equally pungent.
Except it’s an insult to a fine fermented milk product.
Nope. Gotta look at this more carefully to see if I can make more sense of it, but nope.
*goes into the comic and slowly pulls Ruth out of the room*
One potential should-be warning sign here is that he doesn’t express concern at Ruth having been suicidal. But then, maybe the school didn’t actually reach that level of fuckup and he doesn’t know, or Chloe doesn’t know if he knows.
The comments about putting her back on track seems to imply that he knows about what happened. He probably just thinks that she should toughen up and deal with it, and that this will help her do that. I’m not sure why Chloe thinks that this is a good idea, though.
I also assume he knows something about what happened, but I’m open to the possibility that he doesn’t have the complete story– that comment could mean, for instance, he knows that Ruth was in danger of losing her job due to failure to perform her responsibilities, maybe something about her drinking. I would still think he should check in on Ruth’s well-being, but it’d be more understandable if he doesn’t know about the suicidality.
(Understandable meaning “how does Chloe think this is okay.”)
Gonna jump to Chloe’s defense here and say that as far as I can tell, FERPA and HIPAA both allow for him to have been filled in on most or all of the situation, especially assuming that Chloe is unaware of the abuse. See my comments on yesterday’s comic.
Speaking of which, I’m almost ready to agree with the people jumping into the “can that guy please get fucked with a baseball bat covered in nails” group. This guy is definitely setting off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. Ruth’s reactions to him, the way he speaks, his suit and cane, his apparent influence with the Department, etc. are, taken together, certainly cause for significant concern. However, there is not yet enough evidence to conclude, with certainty, that this man is a malicious, active abuser. There are plausible alternative explanations for Ruth’s behavior and his behavior (see for example Sageress’ earlier comment, item B).
It’s true that abusers often have the upper hand in situations like these. They can control information and provide a false view of themselves to the rest of the world. Indeed, my personal interpretation of the comic and its direction is that that is precisely what is happening here. However, I will reserve judgement until there is no longer reasonable doubt.
As for Chloe, I hope that she starts picking up on these things. If she does not, and especially if our worst fears come true, then I will have cause to join the Chloe hate train.
P.S. can someone please link to the phone conversation Rith had with this guy? People keep mentioning it like everyone else remembers what happened and I, for one, do not.
Here’s that conversation:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/05-media-rumble/sir/
Thank you. 🙂 It’s interesting that we never hear his side of the conversation, so again, we wind up with no direct evidence of abuse, only circumstantial evidence. However, see my comment below.
What gets me about that phone conversation is he never allows her to finish a sentence until she acknowledges that he’s right, and she’s sorry. What a way to teach someone they’re not even worth expressing their own thoughts. It’s an insidious method of grinding someone down. That, and this comic, are not conversations of a guardian to someone they actually care about.
Y’know, I’m going to backtrack a teensy bit. I just read Cerberus’ comment some posts below and looking more at the details, at Ruth’s behavior, everything Cerberus mentions… the likeliest explanation seems to me to be that this guy is a monster. I kinda understated it above, but this guy really scares me. The alarm bells in my head aren’t just ringing, they’re fucking exploding and throwing shrapnel everywhere.
It’s possible that there is some alternative explanation for all of this. Most of the evidence at this point is circumstantial. However, there sure seems to be an awful lot of it.
Whether his wording is abusive or not may be a moral question as opposed to a factual one. I’m not familiar enough with formal definitions of abuse to really comment on it and I’m too lazy to go look it up right now.
That’s pretty much it. If this were a trial and we had only the present evidence, I couldn’t convict him on it. I’d sure as hell be worried though.
Given that this is literature and thus needs to make sense, unlike real life, he’s guilty.
The problem with even considering whether his wording is abusive or not is context. Things can seem innocent enough, but be horribly abusive in the context of an abusive relationship.
My comment on Chloe has nothing to do with FERPA or HIPAA, so I’m a little confused. I mean, “How does Chloe think it’s okay that he’s so unconcerned.”
Ah fair enough. I was partially referring to when you said “maybe the school didn’t actually reach that level of fuckup and he doesn’t know.” It worries me too that Chloe doesn’t seem to even raise an eyebrow at this dude’s weird choice and Ruth’s reactions. I’m hoping that it’s just that she needs some time to notice. It’s only been like a minute tops comic time. I’m not sure I’d notice all of this in a minute or less. After that, it’d still take me a while to figure out that this is more than just a strained family relationship or something similarly normal.
word choice*
Phone keyboards. Ugh.
Chloe may be under orders to clear things up quickly and quietly. A nice fat check and a subdued “troublemaker” can be very effective blinders. Not wondering why she had to repair the door to Ruth’s room so many times points to a high denial reflex.
It means that he sees ‘the problem’ as being Ruth losing her job as RA – he has fixed that. Any other problems are not problems, they are Ruth being troublesome, and she WILL STOP being troublesome, and everything will be fine.
It’s a standard Baby Boomer point of view – emotional problems are not problems, they are weakness, and someone with authority just has to tell them to stop, and they will stop, and the problem will go away. It’d kinda be nice, if the world worked that way. But, it doesn’t.
Boomer here. So watch it, sport.
Oh, but I’m sure he’ll have some choice and very pointed words for her, as soon as they’re alone, about how she almost Ruined Everything – his investment.
Doesn’t she know How Hard He Worked to get this for her?
I agree. He’s grooming Ruth for something, and her attendance at IU and her position as RA are important parts of it.
Is it weird that I was hoping he would be kinda like Monkey D Garp?
Also, I have no idea how to feel about him. I think he’s evil, but it’s hard to tell.
Nevermind, he’s evil, I was just really expecting a stern grandfather guy, that a sleazeball threw me off.
I can… I can hear his voice so clearly in my head… like no other cartoon voice I ever heard before… dear Christ what dark sorcery is this!?!
Would you kindly share what he sounds like in your head? This sort of thing is like crack for me.
I kind of imagine Ed Wuncler I from The Boondocks. And I am upset that he sounds that affably evil in my head. XC
Ed Asher. YIKES.
Sorry, Asner. My phone autocorrected.
Wot
Sir looks like Kelsey Grammer.
FRAJER!!!!
He looks a little more like an old Captain America to me. And also I like Kelsey Grammer and Captain America. STOP BEING COMPARABLE TO LIKABLE THINGS, CLINT.
I was CTRL+F-ing “kelsey” and “frasier” (and “frajer” just to be complete) and was surprised to find nothing more than these two comments above me.
(Ha ha, I said “F-ing”!)
For anyone who didn’t read Shortpacked: http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=112
…that one-off character was related to Ruth?
(this is assuming that genetic relations remain the same between universes, which so far as I can recall they do)
Dude looks like a Senator you don’t want to fuck with.
“Nanomachines, son.”
Wow, that’s one hell of a deep-cut to pull from walkyverse.
Huh. Thanks for that, it would have itched at me trying to figure out “who was this guy in the Walkyverse”.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO BUT I LIKED THAT GUY. :C
Do you think Clint collects vintage G.I. Joes in this universe too?
Frick, I KNEW I’d seen this guy somewhere before.
Stephen R. Bierce • 5 years ago
I think Clint needs to be tagged. I bet we haven’t seen the last of him by a long shot.
I blame Stephen. FOR BEING RIGHT.
He fought in WARS.
O…kay. So now I know where ‘Clint’ comes from.
Thank you, arsehole !
And so now he has her even more in his debt and under his thumb…
My mom was never abusive in that *particular* way, but goddamn do I know that sudden drop in the gut that Ruth’s feeling right now.
