Good analogy, both pairs are pretentious, dumber then they think, and just lousy people/characters.
Like, seriously, the amount of stretches and liberties that had to make to make them such obvious and oblivious crime fighters for so long and yet somehow pretend a lot of things in this comic have real world, pretentious meaning is laughable.
Never understood glasses characters who start a throwdown while still wearing their glasses. BEST outcome is the frames will break, and you’ll be fucked until you buy a new pair. Other outcomes only go downhill from there. 😐
I wouldn’t put it passed them to do the whole thing more associated with toxic masculinity where they punch each other for a while then go buy each other drinks. Or since they’re both underage for drinking and while Sal doesn’t care Amazi-Amber Girl does split a pizza.
It’ll de-escalate or go thermo-nuclear. Hugging or walls fallen, smoke rising, car alarms shrieking, sirens in the distance, swat and the national guard. Or maybe they’ll just post mean things on social media.
Woah Sal looks really sad right now. I don’t think there’s going to be any fighting, I think she really just wants to clear the air on this and move on.
And we all know Amber’s track record with moving on…
Although, when they talked at the steps, Marcie disagreed with that. I think it’s pretty evident Sal doesn’t believe in ‘on pause’ or ‘getting distance’. To her, those are nice words of saying ‘I’m tossing you to the curb’. At least, that’s my read based on this and her assessment of Walky and Dorothy being ‘on pause’.
I agree and that is unsurprising given her parents. It is very clear that they are very willing to cut anything that is not beneficial or to theri standards.
I dunno, I don’t disagree with you, but I also feel like she might feel like the conversation just before seeing Ethan confirmed it for her, rather than her not seeing middle ground.
The conversation just before seeing Ethan didn’t help, but I think it wasn’t anything inconsistent with what Marcie said earlier – it was actually pretty close to the same thing. I think it confirmed it for Sal, but I don’t think Sal puts much stock in the idea of getting distance without completely ditching a person.
Didn’t he already know before the comic present timeline began? at least i don’t remember a particular “coming out“ and he’s been very casual (although worried) about it… i have nothing but my recall proof-wise… you may back me up or refute me via strips of proof of course 😉
Except given Sal’s general opinion of her brother and negative opinion of Walky’s decision-making with regards to that, her reaction to that specific taunt would probably be a deadpan, “Yeah, best of luck to you with that.”
Which would actually be really funny and I sort of want to see Willis draw it as a sketch.
I’ve been thinking about this myself, and the response I come up with runs like this:
Sal: You’re seein’ Walky. Ma brother. Who looks like me with short hair and no tits.
. . .
Sal: Do I even wanna think about the psychosexual ramifications of that?
Amber: [*looks stunned because she hadn’t thought of it like that*]
Walky: (who is close enough to hear this, after all) [*looks appalled because he hadn’t thought of it like that*]
Dorothy: (also close enough to hear!) [*looks shocked because she hadn’t known, and is weirded out the more she thinks about it*]
Sal only made the connection when Amber gave her the angry face. She’s seen her before and didn’t. I can only think of one other person who has seen the angry face and didn’t already know Amber was Amazi-girl and he never returned after the knife wounds.
It seems like Sal and Amber might come to an understanding….Unfortunately it won’t be an understanding of the hunger satisfying carmel cookie crunch of Twix candy bars! Too bad, I guess their doomed to the chaos of not recognizing the subtle differences of right and left Twix. Hopefully they’ll at least stay humble enough to resolve their numerous issues none of which are nearly as important.
I still think this ends with someone (probably Ethan, possibly Walky or Marcie) intervening but I think it’s a lot more possible someone’s gonna get decked first.
And yeah, Sal’s…not taking it well that her stalker and crime fighting partner is the chick who stabbed her before. Kinda seems like the kinda thing you’d take poorly.
And man oh man does panel 5 have to hit close to Amber right now. As Willis has put it before – godDAMN does Sal have Amber’s number.
I really really hope it doesn’t. I don’t think Sal’s going to attack first.
And Amber won’t, unless she goes all rage-monstery. Which would be really bad for her psyche.
Ethan’s probably the best one to deescalate it before fighting starts.
. .. . I admit this is going a lot better then I expected. I appreciate how conflicted Sal seems to be here considering her and Amber’s relationship and how Amber is putting Ethan behind her as if to shield him from attack.
Now to see if this explodes into combat or just get’s awkward some how.
After reading the alt-text, I’m depressingly certain the wheels are about to come off big time. If I’m wrong, just this once it will make me very happy.
I want to add that based on this dialogue it seems like Sal has ONLY made the connection between Amber and Amazi Girl; she has not yet recognized Amber as the girl who stabbed her.
Yeah, she’s pushing Ethan back behind her. Amber isn’t sure what Sal’s going to do here, and is from a background where uncertainty has almost invariably turned to violence.
I hope that Sal isn’t going to throw hands, and I hope Amber won’t, either. They need to exorcise their demons.
you know I’ve been thinking so much about how Amber stabbed Sal in the hand when they were 13, I hadn’t even considered the fact that she was also literally stalking her and cornering her in the parking lot as her alter ego for reasons Sal never even understood.
I. Really want Sal to just walk away from this. Not only because I want Sal to have that personal moment, that milestone, but because I’m seeing how itching Amber is to duke it out right here right now that I need her to not get that satisfaction. She doesn’t deserve it, she definitely doesn’t need it.
Can we talk for a minute about how unhealthy it is to agree that violence is an appropriate outlet for anger?! Like seriously, ladies?! Take up knitting, or an instrument, or sports, or bongoing about transforming toys from the eighties online! Don’t fucking enable each other’s bad habits! Unless I’ve missed what this comic’s about? I really hope I’ve missed some subtle context to what they’re implying here!
I guess it would be too much to hope they both agree to get memberships to a boxing gym where they can beat each other up safely while wearing proper equipment and rules until they form a reluctant understanding and rivalry and this webcomic just turns into the girl version of Hajime no Ippo.
I dont think it’s about validating the violence aspect, if anything its basically a case of “I have immense anger issues but also other issues, so I took this path to let it out and it fed me even more issues”. Less of a cop-opt and more of a mutual understanding of their situation, for better or worse.
What happens after this acknowledgement is whats must important.
When it comes to unbearable pain and anger it is kind of difficult to knit it away. I’ve been through the whole control your anger thing. I’ve tried violence. I’ve tried constructive avenues. I’ve tried turning it inwards. It is doubly difficult for someone with an abusive childhood. Emotions get tangled up within. So I understand the anger Sal and Amber are going through….sorry for the text wall..
Knitting was just an example. Everyone has different coping methods. I just think violence is pretty a unhealthy option. We’ve seen Amber struggle with rage and at her best she chooses to wear a mask and beat up campus thugs. At least Sal seems more in control and content to smoke and ride dangerously on her motorcycle. Still if they start throwing punches I’ll lose respect for both of them.
I think Amber needs to take the verbal, emotional, and if it comes to it, physical L here. I assume Sal will talk it out a bit and walk away or there will be an intervention, but if neither happens I really hope she “wins”, whatever that context would be.
Gonna really suck if they fight after Amber starts it and Sal gets all the blame cuz of course she does.
Pretty sure she’s just going to walk away. Maybe a little bit of yelling, but it looks more like she’s just going to turn around and leave. Probably go get drunk.
If they fight I think Amber gets all the blame. We’ve only seen Amber fight twice and both times (while it was justified) it was in the grip of red rage. And both times made her think she was even more of a monster than she already did.
That’s what it will be if she fights here, but even worse.
Sal’s second line in panel 5 reminds me of a quotation from “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green. It goes “That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”
This strip is SO amazing, by the way. Never have I wanted to support you on patreon more.
Doesn’t this strip count as “moving the plot on”? This confrontation has had years worth of build-up and it only started three days ago. I’m not sure rushing towards catharsis is the best course of action, narrative-wise.
…Is this inside someone’s head? The weird unnatural colors make this strip feel like it’s not quite taking place in “reality” in DOA. I would think that this is all in Amber’s imagination, but does she know about Sal’s disintegrating friendship with Marcie?
Yeah, looking back at the last few strips, it’s sunset, but I know how I got thrown off. Yesterday’s strip had Sal against no background (which shows up as the site’s default light blue) in the first and third panels (which my mind read as a light blue sky). Then suddenly there are these dark, moody red background in panels five and six. Not paying super close attention, my brain assumed that the first, “daytime” panels were reality, and the “darker” later panels were from Amber’s distorted point of view, and that today’s strip was a continuation of that.
