There are security cameras around, right? Even if this is open-and-shut Self Defense, something has to stop Amber before she kills him, unless Willis really, really wants to explore writing about the legal system.
Ryan is not likely to die in any case. Her own father only got stomped into the hospital and that was a lot more personal. My question is what does witnessing the coming violence do to Dorothy? Talk about potential trauma.
But, that’s out-of-universe thinking. I don’t want to break the in-universe suspense!
Anyway I would like Amber to hold him at knifepoint or something. Satisfying, with lots of chance for impressive one-liners, and a spiffy mirror to Amber’s formative Sal-trauma.
Realistically I feel that anyone one of the cast actually killing someone would be a drastic tone shift even for DoA which has handled dark stuff in the past. So I seriously doubt Ryan will die here. I mean the last thing I want to read here for the next two years is a court drama about Amber’s right to kill a man in self defense. This is Dumbing of Age not Law and Order.
The idea behind “NO DEATHS” is that characters who knew the deceased directly would be grieving for pretty much the rest of the comic. It would derail their story arcs entirely.
Amber killing Ryan only really scars her, but I think it would be enough that it’s something to avoid.
It could also effect Dorothy, Joyce, Sal, and Sarah, Robin, and Leslie because they could be asking themselves if they should have done something different to prevent Ambers tragedy. If only I’d not went to that party, went to the police right away, not warned people about him on social media, actually screened my employees…
So that’s what Amber was afraid of…That’s the face of someone entering a berserker rage – an uncontrollable genetic-based combat state (not to be confused with anger management issues).
Scar boy’s toast.
Many people thinking a berserker rage is like being angry (and they envision someone like hulk). It’s not true. Berserking was something people were bred for to be elite warriors in old germanic and norse tribes, and most people can’t go into one. It’s a temporary shutdown of sapience and forebrain thought, and the subconscious (which thinks at about 10x the speed of the normal brain) short circuits to direct control of everything. Any muscle-memory combat skills remain, but any non-muscle-memory combat skill goes away (if you have to think about it, it doesn’t happen!); conscious thought doesn’t control the body anymore. (It’s like if “you” stepped away from the steering wheel and let someone else take over. You can have thoughts, but they don’t affect the body until the rage ends, which is generally when all threats are neutralized.) In a berserker rage, you can’t feel pain, adrenaline is as full blast (the same chemical that lets little old ladies lift up a car in an emergency), and you’re effectively immune to shock (shock kills people who’ve been shot more often than the bullets do). A Beserker reacts 10x as fast as a normal human while in rage, retains muscle-memory combat, has no capability for remorse, regret, or hesitation, and gets primal animal instincts topping it off (biting and clawing while in a rage is common). Also explains the super-hero bit. True beserkers are rare, but early on most generally learn they need to separate threat situations from the instincts, so they can have mentality of “I got this” and “This isn’t really a threat” to prevent themselves from going into the rage. By significantly raising the “I got this” bar, they avoid the rage being triggered except for the most serious threats.
So if Amazi-girl is impressive, Beserker Amber will be literally ten times more capable, but also heartless, brutal, and she will really hate herself in the morning.
He may or may not survive this, but at minimum, especially losing his weapon, he will be hospitalized. His main hope for survival is if she renders him unconscious (or barely mobile, writhing on the ground in pain) quickly.
FYI, that face makes everything about Amber that I’ve seen move from the earlier times move from “pushing the envelope of reality” to falling squarely in the world of completely possible. Her face is smiling not because she’s happy but because it takes fewer muscles to smile than frown. She’s crying because it’s less muscle work to let those ducts be open.
It’s almost a zen kind of a state; a point of absolute release.
In old nordic/germanic times, stories tell of beserkers who would come back from war, and -something- would trigger their rage (say finding someone beating a loved one) and then the beserker wipes out the whole village and is later found alive despite being peppered full of arrows – because if the beserker doesn’t reach a “all threats neutralized” state, the rage continues, so if someone tries to calm them down, or restrain them, or stop them from killing (or shoot them with an arrow which doesn’t work as well due to the immunity from shock), the rage continues until the beserker is dead from blood loss or … all threats are neutralized – which is potentially the whole village if they try to stop the beserker.
As far as my knowledge of actual genetic berserkers… I’m one. My first rage was triggered when some bullies about twice my age (they were highschoolers, I was elementary school) decided my younger sister was a valid target for bullying. I didn’t know what a beserker was before that. All of them were hospitalized, while I only had a few scratches (teeth were used and flesh was lost). When they were all down, there was no one even remotely approaching. I found out my Dad had similar history (served him will in the military, but apparently I was an early bloomer). So then that night I learned was a beserker was, was sat down and taught the history and the stories, read up on the old norse stuff, and then promptly enrolled in martial arts and required to learn meditation.
Despite the “super power” way it’s occasionally portrayed in fiction, it’s anything but. It’s nightmarish knowing environmental situations can rob you of your free will. Since then, with the martial arts and the meditation, I’ve only raged once since, and I remembered the feeling from the first time so I was able to get myself to a place without people before it fully came on. Second time, noone got hurt, but I did end up breaking 4 half-inch-think steel beams in half before I came out of it. Kept one of them as a reminder. :/ Normally 25 pushups winds me, for comparison.
I think I’ve hit something like it a few times but I didn’t hurt the people trying to hold me, just kept moving forward, and I stopped short of violence when the people threatening me acted in a submissive/non-threatening manner. Smile was there and threats/violence calculations too. It felt like cotton filled up my brain and my eyes were focused but unfocused? Like I didn’t really remember the persons face afterwards which people say you never forget?
Yea, I do. (See my response to Fidalgo for the stories). What you’re describing doesn’t sound like a rage, but it does sound kind of like the moments leading up to it. I don’t remember people’s faces from it either. That’s an interesting point, actually. Facial recognition is more a conscious mind thing – ways of cataloging people. Faces actually aren’t nearly as distinct as we act like they are, we’re just wired that way.
It could be you have berserker linage too, if so, I’d suggest taking martial arts and meditation. That said, it is a genetic thing, so there’s the chance you could have some of the traits of a berserker, but not all of them necessary to make a true berserker. But if the risk is there, best to keep it from happening (or at the very least, get the ability to control its release.) And if you don’t have the full thing, at least you got some more self-confidence and a higher level of inner peace, which isn’t a bad thing. 🙂
There is a good deal of apparent time compression versus actual time, and the mind, in some cases, becomes both detached, more observant of one’s surroundings, and a good deal of muscle memory comes into play. Pain is not shut off, but is often ignored or dulled For the moment, when there is time to assess the situation in greater detail.
This state can be maintained during an extended crisis situation, with practice. Many call this “living in the moment”.
It is true that the ‘bezerker state’ you described does exist and can be trained for, but as I said, there are those who are completely conscious of what they are doing when in this sort of detached state of mind, and these are usually much more dangerous to their opponents, as they are constantly analyzing the situation, looking for openings and best attack and defense moves, and silently executing them before the opponent has a chance to react.
Two such opponents facing off against each other, is usually almost like a silent dance, with only the sound of the air and clothing moving, giving indication of the force behind each blow.
Whether or not this qualifies as a bezerker rage is debatable, but having been in such a state when drawn into fights, where anger was a major motivating force, I can only speak from my personal experience. I never started fights, but always ended them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Whether I won or lost the fight depends on one’s perspective. By giving into my emotions and fighting, one could say I lost before I began. But fighting in self-defense or defense of others, is an acceptable response.
JasonAW3, I recognized the state you’re talking about (in my response to Fidalgo, I mention my own personal experience with Beserker Rage, and follow-up training in martial arts to prevent that state.) What you’re describing is more of an adrenaline rush with combat training. I’ve had those before too, after the martial arts training, and they are -very- different than the berserker rage. In both, adrenaline is pumping, but the mental state is both is very different.
For example, even if your relfexs are faster, in a berserker rage, time doesn’t compress so much as just becomes a collection snapshots. The conscious brain is where time is recorded, so since it stops controlling, you only develop memories when the subconscious spares some resources for the conscious. It like falling asleep for 2 seconds, waking up for 1, sleeping for 2, waking up for one, and your body is doing stuff the entire time, but it’s snapping fast enough to where you’re still “there”.
And is beserker rage, there is no “facing off against an opponent”. For one, if there’s facing off, that’s time of not attacking which beserker rage doesn’t allow. Secondly, there are no such things as opponenets in a berserker rage, only targets… no, target isn’t even a good word… prey. There is only prey. Flight vs flight also is removed as a choice – there is only fight.
And as mentioned… anger.. really isn’t a thing in a beserker rage (the name is really misleading). Anger can trigger it, but once the rage starts, the anger goes away.
Sounds like you had a berzerker state exerience, too, Jason.
I disagree about the forebrain shutting down, though – it retreats to an advisory role, but it does give expert advice on holds, throws, jump kicks etc.
I felt very analytical when entering that stage, at times out of red rage.
What did get shut off was the value system. Act first, ask questions about morality later.
A red rage…. but the forebrain playing an advisory role… not quite my experience, but it does sound similar -enough- to where you’re making me wonder how many things could be categorized as similar to a berserker rage but are different things…
Here’s another one for you, what I think of as my “Irish temper” – either a split second, or several seconds of blackout rage, then stunned shock afterwards. The first time, I don’t remember enough to be sure how long it was; Mean Girl spat on me, and then people were pulling me off as I’d gone for her throat. The other two times, it was a single punch and then I got myself back under control. Besides an odd blank spot in a rugby game, I think that was it; somehow I got it suppressed, probably in an unhealthy way, long before I discovered meditation.
She doesn’t have to kill him to destroy him. Breaking his neck with a club-arm blow at the top of the shoulders would leave him a para- or quadriplegic. One would be mostly-helpless until therapy, the other would be completely helpless. That would more completely destroy “Ryan” than actually killing him.
I mean if you used to have a dick, and it got stabbed off, I feel like that could be pretty debilitating. This isn’t surgery. But I think CJ was probably referencing Opus’s earlier comment about para/quadraplegia
I wouldn’t kill him Death is too good for people like him. Manual castration as a start. And then continue with things that will cause lasting pain and suffering. Including taking the knife and introducing it to his rectal opening. But I’m someone who doesn’t take kindly to people like this. I’m a firm believer that once convicted, the offender should be tied in a chair, locked in the room with the family/friends of the victim and let nature take its course for an hour or two. If anything is left alive, THAT goes to jail.
Doubtful. If she does, she’s going to jail and will probably have to leave the comic. She’s one of the central characters along with Billie, Sal, Joyce, Becky, Sarah, and Dorothy, so I find that unlikely.
It would be extremely easy to make a case for self-defense in this situation, considering he stalked them across campus with a knife, clearly attacked them, and she was in fear for her life.
Plus there’s her obvious mental health issues to take into account. (Though I know that’s not easy to prove in court). I don’t think this will end with her killing him though.
Yeah, but the girls provoked him, so they deserved to be attacked with a knife, because this guy is rich and white and Christian. He’s in no trouble at all, especially considering that his family can probably afford decent lawyers, which neither Amber nor Dorothy’s families could.
It depends on what reality we are facing in this strip. In reality, a guy with sexual assault accusations attacking two white female students on this campus? A campus where such a thing would invoke the cases of Jill Berman and Lauren Spierer? Yeah, that guy would be toast.
There’s always the possibility that his rich, well-connected father is a decent person and disowns him when things come to light. He did seem rather concerned in yesterday’s strip about his dad seeing “that shit,” so maybe the beating he’s about to receive is preferable to what his dad will do if he finds out why it happened.
And with any luck once he’s in custody/crippled/dead, other girls he’s hurt will come forward.
He’s worried that he’s in trouble with his father, especially after his dad sees that video. Joyce may decide to come clean about his attempted rape and Dorothy is there as a witness that he came at them with a knife. Unless Amber kills him, his chances of looking like an innocent victim are not great.
They’re at the main entrance to a school building, and now Dorothy’s making a racket inside. It’s highly likely they’re under a camera, or at least attracting attention by now.
Death? No…. beaten within inches of life, mangled in such a way to never harm another living soul, drown in the horrors of the Pandora’s box he opened… maybe.
Side note: he drew a knife on her (with a witness), after he was stalking them, in court she could easily win… even if she’s not kind enough to let him breath ever again.
Nah, you don’t really die from having your femurs removed. It’s the massive blood loss after, so theoretically if the campus cops get there fast enough…
He planned his stalking pretty well. But, y’know, didn’t know what to do with the car once he caught it.
Amber’s fully capable of killing him right now. She put Blaine in the hospital with her bare hands, and that knife ain’t gonna be in Ryan’s hand for much longer…
Also, side note, Ryan is holding that knife like a complete dork. Yeah, you gotta respect the weapon, but he has no damn idea what he’s doing with the thing, he just got it and figured it’d be enough. Dumb move.
Well, yes and no. A knife, even if you don’t know how to use it, is a serious thing that needs to be taken seriously and if Ryan had just straight up ambushed them with it, it’s a very real possibility he could’ve severely injured both of them.
But Ryan’s an immense asshole and went for posturing and display first, exemplifying Vimes’ dictum about evil men, and as a result bad bad things are about to happen to him.
Also, it’s some pretty delicious comeuppance when you think about it. Rye-bread here has been preying on women who he renders defenseless through drugs, and uses his privilege to dodge repercussions. So when that ends up not working, he tries to escalate his violence to get revenge.
But since, in the grand scheme of things, his date-raping is kiddie pool level violence, he’s about to get his ass handed to him by someone familiar with the real thing.
(Note: when I call date-raping ‘kiddie pool level violence’ I’m not minimizing the trauma that inflicts on someone. It’s horrible. I’m just saying the amount of actual physical force and skill needed to carry it out is limited at most.)
That looks like a moderately decent way to hold a switchblade up until Amber grabs his wrist’s pressure points.
…. well, okay, he’s an idiot for brandishing it and monologuing rather than doing what he came to do with it.
Good for our heroines, but he’s still an idiot for doing it. Maybe he doesn’t think of women as fully people and so he underestimates them? I like the irony possibility of that.
I think the monologue is more for him than them. He’s convincing himself he deserves this.
He does. He really does. But not in the way he thinks.
[s]Next shot should be a palmheel to his nose, or bearclaw to his throat.
But if she’s going to let him live, a straight jab to the solar plexus will fold him over nicely. A knee into the groin might be a nice follow.[/s]
Never mind. That’s right hand grabbing right.
Step behind him and armbar him into the concrete.
Alternately, pull the extended arm down to your groin, and sidekick him in the upper leg, pulling him into the blow. She should be able to snap the femur.
Well, she has several options at this point, but they all amount to a Bad End for Ryan.
That knife is no longer in Ryan’s hands as of panel five, in case you haven’t noticed. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say he’s screwed up to 120.
But I think it would be better for Amber if Amazi-girl was in charge right now :c Amazi-girl would probably be aware that there must be security cameras recording. I mean, I don’t know about real-life laws in Indiana, but I suspect anything other than minimum necessary force is bound to land her in trouble, even in self-defense…
Yes and no on the point about having Amazi-girl in charge, I guess. I’m sure Amber would rather be in costume. But the Amazi-girl persona isn’t sustainable and is likely going to end with her dead or crippled, so people seeing Amber’s violent side might not be what she wants, but it might be a step towards something less destructive.
It might be a step towards something less destructive, but it’s also far more likely to land Amber in trouble with the law. And that’s what worries me right now.
It’s quite possible that Amber’s own violent side is more dangerous than Amazi-girl’s. Amazi-girl knows about laws and self-restraint. Amber may just be berserk rage.
Kill someone? Probably not.
Stab someone? Almost certainly.
Have to be forcefully stopped from killing someone by another character (ie Sal?) Probably.
He planned for a couple of unarmed women to be afraid of him while he was brandishing a weapon. In his experience, this has always been a fair assumption to make. He didn’t account for the fact that a woman might actually possess agency and fight back against him. He definitely didn’t account for the fact that a woman could straight-up own his ass in single combat, even after he’d already seen her literally tear him and four of his friends to pieces, because he’s too much of a macho douche canoe to connect those threads of logic.
And he SURE AS FUCKING SHIT DIDN’T ACCOUNT FOR AMBER.
Siri — I believed we have already discussed this. Dismemberment and several different locations.
College days — One friend: “You think anyone would look out this far?”
Other friend frantically shoving dirt into a hole — “Oh god, oh god, oh god!”
Bluebottle maggots in an aerated plastic bag or barrel, with a time release acid bottle to deal with the bared bones. Finally a thermite load to get rid of the remaining organic stuff, time release triggered by the release of the acid. Remove and grind down the teeth before. Don’t do this at home, ideally find a nice illegal toxic waste dump.
Same, exactly. I was like, this strip doesn’t really make me *happy*, but I’m not as panicked as yesterday so I guess it’s good? Oh god I’m just worried about my girls.
Yeah, a little less stressed, but also the stress of “Amber honey you’re about to get yourself into more trouble than ever” but also “Damn Amber’s a badass”
Yea. I am torn between “Kick his ass Amber!” and “Where in the name of the 17 gods of the cosmos is Sal?! She needs to come save Amber right the fuck now!” Like, yes, I want His-Middle-Name-Is-Ryan to get his ass handed to him on a plate. But, I don’t want to add to Amber’s already massive trauma pile. So, this is way too stressful. It’s like I am glad he’s scared and I imagine that he’s probably shitting himself right now – but, Amber’s crying y’all. ;(
…i feel like this is Unequivocally Wrong b/c like. joker hurts people for shits and giggles. batman hurts criminals for justice, theoretically. but like????? they’re both straight white dudes on power trips???? so not that wrong i guess???
They way I see it, Joker is Batman with all the breaks off. They’re both violent, dangerous individuals, but Batman has rules. If Batman ever broke his rules, he’d become the Joker.
i mean like. all you have to do to see batman breaking his rules is read frank miller’s version
i do think that joker is a thematic opposite in ways that can be done compellingly, but like opposite does not mean the same, is the thing.
joker…really does not have batman’s drive to protect victims. i cannot see any batman ever having power fantasies about being joker for a day. he would not find that empowering or freeing.
if batman ever broke his rules…god. i don’t think he’d become the joker, but maybe he’d become a person
There is that neat Justice League arc with Justice Lords and how Lord Batman gets Batman to give up by throwing the “Here no child would see their parents murdered in an alleyway”. Lord Batman is basically Batman who abandoned some of his rules for the sake of Greater Good.
idk mostly i’m thinking here about jason todd and how like…killing the joker is not an irredeemable action… but batman is just not always real good with the grey morality shit
@zoelogical
I think the main reason Batman is NOT killing Joker is… because if he would start he might not be able to stop. Also there is the issue that Batman is a broken child at heart and sees all the people in his Gallery in a similar way. He is trying to help them, save them, redeem them. Or at least the Batman I know does.
About that Justice Lords thing. The arc starts with Superman killing Lex Luthor who became a president and was trying something really nasty. After that Justice League became more ruthless, there is actually a whole institute where they keep the villains from their Galleries… whom Superman basically lobotomised with his heat-vision.
@Spencer quipquipquip theorized that Joker made a deal with the devil – his soul for a pack of Havana cigars and limited immortality. which makes sense! and i think Snyder did a thing where the Joker was a wandering demonic spirit, and honestly at this point that is legit the Only Thing That Ties All The Jokers Together. their ability to destroy shit
@Eldritch Gentleman
honestly like I respect that this is a line that Batman has drawn and I think he has every right in the world to draw that line for himself, because he cannot…actually…functionally be…the person who fixes everything. Joker still being alive is just as much a dysfunction of the courts in-universe imo, if you go for a Watsonian explanation. like Batman does not want to replace the actual rule of law in Gotham and that is a totally legitimate line to draw
but still! if you are going to have the one exception that proves the rule, Joker is a really good exception to prove that rule.
y i k e s yeah that’s the Justice League animated series
man. if i was gonna make Superman go evil I think I’d make him, like. the Dr. Doom of Kansas or something. there’s, like, evil – and then there’s characterized evil. if that makes sense. i don’t really think you can swap characters out for each other
Sorta, yeah. Of course, if an animated adaptation of this particular story ever got made, it would have to include a completely-superfluous intro that takes up a quarter of the feature and is only tangentially related…
Batman is secretly Joker too? I think I’ve read that fanfic . .
but seriously, I’m pretty sure Amber is still a lot more stable than the Joker and much less evil, despite how much she’s going to viciously enjoy rearranging Ryan’s everything. she does have a problem wrt violence, but she still sees people as people, not toys.
As others have said, only if she “apprehends” him.
Amber has a new Red Panel. Those things include (but are not limited to) Sal holding a knife to Ethan’s neck, and Amber putting a knife through Sal’s hand.
The chances of somebody getting stabbed tomorrow are high, and deeply in Amber’s favor. Unfortunately, it will just wind up as another Red Panel exemplifying how “Amber” is an emotional mess who cannot control herself and “Amazi-Girl” is the perfect self that deserves control.
Problem is, she’s not going to apprehend him. She’s going to do vigilante justice to him. Which we know he fully deserves, but the in-comic world (apart from Dorothy) doesn’t know.
I’m guessing that Amber leaves him in the same condition she left Blaine in. Then she has to flee the scene, leaving Dorothy to call 911 and talk to the authorities. And then Dorothy has to spend in-comic weeks or even months dealing with the moral and legal dilemma: tell the truth and risk victimizing Amber and Joyce (and risk making “Ryan” a popular-opinion victim himself), or hide the truth in contravention of every ethical fiber in her body.
tl;dr: Damn You Willis! But also a nuanced exploration of moral dilemma in our very imperfect world.
Dot’s smart. she’ll wait until the screaming stops, then leave the building by another entrance (going to get coffee for a late-night study session, perhaps) and just happen to see this poor quivering pile of goo that used to be a man and call an ambulance for him.
