The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Fantomestein
Beka Duke
Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Slightly Damned
Chu
Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
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Actually, Mike’s asshole-dar does go off constantly. It doesn’t register *him* for the same reason as the radar in an airplane doesn’t constantly report that the plane is about to collide with itself – its purpose is to detect *others*, not *self*.
But the thing is, when one can detect any asshole within a mile radius, about the only places you can go where it’s not going to be pinging constantly are Antarctica, and off-planet. Note that the off-planet option will only work if you either are going on a solo mission or you’re very careful and/or lucky with your crewmate selection.
(That having been said, I do think that tim gueguen is correct that Mike’s asshole-dar works on a different frequency than his being an asshole is. I suspect he can recognize people like himself pretty quickly, mind you, just that he has a more direct and honest approach than the ones he seeks out to destroy.)
i like the plane-analogy. currently imagining a self-aware plane – still on beta testing – having a freak out about crashing into this other plane it detects EXACTLY in its own location even while it keeps trying to alter its course to avoid the collision…. i feel for you, plane.
Also, i think that the asshole-dar Mike uses is finetuned in reference to Mike’s level of assholiness, and probably won’t detect assholes who run on a much smaller amplitude than Mike himself. Detecting two assholes with a much higher assplitude is bound to alert mike from a mile away!
He just need to push them to make a commotion, and have the campus security called on them ?
… tho Amber already left the party, it’s pretty possible Amazigirl will take action
The guy who claims to have invented Inktober, the art challenge/meme/thing got it trademarked to stop big companies from using it (as well as for the purposes of him writing a book and making merchandise for it) and now he’s getting pissy his lawyer is sending cease and desists to individual artists. Which is how trademarks work. You defend them or lose them. He doesn’t seem to get that and is getting increasingly pissy.
In his defense, that was kind of a dick move on his lawyer’s behalf.
You know that rule about clips shorter than 10 seconds being fair use? That isn’t actually part of any law. It’s an unspoken agreement that just because something is your intellectual property doesn’t mean you have to be a dick about it.
It’s not optional for trademarks. You need to defend it against any instance you’re aware of or you can lose it unless it falls under fair use – which for trademarks mostly has to do with using a trademarked name like ‘apple’ in its plain meaning. The more distinct the trademark (in this case an invented term Inktober) the less likely it is to fit. This isn’t the lawyer choosing to be a dick, this is the lawyer doing what trademark law demands.
This is why you hear stories about media companies litigating against day care centers that paint their characters on the windows. Trademarks have to be actively protected, copyrights expire unless renewed.
Just look at Apple Corp. (The Beatles’ record label) vs Apple Inc. (the computer manufacfurer). Back in the 80s, Corp. sued Inc. over use of the name, but they came to an agreement as long as the computers couldn’t record music. Then the Apple IIgs with its nice synthesizer chip came out, then Macs with audio input, and then QuickTime, then iTunes… Corp. sued over each of those IIRC. (That’s also why it took years for The Beatles to show up on iTunes, even when they were the most heavily pirated albums.)
Hell, even there the trademark is for Apple as a company name. They can’t actually trademark ‘apple’ because it’s too commonly used as a word and has a common alternative meaning.
Inktober, being an invented term, is less likely to have that problem.
This hasn’t been true in the United States since the 70s, nor in any country that adheres to the Berne Convention, both of which give a fixed term after publication for work for hire or anonymous works, and a fixed period after the author’s death for creator-owned works. So they no longer have to be renewed, and they no longer can be renewed. (Occasional upping of that fixed term does happen, however.)
Not with a trademark no, unless you’re going to sit down and write each individual formal written permission (the kind most courts will accept) and that would quickly become difficult for an event the size of Inktober. The closest thing to my knowledge would be a creative commons license, but those generally don’t allow for commercial use so small creators couldn’t proceed to sell their stuff.
You can, as I noted below the Linux Foundation holds the relevant trademarks internationally for Linux and grants permission for reasonable use. And the Linux trademarks have been tested in court several times successfully for them.
The key phrase there being ‘grants permission for reasonable use’. Which, again, would become fairly cumbersome for an event the size of Inktober even if you just copy paste it.
IANAL, but I’m pretty sure a trademark holder can give permission for others to use the trademark. There shouldn’t be any reason he couldn’t give permission to individual artists but not to corporations or whatever. This would require artists to request and receive permission before using the trademark, though.
Yeah, the biggest issue there would be the size of Inktober. It would still be doable but there’s only so much written permission he can give out before the event rolls around every year.
I’ve read that Sting (the musician) has to pay Sting (the wrestler) a dollar every time he holds a concert because of who owns the name. In this case, the owner was pretty chill about it, but rules are still rules.
Not necessarily. The Linux Foundation holds the Linux trademark internationally similar reasons, ie to stop Microsoft, Google or IBM trademarking the term and also so they have legal grounds to sue companies who use it in their products without making any of their changes available.
Anyway they don’t sue every Joe who releases a distro or prints a T-Shirt with Tux on it, but their trademarks remain viable and have been tested in court several times in several countries in genuine cases.
If they aren’t suing everyone it’s probably a matter of awareness. Defending your trademark is legally obligated. It’s a must enforce situation, at least in the states and Canada.
They don’t have a legal obligation to sue people who respect their trademark in the way they’ve stated they want it respected. The Linux Foundation has provided pretty specific but also easy to comply with terms for how they want their trademark to be used. They are, in fact, sufficiently easy enough to comply with that people can comply with them without actually going to their site to look up the full rules – copy the trademark usage and linkage from whatever site the code was originally downloaded, seek explicit permission from the Linux Foundation before using their marks in any promotions, don’t claim they certified it, don’t claim ownership of their marks, don’t claim stuff that’s not true. This is all pretty basic stuff. That said, I’d certainly recommend reading their rules before using their trademarks, because your ideas of what my statements mean may differ from mine.
Note that I’m not a lawyer, I don’t represent the Linux Foundation in any capacity, I’m not affiliated with them in any way. I have, however, read their rules, and they seems like a really wordy way of saying, “Don’t be a dick with how you use our trademarks. Thanks.”
And for the record, Linux does not allow commercial use of their trademarks. They cannot allow commercial use of their trademarks. That’s where the issue comes in.
All the Inktober person needs to do is codify a reasonable policy regarding open use of the mark that allows those they want to be able to use the mark to do so. This should be done with the lawyer, because there are some requirements that *must* be followed (for example, a trademark reasonable use policy must require that the trademark be acknowledged as a trademark, and that acknowledgement must indicate who owns the trademark at the time of printing.)
If I’m not mistaken, the requirements for that policy must include restrictions on the use of the trademarks in commercial contexts without explicit permission, but it’s possible to have a pretty lean process to provide that explicit permission.
I’m not a lawyer. This does not constitute legal advice, merely advice on what to talk about with your IP lawyer if this sort of thing is of interest.
The problem here is he doesn’t want to restrict commercial use for independent artists and explicit permission, even one that’s easy to work with and basically a copy paste, is going to get cumbersome for an event as big as Inktober VERY quickly.
Blaine and Ross are involved….Trying to work as a team….Built around Blaine’s lies about his intentions and overestimating how well he could control Ross….Now Mike has spotted them after overhearing an example of their teamwork, and he knows Blaine pretty well …..What do you think?
His ‘getting pissy’ could be a way to preserve his image/self-image without either coming off as a “sell-out,” or making himself a target for potential ‘arteeests’ who just want a petty form of power over anyone more successful than they, perhaps?
Unlikely. He filed for the trademark back in 2017 and nobody gave a shit until it turned out he was an idiot who didn’t understand he couldn’t pick and choose who he enforced it on and him throwing his lawyer under the bus only makes him look either incompetent or like a liar.
Yeah, this. If it was the logo it wouldn’t be very noteworthy, but trademarking the name does in fact preclude using it in the title or anything else because at that point they are using the trademarked thing. You have to defend those, like it or not.
Agreed. Hell, if it leads to explicit clearing up that he was lying to Blaine and legitimately didn’t realize he was setting Amber up to be abused all day on the field trip, I’ll have forgiven him almost everything.
