194

Solving
Posted on January 25, 2020 by David M Willis

194 thoughts on “Solving”

  1. BBCC

    Yes, Amber, it’s totally the midterm.

    1. Clif

      It’s actually the fact that she’s repressing that Mike now knows her secret identity and is planning on blackmailing her into being his girlfriend.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        I don’t see how that can happen unless Amber has a secret child somewhere.

  2. Ana Chronistic

    I feel like there’s a dick joke about object permanence but idk what it is

    1. David M Willis

      object spermanence

      1. Adam Black

        I’ll take “Horrible hazing rituals for 400, Alex”

        when you see Fraternity Bros around the BlowJob Cat…

      2. Tacos

        *narrows eyes*

        1. Agemegos

          Not enough. You’ll need goggles.

        2. ReFlex76

          They’ll do nothing.

      3. brionl

        *badump tish*

      4. DJTsurugi

        thanks I hate it. ~<3

      5. a/snow/mous/e

        Knobject spermanence.

    2. Jess

      Wasn’t there another joke about object permanence a few arcs back? I think with Dina and Sarah but IDK.

      1. Chris Phoenix

        Sarah was complaining about being tragedy adjacent. Dina reminded her that she (Dina) was actually threatened with a gun. Sara disappeared from view (this was in the lobby with the privacy chairs). Dina said, “Sarah, I have object permanence.” Sarah replied, “I’m hoping I don’t.”

      2. Tan

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/ohhoho/

    3. Chris Phoenix

      That’s what she said.

    4. Adam Black

      Customers who bought Gwynneth Paltrow vagina candle also bought:

      “No More Koro” Bodywash For men.
      Scented with ‘I cant believe its not Coldplay’ tm and vanilla

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koro_(medicine)

    5. Clif

      A dick joke about object permanence? It’s funny because Mike is a dick.

      1. Geneseepaws

        But is he, permanently?

        1. Clif

          That’s the joke.

        2. Clif

          ie. when you can no longer hear and see Mike, do you still believe he exists?

    6. Kim

      ”In case of ’Object’ permanence, please contact your doctor”

  3. Suet

    Funxiety. And existential dread.

  4. Wendy

    Is Mike dead or not! You’re killin’ me here, Willis.

    1. Deacon Blues

      Yes, Mike is dead. We’ve all accepted this by now.

      1. Deacon Blues

        …PLEASE SAY MIKE IS OKAY WILLIS YOU MONSTER!!!

        1. ktbear

          You missed the bit where Amber thought she heard Mike? Clearly Mike is alive, hiding somewhere in the room and just about to expire because no ones helping him. Okay, thats prolly 100% wishful thinking……I mean made up on my part but still…

        2. Clif

          Hm. Everyone wonders where Mike got to, but Amber still hears his voice.

        3. King Daniel

          Amber is clearly being haunted by Mike’s ghost

        4. Clif

          A ghost which slowly possess her. Or at least becomes her third personality.

        5. Reltzik

          So clearly, he’s invisible.

    2. ReFlex76

      Schrodinger’s Mike

      1. Geneseepaws

        So, you’re saying if he’s in a coffin, we cannot know if he is alive or dead -except statistically? Or are you saying we can either know where the coffin is, or where Mike is, but not both?.. . I’m uncertain.

    3. Keulen

      I think Willis is enjoying tormenting us by not revealing whether Mike is dead or alive too much.

      1. Deanatay

        Willis is really ginning up his fan’s tears. At this rate, he’ll have enough to live on for years.

    4. MechaBill

      We’ve seen all of the main characters so far except for Mike. And Ethan.

      Head canon: Ethan realizes that a one night stand isn’t enough and goes in search of Mike. He sees the events up on the fire escape and calls 911. He runs over when Mike falls and succeeds in catching him/breaking his fall.

      Toedad is shaken by the near death and either turns on Blaine or just runs off.

