Okay all panic aside, I incredibly appreciate that he just had a paradigm-altering epiphany immediately followed by a probably fruitless) Big Damn Hero moment, and he STILL DID IT WITH A MIKE WARNER ORIGINAL™ I-FUCKED-YOUR-MOM JOKE.
Right. Line one was yesterday’s alt text, line two is today’s, and line three is the chapter title: I predict tomorrow is end of storyline or something.
Don’t worry, DamnYouWillis can’t kill ANYONE!
(He’s already declared nobody will die in Dumbing…)
…but you’ll be surprised what you can live through… X_X
Otter got it. There were only three Aladdin Movies, and “The Vizier Strikes Back” both alludes to it being the middle movie of a trilogy as well as the actual plot of Return of Jafar
That’s from my autobiography describing the number of times I should have died, but didn’t. I have been hit by trucks 3 times, been set on fire once, fell out of a tree and bounced… The only thing that hasn’t happened to me is getting shot.
Honestly, I doubt his survival will be surprising. They got up there fast enough that Blaine got there before Amber could tackle him, and then she did parkour bullshit to reach him. They’re on the second floor, probably. That’ll be like a twelve foot drop. That’s plenty survivable, long as he doesn’t land directly on his head or neck. Gonna hurt though.
(He’ll probably be okay eventually, but still need an ambulance and weeks of recovery and physical therapy. If he’s still tumbling, he might not land on his head.)
What I want to know is how Blaine grabbed that rope.
Yeah….
The “Comic Strip” physics have been strangely *off* in this scene.
First the chest kick (fixed though)
Then the hammer going flying, but then being in Blaine’s hand.
Now the clearly beyond reach rope being snag-able…
(Let alone Blaine being able to hold on ‘one handed’ with the weight of two bodies and the momentum behind enough force to take him off the balcony – I wish I’d known an off the peg kevlar suit was enough to make you bartman!) (Heh.. typo’d bartman… just leaving it!) 🙂
The physics doesn’t really bother me. I doubt it would bother most if we weren’t stuck analyzing it panel by panel.
What’s been screwing with me this entire sequence is that Blaine’s suddenly capable of standing up to Amazi-Girl. That came out of nowhere, imo. Is it just that he put on a costume and is thus a threat by genre convention? Did Amber just catch him by surprise the other times?
it is quite likely a combination of amber catching him by surprise before… most likely because he flat out considers her pathetic and useless so he’d not have been prepared. he’s wrong, but blaines never had much in the way of awareness…
like, lets be fair here, blaine is a big guy, in body armour, and he’s a full grown adult who works in a physical job. in terms of strength/physical ability, he’s going to vastly outperform amber, who is a fairly nerdy teenager even despite her night time parkour, especially since he again has body armour and the like, while ambers in a regular jumpsuit
Reasonable in a realistic worlds, but we’ve long seen that Amber isn’t exactly realistic. Her night time hobby isn’t just superhero levels of parkour, but also pretty casually getting into fights with multiple strangers. Which was perfectly inline with her previous fights with Blaine – Amber decking him in her room and Amber dressed as AG stomping him into the ground later.
Making that just surprise seems to retcon Amber’s abilities away.
A Marine in my battalion fell out of the back of a CH-46 helo about 100 feet above wooded terrain, landing almost perfectly flat on his back. He was the achiest man on earth, but he was treated and released.
Vesna Vulović probably the better comparison. She’s a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guiness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160m.
She also passed away 3 years ago at the age of 86, before anyone calls me out on referring to her in the present tense.
To be honest, she was in the tail section of a DC-9 that was destroyed by a bomb in the baggage compartment. Air safety investigators attributed Vulović’s survival to her being trapped by a food cart in the plane’s fuselage as it broke away from the rest of the aircraft and plummeted towards the ground. When the cabin depressurized, the passengers and other flight crew were blown out of the aircraft and fell to their deaths. Investigators believed that the fuselage, with Vulović still pinned inside, landed at an angle in a heavily wooded and snow-covered mountainside, which cushioned the impact.[
Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalized for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. She made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp
All this talk of people who have survived these ridiculously high drops, yet here I am, a grown adult woman who slipped and fell in the shower a couple of years ago and FRACTURED A VERTEBRA. I AM NOT KIDDING.
(I’m okay. It hurt like the worst thing I’ve ever felt, I was in a back brace for two months, and then I had 9 months of physical therapy but I’m okay. I didn’t lose any range of motion. I also went to my first Burning Man before it was fully healed, where I biked around and rode on art cars in said back brace, because YOLO. :P)
I’m estimating more like 3 meters, tops. Physics are a bit screwed up here but AG literally jumped up there. No human can jump 6 meters – sorry, won’t use a body part to measure distances.
And high jumping world record is 2,50 meters, give or take a bit. I’m willing to give physics a bit of benefit of doubt, partly because superhero, partly because I’m not sure how that rope influences jump heights, but spontaneously doubling world record is a bit much.
Oh my gosh you guys, she jumped from the car! I never noticed that the first several times I looked at that strip, but I just checked and she totally did.
Not saying your wrong cause my visual memory is crap, but Amber’s toss of the rope from the car and her subsequent swing into the fight shortly after that look as I remember them.
@Clif I think the only thing that changed is he just drew the car in behind/under her. Everything else is identical, she was just on pavement before. It’s not like the Blaine retcon where he totally redrew it.
You can see the rope is wrapped around the fire escape. Amazi-girl swung down from a high place and whipped around. The double, or even triple, shortening of the arc, though, means she would’ve hit Blaine so hard she’d have easily broken his neck.
It certainly seems that way, but based on the 5th panel, I don’t see *how* he could have grabbed the rope. Plus with how Mike’s arms are wrapped around him, he wouldn’t have been knocked loose until his feet were facing the ground. I’m not sure of the height, but I doubt it’s more than 3 stories.
Guess I’ll have to… “tune in next time, True Believers! Same DoA website, same DoA time!”
My question is, *how* is Blaine grabbing that rope? Maybe it’s the angle of the shot but it seems like that would require a degree of flexibility that ignores the existence of a spine.
I could see Mike surviving this, albeit paralyzed to some degree and enduring a great deal of PT. That being said, it would open the door for some character introspection. Perhaps Mike comes out of all of this with a new outlook on life.
As for Blaine and Ross, at least one of them is going to jail, and seeing that Blaine is the smarter, hardened criminal, I doubt the state would look kindly on a repeat offender out on bail tied to a fundamentalist church.
Joyce’s parents should understand if they want another Ruby Ridge, this is how you get Ruby Ridge.
Yeah, what the hell Ross just fucking standing there in the background with his chin receding into his nonexistent neck all like, “Woah, that escalated…” … WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU EXPECTING BY THIS POINT ROSS
He could still hit the ground, depending on where he grabbed the rope. If there’s enough slack, the snap of the rope going taught might be stronger than his rip, or here’s enough rope that he hits the ground anyway.
Friendly reminder Willis has changed his mind on things he said before, and he did in fact say he broke one of his storytelling rules recently on twitter.
Not to worry! In the strip that publishes on June 12, 2074, Galasso uses his newly built Time Machine to go back and rescue Mike, thus indebting Mike to work at Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs) for no pay.
It’s fuckin awful when you kill yourself to kill the enemy and the douche is such a dumbass that is not even capable of doing his part and just fuckin die…
Several days ago, I wondered whether or not Mike counted as a “main” character.
Cause no “main” characters will die.
… I guess we’re gonna find out how “main” Mike is.
I specifically remember Willis using Tony in the original quote as an example of someone he might kill off because of not having too many people who’d care about him.
If nothing else, he’s said he’s willing to kill, like, Tony, because no one would care all that much if Tony died so the mourning wouldn’t derail everyone’s arcs. (If you’re asking ‘who’s Tony?’ right now, case in point.)
So I think if that rule still applies, that’s the standard: Does this character have enough integration in the overall cast that their death would impact everyone? If yes, they’re probably less likely to die unless it can be spun to further all those arcs. (Which I honestly can’t rule out right now, but I hope we’re not going for a Redemption Equals Death with Mike.)
Aw c’mon, Tony’s suffered enough in the Willis multiverse. Just let the poor kid play football, eat pizza with his friend Beef, and have a not-dead dad.
