Bloomington has a N. Lincoln St and a S. Lincoln St, but no W. Lincoln St. Willis is keeping to the “no pointing my readers at real addresses which real people live at” rule.
Ah, a fellow Bloomingtonian! I was going to check and see if there was 1322 Lincoln, but then I remembered this fact myself! (Not getting out much has really put a damper on the geography skillz. :-p) )
It’s deeply sad how we’re all hoping for ‘mobsters on the inside of the prison system knock Blaine off,’ and how it is actually disturbingly realistic a possibility for such an ‘accident’ to befall him.
That said, it is Blaine, so my sadness is purely for the fact that it IS disturbingly realistic and not for him.
I will except Blaine dying if before he goes, he somehow gives our protagonists some sort of vague yet incredibly important advice that leads to the downfall of the mob.
What clif said. Death’s basically the only guarantee we have that Blaine WON’T eventually show up again and escalate. (Almost certainly also why Ross died. If he stayed in jail, eventually there’d need to be a trial. If he escaped, he was just gonna do Exactly This again. Ross being dead gives more outlets for Becky and Joyce to wrestle with Complicated Grief Feelings AND brings the Carol and the congregation plot to a head.) Especially given his status as a mob stooge. If they DON’T knock him off so he can’t flip, then he’s probably still a useful enough pawn to get out of jail, and then he gets out, licks his wounds, and starts scheming vengeance again.
I don’t think there’s any way that the mob will want Blaine anymore. This was an utterly harebrained scheme that got revealed through a sitting congresswoman’s twitter feed. It involved a recent campus shooter (even if he never killed anyone) that Blaine got out on bail. The story itself involves a vigilante, too, and kidnapping, and not one, but *two* motorcycle-car chases, if you count Ross’s earlier campus visit. There’s no way in hell that this isn’t making the national news—the media would eat this up, the stories practically write themselves. And I highly doubt that the mob has any use for a stooge who has become nationally recognizable for highly-visible failure.
Given the fact that he didn’t use them a a resource in this He’s probably been on thin ice for a while. I’m also sure that once they find out that he bullied their nephew into helping and possibly exposed him to issues with law enforcement that Blaine will be lucky if it’s just soap in the shower.
Yeah, even if this guy’s a dirty cop, I can’t imagine that Blaine’s master plan to get out of some child support payments that wound up with a dead body, him on the news, and a congresswoman’s twitter account spreading the story to all corners of the internet is gonna look good on his next performance review.
Well, he’s probably out from under those child support payments now. Not exactly easy to keep those up while in jail.
So, now what? Amber was dependent upon her dad’s court-ordered payments, so there goes her tuition. Becky is presumably freed by her dad’s death, as it makes her an orphan, rather than a prison orphan, now.
I suppose, as Joe’s presumptive step-sister, she might still have the possibility of support, but I suspect she’ll be needing a job, now. Good thing a semesters tuition isn’t paid in installments.
Becky will probably be the owner of her dad’s house now. If she sells it (can’t imagine she wants to go back to that community ever again), it could cover her tuition even if she doesn’t stay employed with Robin.
She’s eighteen years old, home-schooled, and plans to be a full time college student. She doesn’t have the time, knowledge, or emotional bandwidth for renting, and I think she knows that.
There are property management companies that can do all the heavy lifting for a slice of the rental income. Becky just has to answer the occasional phone call asking if she wants to replace the water heater and stuff like that.
Keeping the property is definitely the better option. No better wealth than land.
@tbf You’re seriously underestimating the benefits of renting, I think.
Nevermind that selling real estate is really not ever ideal unless you need the immediate income, the property value has scaled to a point of notable profit and is likely to decend again soon, or the property value is otherwise likely to meaningfully drop.
Having property is [generally speaking] a security net for housing, a stable income source, and (in most cases) a fairly stable and reliable investment option.
Of course, a lot depends on factors like how the local region is doing, how the region around the house itself is doing, and the state of the house.. but yeah, generally speaking, can’t imagine anyone wanting to give up a house without a clear basis for doing so.
Likewise, as Dean noted, renting out is usually pretty offhand, and pretty easy to delegate. The only real concern as a private leaser is that you want to be careful to vet your tenants on financial reliability and destructive habits [which’d reduce (sometimes significantly) how much profit you’d make off their residency].
Barring any unusual circumstances, I’d definitely take having a house [in good condition within a worthwhile (ie, easy to rent-within and with stable or rising real estate values) neighborhood] over immediate cash, each and every time.
Just me, but I’ve seen two houses my parents let a property mgmt firm rent, and two ‘managed’ bay another firm for my in-laws. Renters don’t care and property management firms don’t either, as long as the checks clear. All four properties eventually sold for less than 70% of what they were worth before renting, one less than 50%.
Oh, oops, I misunderstood your sentence structure. Yeah, Amber probably needs a job if the child support payments aren’t coming anymore. If Dr. Rosenthal can help with tuition, I’m sure Amber’s mom won’t mind.
The issue of Amber’s tuition post-prison has been discussed before.
It is possible that Amber may need to find other ways to fund her schooling. But if you want to be optimistic, maybe blaine has assets that could be seized by the courts to cover tuition… (His business, money he may have hidden away, etc.) And with Blaine’s mob ties revealed, I am sure investigators will be able to examine his finances in detail
I suspect Blaine has lots of money, so maybe a good lawyer could get Amber a lump payment for her schooling plus damages?
Might leave the wife and Faz in the lurch.
You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if Faz and his mom found out that Blaine had a bunch of private accounts that he conveniently forgot to mention while telling them that they were poor because of Amber.
*Or* he’s going to die “unexpectedly from his previously deemed non-life threatening” injuries on the way to the police station, before he can talk to anybody other than Lester, which Lester would definitely think is a shame because this way there’s no way he’ll be able to name names in return for leniency, since some of these credible kidnapping victims and fellow co-conspirators are talking about him having mob connections and dirty cops on side, which means that these allegations can’t be investigated any further. Lester and him seemed to recognise each other?! Oh, uh, Bridge group a few years ago. Casual acquaintances. Hadn’t seen him for years *twitch*
Our justice system has been soiled for over a century (probably two, I don’t know early history that well). This year it finally got bad enough for middle-class white people to notice.
There was that Black guy who was sleeping in his car at a fast food joint, and the cops woke him up and shot him. And then there was that other Black guy who was sleeping in his car at a fast food joint, and the cops woke him up and shot him too. The second one was hours ago; the first was a couple of years ago, but who noticed?
This is clearly a hint that our compassionate, non-profit prison system will manage to rehabilitate Blaine while he serves the full sentence given to him, thus repaying his debt to society!
Half a dozen college kids got kidnapped and a man’s dead. Even if he knows the cops involved, hopefully this is high-profile enough that they can’t sweep it under the rug. If anything, they’ll cover their own corruption up and throw Blaine under the bus to save their own backsides.
Besides that, once the local news stations see the tweets and hear the address over the police scanners, they’ll put 2 and 2 together and jump all over this like lionesses on a gazelle.
Who’s sweeping things under the rug? Blaine’s got a dozen flunkies who will all agree that those six college kids WEREN’T kidnapped, that THEY killed Ross along with Becky who tried to frame him for her act of revenge, and oh look now they’re lying to the police about it. But their lies broke down under police questioning. Isn’t that right, Lester?
That’s going to be real hard to pull off and it requires basically every cop at the scene to be in on it. And sweeping all the evidence of Blaine getting Ross out of prison and everything else he did to set this up under the rug. Why did he have flunkies and the house, anyway?
It also requires none of the flunkies to throw him under the bus in hopes of better treatment.
Plus the political and financial weight is on the other side (Robin, the Walkerton family, the Ruttens)
Honestly? He might not get out. I doubt he’s even a caporegime. He’s just a mob stooge. I doubt he’s so valuable that his bosses would bail him out of something this high profile.
I don’t like how chummy Blaine is with Lester, but having a corpse at the crime scene and multiple witnesses might mean it doesn’t matter how many cops he has on his string.
*bad mobster accent* Then someone may have to help him warm up his vocal cords. With their boot. Maybe make sure he’s thinking straight with the other boot. You know what I’m saying, don’t you? */bad mobster accent*
Then Blaine gets to live out the next several decades under house arrest and witness protection, never having any contact with anyone from his past life that might be used by the mob to track him down.
The fact that a sitting Congresswoman’s campaign manager was involved in it kind of makes it WAY too big of a deal. Public pressure should keep too much shenanigans from happening unless Blaine is the fucking Kingpin.
Taking a payoff to look the other way is one thing, kidnapping is another. Not saying there aren’t cops that corrupt, but even if Blaine happens to know some, they were probably beyond his budget.
I figured the implication was that cop is one of the guys he was planning to sick on Mike, but even with a few on his side, I don’t think this will be without consequence, albeit maybe not legal ones.
Daniel here. Best a single corrupt cop can do for someone in this much fecal matter is beat him up a bit, maybe “accidentally forget” some of Blaine’s rights to damage the case against him.
