I hate to admit it, but I kinda have to admit some begrudging respect to him for leaning allllll the way into his role as Amber’s personal supervillain. It’s an admirable level of dedication to an unadmirable role.
Yeah, I’m not sure how I feel about this. As much as I enjoy both Amber and Amazi-Girl, I’ve always had a problem accepting a costumed hero character in a ‘slice of life’ comic. This may be farther than I’m able to stretch my sense of disbelief.
Blaine just got beat up by some girl dressed like a superhero like last month; Ross followed only a couple of weeks later. Blaine buying off-the-shelf body armor (probably intended for motorcycle use by the looks of it) in anticipation of a rematch doesn’t seem THAT unreasonable.
The domino mask is kinda extra but there’s a definite psychological utility to putting on a “supervillain” persona, especially if he has suspicions as to AG’s secret identity.
I think it fits really well for Blaine though, he’s a specifically abusive dick who thrives off finding the specific thing that’ll twist up Amber and validating her superhero Amazi-Girl delusion may actually lead to her finally taking some time to snap out of it (or it may lead to worse, but here’s hoping).
Also that being said, this could be someone pulling the “realism” tag and we just in it now.
He was expecting it, but the panel gives no indication he actually prepared for it – he doesn’t appear to be bracing to keep upright despite the impact, or rolling with it sufficiently to mitigate the impact.
Right, but…physics…flying kick…momentum? Unless you can fly (i.e. will yourself forward), strength can’t keep you from losing balance unless you have a foot adequately far back as a pivot point
Exactly. From how he seems to be standing, all he appears to have done is unbalanced himself, and thus guaranteeing he’d topple when AG (who isn’t really a small girl – I’d guess she’s ~130) hit him.
but is AG actually strong enough to knock Blaine down like that or would the impact on his chest/lungs/solarplexus been the actual point of the kick or at least what would’ve made a difference to get him to more crumple than knock over. How much momentum could she have actually built up before jumping.
@JetstreamGW, thank you for finally explaining this concept better than I could.
A lot of buffness fans (or buffbuffs) seem to think if you’re just STRONK enough, then these poor, pathetic, weak little girls can’t do anything to take you down. It’s just impossible. -eye roll-
Amber is clearly of a solid build and very athletic. Muscle is quite heavy. It would be one thing if she tried to punch him flatfooted, but she just threw her entire weight into that. Best he could have reasonably done is dodged, and let her hit pavement. Tanking a hit like that is just comical.
I do think it’s partly that she was thrown off by recognizing him and didn’t hit as hard or as well as she’d intended, but as others say, just the physics of momentum should have been enough.
OTOH, comic book super-hero tropes. 🙂 Even super heroes without specific relevant powers often ignore such laws of physics.
Amber’s played enough RPGs to know that just means she gets to keep that stuff after she wins.
Also I’m pretty sure a little domino mask isn’t gonna stop your nose from getting broken no matter what it’s made of. Simple matter of force to surface area. So go for the face.
There are actually a lot of areas that would be vulnerable… the throat as you said (although it does appear to be partly covered), but also the jaw, ears…plus, she could go after the joints (hyper-extend the elbow or the knee.)
His body armor makes it a lot tougher for Amber to win, but not impossible. It depends on both his skill level (if he has any real fighting experience against competent opponents) and Amber’s (if her training involved targeting joints at all.)
He was beaten into the hospital about a month ago, I think. Acquiring fighting skills (especially fighting with an armor that hinders your movement) requires years of practice. Ag has to adapt to the armor and target unprotected areas but the outcome should not change.
If a witness says “Yeah, he was wearing a goofy mask and hockey pads,” and the fuzz notice Blaine is currently wearing those, there’s not gonna be much room for doubt.
Cloaked figure: “I must insist, sir, that you vacate the premise and leave this loutsam knave and really sexy masked lady be, or I will be forced, as a gentleman, to step up to their defence.”
Dad-man (or whatever stupid-ass villian name Blaine will think of for himself): “I think you will find that I have a hammer and you do not.”
Cloaked figure: “and a fine hammer it is indeed, sir. However, if it is the inbalance in hammers that causes your over confidence, by all means let us correct it…”
*blade flickers, Blaine’s hammer is flung into the woods*
Toe-jerk: *stupid grunt?*
Cloaked figure: “Do not alarm yourself over my mastery of the sword. after all, in my youth I was something of a champion in this noble sport back home in Thingley.”
When you started the whole ‘cloaked figure with a distinctly British mannerism’ spiel I thought for a moment you were bringing Jason into the mix here.
Honestly I just don’t see it. I don’t think he’s capable of thinking in such psychologically complex ways that would lead to such a tactic. He’s just a narcissist who thinks he’s a criminal mastermind but he’s not. I mean this is a guy who got owned and blackmailed by a 12-13 year old Mike before and the mob is only using him as a stooge instead of something better. Then there’s also the fact that he just spent the last few strips impatiently waiting to download an app so he can use a scooter while Mike drives circles around him before finally having a scooter chase. It just doesn’t paint him as a very smart man. It’s more likely that since he thinks he’s a criminal mastermind and that Amber is dressing up as a superhero then clearly he is the supervillain.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, as they say. He clearly planned on AG, and didn’t plan on Mike. He could have stumbled onto the thing that made her hesitate by dumb luck, without understanding why it actually worked. Also, unfortunately, although AG is a badass, she’s not really genre-savvy like Mike is. I’m guessing Mike’s just standing there like “Dude, seriously?” while she’s gaping in shock.
Yeah he has clearly prepped for AG to insane amounts with tunnel vision. So it makes sense that Mike’s stunts could throw him off but not enough to make him lose focus of his.plan to get at AG. I do similar stuff (being a bit A.D.D and all) when it comes to important stuff. I will constantly tell myself what I need to be doing to the point where thigns that should be complete common sense slip my mind due to only thinking about my main objective.
I’d be more concerned about those gloves he’s putting on. Full-fingered, they could be what are sometimes called “sap gloves” — weighted-knuckle gloves to provide more impact in hand-to-hand combat. Not as effective or lethal as brass knuckles, but still a definite advantage.
You’re exactly right. …Hopefully that means Mike at least is actually using this time productively instead of blindly falling into genre conventions.
After all, an ideal fighting partner helps shore up your weaknesses and amplifies your strengths. In this case, AG’s weakness and strength are the same thing: conformity to superhero rules. She showed up right on time, but now she’s just standing there watching instead of fighting dirty. :/
This is quite possibly the best development in Dumbing of Age. Blaine was actually *deliberately* invoking a “Rouges Gallery” situation for Amazi-Girl, all so he can be supervillain to her superhero.
It’s great, it’s stupid, only a completely immature lunatic like him would do something so petty as to try and beat her at her own game like this. This is the best.
So, my thought on this is that Amazi-Girl can’t win this. Blaine has become Doctor Ball-Peen (or the Peenetrator), and since the first attack aleady failed, it’ll get stuck in Amazi-Girl’s head that she is having no effect on him. Self-fulfilling prophecy gonna self-fulfill.
Yeah. At least with AG there’s a decent chance she would stop when he’s down. Amber… history dictates that might be trickier. And I’m guessing Mike is WAY less likely than Danny to pull her off before she does some pretty serious damage.
On the other hand, if Amber kicks his ass and then stops on her own… Wouldn’t that be the evidence she needs that she’s not like him after all?
