Elan the Bard from Order of the Stick has taught me the importance of turning up in the nick of time. Not before, not after, the exact nick of time.
Also, using puns while you fight can allow you to add your Charisma modifier to damage if you have the right class feature. Explains Spider-Man’s success!
Amazi-Girl probably doesn’t have a higher Cha than Str though. Also puns would be more in line for Danny or Drew since they are bisexual and as we all know, we bisexuals love things that can be taken both ways.
Spider-Man once explained that he does it to disrupt his opponents chain of thoughts and bait them into making mistakes. To me that more sounds like giving them a five penalty
If I recall, Spiderman’s quips actually serve two purposes:
1) It annoys his opponents, making them more likely to make mistakes out of anger
2) It distracts him. One time, he goes nigh on dead silent and delivers an incredibly brutal beatdown
The thing about Spider-Man is that he is very good at what he does. He regularly takes on the Sinister Six, which is 6 of his toughest foes teaming up against him. Which means they aren’t actually that tough to him, since he can win against 6 of them at once. He jokes in combat because he can, and if you can, why wouldn’t you?
Yeah, Spider-Man Is usually swinging *way* below his actual weight class. He’s one of the strongest superheroes and has a Rogues Gallery full of street-level criminals. It’s just what he likes to do. His regular villains like Rhino can’t even hit hard enough to seriously hurt him if he laid on the ground and just let them go at it.
Rhino likely could do some serious damage to Spider-Man if he could lay a fist on him (super strength is one of his powers, if I remember correctly), but there’s precious few others that stand a real threat to the wallcrawler. Vermin, Lizard, Venom, Kingpin, and Green Goblin are the only other frequent regulars who seem like a legitimate threat, though I’m certainly forgetting a few.
Yeah, it’s not so much that Spidey’s villains can’t hurt him, most of them do pose a threat to him in some way. It’s that very few of them actually have the ability to force him into a situation where they can take advantage of that.
The Rhino can beat him down if Spidey let him… but how is he going to make Spidey do that? Kraven can stalk him and set up a perfect ambush… but what is he going to do once Spidey’s in the trap? Etc.
On the other hand, you can also observe this having a similar effect on the villains as the Flash had on the Rogues in the Wally West era: the constant struggle made them really good at covering their weaknesses and countering their nemesis, and when faced with a less powerful foe they turned out to be able to punch way above their supposed weight class.
Rhino is much stronger than Spiderman, and would beat him to a pulp if Spidey were dumb enough to go for a toe-to-toe slugfest. That’s why Spiderman usually uses his superior speed and agility for a stick-and-move approach, or just lets the Rhino beat himself up by taunting him into a charge only to duck out of the way. (Rhino is capable of brief bursts of superhuman speed, but his tremendous mass and limited agility mean he can’t easily stop or change directions once he’s committed.)
He’s also canonically one of the top geniuses in the Marvel Universe. Top-notch labs can’t replicate the web-fluid; he created the tracer devices capable of attuning to his spider-sense–hell he once built a Doctor Doom-style time machine… out of freakin’ kitchen appliances. And much of this was in high school, or as a college drop-out. Imagine what he would be if he’d been, say, given the advantages of a Tony Stark or Reed Richards from the get-go.
Let’s not forget that he is not bullet proof. In a recent issue he took a bullet for someone and it really messed him up. He powered through it but the bloodloss took him out of the next fight til he recovered and received medical treatment. Yes his spider-sense usually keeps him out of harms way when it comes to bullets but they can still fuck him up.
The Sinister Six is small potatoes. Spider-Man once took out two 25%s of the fucking Phoenix Force by talking to them when it had taken all of the non-mutant Marvel heavyweights to take out one 20%.
Another plus to his constant quipping is that it makes his opponents forget that Peter Parker is actually one of the top intellects of the Marvel Universe, not just in science but also, unlike people like Reed Richards, in PEOPLE.
Honey Bun attack while they were visiting his parents, IIRC. That’s also when Amber realized Mike had real feeling for her, after some of his old SEMME colleagues mentioned that nobody makes Mike do much of anything he doesn’t want to.
Bloody hell, Blaine has a raging murderboner… Mike shouted he was being chased to like four people who definitely heard him on the way there, does he really think nobody is gonna try and check that out?
That was a list of Approved Family Members that he wasn’t on. One assumes submitted by the students as part of the acceptance paperwork.
I don’t know of any solid evidence of any court orders or legal restraints on either of them. We can hope that Ross’s bail terms included “stay away from your daughter”, but it hasn’t been stated.
After reading a few of those linked strips, I’m wondering if Blane is smart enough to remember he saw a grappling hook in Amber’s closet (if AG uses it) and puts two and two together.
Of course he might not believe it even if he makes the connection, figuring Amber is too weak-willed to be AG (aka there’s now way a guy like Clark Kent could be Superman).
Carla’s pretty savvy, like when Billie suggested that Mary might be picking on her because she liked her and she immediately went, ‘no, this is not Hey Arnold’.
Ooooh, good point. I miss Carla, feels like we haven’t seen her in forever. Lol I think that’s why I like her so much too. She’s like Mike except less committed to appearing malicious and cynical, even though she’s like to think they’re at least equal. Actually, I think her desired persona is more “aloof/superior and indifferent” than Mike’s “prickly and indifferent”. Mike doesn’t care about what people think of hon, as long as they know he’s an asshole; Carla wants everyone to know she’s WAY smarter, prettier, more badass, and just generally awesomer than them (which, to be fair, is typically true ❤️), and any time or attention she generously gives to one of you puny mortals is a gift they’re unworthy of. But she’s not like a Vriska Serket or anything where she’s so determined to believe it herself that she masquerades as an actual narcissist, which is good. Anyway, I also enjoy that her sense of humor is different than Mike’s. They both like giving with people, but his skill is people and hers is engineering, which leads to some fabulous hijinks. ❤️ I love both of them! And also think it’s hilarious that she clearly respects his skill and is determined to have him acknowledge her own, and is pissed off that he won’t. 😂
Eh, I still say “get rescued by Amazigirl” is a dumb plan, and I’m a little disappointed it worked. Although if AeromechanicalAce is correct, it’s at least slightly less dumb.
People can be crazy creative, but there is a huge lack of good KP mash-ups. A mash-up with Tag Team would have been killer, but I am just left weeping.
Also, it IS a dang perfect might-have-been theme for Amazi-Girl or Sal.