(The thing with the football student’s still skeevy. Like, even if the kid was 100% on board with getting the teacher fired at any cost, ‘hey, would you do this by seducing the teacher online’ is not okay, Mike. You are kids. Don’t ask other people to let themselves be sexually abused for your profit.)
Huh… My interpretation was that he just used the kid’s account to lead the teacher into making overtures in writing, and then turned her in before anything actually happened.
I would argue that was partially because there was no one around who was shrewd or cynical enough to put the pieces together, and he felt cocky. He may have changed his strategy after a seventh grader called him out and blackmailed him.
Mike has now been given two more years to increase his brains and hone his cynicism. Blaine has been honing the same bag of tricks. Advantage: the freshman with the nickels in his pocket.
I’d say Mike is only at risk for being outsmarted if Blowjob Cat decides to join in on whatever.
Not that I really know for certain that Blowjob Cat is really smart, but so far, Blowjob Cat has said nothing, so we can’t really tell. But Mike outsmarted Blaine years ago, when he was just a kid, and Blaine outsmarted Ross, so…
To be fair, Blaine could have gotten smarter after his previous encounter with Mike. But that doesn’t seem to be in his character.
Like, Mike’s a total ass 100% but he’s also got a big heart I think and that he’s an ass partially because he doesn’t want to get hurt. This in no way defends his (borderline) abusive traits but I think gives him what he needs to develop compassion, sympathy, and build himself to be a good man. He clearly has feelings for Ethan and is terrified of being emotionally vulnerable and I’m really curious to learn what his parents are like. I really hope these two don’t kill Mike so his character can have the opportunity to continue growing in the positive way he has been
Mike’s parents have been seen in DoA in the Parents Weekend story near the beginning of the strip. It’s a joke (brought over from the Walkyverse) that they’re completely wonderful and adoring in a 1960s-television kind of way.
My headcanon is that Mike’s parents are actually enormous assholes, but believe that what matters in life is the public presentation, so they only show it when it’s just family. Therefore, Mike has crap parents whom everybody else sees as perfect parents and can’t understand how Mike has turned out the way he has.
That’s kind of what I’m thinking, that was my experience growing up and seeing characters grow up in abusive homes and coming out of those homes with more than average compassion and kindness and higher levels of sympathy and empathy always hit me right in the heart. (Looks at Prince Zoku)
YES, thank you, a much more succinct version of what I just typed out on yesterday’s strip here, before realizing today’s strip had already posted and no one would ever read my comment now.
Actually let me amend that, you said more and better stuff than I did, but it lined up so well with what I’m thinking that it seemed perfectly familiar. Well said, Alfie!
Blowjob cat is just a head. He doesn’t have genitals. What precisely are we supposed to go down on? Or is it a “pay it forward” thing? Blowjob cat goes down on you and you have to go down on someone else.
Blaine/Ross’s special brand of evil, and what distinguishes it from Mike, is that they’re annoyed when people do their own things. Mike doesn’t mind that people do their own thing; he just enjoys making those things have palpable consequences.
If Mike weren’t in a mood to take it out on someone, he could have just gotten popcorn and enjoyed the show as the Dreadful Duo self-destruct.
As devious as Blaine is, he can’t manage the laser-focussed stupidity of a mind like Toedad’s. And his temper would certainly eventually force Toedad to figure out that Blaine is Not a True Christian.
I dunno, many fundamentalist Christians see Trump’s temper, and still feel he’s a true Christian and sent from God. I’m sure Blaine will do something to disqualify himself though. And Ross isn’t as keyed into thinking Blaine is the answer to his prayer as the Trump supporters are.
Because he’s a malignant narcissist and is incapable of understanding people’s motives, especially any that don’t revolve around him. Other people are caricatures to him, incapable of complex thoughts, feelings, and motivations, and any time they do something for reasons that don’t fit his shallow, two-dimensional interpretations of them, he gets angry because they’re doing it intentionally to fuck with him.
A good take. He does very well manipulating Ross, because Ross has allowed himself to be reduced to a single note. His church, the same. Danny because Danny was trying to fill an expected role at the time; it won’t work on him again. Amber, Mike, not for a very long time.
What he doesn’t understand, I think, is that she’s changed since she’s been out from under his influence. He’s still thinking of her as so dominated by her social anxiety she couldn’t ride the bus on a field trip or buy twinkies at the convenience store. Back then, he’d have been right.
And he’s barely seen her since those days. Now, when he did see her, she belted him, which should have given him a clue.
So far, so good. Mike recognizes Blaine as Amber’s dad, and he can probably figure out who the short ugly one is. He’s keeping his distance, and should either one of them charge him (especially Toedad, as I’m sure he’s not yet at 100% after the beatdown that Joyce put on him) he can easily outsprint them back to the apartment/party and call for the cavalry.
Mike might be tougher than you think. He’s no Sal or amber, but he might be able to hold his own in a 1v1 against either of them if it came down to it.
But his specialty is turning people against one another. I just hope he doesn’t have a big damn hero moment.
So does Mike destroy them, or does he join the Blaine/Toedad/Asher Axis of Evil? With his motivation being… uhh I dunno, this way he gets Ethan to himself?
Will Mike be able to figure out who Ross is? (I’m expecting he will at least notice that there is another person with Blaine, since Mike is perceptive and Ross is not going to stay quit for long).
My guess is that’s covered by the superhuman code: a superhuman does not disclose the identity of another superhuman. *Especially* if the superhuman has roughly the same backstory.
If Amber knew that Mike was also superhuman and knew his full backstory, she would say that the two stories were very different. Hers came from a convenience store robbery, and had nothing to do with trauma like Mike’s.
However, Mike understands that Amber’s story was much longer, and she just admits to only the last, because the rest is too painful for her to deal with yet. They are, in fact, very similar.
As such, Mike knows very well about Amazing Girl, but he’s not going to admit it, because it could expose his own secret identity: Mike Wagner, hurt boy.
Oh my God bro why would you do that, I was reading along because I was curious where you were going with the Mike-is-superhuman thing, and I was with you and with you and then I got to the end and was surprised into tears. Goddammit.
(… Mostly because you are so freaking right. “Goddammit” x 10 combo, ugghhh </3)
Willis has promised no deaths, I believe. Someone may be able to correct me on the exact phrasing but I think Mike is at least not in danger of being murdered.
Basically, it would take too long for the characters to stop grieving, so no one’s going to die. Well, at least no one anyone cares about, so Blaine, Ross, and Ryan are fair game.
Blaine is so separated from other humans that he believes his own delusions. Amber is mroe social than he thinks, it’s just that his idea of forcing her to train martial arts instead of getting psychological help ruined her life. He is the one responsible for her being so insecure and violent.
Also, if Mike decides to leave them be I ill be so dissapointed about his character development.
I don’t think he will. Aside from the facts that I believe he does have stronger principles than anyone gives him credit for, AND he has previously demonstrated that he will go out of his way to protect Amber…
… He’s also in a MOOD right now because he’s encounter a problem he doesn’t know how to solve, which I expect is rare for him. He’s angry because he feels it’s his own fault somewhat but is also just pissed off at the universe for the whole situation. He is, essentially, rearing for a fight already, and then he stumbles upon THIS and thinks “Oh good. Something I DO know how to deal with. Buckle up, fuckers. No mercy.”
No mercy indeed. Mike’s going to talk to them.
Assuming he’s overheard even part of today’s dialogue, he already knows all the weak spots of their alliance.
This is Mike we’re talking about. He already knows all of the weak spots of their alliance. Assuming he’s overheard even part of today’s dialogue, he even knows they have one.
Haha, well said, Some Ed. Mike doesn’t need to hear a thing to figure out their weaknesses, he has his patented Mike Warner Exclusive X-Ray Strength Asshole-Dar™ for that.
He really only needs to overhear them so he can pick up more info on logistics and situational context.
Amber also had MUCH more severe anxiety when she was under his thumb. (See the ‘buses make her significantly anxious’ thing that lead to the Field Trip Of Doom, this party’s lively enough I suspect it would be more than she could handle.) But Blaine can’t really conceive that she can change, and that things he hates about Amber are directly his fault for being an abusive jackass.
