213

Rei
Posted on May 8, 2020 by David M Willis

213 thoughts on “Rei”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    maybe

    …

    actualy, I just remembered the middling movie The Invisible, which was about a boy who “died” (got knocked into a coma somewhere) and went around haunting people until he found a girl who could see him and help him solve his “murder”

    this is a much better version of that, regardless if Mike is astral projecting or whatever

    1. clif

      Regardless, I officially hate myself for laughing. Damn, well done, Willis!

    2. Geno

      Honestly I kinda liked that movie. I’m usually really cynical about movie love stories, but that got me for some reason

  2. OtterBoy1

    MIKE WHAT THE FUCK

    1. King Daniel

      Pretty sure it’s Amber/Amazi-Girl’s hallucination, again.

      1. inqntrol

        Weird moment for him to appear though.

        1. motorfirebox

          Just as Amber’s starting to blame herself for letting someone die seems like as good a time as any.

      2. Diane

        I think so too? Mainly because no one else is looking up, and even if someone important to me was dying before me, if some random stranger just suddenly snuck in and said something, after I had been kidnapped and attacked/told my friends were kidnapped and attacked, I’d be on high alert and at least looking as to where the unknown voice came from.

      3. Rose by Any Other Name

        I’m not so sure. He appears to be… shaded.

        1. King Daniel

          Appearance is consistent with his last hallucinatory appearance: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/contradictory/

          And is not consistent with his appearance in Amazi-Girl’s memory of the Mike-drop aftermath: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/ninest/

        2. Dafydd

          LOL “Mike drop” 😛

        3. Axel

          yeah he’s not blue

        4. Autogatos

          He’s “in shadow” but he’s still all flat colors. Every other character visible has light shining on them from the top of the staircase, Mike doesn’t.

      4. Yumi

        Like, I know it is, but it would just be so funny (to me) if it wasn’t. Mike’s just there now. The whole fight and his injuries are never mentioned again. No one even questions where he came from here.

      5. Dark_T_Zeratul

        I dunno… I feel like a hallucination would just appear rather than walking in, and this kind of entrance is very on brand for Mike.

        1. Yumi

          Okay, but where’s Mike walking in from? Is there a secret bunker connected to the basement? Was that feature listed on AirBnB or did Blaine just luck out?

        2. Rose by Any Other Name

          I mean, he could have just been tied up in the room next door. Maybe Sarah just untied him?

        3. GutterChick

          He’s in the hospital though? Why would Blaine need to call to tell his goons to finish him off if he’s there in the basement with everyone else?

        4. abacuswizard

          The secret bunker is in a hidden pocket in Amazi-Girl’s utility belt.

        5. BarerMender

          A pocket of holding.

        6. Caspar Mulders

          It’s kinda like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”:

          “Mike, you mean you could’ve walked in here any time you wanted?”
          “Nooo! Just when it would be offensive!”

        7. ValdVin

          You just lifted my favorite line from that movie!

        8. Needfuldoer

          Exterior basement stairs. If you ever have to replace the furnace or water heater, it’s got to get down there somehow.

        9. King Daniel

          My comment with links is still waiting approval (any comment with more than one link needs Willis to check it first), but Mike’s outfit here is pretty much exactly how he looked in his last hallucinatory appearance, and not at all how he looked the last time we actually saw him.

        10. Rose by Any Other Name

          The outfit is a fair point, but I’m not sure how it stands compared to lighting effects being used on him now and not previously.

          I mean, either one could be an accidental art error or an intentional fucking-with-our-heads, so who knows? I sure don’t.

        11. pdp15

          Everybody else has light from the stairwell as highlights.
          But not HalluciMike.

        12. King Daniel

          Yep.

        13. Needfuldoer

          He also fell 30-ish feet onto pavement. Even if he survived that, there’s no way he’d already be up and about on his own two feet.

        14. Chaucer59

          The hallucinations I recollect from my DTs (understand, this was almost 40 years ago), always acted very slyly like real people. They opened doors and walked into the room. They often came in with real people, and I got embarrassed stares so often that I stopped saying things like “Of course I recognize you and Joe and Jerry, but who’s the new guy?” Or “Janet, why are you in Mare Island? Who told you about this? How did you even get on base?”