Problem with that is Blaine is already running a bit rough there, any more injuries and it might cause permanent damage. Not that anyone this side of the 4th wall would care. Also, with all the publicity Becky has brought to this including a connection to a Senator, they Officers higher up the chain will be watching and someone hurting the case against Blaine will more than likely bring their wrath down upon whichever Cop is responsible, deliberate or not…
I mean Blaine’s a white man with moderate connections. The right spin can put most of the blame on the dead guy. While I don’t think he can skirt jail time with the right investigation or really lack of proper investigation and evidence he could have very comfortable and limited jail time.
He’s probably well into the liability column, by now. Whoever he was working for, probably wants him to quietly die. The very fact he greeted this guy by his first name, in front of potential witnesses, should have this dirty cop considering options to ensure this gets buried, fast. Shot trying to escape sounds like a pretty good option. Grabbed at a service revolver and was shot in the scuffle wouldn’t be all that unbelievable, considering everything else he’s done for the aggrandizement of his own ego. Just need to remember to get that armor off him first, or arrange to punch through the armpit during the “scuffle”.
Yeah, Blaine went rogue and then proceeded to self-destruct in pretty much the most spectacular way possible. I don’t think Gramps is gonna think he’s worth it.
Also if he dies, there might be a less… pressing investigation into his finances than discovery for trial might reveal. (Because when your publicly-stated motive was ‘she’s costing me too much in tuition’ and your scheme is… well, this, a forensic audit seems pertinent.)
Pretty sure the fact that Becky *is* a campaign manager gives the feds jurisdiction (if they choose to exercise it). Same with kidnapping itself, and they would be almost certain to step in if any of the kids were legal residents of a different state.
Aaaand I may still be learning all this Human stuff, but when the guy with Mob connections knows his arresting Officer by name, that either means he’s been arrested by him a few times, or he’s 1 of the cops on the payroll. How does that saying go?
Friendly reminder Charles, like Linda, is a garbage parent.
And Willis you magnificent bastard. You know us too well.
Since Blaine knows this cop and he is, presumably, a mob contact, I’m guessing Lester’s gonna get a phone call shortly and then, whoops, Blaine shows up dead in his cell. Suicide, don’tcha know.
My prediction is he never quite makes it to his cell and doesn’t, therefore, have any chance to give any names. He’s been bashed around enough that, so long as the ambulance crew don’t insist on taking him to hospital in police custody and Lester can take him away from everybody else (bar a probably also corrupt partner), he could plausibly succumb to his previous injuries. I predict Lester will help make that happen…
That cop obvs knows him, but I don’t know that he’ll be compliant enough to let Blaine go when there’s such a high profile case. I mean he’s a cop and a piece of shit who probably would live to go murder people with Blaine, but they do try to at peast a little to keep their reputation with white people
I really don’t think Lester is at all on Blaine’s side. Why? Because I find it incredibly doubtful that Blaine actually has any cops working for him. Really, whats more likely, that Blaine actually has enough money to convince a bunch of dirty cops to work for him when his only other stooges are all college kids who only signed on because they wanted to attack Amazi-Girl or that Blaine is full of shit and Mike was never actually in danger?
Until given evidence to the contrary I choose to believe that Lester is a completely innocent cop who knows Blaine because he’s been trying to pin money laundering on him for years but never had enough evidence to make an arrest.
There’s never been any reason to think Blaine has cops working for him. There is good reason to think that there are cops working for the same mob Blaine work for and that he might be able to tap into those connections. Unauthorized by Gramps and likely to get him in trouble if revealed, but still possible.
Quit my job today. Our boss (T) quit because he called his boss (P) and asked for help because the whole crew is run ragged and exhausted, and he got laughed at, mocked, and told “I don’t fucking care about your crew”. So T quit and P is apparently running things there now. Today, before we clocked in, P pulled me aside and fed me a bunch of bullshit about how he’s gonna do his best to take care of us, and if I stay, he’ll give me a raise and blah blah blah. I said, I’ll have to talk to my girlfriend, see if she wants to stay too, and so he lets me go talk real quick and answers a phone call he was getting anyway. Only thing I said was to grab her purse, we’re leaving. Told the rest of the crew goodbye, it’s been nice working with everyone, call me if they need a reference. I’ll figure something out, and I know T will give me a hell of a reference if I need one later. I’ve got a backup plan, so money shouldn’t be too too too tight.
Been there, done that (three years ago), so I understand what this means for you. Life’s too short to work for selfish idiots who think that screwing over their employees is the easiest way to advance their own careers. Hope the current global situation doesn’t mess up your back up plan. Good luck, seriously.
In panel two, I think the fact that one of the paramedics (you can tell by the stethoscope draped around her neck) is trying to provide some sort of comfort for Becky pretty well confirms that Blaine is now on the hook for at least manslaughter. A crooked cop on the beat isn’t going to be much help for that; he’s going to need to have the DA or the judge himself on the take and in his pocket to get away scott-free with something like that.
And in panel four Amber’s gotten a bandage for the contusion beneath her right eye, but just what is that thing that Joyce is holding up to her own face? Looks a little too bulky for kleenex; more like a face mask or inhaler or something.
In panel one, Malaya says that “he was trying to get away on heelies,” which I assume is a reference to the guy who came pogo-sticking down the steps about the same time she was looking to open a can of whoop-ass on someone. Are ‘heelies’ even a thing any more? They seem so twenty years ago, or are they like Crocs — something else that just refuses to go away and die already?
as somebody who worked in a shoe store for over a year, I can assure you that not only are they still a thing, but they still make new versions of them on the regular, had to stock them quite a lot.
Sometimes the targeted ad algorithms throw up some seriously random stuff. My favorite combo consisted of one ad for hats with right-wing slogans, and one for anti-HIV drugs. Oh, and just a couple of days ago, over at IW, I got an add for bullet-proof vests, which seemed exceptionally random.
I often google a lot of stuff for fiction I write. Like the stats on different guns, or what exactly happens if a bullet lodges in a spine, or how much blood is actually in the human body….
… so, yeah. The algorithm thinks it knows what I’m into.
Probably don’t get that because of location. As I always disable every option for targeting ads, I often wonder about the stuff that appears, even though mostly I don’t look at all.
It’s a callback to Brain Ghost Mike’s discussion with AG on her way to warn Becky (he said exactly that line, IIRC,) but it’s also (at least part of) why she COULD reject his claim on her. His approval is not something she actually wants in the slightest, but his last monologue was also just more of Blaine trying to put a spin on things so he can pretend he’s still the Big Bad Mobster In Control.
And since he was lying about how he’s proud of her and this is what he wanted all along, I think that made it easier for her to realize that no, this is all him lying, she is NOT as much like Blaine as she fears, she’s not the monster he is, and that helped pull her back from the berserker rage edge and reject him.
Also, right after the stabbing, there was a Brain Ghost Blaine that said some pretty similar things (‘Finally, you’ve proved you’re an O’Malley’ – I forgot before Brain Ghost Mike that Amber was already actively hallucinating. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/proved/) so the realization that Blaine would only say something like this as a desperate attempt to pretend he’s still in charge of the situation took some of the power from THAT as well. Blaine did not make her in his image, intentionally or otherwise, because Amber can choose to be something different.
It’s a clear sign they’re sharing memories again, and I think it’s a first step towards reconciliation and them not considering Amber the Monster In The Psyche Closet anymore. (Because Amber enjoys violence, so clearly Amber’s the Bad One, because DID means having a Good One and a Bad One in media.)
Given Cerberus’s comments way back when about inaccurate media portrayals of DID and the fact that Amber’s whole ‘I don’t need you anymore’ attempts were so opposed by AG, I don’t think they’re going to ‘reintegrate’ (at least, not successfully, and attempts would probably be similar enough to what caused the memory lockouts in the first place that it would also be a retread.) But I can very much see it being a peace offering from AG to Amber, as they try to be a better friend to themselves.
Blaine told Amber I created you”. Amber rejected that with a “I made me” statement.
Sal commented on how Amber was able to reject Blaine’s claim. Amber said Blaine was lying… His ego would not allow him to admit Amber was a success on her own, so he lied about saying “I made you”.
Amber’s comments about her father are often subtly directed at herself, in which she sees a LOT of her father. Amber is subtly saying SHE lied, because the truth hurts her ego.
I’m inclined to say it’s way more character development than witness statement. It actually works straight as a response to Sal’s statement (‘Wish I could reject my parents’ influence the way you just did’/‘He didn’t mean it to begin with, so I can’t be as bad as he is’) AND as a culmination of Amber’s issues with Blaine, starting in that first scene with him. (‘You’re too much like your mother.’ *Amber punch* ‘I’m not enough like my mother, I’m saddled with your petty violent rage.’ ‘Well, that was a lucky shot, come here and I’ll put you in your place.’ https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/gorilla/ Then the fear she’ll become him, Brain Ghost Blaine, red panels, etc.) Blaine spends this entire arc denying that Amber can ever be a threat to him, and he immediately turns to that ‘you’re welcome’ when irrefutable proof shows up and smacks him in the face. But ONLY then, because it’s a desperate control tactic. (The dude had to ignore the fact that she STABBED A RAPIST REPEATEDLY to keep insisting she’s useless.) The realization Blaine will never actually consider her worthy of approval is just as much part of her owning her choices and her potential to be a better person as ‘I made me’ is. They’re both the same fundamental point, that when he says she’s like him, he is wrong.