I believe the fact that the red only being behind Sal is to show the difference in POV. Sal sees Amber more or less realistically, Amber is projecting a threatening/evilish aura around Sal. Its a flair up from the red rage mode she had when she stabbed Sal and has carried on with since.
I think the red backgrounds are a reference to the red panels we’ve been seeing so much this storyline — Sal recognizing Amber is bringing back traumatic memories for both of them. It’s the climax of a very long leadup
Amber’s fists are up and ready in panel 2. Sal’s hands are visibly open in panel 1 and we don’t see fists until panel 6. Sal is clearly responding to Amber’s imminent threat-to-punch, based on who went to fisty fighting stance first.
Amber, you’re one big mess, stop misunderstanding ya doink (I know, I know, she can’t help it, she doesn’t know, etc. She’s doing the bad at this empathy thing sometimes, or is it just reading the air, and while I guess you don’t need it to be a functional human being, it is very helpful)
Also, oh Sal.
ugh it’s hard to not obsess about how…it feels like Amber is kind of chunni sometimes and ugh so many problems. It hurts b.c I know people who live their lives like this and it’s not like they’re abnormal, but they seems to live slightly exaggerated lives and they’re actual pains to deal with sometimes when you don’t play along with the kdrama effect
Amber’s actually doing incredibly well here. Compared to any previous interaction with Sal.
She’s defensive, but talking.
She’s essentially got PTSD and confronting one of her triggers and doing so basically under control. This could be much worse.
That’s part of the problem actually. Sal probably feels manipulated and angry about that which just adds more kindling to this flurry of angry emotions that need releasing. What’s troublesome is that Amber doesn’t seem at remorseful about that. At least not yet anyway. This is but a brief moment of interaction so far.
Amber saying she is “not [AG] at the moment” is a reference to her DID. Unfortunately both Ethan and Sal are likely to assume it is merely about the costume and the behaviour, and not get a clue about how serious the problem is.
On the plus side, this does imply that Amber is aware that AG has not gone away, which is a necessary (but unfortunately not sufficient) precondition for her seeking help.
How likely is it that Ethan knows DID even exists? The concept is so mind-boggling it’s unlikely for someone to come up with it without prior knowledge it’s a thing.
Not to be weird, but what media have you been consuming that you find the concept of dissassociative identities to be mind-bogglingly outlandish and unknowable?
How likely is it that Ethan has heard of Multiple Personality Disorder, the outdated term that many people still know it by? Pretty likely. Now, how likely he UNDERSTANDS it or would assign it as something that describes his best friend, that seems less likely. But that he knows it exists? Yeah, I’d assume he does.
Maybe I don’t watch enough television to know what someone who is 17 now might have heard about.
@ pagannerd: no matter which way you look at it, really getting what DID means is mind-boggling.
I feel like Sal is having one of those “it’s like looking in a mirror” moments and doesn’t like what she sees. Like she really gets what Marcie was talking about now.
Amber clearly WANTS to fight, but I’m hoping Sal will find a way to avoid it.
Also, Sal has NO idea how much of a red flag that “not at the moment” was.
She’s dealing with the contrast between reality and the personal mythology she’s built up where Sal is some kind of evil monster nemesis. Helped by knowing that AG has been able to work with Sal and by knowing Ethan’s talked to her peacefully, but unable to completely process it.
It’s a huge positive sign that she hasn’t attacked or run. Or lost control to Amazi-Girl, though she’s been fighting that lately.
I like the fact that these two are going to finally air out at least some of their mutual dirty laundry, it’s honestly something they both need in order to move forward, but I’m rather concerned because I expect that Amber’s reaction here is leading down an unpleasant path before they get to that point while Sal may or may not be in the right headspace to even try to deescalate the situation which is what she needs to do. Meanwhile Amber may end up worse off in her AG issues because we could see Sal and Ethan actually directly witness her shifting between her two main alters here if AG takes over to stop an Amber/Sal fight.
There are also going to be some elements of this, either way, that could spill over to have implications regarding Walky, Danny, Malaya or Marcie even if they don’t turn up by the end of it (I’d be unsurprised to see at least one of those four turn up at the worst time for one or more involved parties here).
Sal, why does the stalking only matter to you now and not when you were beating baddies together? Amber, why the fuck are you dropping into a fighting stance before Sal even does or says ANYTHING? What the actual fuck, girls. What makes either of you think punching eachothER WILL HAVE ANY POSITIVE OUTCOMES.
I guess it matters to Sal now because now she has the added context of: “and you stabbed through my fucking hand five years ago!”. So Amber stalked Sal, obsessed over her, fought with her, Sal lost her best friend due to said fighting and it just so happens that Amber also stabbed her and probably caused some severe damage to Sal’s hand when they were thirteen.
Well for one. Amber is no longer an anonymous super hero but the girl who stabbed Sal five years ago. That context makes what she’s done worse and just the revelation of that in general is a surprise to Sal.
Secondly, Amber’s go to is violence in times she feels threatened. Times such as when her dad visits and is literally threatening her or perhaps when the girl you stabbed in the hand five years ago discovers you’ve been stalking her as a masked super hero, dating her brother, and entered into a begrudging partnership under false pretenses that has jeopardized the most important relationship in her life.
Amber is kind of irrational to think Sal would take that out on Ethan though. He literally just told her they reconciled. She is not all there.
Amber? It might be tenuous, but she’s clearly keeping control. If she wasn’t, she’d be tearing at Sal through a red haze.
Instead, she’s defensive and even that softens in that last panel.
Is panel 4 Amber talking about herself/AG, i.e. “When I was stalking you, I was working through a lot of anger”, or Sal, “You lost your best friend and fought alongside AG because you’ve been working through a lot of anger”? Or both?
Amber looks posed to protect Ethan, indicating she expects Sal’s anger issues to emerge messily? But she knows she behaved poorly, and Sal didn’t warrant her harrassment…
Remember that Amber seems to think that Sal is some kind of monster. Of course she expects her rage to come out easily and be directed at the innocent. The funny thing (in a tragically ironic way) is that Sal sees Amber in more-or-less the same way, based on their confrontation outside of the convenience store a few months back.
So we have two women that have hurt each other badly: one traumatized an already mentally unstable kid that was verbally abused by her father, and the other went a little stabby.
The problem is that both don’t see their own responsibilities: Amber can’t move on from her hatred to a random person that scared her (and serves as a escape goat for Blaine’s abuse), and Sal can’t see that she herself has caused her own alienation from Marcie.
Both blame each other for things they did and wouldn’t stop until a third party intervenes (like the Doctor), or both beat each other in a Fight Club scenario where the two become a bloody mess and start crying.
This is the point where Sal and Amber, much to their mutual surprise, realise that they are very alike, especially in their more self-destructive instincts.
Actually Sal noted the similarities right after Amazing Girl came to from the car chase. Mainly the anger but honestly I feel they are two very different who have a few elements that strongly align.
I think Sal is way further along in her journey of dealing with her anger and leading a producive life, though.
Joining AmaziGirl in her rampages may have been a step back, but before that happened she already recognised AmaziGirl’s behaviour as destructive.
Ethan: “uh hey yeah this all seems really important do you mind if I go get some coffee or something in a hardened nuclear fallout shelter or something I’m just really thirsty and hey is that a squirrel?”
So I’m very likely forgetting some key points, but why WAS Amber stalking Sal for all that time? I remember her going for a stab after her dad continued berating her at the station a few years ago, but after that it’s blurry. Did Amber stalk Sal cause she realised who she’d spotted and was hoping to “bring ’em to justice”, even if Sal hadn’t actually DONE anything to deserve it by then outside of petty crimes?
Sal tried to get Amazigirl’s boyfriend to have an intervention. At least one poster thought that the fact that Amazigirl is not just an activity that Amber does made this worse.
Now Ethan, put on you super hero mantle and step between them before this escalates.
(If you do, you are by far the most courageous person in the dumbiverse).
This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny
Sal, Amber, and Drama as far as the eye can see
And only one will survive I wonder who it will be
This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny
I didn’t even realize they were repeating that whole conversation from earlier. Holy cow. And the look on Sal’s face: as if she’s throwing AG’s words back at Amber.
It’s not surprising Amber would repeat the words even without the memory. The belief has been core to her for awhile now. But the implication is that it’s okay if she and Sal hurt each other because they aren’t good people.
