848

Solved
Posted on March 17, 2017 by David M Willis
HEY!  GUYS! I will be at Laughing Ogre Comics here in Columbus, Ohio, today (Friday) (St Patrick's Day) from 5-7pm!  I will have books and probably magnets with me to trade to people for money.  That's right, I have one single event scheduled this year that I'm currently aware of, and this is it!  No ECCC, no SDCC, Webcomic Rampage is over, and it's too soon to schedule my annual Bloomington trip, SO THIS IS IT, THIS IS IT, COME SEE ME I GUESS

848 thoughts on “Solved”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    FRIGGIN’ MILLENNIALS

    YOU SADDLE THEM WITH CRIPPLING DEBT AND DESTROY THE HOUSING MARKET AND WHAT THANKS DO YOU GET

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      Sarcasm, mostly. But, hey, it’s what we know!

      1. butts

        It’s all we can afford.

        1. Pat

          Is that why Donald Trump wants to murder it?

      2. Rukduk

        Hey, comedy is just tragedy plus time. Which is why the people who suffer the most produce the best comedians.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          “Tragedy is when I stub my toe, comedy is when some other guy slips on a banana peel and breaks his hip”.

        2. Lokitsu

          “Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die.”
          Mel Brooks

    2. Delicious Taffy

      What do you mean, “I’m only still living here because I have no other options?” You’re making it seem like such a chore to live with your family.

      1. JasonAW3

        Trust me; in some cases, living in hell would be preferable to living with one’s parents after 20…

    3. Thursday Violist

      I KNOW, RIGHT?!? Next, they’re going to say the oil industry is bad for the environment. Bad for the environment? HA! IT’S GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY!

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        But oil is natural and as everybody knows, natural stuff is great for the environment.

        1. StClair

          and coal is clean because we just said so.

        2. marianne

          Dusting off all those pieces of coal will mean jobs for ALL Americans!

    4. Pablo360

      This may be relevant to your interests.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        or https://twitter.com/sickofwolves/status/821782575106629633

        1. Ana Chronistic

          also https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2017/03/16/trumps-budget-makes-perfect-sense-and-will-fix-america-and-i-will-tell-you-why/

        2. thejeff

          The best is that White House linked that piece on its daily briefing page.

          Not just evil, but also incompetent.

  2. AnvilPro

    Nice forehead bro.

    1. Lily Joyce

      he is so damn ugly. I though toedad was bad

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Maybe they’re related somehow.

        1. DonDueed

          They have the same cane maker.

        2. Guairdean Beatha

          How much do you want to bet that there’s a flask in that cane?

      2. Grethelwvier

        Irrelevant. I call ad hominem.

        1. The Chosen One

          THANK YOU!
          I’m sure there are plenty of actual reasons to dislike this guy, and I for one look forward to learning about them in detail.

    2. Guairdean Beatha

      It’s interesting that you can barely see the scars where they removed the horn on the right side. I can’t tell if they did a better job on the left, or if the angle hides it.

      1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        Some of us don’t even bother to hide our scars when we have our horns removed. 😛

        Nah but seriously, when people ask me about my psoriasis, I about 50/50 tell them that I had my horns cut off just ‘cos I like to wear hats.

        1. Guairdean Beatha

          The reactions must be wonderful to watch.

  3. MatthewTheLucky

    Saywhatnow?

    1. TheAnonymousGuy

      the underwhelming anti climax, or is this going to get bad once ruth and granddad get into the hall.

      1. Kyle Voltti

        I worry the way he says “investment”

        1. TheAnonymousGuy

          I’m equally worried about that.

        2. Deanatay

          Yeah, that’s a worrying way to speak about a young person’s life.

        3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          It’s like “yaaaaaaaaay you fixed everything for me but seriously HOW and just how much am I gonna owe you for this down the line? And I don’t just mean monetarily either”

        4. Kryss LaBryn

          Also, “‘Fixed’? What do you mean, ‘Fixed’? What precisely have you just done?” =.=

        5. Betty Anne

          Dumped a bunch of money on the university to sweep Ruth’s “close call” under the rug. 😐 It happens more than you’d think.

        6. Captain Whoever

          University is an investment tho

      2. AveAves

        “he fought in wars, kids”
        I starting to have a sneaking suspicion he should have died in one too

        1. Ed Rhodes

          I’m reminded of the businessman in the train compartment with the Beatles when he gets flustered and states; “Don’t take that attitude with me! I fought The War for your sort!” And Paul responds; “I’ll bet you’re sorry your won!”

          And yes, the way he says it, you can hear the capital “W”

      3. Positron

        It’s not great now – Ruth was looking forward to no longer needing to look after everyone else and being able to look after herself, and now he’s thrown her right back in when she isn’t in a good position to do it.

  4. Too Old To Be Cool

    “This is not happening as I had foreseen it.”

    1. Angelbadman

      The meeting is not over yet, nor is the full purpose of the meeting on the table. There is a lot more to happen, both with and without Chloe.

  5. MM

    I take it next week we find out what the price is.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Turns out it’s just 4 easy payments of $24.99!

      1. N0083rP00F

        Free, for only 99, 99, 99!

        1. Mandy

          …Mike?

    2. Fart Captor

      Well, if she keeps her job as RA, she can’t be fraternizing with her residents…

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Yeah, because that’s stopped her so far.

        1. Emperor Daniel

          Bet you that’s going to be one of the conditions of her keeping her position.

        2. 3-I

          Yeah, ‘cus who gives a shit about the suicidal girl who was being blackmailed, right? The important thing is that she stop being romantically involved with another woman.

      2. Reltzik

        That’s easy. Billie relocates to a free room in another hall, leaving Sal “without a roommate” for the rest of the term.

        1. Tarmaniel

          Given this guy’s character, I’m predicting something along the lines of the following:

          “Now, you understand that fraternization with the other students is not permitted. You have obligations to fulfill, and appearances must be maintained. If you choose to ignore my advice, well, I’m familiar with Mr. Billingsworth. He is a salesman, and he also understands the value of appearances. So you can imagine how he might react if his daughter were to appear to have spread her alcoholism to a poor victim and nearly caused a suicide. Just something to think about.

        2. Guairdean Beatha

          It’ll be more private, and more threatening. “Screw up again and I’ll have you back at home where I can make sure you’ll behave.”

        3. Betty Anne

          ^ This. It annoys me how often this type gets away with being outright abusive in private because they’re “caring, but firm” in public. 😐

      3. Ellegos

        At the very least, Billy would have to move to a different floor.

        1. Ellegos

          *Edit* Billie

          But I also wouldn’t be surprised if that’s one of Ruth’s Grandfather’s demands.

        2. Angelbadman

          Which would free up a bed for Becky. I am sure there will be consequences, I don’t think that will be the only one.

    3. JasonAW3

      Hmmm… I didn’t know one’s soul went for so cheap a price…

  6. Sageress

    Oh he seems nice

    Hoping that I was right, and Ruth IS just overblowing shit and he’s not that bad

    1. Baronbrian

      Nope. He’s a monster. His thought wasn’t to ask how she’s doing but to say that’s he’s fixed everything and the investment wasn’t wasted.

      1. Foxhack

        Exactly my thought. That made alarms go off in my head.

        1. Leorale

          Yes. It is possible for a non-terrible person to inclusively reflect that they invested together (his money, her time, or both of their money and her time)…. but it’s not likely, and not to the exclusion of concern over her nearly dying.

          With zero input from Ruth, he’s perpetuating the circumstances under which she literally wanted to die. You’re welcome!!

          Plus I reeeeally don’t think Willis would do a storyline where a percieved victim of abuse is just overreacting. Ruth knows what this guy is like.

        2. BBCC

          That last paragraph exactly. It’s the same reason we’re not going to learn Amber is really just toxic and evil and needs to be AG for everyone’s own good at the end, or that the Walkerton’s racism is really all just in Sal’s head, or that Joyce just misunderstood the teachings she was raised with all her life.

      2. Sageress

        “He’s a monster”? Really?

        Overblowing it there just a smidge, boyo. He’s an army man, he’s probably not super emotionally open and is kind of distant, so he’s probably not the type to be sobbing over his granddaughter’s suicide attempt.

        He’s clearly happy to see her, and is trying to help her out the best way he (presumably) can, because he:

        A) Doesn’t have all the information we have on the situation, as far as we can tell.

        B) Is an old guy, different generation/different time, probably hasn’t got as much of an idea what kind of a shitty thing depression is as we do.

        He has not, as of yet, DONE anything that’s actually BAD, just a little not-super-sensitive/nice. The ONLY reasons we assume he’s bad are:

        A) Ruth’s word. Which I don’t trust cuz she’s her.

        B) The fact that he’s a parental figure in this comic, which means there’s a running 60% chance that he’s not a nice guy. But I have hope!

        Point is, we have NO reason to ACTUALLY think he’s a bad guy yet. He’s, at worse, tone-deaf to the situation/old fashioned and out of touch with his granddaughter.

        If I’m proven wrong later on, fair. But for now, anybody hating on Grandpa is just being overreactionary.

        1. Spoopyfox

          Yikes

        2. TemporalShrew

          I don’t think there’s justification to call him “a monster,” yet, by any means, but he’s exhibiting a form of pseudo-charm so totally at-odds with every bit of circumstantial info we have about him that it seems incredibly unreasonable to simply assume he’s harmless. And he’s also taking complete and utter control of this situation before she’s even gotten a word in, edgewise. At best, he’s coming across as unintentionally controlling.

          And recall the time Ruth was on the phone with him in a much earlier comic. Whether or not her view of him is distorted, that’s not the kind of reaction you get out of someone if your relationship with them is even sort of healthy. Her fear of him may well be somewhat out of proportion, but I somehow don’t think someone who puts on as tough a face as she does would immediately retreat inward in response to his very presence if there was not some basis for it. It’s not a matter of her word, which she controls, it’s a matter of the responses she *doesn’t* control.

        3. autogatos

          I agree with TemporalShrew here. Just because someone genuinely means well and seems charismatic and friendly in a public setting does not mean their behavior can’t be harmful and certainly doesn’t mean his relationship with Ruth is totally healthy. Parents/guardians who are extremely controlling can do plenty of damage to their kid’s emotional well-being even if they genuinely want the best for their kid.

          It could be he has a temper we haven’t seen and/or he’s extremely critical of Ruth to the point where he’s made her feel like a failure her whole life. The way he behaves in this scene here really reeks of “I’ll handle everything because I don’t trust you to,” along with hints that Ruth isn’t ever allowed to question his authority/opinions/decisions.

          This wouldn’t make him a “monster” and he may even be a generally good person who cares deeply about his granddaughter, but his own flaws may still be deeply damaging to her self-worth and emotional health.

          tl;dr Parents can do harm to their kids without being obviously stereotypically abusive.

        4. Leorale

          We’ve seen him for like two panels, sure… but Ruth has known him her whole life. I’m very, very inclined to believe her.

        5. Sageress

          I’m not. She’s abusive, alcoholic and a general asshole. Er, was.

          Why would we take her word over the guy who’s biggest on-screen crime is “Is kind of assertive in this meeting.”

          Though it may just be me being biased against a character I’m not a fan of, who knows.

        6. BBCC

          None of that is good evidence she’s a liar or that she’s been lying about this.

          Why should we NOT believe someone who’s asserting someone else is abusive just because they’re an asshole? I’d hope that’s not your real life policy, or you’d end up leaving a lot of abusive victims in the cold.

        7. Sageress

          Never meant that she was a liar. Just that she may be overblowing it.

        8. BBCC

          That’s THE SAME FUCKING THING.

        9. Sageress

          …no it’s not?

          A liar is somebody who is INTENTIONALLY spreading falsehoods.

          Somebody who’s blowing something out of proportion MAY NOT BE DOING SO INTENTIONALLY.

          I never said she’s TRYING to mislead people. She may BELIEVE everything. Doesn’t make it true.

        10. BBCC

          Both have the affect of saying she is not being abused. You’re basically saying that the person alleging abuse is exaggerating. Do you have any idea how fucking shitty that is?

        11. BBCC

          It’s still not a great thing to say and especially so when you post on a forum filled with people who have been told they were exaggerating abuse claims.

        12. Sageress

          Fair enough. Dunno why my previous comment got deleted, but fair enough.

          Let’s just… let’s agree to wait and see where this goes, yeah?

        13. BBCC

          Because the things you said were supremely dickish on a forum full of people who have been saying Ruth’s grandfather reminds them of their own experiences, and you basically said they were exaggerating?

        14. Sageress

          By saying “I personally don’t think this character is what everybody is claiming he is”, I’m being a dick?

          That’s not how life works tho people are allowed to have different opinions on a fictional old man

        15. BBCC

          You said an abuse victim was exaggerating on a forum full of abuse survivors. When called on it, you agreed it was shitty. You then tried to say ‘well, the specific abuse victim I’m talking about is fictional, so it’s not actually bad!’. That is a dickish thing to say because you still said an abused person is exaggerating. You even said it was a shitty thing to say. You just also tried to qualify it.

          Comments like that get deleted all the time. This isn’t really a new thing.

        16. Sageress

          FYI, I am an abuse victim, and I’m never going back to that fucking hellhole again. Him being assertive and an asshole doesn’t make him abusive if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. If he has the behaviour pointed out to him and makes no effort to change, that’s when I’ll start to hate him.

