104

Wrong way
Posted on May 29, 2020 by David M Willis

104 thoughts on “Wrong way”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “and, subsequently, LEFT Malaya”

    1. He Who Abides

      “Fer reasons.”

      1. DrWattson

        She’s beating up accomplices to kidnapping (and possibly murder). That’s a good reason.

        1. He Who Abides

          That happened after Sal left. Doesn’t count.

    2. Hex Hornet

      Despite the heartfelt feelings going on on that bike, now is not really the time for bonding. It’s probably DEFINITELY not the time for Malaya!

    3. Bagge

      That’s just common curtesy.

  2. King Daniel

    At least Sal’s wearing a helmet again

    1. Shane

      Safety first. Now let’s go fight a murderer.

      1. Doctor_Who

        A good helmet does give you +2 AC against hammer attacks.

    2. Chris

      One out of two’s not bad.

    3. Hex Hornet

      Unfortunately for ‘safety issues’, Amazi-Girl ISN’T.
      Wheelies are being popped, after all.

      1. woobie

        And that wheelie looks like too much gas was given….

    4. OtterBoy1

      Safety is sexy

  3. Hex Hornet

    “Malaya” and “Friend” in the same sentence?
    Weird.

    1. woobie

      Deflection + sarcasm.

  4. BBCC

    That was mean, Sal. 😛

    1. Shane

      How many people who have stabbed you through the hand are you currently completely and totally chummy with?

      1. BBCC

        I mean, fair, but still, Malaya is harsh.

        1. clif

          Sal finds Malaya as annoying as heck and so she brings her to be Amber’s friend. That’s what I call making a statement.

      2. Rose by Any Other Name

        I stabbed myself through the hand once. Does that count?

        And before anyone asks, it was an accident. A very sharp object fell off a table and my first instinct was to grab it before it hit the floor. The good news was that I caught it – the bad news was… well… obvious given the premise of this explanation.

        1. Benjamin Geiger

          One of the major rules of the kitchen: a falling knife has no handle.

        2. Just Karen

          Which is why when I had a knife fall, I didn’t even try to catch it!

          Unfortunately, I also didn’t make sure my feet were clear of it, which ended in getting stitched up.

        3. Chris

          When I worked in a warehouse, part of the very short training was “If you drop something, let it fall. Nothing we carry costs more than the medical care if you hurt yourself trying to catch it.”

        4. thejeff

          When I worked in a warehouse, we got that too. Along with instruction on safe lifting and all that.

          Then we got blamed for damage and worked at a pace that precluded safety.

          I understand it’s gotten worse since my day.

      3. Reaver

        I’m as chummy with them, as I am with people who held my best friend hostage tbh.

  5. Nono

    …Well, in Sal’s defense, Malaya is quieter than Carla.

    1. Bagge

      It’s not THAT hard

  6. Stephen Bierce

    Don’t Be My Enemy
    Can’t you see
    What this is doing to me?    …

  7. JA

    Nice save, Sal.

  8. Yumi

    That last panel makes me nervous for Amber’s brains and their remaining inside her head.

    1. NinjaNick

      She’s going to need Sal’s helmet if she ever takes on Big Blaine Bastard.

    2. Bagge

      Sal really need to get herself a spare helmet one of these days

  9. Cmasta1992

    Offering Malaya as a friend is the 2nd worst thing someone has done this chapter.

  10. Shane

    Practical- keeping eyes on the white van so Blaine can’t slip off the grid until actual police get there.
    Not Practical- Trying to fight or otherwise arrest Blaine on their own.

  11. Regalli

    So uh, I only just now noticed there’s been a bruise or something on Amber’s cheek since we got outside (it’s not present when Dina attacks Blaine, so it had to show up during that scuffle.) Do we think it’s more blood, or exhaustion, or did Blaine hit her again or what?

    1. Regalli

      And meanwhile, Sal has realized that unfortunately, they live in a comic strip.

    2. Yumi

      I’ve been wondering about that. Kind of looks like she got bit on the cheek. (I don’t think that’s what it is.)