        15. Alaric

          If that were the real Mike, though, there’s no way the others wouldn’t be reacting to him. He’s just interrupted a very quiet, emotional moment, AND they were told he was in the hospital.

      6. bemisawa

        …Maybe? I’m on the fence, because here he seems to at least have shading. That would definitely make sense. I guess we’ll find out if Amber is the only one who reacts to him being there.

        1. Rose by Any Other Name

          That’s what I’m saying. Those are clearly lighting effects.

          As for only Amber reacting – Becky didn’t know he was “in a coma” and has more important shit to deal with right now. The later also applies to Joyce. As for Dina, didn’t the Mike thing happen before she showed up? So yeah… everyone else is kinda occupied.

        2. Yumi

          It’s the same level of lighting effect he previously had as a hallucination, though.

        3. ElectricBlue

          Yeah, he does have shading in the sense that his colours are muted to match the dark basement, if that’s what you mean by lighting effects, but it’s consistent with other appearances in dimly lit locations, like this strip and the one after it: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/operating/

          I think the shading rules for hallucination!Mike are to treat his character as a flat object, like a cardboard cutout, instead of a 3-D person. So he has shadows under his bangs and chin, but they’re solid black shadows that are part of the “cutout” design. And a cardboard cutout would appear darker in a dark basement, but wouldn’t really show backlighting like the other characters do in this strip (the light around their heads coming from upstairs).

        4. ElectricBlue

          It does kinda look like his arms are different shades, though – is that the lighting effect you’re referring to? I’d chalked it up to an optical illusion based on the nearby colours, but I decided to eyedropper it in Photoshop since I’m spending all this time commenting on it anyway – I can confirm, his arms are in fact the same colour. Hex code #757752, btw (which seems way too dark if you look it up but works in the strip cause it’s surrounded by darker colours).

        5. pdp15

          … and this is how we tell when somebody’s been in quarantine too long …

        6. Sadeveryday

          For the sake of argument, his shirt does have similar lighting to Ross’s pants, but idk if thats just how Willis expresses black shirts. I agree with you that he’s a hallucination.

        7. NelC

          Mike doesn’t have the backlighting that the other figures have, so my money’s on this being the hallucination/astral projection.

        8. Needfuldoer

          It’s asshole projection, he’s a hologram made out of flatulence.

        9. Demolition Fan

          Close, but you misspelled petulance.

      7. Miri

        Pretty sure if he really sauntered in and asked that other people would have turned to look at him too…

        1. BarerMender

          Especially after his smart remark. Someone would be saying “Hanky-panky you, Mike.”

        2. clif

          Too late. He has the last panel.

      8. Zaxares

        Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s AG’s hallucination of him. Notice the complete lack of reaction from the other 3 girls in the room.

    2. Cheshrin

      Still HalluciMike, I think. Amazi-Girl’s the only one who looks up at him.

    3. ReFlex76

      Asshole dies, I’d wanna be there to point and laugh.

  3. Melissa in MO

    OMG…is it really Mike…or his astral projection?

    1. James Rye

      His projection, look from where he enters the scene and where the only entrance to this room is.

  4. Marsh Maryrose

    Amber hallucination Mike gonna MIke. Just like real world Mike.

  5. Crimsonstorm

    Fine print what fine print

    Also I wonder if Ambazigirl will have the presence of mind not to talk to her hallucinations in front of strangers?

    1. Doctor_Who

      The fine print states that by reading this comic, we all owe Willis 20 Damn Yous a year, and either our immortal souls or a Dinobot for the Dinobot shelf.

      1. Deanatay

        Wait, that’s unclear. Can we get him a Grimlock, or does it have to be Dinobot?

        1. Roborat

          Would it be okay if I got a knockoff instead?

    2. Undrave

      Probably that it only applied to characters who appeared in the original Walkyverse? Maybe?

      1. Doctor_Who

        Ross did though, he made his debut in Joyce and Walky. Maybe only in the subscription strips, though.

    3. redfuzzy

      I think the fine print was the reason for the rule: cause of the slow progression of time in the comic everyone would be in mourning for the rest of the comic.

      No one in the main cast is gonna mourn Ross so bad it would stop the story in its tracks.

    4. Keulen

      Yeah I definitely don’t remember any fine print to the “nobody dies” rule.