        17. BBCC

          I am sorry you had to deal with that, and i’m glad you’re safe now, but the idea that someone who doesn’t realize they’re abusive is not abusive is simply not true. The affect of your actions matter and if the affect is abuse, you’re still abusive, intent be damned.

        18. Sageress

          Maybe I misspoke then. I’m saying we shouldn’t treat him like a cartoon supervillain for something he doesn’t realize he’s doing.

          Like… you ever see the Ant Bully? Like that.

        19. BBCC

          And I’m saying I couldn’t give less of a fuck about whether he realizes he’s doing it or not, because he’s still fucking causing harm and he is not a small child like Ant Bully, he’s a grown ass man who should fucking know better. Until he stops being a complete and utter cockbite, he absolutely deserves to be treated like one, intent be damned.

        20. Pat

          …he’s literally a cartoon villain.

        21. 3-I

          “Him being assertive and an asshole doesn’t make him abusive if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it.”

          OH MY GOD. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THIS.

          I’m sorry, are you under the misapprehension that people wake up in the morning and say “Today I am going to hurt the people around me because I am EVILLLL”? Because that’s not how abuse frigging works for the vast majority of people. Abusers do not THINK they are doing anything wrong. They think they are fully justified in what they do, for any number of a variety of reasons.

          And your core conceit in this whole thing is that we shouldn’t believe he is abusive, because Ruth, who is so terrified of him that she is constantly suffering from it, is not trustworthy enough? Because she exhibits symptoms of being abused?

          And you’re willing to judge her for “overblowing” all of this, even though you yourself said “She may BELIEVE everything. Doesn’t make it true.” Yeah, well, he may not BELIEVE he’s abusive, but that doesn’t make it any different that he is.

          Like… How do you even get to the point where you hate Ruth so damn much that you’ll trust anyone in the narrative before her? How do you get to the point where you think it’s okay to say these things in front of an audience you should know by now has gone through abuse and identifies strongly with Ruth?

          Please stop it.

        22. Airyu

          “Him being assertive and an asshole doesn’t make him abusive if he doesn’t realize he’s doing it.”
          Yeah. My Dad beating the shit out me doesn’t make him abusive since he didn’t realize there was anything wrong with that (/sarcasm)

        23. StClair

          yeah, I’m gonna go with that last one.

        24. MM

          And where exactly do you think her issues might have come from? This guy is giving off serious “does everything in his power to establish himself as an upstanding citizen in public so that no one believes what he’s like behind closed doors” vibes to me.

        25. Pat

          This isn’t the only thing we’ve seen him do.

          And he’s like, textbook villain?

        26. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          My guess is that he’s

        27. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          [competing above post]

          less sensitive to the idea of death and suicide from the war; he probably suffered through some pretty horrific experiences, and probably (given the insensitivity he’s displaying here) thinks that Ruth should learn to toughen up, as she never had to experience what he did.

        28. Proxiehunter

          So basically he’s a fucking prick and a complete monster.

        29. Taka

          That’s… not what comes to mind when somebody who has experienced genuinely more horrific conditions is numb to less horrific conditions.

          He may well be a “fucking prick”, but being desensitized is not the reason. What he does as a result might be, but *we don’t know that yet*.

          Speaking as the child of someone who has at least of some of the “toughen up” mentality, while it sucks if they can’t understand that their survival/success is selection bias, and that not everyone is made of such stern stuff, it is hardly cause for the kind of aspersions you’re casting.

          Please try to separate the different facets of his character, and apply blame where blame is due, i.e. not here.

        30. Reltzik

          I dunno. My (limited and unprofessional) experience with vets is that they’re actually pretty darn sensitive to the prospect of suicide among those close to them. Especially if they’ve had some time away from the Service and thus know the suicide risk for themselves and their old buddies once they’re back in civilian life.

        31. Cerberus

          Yeah, most vets I know are strong anti-suicide activists because of how many of their friends end up committing suicide. It’s painfully real for a lot of them, because the rates are just too damn high.

        32. MM

          Only 60%? You’ve seen the other parents in this comic, right?

        33. Sageress

          99% and Joyce’s Dad.

        34. Reltzik

          And the Keeners.

        35. DonDueed

          And Dina’s parents. And Carla’s.

        36. Emperor Daniel

          And Sierra’s.

        37. Sageress

          People like Mike and Carla’s parents don’t count. What sort of good parent raises a child who’s an obnoxious dickbag and like those two.

        38. BBCC

          Plenty of assholes have good parents who have healthy relationships with their kids. The fact they’re assholes doesn’t make their parents bad people.

        39. thejeff

          And seriously, Carla?

          Carla is really so horrible at being an asshole. She tries, but she just can’t do it.

        40. Plasma Mongoose

          This is a Willis comic, no guy with a face like that could possibly be a good guy.

        41. Lone Wolf

          I thought something similar the first time I saw Seymour on my first playthrough of Final Fantasy X. Now that was a guy with a bad case of Chronic Villain Face.

        42. Sebastian Temples

          I would not hesitate to call him a monster: because he is somebody’s (Ruth) monster. We’ve seen Ruth’s response to him in a private space, and it was not a happy response.

          The worst abusers (that is the best at abusing, which makes them the worst people) are those capable of creating a non-abusive persona to project outward as a show of grace for those who are not the target of their abuses.
          They are the worst abusers not only because they are able to inflict harm for
          longer (since the facade rarely gets stripped away), but also because they can inflict the harm of having one’s allies turn against them.
          The reason we’re not seeing the monster in him is because this is a public place and he is wearing his public persona.

          I believe the main reason Ruth sent Billie away was because she didn’t want Billie to turn against her after seeing her grandparent’s outward projection. I don’t think she sent her away in fear of her grandfather blowing up at the lesbian matespriteship (which is still a separate possibility) but rather because she feared that Billie meeting her grandfather’s public face would lead to Billie siding with the grandfather and delegitimizing Ruth’s claim as out of proportion and “overblown.”

          Additionally, outside the relation to real world thingies, this is Willis we’re talking about: he follows a single formula of a four act structure fairly strictly (That’s not an insult since he does it so well: it’s just an observation). 1 Introduction, 2. Action with an Anti-climax, 3. Climax, 4. Resolution.
          We’re near the end of act two for the “Ruth gets fired arc” and the storm is coming.
          The sense of foreboding and hatred towards this new-ish character is perfectly justified given the comics meta and mo.

        43. Maja!

          I think Ruth is terrified that her grandfather might use Billie against her or her against Billie, i.e. that she’s protecting herself and especially Billie from him. I wonder what he has done to former friends of her’s or her because of former friends because she’s obviously terrified. Poor Ruth!

        44. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Liberals: As oblivious as ever.

        45. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Like, why are queer folks like me supposed to regard them as reliable when they’re that obtuse?

        46. Some Guy

          It’s weird to me that your mistrust of Ruth is so severe that you’re willing to discount not just everything she’s said but everything she’s DONE in relation to “sir,” all because “he seems nice” at first blush. I mean, yeah yeah, circumstantial evidence, unreliable narrator, innocent until proven guilty, I get all that. But even if you hate Ruth, it’s surprising you’d discount Sir causing her entire personality to bluescreen.

          Given this strip’s history with abuse, I’m really not expecting some kind of “it’s all in her head” arc, even if it would explain what the deal is with Howie.

        47. Ethan

          I would be very surprised given Willis’s modus operandi that this particular character isn’t a baby eating monster. I bet he abused her relentlessly and eats babies. Babies.

          On the other hand, I would be pleasantly surprised if he was actually a nice guy, if not distant and emotionally crippled from PTSD, and is unable to cope with the fact that his granddaughter hates him for reasons that may in fact be completely spurious.

          That would make some great storytelling.

        48. thejeff

          If he could actually pull that off, it would be great storytelling. If he could make Ruth’s obvious fear and hatred of him seem justified and natural, while still making him sympathetic and not villainous. If he could do it without making Ruth seem like the crazy girl inventing abuse, like so many abuse victims are accused of. If he could do that to the satisfaction of most of those here with experience of abuse who are pointing out the red flags to the rest of us, that would be very impressive storytelling.
          I don’t think he could do it. I’m not sure anyone could.

        49. Daisy

          The thing is, it is actually very rare for people to be abusive because of mental illness. While an interesting way to nuance a subject, it’s not actually constructive to consider WHY abusers do what they do, because the answer is usually “they think it’s okay”. Clint’s ability to wear a public persona leads me to think he is definitely not “emotionally crippled” since that suggests he doesn’t have the self-control necessary to be responsible for his actions.

          Also, being mentally ill doesn’t excuse abusive behaviour, and I think using PTSD as an “explanation” for his abuse would inevitably carry that implication.

      3. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

        I think monster is a bit of an overstatement. He doesn’t seem so much abusive as emotionally removed from her. He probably thinks that he’s doing the best thing for Ruth here (see: “putting the train back on the tracks”), and that this was a kindness to her. Of course, the belittling in the last panel isn’t great, and neither is putting her in a position of authority without her consent (especially given she just tried committing suicide). But he could just be bad at the whole “dealing with emotions” thing, and not actually evil.

        1. Sageress

          Precisely my point. Good intentions. 7/10 grandpa, better than mine cuz he hasn’t said the n-word yet

        2. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          I’d give him a 4.5/10. Again, he’s definitely condescending on the last panel, and at least gives the impression of being super unsympathetic to the whole “my granddaughter just attempted suicide” thing. I’m sure he has his reasons for it, but it still isn’t the best reaction.

        3. Pat

          “He doesn’t seem so much abusive as [describes being abusive].”

        4. Daisy

          ^^^

          Emotional neglect is abusive.

      4. Shiro

        And then berate her for not being more grateful when she’s just been hit with a HUGE shock. Yeah, guy’s scum.

        1. Sageress

          Jokingly poke fun = berate??

        2. BBCC

          Yeah, when the joke is ‘haha, not even a thank you, just freezing up’

          Making someone’s traumatized reaction to seeing you into a joke is not okay and is, again, a red flag for abuse you are ignoring.

      5. All-Purpose Guru

        We know that she “isn’t safe” at home. Depends on who IS at home, but the bad vibe I’m getting from him tells me he’s part of the problem.

        Your granddaughter was on SUICIDE WATCH fer crissakes, and all you can talk about is “our investment”?

      6. Ed Rhodes

        He’s Toedad with charm and influence instead of a rifle.

    2. SgtWadeyWilson

      This seems like belittling and possibly manipulation to avoid her failures reflecting on him, but maybe I’m just paranoid.

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        *”failures” (Those quotation marks change everything.)

      2. Sageress

        …Ultimate Deadpool? That’s who you chose to name yourself after?

        1. SgtWadeyWilson

          It’s a really cool sounding name, the costume is cool, almost nobody else gets it enough to know he’s like… The Worst Deadpool, and nobody else is ever using it.

          Plus my first time seeing him was in Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions, so Nolan North was a factor.

        2. Sageress

          More like… Snolan Sssnorth.

          g-gottem…

    3. fillerusername

      Something about the way he says “our investment” makes me think not. I get a very controlling vibe. He might not be abusive (I’m holding off on that) in the way the previous parents we’ve seen have been but I’m wondering if he’s the type to put a crippling amount of pressure to succeed on Ruth.

      1. Leorale

        I’m sure this patriarch will be his very own special flavour of abusive.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          “Real Man-Spread” with extra salt for a taste that really hits you.

      2. Sageress

        Investment as in her college tuition, no doubt. That’s a LOT OF FUCKING MONEY, and we have no reason to believe (I thiiiiink) he’s rolling in the stuff.

        And like I said before, old guy has different lingo probably. He’s doing his best.

        1. Fart Captor

          Notice also that he does not mention “your life”, “your future”, or “oh sweetie how are you holding up?”, or you know, anything indicating concern for Ruth

        2. Sageress

          Almost like this 70-something war vet with at least one dead child whose had to take care of two grandkids for a couple years has some sort of reason to be emotionally detached

          ….nah

        3. BBCC

          Emotionally detached is one thing, not even asking ‘how are you feeling’ is another.

          This is not a good man.

        4. CoMa

          Though it could be that he’s one of those people that do not absolutely want to discuss feelings/family matters in front of others if not completely necessary. Could be that he just waits to be alone with Ruth.

          As we all expect him to be abusive in some way, he’ll probably not ask her how she’s feeling, though.
          Could also be that he is abusive in a way that he is not only emotionally detached, but sees her as a project he has to put on success, no matter what. So he’ll either just expect her to be now “fixed”, now that she’s out of the hospital, or he’ll tell her sthg like “failure is not an option” or things like that. Especially after he took the time to specifically take matters in his own hands.

          …. now that I think about it, could he not maybe be a male chauvinist(too)? If Howie is happy with and not scared of him, he might not get what Ruth got to hear for those few years she spent with him, in the sense of “You’re a woman, still I expected things from you, of course I was wrong. You’ve proven me you’re weak.” …

        5. Pat

          Oh good, you’ve told us the definition of the word.

          Now we know for sure that… oh wait what you just said is still awful.

    4. Spoopyfox

      Ummm…

    5. Fart Captor

      Are you really not picking up on the gaslighting he’s pulling right now?

      1. Sageress

        I just don’t think he’s doing it intentionally, yet. We have no idea of his motivation.

        All I’m seeing is “He (in his eyes) helped out his granddaughter, and is saying it in a way that isn’t good, but not out of maliciousness.”