Yeah, exactly. It’s not really surprising that he doesn’t understand current Amber. I mean, he should be able to realize she might have changed, but his take is pretty accurate for the Amber that he knew. He’s barely seen her for at least the last 3 years.
She can cope with the party, just doing so takes most of her capacity so she can’t also make polite chit chat. She knows there’s a quiet room, she can leave if she wants, there’s pizza… She’s doing OK.
….. Hostage or is Mike gonna convincingly (but not really but some people will believe it), turn to aid the villain brigade?
Until he can figure a way to record them and turn it over to the cops.
And since Indiana is 1 party consent…
It’d hold up in court.
You know hostage has also occurred to me too but for some reason I didn’t want to suggest it… Maybe I was afraid it would come true?
Honestly I think it’s going to depend on the level of severity of what Blaine’s endgame plan is here. If he’s planning on just “scaring” Amber a little so she drops out of college or whatever, he might try to just nab Mike and keep him out of the way somewhere until they’re done so he can’t intervene. But if he’s expecting things to become more violent… *shudder* …Well, either way, I think we all know there’s no way Blaine’s gonna let Mike just walk away now that he’s clearly seen them. He’s way too smart for THAT, at least. Now it’s just a matter of seeing how Blaine will try to resolve this little… hiccup. And, of course whether he’s able to actually pull off whatever quick fix he comes up with, in the face of Still A Badass And Also No Longer A Seventh Grader: Mike Warner.
You know, last time I checked, Robin is still a member of the US House of Representatives. If Ross & Blaine decide to do something stupid at the apartment (which is still in her name), that’s going to be a federal offense and they get to play with the FBI.
I predict that Mike will somehow encourage them both to crash the party…by, perhaps, letting Blaine know that Amber’s there too (if he heard that part of their discussion).
At which point, a fight will break out, guns will be pulled, and Robin gets re-elected on the strength of the ginormous media coverage and sympathy this generates. Dammit Blaine, that’s a US Senator in there. Pull any shit and the law will come down on you like a ton of bricks!
Amber actually left already. Which may or may not become relevant? If Ross has been watching for awhile, you’d think he would’ve seen Amber leave. Did he just get there? Did he do something to Amber and was interrupted before he could drop that shoe? Or was he just too focused about Becky to care?
Does Ross actually know what Amber looks like? Granted, he has met Amazi Girl, but unless Blaine has described Amber to him he’s not likely to recognise her (or put two and two together). She’d just be a random (sinner obviously) girl walking away from the building where Becky is. He wants to “reclaim” Becky. This girl is not Becky. Therefore, she is irrelevant.
Blaine showed him a picture, at some point. He knows what she looks like, he’s just too stupid to think about things that aren’t kidnapping his daughter so she can be tortured for her own good.
Be very, very careful here, Mike. Those two are obviously desperate, angry and, in Ross’s case, too stupid to think about the consequences. Push them too far and there’s no telling what they might do to you to shut you up!
Of course, ever since Ethan just walked away, I’ve been worried that Mike might be lapsing into depression. Maybe dying a hero might, like it was for his Walkyverse counterpart, seem to be a kind of solution right now?
My worry also. Pretty sure he’s in a fairly self-destructive mood right now – like, even more than usual. Honestly I think if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have confronted them, he would have watched from the shadows to gather more intel first and then only let them know he was involved until it was too late for them to stop whatever he’d already set in motion – that’s usually more his MO. Frankly there’s no actual reason for a situational mastermind like Mike to directly confront them at this point besides being spoiling for a fight.
I guess he could have called the cops and THEN snuck up on them, but I know he’s smart enough to realize that it would be more effective to wait until they begin to attempt something really bad to call the authorities, because right now they’ve done nothing worse than presumably violate Ross’s bail conditions and lurk around an elementary school at night like creepers, which will definitely not be enough to keep them put away for long, mostly just piss them off and warn them to be more careful not to get caught when they try again.
Not sure if he’s thought this one through fully, so it may be messier than it needs to. :/
OH SHIT. He’s going to provoke them into attacking him and then get them charged with assault or something, isn’t he, that would PERFECTLY fit his self-loathing and self-destructive mood right now, as well as being extremely effective. GODDAMMIT, MIKE. WHY YOU GOTTA BE LIKE THIS??
Oh dear lord.
Are we about to get three fundamental truths all at the same time?:
1) Mike unleashes his full asshole for good
2) Mike deconstructs both Blaine and Ross
3) Mike gets character development
Puts Bowie’s “The man who sold the world” on the turntable…
“‘Cause I’d rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sad men roaming free,
And I’d rather play here
With all the madmen
For I’m quite content they’re all as sane
As me”
I did not anticipate this.
I really like that their plans seem busted.
But I am also kind of scared for Mike (now that we’ve got more character seen from him) getting beaten up or worse.
Okay, the smart thing for a decent person in Mike’s position to do would be to get out their camera, record this conversation from a hiding, and then immediately call the 911 to say “a guy who went to jail for kidnapping one of my friends is out now and stalking her, yes, I have proof, he’s lurking outside her apartment right now”.
Or duck quickly back inside to warn Becky. Or just call Becky and warn her. Or Amber. Or both. Or…
…. who am I kidding with this decent person talk? This is MIKE.
To be fair, would anybody inside believe Mike? And for all we know, Mike already has the police on their way and wants to instigate the two into attacking him, misjudging just how bad a beating he’s about to get
Welp, didn’t see your comment before I just replied above, but yes, I agree, and didn’t think that he might have the police set to show up with beat down in progress. He’s probably gonna do that.
Unfortunately, I think he hasn’t misjudged at all the severity of the beating… I think right now, he just doesn’t care.
Frankly, I think he’s always considered himself expendable in his endeavors – it’s what makes him so invulnerable. Remember when Blaine tried to threaten his family, and Mike literally offered him the key to his house?
I think his complete disregard of his self-preservation instincts is his really, really twisted way of showing how much he cares about his friends. He would sacrifice EVERYTHING for them – his heart for Ethan’s happiness. His budding relationship with the football player in seventh grade for Amber’s emotional well-being. His own safety for theirs.
The fact that no one has asked this of him, and furthermore, the fact that it is most likely completely unnecessary in order to solve this problem, is most likely seen is irrelevant.
Also – I suspect the fact that, if his friends knew he was giving up all of these things for them, *intentionally* and determined to suffer in silence and convinced he somehow deserves it, they would most likely be absolutely horrified… Well, honestly, I suspect that hasn’t even occurred to him. He seems the type to put the well-being of his loved ones (Ethan and Amber, although apparently not his parents?) so far above his own, he would be genuinely confused if they actually expressed concern for his well-being.
Also, THEORY: Mike’s parents are actually like assassins or something and no one ever suspects it because they act so cheerful and nice and wholesome all the time. This explains not only their cavalier attitude toward his callousness, but also why he was willing to offer Blaine: “Hell, you want a key to my parents? Please do your worst” … It’s not that he doesn’t care about his parents, it’s that he knows they’re total BAMFs with like a million super crazy security features and weapons stashed around the house, and thinks it would be hilarious to see Blaine try to take them on.
Also, can I just call out how Toedad and Dickdad are having two very different conversations here?
Dickdad’s talking about how they’ve got this precise if unrevealed plan about doing something to both their daughters and we can’t ruin the plan because plan plan plan what are you doing you idiot?
Toedad’s talking about how his daughter is at a college party with all the sin that implies and it’s happening now and it’s sin sin sin and we have to do something now now now.
And neither of them seems to understand what the other’s saying.
… this conspiracy will go off perfectly and without a hitch. Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong in it.
… You know what would be absolutely The Worst, here? Blaine bringing up the ‘I wanted you both to be miserable’ line when someone in the know witnesses it, followed by something explicitly stating that Mike was lying about that that only we as the audience get. (Or at least the ‘you blackmailed me into driving.’ Either one could be catastrophic enough to tank his friendships with Ethan and Amber.)
The Willis has stated mightily, there will be no deaths (because it would take forever in comic time to resolve the fallout and do you have the twenty years to spare because I don’t).
It’s just that his primary super power is being a dick, which causes people to dismiss him before they recognize that he’s roughly as powerful a superhuman as Amazing Girl.