Knowing Mike, he’d probably stand back on purpose to give her the chance to save herself. I’m starting to think much of his asshole interference is not only motivated by, you know, enjoying being a dick, but also… not just “trying to help” as others have said, but more specifically, seeing the gap in others’ performance versus their potential, and having faith that they will rise to the occasion if presented with the opportunity and no other options. He may also intuitively understand that the best lessons are those hard-learned – in education, we call it a “productive struggle,” and it greatly improves the efficacy of anything learned.
Not saying the ends justify his means all the time, cuz he definitely goes over the line sometimes – just trying to pin down the principles he’s acting on.
… Anyway, if Amber comes out to play, Blaine’s definitely in trouble no matter what, but it could also potentially be a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel for Amber’s current struggles.
I love this so much but also. WTF Blaine. You harass your daughter her entire life for being herself when you are just as much of a dork!? The level of serious and wacky here is escalating to critical levels and I am living for it.
I think it’s less about him being a dork, and more about him being so ludicrously petty that he won’t just settle for harming and potentially killing his daughter, he has to humiliate her and shatter her worldview while doing so.
Superheroes shouldn’t lose to supervillains, so of course putting a domino mask on and becoming Amazi-Blaine when he beats her to death with his hammer is the logical way to make it hurt emotionally as well as physically.
Does he know Amber and Amazigirl are the same person, though? Or are sharing a body, I’m not sure what the proper term for it. Because otherwise this seems like a really roundabout way to go at Amber, but it still makes a twisted kind of sense in terms of evening the field against Amazigirl.
I don’t think so, his entire motivation is to get Amber to drop out of college so he doesn’t have to pay tuition, if I recall correctly. If he knew, he could just tell the university that she’s Amazi-Girl and then they’d probably expel her.
He doesn’t know that Amber IS Amazi-Girl though. This is very seriously just Blaine being Blaine and deciding to be a Supervillain as a legit solution to his problem. He has to have at least an interest in superhero stuff for him to actually think of this as a solution. You wouldn’t do this kind of thing if you were not into the whole vibe of it.
What really gets me is that he had gloves this whole time, but he didn’t put them on when he was threatening to kill Mike with a hammer. Like, at least TRY not to leave incriminating evidence?
I’m starting to think those receipts Mike found as a kid had “I AM WORKING FOR THE MOB” written on them in bright red ink.
I mean, yeah, Blaine’s absolutely the kind of person who would play ball on the superhero/villain thing. He’s also enough of a clueless asshole to think wearing the mask and armour will help keep him from being caught on the news but still egotistical enough to make sure his target knows who he is.
I can definitely see him thinking the police or the news won’t find out it’s him, even though AG and Mike both know. On the other hand he’s planning a murder so who cares if they know?
I’m really impressed by just how many people are surprised by this development, when Amazi-girl was one of the primary topics he brought up during his supervillain meeting.
People here are going for the “Of course he’s doing this because he’s petty” angle but you don’t consider the fact that this is actual psychological warfare on AG.
He’s becoming something she’s never had – a real supervillain. And yes I know she thought of Sal as her nemesis for a very long time; but AG never really saw her as a supervillain.
Look at her eyes.
Fractured AG’s normal bravado… isn’t all there. Because Amber’s FEAR of her father is leaking into the AG persona.
I don’t think Blaine realizes Amazigirl and Amber are the same person. He holds Amber in far too much contempt to even consider that she could be capable of this stuff.
I’m not saying Blaine knew AG and Amber are the same person, I’m saying Blaine’s plan is going a lot better than he anticipated because Amber’s fear of him is unintentionally helping him.
Ideally, this is where Toedad’s braincells would default to Fundie mode and do like “Superhero stuff is evil and Satanic -> dude dressed like in a superhero comic -> Devil misleading me all along -> I’m out”. But I know that’s asking too much.
Willis’ next project is gonna be superhero fiction, because slowly but surely superhero fiction is overtaking his college comic the same way aliens/alien fighters overtook his last college comic.
Right, thanks. I find the instructions on formatting to be confusing, and the lack of ability to make edits has caused problems more than once. For example, every time i want to put in a link, i have to guess which way to use the <a href… instructions, and i only get it right 50% of the time.
For links in the future, you can check out this page for really helpful instructions. It even has a “try it” box so you can make sure your link parses correctly before you add it to your comment, if you want
The only way Amazi-Girl can stand up against the combined might of the Legion of Dads is to recruit Sal, Joyce, Walky, and Mike into a superhero team called Students Engaging in Masked Martial Encounters, and then we can bring this whole comic multiverse full circle.
OH C’MON!!!! BLAINE HAS GONE FULL MOTHERFUCKER WITH HIS DELUSIONS!!!!
Well, if Amber and Mike survive I am sure Amber will have an inner fight with her alter ego and decide that she doesn’t want to be a deluded psychopath like Blaine.
K, while the Belligerent Ball-Peen (hat tip to John above – too good not to lose) has his attention focused on Amazi-Girl, Mike needs to kick him between the legs from behind, and Sal needs to come in on her cycle and run over Toe-Dad. Revengers Assemble!
Note: Following comment was posted at Patreon. It’s not my original comment, because I’m not that smart. It’s still the best dumbing of age comment of all times.
Ok normally I don’t complain about stuff like this but that kind of body armor should not have stopped the force of an entire woman doing a jump kick from knocking his ass to the ground, even if it did mitigate the damage of the kick.
But hey whatever it’s a supervillain origin story I’m down for it.
I mean, why do any super villains wear masks? Especially after the initial arrest where they’re ID’d. I hate to say it but I’m pretty sure Amber’s dad is a huge fucking dork just like she is, but he hides it.
Jim Gordon: What about escalation?
Batman/Bruce Wayne: Escalation?
Jim Gordon: We start using semi-automatic, they buy automatic. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman/Bruce Wayne: And?
Jim Gordon: And you’re wearing a mask, and jumping off rooftops. Take this guy, armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card.
Batman/Bruce Wayne: (Sees Joker card) I’ll look into it.
From a storytelling perspective, it’s 100% true. Within the stories themselves, “It’s your fault we keep getting attacked, because you keep stopping people who attack us” is a load of bullshit. Superheroes aren’t to blame for the paper prisons, either.
Like Amber hasn’t secretly been dying for a chance to put down a villain in body armor. Like she hasn’t thought this battle out a thousand times in her head. Like she hasn’t practiced all her moves. Like Blaine is going to have any ankles left in 30 seconds
Seriously she should be like frickin’ Midnighter for this particular battle
thinking about it how is Ross so well healed. He went from a neck-brace to being able to ram a student with a car. You would think that would catch up with him pretty quickly.