We don’t even know that he’s bad yet jeeeeez
This is not the kind of webcomic that broadly and loudly implies abuse and then pulls a “gotcha”.
Yes, we do, unless we completely ignore the fact that this dude had Ruthless trembling in fear, and everything she’s ever said about him.
per comment above, Sageress doesn’t trust Ruth’s word.
Lying liars always feign their emotional reactions and dialogue from phone calls so as to present perfectly nice people as abusers to the absolutely no one who is watching (that they are aware of). It’s like how every time somebody who isn’t perfect goes off in private and cries, they’re not really sad at all, just manipulating the people they prevented from watching them. It’s good we have Sageress to remind of of these things, or we might think emotionally damaged people deserve to be believed about their own life experience.
/as much sarcasm as I can manage at this time of night.
THANK you. Oh my god.
I thought we learned that lesson back in Freshman Family Weekend when we learned Amber and Sal can’t be believed about their abusers?
Hey no I was on team Sal and Amber the whole time
Good for you. Others were not.
Okay, that did not come out well. Let me rephrase that to something closer to what I meant – “That’s good! I’m glad you did. That said others weren’t, and those are to whom I refer when I say we learned that lesson.”
So we’re not believing Ruth, is that what you’re saying? We’ve seen for literal real time years how terrified she is of that man and you don’t think he’s bad?
Ruth is afraid of him. He is making a teenage girl afraid. He is bad. The end.
Oh, we know he’s bad. We’ve seen him with a single conversation break her to the point of nearly drinking herself to death. We’ve seen the terror on her face at the mere prospect of running into him, the broken litany of fears she has about him when she was on the bed with Billie before going to the hospital.
We see it in her eyes, the light gone again in an instant like right before she ended up in the hospital. We see it in her near inability to even open the door knowing he’s behind it.
We see it in her scrawled mouth in the first panel, barely holding it together. In his smug “look at me being so kind” bullshit act. In her broken face in Panel 5. In the fact that Ruth is fresh out of the hospital and apparently has been told at least some portion of what happened and nonetheless expresses not an ounce of concern but a lot of language that centers the concept of Ruth as failure that he personally has to save.
We see it in how little he seeks out Ruth’s input. How little he values her input. By his use of the phrase “our investment” to speak about Ruth’s life, reducing it to the utilitarian use he personally gets out of her life. By his assumption that he owns her.
This fucker is bad news.
And I worry we’re about to see how bad news he can be.
I am honestly so scared to find out how much worse he can get. He’s got her calling him “sir” for fricks sake, and the way she cringed when she found out he was there… I don’t care what Sageress says, I got alarmbells ringing all over the place.
Yeah. And just like with most abusers, it’s still not enough power for him and so he has to grab for more. I know things are going to be really bad for her in the short term, but I’m hoping in the long-term she can find her method of escaping him and his bullshit once and for all.
Amen to that. Hopefully, Billie will be able to help her through this.
Well Willis can’t leave it all to our imaginations!
He may be claiming responsibility for “fixing” things. But Chloe had already made it clear she was reluctant to fire Ruth. I doubt, even in Ruth’s eyes, he can seriously claim full credit.
his face looks like a pimple….i want to punch it
You animal, that man served his (our?) country
Yeah. Once. A looong time ago. And given his age it was either ‘Nam or one of Reagan’s “police actions” or as a CIA asset in several counterrevolutions. Serving your country doesn’t make you a bad person, but it doesn’t make you a good one either. And referring to one’s grandchild as an “investment”, is the mark of a cold, calculating, self-centered person.
Y’all, Ruth’s Canadian so pretty sure he is too.
When Ruth and Howie’s parents died, they moved to the States to live with Sir. I think I remember seeing somewhere Sir and Howie (and Ruth when she’s not at school) live in Carmel, IN.
Ahh, fair, I stand corrected! 🙂
I’m guessing Sir is from Ruth and Howard’s maternal side of the family.
im californian
You don’t punch pimples, you cover it with a tissue and squeeze it til it pops.
Wait what? What the fuck did he just do?
he took the situation out of ruth’s hand and robbed her of any say she had in the matter. in essence, he took away her agency.
Yep. She is now right back in the situation that lead to her being fucking suicidal. With her new medication and (hopefully) therapy she’s better off but I can understand the fear of now being forced back into the situation but oh now everyone knows how fucked up she is including the guy who refers to her as an”investment.”
Yes, that. Well summarized.
This.
He’s removing her agency in the decision and her autonomy and presenting his deliberate show of control over her life as some kindly gesture when it is all about deepening his ability to abuse her over the phone over all her “failed life choices” in the ways that frequently drove her to drink to the point of nearly killing herself.
And by going so far in person to do this, he’s sending a very cold reminder to her that she is not going to be able to exit the path he has set for her without him actively intervening to prevent that.
And he did it all without ever visiting or even contacting her. Not even in hospital. Not even just to let her know he was trying to help out. Just straight to the administration, ignoring her.
Yep, it really hammers home how much he views her as a chess piece more than an actual person. Gotta make sure she fulfills the role she was given and doesn’t try and sneak off with one of the rooks for a snog or get it in her head that she can have a life outside the board.
THIS. EXACTLY THIS.
Guessing he somehow bribed the School to let Ruth keep her RA position. How, why I haven’t a clue. If he’s that rich why does he want her to work as an RA?
There’s a certain type of rich abusive asshole* who’s really big on their progeny “showing a strong work ethic” by doing a very specific job they approve of and which doesn’t give them enough agency or income to actually escape the amount of control they have over them.
Ruth working as RA satisfies that nicely. It’s likely only paid in free housing, so she’s still reliant on “sir” for disposable income and tuition. It’s high stress, preventing her from doing a quiet recovery and focusing on her studies. And it’s tied enough to the school for him to pretend that he’s covering her “schooling” and thus present himself as the only thing keeping her in that school.
It’s really the perfect job if you’re that type of creep.
*My girlfriend’s dad is exactly this type of asshole. Any help comes with a million nasty strings to limit ability to live independently and he spent most of her college years trying to discourage her from employment that would allow her financial independence and towards things that would leave her heavily dependent on him and his money so he could have better access to her to continue abusing her.
Some really good (bad) points here I hadn’t considered.
It’s a show of his power.
I suspect that he is very well-off, financially, so some branch of IU has probably just received a very significant endowment. Basically, he pretty much threw money at a problem until it went away.
So, what’s Willis going to do when he runs out of background/one-shot characters from Shortpacked to use in DOA?
My money’s on become a hermit.
And then he’ll make that hermit a character too.
The new RA, Master Roshi
“We had a close call there, didn’t we!”
“Yeah but it’s okay they got me to a hospita–”
“No, not that. Trust me, if you had died I would’ve made sure your ghost was the RA.”
So this seems to be some Walkyverse continuity stuff that long time readers seem to understand? Can someone provide context? Is “Sir” historically a terrible abusive old man?
All you need to know is in DoA. DoA is a separate continuity and not related to the Walkyverse except it has similar characters.
No no, i get that, but all the charas have walkyverse counterparts, Like Ultracar and Carla etc, so I’m asking about walkyverse “Sir”
Walkyverse sir only shows up in one strip. He’s a veteran who’s a long time G.I. Joe fan and collector not afraid to beat up people whining about nostalgia and new product not matching up.
He literally only shows up here: . Aside from that he’s totally new.
http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=112 I forgot how to html.
Hmmm, I don’t recognize him, but the name sounds familiar. Is he a new character?….Hold on a second! *checks Shortpacked under the GI Joe tag* It is! It’s that guy from this strip!
http://www.shortpacked.com/2005/comic/book-2-pulls-the-drama-tag/01-addicted/sigma/
You beat me to it
This man doesn’t look like he’s fought in wars.