In theory reading the room really well and knowing how to upset people are the only superpowers needed here, since Ross and Blaine aren’t really friends and their objectives are misaligned.
But it seems unlikely for him to win this early in a story line.
I could see it turning out that he does win this battle, but he gets hurt in it and people think he brought it on himself. Making the storyline less about stopping Blaine and Ross, and more about Mike dealing with nobody being in his corner
Count on mike to do something devastating but count on these two reappearing. They are now reoccurring villains, so they’ll be back. Just like the Joker, they can’t be decisively dealt with. Plus there’s the whole Asher plot line to manage. Can’t leave that hanging.
I seem to recall Mike has a fair amount of fighting prowess. I suspect that his plan is mostly to cause these two to be really anxious about him. I think Blaine, sorry, Mr. O’Malley would be incredibly disinclined to allow Mike and Toedad to be in close proximity for an extended period of time: as others have stated, Mike has dirt he could use to cause Toedad to refuse to continue to work with his captor, I mean partner.
Ross is an interesting opponent for Mike, narratively speaking. Mike has been gradually shrinking into a human character from his invincible, infallible force-of-nature troll schtick in Shortpacked, but he has yet to be pushed very hard about it. But Ross is too dim to be insulted, too narrow-minded to be manipulated, and too strong and too ready to murder to be defeated in a fistfight. I can’t imagine any way Mike is going to win here, even without Blaine on the side.
Well, maybe Ross can put him in hospital and get himself back to jail that way. If I was Mike I’d have a plan to do that. But that doesn’t make sense in the story. It’d just put another pause on Ross’s mission, and Mike isn’t going to learn much if he just wins again.
I think Ross is just going to beat the shit out of Mike and get away with it. It’s maybe the only way Mike (and the readers) are really going to learn he’s not invincible, and it’ll raise the stakes pretty tolerably.
Well, sure, anyone who knows what he wants can point him in a direction. But then he comes back. Maybe I’m overestimating Mike, but he usually manipulates people in bigger ways, undermining their self-image and junk. I fancy if he tries to manipulate Ross he’s going to aim to do something more permanent than send him to the mall, and that I don’t see how it’s going to work.
I mean, I could overestimate how humanized Mike has become too, maybe he will know to do exactly what works and buy a little time instead.
I hope something bad happens to Blaine. I can easily imagine Mike making that so. I can’t imagine how, though. Toedad is one of Blaine’s victims, here; Becky’s father is a cat’s paw or patsy or tool of Amazi-Girl’s father. There’s a difference between being evil and being a brute.
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
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Some people have gaydar
Mike has asshole-dar
For more than one reason.
EYYYYY I just got this.
A nickel for you, sir/madam. *doffs hat*
I mean, wouldn’t it constantly be going off?
Nah, Mike operates on a different asshole frequency that his asshole detector operates at.
I’ll take that for my headcanon, thank you.
Like Phineas adjusting his “cute-ometer” to account for Isabella’s cuteness.
Actually, Mike’s asshole-dar does go off constantly. It doesn’t register *him* for the same reason as the radar in an airplane doesn’t constantly report that the plane is about to collide with itself – its purpose is to detect *others*, not *self*.
But the thing is, when one can detect any asshole within a mile radius, about the only places you can go where it’s not going to be pinging constantly are Antarctica, and off-planet. Note that the off-planet option will only work if you either are going on a solo mission or you’re very careful and/or lucky with your crewmate selection.
(That having been said, I do think that tim gueguen is correct that Mike’s asshole-dar works on a different frequency than his being an asshole is. I suspect he can recognize people like himself pretty quickly, mind you, just that he has a more direct and honest approach than the ones he seeks out to destroy.)
i like the plane-analogy. currently imagining a self-aware plane – still on beta testing – having a freak out about crashing into this other plane it detects EXACTLY in its own location even while it keeps trying to alter its course to avoid the collision…. i feel for you, plane.
Also, i think that the asshole-dar Mike uses is finetuned in reference to Mike’s level of assholiness, and probably won’t detect assholes who run on a much smaller amplitude than Mike himself. Detecting two assholes with a much higher assplitude is bound to alert mike from a mile away!
Why can’t he have both? All the nickels he doesn’t spend banging moms he uses to buy upgrades for himself
Oh shit
Maybe this will work out well?
Or this is the last time we see Mike for some time / ever.
He just need to push them to make a commotion, and have the campus security called on them ?
… tho Amber already left the party, it’s pretty possible Amazigirl will take action
They’re off campus.
blowjob cat isn’t surprised, it just looks that way
I’ve never been so relieved to see Mike
Appropriate Gravatar is appropriate.
Seriously, Mike, I’ll forgive ALL your less awful bullshit if you fuck these two up anywhere near as bad as Inktober guy did with his trademark.
…Storytime?
The guy who claims to have invented Inktober, the art challenge/meme/thing got it trademarked to stop big companies from using it (as well as for the purposes of him writing a book and making merchandise for it) and now he’s getting pissy his lawyer is sending cease and desists to individual artists. Which is how trademarks work. You defend them or lose them. He doesn’t seem to get that and is getting increasingly pissy.
In his defense, that was kind of a dick move on his lawyer’s behalf.
You know that rule about clips shorter than 10 seconds being fair use? That isn’t actually part of any law. It’s an unspoken agreement that just because something is your intellectual property doesn’t mean you have to be a dick about it.
It’s not optional for trademarks. You need to defend it against any instance you’re aware of or you can lose it unless it falls under fair use – which for trademarks mostly has to do with using a trademarked name like ‘apple’ in its plain meaning. The more distinct the trademark (in this case an invented term Inktober) the less likely it is to fit. This isn’t the lawyer choosing to be a dick, this is the lawyer doing what trademark law demands.
This is why you hear stories about media companies litigating against day care centers that paint their characters on the windows. Trademarks have to be actively protected, copyrights expire unless renewed.
Just look at Apple Corp. (The Beatles’ record label) vs Apple Inc. (the computer manufacfurer). Back in the 80s, Corp. sued Inc. over use of the name, but they came to an agreement as long as the computers couldn’t record music. Then the Apple IIgs with its nice synthesizer chip came out, then Macs with audio input, and then QuickTime, then iTunes… Corp. sued over each of those IIRC. (That’s also why it took years for The Beatles to show up on iTunes, even when they were the most heavily pirated albums.)
Hell, even there the trademark is for Apple as a company name. They can’t actually trademark ‘apple’ because it’s too commonly used as a word and has a common alternative meaning.
Inktober, being an invented term, is less likely to have that problem.
Also because Apple Records will try to sue them again.
This hasn’t been true in the United States since the 70s, nor in any country that adheres to the Berne Convention, both of which give a fixed term after publication for work for hire or anonymous works, and a fixed period after the author’s death for creator-owned works. So they no longer have to be renewed, and they no longer can be renewed. (Occasional upping of that fixed term does happen, however.)
Huh. So is there a way to make something available to small creators but not big companies?
Not with a trademark no, unless you’re going to sit down and write each individual formal written permission (the kind most courts will accept) and that would quickly become difficult for an event the size of Inktober. The closest thing to my knowledge would be a creative commons license, but those generally don’t allow for commercial use so small creators couldn’t proceed to sell their stuff.
You can, as I noted below the Linux Foundation holds the relevant trademarks internationally for Linux and grants permission for reasonable use. And the Linux trademarks have been tested in court several times successfully for them.
The key phrase there being ‘grants permission for reasonable use’. Which, again, would become fairly cumbersome for an event the size of Inktober even if you just copy paste it.
IANAL, but I’m pretty sure a trademark holder can give permission for others to use the trademark. There shouldn’t be any reason he couldn’t give permission to individual artists but not to corporations or whatever. This would require artists to request and receive permission before using the trademark, though.
Yeah, the biggest issue there would be the size of Inktober. It would still be doable but there’s only so much written permission he can give out before the event rolls around every year.
Just tell the lawyer to post a copy-pasted permission slip instead of a cease-and-desist
Lawyers don’t send those things out for free, though. Considering the scale, it’d be WAY too much to be cost-effective.