And she’s a journalist hoping to get into politics, she’s got to learn sometime (if she hasn’t already) that anybody in either of those fields has to be … flexible in the ethics department.
If she does it right, it’ll probably be over inside of a second. One move follows the other follows the other. They’re practically inseparable.
If it takes longer, he’s fighting back effectively, and she’s even more justified to follow up with more injury.
Seriously. Do you ever practice Just the disarm? The first move provides the inertia for the second move. If she’s not at least twitching toward the next step in the combo, just because they always go together, I’d be surprised.
and this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the best thing ambers friends can do for her is convince her to go to therapy, rather than enabling her with the vigilante-based self-hatred and compartmentalization
There is a difference between disarming Ryan and hurting him. Once the tables are turned and Ryan is no longer a threat… I do not know what Amber is going to do. I am hoping this is her lowest point and its upwards from here because otherwise there may be consequences, both legally and psychologically.
it might save her life here, but I don’t thnk she’ll be able to survive it – and really, it’s the self-defence training that’s gonna save her, not the psychosis
IIRC, Willis said no-one “important” would die, then followed up by saying that for instance, Tony could die since he’s not really connected to any of the main cast.
Especially if they’re the ones responsible for the death (even if the person they killed was a monster) which is why I don’t see it going that far. Amber doesn’t deserve the weight of that.
I don’t think she’ll kill him. Beat him so mercifully he’d WISH he was dead certainly. Maybe castrate the bastard with his own knife. Maybe even give the Lorena Bobbit treatment.
(also Dorothy RUN GET HELP)
(probably start with an ambulance)
(the book does nothing to keep Ryan out; it’s to keep you in)
(so you won’t fight and get hurt but also)
(so no one can drag Amber off of him)
(Dorothy GET HELP)
That’s the worst option at this point. No witnesses who show up now will have seen Ryan with the knife. It’ll just look like two radical anti-male feminists finishing off their smear job of a good, upstanding Christian boy with a cold-blooded murder, which is a much easier story for the mainstream media to digest than a white Christian college boy committing a crime.
“Kinda saw something like this coming. It is scary for your friend to be in trouble near you, but once you have beaten up a grown man in the rain or fought a guy with a gun while hanging onto a speeding car… Let’s just say, ‘Guy with knife’ ain’t gonna do much to upset you.” -Batman
OMG, you’re right! She’s wanting to do it right this time and save her friend, if not herself. I am torn between: “Go, Amber!” and “Oh, crap. This is going to be effed up.”
And the alt text is a continuation of Ecclesiastes 2:15. I am increasingly worried that this passage is being used to foreshadow something grizzly. While Willis has said that nobody dies in DoA, this is going to get very ugly. Possibly for both of them. And Dorothy is probably going to watch it happen.
Well, now I’m nervous, but because that last panel is scary as hell (especially as she has a quiet voice) and I’m worried she’s going to do something she’ll regret, even if it is against Ryan. daaaaaaaamn.
I’m going to be honest, this is like a combination of every violent fantasy I’ve had (and I’ve had a depressing number of them), except it’s being acted on here and now I realize how screwed up my head is and how it idealizes situations it shouldn’t, as evidence by the layers of fear and anger here over what is clearly an ugly situation. burn in hell, ryan.
There’s no such thing as thought crime! Cathartic daydreams don’t have to hurt anyone irl, your imagination can be a healthy emotional outlet, just process it wisely.
Plus, we all wouldn’t be so obsessed with violent retribution if it wasn’t the central focus of the vast majority of stories, myths and entertainment we are culturally inundated with for our entire formative years! It isn’t our fault we want to bathe in the unrighteous blood of our oppressors!
*Appropriate supportive gesture of your choice*. I try not to put too much energy in policing my revenge fantasies for morality. Like I could and have fed guilt ouroboros. Violent thoughts don’t on their own indicate what kind of person someone is.
I tend to put a postage stamp on my detailed revenge fantasies on where they might come from and brainstorm healthier ways to deal with that residual anger and trauma.
JFC, I am terrified for Amber. I’ve done a lot of things, back when I was younger than her and I didn’t have the therapy I needed. I did some really terrible things that I will never be able to take back. Much as this fucking asshat deserves violence, what it might do to Amber as a person long-term is scary.
Because he’s a terrible fucking human being who needs his ass kicked, at least once, because Joyce probably wasn’t the first. He had the technique down too pat. He has hurt other girls.
But if Amber does it, it will tear her apart later.
*appropriate gesture of support which can be a giant hug if that’s what’s wanted*
When I was growing up I was so scared of perpetuating a violence like this that I did a lot of awful things to myself, I’m raw in worry for how Amber is going to be after all this is over.
I spent too much time hurting other people to deserve much support. I hurt myself plenty, trust me, but I hurt a lot of people too. I didn’t know how to control my anger from the (insert childhood trauma I don’t want to discuss). I was /angry/. All the time. Martial arts and boxing helped, but even outside of that, the minute someone pissed me off, I turned so vicious that even thinking about the shit I did now makes me sick and guilty.
As an adult, I’m better, and I still have to work every time I feel angry to channel it into a healthy expression. And I still feel fucking sick over how I made other people feel, the things I said and did. But the difference is that I got help, because the people in my life /forced/ me to, because they didn’t put up with my BS the way Ethan and the rest are with Amber. My friends didn’t see me getting in fights as “badass” after awhile. It was scary. And everything I was doing to myself was even scarier.
Much as I like Ethan as a character, and hell, even Danny isn’t too terrible, they have both failed Amber as friends. They are not helping her, they are enabling her toxic outlets for her anger instead of, oh, I don’t know, talking to her /mom/, and just plain helping her.
*adds own appropriate gesture of support* I’m not nearly as good with words as Cerberus is, so all I can express my condelences for what you went thru, and give you my well wishes for overcoming that strife.
I am taking tegretol because prior to the scrip it took me iron self control to not react like this to getting my order wrong at Mc Donalds. I don’t think most people really understood the kind of anger issues I was having. It’s a fucking miracle I lasted as long as I did without winding up in jail.
Even though I’m glad to see Ryan hopefully finally go down here, I’m suddenly most interested in seeing how Dorothy reacts to seeing why Amber feels like she needs to keep herself compartmentalized right up close.
This is your femur. Well, it WAS yours. Let me give it back to you. What do you mean, it doesn’t go there? It seems to fit in there, real good, and it isn’t coming out, again.
Damn Ryan. it’s like, villain 101, DON’T MONOLOGUE. You’re getting caught up in enjoying the fear and (apparent) powerlessness before your own power, and forgetting your alleged purpose of revenge (it’s not vengeance tho, is it, it’s reinstating the natural order where you are powerful and you can visit whatever you like on lesser beings)
Most rapists get off on the fear and powerlessness of their victims as much as anything. Unfortunately for Ryan, he can’t help but get caught up in his own twisted enjoyment. Fitting that it comes back to bite him.
Amber looks scarily like Blaine in the last panel. And Not Ryan you stay away from my blue eyed girl. And now that Dorothy is safely inside she can call for help. I wish I was Amber right now.
She certainly surprised him, but my money is on dude being surprised that this short slighty-overweight girl is in fact considerably stronger than he is and just crushed his hand.
Also: She’s going to be absolutely juiced with adrenaline, even over the fact that she’s just stronger than him ordinarily. It’s not out of the realm of possibility Ryan’s now got broken bones or dislocated fingers.
“I just want you to know that even though you tried to rape my friend and threatened Dorothy and me, revenge is not an idea we promote on my planet.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.”
“But we’re not on my planet, are we?”
Amber snaps his neck or makes him wish she did, I’m totally calling it! Though probably will need to hide the body and make that pact of nope, no one will EEEEVVVVVER find him.
I’m only not-serious about that because it’d put her in prison. Unrepentant rapists who see nothing wrong with their actions need to be removed from society, because they are a clear and present danger to those around them.
The time-space continuum is filled with malevolent, time-traveling plagiarizers.
Every time, EVERY TIME, I come up with a clever quote or a genius idea, I discover that someone has stolen it, taken it back into the past, and pre-empted me.
Sometimes as far back as ancient Greece!
The gall of these time-travelers!
And you? YOU’RE ONE OF THEM, you comment-stealing something-something grumblegrumblegrumble.
I’m fucking amazed by how self righteous this unbelievable prick is. “A girl I tried to rape cut my face! I MUST HAVE REVENGE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW bongo”
Like, holy shit man, do you have no self-awareness whatsoever?
This is the world they live in, and this is how they think. No, they do not feel like they are doing the wrong thing. They feel like they are doing what “everyone” wants to do but can’t.
I’m still confused where Amber begins and Amazi-girl ends. I thought when she’s “hiding” she’s Amber, when she’s fighting she’s Amazi-girl. Or is this the emergence of a third personality?
Amber is the “bad”. Amazi-Girl is the “good”. Both of the alters appear to have access to the martial arts training and parkour, but Amazi-Girl supposedly has the rigid morals while Amber supposedly is the one more prone to emotional lashing-out.
If I’m reading it right, Amazi-girl’s the “safe”, “approved”, “permitted” do-good violent retribution. Amber’s the scared kid who stuck a knife through Sal’s hand.
“Good {wo}men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many. ”
Stealing that quote, from somewhere, as it seems to fit very well with Amber/Amazi-Girl. Amber doesn’t have rules except those she imposes on herself as AG, which channels things into actions which are ‘good’ if often illegal.
Because previous reminders of the trauma e.g. Sal, Blaine, her own anger, have caused panic attacks and flashbacks with one rendering her unable to hear properly or even respond. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that there was a possibility of the knife triggering a flashback or panic attack which would have been probably the worst case scenario of how she could have reacted.
Willis, you maginficent bastard (I read your comic)!
Amber becoming okay-ish with Sal foreshadowed this. She is no longer afraid! Or no longer THAT afraid. It’s beautiful, I love it.
Go Amber! (Also go get some therapy maybe after this because we all know you could need some help, you can’t do everything on your own.)
It is, and Ryan can rot for all I care, but:
-Amber has stabbed someone before, which could be used against her.
-There’s no way it doesn’t come out that Amber is Amazi-Girl, which would be used as a history of violence.
-Amber’s dad, both because she beat him into the hospital and because his anger issues may be documented as part of divorce/custody records.
-Ryan has been hinted at having a connected dad, so maybe lots of money and good lawyers; Amber has a single mom and dirtbag dad and said she only has a laptop because she got a refurbished one for cheap.
-The whole thing with posting Ryan’s face (and the fight at the rally) could be used against her as a suggestion of continued harassment and call Dorothy’s testimony into question since she helped (and would ultimately lead to Joyce having to testify, which would be a whole other thing).
There are so many shitty ways this goes despite it obviously being self defence to us.
He has no evidence that she’s Amazi-Girl. And honestly thus far there has been no evidence the police are interesting in looking for Amazi-Girl. Also
witnesses can assess that he threw the first punch at Amazi-Girl back at the campaign rally. So bringing up the fact that Amber or that he believes Amber is a woman he previously attacked. That’s going to turn this assault with a deadly weapon charge into attempted murder.
Amber stabbed someone who threatened her friend with a knife. She beat her father who was physically abusive. That history can’t nullify her self-defense claims. In fact it reinforces the fact she only uses violence against those who hurt her friends and family.
Ryan said “You’ve ruined my life, My Dad’s Gonna see that shit” which would lead someone to believe that his pastor father is going to presume his guilt not his innocence.
He likely lied to his dad about how he got that scar, then his picture goes up on social media accusing him of attempted rape on night X right around the time he got that scar.
Plus, Ambers Dad likely didn’t explain how he got beaten up either, and I don’t think that can be used against her, really. He basically lured out an unknowing Danny to use as leverage against her. That’s effing dubious on it’s own. He probably kept quiet so he wouldn’t risk a case opened about him on his own… well, that’s what I think. I’m not actually a lawyer, or very versed in that topic 😛
Between not wanting people to know he lost to a woman and knowing that kidnapping your daughters boyfriend isn’t exactly legal that’s not surprising. Most of Amazigirls victims were doing something illegal at the time, and/or assumed they could take her.
Okay question for those who understand DID. I’ve always been under the impression that Amber only has two distinct personalities Amber and Amazigirl. Considering Amber doesn’t seem completely in control of her actions in this state I’m just wondering if Amber in her current state a third alter or is this just Amber in an unhinged state of rage?
Sorry if I could have articulated all this better.
just rage, pretty sure
Amber has, uh. some *issues* with violent anger.
i don’t blame her either, considering a lot of things going on in her life, but it’s definitely A Thing and one of the – if not The – reason(s) she hates herself.
Like, it isn’t theoretically impossible for there to be a rage alter that only deals with the emotion of rage as sometimes alters aren’t very complex and may only have one set thing to do or be. But it seems very unlikely that it is anything past Amber just being angry at the moment in my personal opinion.
I understand keeping dangerous amounts of rage under control. Before I started dealing with it with medication it wasn’t exactly an alter but it was something I could and did visualize chaining up and caging to keep it from getting loose. And sometimes it would rattle it’s chains and bang on the walls of the cage. Sometimes it was dangerously close to getting out.
Amber looks like she just released the chains and opened the cage door. That smiling while crying thing? That’s what it feels like. That’s an option I always felt I had in reserve for situations where it was fight and win or die, and I think it still might be an option even with the tegretol keeping it under control if I really need to. The reason, other than the fact that I was sure the result would be a bloodbath, that it was an option of last resort is because I always had a feeling that once it was free I’d never be able to cage it again. And that thing in the cage? It’s not just capable of killing, it wants to kill. Anything at all that makes me mad it wants dead.
But now I’m medicated and I don’t have to sit on top of it monitoring it at all times to keep it in check.
It’s hard reading this after the MAX stabbings in Portland. (I live in the area, but don’t otherwise have any connection with anyone involved.) In the real world, guy with knife has a very good chance of killing unarmed hero. Seeing a similar scenario play out according to the rules of comic plot logic just feels like a lie now. I know that Willis wrote this months ago, and I’m projecting my feelings onto something that wasn’t meant to bear them, but that’s where I am.
To be fair to Willis, its “chump who doesn’t know how to use a knife vs person who is regularly in violent encounters”, not “someone who knows what they’re doing vs surprised civilians,” so its a little different.
One of the civilians who died was an army veteran. Amber is an 18 year old who probably lacks any formal training. Also, those civilians had a 3 to 1 numbers advantage, and Amber is alone. I’ll grant you that not-Ryan is probably much worse at knife use than the MAX stabbing perpetrator. But part of my point is that you don’t know if the guy with the knife knows what he’s doing. And even if he doesn’t quite, he’s still the one with the knife. In a situation where there is a knife wielder who intends to use it and an unarmed intended victim, you have to expect a high probability that the intended victim gets badly hurt. Everyone I’ve heard from in the wake of the attack who has been trained in such matters has said this. The logic of this comic is, Amber is in no danger at all, and that feels untrue to me now.
“Amber is an 18 year old who probably lacks any formal training.” ?
Have you been reading this comic long?
I mean, that might be technically true, if you don’t count the martial arts she got instead of therapy, but she’s routinely shown she’s incredibly physically capable and very dangerous in any kind of fight. Taking on people much bigger than her and fighting multiple attackers at once.
Sure, it’s not realistic, but neither was hitting the windshield and then leaping onto the roof of the car ahead to fight the guy with a gun. Amber isn’t a crazy girl who think she’s a superhero. She’s a superhero with psychological issues.
This isn’t always a realistic comic. Amber get to play by action movie rules, if not actual comic book superhero ones. By real world rules, you’re absolutely right. Knives are really dangerous to fight against. But for this comic, for me, it would be far more jarring for him to be a serious threat to Amber here. Akin to some punk with a knife attacking Bruce Wayne and him getting all cut up because realistically, knives are dangerous.
The real interest in this scene – once it turned out to be Amber he was attacking – is psychological. Does she redeem herself by protecting a friend from a “punk with a knife”? Not to mention redeem AG’s failure of letting him get away by distracting everyone in the first place.
Or does she lose control and convince herself she’s a monster by crippling or killing him in a rage?
“Does she redeem herself by protecting a friend from a “punk with a knife”?”
I’m going to guess “nope” on that one. Because just a little while before this, Amber was there at that floor meeting where Rachel went off on her ‘redemption is a nice story, but it isn’t real and abusers can’t ever really change’ rant at Ruth. So she’s probably got that rattling around in her head right now, and she might just decide that if there’s no redemption for her, despite using Amazi-Girl to keep her violent impulses in check, she might as well go all out. Let all that rage loose at Ryan, both to punish him/protect her friends AND to get HERSELF arrested so people will be safe from HER. Because she can’t ever change or redeem herself, according to Rachel, so she needs to be locked up just like him.
Could go either way. Really depends on whether Willis wants to drag her deeper into the pit or start her working out of it.
And she doesn’t need to be locked up, she just needs to let Amazi-Girl handle everything. She’s the good one. Amber’s the monster.
That’s the mythology anyway.
Amber is being set up in a sequence evocative of the robbery, where she is a terrifying rage monster against some punk with a knife. I don’t think she deliberately set out to face him as Amber, but it’s almost a certainty that she uses this event as further proof of her own inhumanity, and furthering her reliance on Amazi-Girl.
I feel that going forward Amber’s story will be about hitting her lowest point possible, and for her to start climbing out of it.
I think it’s even simpler than that, honestly: “If acting abusive is an inevitable, permanent part of me, I’d better make sure that my targets deserve it.”
The difference is, while that guy on the train was brandishing a weapon and making threats, all of his attacks that he actually made were blitz attacks at very close range, with maximum violence, momentum, intent to immediately kill and the element of surprise. This guy calmly monologued for thirty seconds, but then he got blitz attacked and was immediately disarmed, making him panic.
I think the scariest things is that this might not be the first time Ryan has done this, considering that he’s methodically planned out following Dorothy to lead him to Joyce.
One flaw in that plan, let’s say he finds Joyces room, well he will also find Shara and a bat in that room, with Sal, Ruth, Billie and Amber down the hall.
I don’t really see a realistic way he could do whatever he plans to without getting whooped.
Doesn’t mean that whatever horrible revenge plan he was plotting was going to be done that night.
Now he likely already has a good guess what wing Joyce is in, and possibly what floor or what room if he could follow Dorothy long enough. From there, he could just stalk and wait to learn her schedule. Figure out when the floor is empty, when Sarah is out, or even just figure out her walking patterns around campus. It can go south very quickly after that.
Plus, they’re women who had the audacity to deny him what he rightfully deserved. Then, they beat him, and damaged his masculinity. This comic takes place where going insane and killing somebody because you discovered they were gay or trans and your masculinity felt threatened is an acceptable legal defense. When a man like this has their sense of masculinity compromised, they will do anything to reclaim their birthright from their inferiors who have the audacity to defy the natural order and stand against them.
He doesn’t know how to use that knife, does he?
(I was thinking yesterday that it wasn’t positioned for stabbing -or- slashing.)
Unless he recovers from that shock of disbelief -real quick-, Amber will have the knife.
And his best move will be to run like a rabbit.
He really doesn’t. If he wanted to hold it correctly he’d be holding it in 1 of 2 ways, and really only 1 applies with a pocket knife like that.
Blade towards Amber out the pinkie side of his hand with his thumb over the back (to prevent slippage) with a wide stance and his non-knife hand forward (to prevent exactly what happened). The trick to fighting with a pocket knife is to not use it as a weapon, you use it as a grappling amplifier. Basically the trick is to wrestle/box with your off-hand and only use the blade when it’s safe to inflict serious damage.
OR the other option is blade up so that a forward and upward stab will be immediately lethal because it carves a 6 inch channel in the person you’re stabbing, effectively disembowling them on a good strike. But that’s a risky move because the other person can use the blade against you as well if they’re an experienced combatant.
Even if he did know how to use a knife properly, he stood there monologuing long enough for Dorothy to get inside.
He knows that Amber can fight, he knows she can handle three on one. So even if he did as you suggested I don’t see this fight ending in his favor if he gives Amber time to ready herself which he already did so how he gripped the knife is rather irreverent.
I’m voting for either Ethan, Danny or Sal to show up just as she’s about to leave him comatose (or dead. either/or) and her finally having that cathartic breakdown that leads to her finally getting the help she needs.
It would be awesome if her recovery included Ruth somehow. Like some group therapy or something like that.
So, I’m super raw after a different thing, so I’m super compartmentalizing to do this, and then I’m going to drop off and self-care.
Panel 1: I thought that might have been the end target. All that stalking, all these threats, all this escalation and traumatization all to retraumatize the one who “dared” get away. The one who dared give him a consequence that lasted past the morning light.
This is where that aggrieved entitlement leads. That idea that you are owed sex in order to be a man, that taking and hurting others, especially those weaker make you strong, that pissed off feeling that the world always owes you a little more than you’re getting from others and it’s everyone else’s fault.
And here it leads to the terror of this form of violence. Obsession, a belief that they are owed our bodies, a brief moment of standing up for ourselves can be our downfall. Can mean an ex shooting up our place of work to “get revenge on us”. Can mean a person deciding to murder us on the street because they think we “tricked” their boner. Can mean that “harmless” “lovesick” stalker breaking into our house and hurting us or someone we love.
And that fear terrorizes. Makes us hesitant to push too hard against angry men. Makes us avoid certain locations where there’s too many cis white men. Makes us self-censor our speech and learn how to be paranoid with who we let into our lives. And that’s the point. Terrorized people are easier to bully into not resisting the broken toxic system, because those that do are killed.
Because anyone who gets in their radar is at risk. Because fuckers like this take and hurt and keep on doing so as long as the broken system that surrounds them continues to fail to take them seriously.
It’s how the rape on my campus happened. I warned my head of school for months before it that the culture was going bad, that there needed to be consequences and responses to the rise of toxic masculinity, that there needed to be more protection, but they laughed at the dumb feminist and then oh look, literally everything she predicted came true.