Hey Willis, one of the ads on this page redirected my browser to an obvious scam site without me clicking on it (http://www.facebook.com---------------abc.wogenisuosha.xyz/america/us/fb-gift/vol.html?city=Lawrence&isp=Comcast%20Cable%20Communications%20inc.&cep=ByUxyyy9_6Fa2OYJTUwuFafIheHDJyg3ivP8EgXp6_1YwadakpDP6oU0JhwRtAEzi6lQngeUveEVLvluyiLWs1PC5aMFuT3XWvyZ7pJwyEzBvG6IqUnwQWY6-mSnQcGDHUgYJTgzFp7VdUlL4K3U_hBjRNJwfv-CXolC7fYyRUzzE0ky573SUs2z4zgUCdt7qKAVZBigbTI0UaAopHGS1mKYHfwb2xOY7m3Ef5lGM_AqPtRtGLr3bR02PAVWNPvtrKEeOn_62_wL0rGjIB_aqp1yt2REQaptRObh-fh4KoOJ8823B9re0q3VAdC7kwKAYqNTyWWCFTtB_4zdl1hm6xxCaGQt-Cw913DkxDv9u2INt-pAdLJUSRNB-rugKYKrFc7PnMnYxKldAS73iruLBal0sUerUAtYwU505flxxn18Y_HJetejmuwZVYjXtvhlFBvf32fG8Lb__rdQ_gD8uBwkib-4UhueuGJdx61f_wT4TP52xQg3L9SfE6KtuK9jVFlWrPPn4Sq6oYGKQThHKjRxXiGn8zNyRd7xMpp_jjNMfvlGfSYMxQdVrVXzjpgfYEnuKYDkyq3AvfpwHC9hVSd6_VaRQCeOPiHi0VYnfrU&lptoken=152d77ae71ad15da1867&xp=d12262&ldp=buyer&m=d12262&s=d12262&d=www.dumbingofage.com&uuid=1577709717253&tar2=1577709717253&tar3=1577709717253&fk=f47cda073a0214c404dba0f8ccc35815&cacheboost=769083828&imgid=1#) and hijacked the back button so that I couldn’t get back to the comic.
In DoA-Time, only several weeks have passed since A-G ran Daddy Dearest through the pulper. Whatever he did to become what he is here certainly didnt take very long.
He’s a stooge. There’s no evidence I know of that he’s a brawler. Amber certainly handled him easily the last times they fought. As did Ruth, for that matter. He’s show no signs of being good at fighting.
This seems completely unbelievable, but maybe Blaine isn’t as stupid as we thought. The body armor is extra protection and the mask may be there to psyche out Amazing-girl.
Mask is there for real reasons. He’s still healing from his broken nose, and glasses are a liability. I’m guessing it’s got his prescription strength and is otherwise a piece of armor for his face.
You take Blaine seriously because he has a serious weapon that could kill you and he is very Prepared to use it. The body armor is a great touch. Combined with a weapon that can end the battle with one blow, this isn’t someone to mess with. AG might be immune to criticism but not to literal hammer blows. AG and mike should flee right now. Blaine can’t be ready for a parkour chase in the armor.
We need another savior. Sarah with a baseball bat. Hank with a car. It’s Indiana so peaceful Hank might well own a gun too. Stand his ground would mean he can shoot Blaine.
I don’t want AG to fight here. Blaine is too well armed and armored.
Amber wasn’t immune to knives either. Look how well that turned out for Ryan. Hammers are dangerous, but much easier to disarm than knives, because you can grab at them without getting cut. And she stripped that knife from Ryan without effort.
Just getting this in before reading the comments so I look a fool, knees are extremely susceptible to direct impacts from the side and are also very hard to armor up against this kind of impact. A good kick from the outside will permanently cripple an assailant.
Also the body armor you can get as a civilian is mostly protective against penetrating attacks like bullets and knives. Blunt force trauma is rarely dispersed by this grade of armor and usually when penetrating force is blocked the energy is redirected as blunt force. So AG’s kick should have been equally effective against the cloth body armor as against an unprotected person.
Part of me still hopes Ross will eventually realize Blaine wants to harm not protect his daughter and decides God used Blaine to get him out of jail but does not want him to work with Blaine, but I feel like the time for such hopes has proberly passed.
Okay. Hear me out. It IS kinda sweet that he’s relating to her in a way she can understand. Clearly defining roles. Taking more of a part in his daughters life that he previously tried to delegitimize.
In a way, this is recognition. It also explains why he chased Mike into an obvious trap.
Yeah, I was thinking about this, too. And Blaine’s stance while Amazi-Girl’s kicking him doesn’t look very stable. No way should he be able to just stand there like that. He’d fall over. (Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I can go back to just enjoying the story.)
Off-topic observation — Amazi-Girl’s mask is similar to the Ninja Turtles’ masks in that it is wrapped, bandanna-style, around her head and ties off at the back, but Blaine merely presses his mask to his face and it just seems to adhere there (I noticed this in “The Incredibles” movies too). What holds it in place? Is it supposed to be adhesive, like a Band-aid or Breathe-Right strip? Static cling? Magic?
Adhesives, yeah. Sometimes fashion tape too but Blaine doesn’t seem to have applied any. Could also be some sort of elastic that Willis just didn’t bother to draw, the same way he doesn’t usually draw nostrils or the ‘legs’ of glasses.
* Amazigirl pulls out a gun * SO HAVE I!
* Blaine pulls out a bullet proof riot shield * SO HAVE I X2!!
*Amazigirl pulls out out an RPG * SO HAVE I X3!!!
* Blaine pulls out a missile deterrent system * SO HAVE I X4!!!!
*the cops pull up *
Mike: I called them while you two were talking…
Toe dad: I too am in this comic.
I’ve seen some “He’s just as much of a dork as Amber” comments in here, but if we can assume that he still doesn’t know Amazi-girl is Amber, I think what we’re really seeing is the pure ego of this man. He knows he’s a villain, a bad guy, he works for the mob after all, but he clearly revels in it.
His beat down by Amazi-Girl wasn’t the wake up we all might have hoped it could have been, it was his confirmation that it takes a literal super hero to stop him. He’s not just a mob flunky. He’s an actual Super Villain, and with only one hero around, if he can just deal with her, he’s set for life.
Yeah, his entire motivation is to get Amber to drop out of college so he doesn’t have to pay tuition, if I recall correctly. If he knew, he could just tell the university that she’s Amazi-Girl and then they’d probably expel her.
I mean, unless Blaine somehow braced himself to absorb the kinetic energy of the kick, it should’ve been enough to knock him over, with the vest just cushioning the blow against his ribs.
This isn’t that long after a shooting on campus, and other students heard Mike shouting that he was being chased. Campus police could possibly show up shortly and reality ensue.
As others have said, even with wearing some kind of armour, the momentum of her attack and the angle she hit him would have knocked him on his ass, and probably still knocked the air out of his lungs. And the only way he would have slid backwards, as implied by the speed lines in panel one, was if he was standing on a very slick surface, or wearing slippery shoes, not standing on a concrete sidewalk.
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You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see your Dad’s cosplay
The absolute madman. He figured it out! Crazy can only be countered by crazy!
Now if Mike and Toedad are packing masks then it’s gonna get wild!
Nah, Mike has the biggest superpower of them all:
Having likely called 911 before all this happened and was more hoping for Amazigirl to help minimize his time in hospital
Least I hope he did, he’s usually the most genre savvey from what I recall just because he NEEDS to be for his level of assholery
Pretty sure he haa an active call going to the police right now knowing Mike
Mike, please be the crazy-prepared asshole
we need you to be.
I hate to admit it, but I kinda have to admit some begrudging respect to him for leaning allllll the way into his role as Amber’s personal supervillain. It’s an admirable level of dedication to an unadmirable role.
The word you’re looking for is ‘nemesis’, and Blaine’s been that for Amber for a looong time.
Now, choosing to become Amazi-Girl’s nemesis as well, that is impressive devotion to one’s role in life.
cosplay… as The Hammer?
“The hammer is my…” NO.
WHAT THE FUCK?!
Hm. I may have misjudged how specific Amber’s fiction was. It may have contained technical details.
Big Daddy’s gone evil. Be afraid.
I actually gasped audibly at this strip
Same!!!
I did too!
that was my reaction too, yeah
I… yeah.
What?
Blaine has *no right* to rock that look that hard.