Uh, kid who has been a friend/close acquaintance of Amber and Ethan since elementary school, who’s Walky’s roommate and a general person who is in the main group’s social circle? Mike walks with them to class every day. Maybe he’s a jerk, but he’s involved. It would be a big deal if he died. It would be a HUGE deal if he died trying to stop Amber’s and Becky’s psychotic dads from attacking them again. That’s some plot derailing stuff right there. Amber/AG may well have a total breakdown after this. Mike I should in no way Tony.
If Mike was holding onto Blaine as tightly as he should have been to push him off the fire escape, there’d be no way he was gonna let go if Blaine gripped the rope.
Blaine could have shoved or kicked him off, but we would have seen it, and he’s not exactly in a position to do so comfortably – Mike is gripped around his torso, and to kick someone off from that position you’d need a good shot at their head.
A proper bear hug grip (like what Mike is doing to Blaine) doesn’t shake off that easily. Even if the momentum causes them to flip upside down, Mike’s arms should still be wrapped around Blaine’s torso.
In fact, the momentum of the flip should have loosened Blaine’s grip on the rope, if anything.
I counter your call with “inertia”. Blaine was in motion but was acted upon by a force, i.e. the rope he grabbed. He probably slid a few feet down from the momentum, but could have ultimately stopped. Mike had no such force to stop him except his grip on Blaine’s torso, as you pointed out – below his arms. I see nothing to stop him from sliding right on down when Blaine suddenly stops falling.
It’s like if you crash your car into a tree. If you have a seatbelt on, you jerk forward and then back as your body tries to keep moving forward but is caught by the seatbelt. If you DON’T have a seatbelt on, the car stops but you keep going, probably through the windshield.
Blaine got whiplash. Mike went through the windshield.
Mike seems to be falling head first though, which doesn’t gel. If their fall was in such a way that they were falling head first, as soon as Blaine gripped the rope, there would be a jerk, which would either have shaken Blaine’s grip, or righted Mike the right side up.
If Blaine grabbed the rope as soon as Mike pushed them off, the momentum would cause Mike to flip over Blaine, and likely dragging Blaine with him as he tightened his grip on reflex.
Unless Mike has the grip of a baby, he should either be falling feet first after sliding off Blaine, or the inertia would do very little but stall them for a couple seconds.
No one is DoA has died yet because Willis claimed that he didn’t want to kill anyone in the new universe since time in DoA moves slower than it did in the Walkyverse.
No one’s died in the “present” of Dumbing of Age, up to this point – Bonnie (Becky’s mom) committed suicide, but that was off-screen and she obviously has only ever appeared in flashbacks.
The Walkyverse, by contrast, had a rather…high bodycount, especially near the end of It’s Walky! (though one of the most notorious deaths, that of Ruth, was only about halfway through Roomies!).
Either Sal’s lurking about in the vicinity, or Nightguy is about about to swoop in, reveling some seriously untapped potential for flips and heroics, or things are about to get really sad…
My prediction: Mike is caught by Asher, who’s been surprisingly absent after Blaine recruiting him and is due for a good deed…saving Mike who perhaps wouldn’t be in this situation if Asher hadn’t called the cops on Sal.
Are they even all that high up? Looks like a couple of storeys at most. Michael will get some nasty bruises, maybe a broken limb or two, but he won’t die unless he lands directly on his head.
They’re at least three floors up – Mike was backed up well past two floors in the strip on 3 January, and they’re on a landing here now. Or were, in Mike’s and Blaine’s cases.
…. so, check my math for me. If the first story is ground level, then the second story is one story up, and the third story is two stories up, unless you’re in some other countries where the ground story is its own story, the story above ground level is called the first story, and the one two levels above ground level is called the second story, and so on, but otherwise a fall from the third story is a two-story fall, and the Jan 3 comic looks like he’s passed the second story and is approaching the third.
Also, note that Ross’s car is also nearby to break Mike’s fall. A car is a safe(r) landing spot for three reasons. First, landing on the roof will reduce the distance fallen by three feet or so. Second if one lands on, say, the windshield, the slope will lesson the impact of the fall. And third, most parts of the car are designed to crumple on impact. While concrete is hard and unyielding, a car will absorb the impact of the energy by deforming into a twisted mess of jagged metal and broken glass, and what could be a more prefect landing spot than that?
At Burning Man a few years ago, I saw someone go past the end of a too-short zipline, break through the steel pole A-frame holding up the zipline, do a tight half-loop – with enough force to slide a fully tightened U-bolt on 3/8″ steel cable! – and then fall about 3 meters / 9 feet onto the jagged wreckage.
He walked away.
The builders of the zipline rebuilt the A-frame stronger and kept sending people down it.
I moved out of that camp before the end of the week.
As noted above, he only promised to not kill “main” characters. Mike’s “main”ness is debatable.
Also, he apparently tweeted recently about “breaking” one of his “rules”. Now, that might have just been gas-lighting his fans for this exact cliffhanger – or he might have been entirely serious. WHO KNOWS?! **head desk**
It isn’t gaslighting to just tell a lie to trick people. Gaslighting is an abuse tactic to make people doubt their own perceptions. He doesn’t even need to do that to make us doubt our perceptions because we are always questioning and second-guessing ourselves and his rules without him needing to do anything because he is just so good at plot twists.
First of all, gaslighting is both a term for a type of abuse AND a trope in fiction where a villain attempts to drive someone insane with a far looser definition concerning techniques. Ie, messing with our minds.
Secondly, making people doubt what they know you’ve said is exactly what a trick like that does, which causes one to doubt their own perceptions, so both definitions fit, albeit loosely and in a friendly fandom sort of way (ie, not actual abuse).
My point being, we don’t know if the rule applies to Mike, and even if it does, Willis implied that he broke a rule recently – which might be killing Mike. Or it might be literally anything else – we don’t know, which is why we’re freaking out. Or why I am.
‘Named after the play/movie Gaslight, gaslighting is deliberately trying to drive someone mad by altering their environment without their knowledge, then denying it, or in a more general sense, by denying someone’s perceptions of reality causing confusion, anguish, and paranoia. You move their things, transmit noises into their room when no one else is there, change little details about your dress behind their back and so on. Or you start acting drastically differently than you usually do. When they confront you about it, you claim to have no idea what they’re talking about and feign concern for their memory and mental health.’
Literally copied straight from the TV tropes page. Gaslighting requires continuous active lying and denial *regardless* – it is not just one lie or one trick to deceive people one time; it is not a friendly fandom term and does not have a looser definition. It has always been active continuous deception to make you doubt your ability to discern what reality is and that requires frequent active denial and trickery and that is not the same as saying one thing one time then saying something else at another time which might contradict it but might not.
Our choosing to freak out over stuff is different from someone actively pushing you to doubt your perceptions of reality, logical thinking, memory or ability to make judgements, which Willis has not done. We doubt ourselves here because this is a webcomic, there are a lot of different ways this event could go and plot twists are common in media.
I’m being pretty stringent here with the definition because when people water down and use the term ‘gaslighting’ to mean ‘a person told a lie and tricked me once’ when that isn’t really making you doubt your ability to perceive reality or to recall things or to make judgements, it undermines the experiences of people that have actually been gaslit because when people say it alters their perceptions, they really mean it damages their trust of their own perceptions. You’re not losing trust in your perceptions. You’re just worried about a possible way to read a situation because that is how you judge it and it is a scary thought.
Or he just falls and we cut to two days in the future with ethan now wearing a hat and playing the ukulele, talking about nothing related until a week or so from now.
First panel: Carla skating by.
Second panel: Mike falling.
Third panel: Mike falling onto the car and then bouncing onto the pavement.
Fourth panel: Carla with her double fingers: “Hey jerkass, I’m skating here!”
Last second redemption. Or something like there is no Hell so everyone goes to Heaven. I don’t know, all I remember is the TV in the waiting room was on a really boring channel and then someone was scraping me off the street.
I might need to peace out for a while. I have to attend a funeral this week for the son of a friend(who is also a friend of my son). This is too close.
Mikes been steadily revealed as a nuanced guy with his own code of
Ethics. And I’m convinced he’s loved Ethan and Amber all along. I don’t want to see him sacrificed.
I’m not entirely sure. But I THINK Mike’s been doing his puncture-everyone’s-bubble asshole routine as a sort of toughen-em-up tough love routine, and he suddenly realized just how shitty that was because it’s basically Blaine.
Also, he figured out that AG is Amber when the mask slipped (I don’t think he caught on that she’s an alternate personality yet), and he might feel something for her.
I’m not really sure, though, because Mike’s headspace is pretty hard to peer into.