        1. Fart Captor

          And your instinct is to side with the character we’ve never seen before, only heard bad things about, rather than the woman we’ve actually gotten to know, and who has shown clear signs of abuse?

          Interesting.

        2. Sageress

          It’s true, I do distrust the character I don’t like at all and think is both unreliable and an asshole. Weird how that… how that works.

          But no you’re right, the former abuse victim is probably siding with a fictional character’s allegedly abusive grandfather because she’s a woman.

          To clarify, though, I’m not siding with anybody. I’m saying that, based on what we’ve seen, he has yet to do anything actually BAD (or at least, anything bad but without good intentions behind it).

          He’s probably just overbearing.

        3. Shiro

          Look, as an abused kid myself, I feel you, but go back and read the one where Ruth gets a call from this guy. Her whole carefully-put-together persona shatters. It’s…pretty fuckin’ obvious what kind of person he is.

        4. Fart Captor

          I have not speculated even slightly as to what motivates your position. I just think it’s a rather gross hill to die on.

        5. Sageress

          Oh, that’s what you meant. The sarcastic, italicized “interesting” lead me to believe otherwise, ya see.

          :T

        6. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          I don’t like Ruth at all, too put it mildly, but I can tell this shite is worse. Christ, the neutron star class density.

        7. Delicious Taffy

          Yeah, but I bet he smells amazing. Like aftershave, cedar, and a faint hint of aged whisky.

        8. Leorale

          I’m sure the Walkertons aren’t intentionally racist towards their daughter. And let’s not get started on Becky’s dad, whose intention is to protect his daughter from eternal suffering in literal Hell (which, if it was remotely true, would have been a noble cause).

          Having malicious intent really doesn’t matter much at all to determining whether the person is behaving abusively.
          Abuse is based on behaviour, not intent.

        9. BBCC

          Seriously people, there are two parts to evaluating an action for harm – intent AND affect. Something can absolutely be harmful and wrong without malicious intent.

        10. Sageress

          So let’s… let’s get this straight, then.

          Kidnapping/Threatening with a gun are now equal to “is overbearing”.

          Aight, that’s how it is then, I guess.

          Like I’ve said, I will totally be on the “fuck this dude with a fork” bandwagon when he ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING BAD.

        11. BBCC

          Making her cry over the phone

          Not bothering to ask how she’s doing

          Referring to her as an investment

          Making pissy jokes about her freezing up

          Butting into a meeting on her employment he has no right to attend.

        12. Kris

          I hear you. This is kind of a trend with certain characters. Remember Josh….or was it John?….Joyce’s jerk older brother. When first met it’s natural to give a new character the benefit of the doubt. I was guilty of it! But most of the readers know at this point not to trust that and read between the lines of some troubling dialouge. While right now Clint is infinitely better than the guy who brought a LOADED GUN to campus I understand why there’s worry. There’s also a little more context with previous revelations.
          The phone call
          Billie claiming Ruth’s home isn’t safe
          Possibly just the source of Ruth’s depression in general

          But I do understand where you’re coming from. Kneejerk reaction is to call him a “monster” but maybe save it until he does something monsterous…probably within the next few strips.

        13. Sageress

          That, and people are acting like he murdered Billy in front of Ruth when the worst he’s done is be kind of intimidating.

        14. BBCC

          Intimidating your child is still an act of abuse.

        15. Ellegos

          I was one of the people who gave John the benefit of the doubt as well (until he opened his mouth anyway) but yeah, there’s been enough foreshadowing that if this guy ends up being genuinely “nice” in any fashion behind closed doors, it will be a pretty big twist.

          At best he wants to do right by his grandchild he thinks he knows better than and isn’t afraid to manipulate her with emotional leverage to that end. That would be a character whose actions I would abhore, but is at least mildly sympathetic.

          At worse, as soon as the doors are closed and they are alone, he’s going to angrily and intentionally start tearing into her and go for the emotional jugular over this upset of “their” plans and investment.

          Considering how terrified Ruth seems of the guy and how shocked she seems at his friendly demeanor I’d put money on the latter. Then again, Ruth’s brother seems to be oblivious to Ruth’s fear of their grandfather, so maybe it’s more subtle than that.

        16. Leorale

          The Walkertons are a better parallel, less hyperbolic, as they only use their words, not guns.
          But, I don’t think we need to have it out here. If Sir hasn’t escalated enough for you on-panel yet to be comfortable calling it, I’m sure he’ll make it abundantly clear by the end of the day. I’ll save you a pitchfork.

        17. Kris

          Honestly I’m half expecting him to forcefully pull Ruth aside after this meeting and berate her for him having to come down there and fix her mess. But we’ll wait and see.

        18. StClair

          Fully expecting that, here. There may also be some literal arm-twisting involved.

        19. N0083rP00F

          Or there may be something even more insidious here.
          Why go physical when he could just as easily hold her brother hostage?

        20. thejeff

          Not exactly the same, but we recognize the patterns. There were plenty of people in the early Toedad strips, before the gun came out and the kidnapping happened, who talked about how they didn’t trust Becky and how she was probably just overreacting and Ross was just concerned for his daughter.

          Or “Mary just wanted to study”.

          You’re putting yourself in that role. Don’t get too attached to it. Even more in this case – The abusive parental figure who acts all normal in public so that others will dismiss any accusations is a pretty common thing. Don’t fall for it.

        21. BBCC

          Hell, there were folks who were defending Toedad even as he kidnapped his daughter at gunpoint.

          I’m hoping nobody would defend Clint if it got that bad, but I know those strips bring all the trolls to the yard, so I’d not be shocked if some turned up there.

        22. autogatos

          I think bottom line is this situation may be more complex than “he’s bad, she’s a victim” situation. Dysfunctional parent/child relationships are not always clear-cut cases of obvious abuse.

          A person can be generally nice, likeable, caring, and want to do what’s best for their kid, while still completely screwing them up emotionally because of toxic behavior (such as being extremely controlling and critical to the point of crushing their kid’s self-esteem, and having a temper to the point of the kid being constantly afraid of ever making a mistake).

          He may not be a black-and-white supervillan who we can unquestionably hate, but that doesn’t mean Ruth is exaggerating nor does it mean he’s totally sympathetic/in the right or that she’s totally unsympathetic/in the wrong.

        23. Sageress

          And you know what, that’s fair. I agree that it’s probably somethng along those lines.

          It’s people acting like he’s as bad as Blaine who are baffling me.

        24. Taka

          They do this every time. I got called a heck of lot worse for withholding judgement on Joyce’s brother that one time. I feel for you, and I’m on your side. I’ll be on your side every time you withhold judgement until we have the full story, and we’ll always be in the minority. Sadly, that’s just the way it is in this community.

          Sadly, they might even be right, though. I don’t really want to think badly enough of Willis as to call him predictable, but as people above have noted, what’s he going to do, show that the abuse(?) victim is exaggerating? So far, family that isn’t obviously good has a pretty good track record of being bad, so it’s a reasonably safe assumption that even after any twists come out, the people who are calling him abusive will have their definitions provably satisfied adequately within a week, if they have not already.

        25. Sageress

          For all the shit I give this comic, I am a fan of it. But I agree on the predictability shit.

          C’mon Willis, challenge us yo. Give us a twist. Make him a reptilian.

        26. Angelbadman

          Everyone in this thread is making a lot of assumptions in both directions. There is a lot more to ne played out in this storyline.

          Those assuming an extreme form of abuse tend to do that for every strip. I guess even a broken clock is right at least two times a day (occasionally more, allowing for daylight savings).

          Conversation like:
          Joyce and Becky aren’t traumatised by anyone yelling “Rapture!”
          Sarah and Joyce did not have a major falling out over Jacob.
          Ruth is not abusing Billie.
          Become emotive and overblown daily.

          Words like trauma and abuse get thrown around way too much in these comments section, usually incorrectly and always as an attempt to dominate and define any conversation.

          We don’t know what is going on between Ruth and her grandfather. We can speculate, some speculation may be correct. Insisting and abusing others because they disagree with you is really irritating, as is the increasing spiral of drama that follows on from anyone presenting a differing opinion.

        27. BBCC

          @ Angelbadman

          Yeah, turns out people ignoring and dismissing red flags doesn’t tend to go well. As does asserting an abuse person is lying or exaggerating.

          Sarah and Joyce falling out was speculation.

          I didn’t see anyone saying they’d definitely be traumatized, more like it would be an upsetting trick to make that can easily backfire in light of recent events and that Walky was being douchey for doing so.

          We have seen Ruth abusing Billie. Hitting her, stripping her naked in public, slamming her against a wall and kissing her, breaking in and stealing her stuff, threatening her, keeping her on the blackfoot with changing interactions (friendly vs tyrannical), and making fun of her body. These are all things we’ve seen. That is not speculation.

          Sir being abusive is only an assumption if you’re not taking Ruth’s word for it. That’s fine – insisting he’s a good grandpa and that there are no red flags going on, is not.

        28. thejeff

          In fairness to Ruth & Billie, while it definitely started out abusive and they obviously still have serious problems, the Ruth abusing Billie part basically ended before they actually started the relationship.
          The bits that we’ve seen since then seem equal parts cover and sex play – they both appear turned on by the fighting. Billie also has been giving as good as she gets for quite awhile now.

        29. BBCC

          Yes, that is true, apart from Ruth stripping Billie naked in public, which is still not okay and still abusive (Billie did not agree to having her shirt yanked off in public and one of the Patreon strips confirms she was not okay with that).

        30. BBCC

          That’s because playing off ‘abuse victim is exaggerating’ is incredibly shitty and not a good thing to do. Again, that’s like having the AG storyline’s moral eventually be ‘yeah, no, Amber’s right, there’s nothing good about her, she needs AG to be a good person’.

          I really don’t care you want to withhold judgement – I do however, care that folks have been ignoring and shitting on folks seeing red flags or insisting that this means Ruth is exaggerating. Both of those things are fucked up and neither are okay.

          We’ve seen families members who weren’t obviously good proving themselves later to be better than initially presented – case in point, Hank, who went from the guy insisting Dorothy was an evil, corrupting atheist and speculating that Hitler was partly Jewish, to one of the best parents in the comic. That’s probably not going to be the case here, because, again, ‘the abuse victim is exaggerating’ is a terrible thing to do.

        31. autogatos

          This is my discomfort with it too. We don’t know for a fact that Sir is abusive, and he may not be, but HOWEVER he acts, it clearly has had a negative impact on Ruth, and that shouldn’t be dismissed as her “exaggerating.” Especially when she hasn’t even defined it as abuse herself. There is clearly something problematic about his behavior/their relationship, whether it’s abuse or not.

        32. BBCC

          Yeah, abusers are as bas as other abusers. Shocking. Different flavours doesn’t actually make them a different thing.

        33. Sageress

          Buddy.

          You can’t look at life so black and white. Every single thing in the universe is shades of grey, and should be judged case by case.

        34. BBCC

          Yeah, and this case is still an abuser.

        35. Sageress

          Literally what I’m saying is all abusers are not as bad as eachother. They ain’t a monolith. Both sides of the story do fucking matter.

          Toedad was a maniac who kidnapped his daughter and threatened people with a gun just because she was gay.

          So far, this guy just wants his granddaughter to be successful and is pushing her into it in a way that isn’t super good.

          If you think those equate at all, I dunno what to tell ya.

        36. BBCC

          No, they don’t. I do not care what reasons the abusive person has unless we’re referring to how to get them to stop. Again, different flavours doesn’t make a thing better. If your kid can barely enter the fucking room because she’s afraid you’re in there, it doesn’t matter if it’s because you’re physically abusive or emotionally abusive, what matters is you’ve terrified your kid.

          The Walkertons can make that same reason. That doesn’t change that they’re emotionally abusive and negligent bastards. Same goes for Lessick here – his intent means fuck all. The affect of his actions is what matters here.

          Also, we’ve seen him reduce Ruth to tears and a binging episode in a minute long phone call. She refers to him as something to escape from. She says one thing that might make him leave Howard alone is dying. That is not ‘wants them to be successful and is pushing them into it in a way that isn’t super good’. That is emotional abuse and I do not give a flying fuck if he intended it to be so or not.

          Both Blaine and Clint are abusers. That there are different flavours and severities means fuck all at this point.

        37. Hrovitnir

          I just find the assertion she’s “exaggerating” kind of weird considering she hasn’t *said* anything (that I can recall, just checking her brother was OK); we’ve just to see her completely shut down when interacting with him. We’ve seen evidence of him being abusive, not a freaking discussion.

          The fact is, taken in a vacuum his behaviour *could* be that of a jerk rather than an abusive jerk, but I take my cues from her overwhelming physiological reaction to his very voice.

        38. thejeff

          Exactly. It’s theoretically possible her trauma stems from a different source and he just triggers it without meaning to and without being able to overcome that, but her trauma and her reaction to him is real and clear. Nah, I just can’t see it.

        39. Random832

          Even if that is true, the way in which he is talking about her issues to a stranger in her presence is certainly kind of shitty even if that turns out to be the only bad thing he does.

        40. Random832

          I’d completely forgotten about this until I saw someone else mention it in another thread (and which also narrows the possible contexts of the phone call reaction): She has presumably given Billie some information about her situation that led Billie to say to Carla that Ruth would not be safe at home.

        41. thejeff

          There was a conversation someone linked elsewhere where she wondered if he’d be better to Howard if she died or if he’d just double down. There may obviously have been more we haven’t heard, but that’s likely enough.