Also, I honestly don’t believe a witness statement will be relevant (and therefore necessary to foreshadow) because I’m pretty damn convinced Blaine’s going to die sometime between now and being brought before a judge. Just setting all the other reasons why for a moment, there’s not really much left he can do for Amber’s character arc. She just denied him power over her actions on a fundamental level. Anything he shows up for after this will either be a retread or a backslide or both. He’s being taken off the board after this, and that’s where the ‘he’s a liability to the mob’ angle comes in. (I suppose he could go into witness protection, but since Blaine is in fact stupid enough to commit the e-scooter chase and for a 13-year-old to find his conflicting tax returns, he’d probably still try to get revenge again. Also, he’s being arrested by a guy who knows him and we had a pretty clear Chekhov’s Gun in ‘some of the cops are on his mob’s dime’ from Mike that’s revealed AFTER Sarah’s ‘I really do not want cops escalating this’ bit. He’s not telling Lester he’s going to turn state’s evidence.)
Blaine is probably the guy who gives Lester a brown paper bag full of used $20 bills every month to look the other way under certain circumstances. The question is, will that inspire Lester to do Blaine a favour or will it make him decide that he will be safer if his gun ‘accidentally’ goes off in Blaine’s guts?
Indianapolis had some unrest. I would be flabbergasted if Gary didn’t as well. Bloomington has been pretty peaceful, which is a nice change from last summer where Antifa and white supremacists clashed over the goddamned farmers’ market.
Yes, you read that right. They fought over the farmers’ market, specifically over a pair of vendors who were publicly outed for aiding and abetting other white supremacists who came to Indiana to firebomb a synagogue.
Actually, if I were Blaine, I’d be worried about knowing that cop. It’s more likely that the local boss may have decided that all debts and embarrassments should be fixed by an incident with Blaine ‘resisting arrest’.
Meanwhile, I think that Becky is about to have her Dylan fifteen minutes. I also suspect that the Brown parents will make an appearance; the siblings too. That could easily get very, very ugly very quickly.
I mean in his mind he probably thinks he’s going to get everything short of a parade from the mob, for his valiant effort and also suitably punishing Gramps’ grandson.
At least, I think he looks smug and confident now that he’s in police hands. Could be misreading his face and he’s actually realizing he’s in shit
He may very well still be at the corner of Hillside and Woodlawn where Sal left him, implying that she’d be back. He has shown himself capable of calculating that trusting the students is his best shot.
It’s just that
(1) He’s an accomplice and the Police will want to talk to him at least (and technically Sal could be charged with aiding and abetting by rescuing him from the van and letting him go).
(2) I doubt he’ll get a warm welcome from Yuri (and heaven help the kid if Blaine makes bail, or manages to weasel out of this).
I think that she’s likely going to be too genuinely shocked that there is an actual dead person in the house and that this has all been for real stakes.
Okay, I can handle Amber being a superhero, her father becoming a supervillain and kidnapping all of their friends, and the whole thing culminating in a car chase that involves Amber jumping onto the van, climbing over the roof into the front, and then throwing her father out of the van. However, Sal not being immediately assaulted by the police just stretches my suspension of disbelief a bit too far.
In the same vein, it appears that Sarah made herself very scarce before the cops showed up. Doubt she wanted to be the black person at the crime scene wielding a bat….
Charles Walkerton, Jeremiah Keener, Richard Rosenthal, and Saul Siegal all started graying at the sides instead of the top. Graying at the temples is a pretty ubiquitous comic shorthand for middle age (Reed Richards, Hal Jordan, etc) and even happens in real life sometimes.
So glad Blaine got caught. Hopefully his knowing the cop won’t keep him from justice. Hopefully Mike is safe, etc. However, I am petty enough that I hope for some strips showing some negative blowback on Joyce’s church.
I can see church blowback from Joyce & her dad, but the church itself? No they merely wanted to bring Ross back into their loving community and help him in his troubled times. The EVIL Blaine took advantage of their innocence and led Ross down the path that led to his death (Blaine and Becky that is, after all, none of this would have happened if Becky had been a “good girl” and obeyed her father, and listened to the “loving” advice of her moral superiors).
It’s much easier to stand with old friends and say “we were following the right path, and now are being persecuted because a stranger deceived us”, than to say “maybe I was wrong, and did therefore play a part in this tragedy”, and thus stand alone and shunned by former friends.
You know what would be fun? If Ross would survive but because of the brain damage his personality would change into a kind that wants nothing to do with the Church. That or he’d survive and start questioning whether he was right himself.
Just thinking, but it’s possible that Becky’s “last words” twitter storm could play out well for Blaine. It wouldn’t take much for a lawyer to claim those tweets are prejudicial and render it impossible for Blaine to get an unbiased jury. If our esteemed author wanted to be really nasty, Blaine could skate on this and possibly go free.
Well not you or me (well not me anyways). But Becky is using the twitterfeed of an “unconventional” congresswoman who’s up for election. Between the amount of people following that account (which will include more conventional news outlets, not all of which will wait for fact checking and legal advice) and you’ve pretty much tainted a good amount of the jury pool.
it’s a frequently used, but not always effective, tactic for actual Defense Attorneys (not those underpaid public defenders, the ones with actual money) to use to try and claim their client can’t get a fair trial. This actually works with a remarkable number of judges, but almost never for getting a mistrial. At best, it can get the trial venue moved most of the time.
I kind of doubt it. Twitter pretty much doesn’t exist outside certain circles. You wouldn’t have much problem with finding people who upon being asked about Twitter would say “What is that?”
If I may, I think you may be underestimating how many democrats follow Republican accounts (look at how many democrats follow your current Potus for example). And the more “individual” news networks (Fox, OAN, Drudge, Infowars) would pass it on (even if only to paint Becky and Robin as the REAL bad guys) which would lead to more reliable news sources debunking those claims.
Unlikely, but plausible if Willis is feeling especially evil and wants Blaine to hang around.
A tweetstorm is nothing compared to the evening news, and high profile cases go to trial all the time. If they could find a jury for OJ, I’m sure getting one for Blaine will be easy.
He’s the only one got mentioned by name. Remember that two the douchebros who were helping Blaine never got tagged either, and the only reason the other three (Taylor, Tyler, and Dawson) got tagged is because, in the story arc when Robin came to Bloomington for her rally, they were the ‘interns’ who met her at the airport.
So, I’m thinking that the cops scooped up the entire of Ryan’s little buddy group too? This is going to be difficult headache for their daddies to try to sweep under the rug with political contribitions (or threats to withdraw such). Lots of ‘fine but mislead young men’ who are going to be spending the next four months or so in a five-star ‘rehab clinic’ with their dads telling them to learn to keep their damn heads down in the future.
Upon reflection, God’s plan clearly involved Ross heroically stopping a dangerous criminal. Ross was rewarded by being united with our Savior in heaven and no longer dealing with the pain of his faithless wife (who is surely in hell) or his vile turncoat daughter.
Going on the heretofore-supported assumption that DYW never includes anything by accident, I’m kind of interested in the apparently nonplussed/dismayed attitude of the first responder listening to Carla in P1. Assuming Carla is making sure the 1R knows “who my dad is,” this could be a battle of Parental Influence: Blaine’s masters and the Browns’ church (both highly capricious supporters when they see their interests threatened) vs. the colossus that is Rutten/Ruttech.
I forget the context, but some time ago Carla said she’d been out “since that Time cover.”
I read that as literal, that she was on the cover. I imagine a cover story about trans youth and Carla’s being chosen for the cover because she’s loud and proud, and her parents of course.
this might be kinda off topic, but as a trans person with some form of paranoia (by paranoia i mean having to change my name from this comment to avoid potentially being outed in the future) developed due to coming from a totalitarian queerphobic country (and also hearing about all the horrible shit the US treated trans people), the moment i see carla talking to the first responder i get pretty panicky, even if it’s fictional
Aight i know Amber had the face wound before, justifying the bandage, but it’s funny to think she DID trip over and hit Joyce in the nose in the previous comic! 😀
This comic made me feel uneasy and it took a while for me to figure out that it was because of people standing close to each other.
This pandemic thing has been around for too long.. *sighs
I mean, the best we can really hope for is Blaine’s death. We’re left to believe he’s not exactly wealthy, since he keeps pushing to use Faz as a pawn based on the idea that Amber’s college tuition is something that impacts Blaine’s new family.
In jail, no income = no tuition for Amber. Death = possible life insurance/will shenanigans leaving Amber with the means to continue studying, and now have some sort of beef with the mafia, who presumably, were owed a large chunk of money from Blaine.
I mean, she’s a costumed vigilante that has seriously hurt people. Including the guards of a campaign manager hired by a congresswoman. Her costume is on the ground and blood soaked.