      1. Sam

        The fine print is that it can’t be someone who would halt the story in its track due to the slow pace meaning they would be mourned by most or all of the cast for long periods of time. Ross will be mourned briefly at best, not long-term, and not for a significantly large number of people.

  6. Passchendaele

    was very afraid to check today’s comic because I thought it’d be either sad or terrifying, and yet it managed to be something different and also indescribable

    1. Passchendaele

      I’m feeling emotions and eventually I’ll figure out what they are

      1. Solenoid

        That’s a mood

  7. BBCC

    Hi, hallucination Mike!

    And oh lord, that wasn’t The rule? WHAT WAS THE RULE THEN WILLIS???

    1. Fart Captor

      No character would be killed, because the time scale is so slow the rest of comic would just be the other characters grieving.

      Tbh that last bit was my first thought when it appeared that Mike might’ve died, but for Ross it’s barely gonna be an issue

      1. BBCC

        No, I got that but the alt text said this wasn’t technically breaking the rule. He said earlier he DID break one of the big rules so I was thinking that meant the rule he broke wasn’t referring to the no kill rule (or at least not here) and the big rule he broke would be coming later in the storyline.

        1. Kamino Neko

          He’s broken the no kill rule, but it doesn’t technically count because of the reasoning being that killing somebody off would derail the comic because they’d be mourning FOREVER.

          Ross will not be mourned, at least like that – Becky’s feelings are no doubt complicated, but she’s already done most of the heavy mourning ages ago.

          This adheres to the spirit of the rule while breaking the word of the rule.

        2. Fart Captor

          When somebody qualifies a statement with “technically”, that usually means that speaking more casually the same statement would at least appear untrue. Though I don’t actually remember what any of the other rules were, so if this wasn’t the rule he broke then I have no idea what it even might be

        3. BBCC

          Aliens? Revisiting a Walkyverse relationship NOT from a new angle?

      2. cosine

        alternatively they’re both dead and the comic’s gonna end

    2. Lingo

      Not to kill off a character the other characters would really mourn? Whose death would hang over everyone’s heads over the whole school year? I mean they’re mourning him a bit here, but they’ll get over it. ToeDad was a ToeDick.

      1. Miri

        I’m sure there’s an Oglaf strip kinda like that… (NSFW… This is a comic where the Archives page flags up the individual comics that *are* safe! https://www.oglaf.com/intermission/)

        1. Ray Radlein

          Ooooh. Right in the middle of the Fungod arc.

    3. deathjavu

      “No serious injuries” was a rule along with “no deaths” for the same reason (aftermath lasts forever), so Mike being in the hospital also breaks the rule.

  8. Dark_T_Zeratul

    I dunno… I feel like a hallucination would just appear rather than walking in, and this kind of entrance is very on brand for Mike.

    1. Masumi

      On the other hand, if he’s physically walked in, wouldn’t he have come down the stairs? I doubt this basement has other entrances.

      1. Lawzlo

        Quick, Dina, poke him in the ribs to see if he’s real.

      2. Kamino Neko

        More significantly, nobody but Amber/Amazi-Girl is reacting to him, and not reacting to Mike being Mike in a situation like this is very much not on brand for Joyce.

    2. Dark_T_Zeratul

      Stupid Disqus, this was supposed to be a reply up above.

  9. quinn

    No, I don’t remember the fine print!
    In fact I think I only ever heard the rule second-hand, is it codified someplace?

  10. Nick Piers

    What was The Rule, anyway? I think it was something like no character would be killed, unlike Willis’ previous comics? Where can we see this Rule? And, uh, what was the fine print?

    1. King Daniel

      The fine print being “unless not a lot of people cared about that character”, as I recall. When he first mentioned it, he brought up Tony as a possible hypothetical example.

    2. BigDogLittleCat

      I thought the rule was no one whose would cause everyone to go into mourning because they’d be depressed for the duration of the comic.

      Joyce is going to be shook up of course, but she won’t *mourn* him. Becky might not either. We don’t know how much affection she had for her father before it all hit the fan. I imagine she’s seen him with different eyes since Bonnie died.