    6. timemonkey

      Blaine seemed nice when new people met him too. Abusers don’t act like assholes in public.

      1. Sageress

        Well when we see him be abusive, I’ll dislike him.

        This isn’t reality. WE hated Blaine for three reasons, even when he first showed up:

        1) We knew he was abusive BEFOREHAND.

        2) When he showed up he was basically framed like goddamn Darkseid by the art.

        3) He was abusive in the other universe, and Willis doesn’t really change character personality like at all between there and here. Shrug.

        This guy? We have vague stories from Ruth and a sort of coarse introduction.

        We view the comic from the third person, not first person. If he was actually abusive, it’d be inconsistent with Willis’ previous storytelling.

        1. Emperor Daniel

          Emotional abuse is a thing.

        2. TemporalShrew

          Dude, this guy is a one-off character from Shortpacked! who threatened to beat someone up over a G.I. Joe.

        3. Sageress

          Wasn’t he presented as a force for good in that tho

          And like idk Snake Eyes is serious business

        4. Emperor Daniel

          Shortpacked! was…different. Keep in mind, Mike was also generally portrayed in a positive light there.

        5. Sageress

          Is he… not, here?

        6. Ellegos

          Yeah, I’m on the fence about Mike too. If he was a real person he’d be a monster, but so far in the comic, many of the things he’s done (as far as I remember) to mess with a person ended up being over some insecurity they ultimately end up having to face. Joyce’s mom comes to mind, Walky and his grades… not sure about this plan to seduce Ethan yet, but it might end up getting him to explore his sexuality more. We’ll see how that plays out.

          Then there was punching Joe in the face as Joyce’s body guard. I’ll make exceptions for physical comedy.

        7. Spoopyfox

          And we know grandpa here is abusI’ve too??

          Because his victim is clearly terrified of him?

          Subtext????

        8. Zatar

          Yeah and the art isn’t framing this guy as sinister at ALL.

          He just looks so good and pure and innocent.

        9. Sageress

          It’s really not tho

        10. Zatar

          When she enters the room despite the fact that he’s saying seemingly frendly things his expression is cold and imperious. In the panels after that he is smirking. So yes yes it really is though.

        11. Pat

          You have repeatedly stated that the worst we’ve seen him do “on-panel” (because apparently it doesn’t count if we don’t see his face?) is be abusive. You can’t also state that you’ll dislike him when you see him be abusive.

        12. Sageress

          It doesn’t count if we have no evidence that it actually happened that’s correct.

          Because this is a comic with a third person omniscient perspective and flashbacks. If we haven’t SEEN abusive, we have no actual reason to believe it exists. It’s a relative of Chekov’s gun– if it’s important, it’ll be shown.

          The problem here, also, is I didn’t say he’s being abusive right now. He’s being… I’m not really sure of the word, but he’s just sort of a conversation-runner type guy. Not abusive.

        13. Pat

          Ah yes, Ruth was acting. Specifically to fool hypothetical readers that may or may not be watching her while she was alone in her room.

          We did see that. We also see this.

          You did not say that he’s being abusive right now. I said it. It’s also true.
          You didn’t say the true thing. You did, in fact, say the lying thing. Good for you and your apologism.

        14. Sageress

          If you think this is abuse, what he’s doing right now… I guess that’d explain why we disagree so much on this situation then.

        15. Greenygal

          He finds out his granddaughter is suicidal and instead of asking her anything, expressing concern for her well-being, things like that, he tells her that he’s “solved” things for her without asking what she wanted. He uses words like “position” and “investment”, because apparently that’s the priority and that’s what needed solving. And while none of that is good, if I didn’t know anything else about the character I could maybe chalk it up to it’s a stressful situation and he doesn’t know how to handle it, but he genuinely means to be helpful. But panel six kills any benefit of my doubt, because when Ruth stares at him in confusion because a minute ago she didn’t even know he was going to be here and now she has to take in that everything is completely different all of a sudden, he makes a snarky remark–to someone he’s probably just met!–about how ungrateful she is. Again, HIS GRANDDAUGHTER IS SUICIDAL. She just got out of the medical ward an hour ago. And yet he thinks nothing of casually belittling her because she doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear as fast as he wants to hear it. He thinks it’s funny, in fact. If all I knew about this guy was what he’s doing right now, I would still want Ruth a million miles away from him.

        16. Pat

          Because you don’t think being abusive “counts” as abuse. Whatever that means.
          Right.

        17. Ellegos

          I think your argument would be stronger to me if this was a real life scenario. Then I’d be agreeing that we should wait and see what happens.

          I guess in a comic I’m a lot more willing to roll with foreshadowing and subtext to make assumptions about characters.

        18. Pat

          Yeah. We’re definitely used to adults doing that.
          Sure is easier, I guess.

        19. Proxiehunter

          We’re seeing him be abusive right here, on this page.

        20. Sageress

          I… don’t agree?

        21. Pat

          You don’t “disagree” with facts.

        22. Taka

          I’m with Sageress on this one. If this is abusive, then I don’t agree with your definition of abusive. If you take *this*, and you take intentional gaslighting, physical beating, and severe emotional manipulation, and call them all the same thing, you are suffering from overly broad definitions. It’s epistemically disingenuous.

        23. Pat

          “Call them the same thing”? This comic is a depiction of two of the three things you named!

          You “disagree” with words having coherent definitions?
          What the Hell is with the abuse of the word “disagree”? That poor word has taken enough of a beating from homophobic hate groups, and I’ll thank you to leave it alone and let it rest.

        24. Sageress

          Aight nah I can’t sit this out.

          If you sincerely believe this is ‘severe emotional abuse’, then I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not talking about the implied shit that happened off panel, in the past, I’m talking about THIS PAGE. It’s not severe emotional abuse.

          Severe emotional abuse is when, say, a father tells their child he’s a massive disappointment and a waste of his effort, and that if he’d never been born everyone would be happier. That’s severe emotional abuse.

          I wish I’d lived a life so nice that I could believe THIS is what “severe emotional abuse” is.

        25. Sebastian Temples

          I won’t minimize your suffering, but there doesn’t exist a sliding scale for severity of abuse: abuse is abuse.
          ‘Small’ acts of abuse are not small because they play a part in making the severe abusive pattern. This may not be a severe act by itself but it is a reflection of a combination of very common patterns: the theft of agency (where decisions are made without consent: panels 2&4), the absolute authority (demanding to be referred to by titles as a form of ego masturbation: “Sir”), and the masked monster (where the abuser steal away allies: Panel 6). The undertones are all present, about two layers deep.

          There is also an implied link between the badness of an action and the abusiveness of an action: a link which I don’t believe exists on the micro- nor macro- levels.

          My mother is one of the nicest people I know. My mother is also abusive. I can say these two statements as non-contradictory facts because both are equally true. But because of the way the terms are defined I was stuck in a loop of cognitive dissonance until I decided that the two couldn’t be mutually exclusive: nice people can be abusive and nice action can be abuse.
          As weird is this statement is for most people to accept, this is the determination I’ve arrived at. It took three years of thinking on it extensively to decide that this is the logical way to solve the conflict of terms, because objectively speaking my mother is both nice and abusive.

        26. Ellegos

          So to make sure that I understand, everyone is saying that ‘Sir’ carrying out this nominally charitable act of getting Ruth her job back puts her further in his debt and gives emotional leverage over Ruth.

          This by itself and in a vacuum is indistinguishable from someone doing so for emotional leverage and somebody doing so with no ulterior motives.

          You are stating that in the absence of any observed attempt on his part to use this leverage to manipulate Ruth, we don’t know beyond reasonable doubt which scenario this is.

          Others are saying that due to Ruth’s behavior regarding ‘Sir’ we can draw the conclusion that he has done something like that in the past, due to her terror, and what she has directly said about him (which I don’t remember explicitly). And also the subtext.

          I can understand your viewpoint. I think we are probably going to see a turn in the next few panels, but if this were a real scenario, I’d be hesitant to draw conclusions before actually observing the behavior of everyone involved.

        27. thejeff

          The “See, she just closes up, withdraws” bit is especially nasty. Subtle, but nasty. Obviously following on from something he’s been talking about with Chloe. He’s been setting Chloe’s expectations for Ruth, reshaping her opinion of her and setting her up to dismiss any concerns about Ruth’s reaction to him.

          He knows what he’s doing.

        28. Kryss LaBryn

          @Ellegos: I’d like to point out that nobody has yet told Ruth (nor us) how he has “fixed” everything.

          Did he persuade Chloe and the school to give her another go, penalty-free, with the provisio that she keep attending therapy?

          Did he persuade them to close her transcripts without penalty for health reasons and to let her come back home with him so she can nominally “rest and recover” until such a time as she is “well enough” to return to the school and pick up her courses from where she left off, putting her back under his direct control? (“And they never saw her again. The end.”)

          Something else entirely? I have no idea. But I want to point out that him and Chloe saying, “Yay! We fixed everything!” does not necessarily mean what we’d likely consider to be “fixed”.

          I’m keeping my mouth in a horrified grimace until they actually get around to stating the actual arrangement they’ve made (at which point I’m sure it will be perfectly justified).

        29. thejeff

          @Kryss: It’s really hard for me to read ” Your employment! Your position. Our investment. I’ve put the train back on the tracks.” as anything other than “You’re keeping the job.” There may well be conditions and it puts Ruth back in the hot seat she was happy to escape, but “back on the tracks” doesn’t really make sense “we’re going to do something completely different.

        30. Sageress

          @Ellegos: Exactly, thank you.

          @Sebastion: I see your point, there. This would be an interesting discussion to have some other time, actually. But, taking that example of your mother into account, can you at least see why I’m aggravated with the people already calling this guy a monster and saying he should get his ass whooped? Abusive =/= Evil is something a lot of people don’t seem to understand.

        31. thejeff

          Abusive pretty much is Evil, as much as anything is. At least when it’s to the level this seems to be – reducing Ruth to cringing at the door or to a drunken stupor after a phone call. I strongly suspect we’ll see that revealed clearly enough in the near future – probably not in this sequence, but in the next. (My narrative senses suggest this is the gaslighting introduction of the villain and the actual climax of this arc is still an Act away.)

          I wouldn’t go so far as to say all abuse – the Walkertons and Wilcoxes and Seigals are abusive in their own ways and have screwed up their kids, but they don’t sink to the level of evil. None of their kids react the way Ruth does either.

          If you can’t see it yet, you can’t see it yet. Testimony to Willis’s skill at gaslighting his audience, I guess. In theory, you’re right – we haven’t actually seen any specific action from him that would warrant legal action. In theory, Willis could reveal how it’s all a misunderstanding, he’s really a nice guy and Ruth’s just messed up or something. I’m sure he’s not going to and I don’t really see how to make that work as a satisfying resolution – but it’s not out of the reach of theoretical possibility.

          Anymore than it wasn’t possible that Ross was just concerned about his runaway daughter, up until the gun came out. The gun isn’t out here yet, but the signs are clear that it’s there (metaphorically at least.)

        32. Pat

          …that is literally exactly what he’s saying.

        33. 3-I

          “We knew he was abusive beforehand”

          We knew THIS GUY was abusive beforehand. The only reason you don’t is that you’ve decided Ruth is incapable of telling the truth and made up being abused.

          Because that is what “overblowing” means.

    7. Zatar

      In the first panel he is death glaring her while saying seemingly friendly but at the same time threatening things. He follows this up be robbing Ruth of her agency while referring to her future as an “investment.” After that makes a dismissive comment about her silent fear of him. Almost all of this is done with an evil smirk on his face. “Nice” is not a word I’d use. I’d use words like “creepy” or “terrifying” or “Oh god he’s only been in one strip but already I find this guy way creeper then Blaine and he’s only been in one strip.”

      1. Sageress

        He literally has that face in every panel are you kidding

        “Robbing her of her agency”? She hasn’t had the chance to respond yet. If he starts saying “No fuck you, you have to do this,” then you’ll have an argument.

        All that aside though, if you think this guy is even a little bit as bad as Blaine you… actually, uh, you keep doin you man. Sorry to bug ya.

        1. Zatar

          “He literally has a death glare as his expression in every panel he talks to his granddaughter in” is a rather poor defense.

          Your right she hasn’t had a chance to respond yet. Y’now because she’s frozen in fear the minute he starts speaking. something which he causally dismisses as ingratitude.

          Yeah I think that the guy who is clearly being written in a way to suggest he’ll be an abuser is as bad as an abuser. Fancy that.

        2. Sageress

          “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way” – Grandpa Clint 2017

        3. thejeff

          He doesn’t casually dismiss as ingratitude. He gaslights to Chloe as ingratitude.

        4. Chris Phoenix

          And why hasn’t she had the chance to respond yet?

        5. Sageress

          Because we haven’t seen the next comic yet, buddy.

        6. Zatar

          Yeah clearly its just a coincidence that theirs a panel showing her standing silent in cowed fear before the last panel. And that he causally jokes about it treating her fear of him as ingratitude. I’m sure that won’t be significant at all.

        7. Sageress

          I forgot that Clint Lessick, as a psychic, can read emotions and automatically knows that she’s quiet because of fear.

          That’s why he wouldn’t otherwise assume that it’s because she’s:

          A) Shocked (as I am) that she kept her job somehow

          B) Confused (as I am) that she kept her job somehow

          C) Is processing what she’s been told

          or anything else.