      Amazigirl flees when the cops show up.

      If Blaine wasn’t killed by Ross, the cops take him into custody. Both Ethan and Mike go to the hospital.

      1. MechaBill

        Importantly, Ethan was a witness to all of this. He is in the background of this strip
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/smash-2/

        And he’s done something like this before when he caught Danny out of mid air to prevent him being hit by Carla.

        1. Nono

          Might be that his back is facing the window, so he might not have seen anything.

        2. MechaBill

          Very true. Likely even. Except that this is a story and thus subject to narrative rules like Chekhov’s Gun.
          https://www.nownovel.com/blog/use-chekhovs-gun/

        3. King Daniel

          Also catching someone falling from ~2 feet is a lot easier than catching someone from 20+ feet (not to mention, “it’s not the fall that kills you…”).

        4. thejeff

          OTOH, it’s a grand old superhero tradition. Already echoed here by Sal and Joyce snagging AG before she got smeared by the truck.

        5. Zellgato

          to be fair 20ft fall isn’t that bad, it all depends on how you land and what you land. If Ethan did show up and catch him, as long as he redirected the head/spine they both could get away with broken limbs and ribcages. Busted but not dead or permi injured

      2. Savail

        Well, aside from Dorothy and Sarah.

    5. James Rye

      He feel heads first like ten floors down. Even if he didn’t landed on concrete which he most likely did, he would be dead or be very close to death.

      1. Kinoko

        Looked more like three floors, but that’s also Not Good.

    6. Zee

      Im going with Amazi called him an ambulance after he fell and now he’s unconscious in the hospital. No one realized, no one goes to see him except probably his parents. This fact further hammers in the effects of his actions when he wakes up and the real redemption arc begins

      1. jufreire

        Oh that’s a good one. Dammit if that’s it I’m gonna be sad. Glad he’s alive and realizing that is a step to his redemption but fuck still sad.

  5. Stephen Bierce

    Today’s strip was somsored by Vimeo–who is trying to reach me in Japanese here.

  6. Passchendaele

    god I started reading this before I went to university and now I’m in my 4th calculus class, it’s amazing how much more relatable all of this is now

    1. Liz

      Fun fact I started reading doa like a week before I started my freshman year of college and last month I graduated with my masters degree. And they’re still on their first semester!

  7. Nile

    And then Mike was never mentioned again.

    1. Clif

      The trouble with making a prediction like that is that you can never claim “Called It!” Mike could always be lurking in the next panel or even the next flashback.

  8. Sirksome

    Gee’ Ambs. I wonder why you’re so anxious? Maybe it’s because Mike’s dead and your disassociated identity isn’t sharing that memory with you? That’s just a guess though. Could be midterms. Even if you have those on lock it’s still stressful.

  9. ReFlex76

    FWIW, someone falling high from a building to their death the previous night would have been pretty big campus news by this point in the morning; kinda bodes well for Mike.

    1. Savail

      My thoughts exactly. Then again, I guess it’s possible that none of the ones we’ve seen so far would be paying attention to news due to midterms, except for maaaaybe Jacob? Though I imagine he has other things on his mind than “holy shit, my roommate’s kinda-sorta-friend fell from a tall building.”

    2. Reltzik

      Maybe the Sinister Sires hid the body?

      … also, I’m now calling Blaine and Ross the Sinister Sires.

      1. Clif

        The Case of the Sinister Sires.

        I like it.

      2. thejeff

        For that though, they would have had to get Amazi-Girl out of the way first. We know Amazi-Girl eventually left and went home to bed (to wake up later as Amber). With no serious injuries.

        I can’t really imagine her running away or just deciding to leave with Mike dead and the Sires still standing.

        1. Deathjavu

          Exactly. The only explanation I can think of is that Mike is ok enough to try to keep his injuries a secret from everyone.

        2. Reltzik

          Maybe Amazi-Girl brought Mike to the ER and then Batman-vanished rather than say hi to the police?

