Discussion (144) ¬
[ Comments RSS ]
Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Get Equipped With @getequipped.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Jeff Harris @nemalki.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Supper Mario Broth @mariobrothblog.bsky.social ⋅ 5d
Loading ...
SDCC 1229
aiming for next “Hot Mugshot Guy” candidate?
“Okay. I’ll leave. But I’m gonna leave sexy.”
‘If you want o check out my ass as I leave, that’s cool.’
“America’s ass has nothing on these glutes”
What are all these quotes from? #outoftheloop
Pretty sure they’re hypothetical quotes from a more on-the-nose/over-the top hypothetical version of the next comic strip, and they’re being played for laughs.
It’s a common theme for webcomic comments.
I can’t speak for the others, but mine was from “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” season 3.
Huh. I plugged that into google images and, while I didn’t find a gif for the scene in question, I did get the following results [in the order presented, though I did skip over several interposed images].
I.. I appreciate how they manage to form a narrative response to “Okay. I’ll leave. But I’m gonna leave sexy.”.
https://i.imgur.com/SgJHG4v.png
https://i.imgur.com/aj5s5cH.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/XADgCD9.gif
https://i.imgur.com/yDvAVaH.gif
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend looks a lot more interesting than I expected, though.
Mine was in reference to a line from Avengers Endgame
Asher is so chill
Asher is about to become our new favorite or least favorite character.
If he wasn’t smoking that would be hot.
No, no, the smoking makes it extra hot. Don’t believe me? Touch the smoking end of the cancer stick. Temperature increase right there.
FACTS
That’s the problem! The cancer stick is hotter than him!
But wait, does that mean that when you compare them, it makes him *cooler*?
The symbolism has changed. Smoking was the sign of urbane maturity _or_depravity, depending on context (that used to be an important word) and whether it was a cigarette in a slim holder (good or classy bad), a plain cigarette (context), a pipe (suburban dad good) or a cigar (context) — now it’s the universal graphic signal for a bad’un.
Whether he’s a villain or not, best character.
I don’t know if I’ll go that far yet, Sal is still my number 1. But damn if Asher didn’t just earn himself a high spot in the rankings.
Amber is already writing the fanfic about what happens next in her mind.
Asher, you are a chill bro so far, and I am hoping you are a good guy now. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful change of pace?
im gonna guess he probably is
I SO very hope so, because honestly, the amount of gushing he’s getting in the comments over how hot AND cool he is is somewhat disturbing considering what we know about the stuff he used to do. It’s rather sobering how much people are willing to overlook if they find somebody attractive. :/
Well, to be fair, the other character we know used to do the same stuff has changed, so why not him? I’m still wary, but I also prefer not to judge people over what they did wrong at 13.
And of course Sal is also hot and cool, which probably helps
This is only Asher’s seventh appearance in the entire strip. All we know about him is that he used to be part of the shoplifting fandom
Fortunately for those of us who haven’t read Willis’ other strips, new characters don’t come with any baggage. They can be accepted and discovered as they exist in DoA.
Was Asher even in It’s Walky! or Shortpacked? I don’t remember him, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if I simply forgot.
He’s new!
On the one hand, he’s hot, perceptive, and self-aware.
On the other hand, he’s a smoker.
Yup.
Hot perceptive and self-aware is… also how I’d describe Mike. So not necessrily a good sign.
But what happens when Asher gets drunk?
Honestly, he seems kinda reasonable right now.
Fair.
If he loses the smoking habit, I can like him so far.
Given that you’re not going to make out with him (on account of your being corporeal) and you’re never going to see him suffer from lung cancer (because Willis’s readership will die of old age first) is the cigarette habit really such a deal-breaker?
It’s an immersion thing, I imagine. While we are all completed divided from the DoA world, the imagery can still conjure some surprisingly vivid sensations in some people. (I guarantee you every time I see a cigarette in a scene, I get a visceral ‘retreat’ impulse)
Oh no he’s hot
^ This.
I don’t know why, but I actually don’t like this guy’s face and just find him incredibly suspicious.
Same.
Thirded.
*Scruffy* Second
I don’t even know how to phrase this without sounding like an ass, but…at least in real life, where it matters…you should probably take a second and third look at the things you think about other people when you don’t know why you think them.
Some people just have suspicious faces.
My face suspects everyone!
I’m not too worried about why I dislike Asher’s face since he’s not a real person and he’s the only character whose face I’ve gone ‘hmm, dislike, do not trust, very sus’. I’ve literally never had that thought or a similar thought about an actual person.
