Blaine is an abuser who needs to control and belittle the people under his power. That is absolutely text, and it is in no way reaching or inventing to infer that he does so with his current family as much as he did with Amber and her mother.
But ok, if we need to be spoonfed all evidence for something to count, there’s also zero text in evidence that Faz is lying here or in the past about regretting his involvement in this.
you may consider it weak evidence, but the fact that he’s Blaine’s son is, by itself, evidence that he is abused. So is the tone with which he mentioned that he was “very disappointed in” him here [and here’s the strip this refers to, where he says Amber is nicer to him than Blaine – not explicit, but doesn’t exactly paint a picture of him being treated well at home]
Amber grew up in the same town as Sal, Walky, Billie, Ethan and Mike, at least. While Mrs O’Malley? may have moved since her daughter graduated high school, my impression is that they all lived in a near by town.
That said, she may have been constrained by job responsibilities and unable to drop everything and rush to her daughter’s college, or drop everything and stay in the college town for several nights: We know that the Browns took a hotel room, (although the Browns apparently aren’t from the same home town.)
I suspect she’s making the commute after work, as she can, but can’t afford to stick around, and just be there, for as much of this time as the others.
Or, she may show up in the next strip, having just visited the bathroom/gift shop/cafeteria.
I think we’ve seen enough about Stacy to know when both her and Amber and together, Amber assumes all the real parental responsibilities and Stacy probably just subtly criticizes Amber when her actions become irresponsible.
Amber at least has accepted this. People like Stacy are about receiving support, and if whatever little they can give isn’t going to cut it simply because they “tried their best,” it’s better not to get them involved.
If I recall she doesn’t have a ton of money to begin with, and Ryan’s parents are suing her. She may literally be unable to afford to come see Amber right now.
Here’s hoping, after listening to his griping, they “miss” one. Somewhere where it won’t be life threatening, even with a punch to the gut, but will be excruciating.
I’m willing to bet at some point we will have a scene of Carol being escorted out by Security, her and Hank spotting each other, and Hank turning away from her to go have lunch with Joyce and her friends.
Best description found of that type of coping mechinsm was from Dark Knight Rises, when John Blake is telling Bruce how he knew who Bruce really was, because he practiced the same look in the mirror to put a mask over the sort of pain that doesn’t go away.
That’s so painfully familiar. We would get punished for what our parents thought we were thinking based on facial expression. If eyes narrowed in anger it was called the hate look and your face was getting slapped. That sarcastic look, bongoy face were also perilous. If you cried they gave you something to cry fo: If you smiled you were laughing at them and you’d get punished. I was a stress grimacer as a child. Yeah. Slapped. We all developed a complete blank face when under pressure. It was the safest thing we could do.
Blaine is in the same hospital as Mike. That is concerning. There is no way he’ll be able to turn the situation around by hurting Mike, but he might just be spiteful enough to try anyway.
He is almost certainly handcuffed to a policeman with a second one in the room so when the first one needs the loo he is still handcuffed to a policeman. So long as neither policeman is corrupt and willing to be found in the room with a comatose patient on monitors when they crash when there is no need for them to be there… (And so long as both of them aren’t corrupt enough for Blaine to ask them to murder an unconscious teenager and almost definitely go to jail for it…) I doubt Blaine has enough clout for that.
I am surprised to learn that they pull ribs out of lungs whilst people are conscious, with their family watching. Although it is Blaine so I’m not complaining about them not doing this under general anaesthetic or in an operating theatre… (I am also willing to accept that Faz was irritating Blaine when he was waiting to go to theatre, but prefer the first mental image.)
And no, they will not perform procedures like that in front of family. Anaesthetic or sedation is generally used unless someone on the team knows what Blaine did.
(no, they wouldn’t withhold really do that.)
I must admit that Amber has . . a better mental fortitude to be able to talk to Faz so casually like this then I would in her situation. Especially considering it’s been . . not even a day I think since the whole kidnapping of their friends, kidnapping Joyce a second time, helping his father with both.
At the very least a punch to the gut before talking with him like this. Or . . something I don’t know.
Perhaps she is just too emotionally *exhausted* right now after everything. Which . . .tracks with what we’ve seen not too long ago with her talk with Ethan.
I don’t remember if Joyce ever talked to Amber about Faz, but he’s pretty clearly being abused in a way that doesn’t give him a good way out. He either helps Blaine or gets hurt. To your point though, I think I’d be handling all this way worse than Amber if I was 18.
“Get Faz out of here first. He’s just a kid.” “But… Yep.” They may not have talked about it properly, but Joyce expressed the bare bones of it when she was still in a van, having just discovered a rescue operation was on the cards, and Amber accepted the validity of it.
Per Amber’s Garbage Roof Talk with Walky at the end of Faz Is Great, she tries not to think about the odds Faz is her biological half-brother in part because it helps her feel less awful about leaving him alone in Blaine’s care. (Which, oh, sweetie, no. Also worth noting Walky’s ‘it’s what I’d do’ given his and Sal’s situation has some parallels. Gotta wonder how consciously he realizes that one. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/choosing/) Seems likely then that she’s made the same assumption we have (assuming she doesn’t already know) that Faz is almost certainly being abused.
Speaking of, it’s nice seeing her not object to ‘our father’ after all Blaine’s insistence on stepfather. Growth! And acknowledgement that, genetics or not, Blaine is the only father figure either of them have ever had, and doesn’t THAT just suck balls.