Or does this take place in a world where a black preacher defending himself against a gang of white people isn’t arrested for calling the police on them? Does this take place in a world where the discovery of a single counterfeit bill doesn’t result in the 9 minute suffocation of a black man’s life? Does this take place in a world where lying in bed while black gets you shot to death when plain clothes policemen bust in your house because they caught the guy they were looking for yesterday?
If not – cool. After all, there’s not closets on Etheria and that’s cool. But then why does Sarah regularly raise the idea that including cops around black people isn’t the safest path?
Probably – in the sense that a black person in this situation would likely be treated worse. But white privilege protecting her here isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s bad that it wouldn’t apply to black people, but in this context it’s mostly the presumption of innocence that should apply to everyone.
And of course, even with police and black people, they don’t screw it up every time. Just far too often.
Specifically though, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’d managed to disappear the costume before the cops arrived on the scene. There’s obviously been a bit of a time lapse. We’ll probably get a bit more on that at some point. Without that, the grounds for arresting Amber are a lot weaker. There may be fallout from Robin’s guards, but it might not be part of this case yet.
I honest-to-God wish for all their parents to be watching this on the news and call them. Sal’s dad would be the least bad of the lot, since I can only imagine him calling and trying to make amends. Her mom’s a complete write-off.
Also I want Carol to call so Joyce can finally reject her. Or for Hank to call and tell Joyce that they’re getting divorced, either or.
Considering the extent of Blaine’s crimes, the scale of the public attention (which will include federal interest thanks to Becky’s tweets), and the fact that he did all of it for petty personal reasons, I think that the BEST response that Blaine can hope for from his bosses is that they cut him loose and threaten him to keep his mouth shut.
He’s clearly not worth the trouble to save, and their primary concern at this point would just be keeping him quiet.
I can’t help but think that Asher’s going to be the wild card when it comes to Blaine’s fate. If he has reason to think Blaine will keep his mouth shut, Gramps might leave him alone in prison. If Gramps finds out that Blaine dragged his grandson into this mess, however?
Isn’t Becky the only crime victim here who doesn’t know AG and Amber are the same person? In her tweets she mentioned them separately, and her reaction to AG last time was “what the heck are you doing dressed like Amber?” The cops are going to awfully confused by these differences. Well unless all the other kids omit AG from the story, but I don’t see that flying, especially since the henchmen will say they got their asses kicked by AG not Amber.
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/me tries being all clever finding the address
“there’s ALMOST one in Gary, that’s three and a half hours from campus and ALSO an abandoned lot… well played”
Lester bears a striking similarity to Shortpacked!Leo (whose counterpart we have not seen in DoA yet?)
Looks a little old to be Leo, doesn’t he?
Lester can shorten to Les, can’t it? I think I remember something about Les Bean being a family name. Maybe he’s related after all.
The house is real and is in Bloomington, IN, but the address given in the strip is not the address of the house.
Yeah, I wanna say that that house is on Atwater, but there are a few houses around campus that kinda match.
Bloomington has a N. Lincoln St and a S. Lincoln St, but no W. Lincoln St. Willis is keeping to the “no pointing my readers at real addresses which real people live at” rule.
Ah, a fellow Bloomingtonian! I was going to check and see if there was 1322 Lincoln, but then I remembered this fact myself! (Not getting out much has really put a damper on the geography skillz. :-p) )
Yeah I was all, in that X-Files about the 1200 block of Chain Bridge, that street only goes to the 1100s
(though I REALLY wonder where that Old Bridge is they claim is in Germantown)
THERE WE GO
ah yes, he’ll never be let out of prison now!!! we have a justice system that works!!!
bwomp ba bwomp ba bwomp bwoooomp
And Lester knows him! That obviously means he knows how much trouble he is and will take very good care of him.
Or he’s wondering how much Blaine’s mob bosses will pay to have Blaine have a fatal slip on a piece of soap.
Yeah, with all the publicity from Becky he will probably become more trouble than he is worth.
It’s deeply sad how we’re all hoping for ‘mobsters on the inside of the prison system knock Blaine off,’ and how it is actually disturbingly realistic a possibility for such an ‘accident’ to befall him.
That said, it is Blaine, so my sadness is purely for the fact that it IS disturbingly realistic and not for him.
I wouldn’t want to see him die, but it’s a possibility.
I will except Blaine dying if before he goes, he somehow gives our protagonists some sort of vague yet incredibly important advice that leads to the downfall of the mob.
If he dies, he can’t be brought back when you least expect it.
What clif said. Death’s basically the only guarantee we have that Blaine WON’T eventually show up again and escalate. (Almost certainly also why Ross died. If he stayed in jail, eventually there’d need to be a trial. If he escaped, he was just gonna do Exactly This again. Ross being dead gives more outlets for Becky and Joyce to wrestle with Complicated Grief Feelings AND brings the Carol and the congregation plot to a head.) Especially given his status as a mob stooge. If they DON’T knock him off so he can’t flip, then he’s probably still a useful enough pawn to get out of jail, and then he gets out, licks his wounds, and starts scheming vengeance again.
I don’t think there’s any way that the mob will want Blaine anymore. This was an utterly harebrained scheme that got revealed through a sitting congresswoman’s twitter feed. It involved a recent campus shooter (even if he never killed anyone) that Blaine got out on bail. The story itself involves a vigilante, too, and kidnapping, and not one, but *two* motorcycle-car chases, if you count Ross’s earlier campus visit. There’s no way in hell that this isn’t making the national news—the media would eat this up, the stories practically write themselves. And I highly doubt that the mob has any use for a stooge who has become nationally recognizable for highly-visible failure.
Given the fact that he didn’t use them a a resource in this He’s probably been on thin ice for a while. I’m also sure that once they find out that he bullied their nephew into helping and possibly exposed him to issues with law enforcement that Blaine will be lucky if it’s just soap in the shower.
Yeah, even if this guy’s a dirty cop, I can’t imagine that Blaine’s master plan to get out of some child support payments that wound up with a dead body, him on the news, and a congresswoman’s twitter account spreading the story to all corners of the internet is gonna look good on his next performance review.
Well, he’s probably out from under those child support payments now. Not exactly easy to keep those up while in jail.
So, now what? Amber was dependent upon her dad’s court-ordered payments, so there goes her tuition. Becky is presumably freed by her dad’s death, as it makes her an orphan, rather than a prison orphan, now.
I suppose, as Joe’s presumptive step-sister, she might still have the possibility of support, but I suspect she’ll be needing a job, now. Good thing a semesters tuition isn’t paid in installments.
Becky will probably be the owner of her dad’s house now. If she sells it (can’t imagine she wants to go back to that community ever again), it could cover her tuition even if she doesn’t stay employed with Robin.
Rent out. Not sell.
She’s eighteen years old, home-schooled, and plans to be a full time college student. She doesn’t have the time, knowledge, or emotional bandwidth for renting, and I think she knows that.
There are property management companies that can do all the heavy lifting for a slice of the rental income. Becky just has to answer the occasional phone call asking if she wants to replace the water heater and stuff like that.
Keeping the property is definitely the better option. No better wealth than land.
@tbf You’re seriously underestimating the benefits of renting, I think.
Nevermind that selling real estate is really not ever ideal unless you need the immediate income, the property value has scaled to a point of notable profit and is likely to decend again soon, or the property value is otherwise likely to meaningfully drop.
Having property is [generally speaking] a security net for housing, a stable income source, and (in most cases) a fairly stable and reliable investment option.
Of course, a lot depends on factors like how the local region is doing, how the region around the house itself is doing, and the state of the house.. but yeah, generally speaking, can’t imagine anyone wanting to give up a house without a clear basis for doing so.
Likewise, as Dean noted, renting out is usually pretty offhand, and pretty easy to delegate. The only real concern as a private leaser is that you want to be careful to vet your tenants on financial reliability and destructive habits [which’d reduce (sometimes significantly) how much profit you’d make off their residency].
Barring any unusual circumstances, I’d definitely take having a house [in good condition within a worthwhile (ie, easy to rent-within and with stable or rising real estate values) neighborhood] over immediate cash, each and every time.
Just me, but I’ve seen two houses my parents let a property mgmt firm rent, and two ‘managed’ bay another firm for my in-laws. Renters don’t care and property management firms don’t either, as long as the checks clear. All four properties eventually sold for less than 70% of what they were worth before renting, one less than 50%.
I can’t see her keeping the house, too many painful memories for her, I think she will sell it, if she ends up with ownership of it.
Amber is Joe’s presumptive step-sister, not Becky. Joe’s dad and Amber’s mom are together, whereas Becky’s parents are now both dead.
Oh, oops, I misunderstood your sentence structure. Yeah, Amber probably needs a job if the child support payments aren’t coming anymore. If Dr. Rosenthal can help with tuition, I’m sure Amber’s mom won’t mind.
Maybe she can get a job at a local comic/toy store which will hire her out of hero worship for her AG antics?
The issue of Amber’s tuition post-prison has been discussed before.