      1. AntJ

        Ross was already dead to Becky, and has been since this strip: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/unlimited/

      2. Maddieface

        I think Becky will grieve but not mourn, if I can make that distinction. It’s hard for the death of someone who was that influential in your life to not affect your emotions somehow.

      3. Bagge

        Yup. Becky already lost her father, back when he tried to force her from andersons and she had to go on the run to avoid being kidnapped.

      4. T Campbell

        So, wait, we CAN kill Blaine?

        Excuse me, I’ll be right back…

  11. Foxhack

    What is that line in the second and fourth panels, next to Toedead’s hand?

    And yes I said Toedead

    I suck

    1. Diane

      Oh, we had the same question, at the same time. Neat.

      1. BigDogLittleCat

        I would have asked the same question if you two hadn’t beat me to it.

        1. clif

          What are you guys talking about?

        2. King Daniel

          Mindworms. Mindworms in OUR BRAINS.

          (More seriously: the originally-posted version of today’s strip included thick, brown-ish, squiggly lines on the ground next to Ross’s hand in the two above-mentioned panels, in a different position each panel – they’ve since been edited out.)

        3. BigDogLittleCat

          I’m still seeing them Friday evening…

        4. King Daniel

          The mindworms haven’t gotten to you yet then

    2. Fart Captor

      Very fast worms

  12. Diane

    Could someone explain what those lines are by Ross’s arm are in panels 2 and 4?

    1. bemisawa

      I totally didn’t notice that, and now that I did I find it, oddly, the most disturbing thing in today’s strip, by virtue of being so completely without explanation.

    2. woobie

      There are no lines. You are delusional.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      I don’t see any lines, just shadows being cast by Becky and Dina.  Unless Willis substituted a second, cleaned-up version of the original strip.

      1. Yumi

        There def were lines; still get that version on my computer, but get the fixed version on my phone.

        I guess the answer to the “what those lines were” question is: none of our concern.

        1. King Daniel

          They were mindworms. They disappeared from the comic because THEY ENTERED OUR BRAINS.

        2. Reltzik

          Stay calm! Use your flame guns!

        3. Diane

          Yeah, they’re gone on my screen too. Looking back at the past couple strips, I think it was meant to represent blood from the struggle the dads had, but Willis maybe decided “eh, nah, don’t need to highlight the amount of blood here.”

        4. BigDogLittleCat

          I still have the lines on my phone.

    4. TimeLoss

      I spotted those lines looking for clues because Mike reappeared. Now on refresh they are gone. Guess they were some kind of mistake and not a hint at something.

    5. BarerMender

      I have looked very closely and I don’t see any lines.

  13. AntJ

    Where does the strip title come from?

    1. woobie

      Ayanami is the only Rei that comes to my mind.

    2. BigDogLittleCat

      Good question. Portuguese money and REI outfitters is all I got.

      “Rest Eternal Idiot”?
      “Resting, Error Indicated”?

    3. PB

      I think it’s an Evangelion reference.

    4. JessWitt

      I did a google and I think it refers to a character from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

      https://evangelion.fandom.com/wiki/Rei_Ayanami

      Doing some reading to see if there’s a connection and how. No spoilers though for any folks who still want to watch.

    5. JessWitt

      Maybe the last two paragraphs under the Background section, especially the final one.

      1. AntJ

        That checks out, thanks

        1. JessWitt

          Sure thing.

  14. G97

    It’s my theory that Mike is totally fine and without any serious medical issues and has inherited Dina’s ability to perfectly sneak up on people. The only reason why Joyce, Becky and Dina aren’t acknowledging him is because they are in the middle of a moment of silence and don’t want to say anything until the moment has passed.

    1. Mra

      The lighting on him is different

      1. Axel

        He’s not quite in the door-light though, so that’s ambiguous

        1. Regalli

          Eh, I can see lighting on AG and she’s a bit further back, so I’m pretty sure we’re still operating on ‘hallucination’.

        2. G97

          Maybe Mike developed light bending technology that operates on high levels of insults?

  15. Kyrik Michalowski

    I think the fine print was that Willis reserves the right to bend his own rules as he sees fit. The question is, what rule(s) has Willis broken?