        3. Reltzik

          And his wallet fell out of his pocket and they can’t ID him yet?

        4. thejeff

          Or they’re just more concerned with contacting his parents than his roommate? Why would they have reached out to anyone we’ve seen yet?

    3. King Daniel

      If it was thought to be a suicide (which…I mean, Mike diddeliberately throw himself off the building – though he had been intending to take Blaine with him), they usually don’t tend to publicize such things, I think.

    4. Lark

      Evil Dads could have hidden his body.

    5. Kinoko

      Yeah, I was expecting midterms would be canceled or postponed if a student had been found dead, but Amber just took hers.

      1. Kinoko

        We’ll know better when the calculus midterms happens, I guess, since Mike’s actually in that class.

  10. DocHarleen

    I understand having anxiety, because I have it, because I need to know if Mike is dead.

    1. Jhon

      Ask Blaine’s mom.

  11. ReFlex76

    Make the fucking the reward for getting the studying done.

    1. Clif

      Given Walky’s tendency to learn the wrong lesson from things, I’m not entirely sure that’s the best idea.

  12. Raen

    Thank god SOMEONE on the main cast isn’t taking CALCULUS in COLLEGE.

    1. Clif

      Mike may not be taking it any longer.

      1. King Daniel

        You could say he’s dropped the course.

        1. Clif

          You mean he had falling grades?

        2. King Daniel

          Perhaps they just took a dip.

        3. Reltzik

          More like a severe third-derivative following a negative first-derivative.

          …. which makes sense, since Mike was what physicists would call jerk.

  13. Sporky

    jesus christ IS MIKE OKAY

    1. Dr. T

      It has been 18 days. The last time Willis left us hanging on whether someone is dead (Ryan), we had to wait an almost 2 solid months.

      1. Tacos

        But then again nobody cares about Ryan. On the other hand some people actually like Mike.

        1. Clif

          You take that back.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Yeah! I care about Ryan……’s phone.

        3. Keulen

          His phone which most definitely is not a knife.

        4. King Daniel

          People not caring about Ryan? Why?

        5. Clif

          No. People liking Mike. If people like Mike, he’s failed.

        6. Council

          I dunno that seems like an irrelevant consideration

          Why would the potential for Mike’s failure discourage me from doing anything

    2. Woomy

      Shh, no. This is the reaction Willis wants.

      I personally don’t give a damn if Mike’s dead if not, and if the story ever does go back to him, I’ll be like “meh”.

      1. Clif

        WE believe you implicitly.

      2. Deanatay

        I’m sure everything’s fine… here, let me attach this tube to your tear ducts… Willis PROMISED no main characters would die, right? I’m sure there’s NOTHING to worry about… yeees, eeexcellent…

  14. Tacos

    And then Mike was never heard from ever again just to piss off readers. It’s a very Mike thing to do.

    1. Adam Black

      Chuck Cunninghammed.
      Just like Mike, went up a staircase, never seen again

  15. Woomy

    Didn’t Walky break things off with Amber?

    1. Reltzik

      He SAID he did. But then Sal gave them her blessing and it’s kinda in limbo now?

  16. Reltzik

    Panel 5 Walky: Oh yeah? What if YOU’RE just being a jerk calling it out in the hope of driving her off, redirecting the conversation, or basically anything else to avoid studying calculus?

  17. Agemegos

    It’s an interesting contrast between Walky’s concern when Billie had not been seen for a while and his insouciance at Mike’s disappearance.

    If, that is, Mike has disappeared. Obviously someone has seen Mike or his corpse and Willis just hasn’t shown that to us. It could even be possible that one of the main cast has seen him and that Willis didn’t show us because the main cast member didn’t know that seeing Mike was significant. Walky might have seen Mike going out to breakfast as he got home to the dorm! Amber only asked if he were here, not whether Walky had seen him or knew where he was.

