Sometimes, for example witnesses interviewed in the field for TV news, you just have to tape them giving verbal permission to use the footage. This doesn’t have to go on air, but as long as you have this permission you can use their name and image. (Of course this varies by state, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, check local laws, eat your vegetables, etc.)
Did you just call him a victim? I dunno if anyone trying to use brute strength to get out of solid steel handcuffs could be considered a victim, i mean they didnt tase him or beat him up, they calmly told him he couldnt break them
I would guess there is compensation, since these are for-profit shows, in allowing them to use your image. Some people feel the pay is “worth it” and sign the papers, perhaps? That, or they’re operating in states where laws allow for criminal’s faces to be shown regardless of permission, and they’ve waited until trial has ended and a verdict reached, etc. I’m super curious about this now, actually.
They were talking about it on a show, and the explanation from one of the producers, on why they signed the releases was great. “Because they’re stooooopid! That’s why they’re criminals.” It wasn’t Cops, but one of the competitors.
I dunno, if a cop was arresting me, I’d be pretty scared to resist anything. Cops are scary, getting arrested is scary, I wouldn’t like to antagonize suit-guy-with-clipboard at the same time.
Why not? This hypothetical you is a criminal who has already done something worthy of airing on television. Why stop antagonising when suit-guy-with-clipboard is standing there, practically asking for it?
“criminal who has already done something worthy of airing on television.”
A lot of times they really haven’t. An awful lot of Cops segments begin with the cop deciding to stop and question someone because they look suspicious.
“Why stop antagonising when suit-guy-with-clipboard is standing there”
Because by that time you’re handcuffed and in police custody. I would imagine that even if you had done something antagonizing, the desire not to get shot would override any previous motives.
Dorothy can be a bit slow on the uptake with other people’s problems, but I’m willing to bet A LOT that she will have reasons to reevaluate her view of Amaziegirl before this goes to print.
In Dorothy’s defence, she doesn’t have the full picture of what’s going on here. As far as she knows, Amazi-Girl punched a thief (just a punch which doesn’t seems to have caused any wounds), which I guess, from an outsider perspective, can be seen as “appropriate” use of force.
Well, as far as this incident goes, she apparently has just as much of the full picture as we do. As far as we know, “Amazi-Girl punched a thief (just a punch which doesn’t seems to have caused any wounds)”.
That doesn’t sound good, to be honest. Dorothy is probably one of the worst people for Amber to talk to. Amber will probably frame it as “Danny is trying to stop me from becoming a superhero” and Dorothy will relate it to her own experience with Danny. She probably won’t realize the exact danger that Amber presents to herself and others.
I don’t think Dorothy knows that Amber/AG was dating Danny.
I’m a bit more worried that due to the idolization Dorothy has for AG, she’ll be inadvertently reinforcing the notion that Amber being a violent masked vigilante is all ok.
My phone has a better camera than any actual camera I’ve owned. Plus it’s smaller and way more convenient. I take loads more photos with my phone than I’ve ever taken before and they look GREAT.
Erm, as good as the photographer-quality cameras that Dorothy could borrow from the Indiana Daily Student equipment stash? I mean, Dor’ can’t exactly plan her Amazi-sightings, so I get it, but high quality cameras are still better than phones, for now, anyway.
Image quality relies heavily on the sensor size, so unless there’s an amazing breakthrough in how we capture pictures, a bulky dSLR will always be better than a slim camera phone.
Generally, newspaper photographs need to be about 200 dpi, and about 8″-10″, if it’s lead art (depending on the physical size of the paper). The few times I’ve had to edit a camera phone image for newspaper the images paled in comparison to a DSLR, especially when they were edited for the ideal crop.
There’s a huge difference in quality between a smartphone and a good still camera. It comes down to optics and the size of the image sensor. All the processing in the world won’t make more photons hit the pea-size sensor in a phone. I’ve yet to see a smartphone with a zoom that gives better results than scaling a wide shot in Photoshop. A decent still gamera will take higher resolution pictures, have a larger sensor for better low-light shots, and have optical zoom that won’t degrade image quality when you use it.
Smartphones can’t be beat for convenience and connectivity, but if I’m planning to go somewhere and I know I’m going to take pictures, a point-and-shoot comes along.
Exactly right. There’s an argument that the best camera is one you have on you, and you can get good results with a phone camera, but from a technical POV a dSLR is going to beat a phone camera every single time. There’s a reason why wedding photographers and other pros aren’t using iPhones.
I’ve taken pictures which were eventually printed in a local newspaper. It was done with a 35-mm camera, black-and-white film, and a 55-mm glass-element lens. Because it was going to be live-action and I was only going to get one shot, I also pre-framed the picture, pre-set the aperture and focus, and panned the shot (to blur the background and keep the subject in focus) to get the the picture. Because of this attention to detail, I got the shot (and the photo credit) — and as a bonus, since I retained possession of the negative, I was later able to crop the shot and still blow blow it up into a 20″x30″ poster-size print.
Next time you’re watching things like the Super Bowl, the World Series, or the Indianapolis 500, look and see what the professional cameramen shooting for publications like Sports Illustrated are using. I guar-an-damn-tee you that it isn’t a smartphone’s camera app — and there’s definitely a reason for that.
I know a few professional photographers into sports photography. All of them have one ski bag and two big hockey bags worth of gear they have to take to every shoot, and more than one camera because different cameras are good at different things.
But it’s not just the camera, it’s also whatever you’re using for supplementary lighting (assuming it’s allowed), filters if needed to reduce glare (when you’re shooting outside in summer, frex), tripods, stands, levelling pads for uneven or soft ground so the tripod doesn’t sink into it, platforms for sitting/standing in the event of non-action photography, and I could go on.
Most of my photographer friends’ kit, if it was all wrecked tomorrow would cost more than a luxury car to replace. If you want good photos reliably, you need a heck of a lot more than a smartphone camera app.
Re: Phonecams vs DSLRs or even “bridge” or pocket digicams: Yes to the technical aspects; though I personally know one full-time newspaper photographer — an award-winner for what passes for a metro daily in my parts — who made the switch to “mirrorless” interchangeable-lens digicams. He swears by them now. I personally prefer my DSLR because the camera’s reaction time (from pushing the trigger to the cam going off) still beats any other camera I’ve owned, which is useful for action shots.
HOWEVER — you’ll find many newspapers no longer give a **** about any of that. Cheap cheap cheap. As an anecdotal illustration, I give you the Chicago tabloid that, in the interests of cheap, fired its entire award-winning photo-J staff, all of them, and gave iPhones to all its reporters. They interview, they shoot, they write. And I can tell you from my own experience, it’s possible to do it, but not possible to do all of it well. The skill sets and processes required get in the way of each other when you’re trying to do them simultaneously.
She’s a reporter. Remember how pissed people got at Anderson Cooper for deigning to help a person in distress rather than remain the aloof observer? Dorothy isn’t going to take a stance on a severe beating doled out to someone who likely didn’t deserve it, that’d hurt her impartiality.
She’s also unfortunately distracted by getting the great footage. The guilt might come later when she really looks at them, or the focus on getting good pictures might keep blinding her.
Also, given Amazigirl’s code, it’s unlikely that she punched him until he attacked her first when she interfered. Then a single punch and the question if he’s done or wants more. Fairly restrained use of violence in a good cause and hardly a bloodfest. Not much to make Dorothy change her mind.
Amazigirl is being the principled and constructive outlet for violent action that Amber needs. Not at all the hair triggered psycho that seems to inhabit the comic that some here are reading.
Well, it’s unclear from this whether she’s still holding to that code. She might well be, but given the troubles she’s having, it could also be slipping.
Exactly. I was myself going to point out how, this time, we didn’t get the part before it to let us know for sure. I have to believe that is intentional on Willis’s part.
Well, I haven’t gone back to look at all the other “patrol incidents” to see exactly how they were presented. I am kind of curious how the commentariat would have taken this exact scene if it had been thrown in earlier – or how we’d interpret some of the earlier ones if they happened now.