Because this shit has a set pattern and if the people with real power ever actually took it seriously, we could stop it and people like him, put them in jail to keep them from harming others, rehabilitate them out of their toxic cycles if that is possible, prevent them from hurting others if not.
But we don’t and so this shit becomes common and we all fear.
Panels 2-3: Okay, that’s a terrible door system. Any door that can be blocked in from the outside to prevent exit is a terrible terrible system that is prone to exactly this type of physics-defying type of attack.
Panel 4: I feel so hard for Amber. She’s clearly flashbacking through this all, but is determined this time to not be the one who hides, but rather the one who martyrs herself to protect the other.
And that’s one more fucked up aspect to the whole golden alter, broken alter framework. The “broken one” is strongly tempted to self-sacrifice or otherwise view their life and needs as less important.
And it speaks so poorly of Amazi-girl that at this moment when she could use an alter switch more than anything, she’s completely buggered off again. Likely to avoid having to face Dorothy’s breakup. And it makes me wonder if that alter wants the Amber alter to get a little worse and suffer a little more to reassert her framework onto the situation again.
Panels 5-7: That last panel is haunted. A complete breakdown knowing that all other options are gone and a likely belief that if she’s damaged already and her father’s daughter, then she might as well use it for a good cause.
She’s very likely to blow past one of her moral sticking points tonight and the consequences of that is going to linger for her even if it ends up being the only thing she can do to protect others who need to be protected.
And I just want to steal her out of the narrative and hug her and tell her it’ll all be okay in the end.
Alt-text: Oh no you don’t alt-text. I know what that Bible passage is in reference to. Don’t you start teasing death shit like that.
This was my first thought when I read the strip, that Amber’s last line was such good fuel for reading her as DID, and then 🙁 that her words and pain might be extra hard on you today and… 🙁
Thank you for the write up and I hope you feel better soon 🙁
Welcome to America, where cause can be totally dismissed after the effect. Where you can literally break into someone’s house with the intent to steal from them, hurt yourself, and sue.
His approaching her with a knife could mean jack shit if he decides to sue.
Somehow I feel like this won’t result in amber murdering him but somehow danny will get caught in this. LIkelyh stopping her but then the guy will get a last hit resulting in his death
“And now, I break you.” Followed by snapping sound as Amber breaks Middle-Name Ryan’s arm in three different places, followed closely by a good couple dozen kicks to the groin. But honestly, I think breaking the arm is the best thing for Amber to do. Amber (not Amazigirl) saves someone without hurting anything other than a horrible excuse for a human being. If she only breaks the arm then she also proves to herself that she’s not some sort of rage monster that Amazigirl is protecting everyone else from. That she actually has worth as Amber and isn’t going to be like her father. All she has to do is quickly twist the arm while jerking to the outside, and then telling Mr. Middle Name, “Don’t come back.” Because Mr. Middle Name has proven enough that he’s a coward. So he will run the instant Amber let’s go. And then they can check for students with the middle name Ryan. Hopefully. Maybe.
A lot of people seem to be calling for horrible things to happen to “Ryan.” Look he is human garbage and deserves punishment to the fullest extent of the law, but violence and eye for an eye vengeance is never the answer. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an indictment of Amber engaging in self defense, but there’s a world of difference between self defense and committing manslaughter.
Amber can slice his carotid or femoral artery open and kick him in the head while he bleeds out, and it won’t be manslaughter. Maybe in Britain, but this is Indiana, USA.
And “Stand your Ground” has nothing to do with it.
Actually under Indiana law if Ryan ceases his attack at this point and verbally expresses this, then Amber will become the aggressor and he has a right to kill her in self defense.
Basically what I’m getting at is that “stand your ground” is reprehensibly stupid, and the statute is written by an insane person.
Ryan is a white man. The fullest extent of the law is not likely to even keep him off the streets for very long, let alone render him incapable of raping people.
A lot of the people calling for his blood are probably hoping that he will, somehow, be prevented from drugging and raping more women.
…But at that point, he’d probably just talk himself into being a serial killer of women, to “get even” with the people who (in his twisted mind) took away his “sexual potency.”
So, yeah, he probably needs to die or be paralyzed in order to make the world a better place. Although, now that he’s threatened three girls with a knife (as opposed to raping untold numbers with his penis), there might be actual legal consequences.
Do I sound cynical and bitter? Off the top of my head, I can think of five women and one man I know who have been raped. I don’t think any of the rapists were even brought to court.
His face goes up on social media as a rapist, anyone who tries to look him up online has a change of finding that image. Indeed with that nasty scar across his face everyone he meets is going to ask. “How’d you get that scar” and regardless of the story he tells them… Many will look him up online and find that image.
Joyce will be able to move on and forget what Ryan tried to do. Hell she’s probably more emotionally scared from Becky’s dad then from Ryan. But every morning Ryan will look in the mirror and see that scar.
Which is why whatever horribly beating Amber is about to inflict upon won’t be as bad as the scar Joyce already gave him…
And also another reason why he may become a serial killer.
Dan, you’re just… wrong about how many people will care that a white guy is a rapist. Brock Turner, the Steubenville guys, and so so soooo many white celebrities should have shown you by now that people are 100% willing to hire known, convicted, videotaped rapists.
Scary thought here, based on Sunday’s splash of blood: what if Amber first takes Ryan out, then cuts herself to an extent that all evidence will point towards Ryan as aggressor?
That penultimate panel is like crack to me. Another scumfuck so accustomed to preying on the weak, shitting his pants at the realization that his next target isn’t just going to passively take it. Quite the contrary.
Glasgow Smile is when you slash open somebody’s face at the corners of their mouths, thus “widening” their “smile”. The little historical info I can find (through grueling seconds of looking it up on Wikipedia) says the originated in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1920s or 30s.
I, personally, think that Sal talks Amber down (after she’s already broken Ryan’s arm or something) and persuades her not to make the same mistake again. “You’re young and scared; well, I know about that shit but nothing justifies doing the wrong thing!”
That’s why Amber is so shaken up in the ‘next day’ preview panels we’ve seen so far – That Sal, the person who more than any other external person is Amber’s definition of ‘villain’, persuaded her to do the right thing means that she and Amazi-Girl have a lot of thinking to do about the world and their joint future.
It would be stupid for Sal to take the blame – As Sal herself has mentioned , she is black and has a record.
Any (legal consequence) that Amber would face ,, Sal would face a 1000 times over if she tried to take the blame.
And Sal know s that and presumably would not do it.
And Amber also knows that and combine that with her hatred-of-self there is no way she would allow ANYONE to take a fall for her. (Except possibly Ryan)
This strip is really intense, and I’m not going to go into everything in it, but I just keep thinking, Amber disarmed Ryan in literally two seconds. It just really goes to show how much of his power and ability to threaten comes from posturing and privilege…
yeah. like. some dude against someone with actual technical experience and skill is always gonna go down, no matter who it is. it’s not always what you have but how you use it
Like I said yesterday: Bad things happen to people who scare Amber. Right now, Ryan better be praying that Dorothy can reach Amber despite her panic-induced psychosis. Otherwise there’s no telling what she might do to him.
I’m going to say something and it’s going to be unpopular.
I mentioned some days back that in my mind there’s two different notions of justice at work in our culture, both operating under the same name. (Someone else, wish I remember who, said there was literature on that already out there. See my post above about malevolent time-travelers.)
One is the idea of balancing out a wrong by inflicting some sort of righteous, justified revenge and cruelty against a vile individual or someone who does a vile deed. Here, justice is about what people (victims and perpetrators alike) deserve.
The second is about trying to take humanity’s nastier impulses and activities and disincentivize, blunt, prevent, or pre-empt them. Here, justice is about improving the world we live in.
Sometimes the two can look the same, like a prison sentence that’s about punishment and a prison sentence that’s about creating a policy of deterrence and removing a dangerous element from society until he’s reformed.
But I’ve noticed that even then the differences shine through, with the cruelty-as-justice crowd pushing for arbitrarily nastier sentences without giving a solitary damn about attempting reform or asking at what point the prisoner isn’t a threat or when extra years stops being an additional deterrent.
So I joke a lot about doing a lot of awful things to the worst villains in this comic. I do this because A) they’re not real people and B) they do deserve it and C) I’m trying to be funny.
But in my more serious moments (I have them, honest!), I really, really, really, really don’t buy into the idea of deserved justice. It’s got a kind of intuitive, culturally-instilled, automatic that-makes-sense-feel to it, but any time I take a breath and examine it in depth it’s just ew. Every time we choose that one over the other, we place a hedo0nistic expression of our own primal rage over making the world a better place.
That’s not to say love and cookies for all no matter how awful they’ve been. If someone can’t be reformed and will remain a dire threat to people for their entire life, then lock them in a cage where they can’t hurt anyone. Perhaps, MAYBE, if we don’t think a cage can hold them and they’re a super-duper threat, execute them. All of that still meets the “better world” criteria. But do so as humanely as possible, and do so out of necessity rather than out of fury.
I recognize that a lot of people have very strong passions about certain crimes, experiencing all sorts of rage or trauma in response. And that’s great. (Well, no, trauma isn’t great, but I mean I’m not the tone police.) But when so many people start calling for Ryan to suffer in so many ways….
… well, yes, he DESERVES it…
… and yes, I get swept up in that passion, and run with it, and try to be humorous about it because jokes aren’t real (just ask my Grav), and Ryan isn’t real either…
… but after a bit of that my skin starts crawling and I start feeling icky.
And again, he DESERVES it…
… but deep down, I don’t think justice is about what any of us deserve. It has to be more than that.
And what really has me skin crawling right now, more than it almost ever has on this subject?
That revenge-based deserved justice? That’s Panel 1 Ryan’s unfinished business.
I think one of the big things to take into account when talking about how people respond to the comic, as you did mention, is that it’s fictional. I don’t believe in the death penalty, I’m deeply critical of the prison system, and I don’t even really wish suffering on my own rapist.
But with Ryan? I wouldn’t mind one bit if it hurts.
In real life, Ryan needs to be stopped. Whatever stops him makes the world a better place.
In real life, nothing short of severe permanent physical disability is likely to stop him. Think about Cerberus’s student – raped on camera in a school, and the system closed ranks to protect the rapist.
Literally the only reason I can think of why gelding Ryan is a wrong thing to wish for… is that he might just double down and become a serial killer. In which case, geld him and cut off his hands.
Or just, y’know, kill him.
Texas has a “needed killing” defense last I heard. And IIRC, within the last two decades, someone was acquitted under that law for killing youths who were vandalizing his car. So if this were set in Texas, then killing Ryan in cold blood would apparently be a sane, reasonable, legal thing to do. Not out of vengeance, but simply to make the world a better place.
Ryan just stalked them looked for a moment of weakness and attacked them with a knife. Everything about what he did and said implies he intends to remain a threat to there lives as long as he lives. It would be difficult to prove but I think this is a legitimate needed killing
Not really. He’s a threat now, but a nice long stay in prison is likely to take care of that. Which attempted murder or even assault with a deadly weapon should get him, even without the rape charges.
Despite what the media sometimes shows, barring strong personal connections people rarely get out of prison and go seeking revenge on victims from years ago.
In real life, I’d agree with you – focus on reform (though I do believe even when someone has been reformed, some time away from society as a punitive consequence is fair), keep in prison basically. I don’t believe in the death penalty.
That said, when it comes to fictional characters, I am 1000% okay with wishing violence and or death because they are not real. Once it moves into real life, it crosses into ‘not okay’ territory for me.
That said, I definitely think yours is a fair moral line.
When it comes to criminal justice, I agree. When it comes to a person defending herself from an attacker, I don’t have any problem getting a little schadenfreudey.
In an ideal world where criminalized are penalized and meet justice fairly and white frat boys don’t routinely get away with gang rape and white criminals are given the same penalties as everyone else, I would one hundred percent agree with you. In a criminal justice system, I agree with you.
In the world we live right now, with privileged rapists and racist murderers walking free, with hate crimes rampant and white supremacists getting police protection while BLM are given police brutality, I guess I lean more towards the side of: ‘if justice isn’t available, vengeance will do.’
Now it’s time for Amber to stop talking in that Christian Bale voice and start talking in a Heath Ledger. Why so angry Ryan? Let’s put a smile on that face!
Okay, I love the touch with the book. As has already been mentioned, it’s not to keep “Ryan” out. It’s to keep Dorothy IN. That implies Amber will be holding absolutely nothing back, further evidenced by her disarming him with no effort at all.
If you are using Firefox grab NoScript and Adblock addons. Together they block most problematic content. My guess is that ads showed by DoA got infected and now they spread their stuff.
The only problem I have with all this is so far Ryan has been presented as a semi intelligent rapist. He chooses his targets well and uses roofies so he can easily cover up his crime, but now it’s like he’s snapped. Did he really think he could assault Dorothy, Amber, and Joyce in a public building with plenty of potential witnesses and get away with it? It’s one thing for the police to arrest and possibly try him, but unless he was stupid enough to keep his roofies they wouldn’t have any evidence except Joyce’s accusation and we all know how often that results in a conviction. Hell actual rapists have gotten less at sentencing. At worst Ryan’s reputation would be tarnished and it would be more difficult to operate in the future. Ironically Amber delivering a severe beatdown is better for him than succeeding at getting revenge which would’ve likely get him sent to prison for 3 counts of attempted murder and assault and battery. And I doubt the general population would view him as a tough guy so he’s probably end up property of the Aryan Brotherhood by lights out.
I agree. I can see why the story narrative is served by this turn of events, but it turns Ryan into a different type of villain. Then again, he failed in his original attempted rape because he got impatient, so maybe this is in character for him.
I think you’re giving Ryan too much credit here. At the party he got annoyed the drugs were taking too long and basically told her “I’m an evil angry rapist about to rape” and got smashed in the face with a glass.
So, getting annoyed at at his picture going out and saying “I’m an evil angry stabber about to stab” seems right up his alley.
Actually using roofies is a terrible idea? They leave evidence behind on his victim’s blood stream. The vast majority of rapists prefer just choosing victims who are already drunk and then getting them much more drunk and dragging them home.
Same general effect as roofies, but the rapist knows their victim will blame themselves for drinking too much, and that most people won’t consider them a rapist even though they did it on purpose and legally they absolutely are.
Sitcoms portray finding a woman who’s too drunk to consent as “getting lucky”, so… society is very much on their side.
Anyway, lots of people wrongly believe that rape accusations ruin lives, and maybe there’s something in Ryan’s family that makes him particularly think he’s going down — like maybe he’s already on thin ice with his dad, etc etc.
I agree this isn’t brilliant but Ryan never was. He was entitled, arrogant, and quick to anger, all of which fits with and feeds into this confrontation.
PS I know you did not mean it this way, but your last line is technically a rape joke? We’ve got several admitted rape survivors in the comics, and while survivor sentiment varies, the general consensus seems to be “hearing other people hope rapists will get raped in prison doesn’t make us feel better.” (Also prison rape is a huge problem, and does not always or only happen to rapists.)
It’s difficult to prove who actually planted the roofies. If you can find the provider then you can make a case, but like you said too often the perpetrators get away with it because the victim is too ashamed and juries aren’t as sympathetic unless it’s the more familiar attack and rape. And my last line was not a joke, but a statement of fact. I agree it feels cathartic at first, but it’s a lot like Theon Greyjoy’s torture at the hands of Ramsay Bolton. It was satisfying at first on account of what he did, but after awhile you start to feel sorry for the poor bastard.
Semen + drugs in the bloodstream + the odds that someone in the bar saw you two leaving together…? I’m very sure rapists still get away with it, but it IS made much more difficult by using roofies.
This is one of a plethora of reasons why shit like date rape nail polish is useless (plus that it was full of false negatives and positives once outside the laboratory).
An unfortunate understanding of a very very toxic mindset, this one happening to be where men believe they are free of consequences from their actions and they have a right to rule and inflict their whims at will.
Ryan is about to find out, in an unquestionably horrific way, that there are consequences to his actions.
I know it’s not okay to goad someone into evil…But I really hope Ryan gets messed up! I just don’t want Amber to go pass the morality point of no return! AUGH!
DARN IT, WILLIS! Why couldn’t you have just dropped a meteorite on Ryan’s head with the words “God says STFU” on it?!?
There’s no morality point of no return here. If Amber took the now-dropped knife and stabs Ryan in the gut 50 times, she’d still be all safe and warm in the full do-gooder zone. Certainly much more than that time where she stabbed someone under police custody through the hand, or when AG tried to goad Sal, Malaya and Marcie into attacking her so she could beat them up.
For some reason, he didn’t expect her to physically be able to deal with him, though he had two tries at knowing better.
And probably he sees something in her eyes in Panel 4 that he didn’t expect…
Amber is right, he is unlucky Amazi-Girl is not there. Amber protecting a friend agains someone with a knife will end badly – for him. And for her it will only go well if she manages to not kill him.
Sorry abou the avatar roulette, I deleted all cookies and don’t remember with upper/lower combination gave an avatar I liked.
On another note, asking as a non-american, what kind of influence would a pastor have politically? Asking because of how Frieda and Whitney were talking about Ryan like he’s from a very powerful family. (It’s probably been discussed before, but I don’t always read the comments section)
As a non-American, I’d venture that it would depend on the pastor and the place – presumably, Ryan’s father is one of the top-dog pastors around, and this being the state of Indiana, I’d wager “a lot.” How much of that influence he would be able to bring to bear against a University that is already awash in the scandal of having some dude hunting down his daughter for being a lesbian MIGHT be a different issue, but Indiana did give us vice-president Pence, whose great question about life seems to be if LGBTQIAA folk are better handled through electrocussion or rape, soooo…
In my (religious conservative) region of Canada, the pastor of the biggest church in town is basically a second (unelected, faith-based) mayor of the town. They’ve got a lot of power – they decide whether a family that just had a house fire gets a fundraiser in their support, which family with a sick kid gets help for medical expenses (yeah doctors are covered in the great white north, but medicine, living expenses, and travel to doctors aren’t, so if you need a transplant and have to go live 3000km away in Toronto until you get lucky or die waiting, it’s expensive), which political causes get support (antichoice pastors are the big reason that while de jure there is no legal restriction on abortion in Canada, de facto some regions have no access at all and in many you either have to pay hundreds to get it done in a private facility – despite the fact that, legally, the province should be picking up the tab – or roll the dice and hope you can find two doctors willing to sign off on it before you hit an extremely low cut-off (in my province, public abortions are only done to 12 weeks, and until last year you needed two different doctors to sign off on it. Now you only need one, but you have to travel to 2 hospitals that do it in the entire province and get an opening before the 12wk cutoff. Good luck, because they class it as a surgical procedure and wait list for the OR in each of those facilities is >16 weeks. So unless you get lucky, it’s not happening. But it gives the government an easy ‘win’ to be able to pose as if they’re Oh So Progressive by requiring the province treat a routine medical procedure as a routine medical procedure while denying funding for clinic abortions which are safer, cheaper, faster, and a better patient experience).
In the US, they’re even more powerful. In most religion heavy regions I’ve visited, religious leaders seem to be one part politician, one part activist, one part celebrity. Like local US talk radio and TV stations often have religious leaders on to opine about politics instead of spokespeople for the politicians under discussion or activists directly involved in the issue. I’d argue in certain US regions, if you want to rule the community, don’t become a politician – become a faith leader.
Like, there’s a damn good reason L. Ron Hubbard often said religion was the best racket going in the US – and later founded scientology. He was an evil bastard, but he knew opportunity for power when he saw it.
L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology as a result of a $50 bet with Robert Heinlein that he could start a religion and get people to follow. Apparently, it was the easiest $50 he ever made.
It honestly depends on the type of pastor and what part of the country he’s in. In the bible belt and South big time priests and pastors hold a substantial amount of political power, less so in more liberal areas.
At first, I thought the book was to keep Ryan from getting in (which seems to have been his thought as well), and was getting quite worried for Amber, but I realized that that wouldn’t make too much sense – he, being on the same side as the book, can easily remove it. Now, it could be to prevent Dorothy from getting into the fight and getting hurt, but – seeing as Dorothy knows Amber is Amazi-Girl, and hence is a capable fighter, unlike herself – a simple “Stay back!” or something would suffice.
Most likely, Amber is confident about the fight (which makes me quite confident too, and makes me wonder what the hell Ryan was thinking trying to fight Amazi-Girl), and doesn’t want Dorothy to stop her. Which means things look very, very bad for Ryan. Which is great 😡
The panels are looking red and the fan is looking mighty brown right now. Is the next strip called catharsis, Willis?
And if we needed further proof that Ryan is a little coward shit, note that the fucker had a big ass-knife (in b4 “you call that a knife? THIS is a knife”) and he was STILL shitting his pants because Joe is bigger than him.
Side note: I hope that 3rd panel thing is for dramatic purposes, because a door that can be barred that easily just stinks of fire hazard.
Not physically – she has the training and the physical prowess that I have confidence she’ll be able to beat Ryan.
I am worried for her mentally. When she is finished giving him the thrashing he so richly deserves – what will the consequences be to her? What mental health fallout will this have? She’s already worried she’s going to become her father – what happens when she puts Ryan in there with her father?
Cuz that’s where I see this going unless campus police happen along.
It’s funny how we can approach the exact same situation and have completely different expected results: I think this is good for Amber, because much of her issues originated in the “Sal taking Ethan hostage” event, and this is a similar one where she’s going to stop the assailant.
I can see that from a closure on the Sal Incident side, but she’s also an abused kid who’s swallowed the cycle of abuse narrative hook, line and sinker. I know, for me – part of why I have no intention of reproducing (like around number 6, after “I don’t want kids” and “I travel too much for child-rearing” and “I don’t want kids” and “I’d have to stop working in a lab for over a year” and “I am not a kid person” and “I don’t want kids”) is that I grew up in an abusive household and whenever I do care for kids, I am literally always fighting against what I was brought up with. I internalized the pattern, and I am not confident I can NOT be an abusive shit to a child in my long-term care, so I will not accept responsibility to care for a child in the long term.