That shouldn’t stop Amber from knowing where Amazigirl would go with this.
Actually based solely on this motto middle name Ryan was a perfectly valid target. But I think Amber also has a thing about not throwing the first punch, and stopping before she goes too far.
Amber has only fought three times in the present day comic. She punched Blaine (striking first). She stomped Blaine into the ground, though she might have been Amazi-Girl when that started. And she cut Ryan to shreds – technically she may have made the first move there, but Ryan was threatening her with a knife, so it’s all good.
In the latter two cases, she definitely didn’t stop before going too far.
Amazi-Girl has rules. Amber doesn’t.
Amber sees herself as a monster and Amazi-Girl’s role as stopping her from hurting people. It was Amazi-Girl’s failure to do so with Ryan that worsened the split between, I think. Amber may know where Amazi-Girl would go with this, but does that actually matter to her?
Whelp. Here we go. Amber is about to prove she’s exactly like her father.
It’s no secret she inherited his fowl temper and violent tendencies. But she’s also inherited his constant rationalizing abusive behavior. Yes, she tried to channel this by going in the opposite direction as him and being a superhero, only beating up the bad guys…or at least, whoever she perceives as a bad guy, whether they actually are or not.
Her whole “It’s okay, because I’m serving up justice.” is not any different from Blaine’s “It’s okay, because it’s tough love.” rationale.
Yeah, Sal did a terrible thing in the past. She had her reasons, but it’s not something I’ll defend. However, she’s since done her time and hasn’t committed any crimes aside from underage drinking (which only effects herself). Even though Sal did not escape punishment, Amber’s enraged because in her head, it wasn’t punishment enough. She wants her attackers to suffer for the rest of their life. In other words, just projecting her dad onto everyone who wrongs her.
Blaine is the cause of all her pain and suffering. I doubt anyone would argue with me on that. She probably thought beating him to a pulp would make it all go away. All it did was give her a taste for revenge. It felt good to be the one doing all the hitting for once, and now she’s addicted. She has spiraled out of control since then. She’s deluded herself into viewing her life as a comic book, with black and white heroes vs villains. She can’t see Sal as human anymore. She’s just another Blaine who must be taken out.
She sees Sal as a sort of catalyst for her mental state, when really it was more so Blaine. I mean, Sal had been restrained and disarmed by the police. She had taken Ethan hostage, but it’s clear she didn’t actually stab or cut him. And yet, despite that she was already being arrested and was facing consequences for her crime, Amber chose to stab her right in the hand. In her head, brutally attacking an unarmed and restrained person was okay, because said person was bad. Had the police not held her back, she likely would have gone further, as she’s implied to have done with Ryan. Angry as she was with Sal, her violent outburst back then was prompted by Blaine egging her on, by calling her weak and laying on the guilt over not being able to save Ethan from “a punk with a knife”. It was her first real taste of revenge. For the first time, she was the one in control of the abuse.
“I fucked up your hand, stalked you, tried to provoke you into fighting, and harassed you relentlessly because I’m working through anger. But it’s okay, because I aim my anger at BAD people.”
It’s all just rationalizing. Trying to justify it. Just like an abuser would do.
It doesn’t matter that Amber is using her violent tendencies “for good”. She’s still acting just like Blaine. And if she doesn’t get her shit together soon, she’ll become something even worse.
Hopefully Ethan can intervene and at least prevent a fight from breaking out. Defusing the tension is obviously out of his hands, but I’m praying he can keep them from brawling.
Not at all.
Yes, Amber’s got serious problems. Yes, her treatment of Sal is awful and unjustified.
No, she’s not “another Blaine who must be taken out.” She’s nowhere near those depths and isn’t going to be.
“Amber is about to prove she’s exactly like her father.
It’s no secret she inherited his fowl temper and violent tendencies”
No. I really don’t think so.
No. This may end up going badly, and Amber may even end up doing something shitty, but even people who DON’T have abusive fathers fuck up.
This is clearly going to get heated, but Amber is taking a defensive stance here. Considering how she’s never been able to get this close to Sal without having a panic attack before, and Sal is (understandably) rather angry, Amber is staying remarkably calm.
They BOTH have every reason to distrust and even hate the other, no matter how either has changed since the robbery. They can only control their actions, not their feelings.
Isn’t that what they’re doing right now? No one’s hitting anyone yet, and Sal basically took the whole strip to process the new informetion rather than immediately attack. She’s not as calm as would be preferred, but she’s definitely still talking.
I’m kind of aggravated that, when Sal said: “You stalked me, obsessed over me, I fought you and lost my best friend,” Amber responds with a cold: “Just working through a lot of anger.” That was a good place to put an apology or something that would be at least an attempt at being conciliatory, but she very openly doesn’t seem to give a shit about doing all that and also deceiving Sal this whole time.
Remember, Amber thinks that she is a monster. She’ll play the part, especially around those who are part of her at least partly-delusional mental melodrama.
Well, I hate being right about Sal assigning that blame. It’s only marginally better to blame Amber (instead of Malaya) for the distance between Sal and Marcie but it’s still a dodge of responsibility.
I really hope Sal decides to walk away and take time to process all of this instead of acting rashly here, but blaming Amber for the Marcie situation really stokes the anger Sal already has about all the other facets of this.
Not quite the way I read it. I read it more as Sal feeling betrayed by AG. Less “It’s your fault I lost my best friend” and more “i fought those guys WITH you and as a result lost my best friend and you were the girl who stabbed me this whole time?!?”
That’s likely, yeah. I only question it because we know Ethan would discourage her from escalating this if he had the nerve. (or maybe the chance to get a word in right now) AG has weirdly made her peace with Sal in a way but Amber hasn’t, and she’s in high-octane adrenaline-pumping mode right now. Amber and AG were a lot less separated back when both of them were actively gunning for Sal. I’m not saying it’s definitely the case but it’s possible she wants this fight to happen and wants to make sure Ethan doesn’t stop her.
I just don’t see many people exploring this angle and i figured i would bring it up.
Sal and Amber do not fight. Amber seems to think that Sal wants to hurt Ethan? Sal explains that she wanted to do something friend-adjacent with Ethan. Like maybe Apples-to-Apples again. And Amber . . . could . . . maybe . . . play too?
Result: most awkward Apples-to-Apples in the history of Apples-to-Apples.
Okay not necessarily exactly what you said, but I’d love if Sal was seeking Ethan out to be like ‘hey, things are kind of shit with my other friends, can we actually hang out?’
(maybe not in front of Amber, I’m not sure she’s ready to be (or should ever be) vulnerable in front of someone who stalked and threatened her, with implied racist reasons (Sal said this early on and AG agreed in order to aggravate her, but Sal doesn’t know it’s untrue, not to mention how AGs actions would read even without that), and said she was glad Sal had a record, but this is a bit offtopic so just go with the first paragraph of this comment)
the last panels are 1 ambers natural reaction to sal due to ptsd and 2 ambers justification for amazigirl aka “the batman” defense
If your pissed off in pain and violent .. might as well take it out on those who deserve it societies “bad guys”
Its Ethan that’s going to make the store incident come together and force some type of reckoning …… since that was the whole point of it anyways “oh hey I just met up convenience store girl and were cool and you two should talk …… especially since he’s your current flings sister ….”
also does Marcie know that the whole fight at the rally was because they were trying to catch a serial rapist who almost raped joyce and did rape others ? )an earlier strip mentioned at least 6 other girls came forward after he was caught )
There’s been no indication at all that Sal ever explained the context of what happened. She also didn’t explain the context of who she and AG were fighting at night during one of their last conversations, instead just leaving it for Marcie to make assumptions about.
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CUE THE HATEFUCKS
wait no
anger, much like perverse sexual lust, demands an outlet, or it destroys you
Perses sexual list can be used to destroy others too. Gigidty
Perverse sexual lust works better
Ask Mike.
He’ll tell you. For a nickel.
For perverse sexual list, I’d ask Joe
Mike is the revenge sexual list, Joe is the perverse
I was thinking shounen style fight where they learn more about each other through their punches, but sure…
And they speak entire paragraphs between each punch. So the fight could go on for two years real time 🤦♀️
Like a dragon ball fight, but with monologuing instead of screaming.
I’ve never seen dragon ballz. I was thinking Bleach.
The space goes between the l and z, not between the n and b. Dragonball Z
Dragon Ball Z. Two words and a letter.