Our opinion of AG’s mental state very likely affects how we interpret these scenes.
The kid in the Haiti earthquake. I can’t find anything other than positives now, but I remember at the time people complaining that he “shouldn’t put himself in the story” and similar bs.
There is also the incident, during the civil rights battles of the 1960s, in which a news photographer lowered his camera to help a marcher who’d just gotten beaten bloody. One of the other marchers, though grateful for the humanity, told the photographer: “No! Keep shooting! People have to see this!”
It’s actually not bs but specifically part of journalism ethics to stay “neutral” and not get involved in the situation they’re documenting, but in dire situations like Haiti and other disasters, whether or not to maintain that code obviously isn’t clear (even if technically they really are supposed to anyway), and reporters know this. Cooper’s not the only one who’s been in that situation and made that kind of choice.
I know you can’t web the guy up like spiderman, but aren’t you gonna report that guy to campus security or something. There s nothing stopping him from turning the corner and stealing someone else’s bike.
I had my bike stolen in college. In January. In Ohio. On one of the biggest college campuses in the world. And my classes were all at least a fifteen minute walk from my dorm.
Why did you say that? Why did you remind me of that?
I mean, of all the stupid – just how did the scriptwriters imagine that whole bat-branding thing started anyway? It’s not like Batsy knew other criminals would use it as an excuse to murder people. It’s just, like, randomly carrying around this metal poker that you have to stand around and take the time to heat and everything, and for what?
Alfred: “Sir, may I ask, is that what I think it is?”
Bats: “Yes, Alfred, it’s a branding iron. Shaped like a bat.”
Alfred: “I’m almost afraid to ask, by why, sir?”
Bats:
Have you read some of the really old stuff? We may be used to the “only break the criminal, never let them die” Batman, but he once had a gun, villains were killed, (usually iin silhouette, but still) and he has been known to snap in many timelines. (Not as many as Supes, but only because broken flying brick makes for good storytelling.) So, yeah, the “worlds greatest detective” would probably see the superstitious and cowardly lot turning on the branded from miles away.
Oh, and if you’d rather stick to movies, go play: “Could those low-level criminals have survived that?” with any Bat-film newer than Adam West.
Yup. Which given that she’s been having flare ups of Blaine-like behavior, using violence against others as a means of processing negative emotions is like the literal worst thing she could be doing right now.
Do you know that going to the gym and exercising when in a bad mood isn’t good for you? I used to think it was a good way to relieve stress, but apparently it functions as a reward mechanism, which means that it actually encourages your brain to get in a bad mood in future.
Uh… Amazi-girl…. you’re uh, getting a bit really scary there. And you’re starting to drift into the scary sort of real-world vigilante just a little bit… Maybe channeling your feelings of hurt into hurting others isn’t exactly the most healthy thing…
I’m hoping Dorothy notices things are starting to escalate, but then I’m terrified as to how things would progress from there, ESPECIALLY if she tries confronting Amazi-Girl now.
Ohhh yeah. It _is_ someone who runs around in a mask using violence and growls Bat-talk at people, and she rarely seems to check if anyone’s okay after helping them (she basically runs off in her first appearance after Danny almost got beaten, not checking if he’s okay). Even if she stuck solely to obvious violent scumbags, that’d still be someone you’d be wary of.
Plus she does things like “spraying paint on a Dead End sign and refusing to acknowledge my authority-of-figthing? I SHALL TAKE THE SIGN AWAY” which is actually worse (now nobody can see it’s a Dead End at all) but made her feel like she’s one-upped a guy. SHe’s bad news.
She kinda is a terror. We’re talking about the gal who attacked 4 women for drinking underage, that most heinous of crimes. She’s reinforced racist hate for Sal in both the general and the specific too.
I mean, this is the girl who stabbed a non-threat in the fucking hand. She’s by no means divorced from the shit that make real world vigilantes shit, even discounting when they ultimately act for /ideological/ shit. She’s not the worst or concentrated evil, but she’s by no means totally seperated.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, she was /disappointed/ that the engineering major spray painting the sign didn’t fight her. She wanted a good reason to fight. It’s great that she needed one, or at least better than NOT needing one, but..
Amber stabbed a non-threat in the hand. At thirteen. In the immediate aftermath of the crime. As an untreated abuse victim, goaded by her abusive father.
Certainly not cool, but exceptional circumstances.
She is absolutely completely fucked up about Sal. However that’s grounded completely in her personal trauma, not in anything racial. Is there anything anywhere in any of Amber’s or Amazi-girl’s appearances that suggests any racist component that isn’t directly about Sal.
While I acknowledge she loses it when it comes to Sal, even then she didn’t actually attack the 4 women drinking underage. She attempted to provoke them into attacking her.
As for the sign, I think it was more that she was at a loss for how to handle non-violent resistance – which led to her taking the sign and cleaning it. She’s definitely gotten more violent as she’s used the id to channel more and more of her temper.
I’m certainly not saying she’s all cool and wonderful, but let’s not twist everything she’s done too far in the other direction either.
Uh, it doesn’t. Fucking. Matter that she wasn’t ‘grounded in anything racial’. For fucks. Fucking. Sake. Racism doesn’t care what’s in your heart of fucking hearts. Putting aside her disproportionate enforcement of the law on a black girl (Which, again, I *do not care* about her motives. Her motives do *NOT FUCKING MATTER* for her effects, she said it was a good thing that a black girl with a record felt afraid of being a black girl with a record near the cops. SHE HAS SAID AND DONE RACIST SHIT.
Yeah, this is getting a bit too real for me. Now that the comic has dug deeper into Amber’s issues, it’s hard to overlook the fact that Amazi-Girl is a symptom of Amber’s untreated mental illness, and Dorothy is enabling her.
Mwahaha! Now the notes to O-Chem 101 will be MINE! And I can sell these textbooks for almost 5% of the cover price. What’s this in the pocket?…TRIDENT GUM! Truly a heist for the ages!
Also, laptop. Possibly with credit card or social security info. That’s more profit than you’d get knocking over a liquor store, and he’d have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that meddling vigilante.
… I mean I was thinking, and honestly the first logical reason that comes to mind beyond “who knows maybe they keep their wallet or keycard in there” is “by total accident because the backpacks look identical/I just grabbed the nearest one” which, you know… Probably Random Backpack Thief Guy was just being an opportunistic jerk, but if we wanted to explore yet another reason why using vigilantism to deal with your own emotional issues isn’t a good idea, that’d be an option.
Theoretically possible, I guess, but then we have to question why Amazi-girl even suspected him. If he just grabbed the wrong pack after class or something, what reason would even a disturbed vigilante have for attacking him rather than the hundreds of other kids walking around with backpacks?
That and they’re not in a classroom, but outside and the person whose pack he stole is right there and the odds go way up that AG’s interfering because she actually saw him grab it from her.
do you even understand just how valuable college books are? i spend tons on those every year, even if they’re little slips of paper for the ebook! that thief’s got the right idea!
I don’t know how things are at IU, but at some competitive universities backpack theft is a major issue? People will literally steal other people’s notes, work, etc. just to get an edge/sabotage the competition. (Some academic honesty codes are very explicit about this.)
But I mean the most obvious reason I can think of is that a lot of college students will consolidate their stuff into one bag, which means valuables + money can end up in the backpacks. Also laptops, tablets, phones… really, why wouldn’t you steal them?
Its been a long time since I’ve been to college, but I remember theft being a major problem. Once I left the door open for a minute as I went to the bathroom, and someone stole all my textbooks and my chemistry equipment from my dorm. Good thing those where the days of the desktop, a laptop would have been taken as well.
Also, I notice the backpack guy is really muted in his response to getting his backpack back. I’m not fully sure how to read that response and I might just be reading too much into it, but I wonder if Amazi-girl’s response might have been a little more “vigorous” than he is altogether comfortable with.
Though maybe not, given Dorothy’s complete lack of concern over the assaulted student or Amazi-girl’s creepy “my pleasure” at Panel 4.