    For myself, I have resolved not to fret about it until The Order of the Stick resumes updating.

    1. King Daniel

      I mean, Billie’s basically his sister. To Walky, Mike’s his asshole roommate who tried to break up him and Dorothy way back in the beginning, and later gave away his Dexter and Monkey Master DVDs to some skateboarders to build a ramp out of, and also tricked him into thinking the show had been canceled somewhere during that time. Oh, and he’s also cheerfully talked before in the comic about how Mike dying could only be a good thing.

      1. King Daniel

        (Tried to break him and Dorothy up multiple times, I’ll add)

      2. Clif

        Calling it now. Mike somehow dragged himself back to the Dorm and bed where Walky found him, strangled him in his sleep and then hid the body

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          Oh, so Amber did hear Mike.

  18. Bagge

    ah, Walky’ girlfriend tries to help him study to deal with her own feelings of inadequacy. I’m sure that doesn’t bring up any sour memories for Walky or anything.

    1. Meagan

      Srsly

  19. Bagge

    I’m calling it – it will take a year before we ever see Mike again, and then he will just show up without comment. We will never learn what happened.

    * spoiler to earlier comics *

    Kinda neat parallell to the opening of shortpacked, when I think of it.

    1. RacingTurtle

      This comment made me go: OH NOOOOOO

      and then: Huh

      Yes, there is precedent for Mike just showing up alive one day without explanation. Dangit.

      1. King Daniel

        I mean, I do recall that it it was retroactively explained during the Mike/Amber wedding – Joyce mentioned that someone *coughhercough* leaked out the schematics for the Resurrection Chamber on the condition that Mike (via a bloodstained shirt of his) be their first test subject, and that it was her way of repaying the debt to him for saving her life during the Martian Invasion.

        1. Regalli

          Explanation eight or more years later counts as ‘completely unexplained’ for a pretty significant chunk of time.

    2. Regalli

      That… would be absolutely perfect, really. (Hell, the ‘I fucked your mom’ comment was already kind of calling back to his last scene of It’s Walky.)

    3. Tan

      I just want you to know I WILL dig this comic up on January 25, 2021. I am saving the link. Be prepared.

      1. Bagge

        I’m counting on it! and I stand by my prediction. Say goodbye to Mike for a loooong time

  20. Norah

    If Mike was dead, wouldn’t someone have let Walky know? After all, he’s the roommate.

    1. Regalli

      I’m pretty sure the climax of the fight was off-campus, wasn’t it? Could be the powers that be are still coordinating. (Though if we’re after a morning midterm, that seems less likely.)

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        No, Kirkwood Hall is very much on camps. Definitely in IUPD’s jurisdiction.

        Which speaks to Mike being alive and probably no authorities being aware that a crime had been committed — otherwise there’d have been yellow tape and cop cars all over the place, and none of the partiers walking home in the morning could have missed seeing it.

        1. Deathjavu

          How in the hell would no one be aware something happened? We saw some witnesses already and there sure as hell would be more than the ones we saw on a college campus, regardless of what time it was. They were fighting on a roof escape that is apparently right next to the road. The blood…cleaned itself up? No one walked by on a college campus, where just about every sidewalk gets used multiple times a day? Amazi-Girl didn’t lose, why would she try to clean everything up?

          Something about this doesn’t quite add up. Mike is the only person I could think of that might have motivation to keep this all on the down low, and I don’t know how he could have managed that.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      If his roommate is dead, he gets “A”s in all his classes, right?

      1. Clif

        A guy claimed that on the Internet, so it must be true.

    3. Raen

      It may be that Blake hid the body. Mike is an adult, after all, and police broadly don’t investigate missing adults unless they have a good reason.

      1. King Daniel

        Why would Blake hide the body?

        1. TemperaryObsessor

          I think he’s friends with Blaine, sort of the way Amazigirl used to be friends with Amber.