It is possible that Amber may need to find other ways to fund her schooling. But if you want to be optimistic, maybe blaine has assets that could be seized by the courts to cover tuition… (His business, money he may have hidden away, etc.) And with Blaine’s mob ties revealed, I am sure investigators will be able to examine his finances in detail
I suspect Blaine has lots of money, so maybe a good lawyer could get Amber a lump payment for her schooling plus damages?
Might leave the wife and Faz in the lurch.
You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if Faz and his mom found out that Blaine had a bunch of private accounts that he conveniently forgot to mention while telling them that they were poor because of Amber.
And that isn’t even going into HOW he paid for Ross’ bail.
Personally, I’m suspecting he might have misappropriated mob money for this stunt, so yeah, likely not gonna look good for him.
the church helped him pay it, that was said in a earlier comic.
The church didn’t have enough money. Blaine gave some money himself to get him out.
*Or* he’s going to die “unexpectedly from his previously deemed non-life threatening” injuries on the way to the police station, before he can talk to anybody other than Lester, which Lester would definitely think is a shame because this way there’s no way he’ll be able to name names in return for leniency, since some of these credible kidnapping victims and fellow co-conspirators are talking about him having mob connections and dirty cops on side, which means that these allegations can’t be investigated any further. Lester and him seemed to recognise each other?! Oh, uh, Bridge group a few years ago. Casual acquaintances. Hadn’t seen him for years *twitch*
The ol’ Epstein treatment.
Between Epstein and BLM, our justice system has basically soiled its pants in front of us this year, hasn’t it?
Don’t forget the Panama Papers!
Our justice system has been soiled for over a century (probably two, I don’t know early history that well). This year it finally got bad enough for middle-class white people to notice.
There was that Black guy who was sleeping in his car at a fast food joint, and the cops woke him up and shot him. And then there was that other Black guy who was sleeping in his car at a fast food joint, and the cops woke him up and shot him too. The second one was hours ago; the first was a couple of years ago, but who noticed?
Lester is thinking: “I don’t know you, buddy. You’re not taking me down with you.”
Yeah, I hope the wobbly-ness of that speech bubble’s tail is important.
This is clearly a hint that our compassionate, non-profit prison system will manage to rehabilitate Blaine while he serves the full sentence given to him, thus repaying his debt to society!
Half a dozen college kids got kidnapped and a man’s dead. Even if he knows the cops involved, hopefully this is high-profile enough that they can’t sweep it under the rug. If anything, they’ll cover their own corruption up and throw Blaine under the bus to save their own backsides.
Besides that, once the local news stations see the tweets and hear the address over the police scanners, they’ll put 2 and 2 together and jump all over this like lionesses on a gazelle.
Who’s sweeping things under the rug? Blaine’s got a dozen flunkies who will all agree that those six college kids WEREN’T kidnapped, that THEY killed Ross along with Becky who tried to frame him for her act of revenge, and oh look now they’re lying to the police about it. But their lies broke down under police questioning. Isn’t that right, Lester?
That’s going to be real hard to pull off and it requires basically every cop at the scene to be in on it. And sweeping all the evidence of Blaine getting Ross out of prison and everything else he did to set this up under the rug. Why did he have flunkies and the house, anyway?
It also requires none of the flunkies to throw him under the bus in hopes of better treatment.
Plus the political and financial weight is on the other side (Robin, the Walkerton family, the Ruttens)
Honestly? He might not get out. I doubt he’s even a caporegime. He’s just a mob stooge. I doubt he’s so valuable that his bosses would bail him out of something this high profile.
I don’t like how chummy Blaine is with Lester, but having a corpse at the crime scene and multiple witnesses might mean it doesn’t matter how many cops he has on his string.
Well, one thing worth considering too is “Blaine might not be that high level a guy.”
He might be more powerless than we think because I imagine that his associates don’t want heat on them.
What if Blaine goes turncoat and sings about the rest of the mob in exchange for immunity tho?
Then getting to Amber will be the LEAST of his problems.
*bad mobster accent* Then someone may have to help him warm up his vocal cords. With their boot. Maybe make sure he’s thinking straight with the other boot. You know what I’m saying, don’t you? */bad mobster accent*
*bad mobster accent* “Never goagaknst the fsmily.”
Based on your avatar, my new headcanon is that he got in with the Raptor Mafia. You don’t cross Blue.
See: “Slips on the soap in the prison shower,” above.
Then Blaine gets to live out the next several decades under house arrest and witness protection, never having any contact with anyone from his past life that might be used by the mob to track him down.
The fact that a sitting Congresswoman’s campaign manager was involved in it kind of makes it WAY too big of a deal. Public pressure should keep too much shenanigans from happening unless Blaine is the fucking Kingpin.
Yeah, because that worked really well for Epstein. No, having publicity just makes it more urgent for him to be silenced.
Public pressure should at least keep shenanigans from working in Blaine’s favor.
If he had cops on a string would he have used a bunch of dumb college kids?
Taking a payoff to look the other way is one thing, kidnapping is another. Not saying there aren’t cops that corrupt, but even if Blaine happens to know some, they were probably beyond his budget.
Oh no, he’s on a first name basis with the cop.
He’s getting out, isn’t he.
I figured the implication was that cop is one of the guys he was planning to sick on Mike, but even with a few on his side, I don’t think this will be without consequence, albeit maybe not legal ones.
Probably not. He’d need some pull with a judge or DA not to end up with a big bail.
We’re looking at a murder charge here, which means that even in Indiana, they can hold him without bail.
He’s in waaaay too deep for one crooked cop to let him go. Way above that cop’s pay grade
Daniel here. Best a single corrupt cop can do for someone in this much fecal matter is beat him up a bit, maybe “accidentally forget” some of Blaine’s rights to damage the case against him.
Problem with that is Blaine is already running a bit rough there, any more injuries and it might cause permanent damage. Not that anyone this side of the 4th wall would care. Also, with all the publicity Becky has brought to this including a connection to a Senator, they Officers higher up the chain will be watching and someone hurting the case against Blaine will more than likely bring their wrath down upon whichever Cop is responsible, deliberate or not…
Robin is a representative, not a Senator. She’s got this district.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/district/
I mean Blaine’s a white man with moderate connections. The right spin can put most of the blame on the dead guy. While I don’t think he can skirt jail time with the right investigation or really lack of proper investigation and evidence he could have very comfortable and limited jail time.
He’s probably well into the liability column, by now. Whoever he was working for, probably wants him to quietly die. The very fact he greeted this guy by his first name, in front of potential witnesses, should have this dirty cop considering options to ensure this gets buried, fast. Shot trying to escape sounds like a pretty good option. Grabbed at a service revolver and was shot in the scuffle wouldn’t be all that unbelievable, considering everything else he’s done for the aggrandizement of his own ego. Just need to remember to get that armor off him first, or arrange to punch through the armpit during the “scuffle”.
He killed a man while executing a plan to kidnap the campaign manager of a sitting US Congresswoman.
There comes a point where connections won’t undo things. Especially when those connections just started seeing you as a huge liability.
Yeah, Blaine went rogue and then proceeded to self-destruct in pretty much the most spectacular way possible. I don’t think Gramps is gonna think he’s worth it.
Also if he dies, there might be a less… pressing investigation into his finances than discovery for trial might reveal. (Because when your publicly-stated motive was ‘she’s costing me too much in tuition’ and your scheme is… well, this, a forensic audit seems pertinent.)
And he got the boss’s family involved in this debacle, which can’t help with forgiveness.
Do we have any confirmation that Yuri is from the Mob in this universe?
I mean Asher, not Faz.
I am so happy someone managed to spell “rogue” correctly.
Pretty sure the fact that Becky *is* a campaign manager gives the feds jurisdiction (if they choose to exercise it). Same with kidnapping itself, and they would be almost certain to step in if any of the kids were legal residents of a different state.
I doubt just being friends with a cop would manage that for him. Turning on the mob and spilling all he knows on them though……
Except the implication is that he knows the cop from the mob.
I think it’s more likely that he’s getting a “died while attempting escape.
“I’m making out the report now. We haven’t quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.”
And this is the point where I post “porque-no-los-dos.gif”
Thought that medical professional there was Jocelyne for a moment
…I thought that until I saw your comment, tbh.
Right? And I know she doesn’t have a ponytail, and yet.
Same. Had to check the tags to be sure.
That hair color doesn’t really show up much outside of Joyce’s family, does it?
This week on CSI: Bloomington…
Yeah the address and names and details might be a little important.
Aaaand I may still be learning all this Human stuff, but when the guy with Mob connections knows his arresting Officer by name, that either means he’s been arrested by him a few times, or he’s 1 of the cops on the payroll. How does that saying go?
I got a bad feeling about this…
Aw, Becky in that second panel. Please let her get hugs at some point in the next nine days.
Guessing we’ll probably also cut away to Ethan and Mike before the arc ends as well. (Let’s hope, at least?)
There really should be more Becky-hugs
Pfffft. He’s gonna be out on the street in two days!
Yeah, but will the car slow down before he’s pushed out into the street?
I was hit twice by cars, and even I gigglesnorted at that. Blaine deserves it.
Friendly reminder Charles, like Linda, is a garbage parent.