“Uh… Woman in superhero cosplay just hit the asshole to stole my pack and is giving it back to me whilst talking in a Christian Bale tone of voice? Damn… Need to stop drinking strong coffee!”
‘Boob sock’ is a thing. Look at just about any woman in superhero art from the 90s, and you’ll see boobsocks. (Pre-90s generally avoids that, and post-90s is all over the place…some artists do boobsocks, some actually know how clothes work.)
It’s a double edged sword. Sure, the guy stealing the backpack could literally be risking that guy’s college run and thus his life. But on the other hand, the thief is being beaten by a vigilante who needs to stop going down that road.
I would also guess that all colleges nowadays have an immediate expulsion policy for physical assault; and Amazi-girl is just going down a rocky road here. It reinforces the need to not be unmasked, thus, she must become more and more aggressive in case that even becomes a possibility, producing a snowball effect.
OTOH, there are often exceptions to such policies, not just for self-defense but for defense of others and of properties.
Even grabbing someone is physical assault. Grabbing someone who’s running off with your stuff shouldn’t (and isn’t likely to) be grounds for immediate expulsion.
Amazi-girl is definitely going down a rocky road, but I don’t think this case is quite so egregious as some are painting it. I’m somewhat curious as to who it would be seen without the context of what we know has been going on with her.
So, she’s got the hero-worship to dismiss her own bad feelings as just being uncomfortable with violence or seeing things and to not even notice them in the first place.
Plus, she may be a smart woman, but she’s also white as alabaster and a closet cartoon nerd, so she may be associating this with superhero fantasies and raw escapism rather than making the connection to the terrifying reality of most real-world “vigilantes”. It also may be the case that she is seeing the grim look and tacit threats as a bit of comic book characterization rather than the sign of worsening mental illness and terribly abusive coping strategy it is.
It’s a bad mess all round. I found it irritating at the time but we seem to be getting some payoff, i.e. no it’s not Happy Fun Costume Time but actual brutality.
(And double-checking older strips I see Dorothy said “I’m on your reporter and I’m on your side!”. Now there’s a worrying line for someone to say!)
Eh, THAT part I don’t really take issue with. The worship of a mythical creature (In this case, the unbiased reporter) is what lead to the fallacy of the golden mean becoming so exalted, and it probably didn’t help with the idea that the status quo is apolitical. A reporter stating their biases is probably a good thing, especially if it’s actually stated in print.
Being on board with a vigilante is a nominally worrisome (But frankly not entirely expected) stance from someone who’d desperately like to be president, tho.
I’m also a bit scared of what this continued direction will spell for the Amazi-girl alter. Right now, Amazi-girl is loved because she’s had a strong moral code and only attacked people who attacked her and so on. But with her encounters with Sal, she’s been getting worse, deciding Amazi-girl must care about petty crimes like underaged drinking, intentionally provoking people into attacking her, seeing enemies everywhere.
And now… I think we can safely assume this thief did not initiate this physical encounter and Amazi-girl is starting to view the “do-gooding” aspect of vigilanteism as the mere excuse to bust heads, which puts her even more on the road of being the type of vigilante that the likes of Sal fear (trumped up rage monsters just looking to bust the heads of things that look like their bigoted ideas of “criminal”).
She’s directly on the road to becoming everything Sal said she would and I’m not sure how she gets off other than torching all the goodwill Amazi-girl has built in an act of genuine public villainy. And even then… I mean, she’s already sacrificed a relationship to her persecution complex, how easy will it be to write off the press and the other students as being “poisoned by Sal”, especially if she sees Sal interacting with the other folks on the floor and especially with Dorothy’s crowd.
An obvious question is how she’ll react when she finds out that Dorothy’s boyfriend is Sal’s brother. Or even just finding out Walky is Sal’s brother without his relationship to Dorothy coming up.
First of all, i just want to say that your comments are always very interesting and thought provoking, so keep up the good work there.
Second of all re: amber’s downward spiral, i have a theory/feeling that what may be a key to getting her off of it could be if she continues to have conversations with Walky on the roof. They’ve pretty consistently gotten along, and if that continues to bloom into a friendship, i think it could be the key to making a change for her.
What i mean, is that if Amber/Amazi-girl continues to befriend Walky without knowing he is Sal’s brother (in a nice little parallel to how Sal and Danny bonded at the start) it could lead to changing her outlook on Sal once she finds out they’re siblings. Because if Walky is Sal’s brother then to Amber he must be Evil™. But he isn’t. She’d have no way to justify hating him or treating him like a criminal, and if they had decently bonded before she found out he was Sal’s brother she would KNOW he’s a good, if immature, person.
And if Sal’s brother is a decent person, then maybe, just maybe, that could mean that Sal herself may not be the Spawn Of Satan after all…?
Of course, this is just a theory at the moment, and given how she sacrificed her relationship with Danny to justify continuing to hate Sal, it possible that even if things happened like I’ve laid out here, she would STILL keep going down her path, and just write off Walky as well. But hey, who knows?
I’m so tempted to use the “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” line, but I really don’t want Amber to go down that path. :/
I don’t think we can quite make that assumption yet. I think Willis is leaving it intentionally ambiguous.
Sure, you have the victim acting weird, but it could just be a reaction a masked girl solving his problems. And you have Dorothy, who apparently saw it all and doesn’t see a problem with it.
I’m not saying it’s not a possibility–and it is exactly what I thought when I saw the first panel as a preview panel a few days ago–but I don’t think we yet know for sure.
I’m guessing it’s a bit of both. This is a markedly darker moment than usual for Amazi-Girl, with the guy she punched freaking out and the rescuee being weirded out by her, but given that this sequence started and ended with the guy getting punched, and then Dorothy appears right after and starts fangirling, I imagine this isn’t too out of the ordinary.
Dorothy always gets pictures of Amazigirl…
Peter Parker always gets pictures of Spider-Man
Peter Parker is Spider-Man
Therefore Dorothy is Amazigirl!!!
Judging by the look on that person whose backpack AG just retrieved, Amber seems to be getting closer to crossing a line and accidentally killing/grievously harming someone. That’s very worrying.
The comic keeps loading incompletely for me. I have yet to see the bottom quarter or so of this one. It started doing it last night sometime. Maybe a Chrome issue, or maybe a local issue, but it’s definitely specific to the site. IW doesn’t do it, and nothing else does it, either.
I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes five minutes or more to load the comments section and sometimes you have to reload the page to view a comment that you’ve just made.
On public property, out in the open people don’t have an “expectation of privacy,” meaning reporters, photographers, videographers and the like do not need permission to publish their photographs. In a case like this one, Dorothy doesn’t need any kind of release.
I concur. However, she doesn’t need to get on Amazi-Girl’s bad side, either. Even not knowing how unstable she is, it’s better to stay on the good side of someone secretive who you want to report on.
Plus, remember, Dorothy approves of what she’s doing. She’s the anti-J.J. Jameson. Or, perhaps, Peter Parker if he weren’t Spider-Man.
*Remembers all those posts I wrote about how we’d never see any of the random dudes Amazi-Girl punches express any humanity, because that would make her come off as incredibly creepy and violent and kill any sense of morality to her character because suddenly it’s abundantly clear she’s actually beating up people.*
I do wonder whether, on some level, Amazi-Girl needs a ‘Lois Lane’, an unquestioning ‘muggle’ sidekick to act as her cheerleader. It’s part of the illusion of total white knight morality that she needs to continue to function in her preferred mode of thought. As Danny is no longer doing this, Dorothy may find herself co-opted into the role.
well, what i see here is amazi girl retrieving a backpack, might have been able to do it without using violence (she couldve just grabbed his arm and taken the backpack, since shes obviously strong enough) but she chose not to which is okay because that guy actually just stole someones backpack. the owner is not sure how to react cause theres literally a person dressed as a superhero acting like batman giving him his backpack back. i know we all think people would adore supeheros, but really. we dont believe that those exist so if someone dresses up as one, we will think theyre weirdos. and yes, she might have been a bit too violent and that might also be the reason of his reaction.
if someone stole my backpack id probably start crying on the inside cause id feel like it was my fault or it wouldnt matter if it was my fault, a possession that ive paid money, orobably money i got from my parents, for had just been taken from me and inside of it is probably lots of things ive also paid for. id panic, theres nothing to do about it. id feel really bad. probably anxious. it would all lead to me hating myself again. SO i would be very grateful if someone punched the thief and gave me my backpack
I’m just hoping that Dorothy didn’t set this up as a publicity stunt for the college paper. If she did, her ‘mugger’ is going to want to know why he wasn’t told in advance that a facial massage from Amazi-Girl’s knuckles wasn’t mentioned before!