Oh, certainly. Still nice to see there’s been some potentially positive growth there. Hopefully it includes ‘recognizing that she is still effectively a kid herself and could not singlehandedly protect Faz from Blaine Being Blaine even if she had been exposing herself to more of that garbage, and the best she can do for him is try and find safe outlets to contact each other now,’ though I’m not getting my hopes THAT high.
My take is that she’s not acknowledging their shared connection via Blaine, but that, genetics or not, she accepts Faz as a brother. She’s just too burnt out to say it.
I’d like to know when we are as well.
Are we later in the same day that the sun rose on kidnap victims in the front yard, or is it the day after?
I *think* it’s the same day, but not sure.
It’s the day after.
That whole day was the kidnap sequence and a little bit of aftermath, mostly skimmed over. Ended with Sarah and Joyce going to bed.
We appear to be the day after that. Timeline as I have it figured is they’re kidnapped overnight, get free early in the morning, probably mid/late morning getting back to dorms to go to sleep. Somewhere in there Sarah’s parents visit (Joyce: “was that the worst part of yesterday”) and presumably other parents arrive (Dorothy’s are “still” in town today). I’m assuming they had to talk to cops, figure out midterms, sleep.
Dorothy might be driven enough to take a midterm with no sleep and 10 minutes after being in kidnapped; Ethan I think less so. Mike’s parents didn’t get in until today, but they were on a cruise.
Seems like we’re about noonish the next day right now – the Keeners are taking people to lunch.
Pretty sure it’s been a few days since last chapter. More than enough time for Joyce to talk to Amber and explain some things that she might’ve missed about her brother.
We’ve been told already in-comic that this is the day after the last chapter. And even if we hadn’t, we’ve always previously been told immediately by one of those omniscient narration-box thingies whenever we’ve had a timeskip of a day or more.
I’m really loving this version of Faz. His edges are rounded, he’s showing more enorion, and he makes more sense since he’s an abused kid. I hope he and been stay in touch.
Many abusers commit their abuse to feel better about themselves. Making Faz feel bad makes him feel good (and presumably, he does this to Faz’s mom too).
Faz TRIED to help Blaine. Even after all the abuse, Faz tried to help him. And when Blaine’s horrible actions finally caught up to him, all he can do is blame Faz. And for what? What does Blaine think Faz did wrong?
Nothing, of course. He just has to have someone else to blame.
Faz and Amber are his children, and he is dissappointed that they didn’t become like him, and even if they became like him he would be pissed because he wants to feel like he is the king of his family. You can’t satisfy a man like that, so the best option is to burn bridges and also burn the place where Blaine is standing, or laying on the floor crying of pain.
That reminds me of something I heard about Roman punishments. One of them was to throw the criminal into the river in a bag with three specific animals. What those were I don’t recall exactly, but I’m thinking a rat and a snake were in there.
Problem is, what did the rat and snake do to deserve it?
Amber is more dangerous than Amazi-girl. Dina can work up a good rage, but she’s worthless in a fight. Malaya is direct and aggressive, so also dangerous.
That was 2 weeks away from being 16. Currently legal under Indiana’s Romeo and Juliet law, but would be of the normal age of consent in 2 weeks. Somewhat unclear in phrasing, but Willis clarified it somewhere.
I have a hunch that Joyce might’ve told the cops some of her possible suspicions about why Faz helped. And that Faz explained both his reasoning and whatever horrid things Blaine was doing to him. I doubt they’d try (in this universe, I know it’s more likely IRL) to prosecute a 15-year-old abuse victim who’s scared of what his male legal guardian would do to him and his female genetic donor if it goes tits-up.
The answer to that depends on how much she feels that she needs to be there for Faz over the next few years and whether that is more important to her than getting revenge on her enemies.
I don’t think Mike counts. From my perspective, his entire issue was he was protecting his friends, and doing it in the only way he could think of.
I also think he’s a sociopath, but sociopaths can function in society, and he was trying.
Yeah, Mike made that sacrifice play specifically because he heard Blaine’s justifications, realized he was using the same exact justifications and that there was merit to Danny’s ‘I have no idea why my friends keep giving you chances’, and did not like the person he was being.
Mike has the ability to care about others. He just spent years consciously denying those feelings and that ability.
Also, like. Sociopath is a DEEPLY loaded and no-longer-clinically-used-as-a-result term. The current DSM uses Antisocial Personality Disorder, and we’ll see how long that gets euphemism treadmilled into being a horribly loaded insult, but defines it as involving impulsivity, lack of restraint, and lack of regard for their own safety in addition to manipulation and lack of regard for others. Mike is not nearly impulsive enough for that. I can see someone making a case he’s low-empathy (and both ASPD and low-empathy folks can be perfectly decent human beings provided they try not to be a total asshole, same as everyone – low empathy’s even a benefit to doctors and surgeons so they aren’t too worried to do their job properlu,) but I personally disagree.
Oh wonderful, that means that Yuri will be coming down there at some points to wave her victim card and try to convince everyone that Amber is somehow the bad guy in all this!
And finally at the end of a strip we see that he does have something non-punchable.
Wait punchable.. punchable… oh. Huh.
“Do you have anything non-punchable?” “No I do not.” (IIRC)
Takes that years-old strip and puts it in its proper light.
I assume his douche horny-boy mask (literally) is an act to cover up the sadness because maybe if you’re like that people don’t ask you hard questions about your life and how you feel.
I don’t remember if the parallel between Howard and Faz was made explicit in-strip, but the teenage brothers with Insufferable Horniness who are still in the care of the abusive parental figures who are therefore probably being abused themselves, with Ruth saying outright that Sir could ‘take (her refusal to stay in line) out on Howie’… All of that seems deliberate in its commonalities.