100% this, yes
Turntables… table.
OH COME ON, BLAINE
There is no Blaine.
ONLY AMAZI-DAD!
More like AMAZI-FUCKHEAD.
(Wait, no, that’s Mike. This guy’s just scum.)
…The fuck?
The Killing Dad Joke
Just wanted you to know someone appreciates this dual pun/reference.
Wut u did thar
I see it
And I love it
What
Shark jump moment?
Yeah, I’m not sure how I feel about this. As much as I enjoy both Amber and Amazi-Girl, I’ve always had a problem accepting a costumed hero character in a ‘slice of life’ comic. This may be farther than I’m able to stretch my sense of disbelief.
Judging from Joyce and Dorothy’s latest character refs, they might also become costumed heroes for revenge.
Blaine just got beat up by some girl dressed like a superhero like last month; Ross followed only a couple of weeks later. Blaine buying off-the-shelf body armor (probably intended for motorcycle use by the looks of it) in anticipation of a rematch doesn’t seem THAT unreasonable.
The domino mask is kinda extra but there’s a definite psychological utility to putting on a “supervillain” persona, especially if he has suspicions as to AG’s secret identity.
I think it fits really well for Blaine though, he’s a specifically abusive dick who thrives off finding the specific thing that’ll twist up Amber and validating her superhero Amazi-Girl delusion may actually lead to her finally taking some time to snap out of it (or it may lead to worse, but here’s hoping).
Also that being said, this could be someone pulling the “realism” tag and we just in it now.
Mr. Spencer, may I recommend you check out this article? The comic is just reflecting real life.
AEUUUHHH?
Meanwhile, Mike and Ross are just watching from the sidelines, bewildered at the spectacle.
Go for the head, Amazi-Girl! It’s full of rocks but unprotected!
That is possibly the worst typographical rendition of the phonetics of “ahwueh” I’ve ever seen.
It’s an entirely glottal sound, there’s no ‘W’.
… That should have worked, yes. He should have at least fallen down. Kevlar doesn’t cancel momentum 😛
He was expecting the kick.
He may also be much stronger than he lets on.
At least, Blaine’s demonstrably a big dude, and a total thug.
like, a mafia brawler
He was expecting it, but the panel gives no indication he actually prepared for it – he doesn’t appear to be bracing to keep upright despite the impact, or rolling with it sufficiently to mitigate the impact.
To qoute a certain villian
“You should’ve gone for the head”
No, but superhuman crazy does. He actually became stronger the second he saw her, because he transformed into a supervillian.
Tomorrow, taking that hit will make his back and legs hurt like a motherfucker. But that’s a normal human problem. Tonight, he feels nothing.
Right, but…physics…flying kick…momentum? Unless you can fly (i.e. will yourself forward), strength can’t keep you from losing balance unless you have a foot adequately far back as a pivot point
Exactly. From how he seems to be standing, all he appears to have done is unbalanced himself, and thus guaranteeing he’d topple when AG (who isn’t really a small girl – I’d guess she’s ~130) hit him.
Yeah. That’s not how body armour works.
Having worn body armor I can 100% agree. It does nothing to absorb angular momentum. If anything it makes falling over easier.
but is AG actually strong enough to knock Blaine down like that or would the impact on his chest/lungs/solarplexus been the actual point of the kick or at least what would’ve made a difference to get him to more crumple than knock over. How much momentum could she have actually built up before jumping.
She threw her entire weight at him. Assuming she’s not incredibly tiny, she probably weighs between 110 and 150 pounds.
It doesn’t matter how strong you are, you’re not taking over a hundred pounds to the chest at 8-15 mph without falling down.
I mean, unless you’re literally braced for that, and catch it. Which he doesn’t look like he was.
@JetstreamGW, thank you for finally explaining this concept better than I could.
A lot of buffness fans (or buffbuffs) seem to think if you’re just STRONK enough, then these poor, pathetic, weak little girls can’t do anything to take you down. It’s just impossible. -eye roll-
Amber is clearly of a solid build and very athletic. Muscle is quite heavy. It would be one thing if she tried to punch him flatfooted, but she just threw her entire weight into that. Best he could have reasonably done is dodged, and let her hit pavement. Tanking a hit like that is just comical.
I do think it’s partly that she was thrown off by recognizing him and didn’t hit as hard or as well as she’d intended, but as others say, just the physics of momentum should have been enough.
OTOH, comic book super-hero tropes. 🙂 Even super heroes without specific relevant powers often ignore such laws of physics.
Maybe he took one or two steps back or something?
Amber’s played enough RPGs to know that just means she gets to keep that stuff after she wins.
Also I’m pretty sure a little domino mask isn’t gonna stop your nose from getting broken no matter what it’s made of. Simple matter of force to surface area. So go for the face.
Throat. At this point I’d recommend going for the throat.
There are actually a lot of areas that would be vulnerable… the throat as you said (although it does appear to be partly covered), but also the jaw, ears…plus, she could go after the joints (hyper-extend the elbow or the knee.)
His body armor makes it a lot tougher for Amber to win, but not impossible. It depends on both his skill level (if he has any real fighting experience against competent opponents) and Amber’s (if her training involved targeting joints at all.)
I doubt he has any fighting experience. If he had any then the mob wouldn’t have used him as just a stooge.
He was beaten into the hospital about a month ago, I think. Acquiring fighting skills (especially fighting with an armor that hinders your movement) requires years of practice. Ag has to adapt to the armor and target unprotected areas but the outcome should not change.
To quote Jhonen Vasquez (warning: cartoonish gore)
https://imgur.com/bLHoVxA
pepper spray
It’d add enough doubt to any IDs people might make on him to dodge actual legal consequences.
Assuming he can walk away from this.
And assuming no one managed to get a good look at him while he was in a slow-speed chase with a screaming Mike across campus.
If a witness says “Yeah, he was wearing a goofy mask and hockey pads,” and the fuzz notice Blaine is currently wearing those, there’s not gonna be much room for doubt.
Is she genre savvy enough to know that when you level up, so too does your nemesis?
That’s arguably not Amber though, given how MPD is depicted in this strip.
Doe the armor cover Blaine’s crotch?
An athletic cup is the easiest thing to acquire, so if he’s not a complete moron, yes.
Take a look at the last panel there and tell me if you think “not a complete moron” is a given.
I mean, he showed up in body armor. That’s not stupid.
All his other actions say otherwise.
Just showing up was stupid. Preparing first gets him one or two “not stupid” points, but he’s still pretty far in the hole.
_that_ was unexpected.
I hope Walky joins in.
Walky joins in as a side kick. Ethan jumps in because “HOLY SHIT REAL LIFE SUPERHEROES I NEED TO BE ONE TOO!”
And then Sal comes in going, “Y’all idiots” as Police arrive with her
yeaaaah Sal and police together… not happening
Timid Walky obviously won’t join in. He’s busy studying or eating pizza or something.
Night Guy on the other hand…
Ah, yes, what was i thinking
Or possibly…
Cloaked figure: “I must insist, sir, that you vacate the premise and leave this loutsam knave and really sexy masked lady be, or I will be forced, as a gentleman, to step up to their defence.”
Dad-man (or whatever stupid-ass villian name Blaine will think of for himself): “I think you will find that I have a hammer and you do not.”
Cloaked figure: “and a fine hammer it is indeed, sir. However, if it is the inbalance in hammers that causes your over confidence, by all means let us correct it…”
*blade flickers, Blaine’s hammer is flung into the woods*
Toe-jerk: *stupid grunt?*
Cloaked figure: “Do not alarm yourself over my mastery of the sword. after all, in my youth I was something of a champion in this noble sport back home in Thingley.”