    1. Rartorata

      As I recall, the “rule” in question was a promise not to kill any characters, as that would derail the comic for a very long time while the others mourned. Something similar applied to serious injuries, for about the same reasons.
      Mike outright broke the second rule by landing in hospital; Ross gets the fine-print exception because, while Becky and Joyce will likely be at his funeral, I wouldn’t say the anyone in the major cast is going to mourn him, per se.

  16. brasca1

    Well at least Amber doesn’t have to worry about her father anymore. He’s looking at manslaughter charges at the very least and that crew of his will turn on him to save their sorry asses from conspiracy and kidnapping charges.

    1. King Daniel

      “Manslaughter”? We’re looking at felony murder here. That’s the one crime in Indiana, basically, which denies the possibility of bail.

    2. JetstreamGW

      Oh no, that’s flat out homicide. There’s no way to swing this to manslaughter. He assaulted a man with a weapon with intent to harm. If he didn’t premeditate it and plan to kill him, then it isn’t a Capital crime. It’s still murder.

      1. King Daniel

        I believe this actually does carry the chance of the death penalty in Indiana in theory, though the state hasn’t actually carried out any executions in over a decade IIRC.

      2. SalleighG

        … is the implication that Blaine could end up in a Death Penalty trial? The kids would be witnesses in any prosecution of Blaine for the death, and that would drag the comic right down, so maybe Ross is not dead quite.

      3. Regalli

        It has CLEAR malice aforethought, which is the necessary clause for a murder in Indiana over homicide, and was in the context of a kidnapping so it’d be bumped up to felony murder anyway. Along with any other conspirators who get caught (things do not look good for the goons, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Asher knows how to wipe his phone,) on the grounds that people getting murdered here was an entirely foreseeable outcome given what they signed up for. (And since Dawson used the word ‘hostage’ and Nameless Goon #1 called them escapees, good fucking luck claiming you didn’t know what you were signing on for, assholes.)

        (My actual thoughts on felony murder are significantly more conflicted than exist here in the context of the goons, where we know for a fact all these guys signed up to keep a bunch of people hostage to avenge their rapist friend after trying to dox his other accusers. This is pretty much why the concept exists – someone getting killed in a hostage situation is entirely foreseeable, and they were either open to the possibility of it happening when they agreed to help or completely fucking stupid to think they’d get off scot-free. I know which one I’m leaning!)

        Basically the only thing that MIGHT help Blaine’s case is if he offers up everything he knows about the mob (and since he’s a money launderer who appears to have a decent understanding of who’s who, it’s probably fairly substantial,) which is why I’m among those who are pretty sure he’s about to die in a jail cell under suspicious circumstances but welp, guess we’ll never know what happened there!

        1. BBCC

          Look, the camera went out, it happens. Couldn’t have happened to a shittier guy.

        2. Regalli

          I know we all have a lot of questions about where these stab wounds came from, and why no weapon was ever found, but maybe he had a knife made of ice that he brought into jail with him for just this contingency! Clearly, it’s the most logical option here.

        3. BBCC

          And of COURSE it melted within the five minutes that the cameras were out, blood is WARM, people.

      4. BigDogLittleCat

        Homicide is any killing of another human being. Accidental, murder, manslaughter, war, they’re all homicide.

    3. Rartorata

      Fun fact: in most states if you are in any way involved in killing someone—even accidentally—in the course of committing a felony (e.g. kidnapping, unlawful confinement, et cetera) then you are guilty of “felony murder”, usually equivalent to murder in the first degree, regardless of murderous intent.
      Additionally, Indiana’s felony-murder statute includes accomplices to a crime resulting in death (including the death of a co-accomplice), so long as they acted in a “dangerously violent and threatening” way (42 N.E.3d 972 (Ind. 2015)). This means Taylor, Tyler, Dawson, and the other goons here—who all seemed pretty eager to get violent—are also on the felony-murder hook, and face life in prison or, hypothetically, death.

  17. Viktoria

    I’m guessing the fine print is that Willis guaranteed no one would die because mourning would make the comic be depressing and focused around death for like the next 5 years IRL. That doesn’t apply here because no one will mourn Toedad.

    1. Foxhack

      Toedead was an asshole but he was still Becky’s dad.

      She’ll still mourn him in her own way. Pretty sure I know in what way, too.

    2. King Daniel

      That was basically the idea if I’m remembering Willis’s original statement of the “no death” rule correctly, yeah.