Aaw, Mike’s belief in superheroes and their tropes kinda helps explain his and Ethan’s friendship &heart;
Also, so Toedad assumed they were scaring Mike, whilst Blaine was deadly serious about intending him fatal harm… And I’m wondering if Toedad would have been blamed for manslaughter/murder with a motor vehicle if Amazigirl hadn’t arrived to rescue Mike, if there were witnesses showing him driving the car, damage to the vehicle, and his injuries weren’t inconsistent with those caused by a RTA… At the least he would definitely be an accessory to murder and driving below the standard one would expect (cutting up other road users)…
Mike definitely believes in good guys. He just doesn’t believe he’s one of them, or a good enough person to become one. I suspect he thinks he’s too cynical, but his soft spot for Ethan and his faith in Amber and/or Amazi-Girl betrays that he’s maybe a little less cynical than he thinks. ❤
Cue the Amazi-Girl Theme music.
What? There isn’t any Amazi-Girl Theme music??
This is an oversight that needs to be rectified immediately.
Willis, make it so.
I kind of doubt it. He’s blind to anything other than his image of Amber being a worthless shut-in. Remember? He told Toe-dad that Amber wouldn’t be at the party.
Unlikely. Also, he was kinda fighting a different foe, the last time. Amber beat the shit out of him before. This time, it’s Amazi-Girl’s turn. I’m kinda interested to see how she does it different!
Well I do know Mike doesn’t know how to dial 911. Maybe have these two attempted murderers arrested instead of waiting for a random vigilante to come save you and fight a 2v1 against at least one man with a weapon.
Your website has a problem with a rerouting bug, at least for the mobile version. Thought I’d give a heads up that I kept getting rerouting ads trying to scam me.
I still think calling for the police would have worked better. Anyway, I hope these to get arrested finally or they die on their way to their own planet.
Once that is dealt with, we only have to deal with Carol being questioned by Joyce.
Especially for Ross calling the police would’ve been optimal. The dude’s out on bail. I don’t know the details of his case but considering he was in jail I assume him getting mixed up in this nonsense would be an immediate ticket back there.
Is this just your way of inserting your ACAB views into the conversation? The police we’ve seen so far in the strip were helpful and polite from what we’ve seen.
“ACAB” = “All Cops Are Bastards”, I believe. Though I once saw a sticker on a streetlamp that chose to interpret it instead as “All Cats Are Beautiful”.
All Cops Are Bad. It’s not supposed to be taken too literally though, except by some anarchists. It’s not as much an indictment against individual police than of the whole institution, particularly under capitalism, where the main purpose of the police and state power/violence is the defense of large-scale private property.
Considering the cops who dealt with Ross were on screen for less than 10 panels, that’s not hard. There’s a reason Sal decided to leave before they could see her though.
We don’t really have a reason not to trust the authorities yet though either. I know that the real world application of our law enforcement is mixed at best but I think it sets a bad precedent to just assume the worst and let people put themselves in danger because or our understandable skepticism.
Toedad has always been desperate and misguided. Blaine has always been a crazy, abusive, sadistic narcissist. …It’s weird, but it’s not THAT weird. Ross is on a mission, Blaine likes violence for the sake of it and has a personal vendetta against Mike besides.
Eh, I have a bit of a problem with the idea that Mike it a threat to Blaine’s business dealing. Mike found the paper trail while he was still in high school. I’m thinking even Blaine would have acted to cover himself by now.
It is true that all of the narcissists I’ve known personally (a fair few) have been somewhat paranoid, but I don’t know if that’s just a coincidence. There are of course differing proportions of the various characteristics, and I would say those I’ve known have had relatively less blatant grandiosity compared to their other traits, which would have otherwise been a natural counterpoint to paranoia.
On the other hand, just take a look at Mr. POTUS himself to see when grandiosity overcomes literally any sense of self preservation. Blaine could absolutely be one of THOSE narcissists – I’m too good to get caught, even if people have already caught me. He’s just not a politician, so instead of making up crude insults and playground nicknames to discredit his opponents, he comes after them with a tiny little hammer.
Possibly. But given all the other things Blaine has done just in the past hour, he’d be held at least over night. If the police take Mike seriously and start digging into Blaine’s business they might uncover a whole lot of irregularities that can cause him no end of trouble. Even if he has completely covered up his mob involvement from back then. And the mob wouldn’t be happy about Blaine being investigated in any case.
So yeah, maybe Blaine has perfectly covered his tracks since then. But all Mike needed was a credible threat to get Blaine to follow him.
We’ve had people in the comments identify it, with matching reference photographs; IIRC, it was a Ruger single-shot hunting rifle or somesuch. Definitely not a shotgun, however.
I don’t think he’s getting a redemption arc either, but I will give him the tiniest credit toward the fact he honestly doesn’t seem to be ok with murder. Aggressive/violent means to “protect” his family, but at least not murder. But hey, it’s hard to look worse than Blaine…
I mean, he was fine with potential murder when it was his daughter they were kidnapping. He clearly doesn’t give a damn about witnesses though so killing Mike just seems excessive.
Ross isn’t getting a redemption arc because that would require introspection. He may have time for that in jail, but prison ministry exists specifically to prevent that sort of thing.
Now all Blaine has to do is find a way to tell Amazi-Girl about what he found on Amber’s flashdrive while he’s getting beaten. Shouldn’t be too hard since this is a comic.
Please, people, stop laughing at the hammer. It’s a well chosen murder weapon. One hit = depressed skull fracture leading to lifelong disability if you survive at all. Several hits = you probably don’t survive even with emergency surgery.
Blaine is getting ready to kill someone he hates with that hammer. He’s a sadist. Of course he’s caressing it!
(Ugh!!!)
(I have no direct expertise – but I do know there’s a reason they require bike helmets to be tested against trailer hitch balls.)
Plus, if questioned, it’s much easier to come up with an explanation for having something primarily regarded as a tool, as opposed to a purpose-made weapon. I’m just curious why he has a ball-peen hammer, which is usually used for metal-working. Since he runs a carpentry business, I’d expect a claw hammer.
Honestly, I totally agree that’s it’s a well chosen murder weapon, you’re totally right. It’s just that 1) What Wizard said about it not even bring a carpenter tool, and why would he have it; 2) It has a funny name, and he really is holding it upright and apparently caressing it lovingly, which makes it really easy to make dick jokes about it; and 3) It’s honestly a little small for what I would EXPECT someone to choose as a violent murder weapon, especially someone as clearly bent on intimidation as well as sadism, like Blaine is. Like, did he go to the hardware store, walk PAST all the bigger hammers, and go “Ooh, yeah, this one looks good”? Cuz I doubt he just had that one lying around.
But honestly, the main reason I personally, at least, keep joking about the hammer is this: I KNOW it could kill Mike, Blaine’s sadism disturbs me, and humor is an extremely effective weapon against fear. Plus Blaine’s a 10000% unrepentant abusive, murderous asshole, so I feel no qualms taking cheap shots at him.