          No, yeah, it’s gotta be because he’s reveling in the delicious fear she’s producing, like goddamn Sinestro.

          “Not even a thank you”, likewise, couldn’t possibly just be a joke. Why would he be trying to keep the mood light considering the situation, that’d be silly.

        8. Zatar

          Did you strain a muscle doing all of those mental gymnastics? Yeah that’s clearly the expression of a woman who’s just processing what she’s been told. This is a totally innocent conversation. And if you’re going to make a sarcastic remark about his behaviour maybe don’t make your sarcastic remark be literally the most likely scenario. Because yeah when I see a man smirking after we see someone reacting with fear to him I think Reveling in there fear is the more likely scenario not “Oh he’s just joking around, what a delightful old codger!”

        9. Sageress

          I have a medal in mental gymnastics actually thank you.

          Well then we’re at an impasse, the limits of Willis’ art I guess. If you were to show panel 5 to… 10 people, out of context, I don’t think all of them would say it’s fear.

        10. Kryss LaBryn

          “Hey I just showed up with no warning and did something to heavily impact your current life plus your future but I’m not telling you what why the hell aren’t you thanking me for doing it see total conga amirite?”

    8. foamy

      No, this is an unmitigated asshole we’re seeing right now.

    9. David

      “I have organized your tuition. My good friend John—You remember John, don’t you? He remembers you quite well.—is going to come by weekly to bring the installments. Be nice to him.”

    10. Bret

      Do you even read this comic?

  7. Nym

    Oh, dear.

    1. Nym

      “I took away your relief at one less (big) thing to worry about, display no concern over your mental health and suicidal ideation (only your job), and am putting you back onto the track I’ve laid out for you (no deviations!). Why aren’t you falling over yourself in gratitude?” <- Ruth's grandpa, I guess.

      The first panel is enough to give a little hope, with every subsequent one immediately taking it away and stomping all over it. Good strip, good storytelling. I am wincing on Ruth's behalf.

      1. Sageress

        Relief he had no way to know about.

        He’s prolly got god intentions.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Typo, or sneaky insinuation? “God intentions”?

        2. DonDueed

          Freudian slip, maybe.

  8. Delicious Taffy

    Seems like maybe she gets to keep being R.A.? If so, what’s the catch? If not, then what the hell is he getting at. Stupid old people, always being vague about literally everything.

    1. MatthewTheLucky

      The catch is she keeps being R.A.

      1. Sorrischian

        I just hope that’s the only catch.

      2. dg

        The catch is, she owes him(or at least he sees it that way) and they both know it. Also the fact that he feels like he saved her bacon gives him a looooooooooooot of leverage. Or at least he feels that way. Especially if her continued employment/position/education is dependent on it, but even if not.

      3. Delicious Taffy

        Sure, but this time around, instead of being a depressed loner, she has a girlfriend, therapist, medication, and possibly even a support group in the form of her floormates.

    2. Cerberus

      The catch is he owns her.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        God, old people are so insufferably competitive when it comes to video games. I bet he’s a fucking Maxi main.

        1. Sageress

          I want this meeting to end with him saying “GG EZ” and tea bagging Howie.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          That’s a felony.

  9. Emperor Daniel

    Oh he looks like the sleaziest sleemo ever.

    1. Kris

      To me he looks like an older Mr. Incredible from well, The Incredibles.

      1. Thursday Violist

        Oh! Right! You are so right!
        How did I not see that before?

    2. Sageress

      He does NOT look like DC comics’ Sleeze how dare you

      http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/d/d7/Sleez_01.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120915192715

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Isn’t that the guy who made Superman into a porn star?

        1. Sageress

          Yes, yes it is

          A true american hero

        2. Rukduk

          Wait, whaaaatttt?? When did this happen? And who were the co-stars? Was Batman involved or Wonderwoman?

        3. Delicious Taffy

          It happened years ago, and the co-star was a character named Big Barda. I haven’t looked very far into this one, not being a particular fan of Superman to begin with.

        4. Zatar

          It is one of the worst Superman story’s ever made.

    3. Reltzik

      *squints* He doesn’t look anything at all like Ryan.

  10. Pablo360

    This is worse than I could possibly have imagined.

    1. Sageress

      Now, to be fair

      He could have busted out of the room with a singlet on and broken her back like Bane.

      1. Pablo360

        Okay, but I didn’t IMAGINE that.

        Now I did.

        This is no longer worse than I could possibly have imagined.

        Thanks⸮

        1. Sageress

          Other possible worse things:

          He could have been a graboid from Tremors, and eaten her and Billie alive.

          He could have just literally been Ross with a fake set of glasses on, come back fer his daughter. His gun would also have a fake set of glasses.

          He could have been wearing Chloe like a mask.

        2. Pablo360

          Please stop

    2. Noheart6265

      Toedad came with a gun that he was willing to use. Considering this fact, while this is indeed horrible, it is not worse than what we have already seen.

      1. thejeff

        Nah, it’s much closer to when Toedad first showed up on campus, putting up posters about his missing daughter.

        There were posters wondering if Becky had exaggerated and he really was just concerned then too.

        The gun is the next Act, not this one.

  11. Kater

    This is a man with a radio show.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      With a smooth, buttery voice. Kinda like Casey Casem on a strict diet warm honey and butterscotch..

      1. Wack'd

        Honestly I’m imagining less Casem and more, like, modern day not-doing-a-voice Frank Welker.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Welker is also a good fit. I may have a bias, though, because I’ve spend the last decade being compared to one of Casem’s most famous characters.

      2. Deanatay

        Rly? I tagged him with sorta a scratchy Dick Cheney growl.

    2. Rukduk

      Like Rush Limbaugh? (Yes I forgot how to spell his name, no I don’t respect him enough to check to see if it’s right or wrong) Cause he totally looks like one of those types of pricks. Where’s Joyce’s fists of Justice and righteous fury when you need them?

      1. C.

        You got the spelling right anyway.

      2. JessWitt

        I spell it as “Rush Limburger”.

        1. Rukduk

          That’s actually pretty funny. Good pun on the name, plus the object and subject are equally pungent.

        2. DonDueed

          Except it’s an insult to a fine fermented milk product.

  12. Yumi

    Nope. Gotta look at this more carefully to see if I can make more sense of it, but nope.

    *goes into the comic and slowly pulls Ruth out of the room*

    1. Yumi

      One potential should-be warning sign here is that he doesn’t express concern at Ruth having been suicidal. But then, maybe the school didn’t actually reach that level of fuckup and he doesn’t know, or Chloe doesn’t know if he knows.

      1. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

        The comments about putting her back on track seems to imply that he knows about what happened. He probably just thinks that she should toughen up and deal with it, and that this will help her do that. I’m not sure why Chloe thinks that this is a good idea, though.

        1. Yumi

          I also assume he knows something about what happened, but I’m open to the possibility that he doesn’t have the complete story– that comment could mean, for instance, he knows that Ruth was in danger of losing her job due to failure to perform her responsibilities, maybe something about her drinking. I would still think he should check in on Ruth’s well-being, but it’d be more understandable if he doesn’t know about the suicidality.

          (Understandable meaning “how does Chloe think this is okay.”)

        2. HopelessPedantic

          Gonna jump to Chloe’s defense here and say that as far as I can tell, FERPA and HIPAA both allow for him to have been filled in on most or all of the situation, especially assuming that Chloe is unaware of the abuse. See my comments on yesterday’s comic.

          Speaking of which, I’m almost ready to agree with the people jumping into the “can that guy please get fucked with a baseball bat covered in nails” group. This guy is definitely setting off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. Ruth’s reactions to him, the way he speaks, his suit and cane, his apparent influence with the Department, etc. are, taken together, certainly cause for significant concern. However, there is not yet enough evidence to conclude, with certainty, that this man is a malicious, active abuser. There are plausible alternative explanations for Ruth’s behavior and his behavior (see for example Sageress’ earlier comment, item B).

          It’s true that abusers often have the upper hand in situations like these. They can control information and provide a false view of themselves to the rest of the world. Indeed, my personal interpretation of the comic and its direction is that that is precisely what is happening here. However, I will reserve judgement until there is no longer reasonable doubt.

          As for Chloe, I hope that she starts picking up on these things. If she does not, and especially if our worst fears come true, then I will have cause to join the Chloe hate train.

          P.S. can someone please link to the phone conversation Rith had with this guy? People keep mentioning it like everyone else remembers what happened and I, for one, do not.

        3. Fart Captor

          Here’s that conversation:

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/05-media-rumble/sir/

        4. HopelessPedantic

          Thank you. 🙂 It’s interesting that we never hear his side of the conversation, so again, we wind up with no direct evidence of abuse, only circumstantial evidence. However, see my comment below.

        5. Tarazed

          What gets me about that phone conversation is he never allows her to finish a sentence until she acknowledges that he’s right, and she’s sorry. What a way to teach someone they’re not even worth expressing their own thoughts. It’s an insidious method of grinding someone down. That, and this comic, are not conversations of a guardian to someone they actually care about.

        6. HopelessPedantic

          Y’know, I’m going to backtrack a teensy bit. I just read Cerberus’ comment some posts below and looking more at the details, at Ruth’s behavior, everything Cerberus mentions… the likeliest explanation seems to me to be that this guy is a monster. I kinda understated it above, but this guy really scares me. The alarm bells in my head aren’t just ringing, they’re fucking exploding and throwing shrapnel everywhere.

          It’s possible that there is some alternative explanation for all of this. Most of the evidence at this point is circumstantial. However, there sure seems to be an awful lot of it.

          Whether his wording is abusive or not may be a moral question as opposed to a factual one. I’m not familiar enough with formal definitions of abuse to really comment on it and I’m too lazy to go look it up right now.

        7. thejeff

          That’s pretty much it. If this were a trial and we had only the present evidence, I couldn’t convict him on it. I’d sure as hell be worried though.

          Given that this is literature and thus needs to make sense, unlike real life, he’s guilty.

          The problem with even considering whether his wording is abusive or not is context. Things can seem innocent enough, but be horribly abusive in the context of an abusive relationship.

        8. Yumi

          My comment on Chloe has nothing to do with FERPA or HIPAA, so I’m a little confused. I mean, “How does Chloe think it’s okay that he’s so unconcerned.”

        9. HopelessPedantic

          Ah fair enough. I was partially referring to when you said “maybe the school didn’t actually reach that level of fuckup and he doesn’t know.” It worries me too that Chloe doesn’t seem to even raise an eyebrow at this dude’s weird choice and Ruth’s reactions. I’m hoping that it’s just that she needs some time to notice. It’s only been like a minute tops comic time. I’m not sure I’d notice all of this in a minute or less. After that, it’d still take me a while to figure out that this is more than just a strained family relationship or something similarly normal.

        10. HopelessPedantic

          word choice*
          Phone keyboards. Ugh.

        11. Guairdean Beatha

          Chloe may be under orders to clear things up quickly and quietly. A nice fat check and a subdued “troublemaker” can be very effective blinders. Not wondering why she had to repair the door to Ruth’s room so many times points to a high denial reflex.

        12. Deanatay

          It means that he sees ‘the problem’ as being Ruth losing her job as RA – he has fixed that. Any other problems are not problems, they are Ruth being troublesome, and she WILL STOP being troublesome, and everything will be fine.

          It’s a standard Baby Boomer point of view – emotional problems are not problems, they are weakness, and someone with authority just has to tell them to stop, and they will stop, and the problem will go away. It’d kinda be nice, if the world worked that way. But, it doesn’t.

        13. Jhon

          Boomer here. So watch it, sport.

  13. StClair

    Oh, but I’m sure he’ll have some choice and very pointed words for her, as soon as they’re alone, about how she almost Ruined Everything – his investment.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Doesn’t she know How Hard He Worked to get this for her?

    2. Bicycle Bill

      I agree.  He’s grooming Ruth for something, and her attendance at IU and her position as RA are important parts of it.

  14. Some1

    Is it weird that I was hoping he would be kinda like Monkey D Garp?

    Also, I have no idea how to feel about him. I think he’s evil, but it’s hard to tell.

    1. Some1

      Nevermind, he’s evil, I was just really expecting a stern grandfather guy, that a sleazeball threw me off.

  15. Launch a shuttle into Trumps asshole

    I can… I can hear his voice so clearly in my head… like no other cartoon voice I ever heard before… dear Christ what dark sorcery is this!?!

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Would you kindly share what he sounds like in your head? This sort of thing is like crack for me.

      1. BP

        I kind of imagine Ed Wuncler I from The Boondocks. And I am upset that he sounds that affably evil in my head. XC

        1. Wyze

          Ed Asher. YIKES.

        2. Wyze

          Sorry, Asner. My phone autocorrected.

  16. Porto

    Wot

  17. Claire

    Sir looks like Kelsey Grammer.

    FRAJER!!!!

    1. BP

      He looks a little more like an old Captain America to me. And also I like Kelsey Grammer and Captain America. STOP BEING COMPARABLE TO LIKABLE THINGS, CLINT.

    2. Tenn

      I was CTRL+F-ing “kelsey” and “frasier” (and “frajer” just to be complete) and was surprised to find nothing more than these two comments above me.

      (Ha ha, I said “F-ing”!)

  18. speciousific

    For anyone who didn’t read Shortpacked: http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=112

    1. Emperor Daniel

      …that one-off character was related to Ruth?

      (this is assuming that genetic relations remain the same between universes, which so far as I can recall they do)

    2. Delicious Taffy

      Dude looks like a Senator you don’t want to fuck with.