… Amazi-Girl worries me. When this began, she had a lot more self control – she would wait until someone else was violent first: She didn’t hit Rapist Jerk when he was down, she waited until that campus prowler tried to hit her before she hit him, she ran away rather than fight with people who were trying to unmask her. All because she had an internal standard that violence was a tool of last resort.
Then she started antagonizing and looking for fights, trying to egg people who had no interest in violence on into starting a fight so she could take her anger out on them. She did this first with the engineer vandals, and then with Sal and her friends.
… This time, it wasn’t shown whether the thief hit her first. That’s worrying. How much have her standards slipped?
Of course it’s always been part of her motivation. That’s never been at issue. The question was her ability to control it.
Her code has never quite been “they must do violence first.” Just that they must threaten first. And that guy was basically threatening the girl, his hands up, trying to grab her.
But it’s really hard to think the guy running away with a backpack was threatening, especially given his reaction. Not impossible, mind you, but definitely hard.
But, like I’ve said above, I think what happened was intentionally left out by Willis.
It was never about the joy of hitting people; when she punched Blaine she freaked the hell out because she actually did enjoy and that scared the shit out of her. Amber’s original intent with Amazi-Girl was that she’d create a cool badass who was a dumping ground for anger that she didn’t think she could control.
Also considering that dude was straight up creeping I’m okay with him getting kneed in the face.
Guess AmaziGirl found her newest enabler. Go figure it’s the one that dumped Danny because she was tired of enabling him to have horrible aspirations of a possibly happy life together with her.
Problem is that all Dorothy knows about Amber is that:
She’s a cool badass superhero.
Danny thinks she’s legit.
She saved Becky’s life.
So bundle all that together and Dorothy hasthe perfect outsider’s perspective to romanticize Amazi-Girl as an unstoppable feminist fantasy while also knowing just enough to humanize her as a nice girl who’s trying to do the right thing.
The Majority of those shows Do Not use the footage until it’s been released by the Prosecutor of the area where filmed. Even then,it has lead to retribution on the criminal while they’re still behind bars.
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I’ve always wondered about that with shows like cops
That’s probably why the blur out their faces?
What about the victims they DON’T blur the faces out on? The “I can break these cuffs” guy for instance.
Sometimes, for example witnesses interviewed in the field for TV news, you just have to tape them giving verbal permission to use the footage. This doesn’t have to go on air, but as long as you have this permission you can use their name and image. (Of course this varies by state, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, check local laws, eat your vegetables, etc.)
As like as not, they have an entire department in charge of making sure all the release forms are on file.
Did you just call him a victim? I dunno if anyone trying to use brute strength to get out of solid steel handcuffs could be considered a victim, i mean they didnt tase him or beat him up, they calmly told him he couldnt break them
not all. and shows like cops. also that show where they ambush someone who is cheating and various other “reality” shows.
I would guess there is compensation, since these are for-profit shows, in allowing them to use your image. Some people feel the pay is “worth it” and sign the papers, perhaps? That, or they’re operating in states where laws allow for criminal’s faces to be shown regardless of permission, and they’ve waited until trial has ended and a verdict reached, etc. I’m super curious about this now, actually.
Or it could be staged (or half-staged).
I think Cheaters must use release forms because they often blur people’s faces out.
They were talking about it on a show, and the explanation from one of the producers, on why they signed the releases was great. “Because they’re stooooopid! That’s why they’re criminals.” It wasn’t Cops, but one of the competitors.
I dunno, if a cop was arresting me, I’d be pretty scared to resist anything. Cops are scary, getting arrested is scary, I wouldn’t like to antagonize suit-guy-with-clipboard at the same time.
Why not? This hypothetical you is a criminal who has already done something worthy of airing on television. Why stop antagonising when suit-guy-with-clipboard is standing there, practically asking for it?
“criminal who has already done something worthy of airing on television.”
A lot of times they really haven’t. An awful lot of Cops segments begin with the cop deciding to stop and question someone because they look suspicious.
“Why stop antagonising when suit-guy-with-clipboard is standing there”
Because by that time you’re handcuffed and in police custody. I would imagine that even if you had done something antagonizing, the desire not to get shot would override any previous motives.
That’s what I always assumed. People dumb enough to give permission to show their faces cuz they gon’ be on tv yo.
Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot.
They plan and plot, but they always get caught!
their reckless deeds are brought to naught.
She’s beating up Dean Venture! I knew he was a bad egg!
No, she’s beating up a young Norman Osborne.
Definitely Norman Osborne.
Let’s hope this doesn’t result in some kind of grudge against superheroes.
Super villain origin.
He doesn’t have Galasso’s hair so he’s not really an Osborn.
Don’t tell him, but he’s adopted
You mean don’t tell Galasso, right? I certainly wouldn’t want to try explaining that to him. Or much of anything, really.
Maybe Dorothy will talk to her?
Dorothy doesn’t seem to see a problem here.
Dorothy can be a bit slow on the uptake with other people’s problems, but I’m willing to bet A LOT that she will have reasons to reevaluate her view of Amaziegirl before this goes to print.
I mean, she *was* dating Danny, originally. It makes sense that they’re both prone to, y’know, “Danning it up”.
“Danning” is an STD?
In Dorothy’s defence, she doesn’t have the full picture of what’s going on here. As far as she knows, Amazi-Girl punched a thief (just a punch which doesn’t seems to have caused any wounds), which I guess, from an outsider perspective, can be seen as “appropriate” use of force.
Well, as far as this incident goes, she apparently has just as much of the full picture as we do. As far as we know, “Amazi-Girl punched a thief (just a punch which doesn’t seems to have caused any wounds)”.
That doesn’t sound good, to be honest. Dorothy is probably one of the worst people for Amber to talk to. Amber will probably frame it as “Danny is trying to stop me from becoming a superhero” and Dorothy will relate it to her own experience with Danny. She probably won’t realize the exact danger that Amber presents to herself and others.
I don’t think Dorothy knows that Amber/AG was dating Danny.
I’m a bit more worried that due to the idolization Dorothy has for AG, she’ll be inadvertently reinforcing the notion that Amber being a violent masked vigilante is all ok.
No, Dorothy’s very much aware of that relationship, with amusing consequences:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/goofoff/
Also this!
Ohmygod, I totally forgot that Dorothy ALSO has a yellow and blue plaid shirt. ‘O_O
Willis, everyone knows phones are just as good quality and lighting wise.
My phone has a better camera than any actual camera I’ve owned. Plus it’s smaller and way more convenient. I take loads more photos with my phone than I’ve ever taken before and they look GREAT.
Do we really want HQ pics of a masked Vigilante in the newpaper ?
By the time they go through the typical college-newspaper printing process, they won’t be HQ anyway.
If the criminal bleeds, it leads.
Hey maybe the cops can then use the pictures when they go on a manhunt for her after she crosses the line and almost kills someone.
Erm, as good as the photographer-quality cameras that Dorothy could borrow from the Indiana Daily Student equipment stash? I mean, Dor’ can’t exactly plan her Amazi-sightings, so I get it, but high quality cameras are still better than phones, for now, anyway.