That’s his body spray. He just discovered the stuff and hasn’t quite figured out how much is too much.
Also, he thinks it helps him pick up girls, and more spray means more girls.
Hey while they are pulling Blaine’s ribs out of his lungs could they give Franken Fran a call and ask if she could attach Faz’s head to the back of Blaine’s skull? That way they’ll Always be together.
Anyone else notice that although it’s sad to be called “worse than bones in your lungs” he was up there with Blaine until he was sent off? That means Faz is in support of Blaine, unlike e.g. Walky who went after Sal because he thought Sal was more right than his mom.
I had the same reaction at first, but now I’m not sure he was there willingly to begin with. His mother probably brought him up. And then he went away as soon as he had an excuse to do so, when Blaine said he was a pain.
It probably still hurt him to hear Blaine saying that though, given his body language in that last panel.
He’s very young, and I don’t think he’s given up on wanting his father to love him and approve of him yet. It’s understandable that he thinks he has to be there and keep trying to please.
Amber’s clearly his favorite (in that she’s nicest to him, which… ow,) but given he’s in Yuri’s custody and she’s Team If Amber Wasn’t Around/Costing Money, We’d Be Better Off (GOD do I hope she finally gets to see Blaine’s real finances after this,) he probably was expected not to openly side with her. And even we aren’t 100% in agreement if Blaine’s mob ties will work for or against him at trial. If there’s a real chance he survives and gets custody over Faz again, Faz does NOT want to be known to defy him.
Walky’s still terrified after standing up to Linda, and he’s no longer in his parents’ custody full-time. I also think the odds of Linda physically abusing Walky (or Sal for that matter) up to this point are way lower than the ones Blaine has physically abused Faz, which means he can’t minimize how he’s been treated the same way. (It’s over in Shortpacked, but Amber’s line about how the first time Blaine assaulted her ‘forced Stacy to realize his verbal abuse wasn’t a funny quirk’ seems applicable here, with Walky as well as Faz. https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/great) So if he’s not safe to dissent and knows he’s not safe, I’m not holding it against him that he’s trying to stay safe first and foremost.
Besides, even Sal – who isn’t on good terms with her parents and knows her treatment is out of line enough to be angry about it – still wanted their approval, given her ‘trying to make a good impression’ uniform from Family Weekend. Faz is younger and has had less time to be away and starting to process how fucked up his upbringing was. (And Walky’s only starting that journey himself.)
Reading forward a few strips from the one you linked, we see SP Amber tell her father’s corpse to “burn in hell”, then two frames later, SP Mike says “later”, as in “see you later”.
I find this amusing.
SP Mike’s self-aware about such things. He remembers how he proposed to Amber. (At least they tried to fix how that one affected other people afterwards.)
I vote that Stacy take Faz in if his mom proves to be terrible enough to blame this on him and abandon him.
Possibly because Amber asks her flat out if her possible half-brother can stay with her.
The creepiest thing about Faz is he never changes his facial expression. His eyes are always closed, and he always have a self-satisfied smile. Even now. “And the he goes to jail.” “He says I’m worse than the ribs.” Why don’t you show some genuine emotion, for a change?
Why would someone living with Blaine (and Yuri, who we know very little about but is clearly unsupportive) avoid showing any facial expression, especially his true feelings on the matter?
There’s a reason people are speculating his hairstyle is at least in part a way to cover up an eye and not raise any questions. So, so many of his mannerisms make sense as a front to cover any genuineness to try and prevent further abuse or unwelcome questions about his home life (which would likely also lead to abuse.)
That’s kind of an insensitive way to talk about an abuse victim. Some end up developing a single expression they consistently use because it results in the least amount of punishment or helps them pretend nothing is wrong to other people. It’s one of his survival mechanisms that he hasn’t had a chance to safely unlearn.
He’s like, 15 and was forced to act under threat of further abuse, pretty sure he is a victim here and that Joyce would have painted his actions in a very sympathetic light. And like, Blaine literally murdered someone, so the fear on Faz’s part was extremely valid.
He wasn’t on the scene (so they could have conceivably Not Brought Him In Particular Up, since we already know there was some… editing of stories,) Indiana has to set bail for anyone who’s not accused of murder, and given Yuri may or may not have her own mob ties and that one of the arresting officers was DEFINITELY corrupt, I can see there being several ways he avoids the felony murder charge to begin with. Maybe accomplice down the line (in which case, again, the recognition a fifteen-year-old abuse victim in the abuser’s custody cannot meaningfully say no is probably going to work wonders,) but that would allow bail.
Plus, I suspect Blaine brought him along to keep him from warning Amber. Remember, Faz brought him pornogr-I mean, Literature-instead of information to bring Amber down. If Blaine read it, there’s not a snowball’s chance in Hell that Faz would be out of his sight.
Still waiting for Faz to brush his hair away to reveal a huge black eye. Really make Joyce feel terrible for that “Do you have a face that isn’t punch-able” joke.
“It’s unlikely that anyone’s ”
Its LITERALLY a fact , about 50 people commenting on this page.
“Do you really think” and Now you are demanding I invent an abuse backstory too.
thats texbook argument from ignorance
He is a criminal accomplice for kidnappings and felony murder. Those are facts. You feel bad for him . You feel cognitive dissonance . So you invent an abuse backstory Willis hasnt written to relieve it. He hasnt expressed remorse and justified everything.