      1. StClair

        “Nanomachines, son.”

    3. UltraKyrie

      Wow, that’s one hell of a deep-cut to pull from walkyverse.

    4. Haven

      Huh. Thanks for that, it would have itched at me trying to figure out “who was this guy in the Walkyverse”.

    5. BP

      NOOOOOOOOOOOOO BUT I LIKED THAT GUY. :C

    6. C.

      Do you think Clint collects vintage G.I. Joes in this universe too?

    7. James

      Frick, I KNEW I’d seen this guy somewhere before.

    8. Deanatay

      Stephen R. Bierce • 5 years ago

      I think Clint needs to be tagged. I bet we haven’t seen the last of him by a long shot.

      I blame Stephen. FOR BEING RIGHT.

      1. Stephen Bierce

        He fought in WARS.

    9. Jhon

      O…kay. So now I know where ‘Clint’ comes from.

  19. DarkoNeko

    Thank you, arsehole !

  20. Shiro

    And so now he has her even more in his debt and under his thumb…

    My mom was never abusive in that *particular* way, but goddamn do I know that sudden drop in the gut that Ruth’s feeling right now.

    1. Sageress

      We don’t even know that he’s bad yet jeeeeez

      1. Shiro

        This is not the kind of webcomic that broadly and loudly implies abuse and then pulls a “gotcha”.

      2. Fart Captor

        Yes, we do, unless we completely ignore the fact that this dude had Ruthless trembling in fear, and everything she’s ever said about him.

        1. StClair

          per comment above, Sageress doesn’t trust Ruth’s word.

        2. Whirlwitch

          Lying liars always feign their emotional reactions and dialogue from phone calls so as to present perfectly nice people as abusers to the absolutely no one who is watching (that they are aware of). It’s like how every time somebody who isn’t perfect goes off in private and cries, they’re not really sad at all, just manipulating the people they prevented from watching them. It’s good we have Sageress to remind of of these things, or we might think emotionally damaged people deserve to be believed about their own life experience.

          /as much sarcasm as I can manage at this time of night.

        3. 3-I

          THANK you. Oh my god.

        4. BBCC

          I thought we learned that lesson back in Freshman Family Weekend when we learned Amber and Sal can’t be believed about their abusers?

        5. Sageress

          Hey no I was on team Sal and Amber the whole time

        6. BBCC

          Good for you. Others were not.

        7. BBCC

          Okay, that did not come out well. Let me rephrase that to something closer to what I meant – “That’s good! I’m glad you did. That said others weren’t, and those are to whom I refer when I say we learned that lesson.”

      3. caesaria82

        So we’re not believing Ruth, is that what you’re saying? We’ve seen for literal real time years how terrified she is of that man and you don’t think he’s bad?

        Ruth is afraid of him. He is making a teenage girl afraid. He is bad. The end.

      4. Cerberus

        Oh, we know he’s bad. We’ve seen him with a single conversation break her to the point of nearly drinking herself to death. We’ve seen the terror on her face at the mere prospect of running into him, the broken litany of fears she has about him when she was on the bed with Billie before going to the hospital.

        We see it in her eyes, the light gone again in an instant like right before she ended up in the hospital. We see it in her near inability to even open the door knowing he’s behind it.

        We see it in her scrawled mouth in the first panel, barely holding it together. In his smug “look at me being so kind” bullshit act. In her broken face in Panel 5. In the fact that Ruth is fresh out of the hospital and apparently has been told at least some portion of what happened and nonetheless expresses not an ounce of concern but a lot of language that centers the concept of Ruth as failure that he personally has to save.

        We see it in how little he seeks out Ruth’s input. How little he values her input. By his use of the phrase “our investment” to speak about Ruth’s life, reducing it to the utilitarian use he personally gets out of her life. By his assumption that he owns her.

        This fucker is bad news.

        And I worry we’re about to see how bad news he can be.

        1. KSClaw

          I am honestly so scared to find out how much worse he can get. He’s got her calling him “sir” for fricks sake, and the way she cringed when she found out he was there… I don’t care what Sageress says, I got alarmbells ringing all over the place.

        2. Cerberus

          Yeah. And just like with most abusers, it’s still not enough power for him and so he has to grab for more. I know things are going to be really bad for her in the short term, but I’m hoping in the long-term she can find her method of escaping him and his bullshit once and for all.

        3. KSClaw

          Amen to that. Hopefully, Billie will be able to help her through this.

        4. Gesc

          Well Willis can’t leave it all to our imaginations!

    2. Angelbadman

      He may be claiming responsibility for “fixing” things. But Chloe had already made it clear she was reluctant to fire Ruth. I doubt, even in Ruth’s eyes, he can seriously claim full credit.

  21. Danni

    his face looks like a pimple….i want to punch it

    1. Sageress

      You animal, that man served his (our?) country

      1. Rukduk

        Yeah. Once. A looong time ago. And given his age it was either ‘Nam or one of Reagan’s “police actions” or as a CIA asset in several counterrevolutions. Serving your country doesn’t make you a bad person, but it doesn’t make you a good one either. And referring to one’s grandchild as an “investment”, is the mark of a cold, calculating, self-centered person.

        1. Shiro

          Y’all, Ruth’s Canadian so pretty sure he is too.

        2. DinaWho

          When Ruth and Howie’s parents died, they moved to the States to live with Sir. I think I remember seeing somewhere Sir and Howie (and Ruth when she’s not at school) live in Carmel, IN.

        3. Shiro

          Ahh, fair, I stand corrected! 🙂

        4. Emperor Daniel

          I’m guessing Sir is from Ruth and Howard’s maternal side of the family.

    2. Danni

      im californian

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      You don’t punch pimples, you cover it with a tissue and squeeze it til it pops.

  22. Keulan

    Wait what? What the fuck did he just do?

    1. Danni

      he took the situation out of ruth’s hand and robbed her of any say she had in the matter. in essence, he took away her agency.

      1. fillerusername

        Yep. She is now right back in the situation that lead to her being fucking suicidal. With her new medication and (hopefully) therapy she’s better off but I can understand the fear of now being forced back into the situation but oh now everyone knows how fucked up she is including the guy who refers to her as an”investment.”

      2. David Tucker

        Yes, that. Well summarized.

      3. Cerberus

        This.

        He’s removing her agency in the decision and her autonomy and presenting his deliberate show of control over her life as some kindly gesture when it is all about deepening his ability to abuse her over the phone over all her “failed life choices” in the ways that frequently drove her to drink to the point of nearly killing herself.

        And by going so far in person to do this, he’s sending a very cold reminder to her that she is not going to be able to exit the path he has set for her without him actively intervening to prevent that.

        1. thejeff

          And he did it all without ever visiting or even contacting her. Not even in hospital. Not even just to let her know he was trying to help out. Just straight to the administration, ignoring her.

        2. Cerberus

          Yep, it really hammers home how much he views her as a chess piece more than an actual person. Gotta make sure she fulfills the role she was given and doesn’t try and sneak off with one of the rooks for a snog or get it in her head that she can have a life outside the board.

        3. 3-I

          THIS. EXACTLY THIS.

    2. Just Me

      Guessing he somehow bribed the School to let Ruth keep her RA position. How, why I haven’t a clue. If he’s that rich why does he want her to work as an RA?

      1. Cerberus

        There’s a certain type of rich abusive asshole* who’s really big on their progeny “showing a strong work ethic” by doing a very specific job they approve of and which doesn’t give them enough agency or income to actually escape the amount of control they have over them.

        Ruth working as RA satisfies that nicely. It’s likely only paid in free housing, so she’s still reliant on “sir” for disposable income and tuition. It’s high stress, preventing her from doing a quiet recovery and focusing on her studies. And it’s tied enough to the school for him to pretend that he’s covering her “schooling” and thus present himself as the only thing keeping her in that school.

        It’s really the perfect job if you’re that type of creep.

        *My girlfriend’s dad is exactly this type of asshole. Any help comes with a million nasty strings to limit ability to live independently and he spent most of her college years trying to discourage her from employment that would allow her financial independence and towards things that would leave her heavily dependent on him and his money so he could have better access to her to continue abusing her.

        1. StClair

          Some really good (bad) points here I hadn’t considered.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        It’s a show of his power.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      I suspect that he is very well-off, financially, so some branch of IU has probably just received a very significant endowment.  Basically, he pretty much threw money at a problem until it went away.

  23. Sageress

    So, what’s Willis going to do when he runs out of background/one-shot characters from Shortpacked to use in DOA?

    My money’s on become a hermit.

    1. Passchendaele

      And then he’ll make that hermit a character too.

      1. Sageress

        The new RA, Master Roshi

  24. Wack'd

    “We had a close call there, didn’t we!”
    “Yeah but it’s okay they got me to a hospita–”
    “No, not that. Trust me, if you had died I would’ve made sure your ghost was the RA.”

  25. Bearclaw!

    So this seems to be some Walkyverse continuity stuff that long time readers seem to understand? Can someone provide context? Is “Sir” historically a terrible abusive old man?

    1. BBCC

      All you need to know is in DoA. DoA is a separate continuity and not related to the Walkyverse except it has similar characters.

      1. Bearclaw!

        No no, i get that, but all the charas have walkyverse counterparts, Like Ultracar and Carla etc, so I’m asking about walkyverse “Sir”

        1. BBCC

          Walkyverse sir only shows up in one strip. He’s a veteran who’s a long time G.I. Joe fan and collector not afraid to beat up people whining about nostalgia and new product not matching up.

        2. Sebastian Temples

          He literally only shows up here: . Aside from that he’s totally new.

        3. Sebastian Temples

          http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=112 I forgot how to html.

  26. Chris H

    Hmmm, I don’t recognize him, but the name sounds familiar. Is he a new character?….Hold on a second! *checks Shortpacked under the GI Joe tag* It is! It’s that guy from this strip!
    http://www.shortpacked.com/2005/comic/book-2-pulls-the-drama-tag/01-addicted/sigma/

    1. Shadowypenguin

      You beat me to it

  27. TemporalShrew

    This man doesn’t look like he’s fought in wars.

    He looks like he’s STARTED wars. And he sounds like he’s about to start one, too. He’s emanating the kind of charisma underneath which there’s always something absolutely roiling.

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      I love it when a comment and an avatar come together and make something beautiful.

    2. KSClaw

      I was just thinking about how he reminds me of General Ross from Hulk

  28. Kris

    Ruth was the unknown evil?!….Classic misdirection…unless I’ve missed what just happened?

    1. Dana

      I knew someone would beat me to it.

  29. Passchendaele

    Yay? She’s stuck in the position she explicitly hates, her grandfather does not have a “kill it with fire” face, it is possible he has some kind of catch or plan, and Mary’s blackmail (as well as her ability to be a jerkass) are shot. I feel like I should be happy, but captain metaphor has made everything so vague that I’m not sure if this will end great or badly for Ruth. Oh dear.

  30. Optimal Optimus

    It’s… Darkseid!

    1. Danni

      darkseid is classier! he held a glass of cognac! thats for classy villains!

  31. miados

    I suspect she doesn’t want the job anymore.

  32. Spoopyfox

    Oh you dumb oblivious–

    And poor Ruth financial dependency on an abuser is the worst

  33. David Tucker

    Wait…I thought Chloe had her head on straight. This guy doesn’t actually exist and he’s giving me the creeps. ( Well done Mr. Willis)

    Also, doesn’t Ruth hater her R.A. Job? “Getting Fired is the light at the end of the tunnel” she said. And what is “our investment”? I suspect that this man has been driving Ruth to succeed or something, and her failure was the only way she could get back at him. And what about Naomi?

    Seriously, if you are making your grand kid call you “Sir” with that degree of fear, there is abuse going on here somewhere. Also, Dammit Chloe! I trusted in you.

    1. MM

      Ruth is apparently one of Chloe’s best RAs, and she appeared to be seriously entertaining Roz’s interest in the position. I don’t think Chloe is very good at her job.

      1. David Tucker

        Okay, yeah. I don’t think I thought this through. Dammit. I liked Chloe. meh.

        1. James

          It’s also worth noting that Chloe does not have the relative objectivity afforded to readers. She’s a lot closer to the action, and a whole lot easier for Clint to manipulate into missing the warning signs that seem obvious to a lot of us, no matter how competent or not she is.

          Especially if Ruth hasn’t told her any real details about her home life.

  34. Foxhack

    … Investment?

    Fucking what.

    He doesn’t even seem to care about her wellbeing. Investment? The fucking what?

    1. Cerberus

      Yeah, anyone who talks about people as “investments” is about nine million red flags rolled up together before you even get to anything else.

  35. butts

    wait

    Sir is the 1960s GI Joe guy?!

    Did not see that one coming.

    1. butts

      damn, Chris H beat me to it

      1. Chris H

        😉

  36. Derek

    as usual, Cerberus called it: Sir is abusive, but manages to hide it well; and Pudding Head is a nincompoop for not warning Ruth that her grandfather would show up

    1. StClair

      But he seems so nice, what could be wrong with him being there?

      1. Cerberus

        Yup, abusers are really good at “seeming” to everyone but their intended targets. Which aids the gaslighting. Cause if everyone else thinks they are “strict, but otherwise a great guy”, then no one believes the victim when they try and talk about what happened. And it’s easier to convince them they must be misinterpreting the abuser’s actions. After all, no one else can see it.