He looks like he’s STARTED wars. And he sounds like he’s about to start one, too. He’s emanating the kind of charisma underneath which there’s always something absolutely roiling.
I love it when a comment and an avatar come together and make something beautiful.
I was just thinking about how he reminds me of General Ross from Hulk
Ruth was the unknown evil?!….Classic misdirection…unless I’ve missed what just happened?
I knew someone would beat me to it.
Yay? She’s stuck in the position she explicitly hates, her grandfather does not have a “kill it with fire” face, it is possible he has some kind of catch or plan, and Mary’s blackmail (as well as her ability to be a jerkass) are shot. I feel like I should be happy, but captain metaphor has made everything so vague that I’m not sure if this will end great or badly for Ruth. Oh dear.
It’s… Darkseid!
darkseid is classier! he held a glass of cognac! thats for classy villains!
I suspect she doesn’t want the job anymore.
Oh you dumb oblivious–
And poor Ruth financial dependency on an abuser is the worst
Wait…I thought Chloe had her head on straight. This guy doesn’t actually exist and he’s giving me the creeps. ( Well done Mr. Willis)
Also, doesn’t Ruth hater her R.A. Job? “Getting Fired is the light at the end of the tunnel” she said. And what is “our investment”? I suspect that this man has been driving Ruth to succeed or something, and her failure was the only way she could get back at him. And what about Naomi?
Seriously, if you are making your grand kid call you “Sir” with that degree of fear, there is abuse going on here somewhere. Also, Dammit Chloe! I trusted in you.
Ruth is apparently one of Chloe’s best RAs, and she appeared to be seriously entertaining Roz’s interest in the position. I don’t think Chloe is very good at her job.
Okay, yeah. I don’t think I thought this through. Dammit. I liked Chloe. meh.
It’s also worth noting that Chloe does not have the relative objectivity afforded to readers. She’s a lot closer to the action, and a whole lot easier for Clint to manipulate into missing the warning signs that seem obvious to a lot of us, no matter how competent or not she is.
Especially if Ruth hasn’t told her any real details about her home life.
… Investment?
Fucking what.
He doesn’t even seem to care about her wellbeing. Investment? The fucking what?
Yeah, anyone who talks about people as “investments” is about nine million red flags rolled up together before you even get to anything else.
wait
Sir is the 1960s GI Joe guy?!
Did not see that one coming.
damn, Chris H beat me to it
😉
as usual, Cerberus called it: Sir is abusive, but manages to hide it well; and Pudding Head is a nincompoop for not warning Ruth that her grandfather would show up
But he seems so nice, what could be wrong with him being there?
Yup, abusers are really good at “seeming” to everyone but their intended targets. Which aids the gaslighting. Cause if everyone else thinks they are “strict, but otherwise a great guy”, then no one believes the victim when they try and talk about what happened. And it’s easier to convince them they must be misinterpreting the abuser’s actions. After all, no one else can see it.
And if someone does see through it, it’s just a matter of isolating them from that person so that they don’t ever feel they have real support.
But.. But guuuuuys, Ruth is not the nicest person in the history of the planet, so CLEARLY she’s never been abused by this man. Obviously. Or at least he might not KNOW he’s abusing her, which makes any difference.
That may be true, but in this case, I think it’s more a situation of him not intending to be abusive. He thinks he’s doing what’s best for her, but he’s so out of touch with how she actually feels that he hurts her instead.
Not intending to be abusive does not keep him from being abusive though.
See also: The Walkertons, hopefully the Wilcoxes, Ross, etc.
@BBCC I never claimed otherwise.
Oh, he likely has some convoluted explanation he sells to himself to convince himself he’s not abusive, just “strict”.
But that little final comment, the smug look on his face, no, he knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s getting off showing the extent of the damage he caused knowing that no one will rat him out or stop him.
He might be convinced that that’s not “real abuse” but he knows the effect he’s having on Ruth and what that means.
I interpreted his final comment as just being out of touch, and the “smug grin” as him being pleased with himself for having helped “fix” things.
…But reading things over again, I’m second guessing myself; you might be right. We’ll just have to see where things go from here to know for sure.
I agree totally with Cerberus, but in addition, I really don’t think it matters WHAT he thinks he’s doing. Like BBCC said, it makes no difference. He’s still abusing her.
When Chloe contacted him, he probably asked her not to tell Ruth he was coming… as a “surprise”.
She was asleep at the wheel from the beginning, and probably finding excuses that sound nice to herself to cover her own ass if/when heads start rolling.
I don’t like anything about this >:[
“Investment.” Yeah. Oh, “OUR” investment. Really.
*heavy metal drum roll*
BIG MONEY! Rock that currency! (YEAH!)
Cold Hard CASH!
*CHUNG!* (Dramatic Pause)
Earning Interest…Fo~o~or…ME~E~E~E!
Thank you! Good Day!
*CHUNG!*
–Mondominishows’ “Heavy Metal Guy”
That was awesome.
I still blame you, though.
See above.
Hm. I don’t like or trust him. The “investment” wording terrifies me for some reason. Also the comment about young people just means he is 1000% a gigantic asshole anyway, so no other proof is really needed.
That dude was Ruth’s grandpa?
But… but… “clintless” isn’t a word.
I mean, if you spell it in all-uppercase and poor kerning…
His name should have been Tom Henry Lessick then we could call him T. Hankless.
I’m guessing he has connection and some influence then and as a result guess he’s going to make this a you owe me type of thing.
I liked him better beating up idiots in Shortpacked…
Does he collect original G.I. Joes in this universe too, or does he just use his grandchildren like action figures?
Those are NOT mutually-exclusive options.
I did say “just”.
An original G.I. Joe is probably how he paid Ruth’s tuition. Investment indeed.
Other comment that doesn’t go well with my first one:
Welp! Problem solved!
Seems to me that FERPA laws have been violated here. Even family can’t be told anything unless the student wants them to be told. Not even stuff like “are they attending class?” Not even if “I’m the one paying the bills!”
At least, I don’t think Cheeto Guevara has gotten around to repealing them yet.
They can for a medical emergency, but he’s not allowed in a meeting to do with her employment and Chloe should have told Ruth he’d be here.
Yeah.
But then, that’s the point. To have her see how thoroughly he went through those laws as they were nothing and involved himself where he had no right to be as if she was still a minor.
So she doesn’t get ideas in her head like the fact that she isn’t a minor. And that she has rights that Chloe just blatantly violated.
Yeah, but I get the impression that Chloe is not particularly… attentive to the nature of Ruth’s situation.
She had no idea that her best RA was even depressed, let alone suicidal, and she knew nothing about her alcohol problem. Chloe is not very observant, and probably didn’t have the faintest idea there was any reason to object to his appearance… In fact, I’m guessing she was surprised when Clint showed up, and he just sort of pushed through by saying “Oh, Ruth sent me up to talk this over.” or something.
“Unless the student wants them to be told.”
No. Unless the student gives them permission.
An abuser with leverage obtaining permission is not necessarily related to want.
It’s C. Montgomery Burns from “The Simpson’s”. He’s put on some weight and height, but that’s him. Mom even looks a little like Smithers.
“Excellent! Release the hounds.”
Just found out who this guy is from the Walkyverse, and this is not an expected character development
Who IS he? I’m digging into the verse to find out. So. Much. BACKLOG!!!!
He’s a one-off character from Shortpacked! who beat up on a guy who was nostalgic for the wrong iteration of GI Joe.
EL DIABLO.
I mean, maybe not, but the narrative is screaming EL DIABLO at me.