When you started the whole ‘cloaked figure with a distinctly British mannerism’ spiel I thought for a moment you were bringing Jason into the mix here.
Sure, why not? If Blaine can be a super villian, then it’s open mic night.
It’s. . .Wreck-Man! He’s a wreck of a man. He has the power of a car wreck, or a small man.
*plays “Gayu” from the soundtrack of Ultimate Teacher on the hacked P.A. speakers*
Yes, they are singing “GUTS!” over and over.
UM, WHAT????
You should have gone for the head!
Hence the “boot to the head” reference in the comments yesterday (which subsequently introduced me to an AMAZING YouTube video)
Canadian sketch comedy at it’s finest
Canadian here. Can confirm.
Was it Last Will and Temperament with Phoenix Wright clips? ’cause that one was pretty great.
That’s the first version I ever encountered, back in the Newgrounds portal’s heyday.
Oh my God! So Amazi Girl is just Robin and he’s the real Batman since he’s the source of all the money!
We’re in the wrong timeline.
What? Is there even a point to the domino mask he put on?
and did he just pull off his flesh face to reveal it?
Nah, he’s putting on gloves to complete his evil villain look in panel 2.
Psychological warfare.
He made himself into a supervillain. AG has never dealt with anyone other than common people.
Honestly I just don’t see it. I don’t think he’s capable of thinking in such psychologically complex ways that would lead to such a tactic. He’s just a narcissist who thinks he’s a criminal mastermind but he’s not. I mean this is a guy who got owned and blackmailed by a 12-13 year old Mike before and the mob is only using him as a stooge instead of something better. Then there’s also the fact that he just spent the last few strips impatiently waiting to download an app so he can use a scooter while Mike drives circles around him before finally having a scooter chase. It just doesn’t paint him as a very smart man. It’s more likely that since he thinks he’s a criminal mastermind and that Amber is dressing up as a superhero then clearly he is the supervillain.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, as they say. He clearly planned on AG, and didn’t plan on Mike. He could have stumbled onto the thing that made her hesitate by dumb luck, without understanding why it actually worked. Also, unfortunately, although AG is a badass, she’s not really genre-savvy like Mike is. I’m guessing Mike’s just standing there like “Dude, seriously?” while she’s gaping in shock.
Haha… I wonder what Ross is thinking right now?…
“…he might belong to a hippie church, after all”
Okay, this made me laugh more than anything else in the past month.
Well done.
Yeah he has clearly prepped for AG to insane amounts with tunnel vision. So it makes sense that Mike’s stunts could throw him off but not enough to make him lose focus of his.plan to get at AG. I do similar stuff (being a bit A.D.D and all) when it comes to important stuff. I will constantly tell myself what I need to be doing to the point where thigns that should be complete common sense slip my mind due to only thinking about my main objective.
cycling body armour?
I’d be more concerned about those gloves he’s putting on. Full-fingered, they could be what are sometimes called “sap gloves” — weighted-knuckle gloves to provide more impact in hand-to-hand combat. Not as effective or lethal as brass knuckles, but still a definite advantage.
Nah, neither mountain biking nor motocross have that clean, monochrome look.
I’d guess more of a cosplay Kevlar, which I imagine exists by now in the Willisverse.
OK, AG, take the initiative and attack while he’s taking off his jacket and his arms are still somewhat encumbered.
She can’t. She has to wait for the end of the transformation sequence. Those are the rules.
You’re exactly right. …Hopefully that means Mike at least is actually using this time productively instead of blindly falling into genre conventions.
After all, an ideal fighting partner helps shore up your weaknesses and amplifies your strengths. In this case, AG’s weakness and strength are the same thing: conformity to superhero rules. She showed up right on time, but now she’s just standing there watching instead of fighting dirty. :/
AW, SICK
This is ridiculous annnnnd I adore it.
This is quite possibly the best development in Dumbing of Age. Blaine was actually *deliberately* invoking a “Rouges Gallery” situation for Amazi-Girl, all so he can be supervillain to her superhero.
It’s great, it’s stupid, only a completely immature lunatic like him would do something so petty as to try and beat her at her own game like this. This is the best.
So, my thought on this is that Amazi-Girl can’t win this. Blaine has become Doctor Ball-Peen (or the Peenetrator), and since the first attack aleady failed, it’ll get stuck in Amazi-Girl’s head that she is having no effect on him. Self-fulfilling prophecy gonna self-fulfill.
What that means is only Amber can beat him. Which isn’t good for Blaine.
Yeah. At least with AG there’s a decent chance she would stop when he’s down. Amber… history dictates that might be trickier. And I’m guessing Mike is WAY less likely than Danny to pull her off before she does some pretty serious damage.
On the other hand, if Amber kicks his ass and then stops on her own… Wouldn’t that be the evidence she needs that she’s not like him after all?
Knowing Mike, he’d probably stand back on purpose to give her the chance to save herself. I’m starting to think much of his asshole interference is not only motivated by, you know, enjoying being a dick, but also… not just “trying to help” as others have said, but more specifically, seeing the gap in others’ performance versus their potential, and having faith that they will rise to the occasion if presented with the opportunity and no other options. He may also intuitively understand that the best lessons are those hard-learned – in education, we call it a “productive struggle,” and it greatly improves the efficacy of anything learned.
Not saying the ends justify his means all the time, cuz he definitely goes over the line sometimes – just trying to pin down the principles he’s acting on.
… Anyway, if Amber comes out to play, Blaine’s definitely in trouble no matter what, but it could also potentially be a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel for Amber’s current struggles.
Okay, the Peenatrator needs more love here. Well played.
“…You better do as I say, or this hammer is gonna Peenatrate your head, you little punk!”
I actually love Blaine now.
Toedad suddenly realising that he is waaaaaayyyyyy past the end of the sidewalk here.
One can only hope. Has Joyce’s church been stated to have issues with superhero media for some reason, or am I imagining that?
Remember the Wonder Woman fiasco?
… No?
Take out his knees, Amazi-girl. He’s not going to be doing too much damage to anyone if he can’t walk.
That makes too much sense, which is why nobody ever does it in fiction.
willis got tired of writing realistic fiction. we’re in full-on superhero mode now and i am not complaining
Soon the aliens shall be reintroduced and it’ll just be the Walkyverse again.
Little did you know that this isn’t Blaine… it’s the belligerent
Ball-Peen!
I am all for this stupid-ass funny-sounding villain name
Can I second Zor’s vote for this name?
Can it be added to the character tags?
How’s about the Belligerent Peen for short?
Best comment. Let this be his name even if he denies it.
I suggest Ball-Peener as his supervillain name.
I suggest Cross-Peen as the name for Mike.
Sorry, but I kinda like ‘The Dad-Joker’.
I love this so much but also. WTF Blaine. You harass your daughter her entire life for being herself when you are just as much of a dork!? The level of serious and wacky here is escalating to critical levels and I am living for it.
I think it’s less about him being a dork, and more about him being so ludicrously petty that he won’t just settle for harming and potentially killing his daughter, he has to humiliate her and shatter her worldview while doing so.
Superheroes shouldn’t lose to supervillains, so of course putting a domino mask on and becoming Amazi-Blaine when he beats her to death with his hammer is the logical way to make it hurt emotionally as well as physically.