        2. a/snow/mous/e

          Oh, so that’s Blaine’s supervillain name!
          “Blake”… very intimidating.

        3. a/snow/mous/e

          (I assume it’s pronounced B’lock-ay, like from the Key & Peele sketch?)

  21. PB

    I’m trying not to keyboard smash about Mike. It’s hard but I’m doing my best.

    (Twitches)

  22. Yotomoe

    “Maybe you’re anxious because you’re bracing for the wall slamming, bed breaking decibel shattering sex we’re about to have.”

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Somebody fuck, is the real message here.

  23. pdp15

    Halfway expect a “Mike steps out of the shower” resolution…

    1. King Daniel

      Willis has already confirmed on Twitter that the events of the night were not a dream (nor a hoax, nor an imaginary story).

      1. Clif

        Of course not. We saw them with our own eyes.

      2. Deanatay

        Yeah, but that doesn’t mean Willis has to TELL us what happened that night…

  24. Pacce

    If Mike is dead I want Mike Prime to show up and just roast him for how stupid he was leading to his death. He had a transportation, he had a PHONE, he passed DOZENS of people while a man chased him saying how he was gonna kill Mike with a hammer he was holding. The police exists and Mike is white enough to call them on this known gangster who is actively saying outloud that he’s going to kill him.

    But I guess it makes more sense to look for your friend who needs to be tranquilized and dragged to the nearest hospital so she can get intensive therapy and meds so she stops dissociating for the specific purpose of hurting people to feel good about herself.

    1. King Daniel

      That, uh…is certainly a comment on Amber’s DID.

      1. Pacce

        Literally running around hurting people while actively hating herself on both sides. Hospitalization beats either her inevitable pointless death or her inevitably getting someone else killed. I know this is a comic, but it’s more grounded than say Batman.
        But I’ll stick around anyway for the 5 or 6 characters I really like.

  25. Beau Worried

    I like how this comic very much does the thing of the equivalent of cutting from a tense murder mystery to one of the characters casually eating a sandwich. very good for my heart

  26. abysswatcher1993

    Willis, I know I am objectively new to this story and have only been following this for two years, but the build up and references to Mike’s destiny are getting annoying. I just want to know of the asshole with golden hair is alive or not!

    1. Clif

      Yes, he is alive or not. Feel better?

      1. Clif

        ((Sorry. I’m being insensitive in honor of Mike. Can you tell?))

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          Oh, have the replacement-Mike auditions started already?

        2. MatthewTheLucky

          No, we’re waiting for your mother to set up the mood lighting first.

        3. Clif

          I suppose they might have, but I could never aspire to Mike’s Zen-like artistry of targeted jerkosity. If he’s dead, I’ll always regret DOA Mike never learned the effect of alcohol on his personality.

  27. a/snow/mous/e

    If you ask me, it’s obvious whether Mike’s alive. The last post had him falling to his doom in a strip titled “Dead” and afterward we were left in suspense with a character who had a nagging feeling something was wrong. Of course he’s alive! It’s the textbook example of a character-death bait-and-switch! A grave-and-switch, if you will. If there’s not a trope on TVTropes about this sort of scenario, there ought to be! Come on, if Willis wanted to dash our hopes, what would he need the suspense for? He’d just do it mercilessly and unambiguously! No way he’d soften the blow with this “is he or isn’t he?” nonsense. Mike’s probably hospitalized right now, but he’ll be back.

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      (And if he wanted to trample over readers’ hearts by killing off a character, then he certainly could have chosen a more beloved one…)

      1. Clif

        But this way he gets the best of both worlds. He gets to savor keeping us on edge for as long as possible and then he gets to do flashbacks of the sentimental part of Mike’s story we never saw and feast on our tears.

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          And then, at the end of all that, he’ll reveal that Mike is alive and bring everyone to tears of relief. It’s clearly the best bang for your buck when you’re on a tear-diet. (Don’t knock it till you cry it!)