        And if someone does see through it, it’s just a matter of isolating them from that person so that they don’t ever feel they have real support.

        1. 3-I

          But.. But guuuuuys, Ruth is not the nicest person in the history of the planet, so CLEARLY she’s never been abused by this man. Obviously. Or at least he might not KNOW he’s abusing her, which makes any difference.

        2. The One Guy

          That may be true, but in this case, I think it’s more a situation of him not intending to be abusive. He thinks he’s doing what’s best for her, but he’s so out of touch with how she actually feels that he hurts her instead.

        3. BBCC

          Not intending to be abusive does not keep him from being abusive though.

          See also: The Walkertons, hopefully the Wilcoxes, Ross, etc.

        4. The One Guy

          @BBCC I never claimed otherwise.

        5. Cerberus

          Oh, he likely has some convoluted explanation he sells to himself to convince himself he’s not abusive, just “strict”.

          But that little final comment, the smug look on his face, no, he knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s getting off showing the extent of the damage he caused knowing that no one will rat him out or stop him.

          He might be convinced that that’s not “real abuse” but he knows the effect he’s having on Ruth and what that means.

        6. The One Guy

          I interpreted his final comment as just being out of touch, and the “smug grin” as him being pleased with himself for having helped “fix” things.

          …But reading things over again, I’m second guessing myself; you might be right. We’ll just have to see where things go from here to know for sure.

        7. 3-I

          I agree totally with Cerberus, but in addition, I really don’t think it matters WHAT he thinks he’s doing. Like BBCC said, it makes no difference. He’s still abusing her.

    2. DonDueed

      When Chloe contacted him, he probably asked her not to tell Ruth he was coming… as a “surprise”.

    3. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      She was asleep at the wheel from the beginning, and probably finding excuses that sound nice to herself to cover her own ass if/when heads start rolling.

  37. Fart Captor

    I don’t like anything about this >:[

  38. Hescotti

    “Investment.” Yeah. Oh, “OUR” investment. Really.

  39. Stephen Bierce

    *heavy metal drum roll*
    BIG MONEY! Rock that currency! (YEAH!)
    Cold Hard CASH!
    *CHUNG!* (Dramatic Pause)
    Earning Interest…Fo~o~or…ME~E~E~E!
    Thank you! Good Day!
    *CHUNG!*
    –Mondominishows’ “Heavy Metal Guy”

    1. Deanatay

      That was awesome.

      I still blame you, though.

      See above.

  40. Mandy

    Hm. I don’t like or trust him. The “investment” wording terrifies me for some reason. Also the comment about young people just means he is 1000% a gigantic asshole anyway, so no other proof is really needed.

  41. John

    That dude was Ruth’s grandpa?

    But… but… “clintless” isn’t a word.

    1. Wack'd

      I mean, if you spell it in all-uppercase and poor kerning…

    2. Kris

      His name should have been Tom Henry Lessick then we could call him T. Hankless.

  42. newllend(henryvolt)

    I’m guessing he has connection and some influence then and as a result guess he’s going to make this a you owe me type of thing.

  43. Sionyx

    I liked him better beating up idiots in Shortpacked…

    1. Dana

      Does he collect original G.I. Joes in this universe too, or does he just use his grandchildren like action figures?

      1. Stephen Bierce

        Those are NOT mutually-exclusive options.

        1. Dana

          I did say “just”.

      2. Kris

        An original G.I. Joe is probably how he paid Ruth’s tuition. Investment indeed.

  44. John

    Other comment that doesn’t go well with my first one:

    Welp! Problem solved!

  45. Doom Shepherd

    Seems to me that FERPA laws have been violated here. Even family can’t be told anything unless the student wants them to be told. Not even stuff like “are they attending class?” Not even if “I’m the one paying the bills!”

    At least, I don’t think Cheeto Guevara has gotten around to repealing them yet.

    1. BBCC

      They can for a medical emergency, but he’s not allowed in a meeting to do with her employment and Chloe should have told Ruth he’d be here.

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah.

        But then, that’s the point. To have her see how thoroughly he went through those laws as they were nothing and involved himself where he had no right to be as if she was still a minor.

        So she doesn’t get ideas in her head like the fact that she isn’t a minor. And that she has rights that Chloe just blatantly violated.

        1. 3-I

          Yeah, but I get the impression that Chloe is not particularly… attentive to the nature of Ruth’s situation.

          She had no idea that her best RA was even depressed, let alone suicidal, and she knew nothing about her alcohol problem. Chloe is not very observant, and probably didn’t have the faintest idea there was any reason to object to his appearance… In fact, I’m guessing she was surprised when Clint showed up, and he just sort of pushed through by saying “Oh, Ruth sent me up to talk this over.” or something.

    2. Pat

      “Unless the student wants them to be told.”

      No. Unless the student gives them permission.
      An abuser with leverage obtaining permission is not necessarily related to want.

  46. Professor Fate

    It’s C. Montgomery Burns from “The Simpson’s”. He’s put on some weight and height, but that’s him. Mom even looks a little like Smithers.

    “Excellent! Release the hounds.”

  47. Pablo360

    Just found out who this guy is from the Walkyverse, and this is not an expected character development

    1. WikiDreamer

      Who IS he? I’m digging into the verse to find out. So. Much. BACKLOG!!!!

      1. Pablo360

        He’s a one-off character from Shortpacked! who beat up on a guy who was nostalgic for the wrong iteration of GI Joe.

  48. Daniel Shive

    EL DIABLO.

    I mean, maybe not, but the narrative is screaming EL DIABLO at me.

  49. Fallingivy

    As any hope I may have held that grandfather was a well-meaning but awful parent who thought being strict was helpful and Ruth’s suicidal depression would be a shocking wake-up call…dashed. Dashed to pieces. This guy’s a smooth-talking smug old wealthy toxic asshole who sees Ruth as an investment, not a person. Gives me the chills.

    Honestly, he reminds me a lot of a ‘classier’, less violent version of Amber’s dad. The same proprietary air about him, talking about Ruth as if she’s not there, pointing out and dismissing her emotional withdrawal as some childish ingratitude…so many red flags in one strip.

    1. Leorale

      I agree, so far it looks like he’s pretty similar to Blaine, but with self-control.

      He’s probably not even physically violent; with that level of control over Ruth’s world, and with Ruth’s self-destructive tendencies, he doesn’t even have to do it himself.

  50. Some1

    I was wondering why she puts up with him, and then I remembered she’s probably protecting Howard

    1. tim gueguen

      Unfortunately that might backfire. I can imagine him shaping Howard into his clone, especially since Howard is a guy.

      1. Sageress

        Which is why he engineered the death of their parents, no doubt.

        That monster.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Don’t be ridiculous. He smells fascinating, sounds like either Frank Welker or Casey Casem, and served his country in the way he deemed proper. No way would he intentionally cause his own child’s death. Sure, he regrets nothing and wouldn’t change that day for the world, but it was never intentional.

        2. Cerberus

          No, but I’m willing to bet money that part of the reason his kid left America to live in Canada and raise their kids there was partially based in his treatment of them.

  51. tim gueguen

    So it seems we aren’t going to see Billie kick him through a window anytime soon.

    Chloe, you really need to work on your people reading skills. The old man has snowed you good.

    In shocking twist he’ll turn out to be Ross’s cousin, making Ruth and Becky second cousins, or something.

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      No kicking out of window? Darn, the “Can you fly?” scene is one of the best parts of Angel. I was hoping for a reenactment.

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        “He accidentally fell out of the window.”

        “How many times?”

        “I lost count.”

  52. David Tucker

    “She just closes up” “Withdraws” Oh crap, this is the same thing that Amber used to do with her father. And now Ruth is going to become a campus vigilante. She, Amber and Sal can form the league of really very angry and dangerous women. Okay, that’s just a first draft…I’m working on it.

    1. MatsuoTanuki

      What would Ruth and Sal’s aliases be? Quarter-Black Widow and Femlogan?

      1. Sageress

        …Which is which?

        1. MatsuoTanuki

          Sal is Quarter-Black Widow, on account of her being the daughter of a half-black man and a white woman, and Ruth is Femlogan, on account of her being Canadian and bloodthirsty for femurs.

        2. Sageress

          Now see hear me out

          Ruth is Quarter-Black Widow because she’s, like a spider with only two legs, a broken person who is struggling to support herself, and whose presence is bad for the health of her mate.

          Sal is Femlogan cuz she had a blade in her hand :V

        3. MatsuoTanuki

          That makes way more sense than my reasoning… and that is tragic…

    2. Cerberus

      That line is so vile because he’s literally lampshading his abuse and conditioning of Ruth and delighting in how oblivious Chloe is to it. “Oh, she just closes up (like if I was an abusive fuck who literally instills terror in the folks I am guardian to), ho ho, millennials am I right?”

  53. caesaria82

    I just got chills from this strip and not good chills. Proper terrifying storytelling, well done.

  54. CriticalQuit

    I can’t believe Ruth is descended from a guy who looks like a real life cartoon supervillain.

    wait, no, i can

    1. Sageress

      I mean he just looks like a regular cartoon supervillain

      cuz this is a drawing

  55. Cattleprod

    WTF, a helpful adult? He clearly has an ulterior motive but there’s actual positive outcomes for a protagonist, that’s confusing. I was expecting him to take her to work in his salt mines or something.

    1. StClair

      What he’s doing here is not actually helping.

    2. Gespenst

      I mean a common thing for abusers to do is to present a really nice, helpful outward persona. Ruth, I imagine, has good reason to hate her grandfather(?). He’s probably presenting his actions as a positive, constructive force on her life but then it just fucks Ruth over (at least emotionally) 5 different ways.

      does that make sense? i’ve been too tired to make sense very often recently.

      1. MM

        Makes perfect sense to me.

    3. Sageress

      You

      I like you

      1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

        You.

        You are both stupid beyond words.

        1. 3-I

          I mean, my god, how is it so easy for people to overlook all the abuse victims who are saying this guy sends up red flags?

          Do people hate Ruth THAT MUCH?

        2. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Not even that – I loathe Ruth, but I recognize this son-of-a-bongo and loathe him even more.

        3. StClair

          Apparently.

    4. Cattleprod

      I literally said he has an ulterior motive. I wasn’t saying it was good, I was saying I expected it to be ‘immediately dragged away and never sees Billie again’ level worse.

      1. Cattleprod

        Ugh, I hate being viewed as an apologist or whatever for this guy. The idea that Ruth could possibly keep her job never even occurred to me, so this was about the most unexpected possible reveal. I was going for a ‘when’s the other shoe going to drop?’ kind of thing, because again, ulterior motive, things obviously aren’t going to be fine and dandy.

        1. BBCC

          It’s okay – we’ve had a couple around here today, so things are tense. I too am waiting for the other shoe to drop. This will not be pretty.

  56. Shiro

    Man, why we always gotta have a That Guy who shows up to tell us why we’re totes misjudging this clearly innocent storyline villain.

    1. BBCC

      Right?

      Reminds me of way back when Sal told Walky what was up with her parents and everyone was like ‘well, we can’t just take Sal’s word for it, she’s a criminal, she’s probably making it up for attention/sympathy/to make herself look better, we can’t trust her’. Or ‘Mary wasn’t transphobic, she’s calling Carla rowdy, like a boy’, ‘John means well! He’s just worried about Joyce!’

      Every time, like motherfucking clockwork.

      1. UltraKyrie

        “She was just trying to study!”

        bleh

        1. BBCC

          “Amber’s being disrespectful by making Blaine leave! uwu”

      2. Taka

        Okay, you’re right. You. are. right. David Willis is a predictable, second-rate author who cannot help but write the same storyline over and over again. His characters and foreshadowing are so completely predictable that anyone with half a brain in their head cannot help but reach the correct answer immediately. Anyone failing at something so simple is clearly deserving of ridicule and accusations of bias and worse.

        Forgive me for not having learned this until now. From now on, I will memorize “The David Willis Script (TM)”, and follow it religiously.

        Honestly, I wish this was sarcasm, but as the comment progressed, it became less and less so.

        Sorry, Willis, if you see this. You don’t deserve insulting, but I guess they have a point.

        1. MM

          It’s not so much a matter of there being a limited number of characters or plotlines as that the strip has certain overarching themes, and one of those themes is that authority figures and institutions can’t be blindly trusted. I’m sure “sir” will find a way to illustrate that without just being another take on Blaine or Ross or Ryan, but the setup does seem pretty clear.

        2. Derek

          takashit? is that you?

        3. 3-I

          Okay, so, like, is the concept of representing accurately the stories of abuse sufferers completely foreign to you?

          Like, my god. It’s not that it’s bad or predictable writing, it’s that it’s showing things that HAPPEN to many of us who comment here. The narrative is under no obligation to be unrealistic just to subvert your expectations.

        4. BBCC

          Or maybe people just notice a lot of red flags based on personal experience and knowing other folk’s experiences and so can smell these guys a mile away.

          Blaine is a physical and verbal abuser who pushed his daughter to a mental break down. The Walkertons are racist, emotionally abusive, and negligent to one kid but much better to Walky and Billie. Toe dad is a depiction of homophobic violence and religion taken way too far. Mary straight up called Carla a boy.

          DoA depicts a lot of different flavours of abuse. Some people pick up on red flags quickly, others want to wait and see. That’s fine as long as you’re not being an asshole to people seeing red flags.