    3. Chris Phoenix

      Well, back when Willis made the rule, people in real life weren’t usually depressed and focused on death. But the comic has a sliding time scale and always takes place in the present day. Willis, how did you know about COVID back when you were writing this?

      1. Chris Phoenix

        I’m very, very curious what it was in that comment that triggered a “needs moderation” filter.

        1. Yumi

          A comment of mine got stuck in moderation for seemingly no reason as well; I think the settings on it might have been off for a minute? (And in part this comment is to see if it happens again.)

  18. Sami

    The rule is no one will die in the comic if I recall, Becky’s mother didn’t count…I don’t remember what the fine print would constitute in this context.

    1. Needfuldoer

      I think the jist of the fine print was “because we don’t need the whole cast mourning them forever, our time”. Becky and Joyce are the only ones who would mourn Ross.

      1. Rartorata

        And even that’s a strain on the definition of “mourn”.

  19. bryy

    Welp.

    Hi Mike.

  20. Svata

    Goddammit, Mikelucinnation

  21. Rotunda

    It’s rare for a DoA strip to be only four bordered panels long, and this strip is nearly perfect.
    Even Imaginary Brain Mike pauses a beat before breaking the quiet dignity of the scene with his trademark snark. Joyce displays her core values, being there for Becky and holding her hand when the moment arrives. Dina has now placed herself half behind Becky while holding Becky’s other hand. Amazi-Girl remains still and mute, moving only her eyes to the direction from which Imaginary Brain Mike appears to speak in Amazi-Girl’s mind what is unseemly for her to speak aloud.
    The lighting continues to work hard, as the only bright patch of light that is reflected our way is from Ross’s no-longer-breathing chest.
    Ross leaves Becky in much better hands than his own.
    Meanwhile, despite the quiet and stillness of today’s strip, we know that emergency response is on the way, probably with sirens blaring in the dawn, all shiny metal and equipment and shouting and action.
    Praise you, Willis.

  22. Hex Hornet

    It’s all a matter of timing!

  23. Newllend(henryvolt)

    I can’t tell if hallucination Mike is just as or more unfiltered then real Mike.

  24. C.T Phipps

    Mike is now the Grim Reaper for Hell. He’s here to collect Toedad’s soul.

    1. Opus the Poet

      He’s going to have to settle for an IOU, as Toedad didn’t currently posses a soul since his assault on his daughter 5 years ago our time.

    2. Spriteless Girl

      Now free on Epic games store?

  25. BigDogLittleCat

    I think Mike’s appearance is a sign that AG is letting go and Amber is coming back, and that Amber needs to get the hell out of there and get some sleep.

    This has got to be the beginning of the end of AG. No way she can escape detection after this.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Brain-Mike appeared to AG when she was taking down Robin’s Ugg-ed bodyguards, too.

  26. Bagge

    Joyce and Becky holding hands is a thing of beauty

  27. DailyBrad

    Interesting.

    Also, I can’t help but feel some pity for Ross, though “some” is the operative word here, absolutely. Then again, I question what all he had left to live for at this point with his refusal to love who Becky is.

  28. Doopyboop

    Now see, if Joyce’s mom and the rest of the congregation had let well enough alone and let Toedad rot in jail where he belonged, he wouldn’t have died. Not that they’ll see it that way, alas.

    1. Needfuldoer

      They’ll frame it as Becky’s fault and hold Ross up as a martyr.

      “IF sHE jusT wENt wiTH HiM ThE FiRsT Time, HE nEveR WoUlD HaVe Gone to JAiL OR DIEd.”

      1. Zaxares

        Preeeetty much this, I’m sure, yeah. :/

  29. Barf Ninjason

    Mike would be the worst Eva pilot

  30. insomniac

    The worst…

    or the best?

    Yeah no it would be a disaster but seeing him snark on Shinji’s psychodrama would kind of rule.

    1. Opus the Poet

      Wasn’t that Asuka Langley’s role in the anime? Granted it’s been a few years since I saw it…

      1. Barf Ninjason

        Asuka is very brash and Type A, but that’s not the same S being a full-blown asshole rubbing everyone’s face in all their weak points, Mike-styls

        1. Sombrero

          If Mike were an Eva pilot, his Eva would fuck the Angels’ moms. For a nickel.