“Do you really think ” he’s assaulting the Mob grandkid he works for ?
until Willis makes it word of God, these are all inventions Fez doenst deserve.
Yes. I absolutely do think Blaine’s abusing Faz. There’s far more evidence of that – in both Blaine’s nature and Faz’s behavior, than there is that Faz is a “Mob grandkid”. Yuri’s connection with the Mob is also our invention, by these standards. She’s Asian and Blaine’s connected to an Asian mob. That doesn’t prove she’s part of the connection, much less that Blaine married into the actual boss’s family.
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surprised he can even talk without his ribs
dang, why do I gotta feel bad for Faz =C
Because Faz is a refugee. He’s every bit the abused child Amber is, only his mother is Blaines partner and team mate.
I’m willing to bet that he’s more abused than Amber (I get a feeling that Blaine didn’t pull his literal punches with Faz).
Christ, what a miserable competition that would be.
hes not a “refugee” he is a criminal accomplice.
There is ZERO in text evidence of him being abused
He’s also a child
Blaine is an abuser who needs to control and belittle the people under his power. That is absolutely text, and it is in no way reaching or inventing to infer that he does so with his current family as much as he did with Amber and her mother.
But ok, if we need to be spoonfed all evidence for something to count, there’s also zero text in evidence that Faz is lying here or in the past about regretting his involvement in this.
Only the evidence of blaine being a known abuser, and it being wildly not-blaine to not abuse faz.
you may consider it weak evidence, but the fact that he’s Blaine’s son is, by itself, evidence that he is abused. So is the tone with which he mentioned that he was “very disappointed in” him here [and here’s the strip this refers to, where he says Amber is nicer to him than Blaine – not explicit, but doesn’t exactly paint a picture of him being treated well at home]
To be fair, everyone’s worse than delicious tasty ribs.
You’d get food poisoning from Blaine’s ribs. Or hit in the head with a hammer. Or both.
…Where’s Stacy in all this? I wouldn’t fault her for not wanting to be there with her cesspool of an ex-husband, but… her daughter is here.
Stacy’s . . . not as attentive to her daughter as she should be, sometimes.
She also lives far away and may not have made it to town yet.
Also she’s busy at the moment. You wouldn’t believe what she and Joedad get up to.
+1 upvotes for “Joedad”.
Does she actually live that far away? I know that she had to drive to get here, but we’ve had three sets of parents show up within a day.
Dorothy’s, Joyce’s, Sal & Walky’s, Dina’s (in Patreon) and Mike’s – who had to fly back from a cruise.
It is possible Stacy’s here, but we just haven’t seen her. I’d be shocked if Ethan’s weren’t here, but we haven’t seen them either.
Amber grew up in the same town as Sal, Walky, Billie, Ethan and Mike, at least. While Mrs O’Malley? may have moved since her daughter graduated high school, my impression is that they all lived in a near by town.
That said, she may have been constrained by job responsibilities and unable to drop everything and rush to her daughter’s college, or drop everything and stay in the college town for several nights: We know that the Browns took a hotel room, (although the Browns apparently aren’t from the same home town.)
I suspect she’s making the commute after work, as she can, but can’t afford to stick around, and just be there, for as much of this time as the others.
Or, she may show up in the next strip, having just visited the bathroom/gift shop/cafeteria.
Amber, Ethan and Mike were from the same town. Sal, Walky and Billie were not.
The convenience store incident was on a road trip for Amber and Ethan.
Known hometown groups:
?
Amber, Ethan, Mike
Evansville
Billie, Sal, Walky
La Porte
Becky, Joyce
Mishawaka
Danny, Dorothy, Joe
I think we’ve seen enough about Stacy to know when both her and Amber and together, Amber assumes all the real parental responsibilities and Stacy probably just subtly criticizes Amber when her actions become irresponsible.
Amber at least has accepted this. People like Stacy are about receiving support, and if whatever little they can give isn’t going to cut it simply because they “tried their best,” it’s better not to get them involved.
If I recall she doesn’t have a ton of money to begin with, and Ryan’s parents are suing her. She may literally be unable to afford to come see Amber right now.
Fuckin’ Blaine, man. He deserves ribs in his lungs.
Agreed.
Here’s hoping, after listening to his griping, they “miss” one. Somewhere where it won’t be life threatening, even with a punch to the gut, but will be excruciating.
Dangit I was hoping we’d get to see Ruth suplex a granny.
It’s better in my head.
Ruth is dressed as the Undertaker, and Billie is off to the side, holding an urn, and yelling “OH YES” in a high pitched voice.
Suplex with femurs.
Dibs on that for my band name.
I smell fanart.
Spurious “n”.
Ruth suplexes Carol off the top of the cage, and she plummets 16 ft through an announcer’s table.
I’d prefer a chokeslam through the cage.
Don’t forget the weird lighting on Billie’s face.
I’m willing to bet at some point we will have a scene of Carol being escorted out by Security, her and Hank spotting each other, and Hank turning away from her to go have lunch with Joyce and her friends.
Whoa. It would be the best show of “it’s finally time we separated.”
Patreon? Maybe?
For the suplex-hungry, here’s the
suplex she did on Blaine.
That’s got to sting. I mean for Faz, not Blaine.
And yet I’m not sure that Blaine isn’t right. It’s Faz after all.
Faz expressing so much sadness without facial expressions is really painful.
Victims of abuse learn to put up a deceptive front to conceal their pain.
Like Becky.
Best description found of that type of coping mechinsm was from Dark Knight Rises, when John Blake is telling Bruce how he knew who Bruce really was, because he practiced the same look in the mirror to put a mask over the sort of pain that doesn’t go away.