I find Mike most interesting as a paralell to amazi-girl. Someone who wants to do the right thing, but has a method more geared to handle his own baggae than the task at hand.
In this case, he had full control of the situation (“as easy to thrown an invisible ball past a dog”) until he did the exact same mistake as Blaine (adding to the parallels between them) and failed to see or understand the link between amber and amazi-girl. and when he realised he had lost control he escalated rather than de-escalated that shit and someone got hurt.
And remember, the “super villain” of the two couldn’t even catch Mike, put on a mask AFTER being spotted by a ton of people shouting death threats, and the only reason he could corner anybody was because Dumbass McGee hit Mike with a car. By accident
I’ve had a very long and very busy day and I don’t know whether to scream because holy crap, mike?? or laugh because that’s an unbelievably good setup around an “I fucked your mom” joke
Whelp thats about right given the last 2 weeks of the comic.
Off hand chance the neckless dad tosses the shit dad off the balcony
or just walks away and Amazigirl murders
effectively removing two core characters in a swoop from the narritive. Both possible.
THough that isn’t a death sentnece for mike, pretty unlikely given his head is down
I hope so. At the very least he might shatter his kneecaps*, and that would be very useful.
(*this happened to one of my teachers, except he was mountain climbing at the time, not murdering people)
(unless he was planning to murder someone at the top of the mountain)
Once again, I see no way whatsoever for this to traumatize anyone we care about!
Also, DAMN YOU WILLIS I READ IT’S WALKY I SEE YOUR CALLBACK YOU MONSTER.
(Is it also a Mike standby? Sure. But one we haven’t actually see him use all that often, so I’m inclined to think is a deliberate callback to his death in the Walkyverse. But he did get better then!)
See Mike this is why you don’t try to help people even earnestly, remember?? Remember how that turned out? Ya just ain’t a helper. Even if putting ’em down on themselves hasn’t worked either.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
In all seriousness: I fucking laughed so hard at the timing of that “your mom” joke. Blaine’s expression fucking sells it.
1) Mike’s arc ends with him dying? When his arc has barely begun?
2) Blaine is clearly not falling with him.
3) Chances of seeing Walky the Sidekick are incredibly high.
4. Word of God (Willis said no one would die, because the grieving would last years)- though, this might have changed at some point. Jeph Jacques said he’d never do human/robot relationships or sex.
On the other hand, Mike being entirely fine thanks to some convenient dung heap or divine intervention would take a lot out of what is clearly meant to be a key dramatic moment.
I don’t like leaning on what Willis said, either. I’m pretty sure he did that because people kept panicking about twists instead of enjoying the story as it unfolded. Now it’s the opposite – people are trying to lean on it instead of letting the story unfold. That can’t be right! The only ways to know for sure should be patience and Patreon.
There are character models of the main cast doing Fighting Game Character Select Screen poses in their PJs. I think Mike gets seriously injured, AG rushes to him, Toedad and the Blaine get away for now, and the rest of the gang has to track them down to avenge Mike and make sure Amber and Becky are safe.
I totally agree with your first point. Mike dying here would be a total cop out and honestly lazy writing. It would make more sense for him to actually follow through on his redemption arc, I want to see Mike try to make amends and work hard at being a better person.
On a more somber note, this does confirm my suspicions I’ve had for years now, that Mike just Does Not Care about himself or his own safety. You don’t go around punching Joe-sized dudes in the face in your first week of college if you don’t have that special kind of depression apathy where fuck it, nothing’s frightening anymore compared to how shit the world is, death is an acceptable gamble for the payoff of ‘maybe you’ll actually see something interesting for once,’ or ‘you might get to feel something today.’
Now everyone, all you damn kids in this strip, you quit these shenanigans and go see a doctor. You definitely ought listen to me, I know what I’m talking about because I, too, am a depression.
Is that a polyamorous system, or more of a DID thing? And when you says “downs”, are you meaning to use the lowercase D? Is “system” or “downs” the modifier, here? There are so many possibilities, most of which are horribly upsetting.
Okay Blaine, let’s add to the pile of backstories everybody came in with.
How old were you when your mom died, who caused it, and what did it do to that fragile little three-volt brain in your head? And, why do you call her mom instead of “my mother” as any proper marure adult would?
Outta time, Blaine. If they’re old enough to attend 4-year college, they’re fellow adults…You’ll just have to settle for bashing them for being a younger generation.
Calling it now. Mike dies. The trauma forces Amazigirl to develop a secondary alter with a Mike personality and she takes his place leading a double life. Nobody notices.
Calling it now. Blain’s hand slipped off the rope. Next panel is Amazigirl, Mike and Ross looking down at Blain’s mangled body. The trauma forces Amber to develop a secondary alter with a Blaine personality and she takes his place, leading a double life. Nobody notices.
Calling it now. It was Amber’s hand that grabbed the rope, not Blaines and the penultimate panel is her about to launch off to catch them. Next panel will Mike, Blaine and Ross looking down at her mangled body. The trauma forces Blaine to develop an Amber alter while Mike develops an Amazigirl one. They attempt to lead double lives taking her place, but everybody notices and they are locked away for their own good.
jesus h Christ how does this keep getting more intense? I’ve been expecting it to go to the party at some point but IT JUST KEEPS GOING MIKE DUDE WHAT ARE YOU DOING-
Really Blaine? Someone says the did yeh mum and your only response is a dumb look and comment about her mortal status. Even Kite-man has better comebacks….and he loves kites!!!
Small aside, Blaine just went from bad father to full psychopath. Does he even have any beef with Joyce?
Not only do I not think he has beef with Joyce, I’m not sure they’ve ever met before. Ross brought her up at some point, I think, and Blaine is just a dangerous, unhinged jackass, so he wants to hurt her for existing.
I am still hoping that blaine and Ross truly get what they deserve and that Blaines family can live on not in fear. Faz is an idiot….but he deserves better.
Well maybe Mike didn’t think to dial 911 for the cops but I sure hope he’ll dial it for his ambulance. Y’know if he’s not dead or paralyzed from that fall.
Satan: Welcome to Hell, Mike Warner!
Mike: (looks around) Eh, I’ve seen hotter.
Satan:…
Mike: …when I fucked your Mom.
*throws double birds, walks out*
Having seen people tripping over railins, they do have a tendency to flip upside down and further, given some height, so, the fall can begin on their feet and very quickly end up on their head or backs.
Which does kinda explain how Mr. Nosesplint here grabbed the rope, but doesn’t quite explain how mike didn’t hang on with him with that hug grip.
The last few panels imply that Blaine caught hold of the line and Mike somehow let of him and continued falling head first? Space is warped and time is bendable.
What happened physics wise was essentially that Blaine grabbed hold of the rope with his right hand while they were both upside down abruptly slowing his descent while Mike either let go or the jolt of it surprised him into letting go early enough that instead of flipping over, he just kept going straight forward.
I had my doubts about Willis pulling off character development and hidden depths for Mike of all people, but this strip (and the previous one) finally changed my mind.
I don’t know whether or not the “no deaths” rule is actually in play, but if it’s not and this is Mike’s “act with integrity, no regrets” moment, this feels like a suitable capstone for his story arc.
Mike dies? How high are those stairs, two stories maybe?
That last red frame is dramatic, yes, and that fall is gonna leave a mark, but die? Im going to say no.
Am I the only person who feels like the logistics of this fall make no sense? Like, both of them would’ve been turned upside down. Even if Blaine grabbed the rope, Mike was still grabbing him and his weight would’ve pulled down on Blaine and likely broke his grip instantly.
I’m afraid that’s Mike’s silhouette that went headfirst over the rail.
I’m afraid that’s Blaine’s arm that grabbed hold of the rope.
I hope I’m wrong about both of those.
I really, really hope I’m wrong about at least one!
So AG is in the right position in the last panel, so what we need here is for her to say, “You’re gonna effing make me DO this, aren’t you?” https://shortpacked.com/comic/makemedothis
And then, you know, just return the favor of another dimension.
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GAVE HIM THE SLIP
…wait no
You’ve really started to take a shine to him, haven’t you?
I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE
The answer is yes please.
…Wait, are we talking about Blaine or Mike now? Because that would definitely change my answer D:
*sniff* My boy… it’s now becoming dimes
Okay all panic aside, I incredibly appreciate that he just had a paradigm-altering epiphany immediately followed by a probably fruitless) Big Damn Hero moment, and he STILL DID IT WITH A MIKE WARNER ORIGINAL™ I-FUCKED-YOUR-MOM JOKE.