Dragon Ballz is clearly the superior name, though
second that
Until you’ve seen Sailor and the Seven Ballz, and then you’re glad for people who remember to separate the l and z. 😐
And anyway, everyone knows Bleach is just Dragon Ball Z with swords.
I was thinking something closer to Midorya and Bakugo’s second fight at the end of MHA Season 3.
wait yws
that would be a significant improvement on what’s happening right now
Amber and Sal do a hatefuck…wait…
We all are
This will have to be resolved with punches ?
Let’s just pretend they’re Vegeta and Goku.
Now, i don’t know which one is which, but…
Vegeta’s the one that try to look all cool and standoffish, so Sal ?
But Vegeta is also the one with a lot of pointless misdirected anger. So, y’know, both of ’em.
also, Vegeta is the short one.
No, wait, Joyce is Goku.
Ready to throw down at a moment’s notice.
And no clue what’s actually going in around her
Er… let’s try Naruto vs. Sasuke
Good analogy, both pairs are pretentious, dumber then they think, and just lousy people/characters.
Like, seriously, the amount of stretches and liberties that had to make to make them such obvious and oblivious crime fighters for so long and yet somehow pretend a lot of things in this comic have real world, pretentious meaning is laughable.
Just like Naruto and Sasuke, I completely agree.
Yeah, and Sasuke always sounded to me like he really needed a psychiatrist.
Mary’s opinion
At least remove your glasses first
Never understood glasses characters who start a throwdown while still wearing their glasses. BEST outcome is the frames will break, and you’ll be fucked until you buy a new pair. Other outcomes only go downhill from there. 😐
I mean some people can’t see much at all without their glasses, so they might not have many other options.
We do, however, know that this is not the case for Amber.
She is wearing basically reading glasses
I wouldn’t say it HAS to be, but it sure looks like it’s gonna be whether we want it to be or not.
But they’ll be directed away from good people.
I wouldn’t put it passed them to do the whole thing more associated with toxic masculinity where they punch each other for a while then go buy each other drinks. Or since they’re both underage for drinking and while Sal doesn’t care Amazi-Amber Girl does split a pizza.
It’ll de-escalate or go thermo-nuclear. Hugging or walls fallen, smoke rising, car alarms shrieking, sirens in the distance, swat and the national guard. Or maybe they’ll just post mean things on social media.
*Kill Bill music plays*
*dude standing in the corner fumbles with his phone to stop the Kill Bill ringtone he set*
“Battle Without Honor or Humanity”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fQuEqwQ2I4
You’re welcome.
Live extended version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzfv5WdVr2c
I’d like to see a ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ style standoff between them!
Dumbing of Age Book 9: It Demands an Outlet Or It Destroys You
Dumbing of age book 9: Just working through a lot of anger.
Oooh how about
Dumbing of Age book 9: You
Dumbing of Age Book 9: It Doesn’t Ever Really Go Away
Just like your mom after I give her a nickel. (Sorry, saw your Mike gravitar. Couldn’t resist).
Fell into liquid nitrogen and couldn’t resist.
[where’s my covfefe?]
Dumbing of Age Book 9: Direct It Away From Good People
That’s not the title, that’s the marketing tagline.
We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I met you I was but the learner. Now, *I* am the master.
Lone Starr, I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former hostage.
What does that make us?
Frenemies!
Absolutely nothing.
Which is what you are about to become!
You’re only a master of HTML, O’Malley.
If you cut me down I shall become more amazing than you can possibly imagine.
She can work with Python and wrestle the demons of Java.
You underestimate the power of LISP.
Woah Sal looks really sad right now. I don’t think there’s going to be any fighting, I think she really just wants to clear the air on this and move on.
And we all know Amber’s track record with moving on…
She did just say aloud that that she’s not Marcie’s friend anymore, so no wonder.
Although, when they talked at the steps, Marcie disagreed with that. I think it’s pretty evident Sal doesn’t believe in ‘on pause’ or ‘getting distance’. To her, those are nice words of saying ‘I’m tossing you to the curb’. At least, that’s my read based on this and her assessment of Walky and Dorothy being ‘on pause’.
I agree and that is unsurprising given her parents. It is very clear that they are very willing to cut anything that is not beneficial or to theri standards.
I dunno, I don’t disagree with you, but I also feel like she might feel like the conversation just before seeing Ethan confirmed it for her, rather than her not seeing middle ground.
The conversation just before seeing Ethan didn’t help, but I think it wasn’t anything inconsistent with what Marcie said earlier – it was actually pretty close to the same thing. I think it confirmed it for Sal, but I don’t think Sal puts much stock in the idea of getting distance without completely ditching a person.
… wait.
Ethan didn’t know that Amber is Amazi-Girl, did he?
Oh he knew, thankfully. She once climbed into his room with her Amazi-girl mask on, ironically enough, to warn him about Sal.
He did. Him and Danny talked about it, and the Amazi-girl alter even approached him once Amber first ran into Sal.
Didn’t he already know before the comic present timeline began? at least i don’t remember a particular “coming out“ and he’s been very casual (although worried) about it… i have nothing but my recall proof-wise… you may back me up or refute me via strips of proof of course 😉
He knows about the-thing-she-does http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/evasive/
…and of course I was not the first OR the second person to tell you that.
But you were the first one to give me a link to that, so you get a bootleg nutella oreo cookie.
I got a cookie! Oh joyful day!
That sounds delicious! Now I wish I’d read the strip earlier.
They are delicious. They’re a regional thing down here, “hazelnut Oreo”, but they taste just like Nutella, or so my American friends tell me.
wait, there are people who don’t read all the archives?
I wish I had read today’s strip a few minutes earlier, so I could have beaten Bagge to the cookie.
You can have half my imaginary internet cookie 🙂
The trouble with imaginary Internet cookies is that if they multiply you lose a cookie.
I’ve been making internet snacks all week since Sal saw Amber and Ethan together. Here, have a bootleg nutella oreo cookie.
Tell me about this cookie.
Unfortunately, no one can be told what the cookie is. You have to see it for yourself.
What is the sound of one cookie munching?
The cookie, Ouroboros.
Thats the problem.
He knows Amber is Amazigirl,
But he doesn’t know Amber isn’t Amazigirl.
Amber posing herself to defend Ethan is the most heartbraking thing in a heartbraking comic. 🙁
Yeah, you are right, but I expected that. The second heartbreaker for me, is Sal’s fist coming into the last frame from the side. Heartbreak-City!
So does Sal know that Amber is BOTH Amazigirl and the girl who stabbed her, or just Amazigirl?
Pretty sure the glove-removing last page means that she knows both.
Being that she degloved to show the scar, I’d say both.
we knew she knew amber was gas station girl when she took off the glove
We inferred she knew amber was gas station girl when she took off the glove.
Yeah, that was the assumption yesterday. She probably has figured out both, but it might just be that one.
This is a bizarrely understanding declaration of fisticuffs.
Failure of the Mask Principle.
Now kiss.
Amber: I’m also shacking up with your precious Brother to, COP with that”
Thinking about it Amber has trolled Sal more than Malaya and Carla could ever dream too. They should take lessons from her.
*cope
Except given Sal’s general opinion of her brother and negative opinion of Walky’s decision-making with regards to that, her reaction to that specific taunt would probably be a deadpan, “Yeah, best of luck to you with that.”
Which would actually be really funny and I sort of want to see Willis draw it as a sketch.
Walky is a smart mouth asshole of a spaz but we all know the two siblings care about each other more than they let on.
I’ve been thinking about this myself, and the response I come up with runs like this:
Sal: You’re seein’ Walky. Ma brother. Who looks like me with short hair and no tits.
. . .
Sal: Do I even wanna think about the psychosexual ramifications of that?
Amber: [*looks stunned because she hadn’t thought of it like that*]
Walky: (who is close enough to hear this, after all) [*looks appalled because he hadn’t thought of it like that*]
Dorothy: (also close enough to hear!) [*looks shocked because she hadn’t known, and is weirded out the more she thinks about it*]
Drama!
Ethan already pointed this out to Amber.
I’d forgotten that.
But! If Sal points it out, it could lead to all sorts of higher levels of being embarrassed in Amber. And the parts with Walky and Dorothy still work!
They’re going to go out and hate beat thugs together.
It’s amazing that Sal is the only one to make the connection between Amber and Amazi Girl.