Blaine is the boggart, and we’re all just here shouting Ridikulus!at him.
Okay now after the beatdown, cut to Ethan gently tending shirtless Mike’s wounds next a waterfall. Then cut to Slipshine, before my subscription expires. *End scene*
…and then Mike wakes up and smashes his face on a wall for allowing his unconscious to be such a cliched idiot, because who is Mike Warner without his too-sharp self awareness, self-loathing, and cynicism?
I really start to think Mike has a crush on amazi-girl/amber, and that he is acting on it with about the same level of maturity as he did his crush on Ethan.
Blaine should be so lucky it’s only amazi-girl that comes to kick his ass.
It was reeeeeeally hard to talk Ross into use violence against a teenager he has no personal problem with.
I’m still hoping that Asher and Sal are coming too, on their way to warn Amber that Blaine’s back in town. It would be supremely comic book for Asher to be the edgy ex-villain anti-hero who is always on the edge of the team.
Not needed at this point, I think. If this is a fight scene, Amazi-Girl can handle the two of them. She stomped Blaine into the ground effortlessly last time. Taking away a hammer is easier than taking a knife, which we know from Ryan she has no problems doing. As Amber in both cases, but the skills are the same, just more controlled as AG.
The Asher shoe has yet to drop, but I doubt it’ll be riding to a rescue that isn’t needed. Which suggests this is Act I, they’ll get away for a later dramatic climax.
Honestly, it would be so out of left field for AG to get beaten by these two, it would break my suspension of disbelief more than any of the superhero stuff does. The only way I could see it was some impressive psychological manipulation from Blaine – who’s shown us several times recently he’s got no handle on what Amber is like now.
She’s already knocked Blaine on his ass once and later stomped him into the ground, both without apparent effort. She’s fought Ross with a rifle on top of a speeding car. She’s taken a knife from a rapist, again without effort, and that’s far more dangerous to try than disarming a hammer. She’s fought multiple baddies at once before.
She really shouldn’t have any problems with these bozos.
Hm, if Mike hoped Amazi-Girl would show up, he is less intelligent than we can hope. In the best case, Amazi-Girl leaves behind two tugs tied up and beaten senseless, and when it comes to the police, he has maybe his mobile‘s dictations function to back up his case that they attacked and wanted to kill him.
What will happen? Blaine will be out on bail in no time. Or does Mike hope that’s the moment the mob kills him to keep their money laundering out of public view?
No matter what, the police will want to catch Amazi-Girl more than ever.
You know I just finished re-reading Shortpacked! and it’s nice – touching even – to see Mike as the one relying on Amber (or in this case, Amazi-Girl) for an ass-kicking.
The question now to be answered is whether it’s straight back to jail for Ross and straight back to hospital for Blaine. I would hope that they’d either be harder to beat or that at least they’ll be smart enough to run and live to fight another day.
If you get out on bail and then return to the scene if your crime and attack someone with a deadly weapon, you’re probably not getting bail at all again. But yeah if they do set it, it will be way more than he or anyone he knows can pay. He’s going to ve in prison for a long time and deservedly so.
Under the Indiana state constitution, bail can only be denied outright for a charge of murder. So, as long as no one actually dies, a judge would have no choice but to set bail. Given proof that Ross is likely to reoffend (and if he manages to get his hands on Becky, is a high flight risk), the judge can set it sky-high, though. So once this is over, Ross might as well settle in for an extended stay at the Gray Bar Hotel.
I like the idea that Mike is simply genre-savvy enough to know that that’s the moment Amazi-Girl would show up- that he doesn’t hear her, or see her reflection in Blaine’s glasses- he simply has complete confidence that she’s show up at that moment.
Ever since it become clear that Mike had called someone and had them on his phone as he self-narrated, I’ve been waiting to see whether would be Amazigirl or Amber that showed up. Was relieved see only #Amazigirl listed on the Tags. Blain may survive.
A part of me is just really scared right now. I mean considering he has her flash drive which may or may not have had incriminating Amazi-girl blueprints on it, there is a very terrifying possibility he might kill his own daughter as well as Mike. I just wouldn’t put it past this psychopath. But then there’s the part of me that’s just saying “BEAT HIS ASS.”
I have absolutely no idea how the stakes are supposed to work in this situation. On one hand, there’s a mobster trying to murder a teenager with a hammer; on the other, there are superheroes and chase scenes on electric friggin’ scooters. Is this supposed to be a super-serious thing (like when Amber carved up the roofie rapist) or is it supposed to be a wacky comic book adventure (like when Amazi-Girl car-surfed into a truck but got saved by a launching motorcycle)?
I’m giving Willis the benefit of the doubt that all this genre confusion is going to pay off, and we’re either going to get a serious look at this superhero bullshit, or we’re going to get a comic book beatdown and Amazi-Girl Saves the Day! Because this is starting to veer into the ridiculous.
It is flipping back and forth to show that Blaine and Ross are generally incompetent but also still a physical threat like actual common criminals tend to be. It is highlighting that they don’t have to be all that smart or competent to still be physically dangerous. Most of this strip is supposed to be serious stakes until the last panel. I expect it will veer back into serious though because Mike got hit by a CAR.
For some people that’s how the superhero action in this strip always works. Remember how upset many were with the completely impossible car chase.
Or from a slightly different angle, how sure some were Ryan would kill or cripple Amber because he had a knife.
But then look at the payoff from both of those and their effects on the story and characters going forward. The wacky comic adventure had consequences no less serious than the roofie rapist.
It’s both. It’s wacky comic book adventure with serious emotional stakes. Some of us like that. Some don’t like the combination. The genre confusion seems to be intentional and it’s not going to be resolved nearly into either “It’s serious and the superhero thing is bullshit” or “Amazi-Girl Saves the Day!”
There is no reason why a particular storyteller should not breed a hybrid genre to suit their own taste and perhaps stimulate the taste of the audience. Originality is a big draw in a world in which existing works are recorded and still available for study and enjoyment.
Okay. I was momentarily less worried but now very much so again. What if they lose? What if they win, what are they going to do then? Shit, Mike, please, please have called SOMEONE other than AG for this mess. Fuuuuck. His smile makes me so much more nervous. That’s not his shit eating grin, not a confident sassy smile. That’s nervousness or fear.
It just hit me that this is more or less the mirror image of the very first Mike/Amazi-Girl team-up, from Shortpacked! At least, in terms of which of the two is the actual superhero.
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Mess with
the catMike, you get theclawsASS-KICKENI think you’re getting him mixed up with Hooper.
your avatar betrays
T3h kittehs are unhap
Fud them, snuggle them, til they hap again.