  31. Miri

    Somebody get Amber to bed – girl REALLY needs to sleep…

  32. Hilzabub

    How do you break Rule 34?

    1. Opus the Poet

      You don’t make a porn of something on the internet.

      1. Deanatay

        How would you make porn of Ross dying?

        Wait, don’t answer that!

    2. ElectricBlue

      Haha, I really wish I could upvote this comment.
      Also, way-too-serious answer for a probably-not-serious question: I think the corollary for Rule 34 is “if porn hasn’t been made of it yet, eventually it will be“. I guess that counts as fine print, and simply not making porn of a thing would arguably break/disobey the main rule but not the fine print.

      1. Needfuldoer

        The version I’m familiar with is “There is porn of it, no exceptions.”

      2. Wizard

        That’s Rule 35.

  33. King Daniel

    Does Ross have the X’s in his eyes? It’s hard to tell.

  34. Arch

    It looks like Toedad may still be breathing. Look at the light on his chest across all four panels; you’ll notice it moves. There isn’t enough movement among the four other characters to cause the light to move as it does. The only movement is the hand hold and Amber’s slight head tilt. This implies to me that the change in light is Toedad’s very shallow breathing.

    1. ian livs

      Ooh, that’s a nice catch!

    2. BBCC

      AG said he was still breathing the other day. We’ll likely be told if that changes.

  35. ian livs

    In the oddest way, I feel bad for Toedad. Not much, but a bit.

    Saying this as a queer, trans kid whose parents will never love me for me (though would probably not threaten me/my loved ones with weaponry?? I hope??). It’s just that I know how deep the indoctrination goes and how rough it is to break. Not sure I’ll ever completely get over it myself.

    He’s a victim of a group that brainwashed him into believing that loving his daughter meant rejecting fundamental parts of her, and he continued the cycle of abuse instead of breaking it. And it’s sad because it didn’t have to be like this.

    (Don’t get me wrong–fuck that guy, though. And not in the beautiful way. At least Becky and Joyce are breaking the cycle.)

  36. NinjaNick

    Is it really Mike or is it Mirage Mike?

    1. King Daniel

      Mike’s not here, except perhaps in spirit.

  37. Council

    I find a small mercy in the fact that Willis didn’t decide for Ross to have the kind of head wound that makes you spasm while you die

    Some dignity for the poor fucker and some sanity spared for everyone else

    1. Meagan

      Including us the the readers and him as the artist

    2. hof1991

      Plus that would have been a lot of work to draw.

    3. BigDogLittleCat

      Or he got it out of his system before the kids went down there.

  38. Schol-R-LEA

    Do we need to start calling Mike ‘Menma’, or what?

  39. Mordecai

    Oh thank god he’s tagged in the previous hallucinations

  40. BenRG

    “Mike… not now.”

    1. Wizard

      Showing up at at a bad time and making inappropriate comments is a quintessentially Mike thing to do.

  41. Bagge

    Well… goodbye Ross and fudge you one last time. You gave us good drama, and you gave us Becky which is a good thing. If only you hadn’t tried to kidnap her multiple times things might have worked out better for you.

    In the end, he died like he died – like a toe.

    1. Regalli

      Agreed. My grieving is fully centered on the people you left behind, who deserved a whole lot better than your repeated kidnapping attempts.

      Sometimes, when God sends a dang *superhero,* a badass chick on a motorcycle, and her best friend with said badass, that’s a sign whose side they’re on. Really could’ve taken the cue there.

  42. Keulen

    I’m assuming this is still Amber’s hallucination Mike.

    1. ValdVin

      Me too. But why doesn’t Hallucina-Mike have the ability to warp thru time?

      1. HMH

        Because a hallucina-Mike is still entirely a Mike, he’s made from memories of experiences with Mikes. Of course he’s gonna miss something cool he wants to see just so he can be sorta disappointed about it; now Amber and Amazi-Girl can’t help but feel partially responsible that they didn’t hallucinate him in time to see the corpse get made! How inconsiderate, honestly.

  43. Zaxares

    I find it telling that here, even at the end, Becky is not holding her father’s hand or any of the other typical physical gestures one might do to comfort the dying as they finally slip away. I wonder if Ross knows that even as he dies, that he messed things up so badly that Becky is willing to be here, but she’s not willing to offer comfort. Would he know regret in these final moments? Or would he simply continue to hold bitterness towards Becky’s choices?