And all it took was the look in her eyes.
Except for all the other people who have, most of which we will never be told about.
Well, Dina knew, too, but yeah, most people can’t tell, in part because Amber is in Amber-mode around them and carries herself differently.
Sal only made the connection when Amber gave her the angry face. She’s seen her before and didn’t. I can only think of one other person who has seen the angry face and didn’t already know Amber was Amazi-girl and he never returned after the knife wounds.
Ryan actually did think Amber was Amazi-Girl. Unluckily for him, she wasn’t.
Blane wasn’t knifed. He was punched. And probably kicked some.
It seems like Sal and Amber might come to an understanding….Unfortunately it won’t be an understanding of the hunger satisfying carmel cookie crunch of Twix candy bars! Too bad, I guess their doomed to the chaos of not recognizing the subtle differences of right and left Twix. Hopefully they’ll at least stay humble enough to resolve their numerous issues none of which are nearly as important.
Huh. Never realized until now how Amber and Sal deal with anger the same way.
Well, sort of.
Second comment…
Sal is going to walk away and Amber is going to flip out. Or worse. 🙁
I still think this ends with someone (probably Ethan, possibly Walky or Marcie) intervening but I think it’s a lot more possible someone’s gonna get decked first.
And yeah, Sal’s…not taking it well that her stalker and crime fighting partner is the chick who stabbed her before. Kinda seems like the kinda thing you’d take poorly.
And man oh man does panel 5 have to hit close to Amber right now. As Willis has put it before – godDAMN does Sal have Amber’s number.
I really really hope it doesn’t. I don’t think Sal’s going to attack first.
And Amber won’t, unless she goes all rage-monstery. Which would be really bad for her psyche.
Ethan’s probably the best one to deescalate it before fighting starts.
. .. . I admit this is going a lot better then I expected. I appreciate how conflicted Sal seems to be here considering her and Amber’s relationship and how Amber is putting Ethan behind her as if to shield him from attack.
Now to see if this explodes into combat or just get’s awkward some how.
After reading the alt-text, I’m depressingly certain the wheels are about to come off big time. If I’m wrong, just this once it will make me very happy.
I want to add that based on this dialogue it seems like Sal has ONLY made the connection between Amber and Amazi Girl; she has not yet recognized Amber as the girl who stabbed her.
Except for the fact she took her glove off to show the scar. That proves she knows Amber is the girl that stabbed her.
oops!
Based on the dialogue, sure. Based on the fact that she’s shown her hand for the first time in the strip, no.
Imagine if Ethan wasn’t in the loop during this conversation.
“Wait, Amber, you’re Amazi-Girl?”
“Not now, Ethan.”
Makes me kind of wish Billie was here.
Cue Billie deciding they staged this to throw her off the trail.
After all, Sal’s clearly AG….though the paper apparently mentioned a ‘mysterious new sidekick’…
Sal is good people, jeez Amber
I think Amber means Sal should avoid directing it to good people, so hitting her instead is ok.
Yeah, she’s pushing Ethan back behind her. Amber isn’t sure what Sal’s going to do here, and is from a background where uncertainty has almost invariably turned to violence.
I hope that Sal isn’t going to throw hands, and I hope Amber won’t, either. They need to exorcise their demons.
Well, if they do fight, they will be able to exercise their demons.
jfc amber
you know I’ve been thinking so much about how Amber stabbed Sal in the hand when they were 13, I hadn’t even considered the fact that she was also literally stalking her and cornering her in the parking lot as her alter ego for reasons Sal never even understood.
I. Really want Sal to just walk away from this. Not only because I want Sal to have that personal moment, that milestone, but because I’m seeing how itching Amber is to duke it out right here right now that I need her to not get that satisfaction. She doesn’t deserve it, she definitely doesn’t need it.
Im only now realizing that doa is basically a rly well written soap operaa
It is my favorite drama I’m currently following, followed by The Expanse.
Hmm, but there is no pregnancy or evil twin brother.
Um… pretty sure Walky is the ‘evil’ twin brother. And Joyce is going to discover that she is preganté with the Saviour of All Creation any day now. 😛
AAAHHH THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED FROM THIS STRIP
Can we talk for a minute about how unhealthy it is to agree that violence is an appropriate outlet for anger?! Like seriously, ladies?! Take up knitting, or an instrument, or sports, or bongoing about transforming toys from the eighties online! Don’t fucking enable each other’s bad habits! Unless I’ve missed what this comic’s about? I really hope I’ve missed some subtle context to what they’re implying here!
I think it’s less thinking it’s appropriate and moreso acknowledging that that’s how it’s worked out for them.
Also – Sal tried the instrument thing. It’s, ah….considerably more difficult nowadays.
I guess it would be too much to hope they both agree to get memberships to a boxing gym where they can beat each other up safely while wearing proper equipment and rules until they form a reluctant understanding and rivalry and this webcomic just turns into the girl version of Hajime no Ippo.
and then they could start their own roller derby team! 🙂
Or Tomo.
Yeah, and the notion that anger is something you can only find an outlet for and that it never goes away is…
Well, to be fair kind of the sort of logic I would expect from a couple of troubled teenagers, but it’s still sort of troubling.
I dont think it’s about validating the violence aspect, if anything its basically a case of “I have immense anger issues but also other issues, so I took this path to let it out and it fed me even more issues”. Less of a cop-opt and more of a mutual understanding of their situation, for better or worse.
What happens after this acknowledgement is whats must important.
When it comes to unbearable pain and anger it is kind of difficult to knit it away. I’ve been through the whole control your anger thing. I’ve tried violence. I’ve tried constructive avenues. I’ve tried turning it inwards. It is doubly difficult for someone with an abusive childhood. Emotions get tangled up within. So I understand the anger Sal and Amber are going through….sorry for the text wall..
Knitting was just an example. Everyone has different coping methods. I just think violence is pretty a unhealthy option. We’ve seen Amber struggle with rage and at her best she chooses to wear a mask and beat up campus thugs. At least Sal seems more in control and content to smoke and ride dangerously on her motorcycle. Still if they start throwing punches I’ll lose respect for both of them.
Also your comment’s hardly a text wall.
Thanks and sorry. I also really hope they don’t fight.
Enabling each others’ bad habits is pretty much exactly what this comic is about, especially the part where it inevitably ends poorly.
Well, Sal is driving her motorcycle to calm down. I think that counts.
This week’s library recommendation – Good and Angry by Rebecca Traister. Anger is the fuel behind a lot of social change, especially women’s anger.
Not in a bad way tho
I think Amber needs to take the verbal, emotional, and if it comes to it, physical L here. I assume Sal will talk it out a bit and walk away or there will be an intervention, but if neither happens I really hope she “wins”, whatever that context would be.
Gonna really suck if they fight after Amber starts it and Sal gets all the blame cuz of course she does.
Pretty sure she’s just going to walk away. Maybe a little bit of yelling, but it looks more like she’s just going to turn around and leave. Probably go get drunk.
Yeah Im on that end of things as well.
Guess then it depends on if what Sal says, if anything, provokes Amber. And how they deal with it in the aftermath.
Espescially with there recent beatdown meetups.
If they fight I think Amber gets all the blame. We’ve only seen Amber fight twice and both times (while it was justified) it was in the grip of red rage. And both times made her think she was even more of a monster than she already did.
That’s what it will be if she fights here, but even worse.
Sal’s second line in panel 5 reminds me of a quotation from “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green. It goes “That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”
This strip is SO amazing, by the way. Never have I wanted to support you on patreon more.
You know you want to see the next strip right now.
Is it me, or diud Amb’s hair get POOFIER?!
She’s subconsciously calling on the Amazi-force.
Her cells are remembering the lab accident.
Right, now can the two of you beat the stuffing out of each and get some mutual catharsis so we can move this fucking plot on?
Doesn’t this strip count as “moving the plot on”? This confrontation has had years worth of build-up and it only started three days ago. I’m not sure rushing towards catharsis is the best course of action, narrative-wise.
LESS TALKY MORE FISTY
HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ….
That would have to be in the slipshine, not here.
…Is this inside someone’s head? The weird unnatural colors make this strip feel like it’s not quite taking place in “reality” in DOA. I would think that this is all in Amber’s imagination, but does she know about Sal’s disintegrating friendship with Marcie?
It’s the evening. Sometimes, sunlight turns red when it starts to get dark.