Then his eyes glow red and he mutates into his true monstrous form.
…threesome?
If Amber gets to watch.
Today’s strip is sponsored by Chevrolet Certified Service, or as I like to call them, Mister Goodstench.
He’s perceptive as hell, I’ll give him that.
Alarmingly so.
God I really hope Asher is decent.
But considering the need for a shot of drama in the robbery arc and the lack of an on campus male antagonist, I’m not holding my breath just yet.
You bring up excellent points, which does diminish my hope that he’s going to be a good guy. But maybe we’ll get lucky for once.
I am choosing to ignore the red flags and hope this fictional character isn’t a shit head. On the grounds that I want to be optimistic.
I do not advise this for non-fictional people.
Are there actual red flags I’m missing besides the history? Which was a long time ago when he was barely a teen.
I mean, we’ve very little of him in the present, but I don’t see anything that would be a flag if we were just meeting him for the first time.
Stuff like the alt text. It’s making me nervous.
Somehow I hope he is the kind of badass good boy that can help Amber against Blaine&Co.
But if Willis wants to make all of our hearts stop, Asher is working for Blaine.
It will be interesting to see what new info we get on their past. Did he get busted for anything? Did Sal keep quiet about who else was involved in the first robbery?
Of course he’s an evil mastermind, he’s wearing a turtleneck
Right? It’s a wonder he’s not petting a white cat.
He’s so smart, he doesn’t have time to worry about trivial things like whether or not his neck chafes.
Isn’t it autumn and morning in-comic? A turtleneck sweater is perfectly acceptable under those circumstances.
Good lord Willis, you nailed the art of smolder
okay that’s a smug grin, i’m concerned
Mmmmm dunno, that face is a little smug-looking for my liking.
Oh god that is a Damn You Willis if I ever saw one.
I love how Amber gets further into a defensive stance in panel 4
Lol, I love this guy
“You are transparent. I see plans within plans…”
More like plants within plants.
Cuz he has a cigarette, you see.
Everyone saying “Man I hope Asher’s a good dude!” but like, homeboy was doing the DreamWorks Face while lighting his cig a couple strips ago so…..
So does that mean he’s just going to make rapid fire pop culture references and rip Disney off?
I mean… Would that be so wrong?
Depends on which Disney stuff he rips off.
Interesting.
I’m hoping the last panel means Asher is now a good guy. He’s definitely very perceptive.
Amber, Asher, and Walky would make a good name for a law firm.
It’s got just the right amount of annoying syllables right next to each other. There’s no way they wouldn’t have a late-night TV commercial.
I love how everybody’s “Oh no, he’s a smoker! He can’t be a good guy!”
Has anyone pulled that on Sal yet?
Is Sal a good guy? (?)
She’s a chaotic good antihero.
But I wouldn’t kiss her.
Smoking has been far more a focus of Asher’s brief appearances than of Sal’s many ones. Plus, we knew Sal was good from before the series started. Here we’re scrambling to guess about the new guy.
Damn, good, bad, whatever, that was pretty perceptive of him. “Oh hey, I know you. Oh! You must be hiding here to see what I’m like now!”
I sure wouldn’t have guessed that from “Two people hiding in the bush and saying things about how hot I am.”
Well, he didn’t guess until “Hey, you’re the brother of that girl I robbed a store with”, which adds a big clue.
Oh dammit, he is a smartass! Be careful you guys!
I don’t understand I usually am interested in women why can this dude get itooooh it’s because he looks like Dean Iron Giant aka #firstcartooncrush noooo
Where’s the giant, Mansley?
Oh man, panel 2. This guy is so cool than his eyes are flexin’
Oh good. Everything is gonna be fine now.
Yesterday I was hoping Asher wasn’t a bad guy because he’s kind of cool, now I’m hoping he IS a bad guy because he’s kind of cool. He’s just so ambiguously sinister and dangerous
Well, I for one do not trust him.
Fcukeroni he looks so cool
I’m hoping he’s as much a bad guy as Eliot from the Magicians, except Hale Appleman’s now too old to play him in the movie they’ll make from this series in 2053.
I’m naively optimistic since he seems to be aware he was a bad dude when he knew them and is like “ah, alright, I can see why you wanna check up on that before I run into the one I had a hand in fucking up.”
. . . .I REALLY like how smooth of a operator Asher is right now. I don’t think he’s a good dude. . . but I doubt he is a bad one either. Right in that moist middle ground.
it feels to me he started weed
So, lawyer or private detective as a future career path?