That’s so painfully familiar. We would get punished for what our parents thought we were thinking based on facial expression. If eyes narrowed in anger it was called the hate look and your face was getting slapped. That sarcastic look, bongoy face were also perilous. If you cried they gave you something to cry fo: If you smiled you were laughing at them and you’d get punished. I was a stress grimacer as a child. Yeah. Slapped. We all developed a complete blank face when under pressure. It was the safest thing we could do.
Man, that’s sad. I had abusive parents, but not that abusive.
That hits (almost literally) too close to home.
My parents were similar. If you expressed pain after they smacked you, they would insist it didn’t hurt and that you were just being manipulative.
Internet sympathy gestures for all of you.
Blaine is in the same hospital as Mike. That is concerning. There is no way he’ll be able to turn the situation around by hurting Mike, but he might just be spiteful enough to try anyway.
He is almost certainly handcuffed to a policeman with a second one in the room so when the first one needs the loo he is still handcuffed to a policeman. So long as neither policeman is corrupt and willing to be found in the room with a comatose patient on monitors when they crash when there is no need for them to be there… (And so long as both of them aren’t corrupt enough for Blaine to ask them to murder an unconscious teenager and almost definitely go to jail for it…) I doubt Blaine has enough clout for that.
I am surprised to learn that they pull ribs out of lungs whilst people are conscious, with their family watching. Although it is Blaine so I’m not complaining about them not doing this under general anaesthetic or in an operating theatre… (I am also willing to accept that Faz was irritating Blaine when he was waiting to go to theatre, but prefer the first mental image.)
He is likely restrained to the bed.
And no, they will not perform procedures like that in front of family. Anaesthetic or sedation is generally used unless someone on the team knows what Blaine did.
(no, they wouldn’t withhold really do that.)
I think Blaine’s arc is done. It would be way too much. We just did the Blaine arc.
I must admit that Amber has . . a better mental fortitude to be able to talk to Faz so casually like this then I would in her situation. Especially considering it’s been . . not even a day I think since the whole kidnapping of their friends, kidnapping Joyce a second time, helping his father with both.
At the very least a punch to the gut before talking with him like this. Or . . something I don’t know.
Perhaps she is just too emotionally *exhausted* right now after everything. Which . . .tracks with what we’ve seen not too long ago with her talk with Ethan.
She probably feels Faz doesn’t need yet -another- person hating him.
He’s still a kid.
I don’t remember if Joyce ever talked to Amber about Faz, but he’s pretty clearly being abused in a way that doesn’t give him a good way out. He either helps Blaine or gets hurt. To your point though, I think I’d be handling all this way worse than Amber if I was 18.
“Get Faz out of here first. He’s just a kid.” “But… Yep.” They may not have talked about it properly, but Joyce expressed the bare bones of it when she was still in a van, having just discovered a rescue operation was on the cards, and Amber accepted the validity of it.
Per Amber’s Garbage Roof Talk with Walky at the end of Faz Is Great, she tries not to think about the odds Faz is her biological half-brother in part because it helps her feel less awful about leaving him alone in Blaine’s care. (Which, oh, sweetie, no. Also worth noting Walky’s ‘it’s what I’d do’ given his and Sal’s situation has some parallels. Gotta wonder how consciously he realizes that one. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/choosing/) Seems likely then that she’s made the same assumption we have (assuming she doesn’t already know) that Faz is almost certainly being abused.
Speaking of, it’s nice seeing her not object to ‘our father’ after all Blaine’s insistence on stepfather. Growth! And acknowledgement that, genetics or not, Blaine is the only father figure either of them have ever had, and doesn’t THAT just suck balls.
I think she’s accepted it since that Garbage Roof talk.
Oh, certainly. Still nice to see there’s been some potentially positive growth there. Hopefully it includes ‘recognizing that she is still effectively a kid herself and could not singlehandedly protect Faz from Blaine Being Blaine even if she had been exposing herself to more of that garbage, and the best she can do for him is try and find safe outlets to contact each other now,’ though I’m not getting my hopes THAT high.
Hopefully, but not likely. Self-blame is deeply rooted in Amber and will take more work to get out than we’ve seen yet.
My take is that she’s not acknowledging their shared connection via Blaine, but that, genetics or not, she accepts Faz as a brother. She’s just too burnt out to say it.
I’d like to know when we are as well.
Are we later in the same day that the sun rose on kidnap victims in the front yard, or is it the day after?
I *think* it’s the same day, but not sure.
It’s the day after.
That whole day was the kidnap sequence and a little bit of aftermath, mostly skimmed over. Ended with Sarah and Joyce going to bed.
We appear to be the day after that. Timeline as I have it figured is they’re kidnapped overnight, get free early in the morning, probably mid/late morning getting back to dorms to go to sleep. Somewhere in there Sarah’s parents visit (Joyce: “was that the worst part of yesterday”) and presumably other parents arrive (Dorothy’s are “still” in town today). I’m assuming they had to talk to cops, figure out midterms, sleep.
Dorothy might be driven enough to take a midterm with no sleep and 10 minutes after being in kidnapped; Ethan I think less so. Mike’s parents didn’t get in until today, but they were on a cruise.
Seems like we’re about noonish the next day right now – the Keeners are taking people to lunch.
Pretty sure it’s been a few days since last chapter. More than enough time for Joyce to talk to Amber and explain some things that she might’ve missed about her brother.