Yeah, looking back at the last few strips, it’s sunset, but I know how I got thrown off. Yesterday’s strip had Sal against no background (which shows up as the site’s default light blue) in the first and third panels (which my mind read as a light blue sky). Then suddenly there are these dark, moody red background in panels five and six. Not paying super close attention, my brain assumed that the first, “daytime” panels were reality, and the “darker” later panels were from Amber’s distorted point of view, and that today’s strip was a continuation of that.
I believe the fact that the red only being behind Sal is to show the difference in POV. Sal sees Amber more or less realistically, Amber is projecting a threatening/evilish aura around Sal. Its a flair up from the red rage mode she had when she stabbed Sal and has carried on with since.
I think the red backgrounds are a reference to the red panels we’ve been seeing so much this storyline — Sal recognizing Amber is bringing back traumatic memories for both of them. It’s the climax of a very long leadup
Or there’s a blood moon happening! They should really take this inside before the monsters respawn.
Or, like, see a counselor
This is goinG MUCH WORSE THAN I EXPECTEX
Amber/Amazi-girl is getting the confrontation she wanted in this strip
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/my-share/
I guess this is the strip where she confirms that she thought Amazi-girl would only exist as long as she had not beaten Sal
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/it/
To be fair we were also pushing for it a couple years back.
I read that as “Dorothy is going to rat me out to everyone so I can’t be anonymous as AG”. AG persisted when Dorothy chose to keep the secret.
I love the art. Sal is all emotion and Amber is all cold concentration. If it comes to a fight, my money’s on Amber.
yeah, b.c Sal’s not looking for a fight here I think
Sal’s fist in the last frame suggests otherwise. I don’t think Sal knows what she wants right now. Amber isn’t looking to fight but is prepared.
Amber’s got her fists ready in panel 2. It’s not unreasonable for Sal to have her fists ready in panel 6. I think you’ve got the two of them mixed up.
I’m pretty sure I know Sal from Amber.
Amber’s fists are up and ready in panel 2. Sal’s hands are visibly open in panel 1 and we don’t see fists until panel 6. Sal is clearly responding to Amber’s imminent threat-to-punch, based on who went to fisty fighting stance first.
Amber, you’re one big mess, stop misunderstanding ya doink (I know, I know, she can’t help it, she doesn’t know, etc. She’s doing the bad at this empathy thing sometimes, or is it just reading the air, and while I guess you don’t need it to be a
functionalhuman being, it is very helpful)Also, oh Sal.
ugh it’s hard to not obsess about how…it feels like Amber is kind of chunni sometimes and ugh so many problems. It hurts b.c I know people who live their lives like this and it’s not like they’re abnormal, but they seems to live slightly exaggerated lives and they’re actual pains to deal with sometimes when you don’t play along with the kdrama effect
yikes please stay away from people with any sort of trauma or mental health issues.
Amber’s actually doing incredibly well here. Compared to any previous interaction with Sal.
She’s defensive, but talking.
She’s essentially got PTSD and confronting one of her triggers and doing so basically under control. This could be much worse.
I think it’ll get much worse 😕 sooner or later
Okay, wait. Weren’t these two literally just fighting side-by-side not even a chapter ago? What the hell?
New information surfaced soooo… change of circumstance?
That’s part of the problem actually. Sal probably feels manipulated and angry about that which just adds more kindling to this flurry of angry emotions that need releasing. What’s troublesome is that Amber doesn’t seem at remorseful about that. At least not yet anyway. This is but a brief moment of interaction so far.
At the beginning of this very chapter, in fact.
That was Amazi-Girl. Big difference. (slight sarcasm)
Amber saying she is “not [AG] at the moment” is a reference to her DID. Unfortunately both Ethan and Sal are likely to assume it is merely about the costume and the behaviour, and not get a clue about how serious the problem is.
On the plus side, this does imply that Amber is aware that AG has not gone away, which is a necessary (but unfortunately not sufficient) precondition for her seeking help.
Does Ethan know about her DID? Or has at least inferred it?
Not that I know of.
He’s suspected something serious might be going on, but appears to have been distracted from pursuing that further because he finds Danny adorable. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/goindown/
How likely is it that Ethan knows DID even exists? The concept is so mind-boggling it’s unlikely for someone to come up with it without prior knowledge it’s a thing.
Not to be weird, but what media have you been consuming that you find the concept of dissassociative identities to be mind-bogglingly outlandish and unknowable?
How likely is it that Ethan has heard of Multiple Personality Disorder, the outdated term that many people still know it by? Pretty likely. Now, how likely he UNDERSTANDS it or would assign it as something that describes his best friend, that seems less likely. But that he knows it exists? Yeah, I’d assume he does.
He’s probably seen depictions of it in movies and such. And he doesn’t realise that Amber may have it. Maybe he doesn’t know how bad it has gotten.
It’s a common soap opera trope. Days of Our Lives is running it now. Evil Gabby vs nice Abby.
Maybe I don’t watch enough television to know what someone who is 17 now might have heard about.
@ pagannerd: no matter which way you look at it, really getting what DID means is mind-boggling.
I feel like Sal is having one of those “it’s like looking in a mirror” moments and doesn’t like what she sees. Like she really gets what Marcie was talking about now.
Amber clearly WANTS to fight, but I’m hoping Sal will find a way to avoid it.
Also, Sal has NO idea how much of a red flag that “not at the moment” was.
I don’t think Amber wants to fight at all, but she’s prepared for Sal to be looking for revenge.
She’s dealing with the contrast between reality and the personal mythology she’s built up where Sal is some kind of evil monster nemesis. Helped by knowing that AG has been able to work with Sal and by knowing Ethan’s talked to her peacefully, but unable to completely process it.
It’s a huge positive sign that she hasn’t attacked or run. Or lost control to Amazi-Girl, though she’s been fighting that lately.
I like the fact that these two are going to finally air out at least some of their mutual dirty laundry, it’s honestly something they both need in order to move forward, but I’m rather concerned because I expect that Amber’s reaction here is leading down an unpleasant path before they get to that point while Sal may or may not be in the right headspace to even try to deescalate the situation which is what she needs to do. Meanwhile Amber may end up worse off in her AG issues because we could see Sal and Ethan actually directly witness her shifting between her two main alters here if AG takes over to stop an Amber/Sal fight.
There are also going to be some elements of this, either way, that could spill over to have implications regarding Walky, Danny, Malaya or Marcie even if they don’t turn up by the end of it (I’d be unsurprised to see at least one of those four turn up at the worst time for one or more involved parties here).
This is missing something…..
…. [u]Walky[/u] needs to show up. Then it will be perfect.
(Substitute in for “Walky” your choice of Malaya, Carla, Ryan, Cloe, Mary, Faz, Blaine, or Linda.)
And, um, pretend that’s a fill-in-the-blank underline rather than a Reltzik-can’t-internet BBCode botch.
No you
Joyce. Even better than Walky.
I mean we could use a, “let she who is not garbage throw the first punch,” quote about now.
Sal, why does the stalking only matter to you now and not when you were beating baddies together? Amber, why the fuck are you dropping into a fighting stance before Sal even does or says ANYTHING? What the actual fuck, girls. What makes either of you think punching eachothER WILL HAVE ANY POSITIVE OUTCOMES.
I guess it matters to Sal now because now she has the added context of: “and you stabbed through my fucking hand five years ago!”. So Amber stalked Sal, obsessed over her, fought with her, Sal lost her best friend due to said fighting and it just so happens that Amber also stabbed her and probably caused some severe damage to Sal’s hand when they were thirteen.
She can’t play bass anymore.
Well for one. Amber is no longer an anonymous super hero but the girl who stabbed Sal five years ago. That context makes what she’s done worse and just the revelation of that in general is a surprise to Sal.
Secondly, Amber’s go to is violence in times she feels threatened. Times such as when her dad visits and is literally threatening her or perhaps when the girl you stabbed in the hand five years ago discovers you’ve been stalking her as a masked super hero, dating her brother, and entered into a begrudging partnership under false pretenses that has jeopardized the most important relationship in her life.
Amber is kind of irrational to think Sal would take that out on Ethan though. He literally just told her they reconciled. She is not all there.
she’s clearly losing control of herself. she’s not making a bad decision, she’s not making decisions at all.
Amber? It might be tenuous, but she’s clearly keeping control. If she wasn’t, she’d be tearing at Sal through a red haze.
Instead, she’s defensive and even that softens in that last panel.