Does he know Amber and Amazigirl are the same person, though? Or are sharing a body, I’m not sure what the proper term for it. Because otherwise this seems like a really roundabout way to go at Amber, but it still makes a twisted kind of sense in terms of evening the field against Amazigirl.
Don’t think so, he seemed oblivious to the fact while talking to asher.
I don’t think so, his entire motivation is to get Amber to drop out of college so he doesn’t have to pay tuition, if I recall correctly. If he knew, he could just tell the university that she’s Amazi-Girl and then they’d probably expel her.
He doesn’t know that Amber IS Amazi-Girl though. This is very seriously just Blaine being Blaine and deciding to be a Supervillain as a legit solution to his problem. He has to have at least an interest in superhero stuff for him to actually think of this as a solution. You wouldn’t do this kind of thing if you were not into the whole vibe of it.
It’s almost as if he was waiting for Amazigirl to arrive, for revenge purposes, all along.
What really gets me is that he had gloves this whole time, but he didn’t put them on when he was threatening to kill Mike with a hammer. Like, at least TRY not to leave incriminating evidence?
I’m starting to think those receipts Mike found as a kid had “I AM WORKING FOR THE MOB” written on them in bright red ink.
Honestly sounds like something he would do.
“No one will ever find this evidence, I’m so smart. Muwahahahaha”
I mean, yeah, Blaine’s absolutely the kind of person who would play ball on the superhero/villain thing. He’s also enough of a clueless asshole to think wearing the mask and armour will help keep him from being caught on the news but still egotistical enough to make sure his target knows who he is.
Don’t think he thinks that it stops him from being caught, maybe he just wanted to add a bit of showmanship.
I can definitely see him thinking the police or the news won’t find out it’s him, even though AG and Mike both know. On the other hand he’s planning a murder so who cares if they know?
I’ll give him this at least he put more work into his costume than Walky did.
Low brar.
Also, low bar.
low bra
Hey, boob windows don’t work with sports bras! You have to shop carefully 😉
Well done, sir. You have blown my mind again.
…On second thought, let’s not go to Dumbing of Age. Tis a silly place.
Its only a model…
Shhhh
Sometimes I really, really love this comic’s readership.
I’m really impressed by just how many people are surprised by this development, when Amazi-girl was one of the primary topics he brought up during his supervillain meeting.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/collect/
Most people weren’t expecting Blaine to be an “actual” Supervillain.
Hm. Problematic.
Better break both his legs, that should incapacitate him, right?
“Fucking Nerd” scoff aside, I’m really worried for Amazi-girl here…
Toe-Dad – “Starting to think I’m not on the side of righteousness here…”
People here are going for the “Of course he’s doing this because he’s petty” angle but you don’t consider the fact that this is actual psychological warfare on AG.
He’s becoming something she’s never had – a real supervillain. And yes I know she thought of Sal as her nemesis for a very long time; but AG never really saw her as a supervillain.
Look at her eyes.
Fractured AG’s normal bravado… isn’t all there. Because Amber’s FEAR of her father is leaking into the AG persona.
This goes much deeper than people think.
I don’t think Blaine realizes Amazigirl and Amber are the same person. He holds Amber in far too much contempt to even consider that she could be capable of this stuff.
Doesn’t he call Amber at one point with knowledge that she’s amazi-girl?
Not as far as I remember. Or have been able to find.
I’m not saying Blaine knew AG and Amber are the same person, I’m saying Blaine’s plan is going a lot better than he anticipated because Amber’s fear of him is unintentionally helping him.
PLEASE say Mike kicks Blaine in the nuts or smacks him upside the head with the scooter or something while making a snarky remark
Or that Sal shows up and punts the two dads
Or Dina eviscerates them both while causing everybody to stare in horror
SOMETHING D:
Yeah, I immediately started hoping for a scooter to the back of his head while he is gloating and putting on his teeny mask
Blaine’s really owning his supervillain persona.
I’m gonna be honest…
Didn’t see that coming.
If anyone did, they should try the lottery next.
*THEY NEVER SEE IT COMING PLAYS IN THE HACKED MUZAK*
WELP
*screen cuts to monochrome as Yes, Roundabout plays on the speakers with
To be continued…..
At the bottom of the episode screen*
I am hearing the siren sound effect from Kill Bill.
So it runs in the family? The mental illness I mean, not the apparent genetic insta-learn martial arts. Or both really.
I think the body armor is supposed to explain why the kick didn’t work, not that he knows martial arts now.
For all we know he thinks body armor makes him invincible, and he also did, like, some pushups in his home gym or something.
“For I am… Peen Man”.
Everybody knows your real Blaine identity tho.
go for the head Amber!
Go for the eyes Boo!
… so did Ross know about any of this? like, did Blaine run it by him on the way?
Ideally, this is where Toedad’s braincells would default to Fundie mode and do like “Superhero stuff is evil and Satanic -> dude dressed like in a superhero comic -> Devil misleading me all along -> I’m out”. But I know that’s asking too much.
I can understand the armour preventing injury but he should have been knocked back at least if not down.
I’m so scared
And somehow, out of nowhere, Blaine just became my favorite character.
I relate to this comment???
Well, I guess the era of Dumbing of Age been somewhat realistic is over.
But eh, this might lead to some interesting developments
Don’t know what your talking about, there’s nothing more realistic than a man going through a mid life crisis.
it stopped being realistic with the car chase.
It stopped being realistic when Amazi-Girl was able to use phone lines as ziplines
And yet at the same time, it never stopped being realistic. At least in emotional trauma terms.
Whelp, this is where we are now.
Like father, like daughter, I guess.
“Sounds like someone just ordered a stupid-looking boss!”
So a realization hit me just now.
Willis’ next project is gonna be superhero fiction, because slowly but surely superhero fiction is overtaking his college comic the same way aliens/alien fighters overtook his last college comic.
Mr. Incredible you are not.
Holy shit it’s the Legion of Dads
I prefer to think of them as the Legion of Dumb.
OH FUCK
DARK BLAINE
OH FUCK
what the FUCK
<>
…Hey guys? This ‘drama’ tag says ‘comedy’ on the other side…
sorry, that first said
…said “flips over drama tag”
Yeah you can’t use angle brackets anywhere you can use HTML, it’ll assume it’s markup.
You can probably \ them?
Or use HTML Entity codes like < and > ?
<DRAMA>
How did you do that? The first time i tried starting and ending with <<, and the second time with just < and it showed nothing.
..you know, never mind, i'll just look it up on wikipedia or something next time i want to do it.
Correct …. but should you want to [flip over the drama tag] in the future, you could use square brackets instead.
Right, thanks. I find the instructions on formatting to be confusing, and the lack of ability to make edits has caused problems more than once. For example, every time i want to put in a link, i have to guess which way to use the <a href… instructions, and i only get it right 50% of the time.
For links in the future, you can check out this page for really helpful instructions. It even has a “try it” box so you can make sure your link parses correctly before you add it to your comment, if you want
Crap on a crutch, the “try it now” box is exactly what i’ve been needing. Tyvm!!!
The only way Amazi-Girl can stand up against the combined might of the Legion of Dads is to recruit Sal, Joyce, Walky, and Mike into a superhero team called Students Engaging in Masked Martial Encounters, and then we can bring this whole comic multiverse full circle.
That would require aliens and a cosmic guy with a cheese head. I think this is what Willis meant when he said that the rules were changing.
Maybe you can introduce a student who comes from Wisconsin and has one of those foam cheesehead hats. That way you’ve got your alien AND the Cheese.