      2. King Daniel

        I don’t think he actually could choose an actually-beloved character to kill without using timeskips (remember, the whole “mourning forever” issue that comes with Comic Book Time) – Mike on the other hand is near-universally loathed in-universe, with even his closest acquaintances generally only tolerating him at best. If anything, he’s the most prominent character who could have been possibly-killed.

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          Well, Mary’s another option. …Not sure if anybody would actually cry over her death, though.

        2. a/snow/mous/e

          It’s a valid point, but I’m still 90% sure Mike’s alive. Clif pointed out that Willis might be trying to stir our fears by making his life/death status uncertain, but delaying the revelation clearly doesn’t make everyone panicked. I’m here arguing he’s alive, for one thing–surely there are plenty of skeptics like me who believe more firmly he’s alive with every day passing with no sign of his fate. Some who did worry he was dead might realize, as the days go on, “Well, he is just a fictional character.” Yes, some people will remain concerned, or even steadfastly convinced that he is dead. But effectively Willis is just dividing us into two camps: one anxious camp of “OH NO PLEASE TELL ME HE’S NOT DEAD” and one jaded camp of “yeah yeah, I see how you’re trying to stir up emotions but it ain’t working on me.” If Mike’s alive, the suspense is making people cry for no reason. If he’s dead, the suspense is making people apathetic for no reason. By going this route rather than just revealing what happened on the strip after “Dead,” Willis is maximizing suffering if Mike is alive, but minimizing it if Mike is dead.
          But hey, it could be a double-bluff. Maybe the goal is to get Amber angry at herself for not remembering what AmaziGirl saw, or angry with AmaziGirl for letting Mike die. Maybe the real emotion-stirring happens after the reveal, in the grieving period, when Amber has to confront herself and her alter. I doubt it, and I think if Willis wants to mess with Amber he can do it pretty easily before revealing Mike as alive or dead. But I suppose, to play Devil’sWillis’ advocate, that is a potential motivation for suspense tactics.

        3. a/snow/mous/e

          (whoops I made a massive text block, sorry)

        4. Clif

          Don’t apologize for the gift of a thoughtful analysis.

        5. Meagan

          I am at this point in the second camp. A few days if suspense is one thing, but now I no longer care and am aware he’s a fictional comic character. In a way I think this could be argument for him actually being dead, though. Usually with a death fake out you get the reveal within a reasonable amount of time. This dragging it out thing could be a lead up to, as you said, a big opportunity for Amber to introspect and integrate.

    2. Nep

      Also also, I can’t see Amazi-Girl leaving him to die. She would have made sure he got medical care.

      1. BBCC

        I can’t see her leaving him to die, but if he was already dead, I’m not sure what else she could do. Call the police, certainly, but she’s not on speaking terms with the cops.

  28. a/snow/mous/e

    Also I just noticed the title of this storyline. And I just have to say one thing:
    Dadidada dah, dah didada dayada dada da da dayada!

    1. Clif

      You mean I have to go learn morse code?

      (What does “Damn you, Willis” in Morse code sound like, anyway? Does it have a rhythm?)

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        I mean Morse code doesn’t really have an innate rhythm, but it’s
        -.. .- — -. -.– — ..- –··– .– .. .-.. .-.. .. … -·-·–
        (The -.-.– at the end is an exclamation point, so you can omit that if you don’t want to add the emphasis. Also –..– is the comma, so you can omit that if you don’t want to be grammatical, lol.)

      2. Khyrin

        and just to explain the other half of the joke: This arc is titled Remind You of My Love.
        “Dadidada dah, dah didada dayada dada da da dayada!” is part of the refrain from You’ll Be Back, A song in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout hit Hamilton, in which King George sings to the colonists of North America using such charming phrases as “I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love” and “I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love“.