Danny walks in out of nowhere.
“
SalAmber?”Does Amber know about the sidekick-thing? Probably not.. Wonder if it’ll come up.
I also wonder if sal is willing to keep Ambers identity as ag secret.
No way. She asked Danny to ask her to stop.
OTOH, she’s been willing to work with AG, even if she criticizes her methods.
She also fought along with her, sooo.. I’m not sure. It’ll stay interesting for a while now, I think.
Is panel 4 Amber talking about herself/AG, i.e. “When I was stalking you, I was working through a lot of anger”, or Sal, “You lost your best friend and fought alongside AG because you’ve been working through a lot of anger”? Or both?
Amber looks posed to protect Ethan, indicating she expects Sal’s anger issues to emerge messily? But she knows she behaved poorly, and Sal didn’t warrant her harrassment…
Remember that Amber seems to think that Sal is some kind of monster. Of course she expects her rage to come out easily and be directed at the innocent. The funny thing (in a tragically ironic way) is that Sal sees Amber in more-or-less the same way, based on their confrontation outside of the convenience store a few months back.
Based on whatever she saw AG do since they teamed up.
Ethan: What if we try to resolve our traumas by talking things out instead???
Amber: I’m Amber O’Malley. You used my best friend as a hostage. Prepare to die.
So we have two women that have hurt each other badly: one traumatized an already mentally unstable kid that was verbally abused by her father, and the other went a little stabby.
The problem is that both don’t see their own responsibilities: Amber can’t move on from her hatred to a random person that scared her (and serves as a escape goat for Blaine’s abuse), and Sal can’t see that she herself has caused her own alienation from Marcie.
Both blame each other for things they did and wouldn’t stop until a third party intervenes (like the Doctor), or both beat each other in a Fight Club scenario where the two become a bloody mess and start crying.
Did you mean to say escape goat, or was that supposed to be scapegoat?
Scapegoat.
This is the point where Sal and Amber, much to their mutual surprise, realise that they are very alike, especially in their more self-destructive instincts.
I get the feeling that’s more self-aware than either are going to be at the moment.
Yeah, that’s why it’s going to have to be Ethan to tell them so.
Actually Sal noted the similarities right after Amazing Girl came to from the car chase. Mainly the anger but honestly I feel they are two very different who have a few elements that strongly align.
I think Sal is way further along in her journey of dealing with her anger and leading a producive life, though.
Joining AmaziGirl in her rampages may have been a step back, but before that happened she already recognised AmaziGirl’s behaviour as destructive.
This is balanced on a knife edge and could go either way.
I’m hoping that, probably for the first time in his life, Ethan comes out of his shell and tells the girls to stop being silly.
Maybe silly is not the right word for the situation.
I hope this doesn’t end up with Sal and Amber fighting each other here.
I’m not sure that Amazi-Girl will allow that. In which case, Sal gets front row centre on just how bad Amber’s problems really are.
Don’t worry, mid-fight they’ll start fucking instead.
This ought to be Sals dream come true.
She can prove to Marcie she can de escalate .
She just needs to make sure to grab that selfie.
I would like to remind whatever person(s) may happen to scroll down this far to this comment that the last panel of this previous comic happened:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/highstrung/
Ethan: “uh hey yeah this all seems really important do you mind if I go get some coffee or something in a hardened nuclear fallout shelter or something I’m just really thirsty and hey is that a squirrel?”
So I’m very likely forgetting some key points, but why WAS Amber stalking Sal for all that time? I remember her going for a stab after her dad continued berating her at the station a few years ago, but after that it’s blurry. Did Amber stalk Sal cause she realised who she’d spotted and was hoping to “bring ’em to justice”, even if Sal hadn’t actually DONE anything to deserve it by then outside of petty crimes?
Sal tried to get Amazigirl’s boyfriend to have an intervention. At least one poster thought that the fact that Amazigirl is not just an activity that Amber does made this worse.
So both of em’ broke the MERCY option, huh?
You’re ALL gonna have a bad time.
Megalovania Despacito hybrid.
Yeeeeah. This is going towards hot hate-fuck, innit.
Walky: “You know what, sis. You can have this one.”
I see no reason to not tag team “this one”. She can take it.
Amber, put yer fists down ya fuckin dipshit.
She can’t do that. She has to protect Ethan from the monsters. Both of them.
Bingo. (But three. And Mike isn’t even there)
Now Ethan, put on you super hero mantle and step between them before this escalates.
(If you do, you are by far the most courageous person in the dumbiverse).
THEY ARE TALKING
it’s a bit more intense than one would have hoped, AND YET IT IS HAPPENING
This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny
Sal, Amber, and Drama as far as the eye can see
And only one will survive I wonder who it will be
This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny
Drama. Drama will survive.
Sal has a good memory for what other people say! She’s so thoughtful!
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/scales/
Funny thing is, Amber knows nothing of that conversation. But she says the same thing Amazi-Girl said there.
I didn’t even realize they were repeating that whole conversation from earlier. Holy cow. And the look on Sal’s face: as if she’s throwing AG’s words back at Amber.
*Emotions*
It’s not surprising Amber would repeat the words even without the memory. The belief has been core to her for awhile now. But the implication is that it’s okay if she and Sal hurt each other because they aren’t good people.
Yea but I can’t help being angry but at least Amazigirl can insure I only hurt the bad people has been Amber’s belief for a while now.
Not anymore.
Amazi-Girl failed her with Ryan and there’s no salvaging her now.
That shouldn’t stop Amber from knowing where Amazigirl would go with this.
Actually based solely on this motto middle name Ryan was a perfectly valid target. But I think Amber also has a thing about not throwing the first punch, and stopping before she goes too far.
Amber has only fought three times in the present day comic. She punched Blaine (striking first). She stomped Blaine into the ground, though she might have been Amazi-Girl when that started. And she cut Ryan to shreds – technically she may have made the first move there, but Ryan was threatening her with a knife, so it’s all good.
In the latter two cases, she definitely didn’t stop before going too far.
Amazi-Girl has rules. Amber doesn’t.
Amber sees herself as a monster and Amazi-Girl’s role as stopping her from hurting people. It was Amazi-Girl’s failure to do so with Ryan that worsened the split between, I think. Amber may know where Amazi-Girl would go with this, but does that actually matter to her?
Amazi-Girl’s no longer necessary. She lost. Amber’s irredeemable. Garbage.
I knew the dialog seemed familiar. I remembered Sal having some kind of conversation with AG similar to this before but I couldn’t place when
Oh, nice catch!
Are they both about to cry?
Whelp. Here we go. Amber is about to prove she’s exactly like her father.
It’s no secret she inherited his fowl temper and violent tendencies. But she’s also inherited his constant rationalizing abusive behavior. Yes, she tried to channel this by going in the opposite direction as him and being a superhero, only beating up the bad guys…or at least, whoever she perceives as a bad guy, whether they actually are or not.
Her whole “It’s okay, because I’m serving up justice.” is not any different from Blaine’s “It’s okay, because it’s tough love.” rationale.
Yeah, Sal did a terrible thing in the past. She had her reasons, but it’s not something I’ll defend. However, she’s since done her time and hasn’t committed any crimes aside from underage drinking (which only effects herself). Even though Sal did not escape punishment, Amber’s enraged because in her head, it wasn’t punishment enough. She wants her attackers to suffer for the rest of their life. In other words, just projecting her dad onto everyone who wrongs her.
Blaine is the cause of all her pain and suffering. I doubt anyone would argue with me on that. She probably thought beating him to a pulp would make it all go away. All it did was give her a taste for revenge. It felt good to be the one doing all the hitting for once, and now she’s addicted. She has spiraled out of control since then. She’s deluded herself into viewing her life as a comic book, with black and white heroes vs villains. She can’t see Sal as human anymore. She’s just another Blaine who must be taken out.
She sees Sal as a sort of catalyst for her mental state, when really it was more so Blaine. I mean, Sal had been restrained and disarmed by the police. She had taken Ethan hostage, but it’s clear she didn’t actually stab or cut him. And yet, despite that she was already being arrested and was facing consequences for her crime, Amber chose to stab her right in the hand. In her head, brutally attacking an unarmed and restrained person was okay, because said person was bad. Had the police not held her back, she likely would have gone further, as she’s implied to have done with Ryan. Angry as she was with Sal, her violent outburst back then was prompted by Blaine egging her on, by calling her weak and laying on the guilt over not being able to save Ethan from “a punk with a knife”. It was her first real taste of revenge. For the first time, she was the one in control of the abuse.
