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.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
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!
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!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Fantomestein
Beka Duke
Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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Wow. Like… I was gonna be mad, because, you know, abandonment, quarter century of festering daddy issues and therapy bills, yada-yada. But like… Maybe we should proclaim you a messiah and found a church together??
Or we could go the Forrest Gump route, that’d be cool too. We can probably get you some Nike sponsorships or something. The point is, you owe it to me to let me in on the profits. I want at least 60% of the movie deal – think of it as belated child support. Hey, at least I already paid for college!
I am incredibly proud. She taught me everything I know. I, personally, charge at least a dime per customer, and I could never have gotten there without her invaluable tutelage.
God damnit, why do these bad guys have to have some level of intelligence. This is nothing like a comic book. Damn you Willis and your (somewhat) grounded sense of realism.
Amazi-Girl is a little slow in realizing that. Really, this strip is a perfect example of the perils of trying to help someone who thinks they know everything.
I am increasingly becoming obsessed with this building and its old-school fire escape which is so old-school that the stairs go all the way to the ground.
I know the moment I express doubt, Willis will post the reference photo on twitter. But it’s odd that some administrator or other hasn’t said “holy hell, this is a lawsuit waiting to happen” and replaced at least the last ten feet with a drop ladder.
Anyway, I haven’t yet found it on google maps, neither street view nor satellite view.
Google Street View doesn’t have the spot: it’s the rear of Kirkwood Hall along South Woodlawn Ave., visible on Bing Maps and maybe elsewhere. Definitely real.
Google Maps satellite view 3D has it too. I was just looking at too many places from too high up.
I’m still amazed that the university administration hasn’t done some safety mitigation on it, especially considering IU has pumped over a billion dollars into renovations in the last few years.
Well that means we will see that implemented here in a few years. Can’t wait for more paranoia barging in.
Like these fences in preschools that have to be closed at *any* time because of potential terrorists /that wouldn’t be able to climb a *yard*/.
They could build hahas in front of these fences or stairs, now that I think of it. Maybe put gators in them. Or sharks. And give an hypodermic syringe inside the building so only the ones inside can swim though them.
Ughhhh I don’t want that to be true, because I want to believe that Mike has never been intentionally fucking with her head (to the point of triggering her, at least) – he just has a shitty sense of boundaries that no one’s ever tried to help him with, because he made sure they thought it was always on purpose (so he didn’t have to admit he was bad at something so seemingly basic despite being incredibly intelligent)… so he didn’t fully realize when he crossed the line from Asshole to Seriously Not Okay.
But. I recognize that may be a little unrealistically optimistic, and also… unfortunately, what you said might actually work. I don’t know if he’s intentionally PLANNING that or not, but if it ends up occurring as a side effect, it might be the only way they both make it out alive. :\
I’m more on the “he’s self-harming through Heroic Sacrifice” camp, and so sure he’s trying to draw Blaine’s attention to him to make him falter (since AG seems to be at a disadvantage Amber wouldn’t be allowing) I’ll be upset if that’s not the case.
Don’t think he’s planning to draw Amber out through triggering a hostage situation. He knows how well that worked out for her when it was Ethan. And you might be right that if it happens as a side effect, it’s because there was no other option.
Oh thank goodness, I was looking for a reason to not believe he was doing the other thing, and I already thought he was self-harming through Heroic Sacrifice, and furthermore you’re absolutely right he would know how much the Ethan thing fucked Amber up, so I’m hoping he would also consider that a poor choice strategically as well as ethically.
I mean anything is possible with our beloved Damn You Willis, but… I think this is as reassured as it’s possible for me to be with regards to this particular possibility, so thanks.
He explicitly said yesterday that he’d been “poking Amber’s bear” for years in the context of her being multiple timebombs and pointing her at Blaine. He’s been deliberately making her worse.
number one, mike didn’t exactly didn’t manufacture amber’s inner rage. number two, the alternative to rage-y amber in a crisis is probably pathologically timid amber… which i doubt is better for The Good Guys.
given Mike’s talents, he could have been the best possible alternative to professional therapy for for Amber, from Way Back When. Given his apparent goodwill for Amber, I’m appalled he declined to employ those talents. but Amber the Mangler (of Ryan) would be pretty well-suited to the current set of circumstances, and some kind of eventual physical confrontation between Amber and Blaine was probably pretty easy to anticipate.
He not only “declined to employ those talents”, but claims to have been using them to make her worse.
And frankly, trying to make a friend into more of a rage monster just in case she has to get into a fight with her abusive dad (who no longer has custody or access) is not exactly good strategy. I agree he didn’t cause it, but he’s been trying to ramp it up. That anyone here is thinking this is a good thing is creepy as hell.
I’m… gonna play devil’s advocate here. Just because Mike is clearly intelligent and good at reading people doesn’t mean he has a good understanding of mental health or healthy coping mechanisms; in fact, I’d argue it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t. He clearly copes with his own repressed emotions through various forms of aggression (albeit not as physical as Amber/AG’s), and possibly believes that it’s working just fine for him. Hell, until very recently, as far as we know, there may have been zero evidence for him that there were any major issues with this strategy. (I mean, besides the complete lack of any emotional intimacy, even of a platonic nature, but I’m pretty sure he’s convinced himself he doesn’t really need that and just takes it for granted by this point.)
I guess what I’m getting at is… If he truly believes the best way to handle past hurt by someone is some cathartic vengeance, then – *from his perspective* – and, as someone who sees it as his personal duty to interfere in his friends’ lives (looking at you too, Dirk Strider) …wouldn’t it be the mark of a bad friend to let her enter that eventual confrontation as a timid and “helpless” emotional wreck who is likely to continue to fall prey to Blaine’s emotional hold on her (thus creating yet more trauma and not breaking the cycle of control), rather than a strong, ragemonster emotional wreck who is likely to kick his ass and realize Blaine doesn’t actually have that much power over her anymore, and begin the long process of healing from all the childhood turmoil?
…Listen, I’m not saying what he did is okay. But I am saying… I think he maybe genuinely wouldn’t see the issue with his course of action without someone pointing it out to him. He may genuinely believe he’s helping her by “toughening her up” (another Dirk Strider nod here; for any Homestuck fans, this is arguably also the entire foundation of caliginous romance/kismeses, since troll culture is a bloodthirsty, survival of the fittest kind of deal).
Additionally, as you mentioned, I would like to point out that Mike has supposedly been “poking Amber’s bear for years,” and they just got to college, what, like a month or two ago at the most? So, the custody/access thing doesn’t really make sense; when Mike first met Amber, she was living with and being actively traumatized by Blaine. She responded by retreating into her shell; he may have been trying to encourage her to fight back, instead. Also, he was like 12 or 13 at the most when they met? Pretty sure no one at that age understands like 90% of things about people, even if they’re crazy skilled at manipulation.
Once again, I am not condoning Mike’s actions. But I am pointing out that, skilled and intelligent as he is, he is still only an 18-year-old human being. It’s one hundred percent possible he genuinely thought he was helping her become more independent and confident in herself. He went about it in WAY the wrong way, but I’m not sure he had any way of realizing that.