Would the Dean or Walky’s mother need to be involved?
So long as Dina doesn’t get killed.
OH C’MON!!!! BLAINE HAS GONE FULL MOTHERFUCKER WITH HIS DELUSIONS!!!!
Well, if Amber and Mike survive I am sure Amber will have an inner fight with her alter ego and decide that she doesn’t want to be a deluded psychopath like Blaine.
I thought this plot was kinda stupid but now I feel like it’s crossed over some kind of line where the stupid loops back around to being entertaining.
K, while the Belligerent Ball-Peen (hat tip to John above – too good not to lose) has his attention focused on Amazi-Girl, Mike needs to kick him between the legs from behind, and Sal needs to come in on her cycle and run over Toe-Dad. Revengers Assemble!
I thought it was the Assgardians of the Galaxy.
Toe Dad? I believe you mean, the Horrendous Human Toe.
Okay, this is such a complete left turn, patreon is starting to look pretty damn cheap
Take a Poll , Whats Next:
a> Walky in his underoos with a pepperspray guns ?
b> sexually frustrated Danny blasts Mike with his Freezeray and accidentaLLY dans captain hammer ?
por qué no los dos?
WTF? Seriously? This is either where we find out that Amber is asleep in Walky’s lap or it’s where DoA goes down the path of Ctrl+Alt+Del!
I hope the second doesn’t happen, that would be a terrible loss.
what
This type of twist is brilliant.
Damn you Willis your not allowed to make me like Blaine.
She should’ve kicked him in the head. Also, totally did not see Blaine’s supervillain outfit coming.
Your Captain Hammer cosplay is… less than accurate
Note: Following comment was posted at Patreon. It’s not my original comment, because I’m not that smart. It’s still the best dumbing of age comment of all times.
“The hammer is his penis.”
Haha yeah it’s been said a couple of times over here, too 😀 it’s a pretty good reference to make given the context
Wow that shark got some real height on that jump.
Really! This is so ridiculous I’m experiencing futile anger.
…what?
Bruh where am i
In the Village.
What do you want?
Information.
Who is number 1?
You are, Number Six.
Wow, spoiling the whole series with punctuation.
Not a Dream
Not a What if
Not a parallel universe story
It is really happening.
Nice.
Ok normally I don’t complain about stuff like this but that kind of body armor should not have stopped the force of an entire woman doing a jump kick from knocking his ass to the ground, even if it did mitigate the damage of the kick.
But hey whatever it’s a supervillain origin story I’m down for it.
Excuse me what the fuck
Is this Ambers fantasy of fear about confronting Blaine?
…..Really?
What?
What is happening???
Tell me about Blaine. why does he wear the mask…
No, seriously, why? I mean, if it’s to conceal his identity, it’s a bit late to do that.
Wouldn’t be a proper super-villain without it.
I mean, why do any super villains wear masks? Especially after the initial arrest where they’re ID’d. I hate to say it but I’m pretty sure Amber’s dad is a huge fucking dork just like she is, but he hides it.
I’m p sure most supervillains do it for style points.
Please tell me it’s not for the same reason amazi-girl wears a mask.
Psychological warfare?
Actually, it just occurred to me – maybe it’s supposed to protect his nose?
Plus, a little bit of psych warfare. After all, when fighting a masked avenger… hang on, I need to find a quote…
Jim Gordon: What about escalation?
Batman/Bruce Wayne: Escalation?
Jim Gordon: We start using semi-automatic, they buy automatic. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman/Bruce Wayne: And?
Jim Gordon: And you’re wearing a mask, and jumping off rooftops. Take this guy, armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card.
Batman/Bruce Wayne: (Sees Joker card) I’ll look into it.
-Batman Begins
*Boss music starts playing…*
Amazi-Girl’s entrance music getting cancelled out is not something she anticipated!
Oh for goodness’ sake.
Little bit of tree leaves behind his head makenit look like he has a mullet, completing the night wing look.
Go for the crotch, maybe he didnt have momey over for a cup.
Wait, what???
… it’s all in Amber’s head, right?
Ah yes, the old theory that Batman/Spider-Man is to blame for the epidemic of supervillains in his city.
Well, if they weren’t around, the writers wouldn’t have to invent people for them to fight…
From a storytelling perspective, it’s 100% true. Within the stories themselves, “It’s your fault we keep getting attacked, because you keep stopping people who attack us” is a load of bullshit. Superheroes aren’t to blame for the paper prisons, either.
… is this some sort of nightmare Amber is having?
In a manner of speaking, yes.
Something tells me this is going to be a pyrrhic victory for Amazi-Girl at best…
Like Amber hasn’t secretly been dying for a chance to put down a villain in body armor. Like she hasn’t thought this battle out a thousand times in her head. Like she hasn’t practiced all her moves. Like Blaine is going to have any ankles left in 30 seconds
Seriously she should be like frickin’ Midnighter for this particular battle
Yes, PLEASE. That would be so awesome.
thinking about it how is Ross so well healed. He went from a neck-brace to being able to ram a student with a car. You would think that would catch up with him pretty quickly.
He’s got a healing factor!
The LORD has healed him!
Oh for fricks sake.
Hey Willis, one of the ads on this page redirected my browser to an obvious scam site without me clicking on it (
http://www.facebook.com---------------abc.wogenisuosha.xyz/america/us/fb-gift/vol.html?city=Lawrence&isp=Comcast%20Cable%20Communications%20inc.&cep=ByUxyyy9_6Fa2OYJTUwuFafIheHDJyg3ivP8EgXp6_1YwadakpDP6oU0JhwRtAEzi6lQngeUveEVLvluyiLWs1PC5aMFuT3XWvyZ7pJwyEzBvG6IqUnwQWY6-mSnQcGDHUgYJTgzFp7VdUlL4K3U_hBjRNJwfv-CXolC7fYyRUzzE0ky573SUs2z4zgUCdt7qKAVZBigbTI0UaAopHGS1mKYHfwb2xOY7m3Ef5lGM_AqPtRtGLr3bR02PAVWNPvtrKEeOn_62_wL0rGjIB_aqp1yt2REQaptRObh-fh4KoOJ8823B9re0q3VAdC7kwKAYqNTyWWCFTtB_4zdl1hm6xxCaGQt-Cw913DkxDv9u2INt-pAdLJUSRNB-rugKYKrFc7PnMnYxKldAS73iruLBal0sUerUAtYwU505flxxn18Y_HJetejmuwZVYjXtvhlFBvf32fG8Lb__rdQ_gD8uBwkib-4UhueuGJdx61f_wT4TP52xQg3L9SfE6KtuK9jVFlWrPPn4Sq6oYGKQThHKjRxXiGn8zNyRd7xMpp_jjNMfvlGfSYMxQdVrVXzjpgfYEnuKYDkyq3AvfpwHC9hVSd6_VaRQCeOPiHi0VYnfrU&lptoken=152d77ae71ad15da1867&xp=d12262&ldp=buyer&m=d12262&s=d12262&d=www.dumbingofage.com&uuid=1577709717253&tar2=1577709717253&tar3=1577709717253&fk=f47cda073a0214c404dba0f8ccc35815&cacheboost=769083828&imgid=1#) and hijacked the back button so that I couldn’t get back to the comic.Report it to hiveworks
That happens to me whenever I look at this site on mobile.
In DoA-Time, only several weeks have passed since A-G ran Daddy Dearest through the pulper. Whatever he did to become what he is here certainly didnt take very long.