Die as you would live.
His lifestyle DID determine his death-style!
I will and have always loved mike.
same.
Does becoming dimes mean that when he hits the ground he’ll just explode out all the nickles he’s collected like Sonic?
Damn, and he had enough to get a Chaos Emerald, too.
“…to remind you of my love!”
“Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da”
Thanks, Willis, for getting that song stuck in my head throughout this entire storyline.
(Sad shoulder dance)
Right. Line one was yesterday’s alt text, line two is today’s, and line three is the chapter title: I predict tomorrow is end of storyline or something.
oh no.
**puts on a coolaid man costume and explodes through the nearest wall**
OH YEAH!
Don’t worry, DamnYouWillis can’t kill ANYONE!
(He’s already declared nobody will die in Dumbing…)
…but you’ll be surprised what you can live through… X_X
Kudos to anyone who gets where that’s from…
Aladdin V: The Vizier Strikes Back
Close, Disney’s Aladdin 2. Not exact wording, but apparently Daniel the Human watched it enough times babysitting his Sister to learn it off by heart…
Otter got it. There were only three Aladdin Movies, and “The Vizier Strikes Back” both alludes to it being the middle movie of a trilogy as well as the actual plot of Return of Jafar
That’s from my autobiography describing the number of times I should have died, but didn’t. I have been hit by trucks 3 times, been set on fire once, fell out of a tree and bounced… The only thing that hasn’t happened to me is getting shot.
That’s because you’re a protagonist while most of the rest of us are just extras.
You know, I have suspected that to be the truth for most of the last decade.
Some of us are just “Cameo” parts, the director put in to shut us up whining about who to take to the Prom.
Honestly, I doubt his survival will be surprising. They got up there fast enough that Blaine got there before Amber could tackle him, and then she did parkour bullshit to reach him. They’re on the second floor, probably. That’ll be like a twelve foot drop. That’s plenty survivable, long as he doesn’t land directly on his head or neck. Gonna hurt though.
But he’s falling head first.
I’m gonna guess that he’s actually tumbling. Momentum, yo.
Well, the next chapter of Book 10 is called, “When It Crumbles.” That’s not ominous at all.
That sounds more likely to be Jason’s downfall more than Mike’s, though.
Does that include brain death?
MIKE
What the hell, I am NOT OKAY WITH THIS 😢
AG, *engage!* Er… Shit, how do you turn on the superpowers again???
If only you hadn’t lost the manual that came with the suit.
And the remote. 🙁 I *knew* I should have converted everything over to one of those giant universal ones they were selling at 3am on PBS…
Believe it or not.
Mike is definitely NOT walking on air.
*Descending whistle* Splat.
(He’ll probably be okay eventually, but still need an ambulance and weeks of recovery and physical therapy. If he’s still tumbling, he might not land on his head.)
What I want to know is how Blaine grabbed that rope.
Same, his arms are pretty far from it in the panel before.
Yeah….
The “Comic Strip” physics have been strangely *off* in this scene.
First the chest kick (fixed though)
Then the hammer going flying, but then being in Blaine’s hand.
Now the clearly beyond reach rope being snag-able…
(Let alone Blaine being able to hold on ‘one handed’ with the weight of two bodies and the momentum behind enough force to take him off the balcony – I wish I’d known an off the peg kevlar suit was enough to make you bartman!) (Heh.. typo’d bartman… just leaving it!) 🙂
(I know.. I know.. it’s a comic…) 🙂
The physics doesn’t really bother me. I doubt it would bother most if we weren’t stuck analyzing it panel by panel.
What’s been screwing with me this entire sequence is that Blaine’s suddenly capable of standing up to Amazi-Girl. That came out of nowhere, imo. Is it just that he put on a costume and is thus a threat by genre convention? Did Amber just catch him by surprise the other times?
it is quite likely a combination of amber catching him by surprise before… most likely because he flat out considers her pathetic and useless so he’d not have been prepared. he’s wrong, but blaines never had much in the way of awareness…
like, lets be fair here, blaine is a big guy, in body armour, and he’s a full grown adult who works in a physical job. in terms of strength/physical ability, he’s going to vastly outperform amber, who is a fairly nerdy teenager even despite her night time parkour, especially since he again has body armour and the like, while ambers in a regular jumpsuit
Reasonable in a realistic worlds, but we’ve long seen that Amber isn’t exactly realistic. Her night time hobby isn’t just superhero levels of parkour, but also pretty casually getting into fights with multiple strangers. Which was perfectly inline with her previous fights with Blaine – Amber decking him in her room and Amber dressed as AG stomping him into the ground later.
Making that just surprise seems to retcon Amber’s abilities away.
Blaine’s hand is clearly grabbing the rope, so that tells me the only person falling off is Mike. Well Mike, GG.
If AG reacts fast, that can be fixed. She probably has a knife somewhere in her belt.
Also, I’m worried for Mike. How did that happen. I mean, it’s not that deep down I think, but he’s falling headfirst.
I mean it’s like 2 flights of stairs onto pavement…
It may not be pavement…. (checks the picture again) ….. oh, damn.
If it’s onto Blaine’s car, he has a chance. And Blaine is now hanging on the rope.
He is not hanging on to the rope, he’s holding the free end…
Oh my God, that’s actually even scarier in the real photo
I have a cousin that survived like, a 6 storey drop onto dirt and stone? He was pretty badly roughed up, but it’s not unthinkable…
A Marine in my battalion fell out of the back of a CH-46 helo about 100 feet above wooded terrain, landing almost perfectly flat on his back. He was the achiest man on earth, but he was treated and released.
Peggy Hill had two skydiving parachutes fail and lived. Mike can survive a little 2 story fall.
Vesna Vulović probably the better comparison. She’s a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guiness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160m.
She also passed away 3 years ago at the age of 86, before anyone calls me out on referring to her in the present tense.
To be honest, she was in the tail section of a DC-9 that was destroyed by a bomb in the baggage compartment. Air safety investigators attributed Vulović’s survival to her being trapped by a food cart in the plane’s fuselage as it broke away from the rest of the aircraft and plummeted towards the ground. When the cabin depressurized, the passengers and other flight crew were blown out of the aircraft and fell to their deaths. Investigators believed that the fuselage, with Vulović still pinned inside, landed at an angle in a heavily wooded and snow-covered mountainside, which cushioned the impact.[
Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalized for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. She made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp
All this talk of people who have survived these ridiculously high drops, yet here I am, a grown adult woman who slipped and fell in the shower a couple of years ago and FRACTURED A VERTEBRA. I AM NOT KIDDING.
(I’m okay. It hurt like the worst thing I’ve ever felt, I was in a back brace for two months, and then I had 9 months of physical therapy but I’m okay. I didn’t lose any range of motion. I also went to my first Burning Man before it was fully healed, where I biked around and rode on art cars in said back brace, because YOLO. :P)
Also: MIKE, NO. ;__;
It’s only the second landing on the fire escape, but I estimate it’s still about a 20-foot drop.
I’m estimating more like 3 meters, tops. Physics are a bit screwed up here but AG literally jumped up there. No human can jump 6 meters – sorry, won’t use a body part to measure distances.
Two stories is usually estimated as 20 feet.
And high jumping world record is 2,50 meters, give or take a bit. I’m willing to give physics a bit of benefit of doubt, partly because superhero, partly because I’m not sure how that rope influences jump heights, but spontaneously doubling world record is a bit much.
Maybe it was a bungee cord or something? No matter what the height is, it’s certainly not just three meters.
Ya’ll are assuming that Amazigirl leapt from the ground. As a reminder, stuff happens between panels and we just get the highlights.
Oh my gosh you guys, she jumped from the car! I never noticed that the first several times I looked at that strip, but I just checked and she totally did.
… Unless Willis retconned?? Totally possible…
That does look like a redraw to me. And Willis did already completely redraw the panel in which Amazi-Girl’s initial kick made contact with Blaine.
Not saying your wrong cause my visual memory is crap, but Amber’s toss of the rope from the car and her subsequent swing into the fight shortly after that look as I remember them.
Yeah I think so too. Looks like it would have been a pretty quick fix though, good job working on the fly, Willis 🙂
@Clif I think the only thing that changed is he just drew the car in behind/under her. Everything else is identical, she was just on pavement before. It’s not like the Blaine retcon where he totally redrew it.