Like, every time I’m the primary carer for a kid and I get at all annoyed with them, I am monitoring my actions – was I wrong to yell? Did I fuck that up? Was I too rough in grabbing the kid and hauling them back from the road with oncoming traffic? Is it relief that the kid is OK that I’m feeling or is it satisfaction that they hurt their knee when I hauled them away from the road? I can’t tell – what if it’s both? What the fuck is wrong with me if I feel satisfaction over a toddler getting hurt?!
If I know I’m going to have to spend time caring for kids all day, I’m up worrying the night before. Is this going to be it? Is this going to be the time I lose it and give in to the impulse to smack a kid in the face for whining?
Cuz that is an impulse I feel if I have to care for a kid. I was brought up in a household where if you, as the child, were annoying the adult, the adult’s first response was a threat of violence, and the second response was actual violence. And I am always terrified that I’m going to act out that pattern. It’s what I know, and it is my knee-jerk impulse. Like, I’m not worrying I’ll do something I’d never do. I’m worrying I’ll give in to an impulse I do actually have. One that I have, thankfully, restrained ever since I became old enough to realize that I wasn’t “exerting authority,” I was being a bully and a tyrant (so around age 12 or so – I grew up in that sort of conservative household where girl kids get drafted as auxiliary child-rearers early) – but I know if I’m caring for kids for more than a couple hours, the chances go up that I’ll fuck up. And the consequences of fucking up don’t bear thinking about. So I keep myself out of direct-carer responsibility for kids. And I wouldn’t work or volunteer in a setting that puts me in unsupervised authority over kids. Like Amber sabotages her romantic relationships. Because the terror of becoming who you hate is too strong.
My fear for Amber is that she’ll see defending Dorothy not as making amends for freezing with Sal, but as releasing the anger her father taught her. And from experience: The situations where you do release your abuser’s anger – justified or not – stay with you, and haunt you. Like, on a down day I still pull up the time I punched a kid at school who’d bullied me for years in the face because he gave me an excuse when I was already in a pissed off mood. Most people would say that he deserved it for having engaged in sexual, physical and emotional harassment of me for years prior to that, and I did know from experience that his pattern was to insult me and then physically assault me or pinch my ass if he could reach it, but for me? I see that as the day I discovered I have too much of my own father in me. That was the day I found out I can hurt people – and, in fact, some part of me enjoys hurting people – who are no immediate threat to me, but rather just pissed me off in that moment. Because I didn’t do it because I knew he was about to hurt me – I did it because he pissed me off and I lost my temper. As a result, to this day, I see that as a bad thing I did. Because for just a moment, I became my father. I didn’t do it to defend myself. I did it because he pissed me off and I wanted to give him a bloody lip for it, so I did. That’s my father in me – and that’s the person I become if I don’t fight against my violent impulses all the time. And the worst part is that it worked, where years of trying to resolve that situation the “right” (non-violent) way didn’t. I punched him in the face and gave him a bloody lip, and he never bothered me again. I say “worst part” because my father would always say that violence is often the only thing that will get shit done, and that? Reinforced that he was right about it. Years of nonviolence accomplished nothing, but one punch to the face got that asshole off my back. But if I accept Dad was right about the use of violence, does that also accept the ideology that made him a physically abusive parent?
Anyway, I see a lot of me in Amber, and what scares me for her here is that she’s really pissed off right now – we’ve got the red panels. I am scared she’ll see this as releasing her father, like I saw punching that guy as releasing my father, and that it’s going to stick with her and haunt her.
And thing is, if your an abuse victim, it’s not true that if you’re afraid of becoming your abuser you won’t become them.
My father was terrified fo becoming his dad. He didn’t want his kids to be afraid of him. He wanted to be different.
And yet, he did become his dad, his kids are afraid of him, and he’s different only in degree (he’s right when he says he’s not as bad as his father – my dad never broke bones or used weapons). That’s what sticks with me. Good intentions aren’t enough to make you different from the one who brought you up. Intent isn’t magic, and actions matter.
By which I mean: You can be different. You can break the cycle. But simply wanting to be different isn’t enough.
For me, the only way I can be certain, at this point in time with this head space I have, that I won’t become my father is to never give myself the chance to be him. So I won’t. For one of my siblings, what that looks like is telling her husband she needs to take a walk whenever she feels herself getting close. For another person I know, it looked like being a single parent because she says she “seems to gravitate” to abusers and she didn’t want her kids dealing with that. A third person I know has somehow managed to avoid both anger issues and a history of abusive relationships, so he he has a happy family with his partner. So different is possible and I’m not saying it’s not. But wanting to be different isn’t enough – you have to actually be different.
<3. Support for you, and mad props for the thousands of times that you have refused to give in.
I find that it's way easier cognitively to do a specific healthy action, vs. trying hard to not do the unhealthy action.
If you ever want, there are classes and such to create a new, healthier paradigm in your mind, so that you can have a healthy model of behavior that you can freely pick, one that isn’t your family’s default abusive model. I don’t imagine that it’s easy, but you’re already doing the cognitively harder version, so I bet you could do really well at it if it’s something you ever want to explore.
This is so true. My father was abusive, my grandfather much more so, and his father apparently an outright monster. And now that my kids have moved away, I realize…
I thought when I grew up that I would stop wishing I were someone else.
Maybe??? She’s still clearly thinking about it as “Amazi-Girl is rightous and a healthy outlet for anger, Amber is a super violent fuck up whos cruel and Bad” it’s just that right now she WANTS to be super violent and cruel. whatever happens here might not clear up that distinction, just renforces it
Plus, Mike forced her to realize it is Blaine she takes after (not her mom-as-victim) I think this is where her resigned tears are coming from. She’s gonna suck-it-up, and “Go Blaine” all over not-Ryan, to protect her friends.
Like Cerberus mentioned, Golden Alter AG has left Amber to deal with it.
Damn, this is one of the most intense strips I’ve ever seen. Heart pounding.
‘Ryan’, if you’d been lucky, you’d live in Norway and be picked up by a well-trained cops and delivered to a justice system that focuses on rehabilitation and my better half would prefer that. But I won’t lose any sleep if you go backwards down those steps and land on a conveyor belt into the American prison system. We may not be much good at apprehending rapists but a guy who threatens two college girls with a knife? Juries will not take that kindly. At the moment I’m more worried about Amber than you.
This story arc is a little bit personal to me. I went to a Christian college in Tennessee and knew a lot of pastors’ sons. Most were just unequipped to make ethical choices on their own, having always had that done for them. One was violent and scary. Once I was sweeping up in the student union building and saw him gripping his girlfriend’s hands while she said stop you’re hurting me. I just stared at him, holding the broom, even though he would have been more than a match for me, and he let her go. He was a cruel person, and went on to be the pastor of a megachurch.
I’ve read this webcomic for a while, and I simply cannot be the only one thinking about this. Because of all of Amber’s repeated statements that she and Amazi-Girl are different people… Could that be true? She literally punched Danny just because he tried to be with Amber and not Amazi-Girl, Amazi-Girl’s statements at the rally towards Sal about how Amazi-Girl protects Sal from Amber… And now Amber telling Ryan that she isn’t Amazi-Girl.
Does Amber have Dissociative identity disorder?
Or Split Personality Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder, I really don’t care. But I think that fact that she keeps on differentiating between the two makes me quite nervous, and I wouldn’t be surprised.
That or I’m just looking into Willis way too much.
As bad as this might be for Amber, I do love it when people like Ryan escalate their Ryan-ness to levels the cops can’t ignore in a desperate bid to get back at people for giving them consequences and also fail to cause any damage doing it.
What I want to know is: who’s crying? If Amber is crying she doesn’t seem to be aware of it. Is AG crying from within her? This just reminds me too much of Crying Freeman. The central conceit of that series is if you ever see the title character looking at you with tears in his eyes it means you’re already dead; you just don’t know it yet.
I think those are Amber’s tears due to facing her greatest fear. (Letting a friend down because of a knife wielding lunatic.) She is either unaware of the tears because of her fear or ignoring them as she confronts her fear. I suspect the latter. Her smile suggests she realizes she has a chance at redemption.
The scariest part: We keep seeing the Red Background, but there are no corresponding flashbacks. It’s like, that’s no longer her worst day. THIS is her worst day.
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(not) nice knowin’ ya, Ry
time to die
I mean….he actually might die.
Willis has a no-death policy, but hasn’t said anything about lifelong comas.
I thought his no-death policy was just for the main cast? Which Ryan is not part of. Tho I may be mistaken
Yeah, if I recall he even used Tony as an example of someone who wouldn’t fall under the no-death policy.
RIP Tony (again).
There are security cameras around, right? Even if this is open-and-shut Self Defense, something has to stop Amber before she kills him, unless Willis really, really wants to explore writing about the legal system.
If there are security cameras pointed anywhere, then they’d be pointed at the main entrance.
And since Willis is doing a realistic reboot one comic universe, why not another?
LAWSOME.
Tomorrow: Mike kicks Ryan in the balls.
Ryan is not likely to die in any case. Her own father only got stomped into the hospital and that was a lot more personal. My question is what does witnessing the coming violence do to Dorothy? Talk about potential trauma.
But, that’s out-of-universe thinking. I don’t want to break the in-universe suspense!
Anyway I would like Amber to hold him at knifepoint or something. Satisfying, with lots of chance for impressive one-liners, and a spiffy mirror to Amber’s formative Sal-trauma.
I feel like that policy might only extend to important characters… and not violent 1-note scum like Ryan.
Think about it. Dorothy dies, the grieving period lasts for in-universe months if not longer, and real life years.
Ryan dies, story arc over, characters deal with the natural fallout + ‘I killed someone and I was already emotionally unstable before.’
Realistically I feel that anyone one of the cast actually killing someone would be a drastic tone shift even for DoA which has handled dark stuff in the past. So I seriously doubt Ryan will die here. I mean the last thing I want to read here for the next two years is a court drama about Amber’s right to kill a man in self defense. This is Dumbing of Age not Law and Order.
It’d tie the story up in the legal consequences for as long as a main-cast-member’s death would, too.
Hopefully what we’re gonna see is (a) Ryan hospitalised and charged, and (b) Amber hospitalised and helped.
(@Kris: wait, what I said is… what you already said. i is a dumm, and will try not to post when half-asleep)
Lawsome and Dumbder!
…
yeah I guess not
Yeah, turning DoA into Law and Order would be… DUMB DUMB
… “It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.”
Shiny!
The idea behind “NO DEATHS” is that characters who knew the deceased directly would be grieving for pretty much the rest of the comic. It would derail their story arcs entirely.
Amber killing Ryan only really scars her, but I think it would be enough that it’s something to avoid.
It could also effect Dorothy, Joyce, Sal, and Sarah, Robin, and Leslie because they could be asking themselves if they should have done something different to prevent Ambers tragedy. If only I’d not went to that party, went to the police right away, not warned people about him on social media, actually screened my employees…
I mean that could’ve happened with Toedad. I feel like Ryan dying is super possible.
Also silent on the topic of kneecaps. Similar to the Bible in that respect.
Willis also reserves the right to come up with a better idea.
No death, but the last time Amber responded to a knife threat… parts of the offender’s anatomy were punctured.
Hope you like wearing gloves,Ryan.
Well, considering the next comic…I guess the policy is no longer in effect.
I don’t know why he swallowed the fly
Perhaps he’ll die?
On his tombstone: “Here lies Ryan. Karma is a bongo. Especially, when you piss her off.”
Oh man, Taffy, that is the world’s best possible way that you could have made your comment experience into a gravatar.
Unlikely. However, it is likely he’ll be stabbed with his own knife, because irony is the holy grail.
Amber has experience in stabbing.
And he’s pretty sure it’s someone else’s fault but his.
So that’s what Amber was afraid of…That’s the face of someone entering a berserker rage – an uncontrollable genetic-based combat state (not to be confused with anger management issues).
Scar boy’s toast.
Many people thinking a berserker rage is like being angry (and they envision someone like hulk). It’s not true. Berserking was something people were bred for to be elite warriors in old germanic and norse tribes, and most people can’t go into one. It’s a temporary shutdown of sapience and forebrain thought, and the subconscious (which thinks at about 10x the speed of the normal brain) short circuits to direct control of everything. Any muscle-memory combat skills remain, but any non-muscle-memory combat skill goes away (if you have to think about it, it doesn’t happen!); conscious thought doesn’t control the body anymore. (It’s like if “you” stepped away from the steering wheel and let someone else take over. You can have thoughts, but they don’t affect the body until the rage ends, which is generally when all threats are neutralized.) In a berserker rage, you can’t feel pain, adrenaline is as full blast (the same chemical that lets little old ladies lift up a car in an emergency), and you’re effectively immune to shock (shock kills people who’ve been shot more often than the bullets do). A Beserker reacts 10x as fast as a normal human while in rage, retains muscle-memory combat, has no capability for remorse, regret, or hesitation, and gets primal animal instincts topping it off (biting and clawing while in a rage is common). Also explains the super-hero bit. True beserkers are rare, but early on most generally learn they need to separate threat situations from the instincts, so they can have mentality of “I got this” and “This isn’t really a threat” to prevent themselves from going into the rage. By significantly raising the “I got this” bar, they avoid the rage being triggered except for the most serious threats.
So if Amazi-girl is impressive, Beserker Amber will be literally ten times more capable, but also heartless, brutal, and she will really hate herself in the morning.
He may or may not survive this, but at minimum, especially losing his weapon, he will be hospitalized. His main hope for survival is if she renders him unconscious (or barely mobile, writhing on the ground in pain) quickly.
FYI, that face makes everything about Amber that I’ve seen move from the earlier times move from “pushing the envelope of reality” to falling squarely in the world of completely possible. Her face is smiling not because she’s happy but because it takes fewer muscles to smile than frown. She’s crying because it’s less muscle work to let those ducts be open.
It’s almost a zen kind of a state; a point of absolute release.
In old nordic/germanic times, stories tell of beserkers who would come back from war, and -something- would trigger their rage (say finding someone beating a loved one) and then the beserker wipes out the whole village and is later found alive despite being peppered full of arrows – because if the beserker doesn’t reach a “all threats neutralized” state, the rage continues, so if someone tries to calm them down, or restrain them, or stop them from killing (or shoot them with an arrow which doesn’t work as well due to the immunity from shock), the rage continues until the beserker is dead from blood loss or … all threats are neutralized – which is potentially the whole village if they try to stop the beserker.
Meamoi, I’m going yo say something nice to you: You command a wealth of helpful knowledge pertaining to terrible and horrific things.
(hehehe. Seriously, where did you learn all that stuff?)
As far as my knowledge of actual genetic berserkers… I’m one. My first rage was triggered when some bullies about twice my age (they were highschoolers, I was elementary school) decided my younger sister was a valid target for bullying. I didn’t know what a beserker was before that. All of them were hospitalized, while I only had a few scratches (teeth were used and flesh was lost). When they were all down, there was no one even remotely approaching. I found out my Dad had similar history (served him will in the military, but apparently I was an early bloomer). So then that night I learned was a beserker was, was sat down and taught the history and the stories, read up on the old norse stuff, and then promptly enrolled in martial arts and required to learn meditation.
Despite the “super power” way it’s occasionally portrayed in fiction, it’s anything but. It’s nightmarish knowing environmental situations can rob you of your free will. Since then, with the martial arts and the meditation, I’ve only raged once since, and I remembered the feeling from the first time so I was able to get myself to a place without people before it fully came on. Second time, noone got hurt, but I did end up breaking 4 half-inch-think steel beams in half before I came out of it. Kept one of them as a reminder. :/ Normally 25 pushups winds me, for comparison.
Hey do you have actual experience with that?
I think I’ve hit something like it a few times but I didn’t hurt the people trying to hold me, just kept moving forward, and I stopped short of violence when the people threatening me acted in a submissive/non-threatening manner. Smile was there and threats/violence calculations too. It felt like cotton filled up my brain and my eyes were focused but unfocused? Like I didn’t really remember the persons face afterwards which people say you never forget?
Yea, I do. (See my response to Fidalgo for the stories). What you’re describing doesn’t sound like a rage, but it does sound kind of like the moments leading up to it. I don’t remember people’s faces from it either. That’s an interesting point, actually. Facial recognition is more a conscious mind thing – ways of cataloging people. Faces actually aren’t nearly as distinct as we act like they are, we’re just wired that way.
It could be you have berserker linage too, if so, I’d suggest taking martial arts and meditation. That said, it is a genetic thing, so there’s the chance you could have some of the traits of a berserker, but not all of them necessary to make a true berserker. But if the risk is there, best to keep it from happening (or at the very least, get the ability to control its release.) And if you don’t have the full thing, at least you got some more self-confidence and a higher level of inner peace, which isn’t a bad thing. 🙂
In my experience, this is not entirely true.
There is a good deal of apparent time compression versus actual time, and the mind, in some cases, becomes both detached, more observant of one’s surroundings, and a good deal of muscle memory comes into play. Pain is not shut off, but is often ignored or dulled For the moment, when there is time to assess the situation in greater detail.
This state can be maintained during an extended crisis situation, with practice. Many call this “living in the moment”.
It is true that the ‘bezerker state’ you described does exist and can be trained for, but as I said, there are those who are completely conscious of what they are doing when in this sort of detached state of mind, and these are usually much more dangerous to their opponents, as they are constantly analyzing the situation, looking for openings and best attack and defense moves, and silently executing them before the opponent has a chance to react.
Two such opponents facing off against each other, is usually almost like a silent dance, with only the sound of the air and clothing moving, giving indication of the force behind each blow.
Whether or not this qualifies as a bezerker rage is debatable, but having been in such a state when drawn into fights, where anger was a major motivating force, I can only speak from my personal experience. I never started fights, but always ended them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Whether I won or lost the fight depends on one’s perspective. By giving into my emotions and fighting, one could say I lost before I began. But fighting in self-defense or defense of others, is an acceptable response.
JasonAW3, I recognized the state you’re talking about (in my response to Fidalgo, I mention my own personal experience with Beserker Rage, and follow-up training in martial arts to prevent that state.) What you’re describing is more of an adrenaline rush with combat training. I’ve had those before too, after the martial arts training, and they are -very- different than the berserker rage. In both, adrenaline is pumping, but the mental state is both is very different.
For example, even if your relfexs are faster, in a berserker rage, time doesn’t compress so much as just becomes a collection snapshots. The conscious brain is where time is recorded, so since it stops controlling, you only develop memories when the subconscious spares some resources for the conscious. It like falling asleep for 2 seconds, waking up for 1, sleeping for 2, waking up for one, and your body is doing stuff the entire time, but it’s snapping fast enough to where you’re still “there”.
And is beserker rage, there is no “facing off against an opponent”. For one, if there’s facing off, that’s time of not attacking which beserker rage doesn’t allow. Secondly, there are no such things as opponenets in a berserker rage, only targets… no, target isn’t even a good word… prey. There is only prey. Flight vs flight also is removed as a choice – there is only fight.
And as mentioned… anger.. really isn’t a thing in a beserker rage (the name is really misleading). Anger can trigger it, but once the rage starts, the anger goes away.
Sounds like you had a berzerker state exerience, too, Jason.
I disagree about the forebrain shutting down, though – it retreats to an advisory role, but it does give expert advice on holds, throws, jump kicks etc.
I felt very analytical when entering that stage, at times out of red rage.
What did get shut off was the value system. Act first, ask questions about morality later.
A red rage…. but the forebrain playing an advisory role… not quite my experience, but it does sound similar -enough- to where you’re making me wonder how many things could be categorized as similar to a berserker rage but are different things…
Here’s another one for you, what I think of as my “Irish temper” – either a split second, or several seconds of blackout rage, then stunned shock afterwards. The first time, I don’t remember enough to be sure how long it was; Mean Girl spat on me, and then people were pulling me off as I’d gone for her throat. The other two times, it was a single punch and then I got myself back under control. Besides an odd blank spot in a rugby game, I think that was it; somehow I got it suppressed, probably in an unhealthy way, long before I discovered meditation.
he got caught monologuing
Rookie mistake.
This is my favorite comment!
“I mean, this guy has me right where he wants me, and he WON’T SHUT UP!”
It’ll be perfect if sal shows up to give her comfert
She doesn’t have to kill him to destroy him. Breaking his neck with a club-arm blow at the top of the shoulders would leave him a para- or quadriplegic. One would be mostly-helpless until therapy, the other would be completely helpless. That would more completely destroy “Ryan” than actually killing him.
“I took away his weapon. Both of them.”
Technically, he has four weapons that need taking away…
Five. He uses his dick as a weapon, too.
I don’t think Willis belongs to the “disability as penance” line of thought, though.
not having a dick is NOT A DISABILITY
I mean if you used to have a dick, and it got stabbed off, I feel like that could be pretty debilitating. This isn’t surgery. But I think CJ was probably referencing Opus’s earlier comment about para/quadraplegia
Your interpretation of CJ’s post is probably correct, but mine is definitely more hilarious.
With that male avatar, your interpretation is not as impossible as it might have been with a female avatar.
Right. And one can rape without a pens. The lawyer on my family says it’s usually called gross sexual imposition.
Bye-bye, Ry-Ry. As you die before my eye, I’ll let out no sigh nor cry. You were a shitty guy. No lie.
Time for pie.
Here’s my lullaby to close your eyes…
It was always you that I despised…
“I don’t feel enough for you to cry…”
Ay-yi-yi…
No reply.
How could I?
You so fly.
Yes. Be as an avenging angel so terrible, even Satan himself would seek atonement, lest he face you on the battlefield of Armageddon!