And Willis you magnificent bastard. You know us too well.
Since Blaine knows this cop and he is, presumably, a mob contact, I’m guessing Lester’s gonna get a phone call shortly and then, whoops, Blaine shows up dead in his cell. Suicide, don’tcha know.
I guess his injuries were worse than we thought. Such a shame.
My prediction is he never quite makes it to his cell and doesn’t, therefore, have any chance to give any names. He’s been bashed around enough that, so long as the ambulance crew don’t insist on taking him to hospital in police custody and Lester can take him away from everybody else (bar a probably also corrupt partner), he could plausibly succumb to his previous injuries. I predict Lester will help make that happen…
That cop obvs knows him, but I don’t know that he’ll be compliant enough to let Blaine go when there’s such a high profile case. I mean he’s a cop and a piece of shit who probably would live to go murder people with Blaine, but they do try to at peast a little to keep their reputation with white people
Does Becky know Joyce is unkidnapped again? She doesn’t have her phone.
Someone please hug her.
There is far to little hugging of Becky going on right now.
And Dina manages to hide once again … hopefully she’ll turn up in Mike’s hospital room … in time.
I’m gonna say until proven otherwise that Dina is preparing the World’s Most Dinoriffic Pillow Fort right now, for extremely necessary cuddle time.
So Amber knew he was lying. Well done, miss.
Here’s hoping Mike will be fine!
Amber looks so sweet and innocent here, like a kid again. I love her.
I should have added, I think this is because some of her burdens have been lifted.
It’s because she has a bandage for the scrape under her eye.
I really don’t think Lester is at all on Blaine’s side. Why? Because I find it incredibly doubtful that Blaine actually has any cops working for him. Really, whats more likely, that Blaine actually has enough money to convince a bunch of dirty cops to work for him when his only other stooges are all college kids who only signed on because they wanted to attack Amazi-Girl or that Blaine is full of shit and Mike was never actually in danger?
For whatever reason, they do seem to know each other on a first name basis.
Until given evidence to the contrary I choose to believe that Lester is a completely innocent cop who knows Blaine because he’s been trying to pin money laundering on him for years but never had enough evidence to make an arrest.
Lester appears to be a beat cop… Not the type you would expect to be investing financial crimes.
I mean that’s a weird assumption to make about a cop.
(I do agree that he won’t necessarily help Blaine though)
Or they know each other because they both work for he mob.
There’s never been any reason to think Blaine has cops working for him. There is good reason to think that there are cops working for the same mob Blaine work for and that he might be able to tap into those connections. Unauthorized by Gramps and likely to get him in trouble if revealed, but still possible.
Plays Scott Joplin’s “Solace” (as performed by Marvin Hamlisch in ‘The Sting’) on a near-by car radio.
Quit my job today. Our boss (T) quit because he called his boss (P) and asked for help because the whole crew is run ragged and exhausted, and he got laughed at, mocked, and told “I don’t fucking care about your crew”. So T quit and P is apparently running things there now. Today, before we clocked in, P pulled me aside and fed me a bunch of bullshit about how he’s gonna do his best to take care of us, and if I stay, he’ll give me a raise and blah blah blah. I said, I’ll have to talk to my girlfriend, see if she wants to stay too, and so he lets me go talk real quick and answers a phone call he was getting anyway. Only thing I said was to grab her purse, we’re leaving. Told the rest of the crew goodbye, it’s been nice working with everyone, call me if they need a reference. I’ll figure something out, and I know T will give me a hell of a reference if I need one later. I’ve got a backup plan, so money shouldn’t be too too too tight.
Just had to have some integrity, for once.
Good luck to you. I’ve been in that same boat and all I can say is, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Oof. Good luck with the back-up plan and we done on maintaining integrity!
*well
No regrets.
Good for you!
Good luck with everything.
good on you.
Congratulations! You have chosen well.
May things go smoothly!
Congrats, my dear person!
Been there, done that (three years ago), so I understand what this means for you. Life’s too short to work for selfish idiots who think that screwing over their employees is the easiest way to advance their own careers. Hope the current global situation doesn’t mess up your back up plan. Good luck, seriously.
In panel two, I think the fact that one of the paramedics (you can tell by the stethoscope draped around her neck) is trying to provide some sort of comfort for Becky pretty well confirms that Blaine is now on the hook for at least manslaughter. A crooked cop on the beat isn’t going to be much help for that; he’s going to need to have the DA or the judge himself on the take and in his pocket to get away scott-free with something like that.
And in panel four Amber’s gotten a bandage for the contusion beneath her right eye, but just what is that thing that Joyce is holding up to her own face? Looks a little too bulky for kleenex; more like a face mask or inhaler or something.
Ice pack, maybe?
I assumed she was reading the tweets.
Nope, cell phone (knife).
Ice pack, maybe?
*narrows eyes* Are you mocking me?
(This is a joke.)
Are you mocking me?
(Scrolled up to take another look, scrolled back down, posted comment, and there it was twice.)
Ice pack?
Ice pack, maybe?
Ice pack, ma*smack!*
OK, definitely an ice pack, wrapped in a cloth.
Perchance it is a package filled with frozen water?
Totally unimportant, but Heelys is spelt with a Y!
I own two pairs, and it only bothers me that they don’t follow general pluralizing rules.
I support Willis’s making the word follow general pluralizing rules. Fuck “Heelys.”
I hope this will finally be the thing that gets Amber the help she’s been needing and not getting.
Whatever happens to Blaine, he is at least momentarily not their problem anymore.
In panel one, Malaya says that “he was trying to get away on heelies,” which I assume is a reference to the guy who came pogo-sticking down the steps about the same time she was looking to open a can of whoop-ass on someone. Are ‘heelies’ even a thing any more? They seem so twenty years ago, or are they like Crocs — something else that just refuses to go away and die already?
A friend of mine still owns some, so I assume that for some ungodly reason people are still buying ’em
as somebody who worked in a shoe store for over a year, I can assure you that not only are they still a thing, but they still make new versions of them on the regular, had to stock them quite a lot.
Ugh, Trump/Pence ads showing up on here.
Nice to see them wasting their money…
Adblock. #trumpforprison2020
Sometimes the targeted ad algorithms throw up some seriously random stuff. My favorite combo consisted of one ad for hats with right-wing slogans, and one for anti-HIV drugs. Oh, and just a couple of days ago, over at IW, I got an add for bullet-proof vests, which seemed exceptionally random.
I often google a lot of stuff for fiction I write. Like the stats on different guns, or what exactly happens if a bullet lodges in a spine, or how much blood is actually in the human body….
… so, yeah. The algorithm thinks it knows what I’m into.
Probably don’t get that because of location. As I always disable every option for targeting ads, I often wonder about the stuff that appears, even though mostly I don’t look at all.
I’m getting ads for a Husky brand ripping hammer at Home Depot, I kid you not.
So, who was Lester in the Walkyverse?
Mr. Not-Appearing-In-This-Comic.
Leslie’s husband from her first marriage before she came out.
Becky out, but never down
I must have switched off the brain today, but I can’t connect Amber’s reply to Sal’s statement in the last panel – can anybody explain to me?
I can’t. It seems utterly out of the blue, disconnected.
Maybe Amber is processing ahead to what Blaine’s witness statement might be: he’ll lie if it hurts his pride, so he’ll do… something.
I think she is replying to Sal, and indicating that it was easy to reject his claim, since he was lying when he made it.
It’s a callback to Brain Ghost Mike’s discussion with AG on her way to warn Becky (he said exactly that line, IIRC,) but it’s also (at least part of) why she COULD reject his claim on her. His approval is not something she actually wants in the slightest, but his last monologue was also just more of Blaine trying to put a spin on things so he can pretend he’s still the Big Bad Mobster In Control.
And since he was lying about how he’s proud of her and this is what he wanted all along, I think that made it easier for her to realize that no, this is all him lying, she is NOT as much like Blaine as she fears, she’s not the monster he is, and that helped pull her back from the berserker rage edge and reject him.
Also, right after the stabbing, there was a Brain Ghost Blaine that said some pretty similar things (‘Finally, you’ve proved you’re an O’Malley’ – I forgot before Brain Ghost Mike that Amber was already actively hallucinating. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/proved/) so the realization that Blaine would only say something like this as a desperate attempt to pretend he’s still in charge of the situation took some of the power from THAT as well. Blaine did not make her in his image, intentionally or otherwise, because Amber can choose to be something different.
I think it’s also significant that this is Amber, echoing something that Imaginary Brain Mike said to Amazi-Girl.
It’s a clear sign they’re sharing memories again, and I think it’s a first step towards reconciliation and them not considering Amber the Monster In The Psyche Closet anymore. (Because Amber enjoys violence, so clearly Amber’s the Bad One, because DID means having a Good One and a Bad One in media.)
Given Cerberus’s comments way back when about inaccurate media portrayals of DID and the fact that Amber’s whole ‘I don’t need you anymore’ attempts were so opposed by AG, I don’t think they’re going to ‘reintegrate’ (at least, not successfully, and attempts would probably be similar enough to what caused the memory lockouts in the first place that it would also be a retread.) But I can very much see it being a peace offering from AG to Amber, as they try to be a better friend to themselves.