My question now would be, if someone sat him down and explained to him why his actions were actually rather cruel in their effect, would his reaction be A)”…Eh, oh well. She’ll be fine. It’ll be worth it to see her smash Blaine’s skull in,” or B) “…Shit. I didn’t… I mean, yes, I do intend to be an asshole pretty often, but only when it’s on purpose, or at least a minor, happy accident. This was major, and not calculated. I thought I was helping her – you know, a little tough love to strengthen her up. How the hell am I supposed to fix this??”
If A, then yeah, he’s an unredeemable dickwad, and even I, who find him weirdly sympathetic, would lose a LOT of fondness, respect, and sympathy for him. Like, basically all of it, honestly. But if B… then I’d be like, “Oh look, he’s human after all, and capable of actually fucking things up like the rest of us. Looks like he’s remorseful and willing to learn from his mistakes; yay, character development! …Also, yeah, Mike, how the hell are you going to fix this? Cuz you have seriously wronged one of the few people you apparently care about. Indescribably not cool, dude.”
He said 5 years. They’ve only been in school for a couple months, but Amber’s parents are divorced and she hadn’t seen him for 3 years at the start of the year. Thus the lack of custody/access – for most of the time Mike was poking her.
You could be right about his motivations, though I’m not convinced there’s strong evidence for it. It still leaves him in about the same moral position as the abusive parent who’s “just trying to toughen them up”.
Without the actual parental power advantage, but I think the concept still holds. A friend doing that is still a bad friend, even if they think they’re helping.
Fair enough. I’ve often thought he seems like the type of person who acts like a dick because they’re not entirely sure how to have a genuine relationship with others without completely changing who they are as a person, so they decide to intentionally act like a dick all the time to cover up for the times when they do it on accident. (i.e., “At least if they think I’m a dick, they won’t feel sorry for me instead. I’d rather be hated than pitied.”)
That said, you’re right, it certainly doesn’t give him much of a moral high ground even if he really didn’t know any better. It certainly doesn’t make him a good friend.
Long story short, I really, REALLY hope that “triggering Amber into joining the fight” is NOT his plan. I don’t necessarily think it is, but at this point I don’t think we’ve seen Mike in any similar circumstances in DoA and therefore I think we have to collectively admit at this point that we just have insufficient data to be able to accurately predict his plans, motivations, or actions in this context… So, it also totally COULD be his intention. I think this is legitimately a defining moment for all four characters here – it’s time to decide whether they will continue on their previous trajectories or drastically change course, and each of their decisions will have far-reaching consequences.
Blaine, I’m pretty sure is locked into this course for good, and happy to be there. The other three… it really could go any way at this point. Ross is looking less and less likely to have a change of heart at this point, but it could still happen. And who even knows what’s going on with Mike or Amazi-Girl (and/or Amber, lurking somewhere behind the scenes).
I just hope everyone makes the best choices they can here, and escapes in good enough shape to seriously reconsider their past choices, and hopefully work for some personal growth.
How is there no one else around? You would think Mike shouting out for a vigilante while on his scooter would have attracted some attention. And he got hit by a car. No one called the police?
There’s solid evidence the Kitty Genovese “Bystander Effect” thing was more of a “Cops Didn’t Care About Queer Girl From Queens” effect and grossly exaggerated by the press because of confirmation bias, tho. Just putting that out there :’3
Okay, thanks again, I just looked into that more thoroughly and saw more recent info than was presented to me when I learned about it in college. That… makes me feel a lot better about humanity, frankly.
I mean, not the whole “Cops don’t care about queer girl” thing, that makes me feel shitty. But the fact that there are several different fairly reputable links suggesting the Bystander Effect as a whole may have been at least partially debunked.
Yeah, we literally learned about it in my psych classes in my psychology major in like 2013-2015ish time frame. Furthermore, my honors psych project (where I conducted a full study with the supervision/guidance of a professor and a grad student) was literally all about prosocial behavior (helping, sharing, generosity, etc.), as were all the other studies in the lab I worked in for over a year. Admittedly, our field was social cognitive development, so much of the research we both read and conducted was concentrated on the 10-and-under crowd. But… still. Anyway, one of the biggest ongoing debates in research of prosocial behavior is “Does altruism actually exist? Moreso, what would even be its operational definition?” So… I, like you, was horrified when I heard that story. It made a pretty big impact on me. It was probably in Psych 101, before I got into the major or my research, and in retrospect may have even shaped my interest in, essentially, proving that humans do have good in them, and also trying to figure out what circumstances draw that out versus suppress it.
I am… SO relieved by this info. Like, I have no words. I’ll have to actually go read a couple of those articles, now that I’m actually awake finally.
I don’t know if it’s real or retconning, but I read an investigation a few years ago that said:
1) The attack took place out of sight
2) Before that, several people did call the cops
3) The whole “everyone watched” was basically 100% made up.
What I remember hearing when we learned about it in my class was that it took place in the alley next to a (her?) apartment building, right below several stories of windows, and when they interviewed people later, they confirmed they had heard her screaming for help but all just “assumed someone else would call.” However, as mentioned, I haven’t had a chance to read the “debunking” articles yet, so whatever you read could be 100% accurate. Also, now that you mention it, your item number 2 is very, VERY softly ringing some quiet bells, which makes me wonder if they were in the initial phases of such an investigation when we discussed it in class, and the professor maybe mentioned that they had already found that part out.
Yeah, I don’t remember when I first learned that, but it was awhile back now. Poking around wikipedia, it seems that, while it was accepted for a long time, there was NYT retrospective that raised questions in 2004 and a scholarly piece in American Psychology in 2007 that basically tore it apart.
Yep. Operation “I just ignore Amazi-Girl, turn my back on her, and walk off to do evil” doesn’t seem terribly promising, tactically speaking. I’m not saying that I’d rather go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, but it’s not one of the best plans I’ve heard.
This. Now that Blaine’s back is turned to her, it’s the perfect time to hit him. Just make sure to aim for his head this time. Or the crotch if he wasn’t smart enough to wear a cup.
Also to be fair Mike, you kinda outed yourself with that whole thing. You could have just told her to mind her own business and kept the plan going. So let us say it is 50/50 fault ok?
No, Mike just made the decision to lure one away, then felt the need to explain when Amber asked (this is when/why he labels the plan), which has now wrecked his plan because now they’re just both going for him.
This is Mike. He knows better than to out information unless it’s part of his plan. Yes, he’s not superhuman, but he at least has enough sense to not monologue about how he is manipulating people
Mike, you could have just said, “I know what I’m doing – focus on Dick Luther”. You didn’t need to to explain the entire plan. This one’s on you, buddy, not AG
Can we also give Ross credit here though for being apparently 0% interested in taking offense at Mike’s snide comments? Like, he literally has not even twitched an eyebrow as far as I can tell.
Also possible, although Mike DID literally say, twice, “insult his mustache” when describing his “operation” to AG. Although, Toedad actually looks a little incredulous (or possibly just pissed) in panel 4 between Mike saying he should be easy to outmaneuver and his epic “Have you seen his neck” burn. It’s hard to tell, though – see above, re: sack of wet cheese.