Image quality relies heavily on the sensor size, so unless there’s an amazing breakthrough in how we capture pictures, a bulky dSLR will always be better than a slim camera phone.
how long has it been by this point? she probably doesn’t know that the stash exists
Generally, newspaper photographs need to be about 200 dpi, and about 8″-10″, if it’s lead art (depending on the physical size of the paper). The few times I’ve had to edit a camera phone image for newspaper the images paled in comparison to a DSLR, especially when they were edited for the ideal crop.
No
There’s a huge difference in quality between a smartphone and a good still camera. It comes down to optics and the size of the image sensor. All the processing in the world won’t make more photons hit the pea-size sensor in a phone. I’ve yet to see a smartphone with a zoom that gives better results than scaling a wide shot in Photoshop. A decent still gamera will take higher resolution pictures, have a larger sensor for better low-light shots, and have optical zoom that won’t degrade image quality when you use it.
Smartphones can’t be beat for convenience and connectivity, but if I’m planning to go somewhere and I know I’m going to take pictures, a point-and-shoot comes along.
Exactly right. There’s an argument that the best camera is one you have on you, and you can get good results with a phone camera, but from a technical POV a dSLR is going to beat a phone camera every single time. There’s a reason why wedding photographers and other pros aren’t using iPhones.
Probably the next version will have those for when he’s moving.
I’ve taken pictures which were eventually printed in a local newspaper. It was done with a 35-mm camera, black-and-white film, and a 55-mm glass-element lens. Because it was going to be live-action and I was only going to get one shot, I also pre-framed the picture, pre-set the aperture and focus, and panned the shot (to blur the background and keep the subject in focus) to get the the picture. Because of this attention to detail, I got the shot (and the photo credit) — and as a bonus, since I retained possession of the negative, I was later able to crop the shot and still blow blow it up into a 20″x30″ poster-size print.
Next time you’re watching things like the Super Bowl, the World Series, or the Indianapolis 500, look and see what the professional cameramen shooting for publications like Sports Illustrated are using. I guar-an-damn-tee you that it isn’t a smartphone’s camera app — and there’s definitely a reason for that.
I know a few professional photographers into sports photography. All of them have one ski bag and two big hockey bags worth of gear they have to take to every shoot, and more than one camera because different cameras are good at different things.
But it’s not just the camera, it’s also whatever you’re using for supplementary lighting (assuming it’s allowed), filters if needed to reduce glare (when you’re shooting outside in summer, frex), tripods, stands, levelling pads for uneven or soft ground so the tripod doesn’t sink into it, platforms for sitting/standing in the event of non-action photography, and I could go on.
Most of my photographer friends’ kit, if it was all wrecked tomorrow would cost more than a luxury car to replace. If you want good photos reliably, you need a heck of a lot more than a smartphone camera app.
Re: Phonecams vs DSLRs or even “bridge” or pocket digicams: Yes to the technical aspects; though I personally know one full-time newspaper photographer — an award-winner for what passes for a metro daily in my parts — who made the switch to “mirrorless” interchangeable-lens digicams. He swears by them now. I personally prefer my DSLR because the camera’s reaction time (from pushing the trigger to the cam going off) still beats any other camera I’ve owned, which is useful for action shots.
HOWEVER — you’ll find many newspapers no longer give a **** about any of that. Cheap cheap cheap. As an anecdotal illustration, I give you the Chicago tabloid that, in the interests of cheap, fired its entire award-winning photo-J staff, all of them, and gave iPhones to all its reporters. They interview, they shoot, they write. And I can tell you from my own experience, it’s possible to do it, but not possible to do all of it well. The skill sets and processes required get in the way of each other when you’re trying to do them simultaneously.
Most underwhelming amazi-girl reaction award goes to…
I mean, I know I would be a little put-off if I’d seen someone get the shit beat out of them right in front of me, whether they stole my bag or not.
Yeah, for a liberal kind of college girl Dorothy seems a bit too blaise about this.
She’s a reporter. Remember how pissed people got at Anderson Cooper for deigning to help a person in distress rather than remain the aloof observer? Dorothy isn’t going to take a stance on a severe beating doled out to someone who likely didn’t deserve it, that’d hurt her impartiality.
She’s also unfortunately distracted by getting the great footage. The guilt might come later when she really looks at them, or the focus on getting good pictures might keep blinding her.
That’s true, but also, Dorothy has gushed to Amazi-girl about how much she admires her before, so.
Also, given Amazigirl’s code, it’s unlikely that she punched him until he attacked her first when she interfered. Then a single punch and the question if he’s done or wants more. Fairly restrained use of violence in a good cause and hardly a bloodfest. Not much to make Dorothy change her mind.
Amazigirl is being the principled and constructive outlet for violent action that Amber needs. Not at all the hair triggered psycho that seems to inhabit the comic that some here are reading.
Well, it’s unclear from this whether she’s still holding to that code. She might well be, but given the troubles she’s having, it could also be slipping.
Exactly. I was myself going to point out how, this time, we didn’t get the part before it to let us know for sure. I have to believe that is intentional on Willis’s part.
Well, I haven’t gone back to look at all the other “patrol incidents” to see exactly how they were presented. I am kind of curious how the commentariat would have taken this exact scene if it had been thrown in earlier – or how we’d interpret some of the earlier ones if they happened now.
Our opinion of AG’s mental state very likely affects how we interpret these scenes.
May I ask what Anderson Cooper incident you are referring to?
The kid in the Haiti earthquake. I can’t find anything other than positives now, but I remember at the time people complaining that he “shouldn’t put himself in the story” and similar bs.
There is also the incident, during the civil rights battles of the 1960s, in which a news photographer lowered his camera to help a marcher who’d just gotten beaten bloody. One of the other marchers, though grateful for the humanity, told the photographer: “No! Keep shooting! People have to see this!”
It’s actually not bs but specifically part of journalism ethics to stay “neutral” and not get involved in the situation they’re documenting, but in dire situations like Haiti and other disasters, whether or not to maintain that code obviously isn’t clear (even if technically they really are supposed to anyway), and reporters know this. Cooper’s not the only one who’s been in that situation and made that kind of choice.
Daisy: That Amazi-Girl is a menace! (Though I might be inclined to reconsider if SHE reconsiders that chest window idea.)
Daisy’s last name wouldn’t happen to be Jameson would it?
“I want pictures! Revealing pictures of Amazi-Girl!”
I know you can’t web the guy up like spiderman, but aren’t you gonna report that guy to campus security or something. There s nothing stopping him from turning the corner and stealing someone else’s bike.
bag*
Hang him for stealing bikes… Not just saying that because I have a bike in my gravatar.
I had my bike stolen in college. In January. In Ohio. On one of the biggest college campuses in the world. And my classes were all at least a fifteen minute walk from my dorm.
Needless to say, it was bullshit.
I’m saying that because the bike in my gravatar was stolen less than a year after that picture was taken.
They used to hang horse thieves and cattle rustlers; I’d have no qualms about stringing up any guy who swiped my bike.
Bike thieves should be hanged, like horse thieves
You can’t be stealing people’s transportation
This isn’t exactly productive crimefighting. She’s just hurting people as a giant coping mechanism.
Just like Batman
At least she didn’t brand him.
Why did you say that? Why did you remind me of that?
I mean, of all the stupid – just how did the scriptwriters imagine that whole bat-branding thing started anyway? It’s not like Batsy knew other criminals would use it as an excuse to murder people. It’s just, like, randomly carrying around this metal poker that you have to stand around and take the time to heat and everything, and for what?
Alfred: “Sir, may I ask, is that what I think it is?”
Bats: “Yes, Alfred, it’s a branding iron. Shaped like a bat.”
Alfred: “I’m almost afraid to ask, by why, sir?”
Bats:
(Bats cackles madly – fade to black.)
Have you read some of the really old stuff? We may be used to the “only break the criminal, never let them die” Batman, but he once had a gun, villains were killed, (usually iin silhouette, but still) and he has been known to snap in many timelines. (Not as many as Supes, but only because broken flying brick makes for good storytelling.) So, yeah, the “worlds greatest detective” would probably see the superstitious and cowardly lot turning on the branded from miles away.