Blaine told Amber I created you”. Amber rejected that with a “I made me” statement.
Sal commented on how Amber was able to reject Blaine’s claim. Amber said Blaine was lying… His ego would not allow him to admit Amber was a success on her own, so he lied about saying “I made you”.
Amber’s comments about her father are often subtly directed at herself, in which she sees a LOT of her father. Amber is subtly saying SHE lied, because the truth hurts her ego.
Sorry, y’all, it’s definitely foreshadowing. Yes, it’s a callback to what Mike said to Amber/AG, but there’s something more here.
I’m inclined to say it’s way more character development than witness statement. It actually works straight as a response to Sal’s statement (‘Wish I could reject my parents’ influence the way you just did’/‘He didn’t mean it to begin with, so I can’t be as bad as he is’) AND as a culmination of Amber’s issues with Blaine, starting in that first scene with him. (‘You’re too much like your mother.’ *Amber punch* ‘I’m not enough like my mother, I’m saddled with your petty violent rage.’ ‘Well, that was a lucky shot, come here and I’ll put you in your place.’ https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/gorilla/ Then the fear she’ll become him, Brain Ghost Blaine, red panels, etc.) Blaine spends this entire arc denying that Amber can ever be a threat to him, and he immediately turns to that ‘you’re welcome’ when irrefutable proof shows up and smacks him in the face. But ONLY then, because it’s a desperate control tactic. (The dude had to ignore the fact that she STABBED A RAPIST REPEATEDLY to keep insisting she’s useless.) The realization Blaine will never actually consider her worthy of approval is just as much part of her owning her choices and her potential to be a better person as ‘I made me’ is. They’re both the same fundamental point, that when he says she’s like him, he is wrong.
Also, I honestly don’t believe a witness statement will be relevant (and therefore necessary to foreshadow) because I’m pretty damn convinced Blaine’s going to die sometime between now and being brought before a judge. Just setting all the other reasons why for a moment, there’s not really much left he can do for Amber’s character arc. She just denied him power over her actions on a fundamental level. Anything he shows up for after this will either be a retread or a backslide or both. He’s being taken off the board after this, and that’s where the ‘he’s a liability to the mob’ angle comes in. (I suppose he could go into witness protection, but since Blaine is in fact stupid enough to commit the e-scooter chase and for a 13-year-old to find his conflicting tax returns, he’d probably still try to get revenge again. Also, he’s being arrested by a guy who knows him and we had a pretty clear Chekhov’s Gun in ‘some of the cops are on his mob’s dime’ from Mike that’s revealed AFTER Sarah’s ‘I really do not want cops escalating this’ bit. He’s not telling Lester he’s going to turn state’s evidence.)
She was able to ignore his claim because she knew he was lying.
Becky forgot to *mic-drop* on that tweet.
Did Lester know this Blaine guy in high school or college? Who knows?
Blaine is probably the guy who gives Lester a brown paper bag full of used $20 bills every month to look the other way under certain circumstances. The question is, will that inspire Lester to do Blaine a favour or will it make him decide that he will be safer if his gun ‘accidentally’ goes off in Blaine’s guts?
So Lester was one of his contacts? I wonder how is Indiana doing the recent protests against police corruption.
Have a sample.
That’s from a bit over a week ago, so it probably died down since then. Until this last Friday, at least.
Indianapolis had some unrest. I would be flabbergasted if Gary didn’t as well. Bloomington has been pretty peaceful, which is a nice change from last summer where Antifa and white supremacists clashed over the goddamned farmers’ market.
Yes, you read that right. They fought over the farmers’ market, specifically over a pair of vendors who were publicly outed for aiding and abetting other white supremacists who came to Indiana to firebomb a synagogue.
Actually, if I were Blaine, I’d be worried about knowing that cop. It’s more likely that the local boss may have decided that all debts and embarrassments should be fixed by an incident with Blaine ‘resisting arrest’.
Meanwhile, I think that Becky is about to have her Dylan fifteen minutes. I also suspect that the Brown parents will make an appearance; the siblings too. That could easily get very, very ugly very quickly.
yeah but Blaine’s dumb AF; he probably thinks he’s going to be let go and be provided with everything he needs to leave the state
… for a certain value of “let go and provided with everything he needs to leave the state.”
I mean in his mind he probably thinks he’s going to get everything short of a parade from the mob, for his valiant effort and also suitably punishing Gramps’ grandson.
At least, I think he looks smug and confident now that he’s in police hands. Could be misreading his face and he’s actually realizing he’s in shit
Anyone else worried about where Faz has gotten to? We haven’t seen him since Sal literally kicked him to the kerb (politely). It’s worrying is all.
He may very well still be at the corner of Hillside and Woodlawn where Sal left him, implying that she’d be back. He has shown himself capable of calculating that trusting the students is his best shot.
It’s just that
(1) He’s an accomplice and the Police will want to talk to him at least (and technically Sal could be charged with aiding and abetting by rescuing him from the van and letting him go).
(2) I doubt he’ll get a warm welcome from Yuri (and heaven help the kid if Blaine makes bail, or manages to weasel out of this).
Panel 1: I’m sure Carla is somehow making it all about her.
I think that she’s likely going to be too genuinely shocked that there is an actual dead person in the house and that this has all been for real stakes.
Okay, I can handle Amber being a superhero, her father becoming a supervillain and kidnapping all of their friends, and the whole thing culminating in a car chase that involves Amber jumping onto the van, climbing over the roof into the front, and then throwing her father out of the van. However, Sal not being immediately assaulted by the police just stretches my suspension of disbelief a bit too far.
Not ALL cops are bastards, and the sooner people realize that….
Joyce and her may have been standing too close together for them to get a clear shot before having no grounds?
True, but at least one of these cops is one of Blaine’s “friends,” so I don’t think he’s going to be the best example of “not a bastard.”
Weird how all the good ones seem to be invisible.
That’s why she keeps her hair this way. Also, Blaine is not the only parent with connections in the local society.
In the same vein, it appears that Sarah made herself very scarce before the cops showed up. Doubt she wanted to be the black person at the crime scene wielding a bat….
She is discreetly standing behind Carla in panel 1.
What surprises me is that Blaine got through all of this without losing his rug. He must have primo wig glue.
Blaine wears a wig? Was this mentioned on Patreon?
Observe the two different colors of his hair. It’s a wig that doesn’t even match.
Pretty sure that’s Blaine starting to grey/whiten/whatever at the bottom.
It’s not gray, it’s brown. And graying starts on top, usually right in front.
Charles Walkerton, Jeremiah Keener, Richard Rosenthal, and Saul Siegal all started graying at the sides instead of the top. Graying at the temples is a pretty ubiquitous comic shorthand for middle age (Reed Richards, Hal Jordan, etc) and even happens in real life sometimes.
Nevertheless, Blaine’s hair isn’t gray. It’s brown.
Gray hairs mixed in with brown ones would make the sides and back look lighter.
The pattern’s apparent when you look at the flashback strips he’s in. Even though they’re in blue halftone, the greying isn’t as obvious.
Heck, I’m graying over the ears and the rest of my hair is jet black. Def got a Reed Richards ‘do.
My husband started going gray at the temples when he was a teenager. It happens.
So glad Blaine got caught. Hopefully his knowing the cop won’t keep him from justice. Hopefully Mike is safe, etc. However, I am petty enough that I hope for some strips showing some negative blowback on Joyce’s church.
The church blowback is likely the next arc.
I can see church blowback from Joyce & her dad, but the church itself? No they merely wanted to bring Ross back into their loving community and help him in his troubled times. The EVIL Blaine took advantage of their innocence and led Ross down the path that led to his death (Blaine and Becky that is, after all, none of this would have happened if Becky had been a “good girl” and obeyed her father, and listened to the “loving” advice of her moral superiors).
It’s much easier to stand with old friends and say “we were following the right path, and now are being persecuted because a stranger deceived us”, than to say “maybe I was wrong, and did therefore play a part in this tragedy”, and thus stand alone and shunned by former friends.
You know what would be fun? If Ross would survive but because of the brain damage his personality would change into a kind that wants nothing to do with the Church. That or he’d survive and start questioning whether he was right himself.
I wonder how long it took her to write her super long tweet chain, schetule it and all before leaving
Becky is probably a very fast typer.
FINALLY, JESUS
a bit anti climactic tbh, but still epic
Oh look at that! Cops on the fuckin take like we told you they would be.
Nerts to everyone talking noise about not calling the cops.
Just thinking, but it’s possible that Becky’s “last words” twitter storm could play out well for Blaine. It wouldn’t take much for a lawyer to claim those tweets are prejudicial and render it impossible for Blaine to get an unbiased jury. If our esteemed author wanted to be really nasty, Blaine could skate on this and possibly go free.
Haiti, what? Just have Someone publish your crimes on twitter and you can’t be taken to trial because everyone already has heard of them?