“Mess with the Girl! And You get THE HITLER!” (sorry for the Venture Bros. reference folks; Couldn’t help myself). https://gifer.com/en/163T
Elan the Bard from Order of the Stick has taught me the importance of turning up in the nick of time. Not before, not after, the exact nick of time.
Also, using puns while you fight can allow you to add your Charisma modifier to damage if you have the right class feature. Explains Spider-Man’s success!
Amazi-Girl really needs to multiclass into Dashing Swordsman.
Amazi-Girl probably doesn’t have a higher Cha than Str though. Also puns would be more in line for Danny or Drew since they are bisexual and as we all know, we bisexuals love things that can be taken both ways.
Mike certainly has some of Elan’s genre savviness.
If he were bigger on overly elaborate plans, evil monologues, and goatees, one could mistake Mike for Nale.
…Would that make Drunk Mike Elan? That makes an odd amount of sense.
Has Drunk Mike ever turned invisible?
I for one haven’t seen him in a while.
Good point.
Only when he’s naked.
Mike’s competent though. Has more in common with Wrong-Eye than that pile of dust anyway.
Spider-Man once explained that he does it to disrupt his opponents chain of thoughts and bait them into making mistakes. To me that more sounds like giving them a five penalty
If I recall, Spiderman’s quips actually serve two purposes:
1) It annoys his opponents, making them more likely to make mistakes out of anger
2) It distracts him. One time, he goes nigh on dead silent and delivers an incredibly brutal beatdown
The thing about Spider-Man is that he is very good at what he does. He regularly takes on the Sinister Six, which is 6 of his toughest foes teaming up against him. Which means they aren’t actually that tough to him, since he can win against 6 of them at once. He jokes in combat because he can, and if you can, why wouldn’t you?
Yeah, Spider-Man Is usually swinging *way* below his actual weight class. He’s one of the strongest superheroes and has a Rogues Gallery full of street-level criminals. It’s just what he likes to do. His regular villains like Rhino can’t even hit hard enough to seriously hurt him if he laid on the ground and just let them go at it.
Rhino likely could do some serious damage to Spider-Man if he could lay a fist on him (super strength is one of his powers, if I remember correctly), but there’s precious few others that stand a real threat to the wallcrawler. Vermin, Lizard, Venom, Kingpin, and Green Goblin are the only other frequent regulars who seem like a legitimate threat, though I’m certainly forgetting a few.
Yeah, it’s not so much that Spidey’s villains can’t hurt him, most of them do pose a threat to him in some way. It’s that very few of them actually have the ability to force him into a situation where they can take advantage of that.
The Rhino can beat him down if Spidey let him… but how is he going to make Spidey do that? Kraven can stalk him and set up a perfect ambush… but what is he going to do once Spidey’s in the trap? Etc.
On the other hand, you can also observe this having a similar effect on the villains as the Flash had on the Rogues in the Wally West era: the constant struggle made them really good at covering their weaknesses and countering their nemesis, and when faced with a less powerful foe they turned out to be able to punch way above their supposed weight class.
Rhino is much stronger than Spiderman, and would beat him to a pulp if Spidey were dumb enough to go for a toe-to-toe slugfest. That’s why Spiderman usually uses his superior speed and agility for a stick-and-move approach, or just lets the Rhino beat himself up by taunting him into a charge only to duck out of the way. (Rhino is capable of brief bursts of superhuman speed, but his tremendous mass and limited agility mean he can’t easily stop or change directions once he’s committed.)
He’s also canonically one of the top geniuses in the Marvel Universe. Top-notch labs can’t replicate the web-fluid; he created the tracer devices capable of attuning to his spider-sense–hell he once built a Doctor Doom-style time machine… out of freakin’ kitchen appliances. And much of this was in high school, or as a college drop-out. Imagine what he would be if he’d been, say, given the advantages of a Tony Stark or Reed Richards from the get-go.
Let’s not forget that he is not bullet proof. In a recent issue he took a bullet for someone and it really messed him up. He powered through it but the bloodloss took him out of the next fight til he recovered and received medical treatment. Yes his spider-sense usually keeps him out of harms way when it comes to bullets but they can still fuck him up.
The Sinister Six is small potatoes. Spider-Man once took out two 25%s of the fucking Phoenix Force by talking to them when it had taken all of the non-mutant Marvel heavyweights to take out one 20%.
Another plus to his constant quipping is that it makes his opponents forget that Peter Parker is actually one of the top intellects of the Marvel Universe, not just in science but also, unlike people like Reed Richards, in PEOPLE.
All of Spidey’s long-time rogues know that if he’s not joking around, it means he’s entirely focused on handing you your ass.
(Except for that one time he just had a really bad cold.)
Depends on the author, but if they’re leaning more into the “he’s just a kid” aspect the quips can also be distracting himself from being terrified.
Elan certainly knows what’s what. He’s had years of practice!
I wonder if Danny will change his opinion of Mike after this
Time to resolve some daddy issues!
When attempting to de-install Daddy Issues, it’s best to re-Boot.
I love this comment.
Word.
Never presume a man does not have superheroines at his disposal.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE *deep breath* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
(Sorry, mostly enjoying this because it reminds me of when Mike & Amazi-Girl teamed up in Shortpacked for some odd reason. Nostalgia, yo.)
same, though
Honey Bun attack while they were visiting his parents, IIRC. That’s also when Amber realized Mike had real feeling for her, after some of his old SEMME colleagues mentioned that nobody makes Mike do much of anything he doesn’t want to.
Just reread that storyline in the SP! archives, Mike’s Spidey moment to save SG is so great.
I meant being reminded of that was odd. I remember why they teamed up haha!
and she brought her angriest Ninja Turtle face too
No cheek blushies though, so Blaine’s beating might end up comparatively light.
Which still means getting the snot beaten out of him.
Bloody hell, Blaine has a raging murderboner… Mike shouted he was being chased to like four people who definitely heard him on the way there, does he really think nobody is gonna try and check that out?
I think we’ve established that, Blaine and long term thinking aren’t really a thing. I mean, he gets ideas, but, well, no exit strategy.
“I’ll just wonder in to a place that I can’t go, by order of the court. Like anyone will question me.” Ends up running away after Ruth kicks his ass.
I thought he was only banned *after* he pulled that stunt? I could be mistaken though
No, Ruth knew him from a list of people who where not allowed in. I suspect there is a court order he’s not allowed around Amber.
That was a list of Approved Family Members that he wasn’t on. One assumes submitted by the students as part of the acceptance paperwork.