Can we say it’s brain damage?
Prediction: Cue Hank Brown, who has been driving hellbent for leather for campus since he heard about Ross getting bail.
Oooooh I like this theory
YES PLEASE
YESSSS
HE HITS ROSS AND BLAINE WITH A CAR
… NO, A TRUCK
OH MY GOD
Pffff wHAT
Huh. So Blaine can ALSO remove his glasses and (think he can) function well enough without them.
He’s Clark Kenting. The glasses aren’t actually needed; they just make everyone forget who he is when he removes them.
Being directly genetically related, they may actually have the same vision problem.
Alternatively, the domino mask may contain prescription lenses.
What is this, a comic con within a comic??
I mean the strip title today IS “convention”…
wait….where did blaine go, and who is this new villainous man?
Congrats, DYW tweeted you ;D
I fear it’s the moment where DoA jumps the shark… :\
Oh darn. He’s left his face unprotected! Ehh…his thick skull shall keep him safe.
Take off all the dramatic parts this is incrediblly hilarious.
So…are we supposed to take Blaine seriously or not?
‘Cause, like…he used to beat his wife.
And now he’s dressing up like a supervillain.
And his daughter has severe anxiety issues due to this, an honest-to-goodness spit personality disorder … and dresses as a superhero.
That’s basically how this strip works.
and he’s literally a mafia brawler and money washer.
He’s a stooge. There’s no evidence I know of that he’s a brawler. Amber certainly handled him easily the last times they fought. As did Ruth, for that matter. He’s show no signs of being good at fighting.
This seems completely unbelievable, but maybe Blaine isn’t as stupid as we thought. The body armor is extra protection and the mask may be there to psyche out Amazing-girl.
Mask is there for real reasons. He’s still healing from his broken nose, and glasses are a liability. I’m guessing it’s got his prescription strength and is otherwise a piece of armor for his face.
Plus, conceals his identity from authorities.
and protect his bridged nose
You take Blaine seriously because he has a serious weapon that could kill you and he is very Prepared to use it. The body armor is a great touch. Combined with a weapon that can end the battle with one blow, this isn’t someone to mess with. AG might be immune to criticism but not to literal hammer blows. AG and mike should flee right now. Blaine can’t be ready for a parkour chase in the armor.
We need another savior. Sarah with a baseball bat. Hank with a car. It’s Indiana so peaceful Hank might well own a gun too. Stand his ground would mean he can shoot Blaine.
I don’t want AG to fight here. Blaine is too well armed and armored.
Amber wasn’t immune to knives either. Look how well that turned out for Ryan. Hammers are dangerous, but much easier to disarm than knives, because you can grab at them without getting cut. And she stripped that knife from Ryan without effort.
I do not know why people are so surprised by this turn of events. How else would one take down a Super-Hero…
…but with (or as) a Super-Villain? 😉
He looks like Le Papillon from Miraculous Ladybug…
This can only end, on a cliched, “father daughter reveal moment”, after they beat the crap out of each other.
This is not the direction I expected Blaine to go in… but I can’t say that it’s not awesome.
…this is so stupid….This is so stupid. THIS IS SO STUPID!!!
Congratulations, you’ve got a legit supervillain. Tonight you become a true superhero.
Just getting this in before reading the comments so I look a fool, knees are extremely susceptible to direct impacts from the side and are also very hard to armor up against this kind of impact. A good kick from the outside will permanently cripple an assailant.
Also the body armor you can get as a civilian is mostly protective against penetrating attacks like bullets and knives. Blunt force trauma is rarely dispersed by this grade of armor and usually when penetrating force is blocked the energy is redirected as blunt force. So AG’s kick should have been equally effective against the cloth body armor as against an unprotected person.
Sweep the legs. This is going to be over in just a few strips. Cue more hospital footage.
Woah. Talk about plot twist.
oh no, not ball-peen hammer man
his catchphrase is “stop! ball-peen hammer time”
Body armor? Cool. Y’ still got head, elbows, knees
Part of me still hopes Ross will eventually realize Blaine wants to harm not protect his daughter and decides God used Blaine to get him out of jail but does not want him to work with Blaine, but I feel like the time for such hopes has proberly passed.
Okay. Hear me out. It IS kinda sweet that he’s relating to her in a way she can understand. Clearly defining roles. Taking more of a part in his daughters life that he previously tried to delegitimize.
In a way, this is recognition. It also explains why he chased Mike into an obvious trap.
140 pounds of foot flying into your chest is still 140 pounds of foot flying into your chest, even with body armor. It just spreads the impact out.
Yeah, I was thinking about this, too. And Blaine’s stance while Amazi-Girl’s kicking him doesn’t look very stable. No way should he be able to just stand there like that. He’d fall over. (Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I can go back to just enjoying the story.)
Off-topic observation — Amazi-Girl’s mask is similar to the Ninja Turtles’ masks in that it is wrapped, bandanna-style, around her head and ties off at the back, but Blaine merely presses his mask to his face and it just seems to adhere there (I noticed this in “The Incredibles” movies too). What holds it in place? Is it supposed to be adhesive, like a Band-aid or Breathe-Right strip? Static cling? Magic?
Adhesives, yeah. Sometimes fashion tape too but Blaine doesn’t seem to have applied any. Could also be some sort of elastic that Willis just didn’t bother to draw, the same way he doesn’t usually draw nostrils or the ‘legs’ of glasses.
so nice to see fathers taking an interest in their daughter’s hobbies.
* Amazigirl pulls out a gun * SO HAVE I!
* Blaine pulls out a bullet proof riot shield * SO HAVE I X2!!
*Amazigirl pulls out out an RPG * SO HAVE I X3!!!
* Blaine pulls out a missile deterrent system * SO HAVE I X4!!!!
*the cops pull up *
Mike: I called them while you two were talking…
Toe dad: I too am in this comic.
I’ve seen some “He’s just as much of a dork as Amber” comments in here, but if we can assume that he still doesn’t know Amazi-girl is Amber, I think what we’re really seeing is the pure ego of this man. He knows he’s a villain, a bad guy, he works for the mob after all, but he clearly revels in it.
His beat down by Amazi-Girl wasn’t the wake up we all might have hoped it could have been, it was his confirmation that it takes a literal super hero to stop him. He’s not just a mob flunky. He’s an actual Super Villain, and with only one hero around, if he can just deal with her, he’s set for life.
Yeah, his entire motivation is to get Amber to drop out of college so he doesn’t have to pay tuition, if I recall correctly. If he knew, he could just tell the university that she’s Amazi-Girl and then they’d probably expel her.
I mean, unless Blaine somehow braced himself to absorb the kinetic energy of the kick, it should’ve been enough to knock him over, with the vest just cushioning the blow against his ribs.
This isn’t that long after a shooting on campus, and other students heard Mike shouting that he was being chased. Campus police could possibly show up shortly and reality ensue.
Call the police… Please… Don’t make me cry.
Ross cuts his losses in 5…
The hammer…is my penis.
What’s he supposed to be? Evil Nightwing?
Oooh, looks like Willis redrew the first panel. It works better.
As others have said, even with wearing some kind of armour, the momentum of her attack and the angle she hit him would have knocked him on his ass, and probably still knocked the air out of his lungs. And the only way he would have slid backwards, as implied by the speed lines in panel one, was if he was standing on a very slick surface, or wearing slippery shoes, not standing on a concrete sidewalk.
We knew this was inevitable from the first moment he showed up with Norman Osborn hair, but wow.