“I fucked up your hand, stalked you, tried to provoke you into fighting, and harassed you relentlessly because I’m working through anger. But it’s okay, because I aim my anger at BAD people.”
It’s all just rationalizing. Trying to justify it. Just like an abuser would do.
It doesn’t matter that Amber is using her violent tendencies “for good”. She’s still acting just like Blaine. And if she doesn’t get her shit together soon, she’ll become something even worse.
Hopefully Ethan can intervene and at least prevent a fight from breaking out. Defusing the tension is obviously out of his hands, but I’m praying he can keep them from brawling.
Not at all.
Yes, Amber’s got serious problems. Yes, her treatment of Sal is awful and unjustified.
No, she’s not “another Blaine who must be taken out.” She’s nowhere near those depths and isn’t going to be.
Yeesh, first we got people saying Sal’s turning into Linda when she was talking with Marcie and now people saying Amber’s turning into Blaine.
Wonder when we’re gonna get people saying Carla’s turning into Mary or Becky’s turning into Toedad?
Carla might be turning into her mother, though. We don’t know details, but from what we know she sounds pretty cool.
Yeah, Mama Rutten sounds pretty neat!
I think they meant that Amber sees Sal as just another Blaine, rather than Amber herself being just another Blaine.
“Amber is about to prove she’s exactly like her father.
It’s no secret she inherited his fowl temper and violent tendencies”
No. I really don’t think so.
No. This may end up going badly, and Amber may even end up doing something shitty, but even people who DON’T have abusive fathers fuck up.
This is clearly going to get heated, but Amber is taking a defensive stance here. Considering how she’s never been able to get this close to Sal without having a panic attack before, and Sal is (understandably) rather angry, Amber is staying remarkably calm.
They BOTH have every reason to distrust and even hate the other, no matter how either has changed since the robbery. They can only control their actions, not their feelings.
Hey, at least they’re talking!
Oh. Well good then.
“So direct it away from good people” –
An suddenly Mary walks by and asks what’s happening.
oh hell. amber’s about to tell her to take it out on her isn’t she.
I’m pretty sure she’s trying to protect Ethan from a threat that only exists in her head.
She might. Actually makes sense, for her, but… I don’t think so?
Actually that’s probably what this hole thing is.
I know that’s not how he rolls, but I kinda hope Ethan picks up both of them by the scruff of the neck and tells them to talk it out like adults.
Isn’t that what they’re doing right now? No one’s hitting anyone yet, and Sal basically took the whole strip to process the new informetion rather than immediately attack. She’s not as calm as would be preferred, but she’s definitely still talking.
Still dont think Sal realises Amber is also the girl that stabbed her.
The first thing she did was to uncover the scar on her hand. First time in the entire comic, I think.
She’s realised.
Is it the red that Sal lives in? Or the red that’s in Amber’s vision?
What?
I think these two deserve each other!
Goshdarnit, lookit Amber’s fighting pose. So much energy to it. Love it.
… Wait no shit Amber stop it with the fighting stance that’s not what we need right now
Ominous reds are ominous.
Also man, who in the main cast isn’t gonna know AG and Amber?
It depends on what conclusion Sal comes to about how harmful or helpful spreading it around would be. After all, she doesn’t know the full story yet.
Anyone else notice where they are squaring off?
At the top of the stairs in front of the doors. The same glass doors as Amber went stabby on ol’ McScarface, I think.
This could get REAL bad.
Nah, these are the doors on the opposite side of that wing.
Who would put cameras on the opposite side of the wing.
I’m kind of aggravated that, when Sal said: “You stalked me, obsessed over me, I fought you and lost my best friend,” Amber responds with a cold: “Just working through a lot of anger.” That was a good place to put an apology or something that would be at least an attempt at being conciliatory, but she very openly doesn’t seem to give a shit about doing all that and also deceiving Sal this whole time.
Remember, Amber thinks that she is a monster. She’ll play the part, especially around those who are part of her at least partly-delusional mental melodrama.
Also. I fought WITH you and lost my best friend. She sided with Amazigirl and paid the price. Another thing Amber owes her for.
I like how every panel is mildly tinted Red. It’s a nice touch. really adds to the intensity.
It’s just the setting sunlight. Purely coincidental. 🙂
Oh boy, there are zero scenarios where this ends well…
Nonsense. Whether we’ll see those scenarios is another matter entirely.
On that note, those who have already read it can laugh at me, but on behalf of tomorrow’s comic, let me be the first to say, Damn you Willis!!!
Well, I hate being right about Sal assigning that blame. It’s only marginally better to blame Amber (instead of Malaya) for the distance between Sal and Marcie but it’s still a dodge of responsibility.
I really hope Sal decides to walk away and take time to process all of this instead of acting rashly here, but blaming Amber for the Marcie situation really stokes the anger Sal already has about all the other facets of this.
Not quite the way I read it. I read it more as Sal feeling betrayed by AG. Less “It’s your fault I lost my best friend” and more “i fought those guys WITH you and as a result lost my best friend and you were the girl who stabbed me this whole time?!?”
Oh yeah, here’s a very important question to ask about that final panel.
Is Amber making sure Ethan stays safe or is she making sure he’s not in her way?
I think she wants Ethan to be safe, but maybe not from Sal.
Given the “direct it away from good people” line, she’s protecting Ethan.
That’s likely, yeah. I only question it because we know Ethan would discourage her from escalating this if he had the nerve. (or maybe the chance to get a word in right now) AG has weirdly made her peace with Sal in a way but Amber hasn’t, and she’s in high-octane adrenaline-pumping mode right now. Amber and AG were a lot less separated back when both of them were actively gunning for Sal. I’m not saying it’s definitely the case but it’s possible she wants this fight to happen and wants to make sure Ethan doesn’t stop her.
I just don’t see many people exploring this angle and i figured i would bring it up.
Yes.
Amber is so hot right here.
Well nothing is on fire and there is no blood spill. We are on a good path.
Is Amber saying that last line?
Most likely yes. It’s a very Amber thing to say, I think.
Whack speculation:
Sal and Amber do not fight. Amber seems to think that Sal wants to hurt Ethan? Sal explains that she wanted to do something friend-adjacent with Ethan. Like maybe Apples-to-Apples again. And Amber . . . could . . . maybe . . . play too?
Result: most awkward Apples-to-Apples in the history of Apples-to-Apples.
Okay not necessarily exactly what you said, but I’d love if Sal was seeking Ethan out to be like ‘hey, things are kind of shit with my other friends, can we actually hang out?’
(maybe not in front of Amber, I’m not sure she’s ready to be (or should ever be) vulnerable in front of someone who stalked and threatened her, with implied racist reasons (Sal said this early on and AG agreed in order to aggravate her, but Sal doesn’t know it’s untrue, not to mention how AGs actions would read even without that), and said she was glad Sal had a record, but this is a bit offtopic so just go with the first paragraph of this comment)
Sal knows the racism part is untrue she learned it just now.
the last panels are 1 ambers natural reaction to sal due to ptsd and 2 ambers justification for amazigirl aka “the batman” defense
If your pissed off in pain and violent .. might as well take it out on those who deserve it societies “bad guys”
Its Ethan that’s going to make the store incident come together and force some type of reckoning …… since that was the whole point of it anyways “oh hey I just met up convenience store girl and were cool and you two should talk …… especially since he’s your current flings sister ….”
also does Marcie know that the whole fight at the rally was because they were trying to catch a serial rapist who almost raped joyce and did rape others ? )an earlier strip mentioned at least 6 other girls came forward after he was caught )
I don’t think Marcie especially cares what the motivation was, just that she got fucked over by it.
There’s been no indication at all that Sal ever explained the context of what happened. She also didn’t explain the context of who she and AG were fighting at night during one of their last conversations, instead just leaving it for Marcie to make assumptions about.
I don’t really understand Sal’s underlying motivation here? Maybe next strip with her will contextualize it but it just seems weird
I think she’s overcome with shock right now.
I um …. I don’t know how to react to this.
REALLY
remember when amber was sneaking around stealing shit just to spite AG? well, AG is just about to make Amber her sidekick’s sidekick.
your move, me.
DO YOU NOT GET WHY SHE DID THAT SAL I MEAN COME ON
Ethan’s Face in Panel 6: Wait… you’re Amazi-Girl?