I wouldn’t kill him Death is too good for people like him. Manual castration as a start. And then continue with things that will cause lasting pain and suffering. Including taking the knife and introducing it to his rectal opening. But I’m someone who doesn’t take kindly to people like this. I’m a firm believer that once convicted, the offender should be tied in a chair, locked in the room with the family/friends of the victim and let nature take its course for an hour or two. If anything is left alive, THAT goes to jail.
It’s true, I’m not
No, you are clearly Becky.
Gravs need a bit of coaxing before they’ll cooperate.
I don’t think “Ryan” planned things out that well. And is Amber about to kill someone?
Doubtful. If she does, she’s going to jail and will probably have to leave the comic. She’s one of the central characters along with Billie, Sal, Joyce, Becky, Sarah, and Dorothy, so I find that unlikely.
It would be extremely easy to make a case for self-defense in this situation, considering he stalked them across campus with a knife, clearly attacked them, and she was in fear for her life.
Plus there’s her obvious mental health issues to take into account. (Though I know that’s not easy to prove in court). I don’t think this will end with her killing him though.
That court process takes months and she’s probably be waiting for trial in a cell.
There are security cameras aren’t there? If there’s footage of Ryan coming at her with a knife, I really doubt she’d need a trial.
His Daddy’s a pastor, he seems to come from a background of wealth and privilege, it’s a red state, and lots of Retweetlicans support him.
He attacked two girls with a knife. He’s in deep shit regardless.
45 claimed he groped women without consent, and he got himself elected. Being in deep shit seems to be taking a while.
Yeah, but the girls provoked him, so they deserved to be attacked with a knife, because this guy is rich and white and Christian. He’s in no trouble at all, especially considering that his family can probably afford decent lawyers, which neither Amber nor Dorothy’s families could.
It depends on what reality we are facing in this strip. In reality, a guy with sexual assault accusations attacking two white female students on this campus? A campus where such a thing would invoke the cases of Jill Berman and Lauren Spierer? Yeah, that guy would be toast.
In this story, however? Who knows?
There’s always the possibility that his rich, well-connected father is a decent person and disowns him when things come to light. He did seem rather concerned in yesterday’s strip about his dad seeing “that shit,” so maybe the beating he’s about to receive is preferable to what his dad will do if he finds out why it happened.
And with any luck once he’s in custody/crippled/dead, other girls he’s hurt will come forward.
You should add Blain (Ambers dad) into your calculations.
He’s worried that he’s in trouble with his father, especially after his dad sees that video. Joyce may decide to come clean about his attempted rape and Dorothy is there as a witness that he came at them with a knife. Unless Amber kills him, his chances of looking like an innocent victim are not great.
They’re at the main entrance to a school building, and now Dorothy’s making a racket inside. It’s highly likely they’re under a camera, or at least attracting attention by now.
Death? No…. beaten within inches of life, mangled in such a way to never harm another living soul, drown in the horrors of the Pandora’s box he opened… maybe.
Side note: he drew a knife on her (with a witness), after he was stalking them, in court she could easily win… even if she’s not kind enough to let him breath ever again.
Indiana’s stand your ground law is in effect, though.
It depends on how good the cops and prosecution are in the area, I’d say.
Nah, you don’t really die from having your femurs removed. It’s the massive blood loss after, so theoretically if the campus cops get there fast enough…
Also, there’s at least two different types of shock to worry about.
He planned his stalking pretty well. But, y’know, didn’t know what to do with the car once he caught it.
Amber’s fully capable of killing him right now. She put Blaine in the hospital with her bare hands, and that knife ain’t gonna be in Ryan’s hand for much longer…
Also, side note, Ryan is holding that knife like a complete dork. Yeah, you gotta respect the weapon, but he has no damn idea what he’s doing with the thing, he just got it and figured it’d be enough. Dumb move.
When you have a weapon that you don’t know how to use, you’ve just armed your opponent.
Well, yes and no. A knife, even if you don’t know how to use it, is a serious thing that needs to be taken seriously and if Ryan had just straight up ambushed them with it, it’s a very real possibility he could’ve severely injured both of them.
But Ryan’s an immense asshole and went for posturing and display first, exemplifying Vimes’ dictum about evil men, and as a result bad bad things are about to happen to him.
Good.
Speaking of Sam, this has some very strong resemblance to the end of Night Watch, doesn’t it?
Some, maybe. It’ll have more if Ryan has a second knife. :v
I was thinking specifically of Sam taking off the badge.
Wow, good reference. I love that sequence. Pray your caught by an evil man. Very relevant here.
Seriously though. You could tell last comic too.
Also, it’s some pretty delicious comeuppance when you think about it. Rye-bread here has been preying on women who he renders defenseless through drugs, and uses his privilege to dodge repercussions. So when that ends up not working, he tries to escalate his violence to get revenge.
But since, in the grand scheme of things, his date-raping is kiddie pool level violence, he’s about to get his ass handed to him by someone familiar with the real thing.
(Note: when I call date-raping ‘kiddie pool level violence’ I’m not minimizing the trauma that inflicts on someone. It’s horrible. I’m just saying the amount of actual physical force and skill needed to carry it out is limited at most.)
That looks like a moderately decent way to hold a switchblade up until Amber grabs his wrist’s pressure points.
…. well, okay, he’s an idiot for brandishing it and monologuing rather than doing what he came to do with it.
Good for our heroines, but he’s still an idiot for doing it. Maybe he doesn’t think of women as fully people and so he underestimates them? I like the irony possibility of that.
I think the monologue is more for him than them. He’s convincing himself he deserves this.
He does. He really does. But not in the way he thinks.
[s]Next shot should be a palmheel to his nose, or bearclaw to his throat.
But if she’s going to let him live, a straight jab to the solar plexus will fold him over nicely. A knee into the groin might be a nice follow.[/s]
Never mind. That’s right hand grabbing right.
Step behind him and armbar him into the concrete.
Alternately, pull the extended arm down to your groin, and sidekick him in the upper leg, pulling him into the blow. She should be able to snap the femur.
Well, she has several options at this point, but they all amount to a Bad End for Ryan.
That knife is no longer in Ryan’s hands as of panel five, in case you haven’t noticed. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say he’s screwed up to 120.
But I think it would be better for Amber if Amazi-girl was in charge right now :c Amazi-girl would probably be aware that there must be security cameras recording. I mean, I don’t know about real-life laws in Indiana, but I suspect anything other than minimum necessary force is bound to land her in trouble, even in self-defense…
Yes and no on the point about having Amazi-girl in charge, I guess. I’m sure Amber would rather be in costume. But the Amazi-girl persona isn’t sustainable and is likely going to end with her dead or crippled, so people seeing Amber’s violent side might not be what she wants, but it might be a step towards something less destructive.
It might be a step towards something less destructive, but it’s also far more likely to land Amber in trouble with the law. And that’s what worries me right now.
It’s quite possible that Amber’s own violent side is more dangerous than Amazi-girl’s. Amazi-girl knows about laws and self-restraint. Amber may just be berserk rage.
My fear exactly.
She’s not gonna kill him.
She’s just gonna hurt him… really… really bad.
It’s the blood loss that might kill him. And the internal bleeding.
Believe the comment was more in way of the fact that Willis has stated a few times that no one dies in DOA.
………unless it’s backstory death. Backstory death for the tragedies is fine.
Everything is backstory for the end of the world. Also the author reserves the right to come up with a better idea.
I understood that reference
I’m wondering more if she won’t pull a Sal and stab him through the hand with his own knife.
I want her to pull a middle-school-Sal, instead, and hold him at knifepoint.
Kill someone? Probably not.
Stab someone? Almost certainly.
Have to be forcefully stopped from killing someone by another character (ie Sal?) Probably.
He planned for a couple of unarmed women to be afraid of him while he was brandishing a weapon. In his experience, this has always been a fair assumption to make. He didn’t account for the fact that a woman might actually possess agency and fight back against him. He definitely didn’t account for the fact that a woman could straight-up own his ass in single combat, even after he’d already seen her literally tear him and four of his friends to pieces, because he’s too much of a macho douche canoe to connect those threads of logic.
And he SURE AS FUCKING SHIT DIDN’T ACCOUNT FOR AMBER.
women are people
what a concept
Shit.
Shit.
well, this comic started with poop jokes. Shit happens.
Gon get stabbed through the hand!!
He’s about to find out about Amber’s “problem” with knives.
Getting Joker vibes all of a sudden.
That was _exactly_ my first impression. And that all-red is back. :O
wrong Bat-villain, I keep telling people…
Oh, Hush.
Is it bad that Amber’s slasher smile in this strip is more frightening than Ryan’s own in the last one?
…why am I even asking, of course it’s bad.
That last panel is the scariest thing I’ve seen in a comic in quite a while.
It IS.
Siri: where to hide a body?
What, again?
“Bodies are best hidden in spare freezers at a disorganize morgue.”
*disorganized
This… this is pretty ingenious. Hiding it in plain sight…
“…. hey Sue, where’s the paperwork on the stiff in freezer 18?”
“…. I dunno. …. DAMMIT WHO LOST THE PAPERWORK ON 18?”
Siri — I believed we have already discussed this. Dismemberment and several different locations.
College days — One friend: “You think anyone would look out this far?”
Other friend frantically shoving dirt into a hole — “Oh god, oh god, oh god!”
Sealed bag, in a box, in a great big warehouse.
Bluebottle maggots in an aerated plastic bag or barrel, with a time release acid bottle to deal with the bared bones. Finally a thermite load to get rid of the remaining organic stuff, time release triggered by the release of the acid. Remove and grind down the teeth before. Don’t do this at home, ideally find a nice illegal toxic waste dump.
Total Rorschach moment! ^_^
Last panel: “You don’t seem to understand. You’re not locked out from her, you’re locked out here WITH me!”*
*adapted to fit context
I’m somewhere between “oh no” and “OH YEAH” and I don’t know how to feel.
I don’t know how to feel yet either, I just know I’m in a glass case of emotion
Same, exactly. I was like, this strip doesn’t really make me *happy*, but I’m not as panicked as yesterday so I guess it’s good? Oh god I’m just worried about my girls.
Yeah, a little less stressed, but also the stress of “Amber honey you’re about to get yourself into more trouble than ever” but also “Damn Amber’s a badass”
I wish there was a way to up vote comments on here because that sums up today”s update perfectly.
Yea. I am torn between “Kick his ass Amber!” and “Where in the name of the 17 gods of the cosmos is Sal?! She needs to come save Amber right the fuck now!” Like, yes, I want His-Middle-Name-Is-Ryan to get his ass handed to him on a plate. But, I don’t want to add to Amber’s already massive trauma pile. So, this is way too stressful. It’s like I am glad he’s scared and I imagine that he’s probably shitting himself right now – but, Amber’s crying y’all. ;(
Holy crap..the look on her face in that last panel…It’s like watching the Joker as a college student…
And we all thought she was batman :O
I mean half the Joker’s point is that they’re basically the same person on opposite sides.
…i feel like this is Unequivocally Wrong b/c like. joker hurts people for shits and giggles. batman hurts criminals for justice, theoretically. but like????? they’re both straight white dudes on power trips???? so not that wrong i guess???
idk depends how you interpret them i guess
They way I see it, Joker is Batman with all the breaks off. They’re both violent, dangerous individuals, but Batman has rules. If Batman ever broke his rules, he’d become the Joker.
i mean like. all you have to do to see batman breaking his rules is read frank miller’s version
i do think that joker is a thematic opposite in ways that can be done compellingly, but like opposite does not mean the same, is the thing.
joker…really does not have batman’s drive to protect victims. i cannot see any batman ever having power fantasies about being joker for a day. he would not find that empowering or freeing.
if batman ever broke his rules…god. i don’t think he’d become the joker, but maybe he’d become a person
There is that neat Justice League arc with Justice Lords and how Lord Batman gets Batman to give up by throwing the “Here no child would see their parents murdered in an alleyway”. Lord Batman is basically Batman who abandoned some of his rules for the sake of Greater Good.
that is fascinating
idk mostly i’m thinking here about jason todd and how like…killing the joker is not an irredeemable action… but batman is just not always real good with the grey morality shit
There’s never really a good in-story answer for why the Joker is still alive.
@zoelogical
I think the main reason Batman is NOT killing Joker is… because if he would start he might not be able to stop. Also there is the issue that Batman is a broken child at heart and sees all the people in his Gallery in a similar way. He is trying to help them, save them, redeem them. Or at least the Batman I know does.
About that Justice Lords thing. The arc starts with Superman killing Lex Luthor who became a president and was trying something really nasty. After that Justice League became more ruthless, there is actually a whole institute where they keep the villains from their Galleries… whom Superman basically lobotomised with his heat-vision.
@Spencer quipquipquip theorized that Joker made a deal with the devil – his soul for a pack of Havana cigars and limited immortality. which makes sense! and i think Snyder did a thing where the Joker was a wandering demonic spirit, and honestly at this point that is legit the Only Thing That Ties All The Jokers Together. their ability to destroy shit
@Eldritch Gentleman
honestly like I respect that this is a line that Batman has drawn and I think he has every right in the world to draw that line for himself, because he cannot…actually…functionally be…the person who fixes everything. Joker still being alive is just as much a dysfunction of the courts in-universe imo, if you go for a Watsonian explanation. like Batman does not want to replace the actual rule of law in Gotham and that is a totally legitimate line to draw
but still! if you are going to have the one exception that proves the rule, Joker is a really good exception to prove that rule.
y i k e s yeah that’s the Justice League animated series
man. if i was gonna make Superman go evil I think I’d make him, like. the Dr. Doom of Kansas or something. there’s, like, evil – and then there’s characterized evil. if that makes sense. i don’t really think you can swap characters out for each other
Isn’t that basically The Killing Joke in a nutshell?
Sorta, yeah. Of course, if an animated adaptation of this particular story ever got made, it would have to include a completely-superfluous intro that takes up a quarter of the feature and is only tangentially related…
more like Harvey Dent.
Amazi-girl is Batman and Amber is the Joker? She’s her own arch nemesis?
Batman is secretly Joker too? I think I’ve read that fanfic . .
but seriously, I’m pretty sure Amber is still a lot more stable than the Joker and much less evil, despite how much she’s going to viciously enjoy rearranging Ryan’s everything. she does have a problem wrt violence, but she still sees people as people, not toys.
There was actually at least one animated episode where the Joker became Batman.
And it was amazing.
Amber (to Ryan): “You wanna know where you’ll get these scars?”
That’s kind of sad actually.
As much as I’d enjoy Ryan getting destroyed…
Oh good, this is gonna be another reason for Amber to hate herself. 🙁
Amber’s about to apprehend the guy that almost raped Joyce, the guy she promised to chase after giving him an opportunity to escape.
That’s gotta make her feel good.
Not if she kills him it won’t.
As others have said, only if she “apprehends” him.
Amber has a new Red Panel. Those things include (but are not limited to) Sal holding a knife to Ethan’s neck, and Amber putting a knife through Sal’s hand.
The chances of somebody getting stabbed tomorrow are high, and deeply in Amber’s favor. Unfortunately, it will just wind up as another Red Panel exemplifying how “Amber” is an emotional mess who cannot control herself and “Amazi-Girl” is the perfect self that deserves control.
Problem is, she’s not going to apprehend him. She’s going to do vigilante justice to him. Which we know he fully deserves, but the in-comic world (apart from Dorothy) doesn’t know.
I’m guessing that Amber leaves him in the same condition she left Blaine in. Then she has to flee the scene, leaving Dorothy to call 911 and talk to the authorities. And then Dorothy has to spend in-comic weeks or even months dealing with the moral and legal dilemma: tell the truth and risk victimizing Amber and Joyce (and risk making “Ryan” a popular-opinion victim himself), or hide the truth in contravention of every ethical fiber in her body.
tl;dr: Damn You Willis! But also a nuanced exploration of moral dilemma in our very imperfect world.
Dot’s smart. she’ll wait until the screaming stops, then leave the building by another entrance (going to get coffee for a late-night study session, perhaps) and just happen to see this poor quivering pile of goo that used to be a man and call an ambulance for him.
And she’s a journalist hoping to get into politics, she’s got to learn sometime (if she hasn’t already) that anybody in either of those fields has to be … flexible in the ethics department.
Smart? Yes.
Steady under pressure…?
She’s very steady under pressure.
If she does it right, it’ll probably be over inside of a second. One move follows the other follows the other. They’re practically inseparable.
If it takes longer, he’s fighting back effectively, and she’s even more justified to follow up with more injury.
Seriously. Do you ever practice Just the disarm? The first move provides the inertia for the second move. If she’s not at least twitching toward the next step in the combo, just because they always go together, I’d be surprised.
He doesn’t really understand the gravity of the situation he has violently plonked himself down in, but I think around panel six it begins to set in.
Too bad for him, that book makes going in much more difficult. There’s no escape, Ryan.
The book isn’t there to keep him from going in. It’s to keep dotty from coming out and stopping what’s about to happen.
I’m entirely aware of that. But it also keeps him from being able to cut a run for the light bright “safety” that inside might be.
I think it’s just there to keep Dorothy from getting in the middle and getting hurt.
I don’t think Dorothy could stop anything from happening, but if she got too close, she could end up bleeding, or being held hostage.
Prepare your hands.
and this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the best thing ambers friends can do for her is convince her to go to therapy, rather than enabling her with the vigilante-based self-hatred and compartmentalization
because it’s anything but healthy 🙁
YES THANK YOU.
But OTOH, this self-hatred and vigilantism might just save her life right now.
Her self defense training would save her life. This might destroy her.
Said self-hatred and vigilantism are what got/get her in danger in the first place.
There is a difference between disarming Ryan and hurting him. Once the tables are turned and Ryan is no longer a threat… I do not know what Amber is going to do. I am hoping this is her lowest point and its upwards from here because otherwise there may be consequences, both legally and psychologically.
it might save her life here, but I don’t thnk she’ll be able to survive it – and really, it’s the self-defence training that’s gonna save her, not the psychosis
I’m willing to bet that’s why Dorothy’s here, to witness Alber here at her worst.
yeah Dorothy is the Person Most Likely to send Amber to therapy
Fuuuuuuck red panels and creepy smile while crying oh jeez she’s gonna fuck him up.
At the very least we are looking at some broken fingers.
okay the art’s actually really good at the end there
Also since I know noone’s gonna die I can say without moral stipulation: implode his ass amber
aw shit I just realized this is gonna work its way back into Amber’s psyche and i’m worried again
IIRC, Willis said no-one “important” would die, then followed up by saying that for instance, Tony could die since he’s not really connected to any of the main cast.
Ryan ain’t safe here.
Willis was joking about Tony, I’m pretty sure. Any death is going to affect at least one character for a long time.
Especially if they’re the ones responsible for the death (even if the person they killed was a monster) which is why I don’t see it going that far. Amber doesn’t deserve the weight of that.
Maybe but if the only people they affect are also minor characters then it won’t matter.
Sure, but Ryan’s death could conceivably affect the whole cast page, to different degrees.
There are a lot of horrifying things you can do to a person without killing him, to the point where dying is a mercy.
You’d be surprised what you can live through.
Stayed up. Totally worth it.
(knife drop)
Same here, no regrets.
Bye Ryan.
Yeah seriously, Amazi-girl might hold back because of her fixation on “Justice” but Amber? Amer’s gonna stab a bongo tonight.
I don’t think she’ll kill him. Beat him so mercifully he’d WISH he was dead certainly. Maybe castrate the bastard with his own knife. Maybe even give the Lorena Bobbit treatment.
EEP!
Oh… this isn’t going to be good.
“I’m not locked out here with you, you’re locked out here with ME.”
Who’s a man and a half? I’m a man and a half! A berserker packin’ man and a half!
Did Alan Moore originate that line?
I’m not sure, but if he didn’t, he definitely has the most recognized use of it (reading/hearing it that first time was pretty impactful)
YUP. She’s something much, much worse.
You’re in for a world of hurt, Scar Boy.
yeeeeess
And also
noooooo
(also Dorothy RUN GET HELP)
(probably start with an ambulance)
(the book does nothing to keep Ryan out; it’s to keep you in)
(so you won’t fight and get hurt but also)
(so no one can drag Amber off of him)
(Dorothy GET HELP)
(preferably just START SCREAMING so there’s witnesses to this besides you)
That’s the worst option at this point. No witnesses who show up now will have seen Ryan with the knife. It’ll just look like two radical anti-male feminists finishing off their smear job of a good, upstanding Christian boy with a cold-blooded murder, which is a much easier story for the mainstream media to digest than a white Christian college boy committing a crime.
Dangit, good point.
He’s not wearing gloves. His prints are all over that thing.
It’s a dude trying to knife two girls. I dunno what world you’re living in where that doesn’t get traction in the media, but I’m glad I’m not.
“Kinda saw something like this coming. It is scary for your friend to be in trouble near you, but once you have beaten up a grown man in the rain or fought a guy with a gun while hanging onto a speeding car… Let’s just say, ‘Guy with knife’ ain’t gonna do much to upset you.” -Batman
Gotta need that comic’s number/name
Paraphrasing.
hey, you know, “ryan” looks a little like blaine….
I bet he looks A LOT like Blaine from where Amber is standing
this is amber’s fork in the road moment. what she does next could define her life probably forever.
Ryan might be more affected.
Sure, but who cares about that?
I care. The more his long-term suffering is maximized, the better I’m going to feel tomorrow.
“Amazigirl has something you don’t.”
“Is it a code against killing?”
Nice Wonder Woman reference.
Someone shared that page yesterday
http://imgur.com/FmmlC4O
Just a punk… with a knife…
she’s come full circle
She’s become That Thing She Was Before…
OMG, you’re right! She’s wanting to do it right this time and save her friend, if not herself. I am torn between: “Go, Amber!” and “Oh, crap. This is going to be effed up.”
Panel 7’s smile:
Whatsamatter, Ryan? Why so serious?
…. branching off on that train of thought, are there any superheroes with an alter for a nemesis? …. more so than Bruce Banner?