I don’t know of any solid evidence of any court orders or legal restraints on either of them. We can hope that Ross’s bail terms included “stay away from your daughter”, but it hasn’t been stated.
After reading a few of those linked strips, I’m wondering if Blane is smart enough to remember he saw a grappling hook in Amber’s closet (if AG uses it) and puts two and two together.
Of course he might not believe it even if he makes the connection, figuring Amber is too weak-willed to be AG (aka there’s now way a guy like Clark Kent could be Superman).
When a gun-toting idiot has more sense than you do…
… Well, no, no I don’t really think they are. An adult male on a scooter, shouting about being chased?
No. I don’t think anyone’s gonna look into that. Ever.
Gotta give Mike props for being genre-savvy…
and EXTREMELY lucky!!
Bet you Mike actually called her before he confronted Blaine and has had his phone on the whole time. Hence why he was announcing where he was going.
That would explain a lot of things
Mike is literally the only genre-savvy character in the whole story as far as I can tell. I think that’s part of why I like him so much.
Carla’s pretty savvy, like when Billie suggested that Mary might be picking on her because she liked her and she immediately went, ‘no, this is not Hey Arnold’.
Ooooh, good point. I miss Carla, feels like we haven’t seen her in forever. Lol I think that’s why I like her so much too. She’s like Mike except less committed to appearing malicious and cynical, even though she’s like to think they’re at least equal. Actually, I think her desired persona is more “aloof/superior and indifferent” than Mike’s “prickly and indifferent”. Mike doesn’t care about what people think of hon, as long as they know he’s an asshole; Carla wants everyone to know she’s WAY smarter, prettier, more badass, and just generally awesomer than them (which, to be fair, is typically true ❤️), and any time or attention she generously gives to one of you puny mortals is a gift they’re unworthy of. But she’s not like a Vriska Serket or anything where she’s so determined to believe it herself that she masquerades as an actual narcissist, which is good. Anyway, I also enjoy that her sense of humor is different than Mike’s. They both like giving with people, but his skill is people and hers is engineering, which leads to some fabulous hijinks. ❤️ I love both of them! And also think it’s hilarious that she clearly respects his skill and is determined to have him acknowledge her own, and is pissed off that he won’t. 😂
*what people think of him 🙂
…*both like fucking with people 😛
If Carla was let in on the secret, she might could make AG some incredible gear.
Carla’s also far more transparent about not really being an asshole. Any number of times she’s helped people out or checked up on them.
I think the asshole facade is pure defense on her part. Much safer to have people dislike the facade than hate her for who she is.
Eh, I still say “get rescued by Amazigirl” is a dumb plan, and I’m a little disappointed it worked. Although if AeromechanicalAce is correct, it’s at least slightly less dumb.
More like Plan B. Plan A was driving Blaine and Ross into the hands of the Police.
“And what you fail to realize is that my ship is dragging mines.”
“Now let’s get out of here before one of these things kills
GuyBlaine.”Actually, let’s stick around and watch the beatdown.
Like that one party jam,
Whoomp, there it is!
Your alt-text had me expecting a mash-up of Whoomp with the Kim Possible theme. I have left disappointed.
People can be crazy creative, but there is a huge lack of good KP mash-ups. A mash-up with Tag Team would have been killer, but I am just left weeping.
Also, it IS a dang perfect might-have-been theme for Amazi-Girl or Sal.
Huh. My mind went straight to “Folsom Prison Blues” for some reason.
Whoops! Sorry, thought you meant Willis’ alt text.
Well, why not also?
Hell yeah
If Mike and Amazi-girl tag team DDT Blaine, I will shit myself
A nice double team spike piledriver into the sidewalk would also be satisfying
If Amazi-Girl connects with that kick, I’m pretty sure Blaine’ll shit your pants for you.
Eww, I don’t want Blaine anywhere near my pants.
The look on Mike’s face definitely tells me he’s more scared than he’s letting on, but regardless, GET FUCKED, BLAINE.
And yep, right on cue. Masterful use of tropes there, Mike.
So Amazigirl takes on Blaine and Mike tricks Toe Dad into taking a bus?
He should grab Ross’ nuts like a vice and twist. Not as funny as a callback, but it’ll definitely put him out of commission.
I guess if you exist in a world with tropes, you can manipulate those too!
Holy crap. I love you for this Willis. Platonically of course.
Aaw, Mike’s belief in superheroes and their tropes kinda helps explain his and Ethan’s friendship &heart;
Also, so Toedad assumed they were scaring Mike, whilst Blaine was deadly serious about intending him fatal harm… And I’m wondering if Toedad would have been blamed for manslaughter/murder with a motor vehicle if Amazigirl hadn’t arrived to rescue Mike, if there were witnesses showing him driving the car, damage to the vehicle, and his injuries weren’t inconsistent with those caused by a RTA… At the least he would definitely be an accessory to murder and driving below the standard one would expect (cutting up other road users)…
Probably so. I feel that Blaine would have definitely tried to make Ross a patsy, which I bet is likely his ultimate plan, anyway.
Yeah, probably.
But we once again see Ross is the smarter of the two here in this strip.
Mike definitely believes in good guys. He just doesn’t believe he’s one of them, or a good enough person to become one. I suspect he thinks he’s too cynical, but his soft spot for Ethan and his faith in Amber and/or Amazi-Girl betrays that he’s maybe a little less cynical than he thinks. ❤
If I learned one thing from Terry Pratchett, it’s that some narrative conventions are even stronger than physics
“Witches Abroad”, right?
and the “Science of Discworld” books.
“These boots are made for kickin’,
And that’s just what they’ll do,
One of these nights these boots will kick the both of you”
Oh, look! That’s TONIGHT.
Cue the Amazi-Girl Theme music.
What? There isn’t any Amazi-Girl Theme music??
This is an oversight that needs to be rectified immediately.
Willis, make it so.
Her theme music would be some catchy 90s cartoons song with her name being repeated by a female voice over and over.
Thanks now I’m just thinking of the 90’s Spider Man theme.
I was thinking moody and dramatic, think Danny Elfman.
O’MALLEY
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
O’MALLEY
STUDENT IN DISGUISE
Better than the old
One Two Three O’Malley
Four Five Six O’Malley
Seven Eight Nine O’Malley
Nothing You Can Do
Blaine is going to recognize Amber before this encounter ends. Calling it now.
I kind of doubt it. He’s blind to anything other than his image of Amber being a worthless shut-in. Remember? He told Toe-dad that Amber wouldn’t be at the party.
I think he already knows amber is Amazigirl from a previous fight.
Also, Faz stole a thumb drive of hers for him. It’s unlikely but possible Amazigirl had some stuff on it that would point to her being Amber.