    3. DailyBrad

      I figure she probably got hit earlier and enough time has passed for it to have swollen into a bit of a welt.

    4. NelC

      She doesn’t have it in the frame after Blaine hits Dina, but she does have it in the next strip after Blaine takes Joyce through the front door. So either Amber got hit in the melee when Blaine grabs Joyce, or she got it earlier and it took a few minutes to rise.

      I don’t think it’s significant, even on the level of Willis possibly missing details.

    5. Matt

      The rosy cheeks signify that the Amber personality is in charge. She is talking like Amazi-girl, but you will see in the tags that only Amber is present. If you go back through the last several comics of this chapter, you will see that this is consistent (rosy cheeks=Amber in the tags.)

      1. Azhrei Vep

        Yeah, but this is more than the rosy cheek situation. With the scuffs outlining it, I think that cheek may develop more of a purplish-yellow hue than its usual pink.

  12. Mra

    Odd enough that she brought Malaya to be Amber’s support, odder still that they then decided to leave her behind when they managed to ride with 3 people on the motorcycle there.

    1. Bunny

      Just two. Malaya is on her skates.

    2. BBCC

      They didn’t. Malaya was on a skateboard.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Carla was riding pillion, Malaya and Marcie got towed along on their skateboards, Marty McFly style.

      Well, Marcie is tagged, but we couldn’t see her behind everyone else in that frame.

      1. Sombrero

        Marcie was tagged, but the tag was later removed. It makes sense that Sal did not want to involve her.

        1. Needfuldoer

          It also probably would have been a detour to go pick her up from off-campus, so yeah that makes more sense.

    4. segnosaur

      Could it be that it was just a joke on Sal’s part?

  13. OtterBoy1

    Wheelie just cuz it looks cool

    1. Bunny

      The wheelie is how Sal says she likes you.

      1. Jhon

        And is sure you are competent enough to deal with it.

  14. Bagge

    Thank you, Sal.

    That was very thoughtful of you, Sal.

  15. Dave

    I don’t even see the van on panel, and they did a lot of frittering away of time before initiating chase. I hope they’re even somewhat close to catching up.

    1. Jess

      To be fair, Blaine is enough of a smug idiot that he may think he’s gotten away and doesn’t need to keep rushing away.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Blending in with traffic after the van’s out of sight is the smart thing to do, so he doesn’t draw unnecessary attention. He might expect a police chase, but he could be any unmarked commercial van. (It’s probably the only one being driven by a maniac covered in another man’s blood and wearing a domino mask, but that’s beside the point.)

        I’m more worried about what he’ll do if the girls find the van, and he sees Amazi-Girl on a motorcycle gaining on him fast. He might even hear it coming if it’s loud enough.

  16. Axel

    I know what she means but mild strategy wise, she DID bring someone she doesn’t care about Ditching once she meets AG.

  17. Kravis

    Do a Barrel Roll!

    1. Kravis

      But DO NOT GOOGLE “Do a Barrel Roll”!

      1. woobie

        but it’s fun!

      2. Reltzik

        Too late.

      3. Keulen

        I didn’t know that easter egg still existed. Awesome.

  18. Dara

    It’s weird seeing Amber talking like/dressing up as Amazi-Girl.

  19. Opus the Poet

    I seem to have seen that alt-text before.

  20. Lingo

    With friends like Malaya, who needs enemies?

  21. Rikunda

    Malaya can be someones friend? Like without them wanting to bang her?

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      Doubtful. Seems like a gag gift.

  22. clif

    Sal has one wicked sense of humor.

  23. cartoogle

    I took “So you needed a friend? I brought Malaya” as ‘stop with the second thoughts and let’s get this done’

  24. Meagan

    You know, as a west coaster, I just realized that I *always* read “tomorrow’s strip today” because I read them at 9pm or sometime after, at nighttime. If I got Patreon, I would get to read the day *after* tomorrow’s strip today!