Did Blaine seriously just turn his back on his opponent? That doesn’t sound like good strategy on his part. Hope Amazigirl clocks him in the back of his head.
Good thing AG has pretty l33t parkour skills and can quickly jump-run up to help prevent Mike from dying?
That fun thing where the super-hero who jumped in to help the civilian isn’t likely to try to get away because they target the civilian, but the civilian might escape if possible… Targeting him first does make sense but whoops…
Also a very smart way to get your dumb enemies to think they are smarter than you and get cocky enough to start making mistakes.
I think Mike is generally too genre-savvy to think announcing his plans is a smart choice unless he has a specific reason. (Hopefully that has continued to be true.)
My brother and I have been saying for days that between the “turning a new leaf” comment and how plainly Mike has been painting a target on himself, he’s aiming for Redemption Through Sacrifice. Because, we were super sure he had 911 on his pocket this whole time… And then we SO weren’t. Now we’re scared for Mike of all people.
Do it do it 8D I’ve only started trying to join the comment threads lately, my bro and I were a fandom of one (we call it our telenovela with utmost love, and usually read together.)
AMEN. People love to think he’s a one-not asshole who just wants to be as jerky as possible, and one of the examples they repeat the most is the Walky thing? And, I mean. We like Walky, but imagine someone as neatly pressed and tidy dude as Mike sharing close quarters. I think he has good reasons to dislike him, and yet he mentioned him among the people he wants to protect (probably because of Amber?)
Mike is brilliant but not an infailable mastermind, he’s caring, he’s toxic, and I don’t think he’s irredeemable. I want to see him grow, like Ruth did (she’s my fave now, tbh!)
You mean… he’s a complex individual with strengths and weaknesses, and thoughts and feelings? *le GASP* …Yeah. Ruth has had TONS of personal growth. STEP ON UP TO THE PLATE, MIKE. LET’S SEE THOSE JUICY VULNERABILITIES.
(Also, I think he said Walky for himself, otherwise why wouldn’t he have mentioned Danny, Amber’s ex, or Dina, her roommate? But it’s possible to have someone totally drive you up the wall and still care about them. See also: Sarah & Joyce; Carla and basically everyone.)
…Ooh, maybe he’s counting on Amazi-Girl launching the grappling hook and Spidey-swinging them to a different fire-escape on a nearby building? That’d be pretty rad.
Well yea, it is a common theme, which Willis would take great pleasure in usurping. It would be a pretty safe assumption on his part that someone would want to do this meme.
Even if Blaine does come up the stairs he has to first get around Ross to get at Mike. And Mike does have the advantage of high ground — all Ross or Blaine can reach are his legs, while he can be kicking at their heads or ribs.
Secondly, I don’t imagine Amazi-Girl is going to just stand around watching what happens, either. She’s about due to pull something useful — like nunchaku or a bolas or something — out of one of those pouches on her utility belt.
In theory, could Amazi-Girl catch Mike if he jumped off the fire escape? If they’re smart and they somehow get away, they should steal the keys from the car if they’re still in the ignition.
Sure, she could catch him. She’d probably provide a little bit of cushioning, so he might only break, say, 60% of the bones in his body, instead of like 80%. Pretty sure she’d be toast, though.
If she has her grappling hook on her, she could parkour up there and then swing them away to safety, though, maybe…
Yeah, idk, the only thing I can think of is that Mike has actual blackmail material on him, which makes him more dangerous to Blaine if he escapes unscathed from the fight.
Alternatively, if he *does* know Amber “is” AG, if he’s trying to scare her out of college as he says, killing Mike would probably do it, so it would in fact be exactly in line with his stated original goal.
Also, what better way to insult a superhero than to literally turn your back on them mid-fight in order to go kill a civilian right in front of them? If he’s successful, that would be pretty unsurpassably de-moralizing to AG, in addition to traumatic.
Ross looks like Art, the lazy good-for-nothing from On the Fastrack in this strip. (Well, old Fastrack, before it went all in on “what is up, fellow steampunk goths?” awkwardness. Art canonically worked for IBM, Apple, Xerox, and Lockheed by the early 80s. What happened, man?!)
Oh my god. BLAM, flash of insight: Y’all know how AG is delineated from Amber by her blue “voice,” in addition to the tags and (less reliably) her outfit?
…For all Blaine’s talk about how “freeing” the mask is… It’s not an alter ego at all. His voice is the same. It’s literally just Blaine, wearing a mask and feeling even more liberated to be violent.
… Okay. I mean, honestly, it’s not THAT big of an insight. I think we all pretty much knew that already. But… I have to admire the symbolism, I guess? Or, I don’t know… Yeah. Symbolism, I think.
Oh but also I really like how Blaine’s mask slopes down in the middle, making him look fierce and severe, while AG’s slopes up in the middle, making her look worried and hesitant. Very appropriate. Nice arting, Willis!
Sort of. Amber can do the blue voice when she’s out in costume, and AG can speak normally.The way the readers can tell them apart is whether she has rosy cheeks (the little spots of blush some characters have). Amber has ’em, AG doesn’t.
Hmm. Is it Amber doing the blue voice, or just AG out of costume? (And vice versa?) Who’s tagged?
Not necessarily challenging your assertion – this is a genuine question, because I’m curious about what you said, but it’s hard to check without knowing which examples you’re drawing from. (I’d love to go look through the tag pages to find it… but there are SOOO MANY for both those characters. D: )
Also, I never noticed the cheeks thing! I’m gonna have to go back and look at that sometime soon, good catch. I’ll definitely be looking out for it next time we see Amber!
To be Devil’s Advocate, I’m surprised that Blaine didn’t take the opportunity to brain Amazi-girl with the hammer in Panel 2 as well while she was distracted. I guess they’re both off their games tonight. XD
Blaine is a moron. A basket, an actual basket, made of fuckin’ wicker and pine resin, could outsmart him in basically every possible situation you can think of.
DoA Book 10: Operation: Lure One Of These Guys Out Of Your Way And Insult His Mustache Was Going Fucking Fantastically, Until You Opened Your Big Mouth
I believe the P.C. term these days is “person who uses a wheelchair,” although I think “needing a wheelchair” would be an acceptable compromise in this context. I don’t use one though, so I’m not really qualified to make that statement; take it with a grain of salt.
…Equally important: That… would technically not be a death, huh. D: It’s possible… Shhhh, Phil, you’ll give him ideas! That will travel backward in time.
I note with bemusement that the people who decried Obama using dronestrikes are OK with Trump using a dronestrike, while the people who were OK with Obama using dronestrikes are proclaiming doom at Trump’s use of a dronestrike, and I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer to “What was that guy doing in Iraq?” (I mean, he was in charge of the pro-Iran militias set on wrecking what stability there is in Iraq, but that’s hardly “satisfactory,” now, is it?)