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          OH–and i must be totally blind, because i just noticed the two last comics where we saw Mike alive had the title-texts “cuz when push comes to shove/i will kill your friends and family”–and of course the final lyric before the final “da-da-dat-da-da” chorus is “Cuz when push comes to shove, I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.”

    2. AceZer0

      Not to derail the conversation, but speaking of just noticing things, your name is the same upside down and I just noticed That’s flippin’ awesome!

      1. Lone Duck

        “Flippin’ awesome”? I see what you did there. Nice pun!

      2. Happilychaotic

        Wow, I never noticed!

      3. a/snow/mous/e

        Thanks!

  29. Lingo

    PLOT TWIST: Mike is _also_ trapped inside Amber’s mind, along with Amazi-Girl!

    They make out a lot in there, just to piss Amber off.

  30. Piotr W

    Stop this foolishness, Willis!

    What. Happened. To. Mike!!!!!

  31. Beef

    Willis you monster where’s our boy ?

  32. Sombrero

    Dumbing of Age Book 10: Is Mike in Here?

    1. Happilychaotic

      This needs to be an actual title.

  33. Vulcanodon

    Damn, Walky. That was casually harsh.

    1. Deanatay

      Yet more evidence that Walky has been insufferably content lately, for some reason he’ll figure out eventually. Almost like some annoyance is missing from his life…

  34. DarkoNeko

    “let’s bang”

  35. Victoria

    Don’t worry everyone, I think Mike is going to be okay</.

    1. Victoria

      RIP my closing tag. Oops.

    2. Victoria

      What I meant to link to is this:

      https://nypost.com/2020/01/24/76-year-old-woman-survives-seven-story-fall-from-nyc-apartment/

  36. Shane Wegner

    So, it’s a vaguely interesting trick to keep Mike’s status unknown and go about ordinary lives, but it’s already been done more thoroughly. In Goblins Comic, a powerful demon was sealed in something called the Axe of Prissan as its prison. It’s said that it is powerful enough to endanger the fabric of reality towards evil. Well, the Axe gets damaged and the demon escaped. Reality was indeed altered for the worse. This problem is way, way bigger than the main characters, presumably hosts of archangels are battling to barely contain the evil. It’s nothing a few level four PCs are going to be able to do anything about. They’re still stuck in dungeons and going about their ordinary lives of trying to keep their hit points above zero.

    But. Reality is still torn. Ever since that moment, the wrongness of reality has been represented by the panels of the comic being converted to these gross dripping blood vessel things. It’s been dozens of comics, you could even get sort of used to it. New readers might not even think anything of it. But they’re al always there if you look right at them.

    This exactly the game Willis is playing by having the characters go about worrying if they lesbianed each other, or had make outs on the floor, or having the fan club worry about who Billie lesbianed, (kind of a lot of lesbian worries lately), all while the dripping blood vessels of Mike could have snapped his neck and be dead, or captured and tortured.

    Frankly Willis could start drawing the panels as blood vessels,why not double down on the Mike edgelord tension we’re going for. It’ll be more tolerable when it’s a few pages in a book or a few minutes of powering through clicking an archive. It’s asking a lot of tolerance from audiences when we comics do these tension tactics in real time over days and days though.

    1. Pat

      I wasn’t aware story ideas could only be used once and then are off limits to all other writers forever.

      1. Shane Wegner

        Didn’t say they were only allowed to be used once per universe. More just comparing a similar, literally apparent form of edginess.

    2. Deathjavu

      I mean, Willis himself already did this after the Ryan stabbin, it was weeks before anyone in comic even acknowledged it and something like a month before we “saw” amber again (and we didn’t even actually see her, she’s hiding behind a tree).

      Obviously these cliffhangers look a lot less cruel when you’re on the other side of them, but they’re in pretty much every long form work. It’s just good storytelling.

    3. Adam Black

      Willis has been using Red Panels since forever here, for trauma
      You will see Red Panels when Amber remembers part of it.