We’ve been told already in-comic that this is the day after the last chapter. And even if we hadn’t, we’ve always previously been told immediately by one of those omniscient narration-box thingies whenever we’ve had a timeskip of a day or more.
I’m really loving this version of Faz. His edges are rounded, he’s showing more enorion, and he makes more sense since he’s an abused kid. I hope he and been stay in touch.
For sure. This is a much more humanized version of Faz, and Willis’ characterization really shines here.
I’m missing something. Why is Blane saying he’s worse than the ribs? What was the guy expecting – bootlicking?
Many abusers commit their abuse to feel better about themselves. Making Faz feel bad makes him feel good (and presumably, he does this to Faz’s mom too).
Because Blaine is abusive. When abusers feel bad is a great time in their mind to take it out on their victims.
The utter failure of Blaine’s brilliant plan couldn’t possibly have been Blaine’s fault. Faz is the only handy scapegoat.
No suplexing. DISAPPROVE.
After everything…
Faz TRIED to help Blaine. Even after all the abuse, Faz tried to help him. And when Blaine’s horrible actions finally caught up to him, all he can do is blame Faz. And for what? What does Blaine think Faz did wrong?
Nothing, of course. He just has to have someone else to blame.
My heart aches so much for Faz right now.
Faz and Amber are his children, and he is dissappointed that they didn’t become like him, and even if they became like him he would be pissed because he wants to feel like he is the king of his family. You can’t satisfy a man like that, so the best option is to burn bridges and also burn the place where Blaine is standing, or laying on the floor crying of pain.
Well, you aren’t suggesting Blaine blame himself, are you?
Blaine deserves both the ribs AND Faz.
And also a thousand kicks in the nards.
And a few more for good measure.
And another boot to the head for Jenny and the wimp.
He said frantically.
I see what you did there.
Blaine may well deserve Faz, as he’s cultivated Faz, but has Faz EVER deserved Blaine?
No, Faz hasn’t.
….I do not like that I like Faz. Take it back! I don’t want it!
I do not like green Faz and ham?
Would you like him in a box? Would you like him with a fox?
That reminds me of something I heard about Roman punishments. One of them was to throw the criminal into the river in a bag with three specific animals. What those were I don’t recall exactly, but I’m thinking a rat and a snake were in there.
Problem is, what did the rat and snake do to deserve it?
If George Carlin is right, dog, a monkey, and a snake.
The Great Faz has created a chart to demonstrate the reasons why you should all like him.
*sigh*
As you can see, his heart is not really in it today.
Okay maybe I missed prior discussion but anyone wanna discuss the poll??
IMO: Amazi-girl ≥ Sal > Amber > Sarah with a bat > Malayla > Dina
=(?) Joyce
Malaya*
Amber is more dangerous than Amazi-girl. Dina can work up a good rage, but she’s worthless in a fight. Malaya is direct and aggressive, so also dangerous.
Well, I guess now I can stop assuming that everyone just forgot about Faz and left him on the side of the street.
Aslan gave Faz his seat on the bus. (Even though it was the last one available, meaning Aslan had to get off again and wait for the next one.)
Aslan knows that Faz can one day grow into Faz The Lionslayer, King Of The Zoo Enclosure as the Godsun Watches On. Aslan’s not testing his luck.
Every time I think Blaine can’t be a worse person, he seems to find a whole new dimension to be awful.
Nice(ish?) fam moment, but, isn’t Faz an accomplice to, y’know, crimes?
He’s like 13
Probably 14 at this point…he stated in one of his early strips that he was 2 weeks away from being 14.
That was 2 weeks away from being 16. Currently legal under Indiana’s Romeo and Juliet law, but would be of the normal age of consent in 2 weeks. Somewhat unclear in phrasing, but Willis clarified it somewhere.
I have a hunch that Joyce might’ve told the cops some of her possible suspicions about why Faz helped. And that Faz explained both his reasoning and whatever horrid things Blaine was doing to him. I doubt they’d try (in this universe, I know it’s more likely IRL) to prosecute a 15-year-old abuse victim who’s scared of what his male legal guardian would do to him and his female genetic donor if it goes tits-up.
In this case, one could probably argue that he was coerced into being an accomplice.
Even if they’ll press charges, it’s not that uncommon you get to walk until your trial. I mean, he’s underage and likely got out of the murder charge.
On the one hand I like this sibling story, on the other hand really wanted to see that suplex.
Honestly, I’m not worried about Blaine right now: like Amber said, once he gets patched up, he goes to jail.
I’m more worried about ehat’ll happen if Yuri comes down there right now.
That she’ll blame Amber goes without saying.
The answer to that depends on how much she feels that she needs to be there for Faz over the next few years and whether that is more important to her than getting revenge on her enemies.
Maybe she’s smothering him so he can’t rat out the mob.
This arc is essentially two heel-face-turns for the price of one.
Can we go for three? And if so, who? Robin? Mike? Sal and Walky’s Dad? The Dean? Smashcut to Joe comforting Joyce via text message?
Or, worse yet, it could be a double-reverse-heel-turn and Faz is distracting Amber while Yuri ‘visits’ Mike.
Not likely, but not impossible.
Faz hasnt turned. He’s just manipulated people with undeserved guilt to distract from his crimes
I don’t think Mike counts. From my perspective, his entire issue was he was protecting his friends, and doing it in the only way he could think of.
I also think he’s a sociopath, but sociopaths can function in society, and he was trying.
Mike thinks it counts. He realized in that fight, listening to Blaine’s rant, just how much like it his plans were and how much damage he’d done.
Of course, we’ll see if he recovers and how his behavior changes afterwards.