The Sentry (one of Marvel’s Superman expies) and the Void.
Moon Knight might fit here.
And it was in that moment that Ryan realized he’d fucked up.
He had the guts to go hurt them and now he’s going to lose them.
… And the Internet goes to Kernanator…
Well, this is terrifying. Can’t wait to see how this goes down. Love me some fictional violence.
Think you’re going to need a nother scar.
Nice to meet you, I’m the unsafe outlet.
And the alt text is a continuation of Ecclesiastes 2:15. I am increasingly worried that this passage is being used to foreshadow something grizzly. While Willis has said that nobody dies in DoA, this is going to get very ugly. Possibly for both of them. And Dorothy is probably going to watch it happen.
I’m not sure I can stomach tomorrow’s strip.
My money’s on Steve eating cereal
Well, now I’m nervous, but because that last panel is scary as hell (especially as she has a quiet voice) and I’m worried she’s going to do something she’ll regret, even if it is against Ryan. daaaaaaaamn.
I’m going to be honest, this is like a combination of every violent fantasy I’ve had (and I’ve had a depressing number of them), except it’s being acted on here and now I realize how screwed up my head is and how it idealizes situations it shouldn’t, as evidence by the layers of fear and anger here over what is clearly an ugly situation. burn in hell, ryan.
There’s no such thing as thought crime! Cathartic daydreams don’t have to hurt anyone irl, your imagination can be a healthy emotional outlet, just process it wisely.
Plus, we all wouldn’t be so obsessed with violent retribution if it wasn’t the central focus of the vast majority of stories, myths and entertainment we are culturally inundated with for our entire formative years! It isn’t our fault we want to bathe in the unrighteous blood of our oppressors!
*Appropriate supportive gesture of your choice*. I try not to put too much energy in policing my revenge fantasies for morality. Like I could and have fed guilt ouroboros. Violent thoughts don’t on their own indicate what kind of person someone is.
I tend to put a postage stamp on my detailed revenge fantasies on where they might come from and brainstorm healthier ways to deal with that residual anger and trauma.
Q. 2:16
JFC, I am terrified for Amber. I’ve done a lot of things, back when I was younger than her and I didn’t have the therapy I needed. I did some really terrible things that I will never be able to take back. Much as this fucking asshat deserves violence, what it might do to Amber as a person long-term is scary.
Because he’s a terrible fucking human being who needs his ass kicked, at least once, because Joyce probably wasn’t the first. He had the technique down too pat. He has hurt other girls.
But if Amber does it, it will tear her apart later.
*appropriate gesture of support which can be a giant hug if that’s what’s wanted*
When I was growing up I was so scared of perpetuating a violence like this that I did a lot of awful things to myself, I’m raw in worry for how Amber is going to be after all this is over.
I spent too much time hurting other people to deserve much support. I hurt myself plenty, trust me, but I hurt a lot of people too. I didn’t know how to control my anger from the (insert childhood trauma I don’t want to discuss). I was /angry/. All the time. Martial arts and boxing helped, but even outside of that, the minute someone pissed me off, I turned so vicious that even thinking about the shit I did now makes me sick and guilty.
As an adult, I’m better, and I still have to work every time I feel angry to channel it into a healthy expression. And I still feel fucking sick over how I made other people feel, the things I said and did. But the difference is that I got help, because the people in my life /forced/ me to, because they didn’t put up with my BS the way Ethan and the rest are with Amber. My friends didn’t see me getting in fights as “badass” after awhile. It was scary. And everything I was doing to myself was even scarier.
Much as I like Ethan as a character, and hell, even Danny isn’t too terrible, they have both failed Amber as friends. They are not helping her, they are enabling her toxic outlets for her anger instead of, oh, I don’t know, talking to her /mom/, and just plain helping her.
*adds own appropriate gesture of support* I’m not nearly as good with words as Cerberus is, so all I can express my condelences for what you went thru, and give you my well wishes for overcoming that strife.
We all deserve a world in which everyone gets all the support they need. Take as much as you need, pay it forward, and take care of yourself.
… also, I don’t think Ethan and Danny are quite yet done trying to help Amber.
I am taking tegretol because prior to the scrip it took me iron self control to not react like this to getting my order wrong at Mc Donalds. I don’t think most people really understood the kind of anger issues I was having. It’s a fucking miracle I lasted as long as I did without winding up in jail.
All the nails hit on the head…
amazigirl is the safe one who holds her back.
According to AG, who wants Amber to fork over most if not all the control to her, anyways, yes.
Gut the little bastige. It’s a clear case of self defense. There’s even a witness.
Even though I’m glad to see Ryan hopefully finally go down here, I’m suddenly most interested in seeing how Dorothy reacts to seeing why Amber feels like she needs to keep herself compartmentalized right up close.
I have to wonder if this will actually give Amber some closure with the whole “Sal holding up the store” incident.
I love the sad tragic demented look on Amber’s face in the last panel. I wonder if it took Willis longer than usual to draw it – to get it just right?
ay mate this amber stuff is hitting a bit close to home dont call me out like this there might be girls here
*looks for something from Rolling Stones’ New York period*
I suggest “Shattered”
Some Girls.
This is your femur. Well, it WAS yours. Let me give it back to you. What do you mean, it doesn’t go there? It seems to fit in there, real good, and it isn’t coming out, again.
Damn Ryan. it’s like, villain 101, DON’T MONOLOGUE. You’re getting caught up in enjoying the fear and (apparent) powerlessness before your own power, and forgetting your alleged purpose of revenge (it’s not vengeance tho, is it, it’s reinstating the natural order where you are powerful and you can visit whatever you like on lesser beings)
Most rapists get off on the fear and powerlessness of their victims as much as anything. Unfortunately for Ryan, he can’t help but get caught up in his own twisted enjoyment. Fitting that it comes back to bite him.
Ryan is gonna have a first row spectacle of what happens when a Good person wants to kill you.
The last panel reminds me of Ichi the Killer.
You just had to…the images!!
Only now does “Ryan” realize how badly he fucked up tonight.
Amber looks scarily like Blaine in the last panel. And Not Ryan you stay away from my blue eyed girl. And now that Dorothy is safely inside she can call for help. I wish I was Amber right now.
OH BOY HERE COMES THE FUN TIME
get him, amber!!!!!! light this motherucker up!!!!!
I imagine Amber is crushing the shit out of his hand right now. He straight dropped the knife.
It could be that she caught him off guard
She certainly surprised him, but my money is on dude being surprised that this short slighty-overweight girl is in fact considerably stronger than he is and just crushed his hand.
Also: She’s going to be absolutely juiced with adrenaline, even over the fact that she’s just stronger than him ordinarily. It’s not out of the realm of possibility Ryan’s now got broken bones or dislocated fingers.
“I just want you to know that even though you tried to rape my friend and threatened Dorothy and me, revenge is not an idea we promote on my planet.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.”
“But we’re not on my planet, are we?”
As I said. Someone’s gonna have a bad time. Guess it’s time to queue up “Megalovania.”
8D yes please
i kind of want to make a playlist for this now
i feel like “hell frozen rain” from silent hill would be on it
Kids like you
Should be burning in Hell
I feel like I want that last panel’s text to be revised so that Amber says just that. If we’re gonna channel Sans here…
Amber: Make him pay [S]
Amber snaps his neck or makes him wish she did, I’m totally calling it! Though probably will need to hide the body and make that pact of nope, no one will EEEEVVVVVER find him.
Starve pigs for a few days, they will go trough bone like it’s butter.
Something tells me he’ll wish he was facing AmaziGirl.
Someone is getting stabbed and money is on it not being Amber.
‘I’m… not Batman.’
RIP Not Ryan. I mean. Probably not that peaceful, seeing as how your body will never be found, preventing you from being lain to rest.
Rest in Somewhere, Not Ryan.
I can’t believe that Ryan McDoucheRapeFace is dead
Time to send another one to the hospital I guess.
On the up side, this might result in Amber getting the help that she needs.
Fucking murder him, Amber.
I’m only not-serious about that because it’d put her in prison. Unrepentant rapists who see nothing wrong with their actions need to be removed from society, because they are a clear and present danger to those around them.
And not the immense psychological damage it would do to Amber to take a life? I’d argue that’s somewhat more important, even.
That’s a point, too.
… I’m told true beauty is in a symmetrical face.
And Amber is in the red zone, so she might just do it.
Okay, so here’s the thing.
The time-space continuum is filled with malevolent, time-traveling plagiarizers.
Every time, EVERY TIME, I come up with a clever quote or a genius idea, I discover that someone has stolen it, taken it back into the past, and pre-empted me.
Sometimes as far back as ancient Greece!
The gall of these time-travelers!
And you? YOU’RE ONE OF THEM, you comment-stealing something-something grumblegrumblegrumble.
😀
I don’t only time travel. That would mean I’d be a part of causeless effects.
I hop timelines.
It’s much more efficient.
I’m fucking amazed by how self righteous this unbelievable prick is. “A girl I tried to rape cut my face! I MUST HAVE REVENGE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW bongo”
Like, holy shit man, do you have no self-awareness whatsoever?
This is the world they live in, and this is how they think. No, they do not feel like they are doing the wrong thing. They feel like they are doing what “everyone” wants to do but can’t.
sadly plenty of dudes exist who are just like this. Culture of entitlement married to the inherently sexist ideals of christianity lmao
I’m still confused where Amber begins and Amazi-girl ends. I thought when she’s “hiding” she’s Amber, when she’s fighting she’s Amazi-girl. Or is this the emergence of a third personality?
Amber is the “bad”. Amazi-Girl is the “good”. Both of the alters appear to have access to the martial arts training and parkour, but Amazi-Girl supposedly has the rigid morals while Amber supposedly is the one more prone to emotional lashing-out.
She’s Amazi-Girl when she needs to vent her anger safely (or at least with restraint, and towards people who deserve it).
It was Amber who put Blaine in the hospital though. The safeties are similarly off for this asshole
If I’m reading it right, Amazi-girl’s the “safe”, “approved”, “permitted” do-good violent retribution. Amber’s the scared kid who stuck a knife through Sal’s hand.
“Good {wo}men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many. ”
Stealing that quote, from somewhere, as it seems to fit very well with Amber/Amazi-Girl. Amber doesn’t have rules except those she imposes on herself as AG, which channels things into actions which are ‘good’ if often illegal.
Yeah, don’t know why anyone thought a knife would freeze Amber up.
Because previous reminders of the trauma e.g. Sal, Blaine, her own anger, have caused panic attacks and flashbacks with one rendering her unable to hear properly or even respond. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that there was a possibility of the knife triggering a flashback or panic attack which would have been probably the worst case scenario of how she could have reacted.
Willis, you maginficent bastard (I read your comic)!
Amber becoming okay-ish with Sal foreshadowed this. She is no longer afraid! Or no longer THAT afraid. It’s beautiful, I love it.
Go Amber! (Also go get some therapy maybe after this because we all know you could need some help, you can’t do everything on your own.)
Let the beatdown commence.
“It’s okay, it’s self-defense!”
It is, and Ryan can rot for all I care, but:
-Amber has stabbed someone before, which could be used against her.
-There’s no way it doesn’t come out that Amber is Amazi-Girl, which would be used as a history of violence.
-Amber’s dad, both because she beat him into the hospital and because his anger issues may be documented as part of divorce/custody records.
-Ryan has been hinted at having a connected dad, so maybe lots of money and good lawyers; Amber has a single mom and dirtbag dad and said she only has a laptop because she got a refurbished one for cheap.
-The whole thing with posting Ryan’s face (and the fight at the rally) could be used against her as a suggestion of continued harassment and call Dorothy’s testimony into question since she helped (and would ultimately lead to Joyce having to testify, which would be a whole other thing).
There are so many shitty ways this goes despite it obviously being self defence to us.
He has no evidence that she’s Amazi-Girl. And honestly thus far there has been no evidence the police are interesting in looking for Amazi-Girl. Also
witnesses can assess that he threw the first punch at Amazi-Girl back at the campaign rally. So bringing up the fact that Amber or that he believes Amber is a woman he previously attacked. That’s going to turn this assault with a deadly weapon charge into attempted murder.
Amber stabbed someone who threatened her friend with a knife. She beat her father who was physically abusive. That history can’t nullify her self-defense claims. In fact it reinforces the fact she only uses violence against those who hurt her friends and family.
Ryan said “You’ve ruined my life, My Dad’s Gonna see that shit” which would lead someone to believe that his pastor father is going to presume his guilt not his innocence.
He likely lied to his dad about how he got that scar, then his picture goes up on social media accusing him of attempted rape on night X right around the time he got that scar.
Wasn’t it stated the police wanted to talk with Amazi-Girl do to her involvment in the Becky-Rescuing Car Chase?
Plus, Ambers Dad likely didn’t explain how he got beaten up either, and I don’t think that can be used against her, really. He basically lured out an unknowing Danny to use as leverage against her. That’s effing dubious on it’s own. He probably kept quiet so he wouldn’t risk a case opened about him on his own… well, that’s what I think. I’m not actually a lawyer, or very versed in that topic 😛
Blaine is on record as having lied and claimed he was beaten up by a gang of dudes.
Between not wanting people to know he lost to a woman and knowing that kidnapping your daughters boyfriend isn’t exactly legal that’s not surprising. Most of Amazigirls victims were doing something illegal at the time, and/or assumed they could take her.
Okay question for those who understand DID. I’ve always been under the impression that Amber only has two distinct personalities Amber and Amazigirl. Considering Amber doesn’t seem completely in control of her actions in this state I’m just wondering if Amber in her current state a third alter or is this just Amber in an unhinged state of rage?
Sorry if I could have articulated all this better.
I believe I have your answer http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/rage/
just rage, pretty sure
Amber has, uh. some *issues* with violent anger.
i don’t blame her either, considering a lot of things going on in her life, but it’s definitely A Thing and one of the – if not The – reason(s) she hates herself.
I’d say it is still Amber but just angry.
Like, it isn’t theoretically impossible for there to be a rage alter that only deals with the emotion of rage as sometimes alters aren’t very complex and may only have one set thing to do or be. But it seems very unlikely that it is anything past Amber just being angry at the moment in my personal opinion.
I understand keeping dangerous amounts of rage under control. Before I started dealing with it with medication it wasn’t exactly an alter but it was something I could and did visualize chaining up and caging to keep it from getting loose. And sometimes it would rattle it’s chains and bang on the walls of the cage. Sometimes it was dangerously close to getting out.
Amber looks like she just released the chains and opened the cage door. That smiling while crying thing? That’s what it feels like. That’s an option I always felt I had in reserve for situations where it was fight and win or die, and I think it still might be an option even with the tegretol keeping it under control if I really need to. The reason, other than the fact that I was sure the result would be a bloodbath, that it was an option of last resort is because I always had a feeling that once it was free I’d never be able to cage it again. And that thing in the cage? It’s not just capable of killing, it wants to kill. Anything at all that makes me mad it wants dead.
But now I’m medicated and I don’t have to sit on top of it monitoring it at all times to keep it in check.
New character tag: Amazi the Killer.
Man this campus is having a bad month
Look where they are….it’s those steps, they are an unholy abomination!
… (resists with all her might)
… (fails)
Warned you about stairs, bro.
Welp, not like I needed to sleep tonight. Or EVER AGAIN.
That said, Amber, I do believe I speak for everyone when I say: “He’s all yours.”
Also. Anyone else remember that Two-Face briefly had a third alter, The Judge?
Yes. Also that the Judge found both Two-Face and Harvey Dent guilty of crimes.
Really. Ryan dies… Hey! Who’s up for pizza?
Extra cheese please! :3
Uh fucking oh.
It’s hard reading this after the MAX stabbings in Portland. (I live in the area, but don’t otherwise have any connection with anyone involved.) In the real world, guy with knife has a very good chance of killing unarmed hero. Seeing a similar scenario play out according to the rules of comic plot logic just feels like a lie now. I know that Willis wrote this months ago, and I’m projecting my feelings onto something that wasn’t meant to bear them, but that’s where I am.
To be fair to Willis, its “chump who doesn’t know how to use a knife vs person who is regularly in violent encounters”, not “someone who knows what they’re doing vs surprised civilians,” so its a little different.
One of the civilians who died was an army veteran. Amber is an 18 year old who probably lacks any formal training. Also, those civilians had a 3 to 1 numbers advantage, and Amber is alone. I’ll grant you that not-Ryan is probably much worse at knife use than the MAX stabbing perpetrator. But part of my point is that you don’t know if the guy with the knife knows what he’s doing. And even if he doesn’t quite, he’s still the one with the knife. In a situation where there is a knife wielder who intends to use it and an unarmed intended victim, you have to expect a high probability that the intended victim gets badly hurt. Everyone I’ve heard from in the wake of the attack who has been trained in such matters has said this. The logic of this comic is, Amber is in no danger at all, and that feels untrue to me now.
“Amber is an 18 year old who probably lacks any formal training.” ?
Have you been reading this comic long?
I mean, that might be technically true, if you don’t count the martial arts she got instead of therapy, but she’s routinely shown she’s incredibly physically capable and very dangerous in any kind of fight. Taking on people much bigger than her and fighting multiple attackers at once.
Sure, it’s not realistic, but neither was hitting the windshield and then leaping onto the roof of the car ahead to fight the guy with a gun. Amber isn’t a crazy girl who think she’s a superhero. She’s a superhero with psychological issues.
This isn’t always a realistic comic. Amber get to play by action movie rules, if not actual comic book superhero ones. By real world rules, you’re absolutely right. Knives are really dangerous to fight against. But for this comic, for me, it would be far more jarring for him to be a serious threat to Amber here. Akin to some punk with a knife attacking Bruce Wayne and him getting all cut up because realistically, knives are dangerous.
The real interest in this scene – once it turned out to be Amber he was attacking – is psychological. Does she redeem herself by protecting a friend from a “punk with a knife”? Not to mention redeem AG’s failure of letting him get away by distracting everyone in the first place.
Or does she lose control and convince herself she’s a monster by crippling or killing him in a rage?
“Does she redeem herself by protecting a friend from a “punk with a knife”?”
I’m going to guess “nope” on that one. Because just a little while before this, Amber was there at that floor meeting where Rachel went off on her ‘redemption is a nice story, but it isn’t real and abusers can’t ever really change’ rant at Ruth. So she’s probably got that rattling around in her head right now, and she might just decide that if there’s no redemption for her, despite using Amazi-Girl to keep her violent impulses in check, she might as well go all out. Let all that rage loose at Ryan, both to punish him/protect her friends AND to get HERSELF arrested so people will be safe from HER. Because she can’t ever change or redeem herself, according to Rachel, so she needs to be locked up just like him.
That’s a possibility too, as I said.
Could go either way. Really depends on whether Willis wants to drag her deeper into the pit or start her working out of it.
And she doesn’t need to be locked up, she just needs to let Amazi-Girl handle everything. She’s the good one. Amber’s the monster.
That’s the mythology anyway.
I feel as if that’s the point.
Amber is being set up in a sequence evocative of the robbery, where she is a terrifying rage monster against some punk with a knife. I don’t think she deliberately set out to face him as Amber, but it’s almost a certainty that she uses this event as further proof of her own inhumanity, and furthering her reliance on Amazi-Girl.
I feel that going forward Amber’s story will be about hitting her lowest point possible, and for her to start climbing out of it.
I think it’s even simpler than that, honestly: “If acting abusive is an inevitable, permanent part of me, I’d better make sure that my targets deserve it.”
I don’t think Amber is being deliberate here. I think she’s running on nerves, PTSD, and adrenaline.
The difference is, while that guy on the train was brandishing a weapon and making threats, all of his attacks that he actually made were blitz attacks at very close range, with maximum violence, momentum, intent to immediately kill and the element of surprise. This guy calmly monologued for thirty seconds, but then he got blitz attacked and was immediately disarmed, making him panic.
Yeah, apparently Ryan has never read the Evil Overlord List or he would know to do less posturing and more stabbing.
The timing is a little scary, given recent RL events.
I think the scariest things is that this might not be the first time Ryan has done this, considering that he’s methodically planned out following Dorothy to lead him to Joyce.
One flaw in that plan, let’s say he finds Joyces room, well he will also find Shara and a bat in that room, with Sal, Ruth, Billie and Amber down the hall.
I don’t really see a realistic way he could do whatever he plans to without getting whooped.
Doesn’t mean that whatever horrible revenge plan he was plotting was going to be done that night.
Now he likely already has a good guess what wing Joyce is in, and possibly what floor or what room if he could follow Dorothy long enough. From there, he could just stalk and wait to learn her schedule. Figure out when the floor is empty, when Sarah is out, or even just figure out her walking patterns around campus. It can go south very quickly after that.
Plus, they’re women who had the audacity to deny him what he rightfully deserved. Then, they beat him, and damaged his masculinity. This comic takes place where going insane and killing somebody because you discovered they were gay or trans and your masculinity felt threatened is an acceptable legal defense. When a man like this has their sense of masculinity compromised, they will do anything to reclaim their birthright from their inferiors who have the audacity to defy the natural order and stand against them.
He doesn’t know how to use that knife, does he?
(I was thinking yesterday that it wasn’t positioned for stabbing -or- slashing.)
Unless he recovers from that shock of disbelief -real quick-, Amber will have the knife.
And his best move will be to run like a rabbit.
He really doesn’t. If he wanted to hold it correctly he’d be holding it in 1 of 2 ways, and really only 1 applies with a pocket knife like that.
Blade towards Amber out the pinkie side of his hand with his thumb over the back (to prevent slippage) with a wide stance and his non-knife hand forward (to prevent exactly what happened). The trick to fighting with a pocket knife is to not use it as a weapon, you use it as a grappling amplifier. Basically the trick is to wrestle/box with your off-hand and only use the blade when it’s safe to inflict serious damage.