In the case of Linux you only need to request permission or sublicence if you intend to make monyey of it
Well, yeah, but we’re only referring to artists using this for commercial use.
I wonder if they could grant blanket permission to entities that generate less than a given amount of revenue per year?
I’ve read that Sting (the musician) has to pay Sting (the wrestler) a dollar every time he holds a concert because of who owns the name. In this case, the owner was pretty chill about it, but rules are still rules.
Isn’t that what a non-commercial Creative commons license is for?
It is, but there were a lot of people using their Inktober art for commercial purposes – hence the problem.
Not necessarily. The Linux Foundation holds the Linux trademark internationally similar reasons, ie to stop Microsoft, Google or IBM trademarking the term and also so they have legal grounds to sue companies who use it in their products without making any of their changes available.
Anyway they don’t sue every Joe who releases a distro or prints a T-Shirt with Tux on it, but their trademarks remain viable and have been tested in court several times in several countries in genuine cases.
If they aren’t suing everyone it’s probably a matter of awareness. Defending your trademark is legally obligated. It’s a must enforce situation, at least in the states and Canada.
They don’t have a legal obligation to sue people who respect their trademark in the way they’ve stated they want it respected. The Linux Foundation has provided pretty specific but also easy to comply with terms for how they want their trademark to be used. They are, in fact, sufficiently easy enough to comply with that people can comply with them without actually going to their site to look up the full rules – copy the trademark usage and linkage from whatever site the code was originally downloaded, seek explicit permission from the Linux Foundation before using their marks in any promotions, don’t claim they certified it, don’t claim ownership of their marks, don’t claim stuff that’s not true. This is all pretty basic stuff. That said, I’d certainly recommend reading their rules before using their trademarks, because your ideas of what my statements mean may differ from mine.
Note that I’m not a lawyer, I don’t represent the Linux Foundation in any capacity, I’m not affiliated with them in any way. I have, however, read their rules, and they seems like a really wordy way of saying, “Don’t be a dick with how you use our trademarks. Thanks.”
The key phrase there, again, is explicit permission before using their marks.
And for the record, Linux does not allow commercial use of their trademarks. They cannot allow commercial use of their trademarks. That’s where the issue comes in.
Also, Tux isn’t trademarked by The Linux Foundation because they do not own Tux.
All the Inktober person needs to do is codify a reasonable policy regarding open use of the mark that allows those they want to be able to use the mark to do so. This should be done with the lawyer, because there are some requirements that *must* be followed (for example, a trademark reasonable use policy must require that the trademark be acknowledged as a trademark, and that acknowledgement must indicate who owns the trademark at the time of printing.)
If I’m not mistaken, the requirements for that policy must include restrictions on the use of the trademarks in commercial contexts without explicit permission, but it’s possible to have a pretty lean process to provide that explicit permission.
I’m not a lawyer. This does not constitute legal advice, merely advice on what to talk about with your IP lawyer if this sort of thing is of interest.
The problem here is he doesn’t want to restrict commercial use for independent artists and explicit permission, even one that’s easy to work with and basically a copy paste, is going to get cumbersome for an event as big as Inktober VERY quickly.
Blaine and Ross are involved….Trying to work as a team….Built around Blaine’s lies about his intentions and overestimating how well he could control Ross….Now Mike has spotted them after overhearing an example of their teamwork, and he knows Blaine pretty well …..What do you think?
His ‘getting pissy’ could be a way to preserve his image/self-image without either coming off as a “sell-out,” or making himself a target for potential ‘arteeests’ who just want a petty form of power over anyone more successful than they, perhaps?
Unlikely. He filed for the trademark back in 2017 and nobody gave a shit until it turned out he was an idiot who didn’t understand he couldn’t pick and choose who he enforced it on and him throwing his lawyer under the bus only makes him look either incompetent or like a liar.
https://www.mrjakeparker.com/blog/2019/12/20/inktober is the official statement by the guy himself. Read into it what you will.
If he had just trademarked his logo and not the word itself, shit wouldn’t be hitting the fan the way it has been for him.
Yeah, this. If it was the logo it wouldn’t be very noteworthy, but trademarking the name does in fact preclude using it in the title or anything else because at that point they are using the trademarked thing. You have to defend those, like it or not.
Yeah, like I said, fundamental misunderstanding of how trademarks work.
Mike has always been a Chaotic Good asshole. His assholery puts people into uncomfortable positions that they were avoiding but they needed that push.
Elaborately spoofed websites to record Walky crying.
Seriously. What purpose does that serve except being an absolute dickhead?
One could argue that Walky needs to face adversity to force him to develop coping skills, and Mike recording his sobs was simply a fringe benefit.
They’d have to be an asshole though.
Agreed. Hell, if it leads to explicit clearing up that he was lying to Blaine and legitimately didn’t realize he was setting Amber up to be abused all day on the field trip, I’ll have forgiven him almost everything.
(The thing with the football student’s still skeevy. Like, even if the kid was 100% on board with getting the teacher fired at any cost, ‘hey, would you do this by seducing the teacher online’ is not okay, Mike. You are kids. Don’t ask other people to let themselves be sexually abused for your profit.)
Huh… My interpretation was that he just used the kid’s account to lead the teacher into making overtures in writing, and then turned her in before anything actually happened.
Mike if ever there was a time for caution, now is it. You might be an unrelenting asshole but don’t do anything that will make the situation worse.
Guess we’re about to find out if Dumbyverse Mike has superpowers too
Apparently he has droolworthy abs?
*watches Carrie Fisher blow up the doorway of that Chicago apartment building with her four-shot bazooka*
So if Robin is the only adult in the apartment does that mean Carrie’s married to her?
Robin sincerely wishes.
Careful, Mike, you’re outnumbered. Though, from the looks of things, you’re not outsmarted.
Indeed. Toedad has demonstrated animal cunning, but little intelligence. So it’s really Blaine versus Mike in the brains competition.
Blaine wasn’t even smart enough to hide receipts that were evidence of his fooling around.
I would argue that was partially because there was no one around who was shrewd or cynical enough to put the pieces together, and he felt cocky. He may have changed his strategy after a seventh grader called him out and blackmailed him.
Mike has now been given two more years to increase his brains and hone his cynicism. Blaine has been honing the same bag of tricks. Advantage: the freshman with the nickels in his pocket.
I just got the most satisfying image of Mike swinging two socks full of nickels and just beating the shit out of them both
Blaine isn’t smart enough to stay away from criminal organizations, so not too smart.
I’d say Mike is only at risk for being outsmarted if Blowjob Cat decides to join in on whatever.
Not that I really know for certain that Blowjob Cat is really smart, but so far, Blowjob Cat has said nothing, so we can’t really tell. But Mike outsmarted Blaine years ago, when he was just a kid, and Blaine outsmarted Ross, so…
To be fair, Blaine could have gotten smarter after his previous encounter with Mike. But that doesn’t seem to be in his character.
Please don’t get yourself murdered Mike jesus fuck
Like, Mike’s a total ass 100% but he’s also got a big heart I think and that he’s an ass partially because he doesn’t want to get hurt. This in no way defends his (borderline) abusive traits but I think gives him what he needs to develop compassion, sympathy, and build himself to be a good man. He clearly has feelings for Ethan and is terrified of being emotionally vulnerable and I’m really curious to learn what his parents are like. I really hope these two don’t kill Mike so his character can have the opportunity to continue growing in the positive way he has been
Mike’s parents have been seen in DoA in the Parents Weekend story near the beginning of the strip. It’s a joke (brought over from the Walkyverse) that they’re completely wonderful and adoring in a 1960s-television kind of way.
My headcanon is that Mike’s parents are actually enormous assholes, but have been trolling Mike for his entire life.
Toughening him up, cause they wanted him to succeed and “be happy”, I’m sure.
My headcanon is that Mike’s parents are actually enormous assholes, but believe that what matters in life is the public presentation, so they only show it when it’s just family. Therefore, Mike has crap parents whom everybody else sees as perfect parents and can’t understand how Mike has turned out the way he has.