Right. As I recall, Blaine realized that Amber was Amazi-Girl while getting beaten down for “kidnapping” Danny. He was just too proud to tell anyone.
Whereas I believe he received the beat down without ever coming to the realization. Could you link to the strip where he realizes it?
He’s shown no sign of it, then or after. He talked about them both to Asher (and I believe Ross) without any hint they were the same.
Unlikely. Also, he was kinda fighting a different foe, the last time. Amber beat the shit out of him before. This time, it’s Amazi-Girl’s turn. I’m kinda interested to see how she does it different!
Amazi-girl is here, and this time it’s personal.
Well I do know Mike doesn’t know how to dial 911. Maybe have these two attempted murderers arrested instead of waiting for a random vigilante to come save you and fight a 2v1 against at least one man with a weapon.
Yeah, I love ya Mike but that was pretty dumb.
I also agree, the police would have been a much better choice here.
Your website has a problem with a rerouting bug, at least for the mobile version. Thought I’d give a heads up that I kept getting rerouting ads trying to scam me.
Ditto. Mucho aggravato, it is.
Report to Hiveworks
I still think calling for the police would have worked better. Anyway, I hope these to get arrested finally or they die on their way to their own planet.
Once that is dealt with, we only have to deal with Carol being questioned by Joyce.
Especially for Ross calling the police would’ve been optimal. The dude’s out on bail. I don’t know the details of his case but considering he was in jail I assume him getting mixed up in this nonsense would be an immediate ticket back there.
We need Blain and Ross dealt with, not a random black person on campus shot.
Is this just your way of inserting your ACAB views into the conversation? The police we’ve seen so far in the strip were helpful and polite from what we’ve seen.
Also ineffectual. What is an ACAB view?
“ACAB” = “All Cops Are Bastards”, I believe. Though I once saw a sticker on a streetlamp that chose to interpret it instead as “All Cats Are Beautiful”.
All Cops Are Bad. It’s not supposed to be taken too literally though, except by some anarchists. It’s not as much an indictment against individual police than of the whole institution, particularly under capitalism, where the main purpose of the police and state power/violence is the defense of large-scale private property.
Considering the cops who dealt with Ross were on screen for less than 10 panels, that’s not hard. There’s a reason Sal decided to leave before they could see her though.
We don’t really have a reason not to trust the authorities yet though either. I know that the real world application of our law enforcement is mixed at best but I think it sets a bad precedent to just assume the worst and let people put themselves in danger because or our understandable skepticism.
Mike pulling an Elan, wonderful :D.
“And to Blaine, I bequeath … a boot to the head.”
*clomp*
HA…
Dang, did not expect a “4 on the floor” fan this far out. Cheers.
And another for Jenny and the wimp!
“But we aren’t even in the cast of –” /whackthump
Let’s not miss Ross tho.
And then Mr. Canoehead joins in.
Ready to have some internal organs rearranged Blaine? Declining isn’t an option.
Perhaps…they made him an offer he can’t refuse?
Ehhh, it’s fine, he should be used to it by now anyway.
A bit late to the game AG, but as long as you showed up.
Ross: We scared him good, let’s get out of here.
Blaine: IT’S KILLING TIME!
It’s weird to think of Toedad as the reasonable and sensible one of the pair.
Toedad has always been desperate and misguided. Blaine has always been a crazy, abusive, sadistic narcissist. …It’s weird, but it’s not THAT weird. Ross is on a mission, Blaine likes violence for the sake of it and has a personal vendetta against Mike besides.
And Mike said he’d reveal Blaine’s dealings. He’s going to jail if Mike talks; therefore ensure that Mike can’t talk.
Eh, I have a bit of a problem with the idea that Mike it a threat to Blaine’s business dealing. Mike found the paper trail while he was still in high school. I’m thinking even Blaine would have acted to cover himself by now.
It is true that all of the narcissists I’ve known personally (a fair few) have been somewhat paranoid, but I don’t know if that’s just a coincidence. There are of course differing proportions of the various characteristics, and I would say those I’ve known have had relatively less blatant grandiosity compared to their other traits, which would have otherwise been a natural counterpoint to paranoia.
On the other hand, just take a look at Mr. POTUS himself to see when grandiosity overcomes literally any sense of self preservation. Blaine could absolutely be one of THOSE narcissists – I’m too good to get caught, even if people have already caught me. He’s just not a politician, so instead of making up crude insults and playground nicknames to discredit his opponents, he comes after them with a tiny little hammer.
ETA: Realized that some people may not know that POTUS is an abbreviation for President Of The United States; not sure how well known that term is.
Of course, hopefully my other comments would provide a context clue, but just in case. 🙂
Possibly. But given all the other things Blaine has done just in the past hour, he’d be held at least over night. If the police take Mike seriously and start digging into Blaine’s business they might uncover a whole lot of irregularities that can cause him no end of trouble. Even if he has completely covered up his mob involvement from back then. And the mob wouldn’t be happy about Blaine being investigated in any case.
So yeah, maybe Blaine has perfectly covered his tracks since then. But all Mike needed was a credible threat to get Blaine to follow him.
At this point, the bar for “good sense” hasn’t merely been lowered. Someone has dug a big hole and thrown the bar into it.
Then set it on fire.
“We go back for Becky. We find your kid. We run.”
…. well, two out of three ain’t bad.
You think that AG’s going to give them the option to run?
Sure!
…. not to get away, but why not let them experience a few more minutes of panic?
Never presume that an asshile doesn’t have Amazi-Girl at his disposal.
I hate to say anything good about Toedad, but at least he wasn’t down for murder.
THIS time. He did bring a shotgun to his kid’s campus before…
It’s arguable that he wasn’t down for murder then too, and meant it more for the intimidation factor to gain compliance.
Maybe not, but bring a deadly weapon to a crime and the law doesn’t care that you just meant to intimidate.
It was a rifle, not a shotgun.
If the difference doesn’t matter, may I suggest that you use “gun”.
We only have Joyce’s word that it’s a rifle. I overrule Joyce. It’s a shotgun.
We’ve had people in the comments identify it, with matching reference photographs; IIRC, it was a Ruger single-shot hunting rifle or somesuch. Definitely not a shotgun, however.
It was a Ruger #1.
A squirrel rifle. Not a weapon to choose for a murder spree.
It had a mighty wide muzzle aperture and a mighty big flash for a squirrel gun.
I 100% don’t think Ross is getting a redemption arc. But I do think he’ll leave Becky alone after this.
Ross isn’t the final boss. He’s just the homicidal second-in-command.