I don’t think anyone disputes that he was a bad guy who probably had bad reasons to be there, but Trump assassinating the second most powerful man in Iran without so much as congressional approval when things are already tense with Iran is a bad idea. He’s given no indication of next steps or move to protect American boots on the ground in the Middle East who are potential targets for retaliatory attacks. This is also a major escalation of tension in the region and ups the chances of conflict. I don’t think any of those are bad points. And most of the people I’ve seen who were most critical of it were also critical of Obama’s use of drone strikes, but the drone strike part isn’t the issue. ‘Trump trying to start another war to distract from impeachment and up his election chances’ is the issue here.
What was he doing in Iraq? He’s a prominent government official making an official visit to a neighboring country. Not really surprising.
I mean, he’s also a murderous bastard, but there’s nothing shocking about him visiting. It’s not like he was sneaking into the country or hiding out in the hills or anything.
Here are some handy talking points – contact your electeds. I sat talking points over scripts because you should personalize them if you want to not be dunked out as a form message.
Not to mention that his knees are totally unprotected from attacks from the side and behind, and repeatedly doing such will leave Blaine crippled until he gets a total knee replacement.
Ooooh, that would be a a bitter pill to swallow. Unlikely to happen, but hey, you never know.
(…He hits Blaine with his ukulele, right? Oooh! Or plays something so catchy, he just can’t not dance. That would be pretty awesome. Cue Homestuck-style surprise!animation of a beatdown choreographed to music for the rest of the fight scene… Awww, yiss. *fist pump*)
…………….. I don’t know if you meant it this way, but I’d love that – I legit started shipping Danny and Mike some strips ago. Danny has the superpower of getting the good inside people to bloom outside. It’s subtle, but there it is. And starting with a “both wanting Ethan” spite thing + this would be incredibly fun.
I take it as an indication that Blaine doesn’t know AG’s identity that he considers Mike the one who must be dealt with. Mike knows too much, while AG is just a rando who beat him up. Lots of mission creep from their stated mission.
Amazi-Girl against two adults on a narrow staircase? Especially when it starts with them separated and facing away from her?
My money’s on Amazi-Girl. 3:1 odds in real life, 10:1 odds here unless Willis wants to add another plot twist.
I mean, Amazi-Girl can climb up the bottom of those stairs faster than the men can climb the normal way. She almost certainly carries rope and other fun gizmos. If she starts to fight for real, even as Amazi-Girl, there are so many ways she can take them down. (Pun intended.)
Well,,,, not that I’m a great street brawler or anything, but if I was in Mikes place I’d make a right smart kick to that fat assed morons head, and he’d have a nice rolly polly down the stairs and hopefully bust his head at the bottom.
just sayin….
I… think it’s just a random apartment/dorm/instructional building? If there’s any info available so far that’s more specific than that, I haven’t seen it. But knowing Willis, it’s probably a real building just outside of a real walking path through Dunn Woods…
If anyone wants to try and figure that out, it looks like the best background shot to compare to is in panel 3 here. That strip also shows some context on where Mike exits the woods, which could potentially be useful.
It’s the rear of Kirkwood Hall (see picture here). Kirkwood Hall faces Dunn’s Woods, so this means that when Ross and Mike had their collision, Mike had already circled the building and was struck by Ross in the car rather than riding out of Dunn’s Woods and into the side of the car as we all originally thought.
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
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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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hi from MAGFest I’m tired
hi tired, I’m from MAGFest.
Hi Tired and From MAGFest, I’m Dad.
Hi Dad, where the fuck have you been for the last 26 years?
They ran out of smokes at the corner store, so i had to walk down to St. Louis.
…from TOKYO??
Wow. Like… I was gonna be mad, because, you know, abandonment, quarter century of festering daddy issues and therapy bills, yada-yada. But like… Maybe we should proclaim you a messiah and found a church together??
Or we could go the Forrest Gump route, that’d be cool too. We can probably get you some Nike sponsorships or something. The point is, you owe it to me to let me in on the profits. I want at least 60% of the movie deal – think of it as belated child support. Hey, at least I already paid for college!
Good: Someone besides me makes the bat joke.
Bad: It’s Mike. I now have something in common with Mike. You know, besides that thing with your mom.
Don’t forget about your mom.
You and Mike have something very important in common: You’ve both been inside her.
O hai I herd u mom liek nickles so I gots her nickles
AND THEN I FUCKED HER.
Multiple nickels? Dude, you overpayed. That fine, fine woman fleeced you, good sir/madam/gentlebeing. I hope it was worth it.
I would think you’d be proud of your Mom for her business acumen.
I am incredibly proud. She taught me everything I know. I, personally, charge at least a dime per customer, and I could never have gotten there without her invaluable tutelage.
God damnit, why do these bad guys have to have some level of intelligence. This is nothing like a comic book. Damn you Willis and your (somewhat) grounded sense of realism.
Yeah, WTF? The GOOD guys are monologue-ing instead of the bad guys!
The “GOOD” guys. Might as well be the lesser of 2 evils
I don’t think it’s that intelligent considering Blaine’s gonna have his back turned to Amazi-Girl.
Amazi-Girl is a little slow in realizing that. Really, this strip is a perfect example of the perils of trying to help someone who thinks they know everything.
Like I said, the real twist is coming. I bet it’s hiding in plain sight.
Yeah, I don’t think that Mike picked the stairway at random.
Besides: still waiting for the Asher shoe to drop.
I am increasingly becoming obsessed with this building and its old-school fire escape which is so old-school that the stairs go all the way to the ground.
I know the moment I express doubt, Willis will post the reference photo on twitter. But it’s odd that some administrator or other hasn’t said “holy hell, this is a lawsuit waiting to happen” and replaced at least the last ten feet with a drop ladder.
Anyway, I haven’t yet found it on google maps, neither street view nor satellite view.
Google Street View doesn’t have the spot: it’s the rear of Kirkwood Hall along South Woodlawn Ave., visible on Bing Maps and maybe elsewhere. Definitely real.
Google Maps satellite view 3D has it too. I was just looking at too many places from too high up.
I’m still amazed that the university administration hasn’t done some safety mitigation on it, especially considering IU has pumped over a billion dollars into renovations in the last few years.
Sorry, euro here. How is a stair going all the way to the ground dangerous? We only have this kind here.
CRIME.
It makes it so only people leaving the building can use it by dropping the ladder, but people can’t use it to enter the building.
Oh, thank you for clarifying this point for me.
Well that means we will see that implemented here in a few years. Can’t wait for more paranoia barging in.
Like these fences in preschools that have to be closed at *any* time because of potential terrorists /that wouldn’t be able to climb a *yard*/.
They could build hahas in front of these fences or stairs, now that I think of it. Maybe put gators in them. Or sharks. And give an hypodermic syringe inside the building so only the ones inside can swim though them.
I’m guessing that Mike’s plan is to trigger Amber into joining the fight by endangering himself.
Ughhhh I don’t want that to be true, because I want to believe that Mike has never been intentionally fucking with her head (to the point of triggering her, at least) – he just has a shitty sense of boundaries that no one’s ever tried to help him with, because he made sure they thought it was always on purpose (so he didn’t have to admit he was bad at something so seemingly basic despite being incredibly intelligent)… so he didn’t fully realize when he crossed the line from Asshole to Seriously Not Okay.