As any hope I may have held that grandfather was a well-meaning but awful parent who thought being strict was helpful and Ruth’s suicidal depression would be a shocking wake-up call…dashed. Dashed to pieces. This guy’s a smooth-talking smug old wealthy toxic asshole who sees Ruth as an investment, not a person. Gives me the chills.
Honestly, he reminds me a lot of a ‘classier’, less violent version of Amber’s dad. The same proprietary air about him, talking about Ruth as if she’s not there, pointing out and dismissing her emotional withdrawal as some childish ingratitude…so many red flags in one strip.
I agree, so far it looks like he’s pretty similar to Blaine, but with self-control.
He’s probably not even physically violent; with that level of control over Ruth’s world, and with Ruth’s self-destructive tendencies, he doesn’t even have to do it himself.
I was wondering why she puts up with him, and then I remembered she’s probably protecting Howard
Unfortunately that might backfire. I can imagine him shaping Howard into his clone, especially since Howard is a guy.
Which is why he engineered the death of their parents, no doubt.
That monster.
Don’t be ridiculous. He smells fascinating, sounds like either Frank Welker or Casey Casem, and served his country in the way he deemed proper. No way would he intentionally cause his own child’s death. Sure, he regrets nothing and wouldn’t change that day for the world, but it was never intentional.
No, but I’m willing to bet money that part of the reason his kid left America to live in Canada and raise their kids there was partially based in his treatment of them.
So it seems we aren’t going to see Billie kick him through a window anytime soon.
Chloe, you really need to work on your people reading skills. The old man has snowed you good.
In shocking twist he’ll turn out to be Ross’s cousin, making Ruth and Becky second cousins, or something.
No kicking out of window? Darn, the “Can you fly?” scene is one of the best parts of Angel. I was hoping for a reenactment.
“He accidentally fell out of the window.”
“How many times?”
“I lost count.”
“She just closes up” “Withdraws” Oh crap, this is the same thing that Amber used to do with her father. And now Ruth is going to become a campus vigilante. She, Amber and Sal can form the league of really very angry and dangerous women. Okay, that’s just a first draft…I’m working on it.
What would Ruth and Sal’s aliases be? Quarter-Black Widow and Femlogan?
…Which is which?
Sal is Quarter-Black Widow, on account of her being the daughter of a half-black man and a white woman, and Ruth is Femlogan, on account of her being Canadian and bloodthirsty for femurs.
Now see hear me out
Ruth is Quarter-Black Widow because she’s, like a spider with only two legs, a broken person who is struggling to support herself, and whose presence is bad for the health of her mate.
Sal is Femlogan cuz she had a blade in her hand :V
That makes way more sense than my reasoning… and that is tragic…
That line is so vile because he’s literally lampshading his abuse and conditioning of Ruth and delighting in how oblivious Chloe is to it. “Oh, she just closes up (like if I was an abusive fuck who literally instills terror in the folks I am guardian to), ho ho, millennials am I right?”
I just got chills from this strip and not good chills. Proper terrifying storytelling, well done.
I can’t believe Ruth is descended from a guy who looks like a real life cartoon supervillain.
wait, no, i can
I mean he just looks like a regular cartoon supervillain
cuz this is a drawing
WTF, a helpful adult? He clearly has an ulterior motive but there’s actual positive outcomes for a protagonist, that’s confusing. I was expecting him to take her to work in his salt mines or something.
What he’s doing here is not actually helping.
I mean a common thing for abusers to do is to present a really nice, helpful outward persona. Ruth, I imagine, has good reason to hate her grandfather(?). He’s probably presenting his actions as a positive, constructive force on her life but then it just fucks Ruth over (at least emotionally) 5 different ways.
does that make sense? i’ve been too tired to make sense very often recently.
Makes perfect sense to me.
You
I like you
You.
You are both stupid beyond words.
I mean, my god, how is it so easy for people to overlook all the abuse victims who are saying this guy sends up red flags?
Do people hate Ruth THAT MUCH?
Not even that – I loathe Ruth, but I recognize this son-of-a-bongo and loathe him even more.
Apparently.
I literally said he has an ulterior motive. I wasn’t saying it was good, I was saying I expected it to be ‘immediately dragged away and never sees Billie again’ level worse.
Ugh, I hate being viewed as an apologist or whatever for this guy. The idea that Ruth could possibly keep her job never even occurred to me, so this was about the most unexpected possible reveal. I was going for a ‘when’s the other shoe going to drop?’ kind of thing, because again, ulterior motive, things obviously aren’t going to be fine and dandy.
It’s okay – we’ve had a couple around here today, so things are tense. I too am waiting for the other shoe to drop. This will not be pretty.
Man, why we always gotta have a That Guy who shows up to tell us why we’re totes misjudging this clearly innocent storyline villain.
Right?
Reminds me of way back when Sal told Walky what was up with her parents and everyone was like ‘well, we can’t just take Sal’s word for it, she’s a criminal, she’s probably making it up for attention/sympathy/to make herself look better, we can’t trust her’. Or ‘Mary wasn’t transphobic, she’s calling Carla rowdy, like a boy’, ‘John means well! He’s just worried about Joyce!’
Every time, like motherfucking clockwork.
“She was just trying to study!”
bleh
“Amber’s being disrespectful by making Blaine leave! uwu”
Okay, you’re right. You. are. right. David Willis is a predictable, second-rate author who cannot help but write the same storyline over and over again. His characters and foreshadowing are so completely predictable that anyone with half a brain in their head cannot help but reach the correct answer immediately. Anyone failing at something so simple is clearly deserving of ridicule and accusations of bias and worse.
Forgive me for not having learned this until now. From now on, I will memorize “The David Willis Script (TM)”, and follow it religiously.
Honestly, I wish this was sarcasm, but as the comment progressed, it became less and less so.
Sorry, Willis, if you see this. You don’t deserve insulting, but I guess they have a point.
It’s not so much a matter of there being a limited number of characters or plotlines as that the strip has certain overarching themes, and one of those themes is that authority figures and institutions can’t be blindly trusted. I’m sure “sir” will find a way to illustrate that without just being another take on Blaine or Ross or Ryan, but the setup does seem pretty clear.
takashit? is that you?
Okay, so, like, is the concept of representing accurately the stories of abuse sufferers completely foreign to you?
Like, my god. It’s not that it’s bad or predictable writing, it’s that it’s showing things that HAPPEN to many of us who comment here. The narrative is under no obligation to be unrealistic just to subvert your expectations.
Or maybe people just notice a lot of red flags based on personal experience and knowing other folk’s experiences and so can smell these guys a mile away.
Blaine is a physical and verbal abuser who pushed his daughter to a mental break down. The Walkertons are racist, emotionally abusive, and negligent to one kid but much better to Walky and Billie. Toe dad is a depiction of homophobic violence and religion taken way too far. Mary straight up called Carla a boy.
DoA depicts a lot of different flavours of abuse. Some people pick up on red flags quickly, others want to wait and see. That’s fine as long as you’re not being an asshole to people seeing red flags.
Pointing out red flags and being frustrated people keep dismissing them and defending someone we already know is an abuser (because we’ve seen Ruth’s reactions to him before) is not remotely the same thing as saying Willis is predictable. The problem isn’t predictability – the problem is that every fucking time an abuser or bigot shows up, we have folks TRIPPING over themselves to say it’s not the case. We had folks defending Toedad even as he was PULLING A GUN AND KIDNAPPING HIS DAUGHTER. We STILL get folks defending Mary – that’s why the comments are set at a 30 day limit. Hell, we still occasionally get folks arguing Sal can’t possibly be right about her own life experience. It is incredibly frustrating because, yeah, it tends to piss people off when folks continue to defend abuse and red flags when people are sitting there saying ‘yup, my life exactly’. Especially when they then get pissy about it because they’d rather have something awful like the abuse victim exaggerating.