Well not you or me (well not me anyways). But Becky is using the twitterfeed of an “unconventional” congresswoman who’s up for election. Between the amount of people following that account (which will include more conventional news outlets, not all of which will wait for fact checking and legal advice) and you’ve pretty much tainted a good amount of the jury pool.
Not sure about Indiana law, but this sums it up for Australian law (which is usually on the same page)
https://www.judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/eManuals/OCBB/67725.htm
it’s a frequently used, but not always effective, tactic for actual Defense Attorneys (not those underpaid public defenders, the ones with actual money) to use to try and claim their client can’t get a fair trial. This actually works with a remarkable number of judges, but almost never for getting a mistrial. At best, it can get the trial venue moved most of the time.
I kind of doubt it. Twitter pretty much doesn’t exist outside certain circles. You wouldn’t have much problem with finding people who upon being asked about Twitter would say “What is that?”
Ah but then again this is a Rep’s account… just grab some Democrats, they are definitely not following her.
If I may, I think you may be underestimating how many democrats follow Republican accounts (look at how many democrats follow your current Potus for example). And the more “individual” news networks (Fox, OAN, Drudge, Infowars) would pass it on (even if only to paint Becky and Robin as the REAL bad guys) which would lead to more reliable news sources debunking those claims.
Unlikely, but plausible if Willis is feeling especially evil and wants Blaine to hang around.
“look at how many democrats follow your current Potus for example”
These days, we do it for the lulz — and he rarely disappoints us.
And in this case, the whole point of Becky’s tweeting making Robin popular is that she’s getting who aren’t traditional Republican supporters.
Unless your average Indiana Republican is wildly in favor of LGBTQ rights.
A tweetstorm is nothing compared to the evening news, and high profile cases go to trial all the time. If they could find a jury for OJ, I’m sure getting one for Blaine will be easy.
Remember, Al Capone went away for tax evasion.
that’s what niceMike said eh
I’m kinda disappointed that Lester got tagged while none of the other extra characters in this strip got tagged.
He’s the only one got mentioned by name. Remember that two the douchebros who were helping Blaine never got tagged either, and the only reason the other three (Taylor, Tyler, and Dawson) got tagged is because, in the story arc when Robin came to Bloomington for her rally, they were the ‘interns’ who met her at the airport.
Not to mention being the 3 bros that helped Ryan fight Amber and Sal at the rally.
That’s merely an unimportant detail which will definitely not come back into play in the future.
/s
So, I’m thinking that the cops scooped up the entire of Ryan’s little buddy group too? This is going to be difficult headache for their daddies to try to sweep under the rug with political contribitions (or threats to withdraw such). Lots of ‘fine but mislead young men’ who are going to be spending the next four months or so in a five-star ‘rehab clinic’ with their dads telling them to learn to keep their damn heads down in the future.
Robin’s campaign is suddenly going to get some massive contributions.
So with the immediate danger resolved, will Joyce’s mom and church reflect on their actions that led to the death of Ross? Time will tell.
In Joyce’s church, “reflect” does not mean what you think it means.
Upon reflection, God’s plan clearly involved Ross heroically stopping a dangerous criminal. Ross was rewarded by being united with our Savior in heaven and no longer dealing with the pain of his faithless wife (who is surely in hell) or his vile turncoat daughter.
This.
He’ll be a martyr in their eyes, because he died attempting to “save” Becky.
Going on the heretofore-supported assumption that DYW never includes anything by accident, I’m kind of interested in the apparently nonplussed/dismayed attitude of the first responder listening to Carla in P1. Assuming Carla is making sure the 1R knows “who my dad is,” this could be a battle of Parental Influence: Blaine’s masters and the Browns’ church (both highly capricious supporters when they see their interests threatened) vs. the colossus that is Rutten/Ruttech.
I forget the context, but some time ago Carla said she’d been out “since that Time cover.”
I read that as literal, that she was on the cover. I imagine a cover story about trans youth and Carla’s being chosen for the cover because she’s loud and proud, and her parents of course.
this might be kinda off topic, but as a trans person with some form of paranoia (by paranoia i mean having to change my name from this comment to avoid potentially being outed in the future) developed due to coming from a totalitarian queerphobic country (and also hearing about all the horrible shit the US treated trans people), the moment i see carla talking to the first responder i get pretty panicky, even if it’s fictional
I’m sorry you have to live with that. Hugs from an internet stranger, if you want them.
thank you <333
Aight i know Amber had the face wound before, justifying the bandage, but it’s funny to think she DID trip over and hit Joyce in the nose in the previous comic! 😀
Soooo . . . Lester, is it?
This comic made me feel uneasy and it took a while for me to figure out that it was because of people standing close to each other.
This pandemic thing has been around for too long.. *sighs
And obviously, Blaine know that cop. I wonder what excuse will find for make him go out without problems.
I mean, the best we can really hope for is Blaine’s death. We’re left to believe he’s not exactly wealthy, since he keeps pushing to use Faz as a pawn based on the idea that Amber’s college tuition is something that impacts Blaine’s new family.
In jail, no income = no tuition for Amber. Death = possible life insurance/will shenanigans leaving Amber with the means to continue studying, and now have some sort of beef with the mafia, who presumably, were owed a large chunk of money from Blaine.
Is white privilege protecting Amber from arrest?
I mean, she’s a costumed vigilante that has seriously hurt people. Including the guards of a campaign manager hired by a congresswoman. Her costume is on the ground and blood soaked.
Or does this take place in a world where a black preacher defending himself against a gang of white people isn’t arrested for calling the police on them? Does this take place in a world where the discovery of a single counterfeit bill doesn’t result in the 9 minute suffocation of a black man’s life? Does this take place in a world where lying in bed while black gets you shot to death when plain clothes policemen bust in your house because they caught the guy they were looking for yesterday?
If not – cool. After all, there’s not closets on Etheria and that’s cool. But then why does Sarah regularly raise the idea that including cops around black people isn’t the safest path?
To your first question: it might be! This comic strip has certainly not shied away from showing her white privilege before.
First example that pops into my head: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/alert/
Probably – in the sense that a black person in this situation would likely be treated worse. But white privilege protecting her here isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s bad that it wouldn’t apply to black people, but in this context it’s mostly the presumption of innocence that should apply to everyone.
And of course, even with police and black people, they don’t screw it up every time. Just far too often.
Specifically though, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’d managed to disappear the costume before the cops arrived on the scene. There’s obviously been a bit of a time lapse. We’ll probably get a bit more on that at some point. Without that, the grounds for arresting Amber are a lot weaker. There may be fallout from Robin’s guards, but it might not be part of this case yet.
Next month’s Patreon strip: Lester being arrested for being a crooked cop?
Who is Lester and why does he know Blaine?
I wanna say he’s a dirty cop who is in Blaine’s pocket.
He’s probably in the mob’s pocket alongside Blaine.
I honest-to-God wish for all their parents to be watching this on the news and call them. Sal’s dad would be the least bad of the lot, since I can only imagine him calling and trying to make amends. Her mom’s a complete write-off.
Also I want Carol to call so Joyce can finally reject her. Or for Hank to call and tell Joyce that they’re getting divorced, either or.
Don’t worry, they’ll find out. This will be on every newsfeed in every major city and podunk town in Indiana … even Hanover and French Lick.
Sal’s dad will probably join Linda in her Karenesque “SALLY how could you let your brother GET KIDNAPPED” tirade, then go back to doting over Walky.
I can definitely see Hank Brown being disgusted by the whole situation, while Carol is more upset because Ross “failed in his mission”.
Considering the extent of Blaine’s crimes, the scale of the public attention (which will include federal interest thanks to Becky’s tweets), and the fact that he did all of it for petty personal reasons, I think that the BEST response that Blaine can hope for from his bosses is that they cut him loose and threaten him to keep his mouth shut.
He’s clearly not worth the trouble to save, and their primary concern at this point would just be keeping him quiet.
I can’t help but think that Asher’s going to be the wild card when it comes to Blaine’s fate. If he has reason to think Blaine will keep his mouth shut, Gramps might leave him alone in prison. If Gramps finds out that Blaine dragged his grandson into this mess, however?
Becky looking devestated in front of the cameras bode well for Robin’s reelection campaign
Hopefully that’s the forensics team, not the media. I don’t think FOIA requests would apply here.
I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s still early in the morning….a lot can still happen.
Turns out they all show up late and ill-prepared for their mid-terms and end up flunking out. [grin]
I think the university will probably find a way to get them makeup exams considering the circumstances?
Isn’t Becky the only crime victim here who doesn’t know AG and Amber are the same person? In her tweets she mentioned them separately, and her reaction to AG last time was “what the heck are you doing dressed like Amber?” The cops are going to awfully confused by these differences. Well unless all the other kids omit AG from the story, but I don’t see that flying, especially since the henchmen will say they got their asses kicked by AG not Amber.
Oh, wait: forgot AG took magic mask off in front of Becky, so I guess not.
Blaine will get pardoned by President Manley and the Medal of Freedom for fighting an Antibigot terrorist group made of minorities.
They all need to take Incompletes this semester (well, maybe not Malaya and Carla) and go into serious therapy.