Yeah, Mike made that sacrifice play specifically because he heard Blaine’s justifications, realized he was using the same exact justifications and that there was merit to Danny’s ‘I have no idea why my friends keep giving you chances’, and did not like the person he was being.
Mike has the ability to care about others. He just spent years consciously denying those feelings and that ability.
Also, like. Sociopath is a DEEPLY loaded and no-longer-clinically-used-as-a-result term. The current DSM uses Antisocial Personality Disorder, and we’ll see how long that gets euphemism treadmilled into being a horribly loaded insult, but defines it as involving impulsivity, lack of restraint, and lack of regard for their own safety in addition to manipulation and lack of regard for others. Mike is not nearly impulsive enough for that. I can see someone making a case he’s low-empathy (and both ASPD and low-empathy folks can be perfectly decent human beings provided they try not to be a total asshole, same as everyone – low empathy’s even a benefit to doctors and surgeons so they aren’t too worried to do their job properlu,) but I personally disagree.
You have to admit, Blaine’s got a point. Would YOU want to experience having Faz pulled from your lungs?
Now, about that suplex…
I know it may be a bit much… hug him Amber.
Wait… When do we get the suplex of Carol?!
Right now, but off screen.
just fok off faz, just fok right the hell off.
Oh wonderful, that means that Yuri will be coming down there at some points to wave her victim card and try to convince everyone that Amber is somehow the bad guy in all this!
I…uh. I..Like, Faz?
I like Faz. Huh. Okay. Carry on.
Aww, but I wanted to see Ruth vs Carol.
And finally at the end of a strip we see that he does have something non-punchable.
Wait punchable.. punchable… oh. Huh.
“Do you have anything non-punchable?” “No I do not.” (IIRC)
Takes that years-old strip and puts it in its proper light.
I assume his douche horny-boy mask (literally) is an act to cover up the sadness because maybe if you’re like that people don’t ask you hard questions about your life and how you feel.
I mean admittedly he SAYS something highly punchable, but he’s quoting what Blaine said about him.
I don’t remember if the parallel between Howard and Faz was made explicit in-strip, but the teenage brothers with Insufferable Horniness who are still in the care of the abusive parental figures who are therefore probably being abused themselves, with Ruth saying outright that Sir could ‘take (her refusal to stay in line) out on Howie’… All of that seems deliberate in its commonalities.
I am so disappointed that I don’t get to see Ruth suplex Carol today.
to be fair, everyone is allergic to Faz
That’s his body spray. He just discovered the stuff and hasn’t quite figured out how much is too much.
Also, he thinks it helps him pick up girls, and more spray means more girls.
Blaine can make everything worse.
Hey while they are pulling Blaine’s ribs out of his lungs could they give Franken Fran a call and ask if she could attach Faz’s head to the back of Blaine’s skull? That way they’ll Always be together.
that wouldn’t be very kind to Faz
Maybe a copy of Faz?
A non-sentient thingy that spouts Faz’s lines at random intervals.
Anyone else notice that although it’s sad to be called “worse than bones in your lungs” he was up there with Blaine until he was sent off? That means Faz is in support of Blaine, unlike e.g. Walky who went after Sal because he thought Sal was more right than his mom.
I had the same reaction at first, but now I’m not sure he was there willingly to begin with. His mother probably brought him up. And then he went away as soon as he had an excuse to do so, when Blaine said he was a pain.
It probably still hurt him to hear Blaine saying that though, given his body language in that last panel.
He’s very young, and I don’t think he’s given up on wanting his father to love him and approve of him yet. It’s understandable that he thinks he has to be there and keep trying to please.
Amber’s clearly his favorite (in that she’s nicest to him, which… ow,) but given he’s in Yuri’s custody and she’s Team If Amber Wasn’t Around/Costing Money, We’d Be Better Off (GOD do I hope she finally gets to see Blaine’s real finances after this,) he probably was expected not to openly side with her. And even we aren’t 100% in agreement if Blaine’s mob ties will work for or against him at trial. If there’s a real chance he survives and gets custody over Faz again, Faz does NOT want to be known to defy him.
Walky’s still terrified after standing up to Linda, and he’s no longer in his parents’ custody full-time. I also think the odds of Linda physically abusing Walky (or Sal for that matter) up to this point are way lower than the ones Blaine has physically abused Faz, which means he can’t minimize how he’s been treated the same way. (It’s over in Shortpacked, but Amber’s line about how the first time Blaine assaulted her ‘forced Stacy to realize his verbal abuse wasn’t a funny quirk’ seems applicable here, with Walky as well as Faz. https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/great) So if he’s not safe to dissent and knows he’s not safe, I’m not holding it against him that he’s trying to stay safe first and foremost.
Besides, even Sal – who isn’t on good terms with her parents and knows her treatment is out of line enough to be angry about it – still wanted their approval, given her ‘trying to make a good impression’ uniform from Family Weekend. Faz is younger and has had less time to be away and starting to process how fucked up his upbringing was. (And Walky’s only starting that journey himself.)
Reading forward a few strips from the one you linked, we see SP Amber tell her father’s corpse to “burn in hell”, then two frames later, SP Mike says “later”, as in “see you later”.
I find this amusing.
SP Mike’s self-aware about such things. He remembers how he proposed to Amber. (At least they tried to fix how that one affected other people afterwards.)
And that strip is one of my absolute favorites.
Goddammit, don’t make us sympathize with Faz…
I vote that Stacy take Faz in if his mom proves to be terrible enough to blame this on him and abandon him.