Not so much Willis is predictable as the commenters are predictable.
“This story is bad because all the bigots turn out to be bad bigoted people and the people they hurt never turn out to be the REAL villain in the end. Please don’t make me take responsibility for my words, they MADE me say it!” –you right now
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, after I read all the “Ross is just worried about his runaway daughter” comments.
Same, it always happens and I am always surprised, somehow.
Goddamn it, I was THIS close to typing up a reply starting with the words “To be fair to Ross”, until I realised there’s never any call whatsoever for fairness toward Ross.
To be fair to Ross, he should be forced to realize why his actions were utterly unforgivable.
To be fair to Ross, his religion has fed him a toxic line of shit about, oh, pretty much everything.
And he believed it. Carol, too.
Oh the other hand: Joyce, Becky, Hank…
who the hell is Ross?
Oh.
you mean Toedad?
Right? And isn’t it *funny* (aka not funny at all) that it’s always girls who are not believed when they warn us that someone is a Bad Dude ™? Both in this comic and, obviously, in real life.
BELIEVE WOMEN 2K17.
Folks defended Mary and Carol’s various shittiness. It is definitely true though that I’ve noticed it is much more immediate when it’s a lady accusing a guy though.
Yeah I should have made that more gender neutral. People of all genders can be a Bad Dude ™.
But really 90% of the time it’s someone with not as loud a voice in society, a woman, a minority, etc, as a (let’s be real) straight white cis man who is acusing somesuch man of being an absuer and suddenly people are REACHING for reasons to defend that dude.
I mean, just look at how often abuse victims are not believed, which leads to them being terrified to go to the police or go public. This type of shit is SO pervasive. Ugh. Riles me up, that.
Mmmmhmmmm.
I eagerly await the next round of shittiness every time, to see what excuses people will reach for and how far they’ll stick their heads in the sand.
I feel this is somewhat relevant to a recent election in a certain formerly first-world nation.
But her emails, amirite? *eye roll emoji*
Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!
Let’s look at this from the other side. We have here a career soldier. From his age and his bearing, I’d say either bird colonel or master sergeant. Again, from his age I’m assuming he saw combat in Vietnam. He saw his friends and brothers die. He may or may not have PTSD. What we know for sure is that he is charming, seems to want the best for Ruth, and Ruth is terrified of him. That could be for any number of good reasons, or it could be for something as simple as him getting drunk and telling war stories no child should hear. We do not have enough data to categorically declare him a monster. Is he? Probably. But one is always always always innocent until proven guilty.
Innocent until proven guilty is a legal term. We don’t have to give every threatening asshole the benefit of the doubt. Especially not one who shows no concern over his granddaughters suicide attempt and refers to her staring in shock as her “closing up” as if it were something that she did on a regular basis, while mocking her and claiming that she should be grateful to him.
Maybe, just maybe, at that point we start to consider the perspective of the person who’s been living with him all these years and cringes at the the mere mention of him.
I have. That’s evidence. It is not conclusive. I’m not here to play victim bingo, but I know whereof I speak. I was a soldier. I have terrified my family on occasion, innocently and accidentally. Seeing battle scars, telling war stories, PTSD fits, anything could be the cause of her fear. We do not have enough data to say he is a monster. All we can say with certainty is that Ruth thinks he is.
We also know he managed to make her have a depressive episode and go on a binge with just a 1 minute phone call.
Ruth’s reactions are not the reactions of someone who has been ‘occasionally terrified’ by innocent and accidental war stories or fits.
Soldiers are also usually far more receptive to and understanding of suicide attempts in my experience, so him being all flat faced ‘Oh, hm, we had a close call’ is not normal. This guy sets up red flags like it’s a capture the flag game.
What kills me is that he isn’t even played super subtly as being abusive in this strip. We got the set up for this guy way back with Ruth drinking herself into oblivion over a phone call in which he called her a disappointment. In this strip, he’s greeting his granddaughter who was just treated for suicidal depression and his first thought is her job. ‘Their investment.’
The way he’s speaking in this strip, to me, is so obviously condescending, dismissive, and uninterested in Ruth as a person. He doesn’t ask her what happened, what she needs, what she wants, because it’s not important to him.
And honestly people reading this and being incapable of seeing it…it brings me back to being a kid and no one knew what a toxic abuser my dad was. He seemed so nice, all my friends loved him, but he was still the man who broke my self worth and destroyed my ability to trust anyone, he was still the man who pushed me down the stairs. No one would have believed me if I told them because he was so good at twisting the issue and making it the fault of anyone else but himself and making himself out to be the well-intentioned strict parent who only did it because he wanted us to succeed.
God, it’s not even the strip, it’s those comments that push me into anxiety.
*tight hugs if wanted*
I know the feeling, that previous storyline with Amber where people decided she was turning into her dad had me the same way. I just had to start skipping comment sections til people stopped being buttheads. I hope things are better for you now, and please remember to take care of yourself! ♥
Thanks, honestly, that does help.
*echoing hug offer*
And yeah… this strip has me flashbacking hard to when my dad was presenting himself as the “oh so reasonable” father just so worried about his “wayward son” and wanting to “bring him back to the fold” to everyone while saying the most vile stuff to me in private and trying to threaten me into submitting for reparative therapy and bad-mouthing me to every other one of my family members.
And I’m just trying to scroll past most of the “she was only trying to study” type comments for fear I’m going to just start screaming fuck you, fuck you, fuck you over and over.
*tight hugs also if wanted*
I’m sorry. For a hot minute there it looked like we’d see anti-LGBT “therapy” be made illegal, buuuuuuut…maybe in four years. FWIW, you are easily the most level-headed person I’ve ever known, you manage to engage calmly with people to whom the only reaction I can muster is “fuck you fuck you fuck you”.
Argh. This. This every time. I so agree with you. These people are just willfully ignoring the story that is put in front of them, refusing to believe that the world can be the way that we KNOW it is.
Please stay strong.
I feel like you’re talking about me and I won’t stand for this bullying
You, me, dawn. Mud wrestle.
Do you realize that to some of the people you are addressing, this is not, in the slightest degree, a joke?
It’s almost as if having the mob practically call you out for giving a character a chance that they aren’t so bad on their first appearance causes you to be less than inclined to respond positively to said people.
I’m sorry I’m not taking this comic as seriously as everyone else though
Okay, listen. You have an unpopular opinion. One in which I feel is actually pretty harmful, but that is neither here nor there. But that’s no call to be a complete asshole about it and deliberately seek to hurt others over it.
Like this isn’t a mob calling for your blood. You’re defending an abuser character. A character you know will end up an abuser because Willis doesn’t write “abuse victim is deeply mistaken about her own abuse” stories. And people are being relatively polite about that.
If you want to play martyr? Great. But don’t take it out on others.
You’re better than that.
This is literally a mob calling this single commenter a bad person, over, and over again. That is exactly what this situation is. You can’t say “This isn’t a mob calling for your blood” what literally, there is a mob of people in these comments attacking a single person. And they are not being “relatively polite about it.”
They aren’t playing the martyr, they’re simply taking a step away from an internet mob that’s extremely upset about their unpopular opinion.
And so far? They haven’t been a complete asshole about it. That’s been you.
Cerberus absolutely has not been an asshole about it’s absurd that you’re suggesting it. Disagreement is not a personal attack.