    1. Meagan

      Also I do technically have Patreon, but just the dollar level.

    2. Reltzik

      In the vein of playing around with the idea of what actually counts as tomorrow…

      Mom raised me with a few (reformed) Jewish traditions. Not enough that they really got ingrained in me, but enough so that I have a decent chance of knowing whether or not something is a thing.

      And one of the things is that a new day begins in the evening. When the second star becomes visible in the sky, IIRC. (Or when it would, if there’s cloud cover.)

      So I as another west-coaster was reading tomorrow’s strip today. BUT thanks to DST and the lengthening day, “tomorrow” has been happening later and later. Ever since *checks nautical twilight chart*…. April 11th, I’ve been reading today’s strip today and tomorrow’s strip tomorrow.

      ….

      No one cares about any of this, do they?

      1. King Daniel

        So you’re saying that with the advent of nautical twilight charts, measuring the beginnings and endings of days is no longer by default in our stars?

        1. Reltzik

          Signs point to no.

        2. King Daniel

          What kind of constellation prize would you find acceptable?

        3. Reltzik

          No cancer, please.

        4. King Daniel

          Can I offer you a libration to celebrate the closing of our shared narrative?

      2. Geneseepaws

        Care? No.
        It is interesting? Yes.

      3. SuperFroakie82

        I don’t follow. If “tomorrow” is happening later and later, so that over here on the west coast it’s posted today, but on the east coast it’s posted tomorrow, then wouldn’t you still be reading tomorrow’s strip today?

  25. Wraithy2773

    …I’m going to try to reserve judgement on this conclusion for this arc until all is said and done, but honestly, it kinda feels like things are being taken a bit… casually.

    It’s that whole “…hey, they’re making sorta jokey-joke comments and inspiring speeches while an unhinged murderer is racing away with one of their friends” thing, ya know?

    I just can’t help but contrast this with the “Ross abducts Becky” arc. Becky gets taken, next strip we get Joyce’s big damn swear. Next strip Amber arrives and is filled in, strip after that she’s in pursuit, strip after that she’s in sight of Ross’ car. After another strip of the pursuit, Sal arrives, strip after that she and Joyce are in pursuit. The pacing of that arc was phenomenal, keeping the urgency of the situation in-tact.

    Just… don’t feel that urgency with this. Might just be a result of how long this has gone on, complete with a false-ending, it’s just hard to keep the pace up, especially with how many characters kinda need to be directly involved in it all…

    1. Council

      I don’t think the two stories are meant to follow a theme.

      That story more was concerned with/a reflection of school shootings and the mental, moral and legal ramifications of one. It’s meant to be presented as fast paced and hectic to adequately capture, among other things, the trauma involved.

      In this instance, the focus is on the kidnapping(s.). The slow meandering pace and the feeling of helplessness fits, I believe. There is nothing to be particularly urgent About. They can’t make it end any faster. They are trying to cope.

    2. King Daniel

      (Prefacing this with a disclaimer that I’m not always good at expressing intent, so if anyone takes this the wrong way that’s on me not you)

      That’s…honestly probably fairly similar to some of my own feelings. Like, I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea behind this chapter in the abstract; however – with the exception of the part where Blaine and Ross came to fatal blows – I haven’t particularly been feeling the danger at any point (unlike the chase in To Those Who’d Ground Me and the latter part of the Mike/Amazi-Girl sequence in To Remind You of My Love; both of those felt more tense, even though we didn’t get disclaimers for either of those), despite the fact that a character has literally just been murdered in front of the main cast and his still-cooling body is just downstairs. The worst we got in the first chase sequence was a neck brace; we admittedly still don’t know yet what condition Mike is in, if he’s still alive. But that’s a consequence from nearly five months ago, at this point – nearly two whole chapters’ worth of strips.

      So…yeah, not my favorite chapter overall on those grounds. I still await the presumable fallout of these events in the next chapter (Is a Song Forever?) and whatever comes next after that, but I’m honestly just tired, kind of, of these events themselves by now.