But. I recognize that may be a little unrealistically optimistic, and also… unfortunately, what you said might actually work. I don’t know if he’s intentionally PLANNING that or not, but if it ends up occurring as a side effect, it might be the only way they both make it out alive. :\
I’m more on the “he’s self-harming through Heroic Sacrifice” camp, and so sure he’s trying to draw Blaine’s attention to him to make him falter (since AG seems to be at a disadvantage Amber wouldn’t be allowing) I’ll be upset if that’s not the case.
Don’t think he’s planning to draw Amber out through triggering a hostage situation. He knows how well that worked out for her when it was Ethan.
And you might be right that if it happens as a side effect, it’s because there was no other option.Oh thank goodness, I was looking for a reason to not believe he was doing the other thing, and I already thought he was self-harming through Heroic Sacrifice, and furthermore you’re absolutely right he would know how much the Ethan thing fucked Amber up, so I’m hoping he would also consider that a poor choice strategically as well as ethically.
I mean anything is possible with our beloved Damn You Willis, but… I think this is as reassured as it’s possible for me to be with regards to this particular possibility, so thanks.
He explicitly said yesterday that he’d been “poking Amber’s bear” for years in the context of her being multiple timebombs and pointing her at Blaine. He’s been deliberately making her worse.
number one, mike didn’t exactly didn’t manufacture amber’s inner rage. number two, the alternative to rage-y amber in a crisis is probably pathologically timid amber… which i doubt is better for The Good Guys.
given Mike’s talents, he could have been the best possible alternative to professional therapy for for Amber, from Way Back When. Given his apparent goodwill for Amber, I’m appalled he declined to employ those talents. but Amber the Mangler (of Ryan) would be pretty well-suited to the current set of circumstances, and some kind of eventual physical confrontation between Amber and Blaine was probably pretty easy to anticipate.
He not only “declined to employ those talents”, but claims to have been using them to make her worse.
And frankly, trying to make a friend into more of a rage monster just in case she has to get into a fight with her abusive dad (who no longer has custody or access) is not exactly good strategy. I agree he didn’t cause it, but he’s been trying to ramp it up. That anyone here is thinking this is a good thing is creepy as hell.
I’m… gonna play devil’s advocate here. Just because Mike is clearly intelligent and good at reading people doesn’t mean he has a good understanding of mental health or healthy coping mechanisms; in fact, I’d argue it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t. He clearly copes with his own repressed emotions through various forms of aggression (albeit not as physical as Amber/AG’s), and possibly believes that it’s working just fine for him. Hell, until very recently, as far as we know, there may have been zero evidence for him that there were any major issues with this strategy. (I mean, besides the complete lack of any emotional intimacy, even of a platonic nature, but I’m pretty sure he’s convinced himself he doesn’t really need that and just takes it for granted by this point.)
I guess what I’m getting at is… If he truly believes the best way to handle past hurt by someone is some cathartic vengeance, then – *from his perspective* – and, as someone who sees it as his personal duty to interfere in his friends’ lives (looking at you too, Dirk Strider) …wouldn’t it be the mark of a bad friend to let her enter that eventual confrontation as a timid and “helpless” emotional wreck who is likely to continue to fall prey to Blaine’s emotional hold on her (thus creating yet more trauma and not breaking the cycle of control), rather than a strong, ragemonster emotional wreck who is likely to kick his ass and realize Blaine doesn’t actually have that much power over her anymore, and begin the long process of healing from all the childhood turmoil?
…Listen, I’m not saying what he did is okay. But I am saying… I think he maybe genuinely wouldn’t see the issue with his course of action without someone pointing it out to him. He may genuinely believe he’s helping her by “toughening her up” (another Dirk Strider nod here; for any Homestuck fans, this is arguably also the entire foundation of caliginous romance/kismeses, since troll culture is a bloodthirsty, survival of the fittest kind of deal).
Additionally, as you mentioned, I would like to point out that Mike has supposedly been “poking Amber’s bear for years,” and they just got to college, what, like a month or two ago at the most? So, the custody/access thing doesn’t really make sense; when Mike first met Amber, she was living with and being actively traumatized by Blaine. She responded by retreating into her shell; he may have been trying to encourage her to fight back, instead. Also, he was like 12 or 13 at the most when they met? Pretty sure no one at that age understands like 90% of things about people, even if they’re crazy skilled at manipulation.
Once again, I am not condoning Mike’s actions. But I am pointing out that, skilled and intelligent as he is, he is still only an 18-year-old human being. It’s one hundred percent possible he genuinely thought he was helping her become more independent and confident in herself. He went about it in WAY the wrong way, but I’m not sure he had any way of realizing that.
My question now would be, if someone sat him down and explained to him why his actions were actually rather cruel in their effect, would his reaction be A)”…Eh, oh well. She’ll be fine. It’ll be worth it to see her smash Blaine’s skull in,” or B) “…Shit. I didn’t… I mean, yes, I do intend to be an asshole pretty often, but only when it’s on purpose, or at least a minor, happy accident. This was major, and not calculated. I thought I was helping her – you know, a little tough love to strengthen her up. How the hell am I supposed to fix this??”
If A, then yeah, he’s an unredeemable dickwad, and even I, who find him weirdly sympathetic, would lose a LOT of fondness, respect, and sympathy for him. Like, basically all of it, honestly. But if B… then I’d be like, “Oh look, he’s human after all, and capable of actually fucking things up like the rest of us. Looks like he’s remorseful and willing to learn from his mistakes; yay, character development! …Also, yeah, Mike, how the hell are you going to fix this? Cuz you have seriously wronged one of the few people you apparently care about. Indescribably not cool, dude.”
He said 5 years. They’ve only been in school for a couple months, but Amber’s parents are divorced and she hadn’t seen him for 3 years at the start of the year. Thus the lack of custody/access – for most of the time Mike was poking her.
You could be right about his motivations, though I’m not convinced there’s strong evidence for it. It still leaves him in about the same moral position as the abusive parent who’s “just trying to toughen them up”.
Without the actual parental power advantage, but I think the concept still holds. A friend doing that is still a bad friend, even if they think they’re helping.
Fair enough. I’ve often thought he seems like the type of person who acts like a dick because they’re not entirely sure how to have a genuine relationship with others without completely changing who they are as a person, so they decide to intentionally act like a dick all the time to cover up for the times when they do it on accident. (i.e., “At least if they think I’m a dick, they won’t feel sorry for me instead. I’d rather be hated than pitied.”)
That said, you’re right, it certainly doesn’t give him much of a moral high ground even if he really didn’t know any better. It certainly doesn’t make him a good friend.
Long story short, I really, REALLY hope that “triggering Amber into joining the fight” is NOT his plan. I don’t necessarily think it is, but at this point I don’t think we’ve seen Mike in any similar circumstances in DoA and therefore I think we have to collectively admit at this point that we just have insufficient data to be able to accurately predict his plans, motivations, or actions in this context… So, it also totally COULD be his intention. I think this is legitimately a defining moment for all four characters here – it’s time to decide whether they will continue on their previous trajectories or drastically change course, and each of their decisions will have far-reaching consequences.