Car was already there on the 5th, 2 days ago. https://web.archive.org/web/20200105031813im_/http://www.dumbingofage.com/comics/2020-01-04-bucket.png
Close enough for jazz.
You can see the rope is wrapped around the fire escape. Amazi-girl swung down from a high place and whipped around. The double, or even triple, shortening of the arc, though, means she would’ve hit Blaine so hard she’d have easily broken his neck.
That doesn’t sound right…
*calculates feet and meters*
… Huh… Yeah, a little over 18 feet.
Gotta love the different systems
Open-top mattress truck suddenly pulls up.
Your saying it’s a redemption arc for the truck?
The sound effect when he grabs it sounds like a hand sliding over rope. He might have slid right past the end.
Of course if he slid off an Mike’s foot catches Mike could still get Gwen Stacied.
I actually read it as a “Howie Scream”.
Now you’v got me imagining Mike doing the Wilhelm Scream as he goes over.
And you’ve got me picturing the Goofy yell.
And I’m hearing Sully from Commandos “Ooh lalaaaa” scream.
This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L360oZyEJ8s
It certainly seems that way, but based on the 5th panel, I don’t see *how* he could have grabbed the rope. Plus with how Mike’s arms are wrapped around him, he wouldn’t have been knocked loose until his feet were facing the ground. I’m not sure of the height, but I doubt it’s more than 3 stories.
Guess I’ll have to… “tune in next time, True Believers! Same DoA website, same DoA time!”
My question is, *how* is Blaine grabbing that rope? Maybe it’s the angle of the shot but it seems like that would require a degree of flexibility that ignores the existence of a spine.
Yeah, there’s a lot to unpack in just a few panels.
I could see Mike surviving this, albeit paralyzed to some degree and enduring a great deal of PT. That being said, it would open the door for some character introspection. Perhaps Mike comes out of all of this with a new outlook on life.
As for Blaine and Ross, at least one of them is going to jail, and seeing that Blaine is the smarter, hardened criminal, I doubt the state would look kindly on a repeat offender out on bail tied to a fundamentalist church.
Joyce’s parents should understand if they want another Ruby Ridge, this is how you get Ruby Ridge.
WHAT
Legit took me a minute to process that Blaine grabbed the rope and Mike was falling alone
fuck i didnt notice until i saw your comment MIKEY
OH FUCK NO D8
act with integrity
for a nickel
No regrets! Except how many moms he hasn’t fucked.
Sadly, I’d say this is suicide by Blaine.
Mike: *Gandalf voice* YOU SHALLLL NOT PASSSSSSSS!
*the two of them descend into the darkness of Moria*
Mike: Run, you nerd! (Falls)
Amber: MIIIIIKE! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
He lived as he possibly died. With a nickel in his pocket.
Welp, enjoy the next 24 hours, folks.
This seems like a good time to remind you all the next strip is available for $5 on Patreon.
Only to find out the next strip cuts back to someone munching pizza at the party…
Inexplicably, it’s Steve eating cereal.
Have to admit, this one made me laugh out loud. Well done, Needful.
… more like Drunk-Boat-Buyer’s morning-after-remorse… amirite?
Ayyyy, I see what you did there. Still waiting to see the boat honestly.
It’s as good a place as any for the wedding!
Damn you Willis!
It doesn’t count unless you shake your fist.
*Shakes fist at cloud* Damn you, Willis!
This isn’t what I wanted. Blaine should be dead.
Maybe Monster Hulk Amber kills both him and Toedad.
Yeah, what the hell Ross just fucking standing there in the background with his chin receding into his nonexistent neck all like, “Woah, that escalated…” … WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU EXPECTING BY THIS POINT ROSS
He’s an idiot, has this not been established already?
He could still hit the ground, depending on where he grabbed the rope. If there’s enough slack, the snap of the rope going taught might be stronger than his rip, or here’s enough rope that he hits the ground anyway.
Holy fuck!
this seems like a fantastic time to cut away to watching Walky fart for two months
pbbbbt
OH MY GOD DON’T GIVE HIM IDEAS 😭
I was thinking it would be Robin’s antics at the party, but that works too.
…whelp.
He did say there weren’t any trucks.
No trucks of pillows is gonna be there.
Not even a convenientl placed “Foam rubber wholesalers convention” (complete with a display of foam rubber in it’s crude form)?
Giant trampoline?
I was expecting a Youtube link until I hovered, but it’s still exactly what I was expecting.
(also want to say to DaveM, that was a quality ref.)
Friendly reminder that none of the main cast are going to die.
Mike isn’t main cast.
He’s listed on the cast-page, so: No, he is main cast!
As noted below… is Mike a “main” character or a “side” character?
either way, having him live but be stuck in the hospital does seem like a repeat of that one bit from It’s Walky.
Friendly reminder Willis has changed his mind on things he said before, and he did in fact say he broke one of his storytelling rules recently on twitter.
Willis isn’t allowed to change his mind! That’s against the rules!
Not to worry! In the strip that publishes on June 12, 2074, Galasso uses his newly built Time Machine to go back and rescue Mike, thus indebting Mike to work at Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs) for no pay.
Then Mike steals the time machine to go back and fuck everybody’s mom
Oh, man, you’ve got access to Willis’ super secret Uber-Patreon! Nice!
Stopping only to stock up on nickels.
Including Hitler’s?
Hitler’s mom’s.
this hit me in the face like a pile of bricks in a sack and I am oh so here for it
It’s fuckin awful when you kill yourself to kill the enemy and the douche is such a dumbass that is not even capable of doing his part and just fuckin die…
Several days ago, I wondered whether or not Mike counted as a “main” character.
Cause no “main” characters will die.
… I guess we’re gonna find out how “main” Mike is.
I remember reading the words “nobody dies”, not making a distinction between main or not-main cast… Where does this different idea come from?
I specifically remember Willis using Tony in the original quote as an example of someone he might kill off because of not having too many people who’d care about him.
If nothing else, he’s said he’s willing to kill, like, Tony, because no one would care all that much if Tony died so the mourning wouldn’t derail everyone’s arcs. (If you’re asking ‘who’s Tony?’ right now, case in point.)
So I think if that rule still applies, that’s the standard: Does this character have enough integration in the overall cast that their death would impact everyone? If yes, they’re probably less likely to die unless it can be spun to further all those arcs. (Which I honestly can’t rule out right now, but I hope we’re not going for a Redemption Equals Death with Mike.)
Aw c’mon, Tony’s suffered enough in the Willis multiverse. Just let the poor kid play football, eat pizza with his friend Beef, and have a not-dead dad.
Uh, kid who has been a friend/close acquaintance of Amber and Ethan since elementary school, who’s Walky’s roommate and a general person who is in the main group’s social circle? Mike walks with them to class every day. Maybe he’s a jerk, but he’s involved. It would be a big deal if he died. It would be a HUGE deal if he died trying to stop Amber’s and Becky’s psychotic dads from attacking them again. That’s some plot derailing stuff right there. Amber/AG may well have a total breakdown after this. Mike I should in no way Tony.
Mike shall come back as Mike the White. “I am Blaine as he should have been!”
Oh. My. God. You really pulled it together there didn’t you.
*plays “Pain & Suffering” from the Rock & Rule soundtrack on the speakers of Ross’ car*
Okay, I’m gonna call shenanigans.
If Mike was holding onto Blaine as tightly as he should have been to push him off the fire escape, there’d be no way he was gonna let go if Blaine gripped the rope.
Blaine could have shoved or kicked him off, but we would have seen it, and he’s not exactly in a position to do so comfortably – Mike is gripped around his torso, and to kick someone off from that position you’d need a good shot at their head.
but he’s flipped as a result of Blaine grabbing the rope, which may have caused his grip to loosen
A proper bear hug grip (like what Mike is doing to Blaine) doesn’t shake off that easily. Even if the momentum causes them to flip upside down, Mike’s arms should still be wrapped around Blaine’s torso.
In fact, the momentum of the flip should have loosened Blaine’s grip on the rope, if anything.
Or Mike just might not have bothered hanging on once it was clear Blaine had gone over the edge.
…. I should probably disambiguate that phrasing.
No no, that’s perfect actually
Agreed.
I counter your call with “inertia”. Blaine was in motion but was acted upon by a force, i.e. the rope he grabbed. He probably slid a few feet down from the momentum, but could have ultimately stopped. Mike had no such force to stop him except his grip on Blaine’s torso, as you pointed out – below his arms. I see nothing to stop him from sliding right on down when Blaine suddenly stops falling.