OR the other option is blade up so that a forward and upward stab will be immediately lethal because it carves a 6 inch channel in the person you’re stabbing, effectively disembowling them on a good strike. But that’s a risky move because the other person can use the blade against you as well if they’re an experienced combatant.
Source: 10 years of martial arts.
Slashing, sure. Muscle is really hard to cut into.
Even if he did know how to use a knife properly, he stood there monologuing long enough for Dorothy to get inside.
He knows that Amber can fight, he knows she can handle three on one. So even if he did as you suggested I don’t see this fight ending in his favor if he gives Amber time to ready herself which he already did so how he gripped the knife is rather irreverent.
So, how many strips until Sal shows up?
I’m voting for either Ethan, Danny or Sal to show up just as she’s about to leave him comatose (or dead. either/or) and her finally having that cathartic breakdown that leads to her finally getting the help she needs.
It would be awesome if her recovery included Ruth somehow. Like some group therapy or something like that.
Within a year (real time), everyone is in group therapy together and the comic just becomes about that.
Well, except Dina and Becky, who are off enjoying a very intimate celibacy.
Comic Reactions:
So, I’m super raw after a different thing, so I’m super compartmentalizing to do this, and then I’m going to drop off and self-care.
Panel 1: I thought that might have been the end target. All that stalking, all these threats, all this escalation and traumatization all to retraumatize the one who “dared” get away. The one who dared give him a consequence that lasted past the morning light.
This is where that aggrieved entitlement leads. That idea that you are owed sex in order to be a man, that taking and hurting others, especially those weaker make you strong, that pissed off feeling that the world always owes you a little more than you’re getting from others and it’s everyone else’s fault.
And here it leads to the terror of this form of violence. Obsession, a belief that they are owed our bodies, a brief moment of standing up for ourselves can be our downfall. Can mean an ex shooting up our place of work to “get revenge on us”. Can mean a person deciding to murder us on the street because they think we “tricked” their boner. Can mean that “harmless” “lovesick” stalker breaking into our house and hurting us or someone we love.
And that fear terrorizes. Makes us hesitant to push too hard against angry men. Makes us avoid certain locations where there’s too many cis white men. Makes us self-censor our speech and learn how to be paranoid with who we let into our lives. And that’s the point. Terrorized people are easier to bully into not resisting the broken toxic system, because those that do are killed.
Because anyone who gets in their radar is at risk. Because fuckers like this take and hurt and keep on doing so as long as the broken system that surrounds them continues to fail to take them seriously.
It’s how the rape on my campus happened. I warned my head of school for months before it that the culture was going bad, that there needed to be consequences and responses to the rise of toxic masculinity, that there needed to be more protection, but they laughed at the dumb feminist and then oh look, literally everything she predicted came true.
Because this shit has a set pattern and if the people with real power ever actually took it seriously, we could stop it and people like him, put them in jail to keep them from harming others, rehabilitate them out of their toxic cycles if that is possible, prevent them from hurting others if not.
But we don’t and so this shit becomes common and we all fear.
Panels 2-3: Okay, that’s a terrible door system. Any door that can be blocked in from the outside to prevent exit is a terrible terrible system that is prone to exactly this type of physics-defying type of attack.
Panel 4: I feel so hard for Amber. She’s clearly flashbacking through this all, but is determined this time to not be the one who hides, but rather the one who martyrs herself to protect the other.
And that’s one more fucked up aspect to the whole golden alter, broken alter framework. The “broken one” is strongly tempted to self-sacrifice or otherwise view their life and needs as less important.
And it speaks so poorly of Amazi-girl that at this moment when she could use an alter switch more than anything, she’s completely buggered off again. Likely to avoid having to face Dorothy’s breakup. And it makes me wonder if that alter wants the Amber alter to get a little worse and suffer a little more to reassert her framework onto the situation again.
Panels 5-7: That last panel is haunted. A complete breakdown knowing that all other options are gone and a likely belief that if she’s damaged already and her father’s daughter, then she might as well use it for a good cause.
She’s very likely to blow past one of her moral sticking points tonight and the consequences of that is going to linger for her even if it ends up being the only thing she can do to protect others who need to be protected.
And I just want to steal her out of the narrative and hug her and tell her it’ll all be okay in the end.
Alt-text: Oh no you don’t alt-text. I know what that Bible passage is in reference to. Don’t you start teasing death shit like that.
:C
(Appropriate gesture of support) I appreciate you taking the time to comment; we all always look forward to it. That said, yes, go rest now please.
*appropriate gesture of support*
Take care of yourself, our darling, and thanks yet again for your insight.
I look forward to your panel breakdowns. Hope the self care helps.
Take care of yourself. We appreciate you lots, but don’t feel pressured to come back until you’re ready.
So many *appropriate gestures of support*.
This was my first thought when I read the strip, that Amber’s last line was such good fuel for reading her as DID, and then 🙁 that her words and pain might be extra hard on you today and… 🙁
Thank you for the write up and I hope you feel better soon 🙁
Thank you for all you do.
*appropriate gesture of support*
While I appreciate your panel breakdowns, your self care is way more important.
Take care. I hope you feel better soon.
Oh, the Dragon has been summoned. Hopefully, someone in authority will be able to intervene before Amber kills Ryan.
But hopefully not until he’s been disarmed, incapacitated, and hurt in ways that will make him forever useless to any woman.
Wasn’t he useless to women all ready?
Well, for the moment he’s pretty useful as a punching bag.
Bring the pain. lets go with a kick to the nuts followed by several kidney punches, and finish that up with a jab to the throat for starters.
On the one hand, I’m concerned for her mental and physical health.
On the other hand, STAB ‘IM IN THE DICK.
*Nods solemnly*
Saaaaaaaaaaame.
Honestly its about time you realized that, Amber
holy fuck she’s gonna give him a glasgow smile
“You wanna know how I got these mental scars?”
Oh, he dead.
NO AMBER DON”T KILL HIM!
Just cripple him so he has to move about with help in a wheel chair, crap in a bag and eat through a straw for the rest of his life.
Death is fleeting. Pain lasts forever.
Then Ryan can testify against her. And sue her.
He approached her with a knife, at this point she should be free to do whatever she feels she has to.
Or a little brain damage might help him forget, just enough that he forgets the last week or so.
Welcome to America, where cause can be totally dismissed after the effect. Where you can literally break into someone’s house with the intent to steal from them, hurt yourself, and sue.
His approaching her with a knife could mean jack shit if he decides to sue.
And in some states if someone breaks into your house you can put six “warning shots to the chest” and get off scot free.
Somehow I feel like this won’t result in amber murdering him but somehow danny will get caught in this. LIkelyh stopping her but then the guy will get a last hit resulting in his death
It isn’t murder when it’s self defense.
“And now, I break you.” Followed by snapping sound as Amber breaks Middle-Name Ryan’s arm in three different places, followed closely by a good couple dozen kicks to the groin. But honestly, I think breaking the arm is the best thing for Amber to do. Amber (not Amazigirl) saves someone without hurting anything other than a horrible excuse for a human being. If she only breaks the arm then she also proves to herself that she’s not some sort of rage monster that Amazigirl is protecting everyone else from. That she actually has worth as Amber and isn’t going to be like her father. All she has to do is quickly twist the arm while jerking to the outside, and then telling Mr. Middle Name, “Don’t come back.” Because Mr. Middle Name has proven enough that he’s a coward. So he will run the instant Amber let’s go. And then they can check for students with the middle name Ryan. Hopefully. Maybe.
What do you think the odds are Sal ends up involved, with the knife in her hand, setting Amber’s brain on fire?
Your Gravatar fully expresses the way I looked when I read your comment.
And that was the last we saw of “Ryan”. And the only tears shed were Amber’s.
YEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!
A lot of people seem to be calling for horrible things to happen to “Ryan.” Look he is human garbage and deserves punishment to the fullest extent of the law, but violence and eye for an eye vengeance is never the answer. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an indictment of Amber engaging in self defense, but there’s a world of difference between self defense and committing manslaughter.
Amber can slice his carotid or femoral artery open and kick him in the head while he bleeds out, and it won’t be manslaughter. Maybe in Britain, but this is Indiana, USA.
And “Stand your Ground” has nothing to do with it.
Actually under Indiana law if Ryan ceases his attack at this point and verbally expresses this, then Amber will become the aggressor and he has a right to kill her in self defense.
Basically what I’m getting at is that “stand your ground” is reprehensibly stupid, and the statute is written by an insane person.
Ryan is a white man. The fullest extent of the law is not likely to even keep him off the streets for very long, let alone render him incapable of raping people.
A lot of the people calling for his blood are probably hoping that he will, somehow, be prevented from drugging and raping more women.
…But at that point, he’d probably just talk himself into being a serial killer of women, to “get even” with the people who (in his twisted mind) took away his “sexual potency.”
So, yeah, he probably needs to die or be paralyzed in order to make the world a better place. Although, now that he’s threatened three girls with a knife (as opposed to raping untold numbers with his penis), there might be actual legal consequences.
Do I sound cynical and bitter? Off the top of my head, I can think of five women and one man I know who have been raped. I don’t think any of the rapists were even brought to court.
His face goes up on social media as a rapist, anyone who tries to look him up online has a change of finding that image. Indeed with that nasty scar across his face everyone he meets is going to ask. “How’d you get that scar” and regardless of the story he tells them… Many will look him up online and find that image.
Joyce will be able to move on and forget what Ryan tried to do. Hell she’s probably more emotionally scared from Becky’s dad then from Ryan. But every morning Ryan will look in the mirror and see that scar.
Which is why whatever horribly beating Amber is about to inflict upon won’t be as bad as the scar Joyce already gave him…
And also another reason why he may become a serial killer.
Dan, you’re just… wrong about how many people will care that a white guy is a rapist. Brock Turner, the Steubenville guys, and so so soooo many white celebrities should have shown you by now that people are 100% willing to hire known, convicted, videotaped rapists.
Scary thought here, based on Sunday’s splash of blood: what if Amber first takes Ryan out, then cuts herself to an extent that all evidence will point towards Ryan as aggressor?
Oh shit, this isn’t good for Ryan. This is crazy Amber about to come out.
At this point, there’s no stopping it: Ryan’s ass is grass, and Amber’s the fucking lawnmower.
oh god amber. you found your chara smile.
NOW YOU FUCKED UP
NOW YOU FUCKED UP
NOW YOU HAVE FUCKED UP
YOU HAVE FUCKED UP NOW
oh yeah. so bad.
Amber’s gonna break his butt.
Heh, love that reference.
That penultimate panel is like crack to me. Another scumfuck so accustomed to preying on the weak, shitting his pants at the realization that his next target isn’t just going to passively take it. Quite the contrary.
Enjoy your Glasgow smile, asshole.
Question: What’s a Glasgow Smile? Please insert all historical detail (I’m a history graduate).
Glasgow Smile is when you slash open somebody’s face at the corners of their mouths, thus “widening” their “smile”. The little historical info I can find (through grueling seconds of looking it up on Wikipedia) says the originated in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1920s or 30s.
So HeathLedger!Joker?
Yes, that’s a Glasgow Grin.
Sal comes in at the end and takes the blame for whatever happens to Ryan. Amber’s world gets doubly shaken up.
I, personally, think that Sal talks Amber down (after she’s already broken Ryan’s arm or something) and persuades her not to make the same mistake again. “You’re young and scared; well, I know about that shit but nothing justifies doing the wrong thing!”
That’s why Amber is so shaken up in the ‘next day’ preview panels we’ve seen so far – That Sal, the person who more than any other external person is Amber’s definition of ‘villain’, persuaded her to do the right thing means that she and Amazi-Girl have a lot of thinking to do about the world and their joint future.
It would be stupid for Sal to take the blame – As Sal herself has mentioned , she is black and has a record.
Any (legal consequence) that Amber would face ,, Sal would face a 1000 times over if she tried to take the blame.
And Sal know s that and presumably would not do it.
And Amber also knows that and combine that with her hatred-of-self there is no way she would allow ANYONE to take a fall for her. (Except possibly Ryan)
This is when we learn that Amazi-girl isn’t here to save us from criminals, muggers, and people like Ryan. That’s just how she saves us from Amber.
This is where the camera angle pans away and we see the Joker is horrified.
I can almost hear the Joker just saying “Dude…” in stunned horror.
This strip is really intense, and I’m not going to go into everything in it, but I just keep thinking, Amber disarmed Ryan in literally two seconds. It just really goes to show how much of his power and ability to threaten comes from posturing and privilege…
yeah. like. some dude against someone with actual technical experience and skill is always gonna go down, no matter who it is. it’s not always what you have but how you use it
That look on Scummy McScallywag’s face is a long time coming…
I think he’s got the message now.
Indeed she isn’t. Amazi-Girl has greater self-control. Amber will just wreck your shit in a berserker rage.
Not so much fun when they’re able to fight back, is it?
…oh god that is a Blaine smile Amber’s sporting.
perhaps it’s ironic that EARLIER TODAY Amazi-girl wanted to take over Amber over the crisis of being seen by Sal.
In the words of Russel Peters’ father.
“Somebody’s gonna get a hurt. Somebody’s gonna get a hurt real bad.”
Like I said yesterday: Bad things happen to people who scare Amber. Right now, Ryan better be praying that Dorothy can reach Amber despite her panic-induced psychosis. Otherwise there’s no telling what she might do to him.
*ugly laughter*
Okay.
I’m going to say something and it’s going to be unpopular.
I mentioned some days back that in my mind there’s two different notions of justice at work in our culture, both operating under the same name. (Someone else, wish I remember who, said there was literature on that already out there. See my post above about malevolent time-travelers.)
One is the idea of balancing out a wrong by inflicting some sort of righteous, justified revenge and cruelty against a vile individual or someone who does a vile deed. Here, justice is about what people (victims and perpetrators alike) deserve.
The second is about trying to take humanity’s nastier impulses and activities and disincentivize, blunt, prevent, or pre-empt them. Here, justice is about improving the world we live in.
Sometimes the two can look the same, like a prison sentence that’s about punishment and a prison sentence that’s about creating a policy of deterrence and removing a dangerous element from society until he’s reformed.
But I’ve noticed that even then the differences shine through, with the cruelty-as-justice crowd pushing for arbitrarily nastier sentences without giving a solitary damn about attempting reform or asking at what point the prisoner isn’t a threat or when extra years stops being an additional deterrent.
So I joke a lot about doing a lot of awful things to the worst villains in this comic. I do this because A) they’re not real people and B) they do deserve it and C) I’m trying to be funny.
But in my more serious moments (I have them, honest!), I really, really, really, really don’t buy into the idea of deserved justice. It’s got a kind of intuitive, culturally-instilled, automatic that-makes-sense-feel to it, but any time I take a breath and examine it in depth it’s just ew. Every time we choose that one over the other, we place a hedo0nistic expression of our own primal rage over making the world a better place.
That’s not to say love and cookies for all no matter how awful they’ve been. If someone can’t be reformed and will remain a dire threat to people for their entire life, then lock them in a cage where they can’t hurt anyone. Perhaps, MAYBE, if we don’t think a cage can hold them and they’re a super-duper threat, execute them. All of that still meets the “better world” criteria. But do so as humanely as possible, and do so out of necessity rather than out of fury.
I recognize that a lot of people have very strong passions about certain crimes, experiencing all sorts of rage or trauma in response. And that’s great. (Well, no, trauma isn’t great, but I mean I’m not the tone police.) But when so many people start calling for Ryan to suffer in so many ways….
… well, yes, he DESERVES it…
… and yes, I get swept up in that passion, and run with it, and try to be humorous about it because jokes aren’t real (just ask my Grav), and Ryan isn’t real either…
… but after a bit of that my skin starts crawling and I start feeling icky.
And again, he DESERVES it…
… but deep down, I don’t think justice is about what any of us deserve. It has to be more than that.
And what really has me skin crawling right now, more than it almost ever has on this subject?
That revenge-based deserved justice? That’s Panel 1 Ryan’s unfinished business.
I think one of the big things to take into account when talking about how people respond to the comic, as you did mention, is that it’s fictional. I don’t believe in the death penalty, I’m deeply critical of the prison system, and I don’t even really wish suffering on my own rapist.
But with Ryan? I wouldn’t mind one bit if it hurts.
I agree.
same
In real life, Ryan needs to be stopped. Whatever stops him makes the world a better place.
In real life, nothing short of severe permanent physical disability is likely to stop him. Think about Cerberus’s student – raped on camera in a school, and the system closed ranks to protect the rapist.
Literally the only reason I can think of why gelding Ryan is a wrong thing to wish for… is that he might just double down and become a serial killer. In which case, geld him and cut off his hands.
Or just, y’know, kill him.
Texas has a “needed killing” defense last I heard. And IIRC, within the last two decades, someone was acquitted under that law for killing youths who were vandalizing his car. So if this were set in Texas, then killing Ryan in cold blood would apparently be a sane, reasonable, legal thing to do. Not out of vengeance, but simply to make the world a better place.
When was the last time you heard about a rich white male getting murdered and the legal system not totally destroying the legal system?
damn, replace the last ‘legal system’ with ‘murderer’
Nah, I think it made sense the first time.
Texas law…. might not be the best guideline for when it’s reasonable or sane to shoot someone dead in the street.
And it’s certainly not the best guideline in Indiana.
Ryan just stalked them looked for a moment of weakness and attacked them with a knife. Everything about what he did and said implies he intends to remain a threat to there lives as long as he lives. It would be difficult to prove but I think this is a legitimate needed killing
Not really. He’s a threat now, but a nice long stay in prison is likely to take care of that. Which attempted murder or even assault with a deadly weapon should get him, even without the rape charges.
Despite what the media sometimes shows, barring strong personal connections people rarely get out of prison and go seeking revenge on victims from years ago.
‘Texas has a “needed killing” defense’. Not So Simple.
Here’s a Texas lawyer on the subject:
https://www.texascrimelaw.com/character-evidence-in-murder-cases.html
In real life, I’d agree with you – focus on reform (though I do believe even when someone has been reformed, some time away from society as a punitive consequence is fair), keep in prison basically. I don’t believe in the death penalty.
That said, when it comes to fictional characters, I am 1000% okay with wishing violence and or death because they are not real. Once it moves into real life, it crosses into ‘not okay’ territory for me.
That said, I definitely think yours is a fair moral line.
When it comes to criminal justice, I agree. When it comes to a person defending herself from an attacker, I don’t have any problem getting a little schadenfreudey.
In an ideal world where criminalized are penalized and meet justice fairly and white frat boys don’t routinely get away with gang rape and white criminals are given the same penalties as everyone else, I would one hundred percent agree with you. In a criminal justice system, I agree with you.
In the world we live right now, with privileged rapists and racist murderers walking free, with hate crimes rampant and white supremacists getting police protection while BLM are given police brutality, I guess I lean more towards the side of: ‘if justice isn’t available, vengeance will do.’
That’s why Amazigirl never found any proper Villain around… Amber is her Joker
This is some Jekyll and Hyde insanity…
:O
I know this is bad for Amber. 🙁
But at the same time I am, “YES, ef him up Amber, ef him up good :D”
Oh yeah! This is what I both feared and yearned for. Amber going all HYDE on that creepy little loser!
Plot twist: Mary then looks through the glass and says “…. Ryan?”.
No amount of Mary stepping in is going to stop Amber at this point.
Uh oh… she looks a little Jokerish there. I hope she’s not about to play hide the pencil with that knife.
I hope she is.
…. and I just noticed that the alt-text continues the Biblical verse from 2 days ago…
Yes! Strike him down with your hate! Feel the power of the darkside!
Now it’s time for Amber to stop talking in that Christian Bale voice and start talking in a Heath Ledger. Why so angry Ryan? Let’s put a smile on that face!
Okay, I love the touch with the book. As has already been mentioned, it’s not to keep “Ryan” out. It’s to keep Dorothy IN. That implies Amber will be holding absolutely nothing back, further evidenced by her disarming him with no effort at all.
Kick him in the nuts, Amber! Make him beg for mercy.
When I got here, I got redirected to some weird site telling me I won a new Smartphone.
Has anybody else experienced something similar?
I really wouldn’t know anything about phones, sorry.
maybe use ccleaner to clean up your computer, you might have downloaded a virus or something and ccleaner is at least free
I do notice my anti-virusalerts becoming more active when I visit DoA, and blocking more popups than usual. More than usual for webcomics in any case
If you are using Firefox grab NoScript and Adblock addons. Together they block most problematic content. My guess is that ads showed by DoA got infected and now they spread their stuff.
I actually encountered this redirect on my Smartphone.
I did some research on this scam, and apparently, it’s a phone-specific thing.
Deleting the cache is the recommended workaround, and it worked just fine.
Welp good for you.
This is why I don’t browse the net on a smartphone, they are sitting ducks for all kinds of attacks…
That’s right. Amber has far, far more issues that Amazi-girl and far, far less control.
The only problem I have with all this is so far Ryan has been presented as a semi intelligent rapist. He chooses his targets well and uses roofies so he can easily cover up his crime, but now it’s like he’s snapped. Did he really think he could assault Dorothy, Amber, and Joyce in a public building with plenty of potential witnesses and get away with it? It’s one thing for the police to arrest and possibly try him, but unless he was stupid enough to keep his roofies they wouldn’t have any evidence except Joyce’s accusation and we all know how often that results in a conviction. Hell actual rapists have gotten less at sentencing. At worst Ryan’s reputation would be tarnished and it would be more difficult to operate in the future. Ironically Amber delivering a severe beatdown is better for him than succeeding at getting revenge which would’ve likely get him sent to prison for 3 counts of attempted murder and assault and battery. And I doubt the general population would view him as a tough guy so he’s probably end up property of the Aryan Brotherhood by lights out.
I agree. I can see why the story narrative is served by this turn of events, but it turns Ryan into a different type of villain. Then again, he failed in his original attempted rape because he got impatient, so maybe this is in character for him.