Blaine, I’m pretty sure is locked into this course for good, and happy to be there. The other three… it really could go any way at this point. Ross is looking less and less likely to have a change of heart at this point, but it could still happen. And who even knows what’s going on with Mike or Amazi-Girl (and/or Amber, lurking somewhere behind the scenes).
I just hope everyone makes the best choices they can here, and escapes in good enough shape to seriously reconsider their past choices, and hopefully work for some personal growth.
How is there no one else around? You would think Mike shouting out for a vigilante while on his scooter would have attracted some attention. And he got hit by a car. No one called the police?
It’s after midnight. We last saw anybody before he went through the woods. He’s come out the other side.
Google <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNQQiJTv391pec6SyrdVMVMRj2h9jg%3A1578033545265&ei=ieEOXoHmD4Hc-gTehpOYDA&q=kitty+genovese&oq=kitty+genovese&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i273j0i67j0j0i6
Whoops. Google “Kitty Genovese”.
There’s solid evidence the Kitty Genovese “Bystander Effect” thing was more of a “Cops Didn’t Care About Queer Girl From Queens” effect and grossly exaggerated by the press because of confirmation bias, tho. Just putting that out there :’3
Help might arrive yet.
Okay, thanks again, I just looked into that more thoroughly and saw more recent info than was presented to me when I learned about it in college. That… makes me feel a lot better about humanity, frankly.
I mean, not the whole “Cops don’t care about queer girl” thing, that makes me feel shitty. But the fact that there are several different fairly reputable links suggesting the Bystander Effect as a whole may have been at least partially debunked.
…Okay, wow, looked AGAIN, and most of those articles are literally from 2019. I feel a little better about not hearing about that yet.
Me too, since I learnt about that in 2000 or 2001 and the idea of ~30 people just watching and not doing anything seemed horrific…
Yeah, we literally learned about it in my psych classes in my psychology major in like 2013-2015ish time frame. Furthermore, my honors psych project (where I conducted a full study with the supervision/guidance of a professor and a grad student) was literally all about prosocial behavior (helping, sharing, generosity, etc.), as were all the other studies in the lab I worked in for over a year. Admittedly, our field was social cognitive development, so much of the research we both read and conducted was concentrated on the 10-and-under crowd. But… still. Anyway, one of the biggest ongoing debates in research of prosocial behavior is “Does altruism actually exist? Moreso, what would even be its operational definition?” So… I, like you, was horrified when I heard that story. It made a pretty big impact on me. It was probably in Psych 101, before I got into the major or my research, and in retrospect may have even shaped my interest in, essentially, proving that humans do have good in them, and also trying to figure out what circumstances draw that out versus suppress it.
I am… SO relieved by this info. Like, I have no words. I’ll have to actually go read a couple of those articles, now that I’m actually awake finally.
I don’t know if it’s real or retconning, but I read an investigation a few years ago that said:
1) The attack took place out of sight
2) Before that, several people did call the cops
3) The whole “everyone watched” was basically 100% made up.
What I remember hearing when we learned about it in my class was that it took place in the alley next to a (her?) apartment building, right below several stories of windows, and when they interviewed people later, they confirmed they had heard her screaming for help but all just “assumed someone else would call.” However, as mentioned, I haven’t had a chance to read the “debunking” articles yet, so whatever you read could be 100% accurate. Also, now that you mention it, your item number 2 is very, VERY softly ringing some quiet bells, which makes me wonder if they were in the initial phases of such an investigation when we discussed it in class, and the professor maybe mentioned that they had already found that part out.
Yeah, I don’t remember when I first learned that, but it was awhile back now. Poking around wikipedia, it seems that, while it was accepted for a long time, there was NYT retrospective that raised questions in 2004 and a scholarly piece in American Psychology in 2007 that basically tore it apart.
The myth still exists, of course.
FFS, AG. Whack Blaine across the back of the head with the scooter and end this b/s.
Yep. Operation “I just ignore Amazi-Girl, turn my back on her, and walk off to do evil” doesn’t seem terribly promising, tactically speaking. I’m not saying that I’d rather go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, but it’s not one of the best plans I’ve heard.
This. Now that Blaine’s back is turned to her, it’s the perfect time to hit him. Just make sure to aim for his head this time. Or the crotch if he wasn’t smart enough to wear a cup.
Or his knee. Get him on the ground!
This is why edgy people fail at being heroes… unless they are Batman. Everyone wants to be Batman.
let’s hope Ross is NOT Batman, despite the dead bat on his face
This is why edgy people fail at being heroes… unless they are a man dressed like a bat. Everyone wants to be a man dressed like a bat.
Also to be fair Mike, you kinda outed yourself with that whole thing. You could have just told her to mind her own business and kept the plan going. So let us say it is 50/50 fault ok?
True. Unless the reverse (reverse reverse?) psychology is also part of Mike’s plan…
Is anyone in that building or is it just a class hall that would be closed at night?
Well, he just made blaine turn his back to ag. And since the back basically is a big blind spot, she has an advantage now. Let’s hope she uses it.
To be fair, Mike announces his plans all the time, people just usually ignore him.
I’m completely lost here. Did Amazigirl and Mike plan this?
No, Mike just made the decision to lure one away, then felt the need to explain when Amber asked (this is when/why he labels the plan), which has now wrecked his plan because now they’re just both going for him.
This is Mike. He knows better than to out information unless it’s part of his plan. Yes, he’s not superhuman, but he at least has enough sense to not monologue about how he is manipulating people
It is absolutely part of his plan. Now they’re BOTH focused on him, and just turned his back on Amazi-Girl/Amber.
Toedad already bucked that trend by going where he said he was going
Mike, you could have just said, “I know what I’m doing – focus on Dick Luther”. You didn’t need to to explain the entire plan. This one’s on you, buddy, not AG
“Have you seen his neck? Me neither” has me in stitches, especially when the bat line already had me cracking up.
Can we also give Ross credit here though for being apparently 0% interested in taking offense at Mike’s snide comments? Like, he literally has not even twitched an eyebrow as far as I can tell.
Impressive.
It’s less that Ross is unaffected and more that Ross’ face has the expressiveness of a sack of wet cheese.
Don’t rule out “Too stupid to know when he’s being insulted.”
Also possible, although Mike DID literally say, twice, “insult his mustache” when describing his “operation” to AG. Although, Toedad actually looks a little incredulous (or possibly just pissed) in panel 4 between Mike saying he should be easy to outmaneuver and his epic “Have you seen his neck” burn. It’s hard to tell, though – see above, re: sack of wet cheese.
Thank you, Deanatay, that made me cackle loud enough to wake up my poor dog.
(Even if that’s true though… he hasn’t even [visibly] faltered. Dang.)
Did Blaine seriously just turn his back on his opponent? That doesn’t sound like good strategy on his part. Hope Amazigirl clocks him in the back of his head.
Nor does following a giant blob like Ross up the stairs. One shove by Mike is likely to send Toedad tumbling down the stairs to crush Blaine.
This scene would be awesome if Mikes Mother showed up.
Welp, good luck Mike.
Good thing AG has pretty l33t parkour skills and can quickly jump-run up to help prevent Mike from dying?