It’s like if you crash your car into a tree. If you have a seatbelt on, you jerk forward and then back as your body tries to keep moving forward but is caught by the seatbelt. If you DON’T have a seatbelt on, the car stops but you keep going, probably through the windshield.
Blaine got whiplash. Mike went through the windshield.
Mike seems to be falling head first though, which doesn’t gel. If their fall was in such a way that they were falling head first, as soon as Blaine gripped the rope, there would be a jerk, which would either have shaken Blaine’s grip, or righted Mike the right side up.
If Blaine grabbed the rope as soon as Mike pushed them off, the momentum would cause Mike to flip over Blaine, and likely dragging Blaine with him as he tightened his grip on reflex.
Unless Mike has the grip of a baby, he should either be falling feet first after sliding off Blaine, or the inertia would do very little but stall them for a couple seconds.
I subscribe to Mike flipping himself to go head first just to fuck with Blaine worse
“BUT HE FLIPPED MID AIR, HE WOULDN’T BE PARALYZED/COMA/DEAD/ETC. IF HE DIDN’T!”
“Suuure he flipped mid air, you monster”
Given the wonky physics that somehow allowed Amber to swing up in the first place, I’m sure this is best explained by the power of plot.
I mean yeah it’s probably Superhero Physics, but that’s part of why I’m not that fond of Amazi-Girl sequences.
https://world-heritage-posts.tumblr.com/post/190038623557/have-fun-in-the-war-dumbass-ill-be-at-home#notes same energy
I cant remember if anyone died in this comic yet or am I thinking of one of the other comics Willis did!
No one is DoA has died yet because Willis claimed that he didn’t want to kill anyone in the new universe since time in DoA moves slower than it did in the Walkyverse.
That being said, he could easily change his mind on that.
Death can be an effective source of drama, as long as you don’t make death cheap by bringing characters back to life more than once.
No one’s died in the “present” of Dumbing of Age, up to this point – Bonnie (Becky’s mom) committed suicide, but that was off-screen and she obviously has only ever appeared in flashbacks.
The Walkyverse, by contrast, had a rather…high bodycount, especially near the end of It’s Walky! (though one of the most notorious deaths, that of Ruth, was only about halfway through Roomies!).
Thanks for the info, I couldn’t recall one way or another beyond knowing that people did die on panel in the other comics.
This strip of DoA is a heartbreaker….
Wait…
DOA?
IT WAS IN FRONT OF US ALL ALONG!
The only way to make that ending more suspenseful is with the three words “end of storyline”.
Either Sal’s lurking about in the vicinity, or Nightguy is about about to swoop in, reveling some seriously untapped potential for flips and heroics, or things are about to get really sad…
My next strip prediction: Mike lands on garbage.
Why would Walky be down there?
Naw it’s fine, Amber’s close by
For Mike to land on Garbage, he’d need to learn how he could be Defying Gravity.
Defying Gravity is easy. You just throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Thank you very much for that.
HHGG reference is always welcome.
My prediction: Mike is caught by Asher, who’s been surprisingly absent after Blaine recruiting him and is due for a good deed…saving Mike who perhaps wouldn’t be in this situation if Asher hadn’t called the cops on Sal.
Catching someone who’s falling from three-plus floors up is a good way to get your arms broken for no reason.
Two floors up.
It’s… not really for no reason.
By which I mean, your arms would be broken and the person’s fall still wouldn’t really have been slowed in any helpful way.
Knowing Willis, I’m not convinced Mike dies. Stinks having to wait, though.
This arc better not make you a Liar.
Are they even all that high up? Looks like a couple of storeys at most. Michael will get some nasty bruises, maybe a broken limb or two, but he won’t die unless he lands directly on his head.
Plenty of people have died from falling down one flight of stairs, or from slipping in a bath-tub.
On the other hand, I once met a fellow (in the orthopaedic ward at St George Hospital) who had survived a fall of fourteen metres. He didn’t say much.
They’re at least three floors up – Mike was backed up well past two floors in the strip on 3 January, and they’re on a landing here now. Or were, in Mike’s and Blaine’s cases.
Two stories, as seen here.
That’s 28 December. The comic posted a few days later puts them at least another floor higher.
…. so, check my math for me. If the first story is ground level, then the second story is one story up, and the third story is two stories up, unless you’re in some other countries where the ground story is its own story, the story above ground level is called the first story, and the one two levels above ground level is called the second story, and so on, but otherwise a fall from the third story is a two-story fall, and the Jan 3 comic looks like he’s passed the second story and is approaching the third.
Yeah, apparently for some reason my brain got itself wired to the European convention of “ground-level floor = 0th floor” tonight.
Also, note that Ross’s car is also nearby to break Mike’s fall. A car is a safe(r) landing spot for three reasons. First, landing on the roof will reduce the distance fallen by three feet or so. Second if one lands on, say, the windshield, the slope will lesson the impact of the fall. And third, most parts of the car are designed to crumple on impact. While concrete is hard and unyielding, a car will absorb the impact of the energy by deforming into a twisted mess of jagged metal and broken glass, and what could be a more prefect landing spot than that?
Suspension travel will spread the impact out over a greater-than-an-instant amount of time, too.
At Burning Man a few years ago, I saw someone go past the end of a too-short zipline, break through the steel pole A-frame holding up the zipline, do a tight half-loop – with enough force to slide a fully tightened U-bolt on 3/8″ steel cable! – and then fall about 3 meters / 9 feet onto the jagged wreckage.
He walked away.
The builders of the zipline rebuilt the A-frame stronger and kept sending people down it.
I moved out of that camp before the end of the week.
And no one caught the stealth pun. Sigh.
Yes, yes, another HHGG reference.
Just checked the timestamps. You were first . . . But in the absence of context, you can’t reasonably expect people to get that.
I’m sure he’ll be fine
“I fcked your Mom” is a pretty decent one-liner.
MENDOOOOOOOOOZAAAAAAAAAAAA
Well, damn. Was not expecting that.
Blaine might *wish* he’d gone down with Mike, if this causes Amber to take over.
Oh fuck is Mike-….Did Willlis just break his one rule!?
As noted above, he only promised to not kill “main” characters. Mike’s “main”ness is debatable.
Also, he apparently tweeted recently about “breaking” one of his “rules”. Now, that might have just been gas-lighting his fans for this exact cliffhanger – or he might have been entirely serious. WHO KNOWS?! **head desk**
aaaaaaaaaaah!
It isn’t gaslighting to just tell a lie to trick people. Gaslighting is an abuse tactic to make people doubt their own perceptions. He doesn’t even need to do that to make us doubt our perceptions because we are always questioning and second-guessing ourselves and his rules without him needing to do anything because he is just so good at plot twists.
First of all, gaslighting is both a term for a type of abuse AND a trope in fiction where a villain attempts to drive someone insane with a far looser definition concerning techniques. Ie, messing with our minds.
Secondly, making people doubt what they know you’ve said is exactly what a trick like that does, which causes one to doubt their own perceptions, so both definitions fit, albeit loosely and in a friendly fandom sort of way (ie, not actual abuse).
My point being, we don’t know if the rule applies to Mike, and even if it does, Willis implied that he broke a rule recently – which might be killing Mike. Or it might be literally anything else – we don’t know, which is why we’re freaking out. Or why I am.
‘Named after the play/movie Gaslight, gaslighting is deliberately trying to drive someone mad by altering their environment without their knowledge, then denying it, or in a more general sense, by denying someone’s perceptions of reality causing confusion, anguish, and paranoia. You move their things, transmit noises into their room when no one else is there, change little details about your dress behind their back and so on. Or you start acting drastically differently than you usually do. When they confront you about it, you claim to have no idea what they’re talking about and feign concern for their memory and mental health.’
Literally copied straight from the TV tropes page. Gaslighting requires continuous active lying and denial *regardless* – it is not just one lie or one trick to deceive people one time; it is not a friendly fandom term and does not have a looser definition. It has always been active continuous deception to make you doubt your ability to discern what reality is and that requires frequent active denial and trickery and that is not the same as saying one thing one time then saying something else at another time which might contradict it but might not.
Our choosing to freak out over stuff is different from someone actively pushing you to doubt your perceptions of reality, logical thinking, memory or ability to make judgements, which Willis has not done. We doubt ourselves here because this is a webcomic, there are a lot of different ways this event could go and plot twists are common in media.