I don’t think he’s getting a redemption arc either, but I will give him the tiniest credit toward the fact he honestly doesn’t seem to be ok with murder. Aggressive/violent means to “protect” his family, but at least not murder. But hey, it’s hard to look worse than Blaine…
I mean, he was fine with potential murder when it was his daughter they were kidnapping. He clearly doesn’t give a damn about witnesses though so killing Mike just seems excessive.
He’s going to be leaving Becky alone because after this his bail is going to be astronomical.
Ross isn’t getting a redemption arc because that would require introspection. He may have time for that in jail, but prison ministry exists specifically to prevent that sort of thing.
Ross’s title changed from “Toedad” to “Mid-Boss!”
Sounds like Gaspard from Dark Cloud 2.
“We’re going to need a better nose splint.”
I seem to remember that boxers who get, say, the skin over their eyebrows or cheekbones split once are very susceptible to it recurring.
Blaine may end up with the same problem on his nose.
Horsing around in Amazi-girl’s bailiwick will make it real susceptible.
FINALLY! YOUR HERE! Cutting it a bit close, aren’t ya AG?
Say, Blaine, how’s that soon-to-be-even-more-broken nose treating you?
“Welcome to the Ross level.”
Honestly I liked the idea of Mike calling the actual cops better. This just feels like giving Blane what he wanted.
AGREED.
Now all Blaine has to do is find a way to tell Amazi-Girl about what he found on Amber’s flashdrive while he’s getting beaten. Shouldn’t be too hard since this is a comic.
What. Amber’s slash/fic?
Yeeeeaaah, what was the plan with that again? o.O
YES YES YES YES YES
*YES*
Wow. Blaine really wants to kill someone tonight.
When you’ve got a ball-peen (hehe) hammer, all the world is some sass-faced punk kid named Mike. At least, I think that’s how the quote goes.
It’s the way I always heard it.
Look at Blaine caressing that tiny-ass little ball-peen hammer in panel 3.
Overcompensating much, Blaine? (Also, if that tiny hammer is him overcompensating… Yikes. Smh.)
Please, people, stop laughing at the hammer. It’s a well chosen murder weapon. One hit = depressed skull fracture leading to lifelong disability if you survive at all. Several hits = you probably don’t survive even with emergency surgery.
Blaine is getting ready to kill someone he hates with that hammer. He’s a sadist. Of course he’s caressing it!
(Ugh!!!)
(I have no direct expertise – but I do know there’s a reason they require bike helmets to be tested against trailer hitch balls.)
Plus, if questioned, it’s much easier to come up with an explanation for having something primarily regarded as a tool, as opposed to a purpose-made weapon. I’m just curious why he has a ball-peen hammer, which is usually used for metal-working. Since he runs a carpentry business, I’d expect a claw hammer.
Honestly, I totally agree that’s it’s a well chosen murder weapon, you’re totally right. It’s just that 1) What Wizard said about it not even bring a carpenter tool, and why would he have it; 2) It has a funny name, and he really is holding it upright and apparently caressing it lovingly, which makes it really easy to make dick jokes about it; and 3) It’s honestly a little small for what I would EXPECT someone to choose as a violent murder weapon, especially someone as clearly bent on intimidation as well as sadism, like Blaine is. Like, did he go to the hardware store, walk PAST all the bigger hammers, and go “Ooh, yeah, this one looks good”? Cuz I doubt he just had that one lying around.
But honestly, the main reason I personally, at least, keep joking about the hammer is this: I KNOW it could kill Mike, Blaine’s sadism disturbs me, and humor is an extremely effective weapon against fear. Plus Blaine’s a 10000% unrepentant abusive, murderous asshole, so I feel no qualms taking cheap shots at him.
Blaine is the boggart, and we’re all just here shouting Ridikulus!at him.
Okay now after the beatdown, cut to Ethan gently tending shirtless Mike’s wounds next a waterfall. Then cut to Slipshine, before my subscription expires. *End scene*
…and then Mike wakes up and smashes his face on a wall for allowing his unconscious to be such a cliched idiot, because who is Mike Warner without his too-sharp self awareness, self-loathing, and cynicism?
A+ Genre Awareness there, Mike
Genre savvyness and a well placed phone call. On his knife.
Ah so I was right two will die.
Its just going to be the two adults.
baring a gun pull. THen it’ll be mike and an adult.
Yay! I’m just in the mood to watch a couple of creeps get some well deserved whoop ass.
“curse this predictable outcome!”
~generic super villain guy
“Eh, now Amazi-Girl comes swooping in tomorrow” -Me, yesterday
Hello, Amazi-Girl. Time to knock Blaine’s teeth out.
I really start to think Mike has a crush on amazi-girl/amber, and that he is acting on it with about the same level of maturity as he did his crush on Ethan.
Blaine should be so lucky it’s only amazi-girl that comes to kick his ass.
It was reeeeeeally hard to talk Ross into use violence against a teenager he has no personal problem with.
I’m still hoping that Asher and Sal are coming too, on their way to warn Amber that Blaine’s back in town. It would be supremely comic book for Asher to be the edgy ex-villain anti-hero who is always on the edge of the team.
Not needed at this point, I think. If this is a fight scene, Amazi-Girl can handle the two of them. She stomped Blaine into the ground effortlessly last time. Taking away a hammer is easier than taking a knife, which we know from Ryan she has no problems doing. As Amber in both cases, but the skills are the same, just more controlled as AG.
The Asher shoe has yet to drop, but I doubt it’ll be riding to a rescue that isn’t needed. Which suggests this is Act I, they’ll get away for a later dramatic climax.
*plays Boot to the Head by The Frantics on the hacked muzak*
And one for Jenny and the wimp!
Prediction:
As much as we would all like AG to beat both their asses — again — I think there’s a twist in store.
I think AG is going to lose. Maybe badly.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, noooo
Willis is kind and benevolent, he would never do something like that.
Right???!
Honestly, it would be so out of left field for AG to get beaten by these two, it would break my suspension of disbelief more than any of the superhero stuff does. The only way I could see it was some impressive psychological manipulation from Blaine – who’s shown us several times recently he’s got no handle on what Amber is like now.
She’s already knocked Blaine on his ass once and later stomped him into the ground, both without apparent effort. She’s fought Ross with a rifle on top of a speeding car. She’s taken a knife from a rapist, again without effort, and that’s far more dangerous to try than disarming a hammer. She’s fought multiple baddies at once before.
She really shouldn’t have any problems with these bozos.
YES!!! 😀
Bring the cavalry and mess that smirk of Blaine’sface! 😛
“Appears I showed up in the nick of time. What does that make me?”
“Big damn hero, ma’am!”
“Ain’t I just!”
The “Batman: The Brave & The Bold” theme is in my head now. Something about that final panel made me think of it.