That fun thing where the super-hero who jumped in to help the civilian isn’t likely to try to get away because they target the civilian, but the civilian might escape if possible… Targeting him first does make sense but whoops…
Or she could just stop Blaine from helping Ross
Putting all your points in Taunt and none in attack or defense is not the way to tank, Mike.
Don’t need defense when ya got Dodge!
Mike has now demonstrated twice the dumbest way to get your dumb plans foiled, by saying them out loud to your enemies
Also a very smart way to get your dumb enemies to think they are smarter than you and get cocky enough to start making mistakes.
I think Mike is generally too genre-savvy to think announcing his plans is a smart choice unless he has a specific reason. (Hopefully that has continued to be true.)
This is the part where you forget that the enemy can take turns, too! Basic rule of DnD!
I just kite the enemy mobs. Like Mike.
Until I run out of room. Like Mike.
My brother and I have been saying for days that between the “turning a new leaf” comment and how plainly Mike has been painting a target on himself, he’s aiming for Redemption Through Sacrifice. Because, we were super sure he had 911 on his pocket this whole time… And then we SO weren’t. Now we’re scared for Mike of all people.
Thanks, Willis.
SAME. Also, this comment made me realize my brother might enjoy DoA. I should at least mention it to him.
Do it do it 8D I’ve only started trying to join the comment threads lately, my bro and I were a fandom of one (we call it our telenovela with utmost love, and usually read together.)
Yep, yep, yep. Listen, Mike. DON’T BE A FUCKING MARTYR, OKAY?
Well, okay maybe just a li’l, so people open their eyes enough to consider you might be at least two-dimensional, rather than just one… But still.
AMEN. People love to think he’s a one-not asshole who just wants to be as jerky as possible, and one of the examples they repeat the most is the Walky thing? And, I mean. We like Walky, but imagine someone as neatly pressed and tidy dude as Mike sharing close quarters. I think he has good reasons to dislike him, and yet he mentioned him among the people he wants to protect (probably because of Amber?)
Mike is brilliant but not an infailable mastermind, he’s caring, he’s toxic, and I don’t think he’s irredeemable. I want to see him grow, like Ruth did (she’s my fave now, tbh!)
You mean… he’s a complex individual with strengths and weaknesses, and thoughts and feelings? *le GASP* …Yeah. Ruth has had TONS of personal growth. STEP ON UP TO THE PLATE, MIKE. LET’S SEE THOSE JUICY VULNERABILITIES.
(Also, I think he said Walky for himself, otherwise why wouldn’t he have mentioned Danny, Amber’s ex, or Dina, her roommate? But it’s possible to have someone totally drive you up the wall and still care about them. See also: Sarah & Joyce; Carla and basically everyone.)
This is going astonishingly well.
It seems clear that Mike wants both these guys on the stairs.
Kick Ross down, lands on Blaine, Ross flails like a turtle on its back
Mike… parkour jumps over the railing, only to shatter both ankles upon landing?…
…Ooh, maybe he’s counting on Amazi-Girl launching the grappling hook and Spidey-swinging them to a different fire-escape on a nearby building? That’d be pretty rad.
Blaine’s armored jacket is actually pretty cool looking.
I hate to admit it, but it totally is at this point. Look at them both in panel two – they look like a legit matched set.
Aw dang it alt-text, I was gonna make that joke.
Anyways now that Blaine has turned his back to AG just beat him over the head with the scooter.
Well yea, it is a common theme, which Willis would take great pleasure in usurping. It would be a pretty safe assumption on his part that someone would want to do this meme.
Even if Blaine does come up the stairs he has to first get around Ross to get at Mike. And Mike does have the advantage of high ground — all Ross or Blaine can reach are his legs, while he can be kicking at their heads or ribs.
Secondly, I don’t imagine Amazi-Girl is going to just stand around watching what happens, either. She’s about due to pull something useful — like nunchaku or a bolas or something — out of one of those pouches on her utility belt.
It’s over, Toedad! I have the high ground!
In theory, could Amazi-Girl catch Mike if he jumped off the fire escape? If they’re smart and they somehow get away, they should steal the keys from the car if they’re still in the ignition.
Sure, she could catch him. She’d probably provide a little bit of cushioning, so he might only break, say, 60% of the bones in his body, instead of like 80%. Pretty sure she’d be toast, though.
If she has her grappling hook on her, she could parkour up there and then swing them away to safety, though, maybe…
You know, Mike, you ARE a Purdue fan. What is your success rate of trucking people down?
I don’t know if he’s a Purdue fan as such, more a fan of wearing his school’s rival’s gear to piss people who care about sports off.
I don’t get how just leaving AG alone and going for Mike benefits him though? He just turned his back on her and she’s the one who knows how to fight
Yeah, idk, the only thing I can think of is that Mike has actual blackmail material on him, which makes him more dangerous to Blaine if he escapes unscathed from the fight.
Alternatively, if he *does* know Amber “is” AG, if he’s trying to scare her out of college as he says, killing Mike would probably do it, so it would in fact be exactly in line with his stated original goal.
Also, what better way to insult a superhero than to literally turn your back on them mid-fight in order to go kill a civilian right in front of them? If he’s successful, that would be pretty unsurpassably de-moralizing to AG, in addition to traumatic.
Ross looks like Art, the lazy good-for-nothing from On the Fastrack in this strip. (Well, old Fastrack, before it went all in on “what is up, fellow steampunk goths?” awkwardness. Art canonically worked for IBM, Apple, Xerox, and Lockheed by the early 80s. What happened, man?!)
Oh my god. BLAM, flash of insight: Y’all know how AG is delineated from Amber by her blue “voice,” in addition to the tags and (less reliably) her outfit?
…For all Blaine’s talk about how “freeing” the mask is… It’s not an alter ego at all. His voice is the same. It’s literally just Blaine, wearing a mask and feeling even more liberated to be violent.
… Okay. I mean, honestly, it’s not THAT big of an insight. I think we all pretty much knew that already. But… I have to admire the symbolism, I guess? Or, I don’t know… Yeah. Symbolism, I think.
Oh but also I really like how Blaine’s mask slopes down in the middle, making him look fierce and severe, while AG’s slopes up in the middle, making her look worried and hesitant. Very appropriate. Nice arting, Willis!
Sort of. Amber can do the blue voice when she’s out in costume, and AG can speak normally.The way the readers can tell them apart is whether she has rosy cheeks (the little spots of blush some characters have). Amber has ’em, AG doesn’t.
Hmm. Is it Amber doing the blue voice, or just AG out of costume? (And vice versa?) Who’s tagged?
Not necessarily challenging your assertion – this is a genuine question, because I’m curious about what you said, but it’s hard to check without knowing which examples you’re drawing from. (I’d love to go look through the tag pages to find it… but there are SOOO MANY for both those characters. D: )
Also, I never noticed the cheeks thing! I’m gonna have to go back and look at that sometime soon, good catch. I’ll definitely be looking out for it next time we see Amber!
The most blatant recent example was when she was posing as AG on the roof with Walky.