I don’t think Cerb has been mean, she’s being blunt and stuff but hasn’t been as bad as some others.
But that “disagreement isn’t a personal attack” thing… why doesn’t that apply to my disagreeing about Clint being a bad guy? Why is that considered a personal attack against people in the comments?
I can’t speak for others, but my issue has been that your tone has come across as somewhat belittling. The way you react like people who feel they already have enough evidence to know Sir is an awful, abusive person as if they were being completely ridiculous.
That’s stirring up much more hostility than the actual content of your arguments.
Mostly, it’s a person’s opinions/comments that are attacked. Which is something quite different from a person being attacked. The “calling someone a bad person over and over” is definitely -not- happening, and I suggest you retract that comment, seeing as it is not true. If you stand by it, then know that you are standing by what I know is a falsehood; and that I will thus consider you a liar from that point on.
And if you want to claim that it is true, then better prepare to show some real evidence for it. Full context quotes that clearly goes after the person and not the person’s comments. I’m confident that you won’t find many of those, seeing as I just managed to go through the comment field again, looking specifically for them.
And yes, people are mostly being pretty polite about it. Sure, there are some less than polite comments, yes, but seriously, if someone is defending an abuser character, they will be called out out on it.
If that’s enough for you to call it “a mob calling a commenter a bad person”, then I can only assume you’ve led an extremely sheltered life, internet-wise. Good for you. But trust me when I say that this is -nothing-. Yeah, people are getting emotional about an abuser being defended. You know why? Because an abuser is being defended.
Again.
There are so many abuser red flags showing up (at least for those who know what to look for; I do not count myself as an expert, but I am listening to those that clearly are) that trying to dismiss them all will at some point becoming nothing but an exercise in pure mental gymnastics to avoid that grimmest of fates: Acknowledging having made a mistake.
And if you don’t think defending an abuser is something worth calling out, then I invite you to step away from the comment field. Abuse will always be called out in this comment field, and people defending abuse will always have their comments called out, in what is indeed a relatively polite manner. It’s up to you whether you have a thick enough skin to stand that.
There’s a tactic, “Come up with a documented list of insults against this person, including all the context, else I’m not going to believe you.” Got better things to do with your day than read an argument 30 times over? You’re a liar.
You realize you wouldn’t read it even if I did, right? It would be near unreadable to have all 40 some odd comments laid out here, and you’d just go “They aren’t that bad” because they aren’t calling Sageress insults that have been filtered out of the comment section here anyways.
But within a few minutes, I found that they’re “a complete asshole”, from the comment I was responding to, also that they’re playing a martyr, people are calling the shitty, that they have their head stuck in the sand, that they “strained a muscle pulling all those mental gymnastics”. Someone telling them they can’t disagree because the other side is facts, someone calling them an apologist for abuse, someone calling them fucked up, someone calling them “supremely dickish” and “fucking shitty”…. Here’s a couple comments for you:
“Man, why we always gotta have a That Guy who shows up to tell us why we’re totes misjudging this clearly innocent storyline villain.”
“You.
You are both stupid beyond words.”
That was just me scrolling UP in the comments section. And lightly scanning. And again, I’m pretty sure there’s at least SOME filtering in these comments where much worse would get filtered out.
And honestly, I don’t care enough to get into this argument about what fictional character is an abuser or not. It’s fictional. I read it because it’s not real. Sure, it’s an abuser. Probably, 90% likely, an abuser, given the current pattern of the writing. But his existence is basically required to actually generate a story. Stories are written about good people’s reactions to bad people. Without Clint, there is no story here.
But in these comments section, in reality? Cerberus and the whole comments section literally pissed on Sageress’s leg and called it rain. And I will call that out. They are getting shit on left and right. They’re not making that part up. And just because there’s worse places out there for comments does not make what is happening here any better. Isn’t that the argument, way up there? “Abuse is abuse, even if it’s small it’s as bad as the worst abuse ever?”
I’m not going to speak for anyone else, but I will say that my comments have all been referring to things Sageress has said, not Sageress themself (forgive me, Sageress, I don’t know your pronouns). I don’t know them, and for all I know, they’re very nice. However, they did say things I thought were shitty and so I said so. Regarding sticking heads in sand, that was not referring to Sageress specifically – that was referring to a pattern where people have come out and defended even blatant abuse (such as Toedad kidnapping Becky at gun point, which STILL had people defending him) and how far they’ll go to do it, which makes me await the next round of this phenomenon out of curiosity for why they’ll defend whatever abuser/bigot we’re seeing. That was not addressing Sageress and I apologize for it coming off that way.
Some opinions are unpopular for a reason.
Bruv I’m not trying to play martyr. I’m trying to say people shouldn’t jump into my gullet over me:
A) I disagree about this guy being abusive in this comic
B) I’m not taking the discussions about said disagreement as seriously as they’d like, makin jokes n shit.
And both are in fact valid problems to have with me, and I understand people having them. The part where I go on the defensive is when people start givin’ me grief about it and being aggressive with it instead of having a polite conversation or something.
Yeah if it weren’t enough that this comic gave me enough chills, people defending this beanface mcfuck just because he “doesnt show abuse yet” pisses me off even more
Like. What the fuck. This was exactly how one of my friend’s mom was. She treated me pretty nicely but she was fucking abusive towards her kid behind my back. The same goes for my paternal aunt. Her smile could charm all and do no harm, but behind it was just a pile of rotten flesh and abusive garbage.
And its people who defend them that contributes to more emotionally abusive behavior because they didn’t “see them abuse anyone”.
How much of an investment is being an RA in college really, though
He probably means her tuition.
He’s completely unlike what I imagined. I imagined someone tall and a bit lanky, and fairly thin, like a geriatric male Ruth. Someone a bit like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, and roughly as personable.
But those guys always turn out to be kind beneath the surface!
I was think its old Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond.
Well… you got his name right, at least!
…does anyone else hear a whistling? Like… something falling?
Oh, you hear it too. Good, Willis hasn’t broken me yet.
It sounds like a very large shoe to me.
Really? Not one of the recurrent musical themes from earlier, transposed into a minor key, stretched almost into the unrecognizable (but still tickling the back of the brain, somehow) and played on a cello? Huh.
I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.
For those of you having trouble getting why this guy is fucked up, just imagine him as Kurtwood Smith’s character from Dead Poets Society. I’m calling it now, that’s basically who he is.
That is SUCH a good call, oh my god.
Agreed, nicely done.
I think some of us would prefer him to be more like Kurtwood Smith’s character from That 70’s Show. Tough, but fair, and the worst he does is let you stew in your own failure to teach you a lesson.
He’s saying lots of nice things about everything being okay… why am I not the least bit comforted though..?
Because this comic has conditioned you to be instantly distrustful of any parents and/or parental figures that show up because they’re probably abusive in some way. It’s genius on Willis’ part, really. That way the nice ones are actually a TWIST.
…or he has accurately depicted subtle indicators of an emotionally abusive parent, as evidenced by multiple people commenting on how “Sir” reminds them of their real-life experience.
“…or he has accurately depicted subtle indicators of an emotionally abusive parent”
I’d add “and how said abusive parent/guardian will usually behave in public, making it seem to clueless outsiders like they are clearly having the kid’s best interest at heart and not making people suspect them for the abusive shitheads they really are”
One of the reasons we were cautiously optimistic about Hank even before his full conversion is because he never gave those vibes. Never. Like Joyce, he’d wear his (sometimes misguided) heart on his sleeves, and we’d see that too. And no matter what else he did, he still treated Joyce like a human being, not like a goddamn fucking “investment”.