      1. Rabid Rabbit

        It strikes me as one of those chapters I’ll reserve judgment on until it’s over and I can read the whole thing in one piece.

        1. King Daniel

          Yeah, that was one thing I thought to mention only as I hit the “Post Comment” button. Hopefully it’ll be a better read then, as I’ve definitely enjoyed Dumbing of Age up to now, absent minor, largely-insignificant-in-the-grand-scheme quibbles here and there. And there’s always the next chapter to look forward to.

  26. abysswatcher1993

    Sal, that is one of the worst things you can do when you are asked to be friends to a lonely girl. Malaya is horrible at socializing!

  27. Creatrix Tiara

    I don’t know why people are taking Sal’s comments at face value. It sounds to me like Sal doesn’t want to directly admit that she is Amber’s friend so Malaya became an easy cover story. “Yeah it’s totally Malaya that’s the friend, TOTALLY.”

    1. Needfuldoer

      That’s how I read it.

    2. Alaric

      That’s how I hear it, too.

  28. NinjaNick

    …who’s apparently punching some brainless wanker right now.

    I bet Joyce is in some abandoned warehouse somewhere in this cop-less town by now.

  29. EvilMidnightLurker

    Hypothesis: there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to get Blaine to turn himself in, surrender, or otherwise willingly stop.

    It’s not just that he has the worst case of smartest man in the room syndrome since TMNT2003 Baxter Stockman. As part of that, or an adjunct disorder, Blaine truly believes that there is always, always something he can do to escape punishment and return to his everyday life.

    Always. From moment to moment, no matter how badly he’s fucked up, no matter how ludicrous the odds against him, Blaine will not stop trying to win as long as he’s conscious.

    …his trial is going to be hilarious. He’ll insist on defending himself, because what mere lawyer could possibly be as competent as Blaine O’Malley? And he’ll constantly be looking for ways to escape the courtroom. They’ll have to shackle him and tie him to a chair, and bolt the chair to the floor.

    tl;dr: Blaine is a pain, and that’s the truth.

    1. NinjaNick

      Blaine will likely hire a lawyer as demented as Rudy Guiliani. Maybe Bart O’Ryan. I hope he’ll be locked up in solitary confinement by storyline’s end. He’s messed in the head.

      1. Mopey

        More likely he does something silly and self-inflicted resulting in his death or appearance of death, “falling off a bridge” style.

    2. Reltzik

      Nah, Blaine’s perfectly willing to have flunkies. Someone with a law license is a flunky, right?

      1. Rabid Rabbit

        He might be expecting that if needed, he’ll be provided with a mob lawyer, not having grasped that Asher’s Gramps is definitely not going to do anything for him, except possibly pay to have him killed in jail if it looks like he might talk.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”….. A. Lincoln

  30. NinjaNick

    I think I should call him Big Blaine Bastard from now on. It sticks.

    1. Bagge

      I’m just sticking with Worst Dad now when he finally got rid of the competition.

  31. Keulen

    I’m not sure which I should be more worried about, the wheelie or that turn Sal made in the first panel. Both seem pretty dangerous.

    1. Needfuldoer

      You’d expect a bike to execute a knee-dragging turn around a turn like that. It takes true badassery to powerslide instead.

  32. ValdVin

    Has anyone considered the idea that Sal could be Yvonne Craig (aka Batgirl)?

  33. Rabisch

    Sal has a very interesting way to be shy.

  34. Sirksome

    Malaya making other people seem better by proxy might be her one redeeming trait!

    1. thejeff

      She’s also good when you pair her up with someone worse. Her few scenes with Mary were a treat. Their art class and when she was moving into Sal’s room.

  35. hof1991

    Nice work in what might have been filler in lesser hands. We need a couple scenes before they catch up. Banter is better than mild action here and these two can character develop through banter.

    Especially sine Amber just declared her passion for her brother.

  36. Deanatay

    Last panel: Sal at her most tsundere. We can’t see her blushing under her helmet.

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