      But its not a fantasy comic. If you want Lampshaded reality warps or Ripped off Drama tags, or Reality Rips, thats all in Walkyverse.

  37. goggleman64

    I just wanna throw open the door of this dorm room and yell “HE’S DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!”

    1. King Daniel

      The Witch of the West is dead!

  38. Rabisch

    Meanwhile Mike is slowly dying behind blowjobcat.

    1. Jhon

      Not slow enough!

  39. Alan in DC

    Is there any comprehensive writeup anywhere that shows what Major everybody in the series has at the University?

    There have been plenty of teases, and a few have been dangled out in the open by the likes of Walky’s mom and Rachel. But the entire cast? Just wanna know.

    1. Bluebird

      I mean Sarah, Jacob and Raidah are studying law and we know Joyce wants(or wanted rather) to study to be a teacher
      Pretty sure both Amber and Dan are in computer engineering? Dorothy is probably something politics related, Dina and in the future Becky are in Biology, that’s all I can think of at the top of my head but there’s been plenty of hints
      don’t think it’s like listed anywhere

      1. Vivvav

        Isn’t Walky Communications?

        1. BBCC

          Telecommunications yeah.

    2. Regalli

      Not the whole cast, no. I think most of the ones we know for characters with cast pages are listed on those pages? But that’s not everyone, or even everyone with a cast page.

    3. BBCC

      I gotcha

      Elementary Education: Joyce, formerly Becky,
      Art Education: Mary
      Pre-law: Sarah, Jacob, Raidah
      Telecommunications: Walky
      Computer Science: Amber, Danny, Rachel
      Social Work: Mike (and FUCK whoever let him in for that)
      Undeclared: Ethan (considering English), Joe, and Sal
      Journalism: Billie, probably Daisy
      English: Ruth, formerly Jocelyne
      Biology: Dina, Becky wants to be in this
      Political Science: Dorothy
      Gender Studies: Roz, formerly Leslie
      Intelligent Systems Engineering: Carla
      We dunno about Malaya or Lucy and Marcie isn’t a student

  40. Deanatay

    Could… WALKY be feeling guilty for having the hots for the girl who cut up his sister? So he’s taking it out on Amber?

    1. timemonkey

      Yes, he was ready to end things with her permanently until Sal told him not to.

  41. Lamppost

    Does she not have bruises from the fight? I imagine that might tip her off that some superhero stuff happened?

    1. thejeff

      She’s used to it.

      Doesn’t seem like any serious injuries though.

    2. Bagge

      Blaine is too shitty at fighting for her to have bruises

      1. thejeff

        And yet … Mike?

        I’m still struggling to comprehend how that all went down. Were they supposed to be a real threat to AG? Why, given what we’ve seen before? If not, how did it get out of control enough that Mike got whatever happened to him?

  42. Vulcanodon

    Beginning to worry that Mike is not dead, but tied up and at the mercy of Blaine.

    1. Adam Black

      beginning to worry Mike is Ambers newest personality alter

  43. Rahdream

    Mike’s in a coma, its gonna be a LONG wait for that as a mopey reveal and then it’ll just be this “stuck in limbo” moment where its like “ok he’s alive!” but also “oh but the dire consequences!”. And the characaters probably wont know for a long time after the audience sees he’s a “John Doe” in the hospital. No offense to Willis as an author, but Im expecting ZERO emotional payoff from this drawn out tension of waiting to find out what happened to him

  44. Probably Wrong

    Mike is currently on TV being interviewed by a reporter about the incident the night before. This is why Amber thinks she heard him.

    Incidentally, Mike seems to have had his way with the reporter’s mother. For a nickel.

  45. Adam Black

    Noooooo

    ( when you have DID , witness a friends death during a blackout, inherit his personality, and its MIKE )

  46. BenRG

    Mike’s epitaph. “I died fighting to protect my friends. They were relieved that I wasn’t around anymore.”

    There’s a sickening tragicomic aspect to this.

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