Amber in the costume, doing the voice – verified by cheek blush and tags. And some of the preceding dialogue.
And older example with AG out of costume not doing the voice would be when she broke up with Danny. Again, tag and in that case lack of cheek blush and we see her switch in the strip before the confrontation (both are tagged.)
Alright, no idea what I did with the html there, but the actual link links, just not the rest of the highlighted stuff.
Here we go: Amber throwing the AG-voice, but AG is not a tagged character.
Oh Gahd, I’m with the other posters. His back is to you Amazi Girl. HIT HIM IN THE UNARMORED HEAD!
idk man, his ego seems pretty damn sturdy
To be Devil’s Advocate, I’m surprised that Blaine didn’t take the opportunity to brain Amazi-girl with the hammer in Panel 2 as well while she was distracted. I guess they’re both off their games tonight. XD
Blaine is a moron. A basket, an actual basket, made of fuckin’ wicker and pine resin, could outsmart him in basically every possible situation you can think of.
Would be better to kick him in the back of the knees and take him down.
To be fair, it IS a very stupid mustasche
Although I’m surprised that Ross hasn’t gone batty about it being insulted.
DoA Book 10: Operation: Lure One Of These Guys Out Of Your Way And Insult His Mustache Was Going Fucking Fantastically, Until You Opened Your Big Mouth
…this ends with someone falling off the roof, breaking his/her spine, and becoming weelchair-bound, doesn’t it?
I believe the P.C. term these days is “person who uses a wheelchair,” although I think “needing a wheelchair” would be an acceptable compromise in this context. I don’t use one though, so I’m not really qualified to make that statement; take it with a grain of salt.
…Equally important: That… would technically not be a death, huh. D: It’s possible… Shhhh, Phil, you’ll give him ideas! That will travel backward in time.
Now I’m just wondering whether Blaine is left handed, or prefer using the hammer on his off-hand
Left hammered.
That first sentence… That is pure comedy gold. ( and yes, I shouldn’t have been drinking tea when I opened this comics… :D)
God damn it, AG, not “wait”. The fucker’s back is turned just HIT HIM. Can we get Amber here, please? Calling Amber to the active personality desk.
Also, if you’re an American, I hope you weren’t too fond of Roe v. Wade?
Oh, for god’s sake. Can people just fucking behave for once in their fucking lives?
All signs point to “no”.
I’m a little more concerned right now about the pending war with Iran. Good distraction from impeachment.
Yeah, should have seen that coming.its a tried and true strategy.
I note with bemusement that the people who decried Obama using dronestrikes are OK with Trump using a dronestrike, while the people who were OK with Obama using dronestrikes are proclaiming doom at Trump’s use of a dronestrike, and I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer to “What was that guy doing in Iraq?” (I mean, he was in charge of the pro-Iran militias set on wrecking what stability there is in Iraq, but that’s hardly “satisfactory,” now, is it?)
I don’t think anyone disputes that he was a bad guy who probably had bad reasons to be there, but Trump assassinating the second most powerful man in Iran without so much as congressional approval when things are already tense with Iran is a bad idea. He’s given no indication of next steps or move to protect American boots on the ground in the Middle East who are potential targets for retaliatory attacks. This is also a major escalation of tension in the region and ups the chances of conflict. I don’t think any of those are bad points. And most of the people I’ve seen who were most critical of it were also critical of Obama’s use of drone strikes, but the drone strike part isn’t the issue. ‘Trump trying to start another war to distract from impeachment and up his election chances’ is the issue here.
What was he doing in Iraq? He’s a prominent government official making an official visit to a neighboring country. Not really surprising.
I mean, he’s also a murderous bastard, but there’s nothing shocking about him visiting. It’s not like he was sneaking into the country or hiding out in the hills or anything.
You mean people like Trump himself.
Any number of tweets from Trump back in 2012 about Obama trying start a war with Iran to boost his election chances. It’s always projection. Always.
https://twitter.com/Celeste_pewter/status/1212933621213827073
Here are some handy talking points – contact your electeds. I sat talking points over scripts because you should personalize them if you want to not be dunked out as a form message.
Not to mention that his knees are totally unprotected from attacks from the side and behind, and repeatedly doing such will leave Blaine crippled until he gets a total knee replacement.
Still hoping Sal shows up.
Goddammit, Ross.
Still hoping Danny will shows up and save Mike.
Ooooh, that would be a a bitter pill to swallow. Unlikely to happen, but hey, you never know.
(…He hits Blaine with his ukulele, right? Oooh! Or plays something so catchy, he just can’t not dance. That would be pretty awesome. Cue Homestuck-style surprise!animation of a beatdown choreographed to music for the rest of the fight scene… Awww, yiss. *fist pump*)
…………….. I don’t know if you meant it this way, but I’d love that – I legit started shipping Danny and Mike some strips ago. Danny has the superpower of getting the good inside people to bloom outside. It’s subtle, but there it is. And starting with a “both wanting Ethan” spite thing + this would be incredibly fun.
I’m so agreed ♡
I’m glad to be among gentlepeople and scholars, then 8D
(I bet nobody has written fanfic about it yet tho
)
I take it as an indication that Blaine doesn’t know AG’s identity that he considers Mike the one who must be dealt with. Mike knows too much, while AG is just a rando who beat him up. Lots of mission creep from their stated mission.
Never mind all the chit-chat. While his back is to you is a good time to hit him on the back of the knees…
Amazi-Girl against two adults on a narrow staircase? Especially when it starts with them separated and facing away from her?
My money’s on Amazi-Girl. 3:1 odds in real life, 10:1 odds here unless Willis wants to add another plot twist.
I mean, Amazi-Girl can climb up the bottom of those stairs faster than the men can climb the normal way. She almost certainly carries rope and other fun gizmos. If she starts to fight for real, even as Amazi-Girl, there are so many ways she can take them down. (Pun intended.)
Well,,,, not that I’m a great street brawler or anything, but if I was in Mikes place I’d make a right smart kick to that fat assed morons head, and he’d have a nice rolly polly down the stairs and hopefully bust his head at the bottom.
just sayin….
That would work, but it might kill him. So its usefulness depends on whether Mike is ready and willing to do that.
What building is Mike and Ross on?
I… think it’s just a random apartment/dorm/instructional building? If there’s any info available so far that’s more specific than that, I haven’t seen it. But knowing Willis, it’s probably a real building just outside of a real walking path through Dunn Woods…
If anyone wants to try and figure that out, it looks like the best background shot to compare to is in panel 3 here. That strip also shows some context on where Mike exits the woods, which could potentially be useful.
I can’t vouch for it, but someone posted above that “it’s the rear of Kirkwood Hall along South Woodlawn Ave”
It’s the rear of Kirkwood Hall (see picture here). Kirkwood Hall faces Dunn’s Woods, so this means that when Ross and Mike had their collision, Mike had already circled the building and was struck by Ross in the car rather than riding out of Dunn’s Woods and into the side of the car as we all originally thought.
Odd, I thought it was Mike’s big mouth that was screwing up things. After all, he’s limping and now trapped on the stairs with a former jailbird.
PLEASE actually name Book 10 that