That’s kind of what I’m thinking, that was my experience growing up and seeing characters grow up in abusive homes and coming out of those homes with more than average compassion and kindness and higher levels of sympathy and empathy always hit me right in the heart. (Looks at Prince Zoku)
Zuko* bloody fucking auto correct
Totally forgot about that
YES, thank you, a much more succinct version of what I just typed out on yesterday’s strip here, before realizing today’s strip had already posted and no one would ever read my comment now.
Actually let me amend that, you said more and better stuff than I did, but it lined up so well with what I’m thinking that it seemed perfectly familiar.
Well said, Alfie!
WE AREN’T EVEN TEN STRIPS INTO THIS STORYLINE AND IT’S ALREADY THIS INTENSE
“Fully armed battation” is the less-threatening antecedent to “to remind you of my love.”
SIC ‘EM, MIKE!
Only if you don’t want him to.
The only one present that requires that you treat it with “manners” is Blowjob Cat.
And that just means “reciprocate”. Blowjob Cat shouldn’t be the only one going down.
Blowjob cat is just a head. He doesn’t have genitals. What precisely are we supposed to go down on? Or is it a “pay it forward” thing? Blowjob cat goes down on you and you have to go down on someone else.
How do we know the rest of blowjob cat isn’t underground? Has anyone looked?
Haley Joel Osment could never
Please Mike, use your horrible powers for antagonist-directed evil today.
I mean come on, the storyline can’t end yet but you can SMELL the plan brewing, right?
(He’s going to join up with them, isn’t he.)
Nah, Mike’s an arsehole but he’s not THAT much of an arsehole.
He might pretend to join with them, while actually working to outsmart them.
He could try but I think Blaine knows him too well to trust him with anything important, or possibly at all.
Blaine/Ross’s special brand of evil, and what distinguishes it from Mike, is that they’re annoyed when people do their own things. Mike doesn’t mind that people do their own thing; he just enjoys making those things have palpable consequences.
YES, THANKS.
Yes, this Jamie’s post).
I meant: “Yes, this (Jamie’s post.). I should have just said that Jamie’s post was perfect.
If Mike weren’t in a mood to take it out on someone, he could have just gotten popcorn and enjoyed the show as the Dreadful Duo self-destruct.
As devious as Blaine is, he can’t manage the laser-focussed stupidity of a mind like Toedad’s. And his temper would certainly eventually force Toedad to figure out that Blaine is Not a True Christian.
Go on, Blaine
Yell at the guy who just showed up at a university and kidnapped someone at gunpoint
I’m sure that’ll work out well for you long term
I dunno, many fundamentalist Christians see Trump’s temper, and still feel he’s a true Christian and sent from God. I’m sure Blaine will do something to disqualify himself though. And Ross isn’t as keyed into thinking Blaine is the answer to his prayer as the Trump supporters are.
They don’t. But they don’t need him to be. They need him to do the things that get them the power they want. He is a tool to them. Nothing more.
As always Blaine demonstrates he understands nothing about Amber.
Because he’s a malignant narcissist and is incapable of understanding people’s motives, especially any that don’t revolve around him. Other people are caricatures to him, incapable of complex thoughts, feelings, and motivations, and any time they do something for reasons that don’t fit his shallow, two-dimensional interpretations of them, he gets angry because they’re doing it intentionally to fuck with him.
A good take. He does very well manipulating Ross, because Ross has allowed himself to be reduced to a single note. His church, the same. Danny because Danny was trying to fill an expected role at the time; it won’t work on him again. Amber, Mike, not for a very long time.
On an only slightly related note, “Malignant Narcissism” is a great song by Rush.
You know someone is going to look that up, right? Like me, I just looked it up and you’re right, it’s an instrumental 2:17 long.
and live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lqf7XUbHms
That’s amazing!
He at least understands that he doesn’t understand Mike. That said, I feel that speaks much more to Mike’s abilities than it does Blaine’s character.
He understands nothing. He just pushes and pushes without caring who he pushes.
What he doesn’t understand, I think, is that she’s changed since she’s been out from under his influence. He’s still thinking of her as so dominated by her social anxiety she couldn’t ride the bus on a field trip or buy twinkies at the convenience store. Back then, he’d have been right.
And he’s barely seen her since those days. Now, when he did see her, she belted him, which should have given him a clue.
Blaine can be cunning, but I don’t think anyone’s ever accused him of being particularly smart.
This may well be the end of him.
So far, so good. Mike recognizes Blaine as Amber’s dad, and he can probably figure out who the short ugly one is. He’s keeping his distance, and should either one of them charge him (especially Toedad, as I’m sure he’s not yet at 100% after the beatdown that Joyce put on him) he can easily outsprint them back to the apartment/party and call for the cavalry.
Mike’s known Blaine is Amber’s dad since he and Amber were kids.
Toedad’s face was probably on the news, too.
Mike might be tougher than you think. He’s no Sal or amber, but he might be able to hold his own in a 1v1 against either of them if it came down to it.
But his specialty is turning people against one another. I just hope he doesn’t have a big damn hero moment.
Only if you don’t want him to,
So does Mike destroy them, or does he join the Blaine/Toedad/Asher Axis of Evil? With his motivation being… uhh I dunno, this way he gets Ethan to himself?
Honestly. I think Mikes going to end up murdered
I thought Willis said no one would die.
That was years ago, things might have changed since then
It would take like 20 years to get through the grieving so I expect it has not as I do not have the twenty years to spare.
Yeah. Mike tends to rely on the restraint of others a lot and we’ve seen older, seasoned versions of him push things too far.
Maybe he’ll join the alliance, and then destroy it from within?
Mike to the…rescue?
Oh dear, that is an ominous storyline title.
I KNOOOOW
C’MON MIKE BE A HERO.
A Hero, …
a Hero til the end of the night,….
Will Mike be able to figure out who Ross is? (I’m expecting he will at least notice that there is another person with Blaine, since Mike is perceptive and Ross is not going to stay quit for long).
I think he was all over the news.
Ross was indeed all over the news. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/cnn/
And Amber was involved so there is no way Mike doesn‘t know who he is.
Does Mike know about AG? You’d think he would, but I can’t remember him ever commenting on it.
My guess is that’s covered by the superhuman code: a superhuman does not disclose the identity of another superhuman. *Especially* if the superhuman has roughly the same backstory.
If Amber knew that Mike was also superhuman and knew his full backstory, she would say that the two stories were very different. Hers came from a convenience store robbery, and had nothing to do with trauma like Mike’s.
However, Mike understands that Amber’s story was much longer, and she just admits to only the last, because the rest is too painful for her to deal with yet. They are, in fact, very similar.
As such, Mike knows very well about Amazing Girl, but he’s not going to admit it, because it could expose his own secret identity: Mike Wagner, hurt boy.
Oh my God bro why would you do that, I was reading along because I was curious where you were going with the Mike-is-superhuman thing, and I was with you and with you and then I got to the end and was surprised into tears. Goddammit.
(… Mostly because you are so freaking right. “Goddammit” x 10 combo, ugghhh </3)
If he heard Ross say “my daughter’s up there right now”, he’ll probably put 2 and 2 together.
Only if you.don’t want him to.
Oh.. Oh no.. Mikes the one whose gonna die in this universe
Willis has promised no deaths, I believe. Someone may be able to correct me on the exact phrasing but I think Mike is at least not in danger of being murdered.
Basically, it would take too long for the characters to stop grieving, so no one’s going to die. Well, at least no one anyone cares about, so Blaine, Ross, and Ryan are fair game.
Becky still cares about Ross. Him getting killed would tear her up. Leaving him locked up for a good long time would be just fine though.
As for Blaine, it would still be disruptive. The celebrations would go on for years of real time.
At the pace of the comic mourning would take too long. So no deaths
Who would mourn for Mike, again?
…. okay, Ethan and Amber would. Becky would probably go nuts about one of her party guests being dead, too.
Don’t listen to everyone else. Mike will perish, regardless of all external factors.
Only if you don’t want him to.
Maybe he can insult them hard enough so that they leave their daughters alone. . . forever.
Happy Solstice everyone!
Happy Solstice!
Happy seventh day of Agnostica to everyone!
Yay, I’m not the only one who still celebrates Agnostica!
Sadly, even Gav no longer seems to celebrate it. But I still enjoy putting up the mobius chains and the unopened box.