    I suppose for Becky’s sake it’s a good thing he’s not in a position to enlighten her and us.

  44. Strangeshapes

    I think Mike would make a pretty good Death, actually. He’d be the one assigned to every Toedad and Darwin-award winner. My head canon is now that this was Mike’s tryout.

  45. DarkoNeko

    Ah yes, we were missing someone to hold hand between Joyce and Amber

  46. thumb

    How does Willis manage to make every book title even more ridiculous than the last? Every time!
    How?

  47. thumb

    Also, to clarify, this isn’t Mike being an asshole. This is Amber expressing her need to be an asshole through her impression of Mike.
    If you’re wondering how people are coping.

  48. Sirksome

    There’s a small chance ghost Mike will enact the ultimate troll by possessing Ross’ dead body and living inside it for the rest of the comic!

  49. Rabisch

    Perfec entrance. Just at the right moment.

  50. hof1991

    Ross not bleeding is a bad sign. No pulse, no bleeding. Hard to depict someone no longer breathing, but I think Ross has joined the choir eternal. He’s a former bigot.

    1. ego

      “E’s kicked the bucket, ‘e’s shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! This is an EX-BIGOT!!!

      “Well, I’d better it replace then… Sorry squire, I’ve had a look ’round the back of the shop, and uh, we’re right out of bigots”

      “I see, I see, I get the picture”

      pause “I got a slug”

      1. YakkoRex

        “Pray, is it Karen?”

    2. BBCC

      AG just said he was breathing and I’m pretty sure the cloth AG was pushing on his head was to stop the bleeding so he didn’t bleed out.

      1. Axel

        yeah but she isn’t even bothering with that now. maybe I’m just being hopeful but I’m pretty sure he’s dead

        1. BBCC

          Either that or she managed to stop the bleeding.

        2. BBCC

          Although based on the alt text mentioning a loophole in the no kill rule…yeah, I’m guessing wormfood.

  51. mick4state

    I’m getting a lot of ads recently that cover the left-most panel of the comic. I keep closing them and clicking “Ad covered content” but they keep coming back. Is this something Willis could fix or is this something I should blame google for?

  52. OBBWG

    The sunlight moving across Toedad’s chest is a wonderful way of showing time passing. It looks like about 10 minutes pass in this strip. That leads to asking where the ambulance is. It should be arriving very shortly.

  53. JessWitt

    I’m starting to wonder if Mike is actually astral projecting right now.

  54. Lord_Circe

    I honestly missed Mike in the last two panels during the first read-through, and thought the comment was Amber popping back in as Amazi-girl took a step back and away.

  55. Acher4

    Truthfully, I would not believe anyone would die in the comic,
    if it wasn’t the alt-text…
    <..>

  56. Sombrero

    Imaginary Mike: “I guess I am the third”

  57. Amelie Wikström

    The loopholes do involve “adults” dying, right. Just not the main cast. It seems correct, for this to stay a kind of feel-good comic, Ross has to die because he has actually left no other way for Becky’s life to continue, and Blaine has to go to prison for it, he’s gone too far and his nebulous mafia connections won’t protect him from this, because that will help Amber with no side effects. Just a little predictamancy on a drunk Friday evening.

    1. BBCC

      Oh, his mafia connections will come into play. They won’t help Blaine but I think they’ll come into play.

  58. Alan in DC

    Major points to Joyce for being there with him, in spite of her indecision and conflict of a couple of days ago.

    If my first ten weeks as a freshman was anything like this, I’d be outa there in a blur and as far away from Indiana as I could get.

    1. Regalli

      Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she still has quite a few questions and conflicts about being there for Ross, but AG’s suggestion ‘in case Becky didn’t make it’ was the clincher. As conflicted as Joyce is about Ross, and as conflicted as Becky I’m sure is, Becky still wants/needs to be there and that means Joyce was going to be down waiting for her and being present in case she hadn’t gotten there in time.

  59. WestRider

    Is it real Mike, or is it Memorex?

  60. melon

    and reader I cried with joy

  61. Hazel

    WHAT THE FUCK WILLIS

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