Oh, and if you’d rather stick to movies, go play: “Could those low-level criminals have survived that?” with any Bat-film newer than Adam West.
Yup. Which given that she’s been having flare ups of Blaine-like behavior, using violence against others as a means of processing negative emotions is like the literal worst thing she could be doing right now.
Do you know that going to the gym and exercising when in a bad mood isn’t good for you? I used to think it was a good way to relieve stress, but apparently it functions as a reward mechanism, which means that it actually encourages your brain to get in a bad mood in future.
She retrieved the backpack. That’s product.
And then it turns out the whole thing was a rehearsal for some play.
Well, Amber, you’re clearly dealing with this break up in a totally healthy way.
8o
Uh… Amazi-girl…. you’re uh, getting a bit really scary there. And you’re starting to drift into the scary sort of real-world vigilante just a little bit… Maybe channeling your feelings of hurt into hurting others isn’t exactly the most healthy thing…
I’m hoping Dorothy notices things are starting to escalate, but then I’m terrified as to how things would progress from there, ESPECIALLY if she tries confronting Amazi-Girl now.
The secret is, she was probably always this scary, she just wasn’t presented in a way that emphasized it, and we didn’t know.
That’s possible, though I feel we’ve seen her superhero before and it wasn’t this… this.
Ohhh yeah. It _is_ someone who runs around in a mask using violence and growls Bat-talk at people, and she rarely seems to check if anyone’s okay after helping them (she basically runs off in her first appearance after Danny almost got beaten, not checking if he’s okay). Even if she stuck solely to obvious violent scumbags, that’d still be someone you’d be wary of.
Plus she does things like “spraying paint on a Dead End sign and refusing to acknowledge my authority-of-figthing? I SHALL TAKE THE SIGN AWAY” which is actually worse (now nobody can see it’s a Dead End at all) but made her feel like she’s one-upped a guy. SHe’s bad news.
And then stripped the paint off and put the sign back.
She is indeed a horror.
She kinda is a terror. We’re talking about the gal who attacked 4 women for drinking underage, that most heinous of crimes. She’s reinforced racist hate for Sal in both the general and the specific too.
I mean, this is the girl who stabbed a non-threat in the fucking hand. She’s by no means divorced from the shit that make real world vigilantes shit, even discounting when they ultimately act for /ideological/ shit. She’s not the worst or concentrated evil, but she’s by no means totally seperated.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, she was /disappointed/ that the engineering major spray painting the sign didn’t fight her. She wanted a good reason to fight. It’s great that she needed one, or at least better than NOT needing one, but..
Yeah, all of this!
Amber stabbed a non-threat in the hand. At thirteen. In the immediate aftermath of the crime. As an untreated abuse victim, goaded by her abusive father.
Certainly not cool, but exceptional circumstances.
She is absolutely completely fucked up about Sal. However that’s grounded completely in her personal trauma, not in anything racial. Is there anything anywhere in any of Amber’s or Amazi-girl’s appearances that suggests any racist component that isn’t directly about Sal.
While I acknowledge she loses it when it comes to Sal, even then she didn’t actually attack the 4 women drinking underage. She attempted to provoke them into attacking her.
As for the sign, I think it was more that she was at a loss for how to handle non-violent resistance – which led to her taking the sign and cleaning it. She’s definitely gotten more violent as she’s used the id to channel more and more of her temper.
I’m certainly not saying she’s all cool and wonderful, but let’s not twist everything she’s done too far in the other direction either.
Uh, it doesn’t. Fucking. Matter that she wasn’t ‘grounded in anything racial’. For fucks. Fucking. Sake. Racism doesn’t care what’s in your heart of fucking hearts. Putting aside her disproportionate enforcement of the law on a black girl (Which, again, I *do not care* about her motives. Her motives do *NOT FUCKING MATTER* for her effects, she said it was a good thing that a black girl with a record felt afraid of being a black girl with a record near the cops. SHE HAS SAID AND DONE RACIST SHIT.
agreed!
That implies it’s not what she’s been doing since Day 1!
Yeah, this is getting a bit too real for me. Now that the comic has dug deeper into Amber’s issues, it’s hard to overlook the fact that Amazi-Girl is a symptom of Amber’s untreated mental illness, and Dorothy is enabling her.
Ohhh, dear. Dorothy, this is either going to go very well for us all in the long run or very, VERY poorly.
CAN WE GO BACK TO BECKY AND JOCELYNE AND HOMOPHOBIA?
When homophobia is the relaxing respite, you know things are collapsing a bit on campus.
I mean when MARY’S the lighthearted comic relief subplot…
Indeed, I am *very* curious what the misanthropic redhead brigade has in store for Mary.
She ain’t done escalating yet, mark my words, tho.
Progress?
s/HOMOPHOBIA/WACKY HOUSEBREAKING SHENANIGANS AND JOYCE REACTION FACES/
Man, who just straight-up steals a backpack? And why?
The same reason you steal anything else, because you figure it or the contents are worth something.
Mwahaha! Now the notes to O-Chem 101 will be MINE! And I can sell these textbooks for almost 5% of the cover price. What’s this in the pocket?…TRIDENT GUM! Truly a heist for the ages!
Also, laptop. Possibly with credit card or social security info. That’s more profit than you’d get knocking over a liquor store, and he’d have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that meddling vigilante.
People keep phones and laptops in backpacks, some even keep wallets in them. Most pickpockets/purse snatchers are going for small, low risk reward.
… I mean I was thinking, and honestly the first logical reason that comes to mind beyond “who knows maybe they keep their wallet or keycard in there” is “by total accident because the backpacks look identical/I just grabbed the nearest one” which, you know… Probably Random Backpack Thief Guy was just being an opportunistic jerk, but if we wanted to explore yet another reason why using vigilantism to deal with your own emotional issues isn’t a good idea, that’d be an option.
Theoretically possible, I guess, but then we have to question why Amazi-girl even suspected him. If he just grabbed the wrong pack after class or something, what reason would even a disturbed vigilante have for attacking him rather than the hundreds of other kids walking around with backpacks?
That and they’re not in a classroom, but outside and the person whose pack he stole is right there and the odds go way up that AG’s interfering because she actually saw him grab it from her.
True. I’m just seriously worried about Amazi-girl at the moment.
do you even understand just how valuable college books are? i spend tons on those every year, even if they’re little slips of paper for the ebook! that thief’s got the right idea!
I don’t know how things are at IU, but at some competitive universities backpack theft is a major issue? People will literally steal other people’s notes, work, etc. just to get an edge/sabotage the competition. (Some academic honesty codes are very explicit about this.)
But I mean the most obvious reason I can think of is that a lot of college students will consolidate their stuff into one bag, which means valuables + money can end up in the backpacks. Also laptops, tablets, phones… really, why wouldn’t you steal them?
Biology majors are awful for it due to all the pre-meds sniping back and forth at each other.
Its been a long time since I’ve been to college, but I remember theft being a major problem. Once I left the door open for a minute as I went to the bathroom, and someone stole all my textbooks and my chemistry equipment from my dorm. Good thing those where the days of the desktop, a laptop would have been taken as well.
Okay, so I didn’t think this through very well. I jusy pictured this guy actually lifting it from the owner’s grasp.
Whew. Thought Amazi-Girl was about to channel Snyder-Batman with that guy for a sec.
Can’t… unsee… the puppy.
Damn you, sir.
I… the puppy?
Y’know, Puppy Dorothy.
oooooh right, okay.
Thanks for sharing Tomas.
Oooooh here it goes.
Well BANG! BANG! BANG!/And down they go/It’s a just a job you do…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvXXy1MTgGw
Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s Silver Hammer came down upon his head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s Silver Hammer made sure that he was –
Also, I notice the backpack guy is really muted in his response to getting his backpack back. I’m not fully sure how to read that response and I might just be reading too much into it, but I wonder if Amazi-girl’s response might have been a little more “vigorous” than he is altogether comfortable with.