I think you’re giving Ryan too much credit here. At the party he got annoyed the drugs were taking too long and basically told her “I’m an evil angry rapist about to rape” and got smashed in the face with a glass.
So, getting annoyed at at his picture going out and saying “I’m an evil angry stabber about to stab” seems right up his alley.
He’s definitely impatient. That coupled with his arrogance should be his undoing.
Actually using roofies is a terrible idea? They leave evidence behind on his victim’s blood stream. The vast majority of rapists prefer just choosing victims who are already drunk and then getting them much more drunk and dragging them home.
Same general effect as roofies, but the rapist knows their victim will blame themselves for drinking too much, and that most people won’t consider them a rapist even though they did it on purpose and legally they absolutely are.
Sitcoms portray finding a woman who’s too drunk to consent as “getting lucky”, so… society is very much on their side.
Anyway, lots of people wrongly believe that rape accusations ruin lives, and maybe there’s something in Ryan’s family that makes him particularly think he’s going down — like maybe he’s already on thin ice with his dad, etc etc.
I agree this isn’t brilliant but Ryan never was. He was entitled, arrogant, and quick to anger, all of which fits with and feeds into this confrontation.
PS I know you did not mean it this way, but your last line is technically a rape joke? We’ve got several admitted rape survivors in the comics, and while survivor sentiment varies, the general consensus seems to be “hearing other people hope rapists will get raped in prison doesn’t make us feel better.” (Also prison rape is a huge problem, and does not always or only happen to rapists.)
It’s difficult to prove who actually planted the roofies. If you can find the provider then you can make a case, but like you said too often the perpetrators get away with it because the victim is too ashamed and juries aren’t as sympathetic unless it’s the more familiar attack and rape. And my last line was not a joke, but a statement of fact. I agree it feels cathartic at first, but it’s a lot like Theon Greyjoy’s torture at the hands of Ramsay Bolton. It was satisfying at first on account of what he did, but after awhile you start to feel sorry for the poor bastard.
That’s… a silly argument.
Semen + drugs in the bloodstream + the odds that someone in the bar saw you two leaving together…? I’m very sure rapists still get away with it, but it IS made much more difficult by using roofies.
This is one of a plethora of reasons why shit like date rape nail polish is useless (plus that it was full of false negatives and positives once outside the laboratory).
FUCK.
that last panel gave me chills
Her smile is eerily similar to that of the bongo formerly known as Ryan in yesterday’s last panel.
Hope you’re ambidextrous Ryan, ’cause I got a feeling you won’t be able to use that hand for a while.
*Vesemir voice* Just make it quick, Amber. And do try not to kill him.
So… what are the odds Ryans face ends up symmetrical once more?
OH SHI
Jesus. How do you deal, emotionally, with writing dialogue like Ryan’s? Panel 1 just…well. Panel 1, dude.
An unfortunate understanding of a very very toxic mindset, this one happening to be where men believe they are free of consequences from their actions and they have a right to rule and inflict their whims at will.
Ryan is about to find out, in an unquestionably horrific way, that there are consequences to his actions.
I know it’s not okay to goad someone into evil…But I really hope Ryan gets messed up! I just don’t want Amber to go pass the morality point of no return! AUGH!
DARN IT, WILLIS! Why couldn’t you have just dropped a meteorite on Ryan’s head with the words “God says STFU” on it?!?
There’s no morality point of no return here. If Amber took the now-dropped knife and stabs Ryan in the gut 50 times, she’d still be all safe and warm in the full do-gooder zone. Certainly much more than that time where she stabbed someone under police custody through the hand, or when AG tried to goad Sal, Malaya and Marcie into attacking her so she could beat them up.
For some reason, he didn’t expect her to physically be able to deal with him, though he had two tries at knowing better.
And probably he sees something in her eyes in Panel 4 that he didn’t expect…
Amber is right, he is unlucky Amazi-Girl is not there. Amber protecting a friend agains someone with a knife will end badly – for him. And for her it will only go well if she manages to not kill him.
Sorry abou the avatar roulette, I deleted all cookies and don’t remember with upper/lower combination gave an avatar I liked.
Men get arrested. Dogs get put down.
Once again a knife-wielding maniac has shown us the way.
On another note, asking as a non-american, what kind of influence would a pastor have politically? Asking because of how Frieda and Whitney were talking about Ryan like he’s from a very powerful family. (It’s probably been discussed before, but I don’t always read the comments section)
As a non-American, I’d venture that it would depend on the pastor and the place – presumably, Ryan’s father is one of the top-dog pastors around, and this being the state of Indiana, I’d wager “a lot.” How much of that influence he would be able to bring to bear against a University that is already awash in the scandal of having some dude hunting down his daughter for being a lesbian MIGHT be a different issue, but Indiana did give us vice-president Pence, whose great question about life seems to be if LGBTQIAA folk are better handled through electrocussion or rape, soooo…
In my (religious conservative) region of Canada, the pastor of the biggest church in town is basically a second (unelected, faith-based) mayor of the town. They’ve got a lot of power – they decide whether a family that just had a house fire gets a fundraiser in their support, which family with a sick kid gets help for medical expenses (yeah doctors are covered in the great white north, but medicine, living expenses, and travel to doctors aren’t, so if you need a transplant and have to go live 3000km away in Toronto until you get lucky or die waiting, it’s expensive), which political causes get support (antichoice pastors are the big reason that while de jure there is no legal restriction on abortion in Canada, de facto some regions have no access at all and in many you either have to pay hundreds to get it done in a private facility – despite the fact that, legally, the province should be picking up the tab – or roll the dice and hope you can find two doctors willing to sign off on it before you hit an extremely low cut-off (in my province, public abortions are only done to 12 weeks, and until last year you needed two different doctors to sign off on it. Now you only need one, but you have to travel to 2 hospitals that do it in the entire province and get an opening before the 12wk cutoff. Good luck, because they class it as a surgical procedure and wait list for the OR in each of those facilities is >16 weeks. So unless you get lucky, it’s not happening. But it gives the government an easy ‘win’ to be able to pose as if they’re Oh So Progressive by requiring the province treat a routine medical procedure as a routine medical procedure while denying funding for clinic abortions which are safer, cheaper, faster, and a better patient experience).
In the US, they’re even more powerful. In most religion heavy regions I’ve visited, religious leaders seem to be one part politician, one part activist, one part celebrity. Like local US talk radio and TV stations often have religious leaders on to opine about politics instead of spokespeople for the politicians under discussion or activists directly involved in the issue. I’d argue in certain US regions, if you want to rule the community, don’t become a politician – become a faith leader.
Like, there’s a damn good reason L. Ron Hubbard often said religion was the best racket going in the US – and later founded scientology. He was an evil bastard, but he knew opportunity for power when he saw it.
L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology as a result of a $50 bet with Robert Heinlein that he could start a religion and get people to follow. Apparently, it was the easiest $50 he ever made.
It honestly depends on the type of pastor and what part of the country he’s in. In the bible belt and South big time priests and pastors hold a substantial amount of political power, less so in more liberal areas.
See the mess in the White House? The demographic that put that there is white evangelical.
At first, I thought the book was to keep Ryan from getting in (which seems to have been his thought as well), and was getting quite worried for Amber, but I realized that that wouldn’t make too much sense – he, being on the same side as the book, can easily remove it. Now, it could be to prevent Dorothy from getting into the fight and getting hurt, but – seeing as Dorothy knows Amber is Amazi-Girl, and hence is a capable fighter, unlike herself – a simple “Stay back!” or something would suffice.
Most likely, Amber is confident about the fight (which makes me quite confident too, and makes me wonder what the hell Ryan was thinking trying to fight Amazi-Girl), and doesn’t want Dorothy to stop her. Which means things look very, very bad for Ryan. Which is great 😡
Dorothy was refusing to abandon Amber which is a nice sentiment but in this case is mostly another thing Amber has to worry about.
what a fuckin line tho. fuck it up amber
The panels are looking red and the fan is looking mighty brown right now. Is the next strip called catharsis, Willis?
And if we needed further proof that Ryan is a little coward shit, note that the fucker had a big ass-knife (in b4 “you call that a knife? THIS is a knife”) and he was STILL shitting his pants because Joe is bigger than him.
Side note: I hope that 3rd panel thing is for dramatic purposes, because a door that can be barred that easily just stinks of fire hazard.
Remember that apparently the uni this was based on was a total trash fire, as far as admin went.
Hey Ryan, remember when being chased by the authorities and having a scar on your face was your biggest problems?
Those were the days, right?
……and now steps in Robin, to brain our little rapist with the lamp pole she can’t seem to stop carrying around.
Aide, meet ‘aide’
the resulting acclaim vaults her to a reelection landslide
Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
His prejudice told him that Joe was a threat but that women could be easily dealt with. He was wrong.
This is after Amber and Sal managed three of his friends at once. Why is he still listening to his prejudice?
Because prejudice is irrational?
And because he’s got a knife this time. Big man with a weapon.
1) I hope Sal shows up and they tag team this asshole.
2) Unfortunately for Ryan, he just set off an animal crazier than Amazi-Girl. No offense to Amber.
I am worried for Amber here.
Not physically – she has the training and the physical prowess that I have confidence she’ll be able to beat Ryan.
I am worried for her mentally. When she is finished giving him the thrashing he so richly deserves – what will the consequences be to her? What mental health fallout will this have? She’s already worried she’s going to become her father – what happens when she puts Ryan in there with her father?
Cuz that’s where I see this going unless campus police happen along.
It’s funny how we can approach the exact same situation and have completely different expected results: I think this is good for Amber, because much of her issues originated in the “Sal taking Ethan hostage” event, and this is a similar one where she’s going to stop the assailant.
I can see that from a closure on the Sal Incident side, but she’s also an abused kid who’s swallowed the cycle of abuse narrative hook, line and sinker. I know, for me – part of why I have no intention of reproducing (like around number 6, after “I don’t want kids” and “I travel too much for child-rearing” and “I don’t want kids” and “I’d have to stop working in a lab for over a year” and “I am not a kid person” and “I don’t want kids”) is that I grew up in an abusive household and whenever I do care for kids, I am literally always fighting against what I was brought up with. I internalized the pattern, and I am not confident I can NOT be an abusive shit to a child in my long-term care, so I will not accept responsibility to care for a child in the long term.
Like, every time I’m the primary carer for a kid and I get at all annoyed with them, I am monitoring my actions – was I wrong to yell? Did I fuck that up? Was I too rough in grabbing the kid and hauling them back from the road with oncoming traffic? Is it relief that the kid is OK that I’m feeling or is it satisfaction that they hurt their knee when I hauled them away from the road? I can’t tell – what if it’s both? What the fuck is wrong with me if I feel satisfaction over a toddler getting hurt?!
If I know I’m going to have to spend time caring for kids all day, I’m up worrying the night before. Is this going to be it? Is this going to be the time I lose it and give in to the impulse to smack a kid in the face for whining?
Cuz that is an impulse I feel if I have to care for a kid. I was brought up in a household where if you, as the child, were annoying the adult, the adult’s first response was a threat of violence, and the second response was actual violence. And I am always terrified that I’m going to act out that pattern. It’s what I know, and it is my knee-jerk impulse. Like, I’m not worrying I’ll do something I’d never do. I’m worrying I’ll give in to an impulse I do actually have. One that I have, thankfully, restrained ever since I became old enough to realize that I wasn’t “exerting authority,” I was being a bully and a tyrant (so around age 12 or so – I grew up in that sort of conservative household where girl kids get drafted as auxiliary child-rearers early) – but I know if I’m caring for kids for more than a couple hours, the chances go up that I’ll fuck up. And the consequences of fucking up don’t bear thinking about. So I keep myself out of direct-carer responsibility for kids. And I wouldn’t work or volunteer in a setting that puts me in unsupervised authority over kids. Like Amber sabotages her romantic relationships. Because the terror of becoming who you hate is too strong.
My fear for Amber is that she’ll see defending Dorothy not as making amends for freezing with Sal, but as releasing the anger her father taught her. And from experience: The situations where you do release your abuser’s anger – justified or not – stay with you, and haunt you. Like, on a down day I still pull up the time I punched a kid at school who’d bullied me for years in the face because he gave me an excuse when I was already in a pissed off mood. Most people would say that he deserved it for having engaged in sexual, physical and emotional harassment of me for years prior to that, and I did know from experience that his pattern was to insult me and then physically assault me or pinch my ass if he could reach it, but for me? I see that as the day I discovered I have too much of my own father in me. That was the day I found out I can hurt people – and, in fact, some part of me enjoys hurting people – who are no immediate threat to me, but rather just pissed me off in that moment. Because I didn’t do it because I knew he was about to hurt me – I did it because he pissed me off and I lost my temper. As a result, to this day, I see that as a bad thing I did. Because for just a moment, I became my father. I didn’t do it to defend myself. I did it because he pissed me off and I wanted to give him a bloody lip for it, so I did. That’s my father in me – and that’s the person I become if I don’t fight against my violent impulses all the time. And the worst part is that it worked, where years of trying to resolve that situation the “right” (non-violent) way didn’t. I punched him in the face and gave him a bloody lip, and he never bothered me again. I say “worst part” because my father would always say that violence is often the only thing that will get shit done, and that? Reinforced that he was right about it. Years of nonviolence accomplished nothing, but one punch to the face got that asshole off my back. But if I accept Dad was right about the use of violence, does that also accept the ideology that made him a physically abusive parent?
Anyway, I see a lot of me in Amber, and what scares me for her here is that she’s really pissed off right now – we’ve got the red panels. I am scared she’ll see this as releasing her father, like I saw punching that guy as releasing my father, and that it’s going to stick with her and haunt her.
And thing is, if your an abuse victim, it’s not true that if you’re afraid of becoming your abuser you won’t become them.
My father was terrified fo becoming his dad. He didn’t want his kids to be afraid of him. He wanted to be different.
And yet, he did become his dad, his kids are afraid of him, and he’s different only in degree (he’s right when he says he’s not as bad as his father – my dad never broke bones or used weapons). That’s what sticks with me. Good intentions aren’t enough to make you different from the one who brought you up. Intent isn’t magic, and actions matter.
By which I mean: You can be different. You can break the cycle. But simply wanting to be different isn’t enough.
For me, the only way I can be certain, at this point in time with this head space I have, that I won’t become my father is to never give myself the chance to be him. So I won’t. For one of my siblings, what that looks like is telling her husband she needs to take a walk whenever she feels herself getting close. For another person I know, it looked like being a single parent because she says she “seems to gravitate” to abusers and she didn’t want her kids dealing with that. A third person I know has somehow managed to avoid both anger issues and a history of abusive relationships, so he he has a happy family with his partner. So different is possible and I’m not saying it’s not. But wanting to be different isn’t enough – you have to actually be different.
<3. Support for you, and mad props for the thousands of times that you have refused to give in.
I find that it's way easier cognitively to do a specific healthy action, vs. trying hard to not do the unhealthy action.
If you ever want, there are classes and such to create a new, healthier paradigm in your mind, so that you can have a healthy model of behavior that you can freely pick, one that isn’t your family’s default abusive model. I don’t imagine that it’s easy, but you’re already doing the cognitively harder version, so I bet you could do really well at it if it’s something you ever want to explore.
This is so true. My father was abusive, my grandfather much more so, and his father apparently an outright monster. And now that my kids have moved away, I realize…
I thought when I grew up that I would stop wishing I were someone else.
*support* 8(
I obviously defer to the person with experience in the matter.
She could always give him the Lorena Bobbitt treatment, and then toss the severed dick in a nearby sewer….
Amber is defending herself without her alter? That’s good right?
Oh dear….”Ryan, you don’t seem to understand. I’m not locked out here with you. You’re locked out here with me.”
Maybe??? She’s still clearly thinking about it as “Amazi-Girl is rightous and a healthy outlet for anger, Amber is a super violent fuck up whos cruel and Bad” it’s just that right now she WANTS to be super violent and cruel. whatever happens here might not clear up that distinction, just renforces it
Yeah, it’s not a good sign for Amber’s self-esteem. I think Rachel’s speech hit her in the worst way 🙁
Plus, Mike forced her to realize it is Blaine she takes after (not her mom-as-victim) I think this is where her resigned tears are coming from. She’s gonna suck-it-up, and “Go Blaine” all over not-Ryan, to protect her friends.
Like Cerberus mentioned, Golden Alter AG has left Amber to deal with it.
She didn’t “realize” it, because it isn’t true.
She’s got some anger issues and does not have many healthy coping skills right now, but she is not like her shithole father.
But yes, that shitty comment from Mike helped push in her in this direction
This.
My reactions, in order:
1) YOU FUCKED UP! YOU FUCKED UP! YOU FUCKED UP!
2) This is still going to go badly for Amber somehow.
3) https://youtu.be/N4Y9NzdniTU
CW: swearing, n-word
Is Dave a Frank Miller fan, perhaps?
“I take his weapons away. Both of them.“
Whoreswhoreswhoreswhoreswhores!
Can Dorothy nowcall security or something???? The front desk must be close just scream bloody murder and someone will come running!!!
Damn, this is one of the most intense strips I’ve ever seen. Heart pounding.
‘Ryan’, if you’d been lucky, you’d live in Norway and be picked up by a well-trained cops and delivered to a justice system that focuses on rehabilitation and my better half would prefer that. But I won’t lose any sleep if you go backwards down those steps and land on a conveyor belt into the American prison system. We may not be much good at apprehending rapists but a guy who threatens two college girls with a knife? Juries will not take that kindly. At the moment I’m more worried about Amber than you.
This story arc is a little bit personal to me. I went to a Christian college in Tennessee and knew a lot of pastors’ sons. Most were just unequipped to make ethical choices on their own, having always had that done for them. One was violent and scary. Once I was sweeping up in the student union building and saw him gripping his girlfriend’s hands while she said stop you’re hurting me. I just stared at him, holding the broom, even though he would have been more than a match for me, and he let her go. He was a cruel person, and went on to be the pastor of a megachurch.
Actually he threatened three. He said he was “carve” the “unfinished business” on Joyce’s face.
Yikes! That’s right.
I loved the look of shock and fear on his face when he was disarmed. It’s the look that says, “Oh hell, I did NOT think this through.”
His expression there really is just the best thing
*Palpatine voice*
“Do it. Do it, Willis..”
End him.
This scene from Second Hand Lions came to mind. “You’re holding it wrong son. Not like this…” Start at 2:02
You can see the fear in his eyes. He knows he fucked up.
Meh, break his hands and have done with it.
He won’t take it to the cops. Being bested by girls twice in a row won’t be good for his “rep.”
It’s not gonna happen, but my fantasy next strip has Mike suddenly appear from behind and kick this doucheweasel in the nuts.
And then we find out his name is Obadiah Ryan Bartley.
That would be completely lawsome.
Oh…you done F**ED up now “Ryan”
I’ve read this webcomic for a while, and I simply cannot be the only one thinking about this. Because of all of Amber’s repeated statements that she and Amazi-Girl are different people… Could that be true? She literally punched Danny just because he tried to be with Amber and not Amazi-Girl, Amazi-Girl’s statements at the rally towards Sal about how Amazi-Girl protects Sal from Amber… And now Amber telling Ryan that she isn’t Amazi-Girl.
Does Amber have Dissociative identity disorder?
Or Split Personality Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder, I really don’t care. But I think that fact that she keeps on differentiating between the two makes me quite nervous, and I wouldn’t be surprised.
That or I’m just looking into Willis way too much.
it’s not been confirmed textually or extra-textually, but a lot of people with DID agree with this reading
Amber didn’t punch Danny. She just pulled him away from her. But yeah, a lot of people have been thinking DID.
Willis said on Tumblr that he doesn’t want to label Amber with any mental diagnose in risk of hurting more than providing with representation.
Here’s Willis’ word on it: http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/159962485017/this-is-probably-too-much-like-is-dina-on-the
And here’s one about the possibility of Borderline Personality Disorder: http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/159979017827/honestly-ambers-actions-have-always-reminded-me
Also she pushed Danny away. She didn’t punch him.
“Then why are you smiling?”
“I am not left-handed either.”
Oh, “Ryan”. You’re about to get a brand new scar, aren’t you?
As bad as this might be for Amber, I do love it when people like Ryan escalate their Ryan-ness to levels the cops can’t ignore in a desperate bid to get back at people for giving them consequences and also fail to cause any damage doing it.
Ryan
Is
Toast
Uh oh… Looks like she’s got a THIRD personality in her! And this one seems like she might be WAY more dangerous than Amazi-Girl..
I suspect that it’ll be a bit like Alex and his Droogs from “A Clockwork Orange”.
In fact, it’d be kind of interesting to see Amber dressed up in a sexy female version of that outfit, derby, cane and all!
No, that’s just Amber. Amazi-Girl is her outlet so that she doesn’t go insane on the normal folk.
What I want to know is: who’s crying? If Amber is crying she doesn’t seem to be aware of it. Is AG crying from within her? This just reminds me too much of Crying Freeman. The central conceit of that series is if you ever see the title character looking at you with tears in his eyes it means you’re already dead; you just don’t know it yet.
That sounds like it could be pretty close to what is happening.
I think those are Amber’s tears due to facing her greatest fear. (Letting a friend down because of a knife wielding lunatic.) She is either unaware of the tears because of her fear or ignoring them as she confronts her fear. I suspect the latter. Her smile suggests she realizes she has a chance at redemption.
The scariest part: We keep seeing the Red Background, but there are no corresponding flashbacks. It’s like, that’s no longer her worst day. THIS is her worst day.
Because Dotty is seeing her at her worst. No doubt.
Ready to, and possibly about to, murder a sum’bongo? Pretty sure that’s everyone’s worse.
Oh, I’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time! Amber…fuck…him…up!!!
How is it possible to be THAT bad at holding a knife?
*Morgan Freeman voice* It was at that moment Ryan knew… he fucked up.
I’ll see your disturbing psychotic smile and raise you another!