Yeah, the italics were meant to be cut off after “clearly” there. You know, for sarcastic pathos.
All of what you and Sagaress and Fart Captor said plus, y’know, that whole thing about his ‘investment’ being safe.
Props to Willis here. In one strip he has completely obliterate my hopes that Clint here wasn’t nearly as horrific in the flesh as Ruth’s fear made him out to be.
My own battles with crippling self-loathing and depression would often get so bad that even though I had a loving, supporting family I STILL felt like a worthless parasite who didn’t deserve anything that they gave. I thought, because we only ever got the one strip with Ruth talking to him on the phone was that Clint was merely being stern with her, and Ruth’s depression and alcoholism only made it ten times worse and sent it spiraling from there.
But clearly I was wrong. Ruth is nothing more than tool for him to boost his status and stroke his ego.
*was secretly hoping that we only see aftermath, not the actual person*
*Grandfather shows up*
Okay, this is getting unsettling, and…oh fuck. Refer to a suicide attempt as “close call” and “ungrateful” attitude by shutting down…this is bad. This is really, really bad. Everything about this reeks of the sort of person described in group therapy meetings as horrifically toxic, abusive, and controlling. Every single warning flag I have is flying right now.
I don’t know who that is but, kill it. Kill it with fire.
So I was kidding when I said I was expecting Sir to be some kind of Dr Claw type super villain, but now I’m getting hot flashes to Senator Armstrong.
DON’T F&@K THIS… erm, um… WHATEVER IT IS I DO FOR A LIVING!
I also get pretty hot when I think about Senator Armstrong.
Hard not to with all that fire he throws around while duking it out with Jack.
So Ruth was “unknown evil” all along!
There’s a silver lining to all of this.
Given how obviously slimy this guy is, there’s FANTASTIC odds he’ll end up getting decked.
Ryan, Blaine, Ross, Mary, All have recieved their Karmic beatings. This guy will be no different.
We’ll probably have to wait until after Robin’s gotten hers though.
It says a lot about Willis’s skill as a writer that we’ve only just met the guy and we’re already looking forward to seeing him punched.
And there will be much rejoicing! (Had to repost, first one got weird and had wrong gravatar)
Oh boy more shit parents! My favorite
“Investment.” Oh you cock-faced fucker!! Ruth is a person, not some fucking business venture, not a piece of property, not some fucking stock market gamble you think will pay dividends, a fucking person!! No wonder your kid left for Canada you fat old oil conglomerate looking fuckfaced dick!! Tabarnak!!
Explains so much.
Jesus Christ he’s already even more terrifying then I thought he’d be, and this is his “nice” face. Everything about him, The cold glare when when Ruth first arrives while saying seemingly”Friendly” thing” in the first panel, that evil smirk he constantly has on his face after, Describing his granddaughter as an “investment”. It all tells us so much about what kind of person he is. I mean goddamn…That is some good villain writing.
I’m going to hate this guy aren’t I?
Wait until he pulls out his false teeth…
But as a side note, props to Willis for skillfully and unflinchingly rendering such a wide variety of the many flavors of abusive parents.
Indeed. That takes, uh, talent.
Totally.
Dumbing of Age: parents make abusive choices, and now their kids make foolish choices.
Dumbing of Age: even the grownups are dumb.
Dumbing of Age: surprise, abusive patriarch!
True. And to do so in ways that fucking hit home for folks who’ve had to deal with that shit.
A brute in a suit. Wonder if he spray-tans just his face.
chloe, i had more faith in you :’U
Why? She may be sympathetic and have good intentions, but everything we’ve seen so far suggests that she’s a terrible manager – as long as she doesn’t hear anything bad and there’s no problems she has to deal with personally, everything’s fiiiiiine.
Abusive people can be really good at hiding their abusiveness from people outside the family.
It’s one of the things they are ‘best’ at It allows them to stay out of jail and keep up the abuse, while looking like they’re just “having our kid’s best interests at heart”.
Truth. You would like both of my parents if you met them.
I think it’s kind of amazing that we all (well, most of us) are getting this really foreboding vibe and are really scared and getting chills and this character is literally making his first on-screen appearance. Like, shit Mr Willis, that is some EXCELLENT writing.
To be fair, we are kind of conditioned by now.
I mean, true. But he’s really done some textbook planting and pay-off here and now we’re all terrified. Just… so good.
Oh wow, Ruth’s Grandfather is my mother when I was a kid. This is going to be fun.
*Sympathy via appropriate over-the-internet light ‘physical’ contact*
*reciprocates*
I love your username.
Thank you.
And it’s not just for show either. In addition to the name, We have indeed also taken up the mantle of Our predecessor. Except We are emperor of the Internet instead of any one nation, for long and complicated reasons*.
*The reasons being “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
As your Majesty knows (but your subjects may not) your illustrious namesake was both Emperor of the United States AND Protector of Mexico. Is it possible that your Majesty is also, unknown to we benighted subjects, Protector, Dominator, or Basileus of other realms?
*Appropriate gesture of support*
*appropriate gesture of support*
Sir looks like a batman villain.
No, he’s Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne.
Exactly, a Batman villain.
He’s basically what Owlman would look like if Batman Beyond ever ventured into that universe. I imagine he has a very old cat that’s surprisingly badass.
God. The fact that the image of this guy in charge of Gotham seems more messed up then the way Gotham is normally says a lot.
That is a fascinating comparison.
I see only one solution to this.
Murder. Of the ‘he had it coming’ variety.
I volunteer as tribute.
And then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times.
Are you it wasn’t 30? I just to be absolutely sure.
Sure, but that’s not how the song goes 😉
He ran into your knife penis-first?
No one is running with my Cell Block Tango reference, I officially give up xD
I am so disappointed.
Me too. Alas, they had it coming and only had themselves to blame.
(<3)
If you’d have been there, if you’d have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same~
If I’d have been there, I’d have done the same.
You’re my fave, 10/10, would swallow arsenic for or possibly do #17 the spread eagle <3
He bumped his head on a baseball bat.
Then he slipped and fell down a locked elevator shaft.
Onto some bullets.
“You know, I always found that story rather improbable…”
“Yeah, as did I.”
Mystery Men reference! :3
Need any help? I know a good dumping ground.
And we have officially crossed into “Woah there” territory
Ah, yes, because nobody ever makes snarky and hyperbolic comments regarding hated characters and horrible things being wished on them before.
I was playing along. “Woah there” being a huge understatement to plans of murder, itself, being part of the joke.
Okay.
Obvious ass cover is obvious.
My ass cover is showing? Darn, the guys at the ass cover store said nobody would notice.
Yikes, tiger. The man’s clearly not good news, but I don’t think his attitude, while it speaks a thousand slimy words, is technically grounds for a death sentence.
How about a snarky and hyperbolic comment from someone who can’t actually affect whether he lives or dies?
Not to mention that he’s a fictional character in a webcomic.
Not to mention, Ruth should not be responsible for other people in her condition. Just giving her back her job sweeping everything under the rug is the worst thing that could happen.
This this this
If he solved that problem by a “generous contribution” to the school and Chloe happily accepted it, I’m gonna be pretty disappointed in her…
chloe, what are you doing, are you that bad at reading faces or circumstances, she is clearly not relieved nor in a state to be a capable RA ????
This is shocking. Chloe always seemed so good at things. There have been no signs of utter incompetence hardly at all.
Anyone who also reads shortpacked had flashbacks to the first apperance of Blaine in that universe? Because I did… a lot.
I don’t Clint will be as awful, but I can feel the presure here… well at least she doesn’t have to return to live with him, but I am sure she will remind her of that time he intervened to “fix” her life.