Though maybe not, given Dorothy’s complete lack of concern over the assaulted student or Amazi-girl’s creepy “my pleasure” at Panel 4.
Yeah, the first vibe I got was “Holy crap holy crap what do I say to the woman who just beat the crap out of someone” too.
We were practicing for our improv class!
I definitely got that he saw the thief get viciously beaten up, and was uncomfortable with it.
Dorothy is unfortunately too focused on achieving great footage to access her normal empathy right now.
To me it seems more like Dorothy literally just got there and probably missed most if not all of the beating.
Yeah, the line under the eye is a dead give away. Definite harrowed expression.
“Um, my camera wasn’t ready. Could you hit him a few more times?”
Yeah, I’m not sure he is on board with Amaziegirl’ level of response.
“Uh… Woman in superhero cosplay just hit the asshole to stole my pack and is giving it back to me whilst talking in a Christian Bale tone of voice? Damn… Need to stop drinking strong coffee!”
Or start drinking stronger coffee?
Maybe I’m weird… my first thought was “is that guy really the owner?”
So is it going to be Danny or Sal who tells Dorothy to stop enabling Amber?
Her editor, hopefully. Who’ll also say “did you ask permission to run a story about someone fighting? Did you actually do that?”
“And why doesn’t she have a boob window? Bring up boob windows or form-fitting boob socks next time you see her!”
“boob socks”?
That’s only a thing if your bust measurement is something like 44-long instead of 38-C.
I dunno, what’s the term to describe this sort of thing:
https://twitter.com/kateleth/status/730268497062690817
It is, indeed, ‘boob socks’.
‘Boob sock’ is a thing. Look at just about any woman in superhero art from the 90s, and you’ll see boobsocks. (Pre-90s generally avoids that, and post-90s is all over the place…some artists do boobsocks, some actually know how clothes work.)
And some actually know how anatomy works. But never Liefeld. You do you, Rob. Preferably where no-one will ever see it.
Love how the guy with the backpack is all “yeah..thanks..? I guess?” There’s sort of an implied, “I’m also a bit scared of you too…?”
If I was in his place, I’d be like “Dude, it’s just a backpack.”
I didn’t even have anything in it today.
My PB&J was totally worth that guy getting a concussion.
Or, as other have said: my laptop and hundreds of dollars worth of textbooks.
It’s a double edged sword. Sure, the guy stealing the backpack could literally be risking that guy’s college run and thus his life. But on the other hand, the thief is being beaten by a vigilante who needs to stop going down that road.
I would also guess that all colleges nowadays have an immediate expulsion policy for physical assault; and Amazi-girl is just going down a rocky road here. It reinforces the need to not be unmasked, thus, she must become more and more aggressive in case that even becomes a possibility, producing a snowball effect.
OTOH, there are often exceptions to such policies, not just for self-defense but for defense of others and of properties.
Even grabbing someone is physical assault. Grabbing someone who’s running off with your stuff shouldn’t (and isn’t likely to) be grounds for immediate expulsion.
Amazi-girl is definitely going down a rocky road, but I don’t think this case is quite so egregious as some are painting it. I’m somewhat curious as to who it would be seen without the context of what we know has been going on with her.
Aye, true – it’s just the rocky road. Not the cliff face, yet.
This is fine. This is healthy.
*everything’s on fire*
I’M FINE
“I AM OPENLY SAYING, AND MY FACE CONFIRMS, THAT I ENJOYED PUNCHING A MAN AND WISHED I COULD HAVE DONE MORE.”
“omg squee that was awesome!!!”
Goddamnit it, Dorothy, you’re a shit journalist
Dorothy previously noted in her interview with Amazi-girl that she views Amazi-girl with envy because Amazi-girl is “living her dreams now”:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/alter-ego/
So, she’s got the hero-worship to dismiss her own bad feelings as just being uncomfortable with violence or seeing things and to not even notice them in the first place.
Plus, she may be a smart woman, but she’s also white as alabaster and a closet cartoon nerd, so she may be associating this with superhero fantasies and raw escapism rather than making the connection to the terrifying reality of most real-world “vigilantes”. It also may be the case that she is seeing the grim look and tacit threats as a bit of comic book characterization rather than the sign of worsening mental illness and terribly abusive coping strategy it is.
It’s a bad mess all round. I found it irritating at the time but we seem to be getting some payoff, i.e. no it’s not Happy Fun Costume Time but actual brutality.
(And double-checking older strips I see Dorothy said “I’m on your reporter and I’m on your side!”. Now there’s a worrying line for someone to say!)
Eh, THAT part I don’t really take issue with. The worship of a mythical creature (In this case, the unbiased reporter) is what lead to the fallacy of the golden mean becoming so exalted, and it probably didn’t help with the idea that the status quo is apolitical. A reporter stating their biases is probably a good thing, especially if it’s actually stated in print.
Being on board with a vigilante is a nominally worrisome (But frankly not entirely expected) stance from someone who’d desperately like to be president, tho.
Perhaps the costume and the lack of guns have more to do with the association with superhero fantasies than Dorothy’s alabaster skin color.
For all her problems, Amber doesn’t really have much connection to the terrifying reality of most real-world “vigilantes”.
Well, I mean, she can’t really see the face.
I’m also a bit scared of what this continued direction will spell for the Amazi-girl alter. Right now, Amazi-girl is loved because she’s had a strong moral code and only attacked people who attacked her and so on. But with her encounters with Sal, she’s been getting worse, deciding Amazi-girl must care about petty crimes like underaged drinking, intentionally provoking people into attacking her, seeing enemies everywhere.
And now… I think we can safely assume this thief did not initiate this physical encounter and Amazi-girl is starting to view the “do-gooding” aspect of vigilanteism as the mere excuse to bust heads, which puts her even more on the road of being the type of vigilante that the likes of Sal fear (trumped up rage monsters just looking to bust the heads of things that look like their bigoted ideas of “criminal”).
She’s directly on the road to becoming everything Sal said she would and I’m not sure how she gets off other than torching all the goodwill Amazi-girl has built in an act of genuine public villainy. And even then… I mean, she’s already sacrificed a relationship to her persecution complex, how easy will it be to write off the press and the other students as being “poisoned by Sal”, especially if she sees Sal interacting with the other folks on the floor and especially with Dorothy’s crowd.
An obvious question is how she’ll react when she finds out that Dorothy’s boyfriend is Sal’s brother. Or even just finding out Walky is Sal’s brother without his relationship to Dorothy coming up.
First of all, i just want to say that your comments are always very interesting and thought provoking, so keep up the good work there.
Second of all re: amber’s downward spiral, i have a theory/feeling that what may be a key to getting her off of it could be if she continues to have conversations with Walky on the roof. They’ve pretty consistently gotten along, and if that continues to bloom into a friendship, i think it could be the key to making a change for her.
What i mean, is that if Amber/Amazi-girl continues to befriend Walky without knowing he is Sal’s brother (in a nice little parallel to how Sal and Danny bonded at the start) it could lead to changing her outlook on Sal once she finds out they’re siblings. Because if Walky is Sal’s brother then to Amber he must be Evil™. But he isn’t. She’d have no way to justify hating him or treating him like a criminal, and if they had decently bonded before she found out he was Sal’s brother she would KNOW he’s a good, if immature, person.
And if Sal’s brother is a decent person, then maybe, just maybe, that could mean that Sal herself may not be the Spawn Of Satan after all…?
Of course, this is just a theory at the moment, and given how she sacrificed her relationship with Danny to justify continuing to hate Sal, it possible that even if things happened like I’ve laid out here, she would STILL keep going down her path, and just write off Walky as well. But hey, who knows?
I’m so tempted to use the “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” line, but I really don’t want Amber to go down that path. :/
I don’t think we can quite make that assumption yet. I think Willis is leaving it intentionally ambiguous.
Sure, you have the victim acting weird, but it could just be a reaction a masked girl solving his problems. And you have Dorothy, who apparently saw it all and doesn’t see a problem with it.