I’m being pretty stringent here with the definition because when people water down and use the term ‘gaslighting’ to mean ‘a person told a lie and tricked me once’ when that isn’t really making you doubt your ability to perceive reality or to recall things or to make judgements, it undermines the experiences of people that have actually been gaslit because when people say it alters their perceptions, they really mean it damages their trust of their own perceptions. You’re not losing trust in your perceptions. You’re just worried about a possible way to read a situation because that is how you judge it and it is a scary thought.
Mike’s had his own chapter (Of Mike And Men), and his own freaking storyline. He’s a main character.
Either Carla or Sal will save the day.
Asher, Nightguy are also valid possibilities.
Or he just falls and we cut to two days in the future with ethan now wearing a hat and playing the ukulele, talking about nothing related until a week or so from now.
One better.
First panel: Carla skating by.
Second panel: Mike falling.
Third panel: Mike falling onto the car and then bouncing onto the pavement.
Fourth panel: Carla with her double fingers: “Hey jerkass, I’m skating here!”
Laughing out loud here.
NOBODY DIES NOBODY DIES NOBODY DIES NOBODY DIES NOBODY DIES…..
Remember, Willis, you promised.
Dude he refers to HIMSELF as Damn You Willis
THIS IS NOT REASSURING D:
These would be very Mike final words so I have just no idea how this is going to go down.
Imagine it written on his tombstone ” Here lies Mike Warner, he fucking your mom in heaven right now.”
I don’t think that’s where Mike would go.
But “he’s fucking your mom in hell right now,” just doesn’t have the same cachet.
“He’s playing card games with your mother in hell” would be the appropriate phrasing.
Last second redemption. Or something like there is no Hell so everyone goes to Heaven. I don’t know, all I remember is the TV in the waiting room was on a really boring channel and then someone was scraping me off the street.
Actually, how this is going down can be summed up in one word:
Gravity.
… Well played.
Act with integrity. Some regrets.
FWIW, LD50 for height is about 50 ft. 3nd floor is likely survivable.
Headfirst?
He breaks the baseball-cap-visor part off his hair, then nobody recognizes him after that.
Averaged over all orientations.
And just because the panel shows headfirst doesn’t mean he lands that way. He went over spinning and won’t stop until the ground stops him.
My bet: Mike falls onto the car from the second panel of January 1st’s comic (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/scoffed/). It’s anybody’s guess as to whether he lives, though.
I might need to peace out for a while. I have to attend a funeral this week for the son of a friend(who is also a friend of my son). This is too close.
Mikes been steadily revealed as a nuanced guy with his own code of
Ethics. And I’m convinced he’s loved Ethan and Amber all along. I don’t want to see him sacrificed.
I am sorry for your and your son’s loss. I have lost people I loved as well and it never doesn’t suck.
I honestly don’t understand why Mike did what he did…
Because she was dead, didn’t object, and had a nickel on her.
I can’t see Mike taking lack of objection as consent. He’s not rapey.
It may be kind of a technical point, but I’m not sure that necrophilia counts as rape, per se.
I mean I think the implication is that everyone will be dead when it happens. I don’t think that counts as necrophilia, does it?…
If everyone is dead but people still do the fuck, then everyone is a necrophiliac. And when everyone is a necrophiliac, nobody will be.
… okay, you’ve lost me. What I meant was: what did prompt Mike to execute this possibly suicidal course of action?
I’m not entirely sure. But I THINK Mike’s been doing his puncture-everyone’s-bubble asshole routine as a sort of toughen-em-up tough love routine, and he suddenly realized just how shitty that was because it’s basically Blaine.
Also, he figured out that AG is Amber when the mask slipped (I don’t think he caught on that she’s an alternate personality yet), and he might feel something for her.
I’m not really sure, though, because Mike’s headspace is pretty hard to peer into.
There was also that time threatening Blaine backfired so he had to push everyone away so they wouldnt be a target.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I find Mike most interesting as a paralell to amazi-girl. Someone who wants to do the right thing, but has a method more geared to handle his own baggae than the task at hand.
In this case, he had full control of the situation (“as easy to thrown an invisible ball past a dog”) until he did the exact same mistake as Blaine (adding to the parallels between them) and failed to see or understand the link between amber and amazi-girl. and when he realised he had lost control he escalated rather than de-escalated that shit and someone got hurt.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/escalate/
WILLIS DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE 😭😭😭
He said no deaths.
So expect a long hospital stay.
Maybe.
And remember, the “super villain” of the two couldn’t even catch Mike, put on a mask AFTER being spotted by a ton of people shouting death threats, and the only reason he could corner anybody was because Dumbass McGee hit Mike with a car. By accident
I think it was on purpose, it looks like he intentionally swerved in front so Mike would hit him
I had a feeling Mike would try to take out Blaine. I imagined the outcome very differently. 🙁
I’ve had a very long and very busy day and I don’t know whether to scream because holy crap, mike?? or laugh because that’s an unbelievably good setup around an “I fucked your mom” joke
Doing both at the same time is always an option. If you’re really dexterous you can add shaking your fist at the sky and yelling “DAMN YOU, WILLIS.”
Whelp thats about right given the last 2 weeks of the comic.
Off hand chance the neckless dad tosses the shit dad off the balcony
or just walks away and Amazigirl murders
effectively removing two core characters in a swoop from the narritive. Both possible.
THough that isn’t a death sentnece for mike, pretty unlikely given his head is down
Willis said no deaths, so Mike is going to live unless Willis changed his mind
That said, I don’t think he said no to comas, life altering crippling disabilities, etc.
I think comas would fall under similar rules as death, but yeah grave injury isn’t necessarily ruled out.
the rope is only hooked on one end. mike lands injured but safe on the car and blaine george-of-the-jungles into the wall
I hope so. At the very least he might shatter his kneecaps*, and that would be very useful.
(*this happened to one of my teachers, except he was mountain climbing at the time, not murdering people)
(unless he was planning to murder someone at the top of the mountain)
He probably was.
He had an interesting life, so it’s entirely possible.
Once again, I see no way whatsoever for this to traumatize anyone we care about!
Also, DAMN YOU WILLIS I READ IT’S WALKY I SEE YOUR CALLBACK YOU MONSTER.
(Is it also a Mike standby? Sure. But one we haven’t actually see him use all that often, so I’m inclined to think is a deliberate callback to his death in the Walkyverse. But he did get better then!)
See Mike this is why you don’t try to help people even earnestly, remember?? Remember how that turned out? Ya just ain’t a helper. Even if putting ’em down on themselves hasn’t worked either.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
In all seriousness: I fucking laughed so hard at the timing of that “your mom” joke. Blaine’s expression fucking sells it.
I don’t think Mike is dead. Few reasons:
1) Mike’s arc ends with him dying? When his arc has barely begun?
2) Blaine is clearly not falling with him.
3) Chances of seeing Walky the Sidekick are incredibly high.
I will laugh if Walky catches Mike. Bonus points if he then realizes he saved Mike and just drops him on the ground (albeit a safe distance)
4. Word of God (Willis said no one would die, because the grieving would last years)- though, this might have changed at some point. Jeph Jacques said he’d never do human/robot relationships or sex.
Isn’t he the guy who does the human/robot sex comics that occasionally feature ass implants?
Jeez, do one ass implant and they never let you forget it.
On the other hand, Mike being entirely fine thanks to some convenient dung heap or divine intervention would take a lot out of what is clearly meant to be a key dramatic moment.
I don’t like leaning on what Willis said, either. I’m pretty sure he did that because people kept panicking about twists instead of enjoying the story as it unfolded. Now it’s the opposite – people are trying to lean on it instead of letting the story unfold. That can’t be right! The only ways to know for sure should be patience and Patreon.
The dung heap was on the fire escape with the mask, the body armor, the gloves, and the hammer.
There are character models of the main cast doing Fighting Game Character Select Screen poses in their PJs. I think Mike gets seriously injured, AG rushes to him, Toedad and the Blaine get away for now, and the rest of the gang has to track them down to avenge Mike and make sure Amber and Becky are safe.
I totally agree with your first point. Mike dying here would be a total cop out and honestly lazy writing. It would make more sense for him to actually follow through on his redemption arc, I want to see Mike try to make amends and work hard at being a better person.
._.
And that’s when Mike and Amber [should have] realized that there is in fact a time to call 911, and that time was at least 20 minutes ago.
Twenty minutes ago mike was still at the party, and so was Amber.