His quasi-Sherlockian appraisal of Amber and Walky reminds me a lot of a former student assistant I knew who became a background investigator.
And with his checkered past, oh my, that would be perfect…
Amber looks ready to fight
Surprised how many people are upset by the fact that he smokes.
Sal smokes too.
And it’s one of her worse character traits.
It”s a bad habit not a character trait.
Yep. He’s Sal.
We had Manber.
Now we have Mal.
Honestly curious, people who find the fact that he’s a smoker a negative – how old are you? Is this a generational thing?
Like, I’m 35 and while I wouldn’t date a smoker, i think it generally adds “cool points”, but I grew up with a lot of anti-hero protagonists who smoked.
Not really getting why everyone thinks Asher is suspicious…is it the backstory? The smoking? The smug smile? I think we’d all feel pretty clever and a bit smug in this scenario?
He’s demonstrated basic deductive skills. Not exactly something to be smug about.
Why is Walky wearing the SEMME yellow stripe?
It’s based off a real hoodie. Willis couldn’t resist.
Wow, both hot and incredibly perceptive. Nice.
I dunno about incredibly perceptive, it’s the first, most plausible, and bordering on only explanation once you recognize Walky.
Getting some real Sengoku-vibes from this Asher guy!
Damn is that a deep cut reference… I was about to ask what about him puts you in mind of the Sengoku Jidai, then I actually checked that link and was reminded of something I watched as a kid.
This man is givin’ me way too much lip here in that last panel. Literal lip. I am disgusted.
God I have NO idea how to register that. I tend to respond to stuff with “understandable” if they say something that I disagree with, yet can see WHY they would say it. This is either an “I get why you’d check me out, we had history” thing, or “I acknowledge your fears and will now confirm them” as he goes for a scrap.
Why can’t people be nicer and less ambiguous when they grow up? D:
He’s either really perceptive or just self absorbed enough to make assumptions that happened to be correct.
I could see him being like a male version of what Malaya *thinks* Sal is like. We’ll find out!
Stoopid sexy Asher
Damn it! Stop being so cool and sexy, you bastard!
Disappointed that the alt text wasn’t “have a great day”.
Reasonable, self-aware, AND genre-savvy? What is this?
Hashtag No Regrets?
He’s not a good guy. Way too self-aware. He might be a lawyer in training. Training to break it without being caught.
https://youtu.be/Qlp1efEEldA
Yes, Rustler’s Rhapsody is the bad movie I love.
Billie Eilish intensifies.
Asher: “I am a glorious bastard and I am proud of that fact.”
I love just how subtle Amber’s posture change was. From ‘this is getting intense’ to ‘make a move and I will kick your ass.’
Note Walky’s deepening cringe, as well.
Shit
Also, the way he draws cigarette smoking still makes me cringe. People don’t pucker their whole mouth around it like a straw, they usually let it dangle from one corner of the mouth. I think that’s why he looks so odd to me, and it just clicked.
Whoa, apt gravatar change. Sal’s form is much better! But that’s also likely because of her bad@ss pose!
How do you change the gravatar? I’ve been stuck with mary for a while and I am sick of it.
You can change the capitalisation in your e-mail address, or sign up for Gravatar itself to use your own custom image.
Huh, thank you
Most people have two nostrils. Most people don’t have one cow-lick-like bang in the center of their forehead. Most people don’t have eyes that are visible through long hair.
Unless those people are characters drawn by Willis. Then it’s all part of the style. No reason to expect that cigarette smoking technique should be any different.
Sure, but most of his art style captures the intended expression. This doesn’t work for me. This is, for example, looks more like a Joyce trying a cigarette for the first time type of expression.
The cigarette is clearly serving as a replacement sunglasses.
But I can’t tell — is this an intentional CSI pun (understand as in stand under things staking someone out) or not? It’s clearly a CSI cadence!
Wow, perceptive isn’t he? He could be an interesting new character. But is he good or bad now, that is the question.
I hope we can soon clarify his moral alignment so I can decide whether or not I’m allowed to think he’s hot
Damn it.
He is hot.
Damn, I’m straight and even I’m going “Oh no, he is hot.”
He must have transcended “bad guy” and went right to “supernaturally evil.”
Notice how in panel 4 he made the college disappear.
I think he has changed… Just something about him acknowledging it in the last panel…
This guy reminds me so much of JD and it’s nowhere close to a good thing.