Happy solstice everybody!
Merry Yule and Happy Saturnalia.
Mmm… we had a tasty Yule Log for desert.
Blaine is so separated from other humans that he believes his own delusions. Amber is mroe social than he thinks, it’s just that his idea of forcing her to train martial arts instead of getting psychological help ruined her life. He is the one responsible for her being so insecure and violent.
Also, if Mike decides to leave them be I ill be so dissapointed about his character development.
I don’t think he will. Aside from the facts that I believe he does have stronger principles than anyone gives him credit for, AND he has previously demonstrated that he will go out of his way to protect Amber…
… He’s also in a MOOD right now because he’s encounter a problem he doesn’t know how to solve, which I expect is rare for him. He’s angry because he feels it’s his own fault somewhat but is also just pissed off at the universe for the whole situation. He is, essentially, rearing for a fight already, and then he stumbles upon THIS and thinks “Oh good. Something I DO know how to deal with. Buckle up, fuckers. No mercy.”
No mercy indeed. Mike’s going to talk to them.
Assuming he’s overheard even part of today’s dialogue, he already knows all the weak spots of their alliance.
This is Mike we’re talking about. He already knows all of the weak spots of their alliance. Assuming he’s overheard even part of today’s dialogue, he even knows they have one.
Haha, well said, Some Ed. Mike doesn’t need to hear a thing to figure out their weaknesses, he has his patented Mike Warner Exclusive X-Ray Strength Asshole-Dar™ for that.
He really only needs to overhear them so he can pick up more info on logistics and situational context.
Amber also had MUCH more severe anxiety when she was under his thumb. (See the ‘buses make her significantly anxious’ thing that lead to the Field Trip Of Doom, this party’s lively enough I suspect it would be more than she could handle.) But Blaine can’t really conceive that she can change, and that things he hates about Amber are directly his fault for being an abusive jackass.
Yeah, exactly. It’s not really surprising that he doesn’t understand current Amber. I mean, he should be able to realize she might have changed, but his take is pretty accurate for the Amber that he knew. He’s barely seen her for at least the last 3 years.
She can cope with the party, just doing so takes most of her capacity so she can’t also make polite chit chat. She knows there’s a quiet room, she can leave if she wants, there’s pizza… She’s doing OK.
She can now. If she was still in the state she was in at 13, when Blaine remembers her, she wouldn’t be able to do that.
Welp time for Mike to use his Asshole Powers for good. He already blackmailed Blaine once anyways. Might as well get him sent to jail this time.
My prediction is that Mike will do something horrible to prove to himself that he doesn’t care.
….. Hostage or is Mike gonna convincingly (but not really but some people will believe it), turn to aid the villain brigade?
Until he can figure a way to record them and turn it over to the cops.
And since Indiana is 1 party consent…
It’d hold up in court.
You know hostage has also occurred to me too but for some reason I didn’t want to suggest it… Maybe I was afraid it would come true?
Honestly I think it’s going to depend on the level of severity of what Blaine’s endgame plan is here. If he’s planning on just “scaring” Amber a little so she drops out of college or whatever, he might try to just nab Mike and keep him out of the way somewhere until they’re done so he can’t intervene. But if he’s expecting things to become more violent… *shudder* …Well, either way, I think we all know there’s no way Blaine’s gonna let Mike just walk away now that he’s clearly seen them. He’s way too smart for THAT, at least. Now it’s just a matter of seeing how Blaine will try to resolve this little… hiccup. And, of course whether he’s able to actually pull off whatever quick fix he comes up with, in the face of Still A Badass And Also No Longer A Seventh Grader: Mike Warner.
You know, last time I checked, Robin is still a member of the US House of Representatives. If Ross & Blaine decide to do something stupid at the apartment (which is still in her name), that’s going to be a federal offense and they get to play with the FBI.
I predict that Mike will somehow encourage them both to crash the party…by, perhaps, letting Blaine know that Amber’s there too (if he heard that part of their discussion).
At which point, a fight will break out, guns will be pulled, and Robin gets re-elected on the strength of the ginormous media coverage and sympathy this generates. Dammit Blaine, that’s a US Senator in there. Pull any shit and the law will come down on you like a ton of bricks!
Amber actually left already. Which may or may not become relevant? If Ross has been watching for awhile, you’d think he would’ve seen Amber leave. Did he just get there? Did he do something to Amber and was interrupted before he could drop that shoe? Or was he just too focused about Becky to care?
Does Ross actually know what Amber looks like? Granted, he has met Amazi Girl, but unless Blaine has described Amber to him he’s not likely to recognise her (or put two and two together). She’d just be a random (sinner obviously) girl walking away from the building where Becky is. He wants to “reclaim” Becky. This girl is not Becky. Therefore, she is irrelevant.
Blaine showed him a picture, at some point. He knows what she looks like, he’s just too stupid to think about things that aren’t kidnapping his daughter so she can be tortured for her own good.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/targets/
I think my favorite part of this strip that involves 3 assholes is that blaine is completely wrong about amber. That satisfies me.
Be very, very careful here, Mike. Those two are obviously desperate, angry and, in Ross’s case, too stupid to think about the consequences. Push them too far and there’s no telling what they might do to you to shut you up!
Of course, ever since Ethan just walked away, I’ve been worried that Mike might be lapsing into depression. Maybe dying a hero might, like it was for his Walkyverse counterpart, seem to be a kind of solution right now?
My worry also. Pretty sure he’s in a fairly self-destructive mood right now – like, even more than usual. Honestly I think if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have confronted them, he would have watched from the shadows to gather more intel first and then only let them know he was involved until it was too late for them to stop whatever he’d already set in motion – that’s usually more his MO. Frankly there’s no actual reason for a situational mastermind like Mike to directly confront them at this point besides being spoiling for a fight.
I guess he could have called the cops and THEN snuck up on them, but I know he’s smart enough to realize that it would be more effective to wait until they begin to attempt something really bad to call the authorities, because right now they’ve done nothing worse than presumably violate Ross’s bail conditions and lurk around an elementary school at night like creepers, which will definitely not be enough to keep them put away for long, mostly just piss them off and warn them to be more careful not to get caught when they try again.
Not sure if he’s thought this one through fully, so it may be messier than it needs to. :/
OH SHIT. He’s going to provoke them into attacking him and then get them charged with assault or something, isn’t he, that would PERFECTLY fit his self-loathing and self-destructive mood right now, as well as being extremely effective. GODDAMMIT, MIKE. WHY YOU GOTTA BE LIKE THIS??
Oh dear lord.
Are we about to get three fundamental truths all at the same time?:
1) Mike unleashes his full asshole for good
2) Mike deconstructs both Blaine and Ross
3) Mike gets character development
*falls to knees*
Please, Willis. What do you want? Anything, it’s yours, just give us this!
Note to self: Maybe give Willis a hand-shaped brush
Also note to self: Artistic license
*with bags of Taco Bell in both hands* Hello, madmen.
Puts Bowie’s “The man who sold the world” on the turntable…
“‘Cause I’d rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sad men roaming free,
And I’d rather play here
With all the madmen
For I’m quite content they’re all as sane
As me”
I guess it’s a good thing Ross can’t stick Blaine’s plans. And that Mike happened to be walking by.
Oh no I hope nothing bad happens to blowjob cat
We got ourselves a showdown. Go, Mike!
I did not anticipate this.
I really like that their plans seem busted.
But I am also kind of scared for Mike (now that we’ve got more character seen from him) getting beaten up or worse.
Okay, the smart thing for a decent person in Mike’s position to do would be to get out their camera, record this conversation from a hiding, and then immediately call the 911 to say “a guy who went to jail for kidnapping one of my friends is out now and stalking her, yes, I have proof, he’s lurking outside her apartment right now”.
Or duck quickly back inside to warn Becky. Or just call Becky and warn her. Or Amber. Or both. Or…
…. who am I kidding with this decent person talk? This is MIKE.
To be fair, would anybody inside believe Mike? And for all we know, Mike already has the police on their way and wants to instigate the two into attacking him, misjudging just how bad a beating he’s about to get
Welp, didn’t see your comment before I just replied above, but yes, I agree, and didn’t think that he might have the police set to show up with beat down in progress. He’s probably gonna do that.