20 minutes ago? It’s been like 2 weeks! They DEFINITELY should have called the cops by now…
if mike dies im gonna mcfucking lose it
also, digging the hamilton lyrics. i see what u did there
Da da da dad da dad da da da da ya dad
On a more somber note, this does confirm my suspicions I’ve had for years now, that Mike just Does Not Care about himself or his own safety. You don’t go around punching Joe-sized dudes in the face in your first week of college if you don’t have that special kind of depression apathy where fuck it, nothing’s frightening anymore compared to how shit the world is, death is an acceptable gamble for the payoff of ‘maybe you’ll actually see something interesting for once,’ or ‘you might get to feel something today.’
Now everyone, all you damn kids in this strip, you quit these shenanigans and go see a doctor. You definitely ought listen to me, I know what I’m talking about because I, too, am a depression.
I like this comment.
This.
Mike is a goddamn tragedy.
A depression? “A” as in 1 (one) depression? … I’m a whole System of downs.
Is that a polyamorous system, or more of a DID thing? And when you says “downs”, are you meaning to use the lowercase D? Is “system” or “downs” the modifier, here? There are so many possibilities, most of which are horribly upsetting.
Okay Blaine, let’s add to the pile of backstories everybody came in with.
How old were you when your mom died, who caused it, and what did it do to that fragile little three-volt brain in your head? And, why do you call her mom instead of “my mother” as any proper marure adult would?
Plenty of adults say mom.
That’s a very good read.
In other news, I’m glad to see that yesterday’s “WUMP” landed on Blain and not Amazigirl.
I don’t think it did.
Why else, in panel one, is Blaine on top of her?
The state of Blane’s face says otherwise.
Outta time, Blaine. If they’re old enough to attend 4-year college, they’re fellow adults…You’ll just have to settle for bashing them for being a younger generation.
Which DoA character is most likely to say “Okay Boomer”?
Becky.
Yes.
Next question: Which DoA character is most likely to shut up about “Okay Boomer” after using the joke about 100 times each minute?
Answer: Not Becky.
Carla
And honestly? Current misanthropic Joyce
I can see Sal saying it too.
Oh no!
Why im hearing “oh brother” in my head?
#YOLO
Unless you’re Mike in another universe, right? That’s my impression, anyway…?
#ATYD
Oh come on.
Is Blaine missing a tooth in panel 2?
Maybe, tho I assumed it was a bloodspot.
Calling it now. Mike dies. The trauma forces Amazigirl to develop a secondary alter with a Mike personality and she takes his place leading a double life. Nobody notices.
Calling it now. Blain’s hand slipped off the rope. Next panel is Amazigirl, Mike and Ross looking down at Blain’s mangled body. The trauma forces Amber to develop a secondary alter with a Blaine personality and she takes his place, leading a double life. Nobody notices.
Calling it now. It was Amber’s hand that grabbed the rope, not Blaines and the penultimate panel is her about to launch off to catch them. Next panel will Mike, Blaine and Ross looking down at her mangled body. The trauma forces Blaine to develop an Amber alter while Mike develops an Amazigirl one. They attempt to lead double lives taking her place, but everybody notices and they are locked away for their own good.
Ok I’m hoping Mike somehow survives this fall with minimal injuries.
Oops I predicted this. Mike is not the one I hoped would fall tbh
It’d be interesting if Toedad somehow saves Mike.
jesus h Christ how does this keep getting more intense? I’ve been expecting it to go to the party at some point but IT JUST KEEPS GOING MIKE DUDE WHAT ARE YOU DOING-
Really Blaine? Someone says the did yeh mum and your only response is a dumb look and comment about her mortal status. Even Kite-man has better comebacks….and he loves kites!!!
Small aside, Blaine just went from bad father to full psychopath. Does he even have any beef with Joyce?
Not only do I not think he has beef with Joyce, I’m not sure they’ve ever met before. Ross brought her up at some point, I think, and Blaine is just a dangerous, unhinged jackass, so he wants to hurt her for existing.
He has no personal beef with Joyce but she hinders Ross’s plans, so why not hurt her too. He might as well.
IIRC, he told Ross that Joyce was the one tieing the main cast social circle together.
I am still hoping that blaine and Ross truly get what they deserve and that Blaines family can live on not in fear. Faz is an idiot….but he deserves better.
Dammit Mike has been Ruth’d.
Well maybe Mike didn’t think to dial 911 for the cops but I sure hope he’ll dial it for his ambulance. Y’know if he’s not dead or paralyzed from that fall.
oh my lands
There’s literally no way he could have grabbed the rope based on what we see in the fifth frame. :/
The extreme sacrifice… I’m sorry Mike. I’m so sorry. I wonder if Amber is some way able to see this. And if Ross want to stay useless until the end.
Satan: Welcome to Hell, Mike Warner!
Mike: (looks around) Eh, I’ve seen hotter.
Satan:…
Mike: …when I fucked your Mom.
*throws double birds, walks out*
Also, it looks like ‘Ball-Peen’ is Blaine’s canon supervillain name, now.
Was still kinda rooting for ‘Dad-Joker’.
Mike isn’t gonna die, but he is going to be super injured. And dependent on others. A very unMike situation.
Willis ends all criticism of Mike as a character who just doesn’t work in DoA.
I do NOT like the title of this update…
…What was that Willis said about no one dying in this comic?
Act with integrity… No regrets? 🙁
Yeah, that’s basically it.
Called it
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/lure/#comment-1442646
Mike in a wheelchair… Well at least he showed he is a true friend!
Having seen people tripping over railins, they do have a tendency to flip upside down and further, given some height, so, the fall can begin on their feet and very quickly end up on their head or backs.
Which does kinda explain how Mr. Nosesplint here grabbed the rope, but doesn’t quite explain how mike didn’t hang on with him with that hug grip.
No vat of chemicals at the bottom so neither Blaine nor Mike are going to come out as super villains when this is all done.
He’ll hit the car and be reborn as … Spider-Car!
The last few panels imply that Blaine caught hold of the line and Mike somehow let of him and continued falling head first? Space is warped and time is bendable.
*let go of him
What happened physics wise was essentially that Blaine grabbed hold of the rope with his right hand while they were both upside down abruptly slowing his descent while Mike either let go or the jolt of it surprised him into letting go early enough that instead of flipping over, he just kept going straight forward.
“Mike, you are just like her father!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
She will either save him, or he will survive but paralyzed.
Aren’t they like, a floor up? At most? I mean if he lands right on his head that’s bad but I’m not sure that’s necessarily deadly.
I had my doubts about Willis pulling off character development and hidden depths for Mike of all people, but this strip (and the previous one) finally changed my mind.
I don’t know whether or not the “no deaths” rule is actually in play, but if it’s not and this is Mike’s “act with integrity, no regrets” moment, this feels like a suitable capstone for his story arc.
Mike dies? How high are those stairs, two stories maybe?
That last red frame is dramatic, yes, and that fall is gonna leave a mark, but die? Im going to say no.
Nobody’s actually pronounced him dead yet, but we’re worrying he may be.
Found this comic while rereading a bit today. The potential it has to foreshadow worries me.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/impulsive/
OT & a couple weeks late, but the alt text nicely fits “Deck the halls”?
So, uh, yeah… falalalalah-lalah-lah-lah.
Since he is grabbing the rope with his right hand, I think he has the loose end
Am I the only person who feels like the logistics of this fall make no sense? Like, both of them would’ve been turned upside down. Even if Blaine grabbed the rope, Mike was still grabbing him and his weight would’ve pulled down on Blaine and likely broke his grip instantly.
I HOPE AMBER BEATS THE CRAP OUT OF BLAINE AND HE DIES!
Hm. This seems like a leap that wasn’t needed, let alone for a character like Mike.
Have you heard the news that you’re dead?
No one ever had much nice to say
I think they never liked you anyway
(Really, I’m impressed nobody’s quoted this yet)
I’m afraid that’s Mike’s silhouette that went headfirst over the rail.
I’m afraid that’s Blaine’s arm that grabbed hold of the rope.
I hope I’m wrong about both of those.
I really, really hope I’m wrong about at least one!
Mike isn’t wearing gloves
Amber is. Is she in motion in the next to last panel?
those aren’t amber’s gloves.. that’s blaines hand holding the rope.
damn…
As far as last words go, I’m pretty sure this is Mike’s second-best attempt.
So AG is in the right position in the last panel, so what we need here is for her to say, “You’re gonna effing make me DO this, aren’t you?”
https://shortpacked.com/comic/makemedothis
And then, you know, just return the favor of another dimension.