I’m not saying it’s not a possibility–and it is exactly what I thought when I saw the first panel as a preview panel a few days ago–but I don’t think we yet know for sure.
I’m guessing it’s a bit of both. This is a markedly darker moment than usual for Amazi-Girl, with the guy she punched freaking out and the rescuee being weirded out by her, but given that this sequence started and ended with the guy getting punched, and then Dorothy appears right after and starts fangirling, I imagine this isn’t too out of the ordinary.
Dorothy always gets pictures of Amazigirl…
Peter Parker always gets pictures of Spider-Man
Peter Parker is Spider-Man
Therefore Dorothy is Amazigirl!!!
Alright guys I figured it out, your welcome!!
Judging by the look on that person whose backpack AG just retrieved, Amber seems to be getting closer to crossing a line and accidentally killing/grievously harming someone. That’s very worrying.
dorothy please save amazi-girl from her madness
oh good lord this is gonna go down the drain and dorothy’s gonna get involved isn’t it noooooooo…………………
T.H.E.R.A.P.Y.
The comic keeps loading incompletely for me. I have yet to see the bottom quarter or so of this one. It started doing it last night sometime. Maybe a Chrome issue, or maybe a local issue, but it’s definitely specific to the site. IW doesn’t do it, and nothing else does it, either.
Oh so I’m not the only one this is happening to.
It’s happening to me on Firefox as well, started last night too. Definitely the site acting up.
Yeah, sometimes I load up the website and can’t see the comments. This time it did though.
I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes five minutes or more to load the comments section and sometimes you have to reload the page to view a comment that you’ve just made.
In which we learn how the labyrinthine complexity of modern media regulations affects even vigilante heroes!
On public property, out in the open people don’t have an “expectation of privacy,” meaning reporters, photographers, videographers and the like do not need permission to publish their photographs. In a case like this one, Dorothy doesn’t need any kind of release.
~A veteran newspaper photographer
I concur. However, she doesn’t need to get on Amazi-Girl’s bad side, either. Even not knowing how unstable she is, it’s better to stay on the good side of someone secretive who you want to report on.
Plus, remember, Dorothy approves of what she’s doing. She’s the anti-J.J. Jameson. Or, perhaps, Peter Parker if he weren’t Spider-Man.
BEATING PEOPLE UP WON’T MAKE THE BAD THINGS YOU SAID GO AWAY!!!!
Ambiguous as to what she’s taking her pleasure from … it isn’t a good sign.
Amber was very particular about the law, and beating people up just because they’ve nicked a back-pack isn’t part of anyone’s code.
I wonder if this aspect of Amazigirl will now spill over into Amber’s everyday life?
Dorothy: …do I believe in people too much?
ye-e-e-es… I’m afraid so, in this case.
Never put your whole faith in humanity, you know how that will end.
Not Pictured: Backpack guy running VERY FAR WAY, AT SPEED.
His fear was actually so intense that he accessed the speedforce, so he wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye anyway.
He broke the speed barrier
*Remembers all those posts I wrote about how we’d never see any of the random dudes Amazi-Girl punches express any humanity, because that would make her come off as incredibly creepy and violent and kill any sense of morality to her character because suddenly it’s abundantly clear she’s actually beating up people.*
*Takes them all and lights them on fire.*
Lol, saw this coming for literal months.
I do wonder whether, on some level, Amazi-Girl needs a ‘Lois Lane’, an unquestioning ‘muggle’ sidekick to act as her cheerleader. It’s part of the illusion of total white knight morality that she needs to continue to function in her preferred mode of thought. As Danny is no longer doing this, Dorothy may find herself co-opted into the role.
Why do I get a bad feeling about this page?
Gotta do this by the books. Get release forms signed.
well, what i see here is amazi girl retrieving a backpack, might have been able to do it without using violence (she couldve just grabbed his arm and taken the backpack, since shes obviously strong enough) but she chose not to which is okay because that guy actually just stole someones backpack. the owner is not sure how to react cause theres literally a person dressed as a superhero acting like batman giving him his backpack back. i know we all think people would adore supeheros, but really. we dont believe that those exist so if someone dresses up as one, we will think theyre weirdos. and yes, she might have been a bit too violent and that might also be the reason of his reaction.
if someone stole my backpack id probably start crying on the inside cause id feel like it was my fault or it wouldnt matter if it was my fault, a possession that ive paid money, orobably money i got from my parents, for had just been taken from me and inside of it is probably lots of things ive also paid for. id panic, theres nothing to do about it. id feel really bad. probably anxious. it would all lead to me hating myself again. SO i would be very grateful if someone punched the thief and gave me my backpack
I’m just hoping that Dorothy didn’t set this up as a publicity stunt for the college paper. If she did, her ‘mugger’ is going to want to know why he wasn’t told in advance that a facial massage from Amazi-Girl’s knuckles wasn’t mentioned before!
Well, he didn’t look angry, so…
I’m honestly surprised Amazi-Girl didn’t kill Dorothy to cover up her secret identity.
Backpack’s back, alright!
It’s back again!
… Amazi-Girl worries me. When this began, she had a lot more self control – she would wait until someone else was violent first: She didn’t hit Rapist Jerk when he was down, she waited until that campus prowler tried to hit her before she hit him, she ran away rather than fight with people who were trying to unmask her. All because she had an internal standard that violence was a tool of last resort.
Then she started antagonizing and looking for fights, trying to egg people who had no interest in violence on into starting a fight so she could take her anger out on them. She did this first with the engineer vandals, and then with Sal and her friends.
… This time, it wasn’t shown whether the thief hit her first. That’s worrying. How much have her standards slipped?
Pretty soon she’s going to be slamming people up against the wall for trying to take food out of the cafeteria.
With the prowler she actually started with a knee to the face. Already back then, the joy of hitting people was part of her motivation.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/problem-2/
I completely agree that her standards are slipping, though.
Of course it’s always been part of her motivation. That’s never been at issue. The question was her ability to control it.
Her code has never quite been “they must do violence first.” Just that they must threaten first. And that guy was basically threatening the girl, his hands up, trying to grab her.
But it’s really hard to think the guy running away with a backpack was threatening, especially given his reaction. Not impossible, mind you, but definitely hard.
But, like I’ve said above, I think what happened was intentionally left out by Willis.
It was never about the joy of hitting people; when she punched Blaine she freaked the hell out because she actually did enjoy and that scared the shit out of her. Amber’s original intent with Amazi-Girl was that she’d create a cool badass who was a dumping ground for anger that she didn’t think she could control.
Also considering that dude was straight up creeping I’m okay with him getting kneed in the face.
Amazi-girl is rapidly turning into her “Injustice” counterpart. I hope she stops before she actually hurts someone, or herself.
Hey, didn’t the Joker tell you ? One doesn’t hit people wearing glasses.
I believe the phrase is: “You don’t hit a guy with glasses.”
King Candy: “You hit a guy… with glasses. Clever.”
Guess AmaziGirl found her newest enabler. Go figure it’s the one that dumped Danny because she was tired of enabling him to have horrible aspirations of a possibly happy life together with her.
In fairness, dotty’s enablement is self interested and so maybe likely to come with limits and restraints that Danny’s doesn’t
Problem is that all Dorothy knows about Amber is that:
She’s a cool badass superhero.
Danny thinks she’s legit.
She saved Becky’s life.
So bundle all that together and Dorothy hasthe perfect outsider’s perspective to romanticize Amazi-Girl as an unstoppable feminist fantasy while also knowing just enough to humanize her as a nice girl who’s trying to do the right thing.
The Majority of those shows Do Not use the footage until it’s been released by the Prosecutor of the area where filmed. Even then,it has lead to retribution on the criminal while they’re still behind bars.
A real camera? Like Billy got a real recorder fir her interviews? I say stick to the mobile phone.
She hit a guy with glasses???
To think I just STOPPED carrying around a real camera b/c it’s bulky and inconvenient
do I have internet again yet =p