Unfortunately, I think he hasn’t misjudged at all the severity of the beating… I think right now, he just doesn’t care.
Frankly, I think he’s always considered himself expendable in his endeavors – it’s what makes him so invulnerable. Remember when Blaine tried to threaten his family, and Mike literally offered him the key to his house?
I think his complete disregard of his self-preservation instincts is his really, really twisted way of showing how much he cares about his friends. He would sacrifice EVERYTHING for them – his heart for Ethan’s happiness. His budding relationship with the football player in seventh grade for Amber’s emotional well-being. His own safety for theirs.
The fact that no one has asked this of him, and furthermore, the fact that it is most likely completely unnecessary in order to solve this problem, is most likely seen is irrelevant.
Also – I suspect the fact that, if his friends knew he was giving up all of these things for them, *intentionally* and determined to suffer in silence and convinced he somehow deserves it, they would most likely be absolutely horrified… Well, honestly, I suspect that hasn’t even occurred to him. He seems the type to put the well-being of his loved ones (Ethan and Amber, although apparently not his parents?) so far above his own, he would be genuinely confused if they actually expressed concern for his well-being.
… due to low self-esteem.
Also, THEORY: Mike’s parents are actually like assassins or something and no one ever suspects it because they act so cheerful and nice and wholesome all the time. This explains not only their cavalier attitude toward his callousness, but also why he was willing to offer Blaine: “Hell, you want a key to my parents? Please do your worst” … It’s not that he doesn’t care about his parents, it’s that he knows they’re total BAMFs with like a million super crazy security features and weapons stashed around the house, and thinks it would be hilarious to see Blaine try to take them on.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Blowie.
Confronting two criminals alone like that?
I hope he at least called the cops before that.
Also, can I just call out how Toedad and Dickdad are having two very different conversations here?
Dickdad’s talking about how they’ve got this precise if unrevealed plan about doing something to both their daughters and we can’t ruin the plan because plan plan plan what are you doing you idiot?
Toedad’s talking about how his daughter is at a college party with all the sin that implies and it’s happening now and it’s sin sin sin and we have to do something now now now.
And neither of them seems to understand what the other’s saying.
… this conspiracy will go off perfectly and without a hitch. Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong in it.
And Mike overhears at least part of that and walks up to talk to them.
Mike. Whose superpower is reading people’s weaknesses.
Blaine trying and failing to manipulate ToeDad because Toedad is to stupid to be moved from his trajectory will never not be funny.
also – Ross bailed on their motel night? Take a hint, Blaine.
also, Blaine being consistently wrong about amber is also a gift that keeps giving.
… You know what would be absolutely The Worst, here? Blaine bringing up the ‘I wanted you both to be miserable’ line when someone in the know witnesses it, followed by something explicitly stating that Mike was lying about that that only we as the audience get. (Or at least the ‘you blackmailed me into driving.’ Either one could be catastrophic enough to tank his friendships with Ethan and Amber.)
Hmm… Mike is starting to get less relevant.
Is this the right time for our first major character death?
It’s the perfect time.
Oh, is Mike going to murder Blaine?
The Willis has stated mightily, there will be no deaths (because it would take forever in comic time to resolve the fallout and do you have the twenty years to spare because I don’t).
I’m scared for Mike.
I hope they don’t hurt him.
Mike is the Batman we need and/or deserve.
That’s not a very nice thing to say.
Dumbing of Age book 9: The hell are you doing out there? You told me you were getting dinner!
Mike, did you forget you don’t have superpowers here? Buddy you gotta get moving and call the cops or something.
What? Mike *totally* has superpowers.
It’s just that his primary super power is being a dick, which causes people to dismiss him before they recognize that he’s roughly as powerful a superhuman as Amazing Girl.
In theory reading the room really well and knowing how to upset people are the only superpowers needed here, since Ross and Blaine aren’t really friends and their objectives are misaligned.
But it seems unlikely for him to win this early in a story line.
I could see it turning out that he does win this battle, but he gets hurt in it and people think he brought it on himself. Making the storyline less about stopping Blaine and Ross, and more about Mike dealing with nobody being in his corner
If Mike gets hurt protecting people from Blaine and Ross, I can’t imagine them not being in his corner.
Count on mike to do something devastating but count on these two reappearing. They are now reoccurring villains, so they’ll be back. Just like the Joker, they can’t be decisively dealt with. Plus there’s the whole Asher plot line to manage. Can’t leave that hanging.
Come on Mike!!!
I hope Mike has already some incredible plan, because in this moment his kidnapping looks really probable
maybe that is the plan.
either mike calls the cops, and these 2 get arrested, or, they beat him up/kidnap him, then they get arrested, and go to jail.
Wait until he tells hims what he did with his ex wife~
I seem to recall Mike has a fair amount of fighting prowess. I suspect that his plan is mostly to cause these two to be really anxious about him. I think Blaine, sorry, Mr. O’Malley would be incredibly disinclined to allow Mike and Toedad to be in close proximity for an extended period of time: as others have stated, Mike has dirt he could use to cause Toedad to refuse to continue to work with his captor, I mean partner.
I don’t think we’ve seen Mike fight at all – other than punching Joe at Joyce’s request, which doesn’t count because Joe wasn’t fighting back.
Mike’s far more dangerous if you listen to him talk than if you’re punching him.
My, what a polite young man.
Toedad is so stupid, Blaine, sorry, Mr O’Malley, totally desserve him.
So, what is ToeDad going to say when Mike claims (possibly truthfully) that he and Blaine had had sex last summer?
every time I see this guy I wonder how he isn’t in a mental institution for his and everyone else’s protection.
Mike attends college, which is an institution which concentrates on the mental, but I’m not sure how much protection is involved.
Oh man, Ross is gonna get so roasted by Mike.
He’s not going to care, though.
Ross is an interesting opponent for Mike, narratively speaking. Mike has been gradually shrinking into a human character from his invincible, infallible force-of-nature troll schtick in Shortpacked, but he has yet to be pushed very hard about it. But Ross is too dim to be insulted, too narrow-minded to be manipulated, and too strong and too ready to murder to be defeated in a fistfight. I can’t imagine any way Mike is going to win here, even without Blaine on the side.
Well, maybe Ross can put him in hospital and get himself back to jail that way. If I was Mike I’d have a plan to do that. But that doesn’t make sense in the story. It’d just put another pause on Ross’s mission, and Mike isn’t going to learn much if he just wins again.
I think Ross is just going to beat the shit out of Mike and get away with it. It’s maybe the only way Mike (and the readers) are really going to learn he’s not invincible, and it’ll raise the stakes pretty tolerably.
This is Ross, who was talked into taking a bus to the mall by Dina.
And you think Mike can’t manipulate him?
Honestly, I see Mike turning Ross against Blaine, or even that he already called the police and just needs to stall
Mike is clever
Well, sure, anyone who knows what he wants can point him in a direction. But then he comes back. Maybe I’m overestimating Mike, but he usually manipulates people in bigger ways, undermining their self-image and junk. I fancy if he tries to manipulate Ross he’s going to aim to do something more permanent than send him to the mall, and that I don’t see how it’s going to work.
I mean, I could overestimate how humanized Mike has become too, maybe he will know to do exactly what works and buy a little time instead.
Blaine tugging his strings the sole reason Toedad is even here.
Wonder if Mike texted anyone before confronting them
IT’S TIME
Probably AG is gonna rescue Mike. but i really, really hope it’s Sarah and her bat
I hope something bad happens to Blaine. I can easily imagine Mike making that so. I can’t imagine how, though. Toedad is one of Blaine’s victims, here; Becky’s father is a cat’s paw or patsy or tool of Amazi-Girl’s father. There’s a difference between being evil and being a brute.
oh no, Ross is evil, Just a blunter, less manipulative type of evil. He wants control just as much as Blaine does.
Yes and no. I mean, he’s being used by Blaine, but it’s not like his own motivations aren’t nasty enough.
Well, at this point, I think Asher is gonna take care of Mike.
Altogether now.
HNNNNNGH