Even if I have the feeling Chloe didn’t want to fire her, and really wants to help and would have tried to keep her.
Noooope nope nope nope nope this is creepy and scary and holy crap NOPE PUNCH HIM AND GUT HIM I DONT LIKE HIM
I am proud/dismayed that I called that “all the necessary people” would include a Sir surprise. Granted, I phrased it more like a “please tell me this won’t happen, this won’t happen, right?” but still!
Not only “all the necessary people” includes a Sir surprise, but only includes a Sir surprise. There’s none of Chloe’s bosses. There’s no one else involved in any complaints. There’s just “Sir”.
He literally is the only one Chloe considered “necessary”.
Which… flames, flames on the side of my face…
From how happy she seems, I get the feeling this was her idea. She totally thinks she’s helping. I’ll bet she gets really annoyed when Ruth never seems to be grateful for it.
*Clark Wing is on fire, Sidney Yus has taken over the school, and Billie and Clint are locked in an epic beam struggle that threatens to wipe the county off the map*
Chloe: Go Choe! Go Chloe! I’m useful!
Good point — jeez louise, Chloe is so bad at her job.
breathing-breathl- heaving breaths. Heaving breaths…
Poor Ruth. Her eyes have lost her green! Clint is such bad news, yikes.
As an aside, he kind of looks like John McCain with more hair and a Batman villain smirk. I think it’s the shape of his head?
Also I’m so mad at Chloe. Like, you are in charge of RAs, you should not assume that all relationships are healthy happy surprises, you are supposed to look for harmful relationships, particularly surrounding somebody fresh out of the hospital for stated suicidal intentions, what the hell are you even doing
I can get that a layperson with limited info might not recognize that Ruth has been trying to destroy her job as RA. Sometimes it’s hard for healthy people to wrap their heads around self-destructive behaviour.
But, dude, this is a secretly-suicidal teenager, so her home situation must be perfectly hunky-dory…?
Yes, this is clearly true, let’s not even ask her first.
Chloe is the real idiot here tho.
Like holy shit lady why would u even entertain the notion of Ruth being let back in charge.
I have less problem with Ruth being in charge than I do Chloe being completely out of the loop as to WHY Ruth had the problem.
I had such hope that Chloe would be basically competent, but no, she is not, at all. Time to fire everyone and start over??
She entertained the notion of Ruth being put in charge in the first place. And of inviting Sir to this meeting.
Those were not good decisions.
And she pours gravy in her hair every morning. What a goof!
Comic Reactions:
*curl into ball and weep softly*
… okay, no I can do this.
Panel 1: Oh fuck, I’m broken already and we’ve only just started. I mean, there’s the camera angle here. Right over Ruth’s shoulder as we’re seeing the room from her eyes. We’re right there with her as she’s fucking breaking at seeing her abuser.
Like fuck, those darkened eyes again, that scattered frown, sketchy and shaky. She’s barely holding on to functionality in the direct presence of the man she fears so strongly. And that tells us everything before he even opens his goddamn mouth.
And when he does. Holy fuck. Glaring over her like she’s nothing, reacting to her being hospitalized (and I’m not willing to give Chloe the benefit of the doubt that she didn’t tell “sir” why given the fact that she seems to consider “all the necessary people” to be “sir” and only “sir”) like it’s the fulfillment of a disappointment he already had. Reducing it to a “close call” but only focusing on the job side of that.
He shows no concern for her well-being. No comforting of her obvious transparent fear of him. No questions to see if she was okay.
And he is inserting himself into her life very deliberately here. “We had a close call”. It’s not “you had a close call”. It’s “we” because he feels that much ownership over her life that he feels no hesitation in asserting his authority over what is at the end of the day her life.
And… let’s be frank to Miss Shithead here. Fuck Miss Shithead. Like, inviting only a family member to a “relevant persons” meeting when he has no legal right to be there, especially for what was sold as a disciplinary meeting, ignoring the fucking red flags written all over her face, giving her no warning that a potentially abusive family member is visiting…
Like, yeah, I get that she’s unbelievably bad at her job and that she just wants the return of the status quo so she has to do the least amount of work, but fuck… one of my greatest flaws is I can’t stand people who do jobs I care about poorly and in ways that harm others. It’s why I despise Jason more than any of the other non-family-member characters in the strip.
And Chloe here… fuck, her blindness to these red flags and her mishandling of a situation with a student she knows is struggling with suicidal ideation just infuriates me. And the fact that she’s treating it all with a smile and a happy welcome like Ruth isn’t three seconds away from curling into a ball and rocking back and forth is just… fuck that shit. Ugh.
why do u gotta drag jason like this
Because Jason’s pretty fucking shitty as a TA. Why else?
I dunno. Aside from Leslie basically every person associated with IU appears to be completely incompetent at their job, occasionally with additional moral failings. I give Jason points for at least trying to do his job in the face of all that anyway.
Jason has a shot at redemption. Whether or not he’ll actually grab it is still up in the air. Nothing would please me more if he managed to; but he’s got to do something pretty damn big… Like, “Your mother would be proud of you” big.
I remind you that the standard of comparison for Jason is Penny.
And also, man, Jason gives individual attention to students in a first-year math class. I dunno about you guys but my first year calc classes had like four hundred people in them (and IIRC from what we’ve seen of the lecture hall, the DoA class is also a big one) and a TA that actually tracked each person’s progress and made an effort to reach out and help the strugglers would have been worth their weight in gold.
That’s a good point. The really sad thing about Jason is that he’s the good TA.
We actually did a podcast episode on that.
You guys have a podcast? Holy crud, its already a pleasure reading your in depth commentary, it’d be even better to actually hear you speak. What’s the podcast called?
It’s Podcasting of Age.
Here’s a link to the soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-956738444
But it’s also available on iTunes and Emperor has a site for folks to comment on the episodes and discuss how wrong we got everything. ; )
Much obliged.~
It is suitably awesome!
Thanks!
How did I miss TWO podcasts??
MUST. CATCH. UP.
So far, everyone who’s ever talked about how wrong we got everything has disappeared in very mysterious and entirely unrelated circumstances… Must be one of those coincidence thingies.
But yeah, my blog: https://skepticalclown.wordpress.com/
I lost control with my initial response to the comic as can be seen. My…not father, at least not more than biologically, was very much like Clint. But he’s been dead multiple years now and the lives of my mother, my two younger brothers, and myself have been much better since his death. And I know from your comments that yours was to Cerberus. So, I just want to offer you a gesture of support, and let you know that if you do start curling up on floor and crying, there will be someone there to keep you company. Not literally physically because that would be very creepy and disturbing of me, but in a metaphorical sense. *tentatively offers internet hug*
…Also, I’m beginning to wonder/be suspicious about how Chloe was hired as an RM in the first place.
*hugs back* Thank you.
And I am sorry about what happened to you as well and am glad the bastard is gone and can’t hurt you anymore. *commiserating hug*
I imagine she gave a very good interview and had all the right boxes ticked off on her resume.
Sadly, selling yourself and your ability to do the job do not necessarily have anything to do with doing the job. (Unless it’s in sales.)
Chloe is so bad at her job. I USED TO LIKE HER!!!!!! :'(
She initially seemed to care… but it turns out all she initially seemed to care about is how inconvenient replacing Ruth would be for her personally.
This. And look at how exceptionally cheerful she is to have an excuse NOT to replace her. It’s almost as if the suicide attempt and drinking problem never existed! And the targeted harassment and threat of blackmail? Totally gone now. Everything is fixed, forever.
I think I hate her. Not because she’s evil, but because she is just neutral in a way that hurts every vulnerable person in that dorm.