I would love a TB&TB-style animated scene of Amazi-Girl fighting Blaine and The Toe.
Hm, if Mike hoped Amazi-Girl would show up, he is less intelligent than we can hope. In the best case, Amazi-Girl leaves behind two tugs tied up and beaten senseless, and when it comes to the police, he has maybe his mobile‘s dictations function to back up his case that they attacked and wanted to kill him.
What will happen? Blaine will be out on bail in no time. Or does Mike hope that’s the moment the mob kills him to keep their money laundering out of public view?
No matter what, the police will want to catch Amazi-Girl more than ever.
Depends on what Mike’s trying to do.
uuh mike better duck before he gets kneed in the back if his head.
Right?? She’s coming right for him
You know I just finished re-reading Shortpacked! and it’s nice – touching even – to see Mike as the one relying on Amber (or in this case, Amazi-Girl) for an ass-kicking.
Whew
GO AMAZI-GlRL! She has the best timing of all! But, I wonder what means for her to beat Blain. Do she see Blain as her father or as Amber’s father?
The question now to be answered is whether it’s straight back to jail for Ross and straight back to hospital for Blaine. I would hope that they’d either be harder to beat or that at least they’ll be smart enough to run and live to fight another day.
If you get out on bail and then return to the scene if your crime and attack someone with a deadly weapon, you’re probably not getting bail at all again. But yeah if they do set it, it will be way more than he or anyone he knows can pay. He’s going to ve in prison for a long time and deservedly so.
It was already more than he or anyone he knows could pay. That’s why Blaine had to step in with mob money.
Under the Indiana state constitution, bail can only be denied outright for a charge of murder. So, as long as no one actually dies, a judge would have no choice but to set bail. Given proof that Ross is likely to reoffend (and if he manages to get his hands on Becky, is a high flight risk), the judge can set it sky-high, though. So once this is over, Ross might as well settle in for an extended stay at the Gray Bar Hotel.
Oooooooh, somebody is going to have their ass kicked… again.
I approve.
I like the idea that Mike is simply genre-savvy enough to know that that’s the moment Amazi-Girl would show up- that he doesn’t hear her, or see her reflection in Blaine’s glasses- he simply has complete confidence that she’s show up at that moment.
If you enjoy reading it that way, I don’t see the downside.
These boots were made for stompin’…
That’s just what they’ll do. (We hope).
Ever since it become clear that Mike had called someone and had them on his phone as he self-narrated, I’ve been waiting to see whether would be Amazigirl or Amber that showed up. Was relieved see only #Amazigirl listed on the Tags. Blain may survive.
I don’t think Mike had anyone on his phone, he was just yelling really loudly.
(Does Mike even know Amber and Amazi-Girl share a body?)
A part of me is just really scared right now. I mean considering he has her flash drive which may or may not have had incriminating Amazi-girl blueprints on it, there is a very terrifying possibility he might kill his own daughter as well as Mike. I just wouldn’t put it past this psychopath. But then there’s the part of me that’s just saying “BEAT HIS ASS.”
This is the guy that has the sociopathic urge to control his daughter even when she is in school.
Blaine, let me introduce you to an old friend of mine.
BOTTOM OF MY BOOT, this is Blaine.
*SMACK*
Blaine, BOTTOM OF MY BOOT!
*CRUNCH*
Oh, you two know each other already!!
*GRIND**GRIND*
Ladies and gentlemen, and other assorted genders, the butt whooping is about to commence!
Cliché. Predictable. Not Remotely believable.
Aww Gawd, I LOVE IT!!! 😀
I have absolutely no idea how the stakes are supposed to work in this situation. On one hand, there’s a mobster trying to murder a teenager with a hammer; on the other, there are superheroes and chase scenes on electric friggin’ scooters. Is this supposed to be a super-serious thing (like when Amber carved up the roofie rapist) or is it supposed to be a wacky comic book adventure (like when Amazi-Girl car-surfed into a truck but got saved by a launching motorcycle)?
I’m giving Willis the benefit of the doubt that all this genre confusion is going to pay off, and we’re either going to get a serious look at this superhero bullshit, or we’re going to get a comic book beatdown and Amazi-Girl Saves the Day! Because this is starting to veer into the ridiculous.
It is flipping back and forth to show that Blaine and Ross are generally incompetent but also still a physical threat like actual common criminals tend to be. It is highlighting that they don’t have to be all that smart or competent to still be physically dangerous. Most of this strip is supposed to be serious stakes until the last panel. I expect it will veer back into serious though because Mike got hit by a CAR.
For some people that’s how the superhero action in this strip always works. Remember how upset many were with the completely impossible car chase.
Or from a slightly different angle, how sure some were Ryan would kill or cripple Amber because he had a knife.
But then look at the payoff from both of those and their effects on the story and characters going forward. The wacky comic adventure had consequences no less serious than the roofie rapist.
It’s both. It’s wacky comic book adventure with serious emotional stakes. Some of us like that. Some don’t like the combination. The genre confusion seems to be intentional and it’s not going to be resolved nearly into either “It’s serious and the superhero thing is bullshit” or “Amazi-Girl Saves the Day!”
Just here to agree with you and to say you explained that very well.
So is nobody gonna say anything about the Donatello eyes?
There is no reason why a particular storyteller should not breed a hybrid genre to suit their own taste and perhaps stimulate the taste of the audience. Originality is a big draw in a world in which existing works are recorded and still available for study and enjoyment.
Okay. I was momentarily less worried but now very much so again. What if they lose? What if they win, what are they going to do then? Shit, Mike, please, please have called SOMEONE other than AG for this mess. Fuuuuck. His smile makes me so much more nervous. That’s not his shit eating grin, not a confident sassy smile. That’s nervousness or fear.
He’s got about a half-second to say something about the flash drive before that boot shuts him up
See that boot a’coming
Comin’ round the bend,
There’s somethin’ written on it,
I think it says, “The End.”
And he’s nailed — a trip to Jail.
I see that boot a’coming
It’s a’comin’ toward my head,
Says, “If you can read this sticker,
Yer goin’ back to bed.”
And yer done, A-G has won. (2X)
it’s gonna hit him in the FAAAAACE ~<3
It just hit me that this is more or less the mirror image of the very first Mike/Amazi-Girl team-up, from Shortpacked! At least, in terms of which of the two is the actual superhero.
WE CAN SHIP IT
The Blue Boot of Justice!
“Did I miss the butt-whuppin’ ?”
Blaine is so awful HE MAKES ROSS SEEM LIKABLE
How many hands does Ross have? In panel 4, he’s got a hammer in one hand ready to strike. In panel 5, he’s holding Mike with two.