Possibly because Amber asks her flat out if her possible half-brother can stay with her.
… I am surprisingly okay with this outcome.
Finally, one point on which Blaine is right. Ribs are so much better than Faz. Especially when they’re grilled just right.
“So you have failed me yet again, Faz…”
super mario shirt <3
Poor Faz. Even if he is a creep he doesn’t deserve Blaine’s abuse.
Question is if he’ll try to be less lecherous. He’ll be more likely to be less abetting for sure.
My hunch is that his horn-dog persona is (partly) there to keep other people away. Blaine can’t hurt his friends if he doesn’t have any.
O.O
Oh gods, that’s a possibility. And a very sad one too.
Siblings bonding moment????
Feels like it, yeah.
HOORAY!
Ouch, thats rough. Even though Faz is a bit of a pain, he does deserve better than that.
The creepiest thing about Faz is he never changes his facial expression. His eyes are always closed, and he always have a self-satisfied smile. Even now. “And the he goes to jail.” “He says I’m worse than the ribs.” Why don’t you show some genuine emotion, for a change?
Because emotion is weakness. So you keep a little half smile at all times to show that nothing phases you.
Why would someone living with Blaine (and Yuri, who we know very little about but is clearly unsupportive) avoid showing any facial expression, especially his true feelings on the matter?
There’s a reason people are speculating his hairstyle is at least in part a way to cover up an eye and not raise any questions. So, so many of his mannerisms make sense as a front to cover any genuineness to try and prevent further abuse or unwelcome questions about his home life (which would likely also lead to abuse.)
I’m okay with his look. He’s almost reminiscent of Dr Carl Sagan.
Park him down the road at the campus observatory and watch the surprised looks.
That’s kind of an insensitive way to talk about an abuse victim. Some end up developing a single expression they consistently use because it results in the least amount of punishment or helps them pretend nothing is wrong to other people. It’s one of his survival mechanisms that he hasn’t had a chance to safely unlearn.
Comments like yours and others on this thread force me to speculate how many abuse victims go on to be really good a poker.
I can’t produce percentages, but I would say from my experience it’s “many”.
because he has narcissistic personality disorder.
He isnt one bit better when he never met Blaine
I’d expect Faz to also be under arrest?
I suppose it’s possible nobody bothered to mention him to the police?
He’s like, 15 and was forced to act under threat of further abuse, pretty sure he is a victim here and that Joyce would have painted his actions in a very sympathetic light. And like, Blaine literally murdered someone, so the fear on Faz’s part was extremely valid.
That sort of thing would explain why he’d be acquitted or given a lenient sentence, not why he’s free.
He wasn’t on the scene (so they could have conceivably Not Brought Him In Particular Up, since we already know there was some… editing of stories,) Indiana has to set bail for anyone who’s not accused of murder, and given Yuri may or may not have her own mob ties and that one of the arresting officers was DEFINITELY corrupt, I can see there being several ways he avoids the felony murder charge to begin with. Maybe accomplice down the line (in which case, again, the recognition a fifteen-year-old abuse victim in the abuser’s custody cannot meaningfully say no is probably going to work wonders,) but that would allow bail.
Plus, I suspect Blaine brought him along to keep him from warning Amber. Remember, Faz brought him pornogr-I mean, Literature-instead of information to bring Amber down. If Blaine read it, there’s not a snowball’s chance in Hell that Faz would be out of his sight.
Or Faz lied.
we know he never warned amber.
Plus that contradicted by him spending the day mapping out AMBERS social graph and giving it to Blaine.
Nobody forced him to Let Blaine Go.
Hard to believe I am starting to like the little weasel.
Maybe now they can finally bond as a family.
Wonder how amber is gonna get her schooling paid for.
Well we know now that somebody got Faz off the corner, otherwise how would he know which hospital to go to? There are 3 in Bloomington.
Still waiting for Faz to brush his hair away to reveal a huge black eye. Really make Joyce feel terrible for that “Do you have a face that isn’t punch-able” joke.
He’s a Multiple accomplice to multiple premeditated kidnappings and felony murder.
I’m tired of hearing people feeling bad for him, inventing abuse backstories.
He Needs to face justice and consequences for this
I mean… It’s unlikely that anyone’s inventing abuse backstories.
Blaine is an abuser. Do you really think he only abused one of his children?
Also, like, he’s fourteen. The juvenile justice system isn’t really particularly useful. Uh, ever.
neither is being raised by the mob.
“It’s unlikely that anyone’s ”
Its LITERALLY a fact , about 50 people commenting on this page.
“Do you really think” and Now you are demanding I invent an abuse backstory too.
thats texbook argument from ignorance
He is a criminal accomplice for kidnappings and felony murder. Those are facts. You feel bad for him . You feel cognitive dissonance . So you invent an abuse backstory Willis hasnt written to relieve it. He hasnt expressed remorse and justified everything.
“Do you really think ” he’s assaulting the Mob grandkid he works for ?
until Willis makes it word of God, these are all inventions Fez doenst deserve.
Yes. I absolutely do think Blaine’s abusing Faz. There’s far more evidence of that – in both Blaine’s nature and Faz’s behavior, than there is that Faz is a “Mob grandkid”. Yuri’s connection with the Mob is also our invention, by these standards. She’s Asian and Blaine’s connected to an Asian mob. That doesn’t prove she’s part of the connection, much less that Blaine married into the actual boss’s family.
Blaine is going to escape from the Hospital.
and its Faz who is going to free him. ( again ) .
( another Faz ought to be in Juvie right now )