          Pointing out red flags and being frustrated people keep dismissing them and defending someone we already know is an abuser (because we’ve seen Ruth’s reactions to him before) is not remotely the same thing as saying Willis is predictable. The problem isn’t predictability – the problem is that every fucking time an abuser or bigot shows up, we have folks TRIPPING over themselves to say it’s not the case. We had folks defending Toedad even as he was PULLING A GUN AND KIDNAPPING HIS DAUGHTER. We STILL get folks defending Mary – that’s why the comments are set at a 30 day limit. Hell, we still occasionally get folks arguing Sal can’t possibly be right about her own life experience. It is incredibly frustrating because, yeah, it tends to piss people off when folks continue to defend abuse and red flags when people are sitting there saying ‘yup, my life exactly’. Especially when they then get pissy about it because they’d rather have something awful like the abuse victim exaggerating.

        5. thejeff

          Not so much Willis is predictable as the commenters are predictable.

        6. Shiro

          “This story is bad because all the bigots turn out to be bad bigoted people and the people they hurt never turn out to be the REAL villain in the end. Please don’t make me take responsibility for my words, they MADE me say it!” –you right now

    2. Fart Captor

      I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, after I read all the “Ross is just worried about his runaway daughter” comments.

      1. Shiro

        Same, it always happens and I am always surprised, somehow.

      2. Delicious Taffy

        Goddamn it, I was THIS close to typing up a reply starting with the words “To be fair to Ross”, until I realised there’s never any call whatsoever for fairness toward Ross.

        1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          To be fair to Ross, he should be forced to realize why his actions were utterly unforgivable.

        2. StClair

          To be fair to Ross, his religion has fed him a toxic line of shit about, oh, pretty much everything.
          And he believed it. Carol, too.

          Oh the other hand: Joyce, Becky, Hank…

        3. Spaz

          who the hell is Ross?

          Oh.

          you mean Toedad?

    3. caesaria82

      Right? And isn’t it *funny* (aka not funny at all) that it’s always girls who are not believed when they warn us that someone is a Bad Dude ™? Both in this comic and, obviously, in real life.

      BELIEVE WOMEN 2K17.

      1. BBCC

        Folks defended Mary and Carol’s various shittiness. It is definitely true though that I’ve noticed it is much more immediate when it’s a lady accusing a guy though.

        1. caesaria82

          Yeah I should have made that more gender neutral. People of all genders can be a Bad Dude ™.

          But really 90% of the time it’s someone with not as loud a voice in society, a woman, a minority, etc, as a (let’s be real) straight white cis man who is acusing somesuch man of being an absuer and suddenly people are REACHING for reasons to defend that dude.

          I mean, just look at how often abuse victims are not believed, which leads to them being terrified to go to the police or go public. This type of shit is SO pervasive. Ugh. Riles me up, that.

        2. BBCC

          Mmmmhmmmm.

          I eagerly await the next round of shittiness every time, to see what excuses people will reach for and how far they’ll stick their heads in the sand.

      2. Cerberus

        I feel this is somewhat relevant to a recent election in a certain formerly first-world nation.

        1. caesaria82

          But her emails, amirite? *eye roll emoji*

        2. Jhon

          Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!

      3. Mishkiel

        Let’s look at this from the other side. We have here a career soldier. From his age and his bearing, I’d say either bird colonel or master sergeant. Again, from his age I’m assuming he saw combat in Vietnam. He saw his friends and brothers die. He may or may not have PTSD. What we know for sure is that he is charming, seems to want the best for Ruth, and Ruth is terrified of him. That could be for any number of good reasons, or it could be for something as simple as him getting drunk and telling war stories no child should hear. We do not have enough data to categorically declare him a monster. Is he? Probably. But one is always always always innocent until proven guilty.

        1. Zatar

          Innocent until proven guilty is a legal term. We don’t have to give every threatening asshole the benefit of the doubt. Especially not one who shows no concern over his granddaughters suicide attempt and refers to her staring in shock as her “closing up” as if it were something that she did on a regular basis, while mocking her and claiming that she should be grateful to him.

          Maybe, just maybe, at that point we start to consider the perspective of the person who’s been living with him all these years and cringes at the the mere mention of him.

        2. Mishkiel

          I have. That’s evidence. It is not conclusive. I’m not here to play victim bingo, but I know whereof I speak. I was a soldier. I have terrified my family on occasion, innocently and accidentally. Seeing battle scars, telling war stories, PTSD fits, anything could be the cause of her fear. We do not have enough data to say he is a monster. All we can say with certainty is that Ruth thinks he is.

        3. BBCC

          We also know he managed to make her have a depressive episode and go on a binge with just a 1 minute phone call.

          Ruth’s reactions are not the reactions of someone who has been ‘occasionally terrified’ by innocent and accidental war stories or fits.

          Soldiers are also usually far more receptive to and understanding of suicide attempts in my experience, so him being all flat faced ‘Oh, hm, we had a close call’ is not normal. This guy sets up red flags like it’s a capture the flag game.

    4. Fallingivy

      What kills me is that he isn’t even played super subtly as being abusive in this strip. We got the set up for this guy way back with Ruth drinking herself into oblivion over a phone call in which he called her a disappointment. In this strip, he’s greeting his granddaughter who was just treated for suicidal depression and his first thought is her job. ‘Their investment.’

      The way he’s speaking in this strip, to me, is so obviously condescending, dismissive, and uninterested in Ruth as a person. He doesn’t ask her what happened, what she needs, what she wants, because it’s not important to him.

      And honestly people reading this and being incapable of seeing it…it brings me back to being a kid and no one knew what a toxic abuser my dad was. He seemed so nice, all my friends loved him, but he was still the man who broke my self worth and destroyed my ability to trust anyone, he was still the man who pushed me down the stairs. No one would have believed me if I told them because he was so good at twisting the issue and making it the fault of anyone else but himself and making himself out to be the well-intentioned strict parent who only did it because he wanted us to succeed.

      God, it’s not even the strip, it’s those comments that push me into anxiety.

      1. Shiro

        *tight hugs if wanted*

        I know the feeling, that previous storyline with Amber where people decided she was turning into her dad had me the same way. I just had to start skipping comment sections til people stopped being buttheads. I hope things are better for you now, and please remember to take care of yourself! ♥

        1. Fallingivy

          Thanks, honestly, that does help.

      2. Cerberus

        *echoing hug offer*

        And yeah… this strip has me flashbacking hard to when my dad was presenting himself as the “oh so reasonable” father just so worried about his “wayward son” and wanting to “bring him back to the fold” to everyone while saying the most vile stuff to me in private and trying to threaten me into submitting for reparative therapy and bad-mouthing me to every other one of my family members.

        And I’m just trying to scroll past most of the “she was only trying to study” type comments for fear I’m going to just start screaming fuck you, fuck you, fuck you over and over.

        1. Shiro

          *tight hugs also if wanted*

          I’m sorry. For a hot minute there it looked like we’d see anti-LGBT “therapy” be made illegal, buuuuuuut…maybe in four years. FWIW, you are easily the most level-headed person I’ve ever known, you manage to engage calmly with people to whom the only reaction I can muster is “fuck you fuck you fuck you”.

      3. 3-I

        Argh. This. This every time. I so agree with you. These people are just willfully ignoring the story that is put in front of them, refusing to believe that the world can be the way that we KNOW it is.

        Please stay strong.

    5. Sageress

      I feel like you’re talking about me and I won’t stand for this bullying

      You, me, dawn. Mud wrestle.

      1. StClair

        Do you realize that to some of the people you are addressing, this is not, in the slightest degree, a joke?

        1. Sageress

          It’s almost as if having the mob practically call you out for giving a character a chance that they aren’t so bad on their first appearance causes you to be less than inclined to respond positively to said people.

          I’m sorry I’m not taking this comic as seriously as everyone else though

        2. Cerberus

          Okay, listen. You have an unpopular opinion. One in which I feel is actually pretty harmful, but that is neither here nor there. But that’s no call to be a complete asshole about it and deliberately seek to hurt others over it.

          Like this isn’t a mob calling for your blood. You’re defending an abuser character. A character you know will end up an abuser because Willis doesn’t write “abuse victim is deeply mistaken about her own abuse” stories. And people are being relatively polite about that.

          If you want to play martyr? Great. But don’t take it out on others.

          You’re better than that.

        3. Lexi

          This is literally a mob calling this single commenter a bad person, over, and over again. That is exactly what this situation is. You can’t say “This isn’t a mob calling for your blood” what literally, there is a mob of people in these comments attacking a single person. And they are not being “relatively polite about it.”

          They aren’t playing the martyr, they’re simply taking a step away from an internet mob that’s extremely upset about their unpopular opinion.

          And so far? They haven’t been a complete asshole about it. That’s been you.

        4. Fart Captor

          Cerberus absolutely has not been an asshole about it’s absurd that you’re suggesting it. Disagreement is not a personal attack.

        5. Sageress

          I don’t think Cerb has been mean, she’s being blunt and stuff but hasn’t been as bad as some others.

          But that “disagreement isn’t a personal attack” thing… why doesn’t that apply to my disagreeing about Clint being a bad guy? Why is that considered a personal attack against people in the comments?

        6. Fart Captor

          I can’t speak for others, but my issue has been that your tone has come across as somewhat belittling. The way you react like people who feel they already have enough evidence to know Sir is an awful, abusive person as if they were being completely ridiculous.

          That’s stirring up much more hostility than the actual content of your arguments.

        7. Emperor Norton II

          Mostly, it’s a person’s opinions/comments that are attacked. Which is something quite different from a person being attacked. The “calling someone a bad person over and over” is definitely -not- happening, and I suggest you retract that comment, seeing as it is not true. If you stand by it, then know that you are standing by what I know is a falsehood; and that I will thus consider you a liar from that point on.

          And if you want to claim that it is true, then better prepare to show some real evidence for it. Full context quotes that clearly goes after the person and not the person’s comments. I’m confident that you won’t find many of those, seeing as I just managed to go through the comment field again, looking specifically for them.

          And yes, people are mostly being pretty polite about it. Sure, there are some less than polite comments, yes, but seriously, if someone is defending an abuser character, they will be called out out on it.

          If that’s enough for you to call it “a mob calling a commenter a bad person”, then I can only assume you’ve led an extremely sheltered life, internet-wise. Good for you. But trust me when I say that this is -nothing-. Yeah, people are getting emotional about an abuser being defended. You know why? Because an abuser is being defended.

          Again.

          There are so many abuser red flags showing up (at least for those who know what to look for; I do not count myself as an expert, but I am listening to those that clearly are) that trying to dismiss them all will at some point becoming nothing but an exercise in pure mental gymnastics to avoid that grimmest of fates: Acknowledging having made a mistake.

          And if you don’t think defending an abuser is something worth calling out, then I invite you to step away from the comment field. Abuse will always be called out in this comment field, and people defending abuse will always have their comments called out, in what is indeed a relatively polite manner. It’s up to you whether you have a thick enough skin to stand that.

        8. Lexi

          There’s a tactic, “Come up with a documented list of insults against this person, including all the context, else I’m not going to believe you.” Got better things to do with your day than read an argument 30 times over? You’re a liar.

          You realize you wouldn’t read it even if I did, right? It would be near unreadable to have all 40 some odd comments laid out here, and you’d just go “They aren’t that bad” because they aren’t calling Sageress insults that have been filtered out of the comment section here anyways.

          But within a few minutes, I found that they’re “a complete asshole”, from the comment I was responding to, also that they’re playing a martyr, people are calling the shitty, that they have their head stuck in the sand, that they “strained a muscle pulling all those mental gymnastics”. Someone telling them they can’t disagree because the other side is facts, someone calling them an apologist for abuse, someone calling them fucked up, someone calling them “supremely dickish” and “fucking shitty”…. Here’s a couple comments for you:

          “Man, why we always gotta have a That Guy who shows up to tell us why we’re totes misjudging this clearly innocent storyline villain.”

          “You.
          You are both stupid beyond words.”

          That was just me scrolling UP in the comments section. And lightly scanning. And again, I’m pretty sure there’s at least SOME filtering in these comments where much worse would get filtered out.

          And honestly, I don’t care enough to get into this argument about what fictional character is an abuser or not. It’s fictional. I read it because it’s not real. Sure, it’s an abuser. Probably, 90% likely, an abuser, given the current pattern of the writing. But his existence is basically required to actually generate a story. Stories are written about good people’s reactions to bad people. Without Clint, there is no story here.

          But in these comments section, in reality? Cerberus and the whole comments section literally pissed on Sageress’s leg and called it rain. And I will call that out. They are getting shit on left and right. They’re not making that part up. And just because there’s worse places out there for comments does not make what is happening here any better. Isn’t that the argument, way up there? “Abuse is abuse, even if it’s small it’s as bad as the worst abuse ever?”

        9. BBCC

          I’m not going to speak for anyone else, but I will say that my comments have all been referring to things Sageress has said, not Sageress themself (forgive me, Sageress, I don’t know your pronouns). I don’t know them, and for all I know, they’re very nice. However, they did say things I thought were shitty and so I said so. Regarding sticking heads in sand, that was not referring to Sageress specifically – that was referring to a pattern where people have come out and defended even blatant abuse (such as Toedad kidnapping Becky at gun point, which STILL had people defending him) and how far they’ll go to do it, which makes me await the next round of this phenomenon out of curiosity for why they’ll defend whatever abuser/bigot we’re seeing. That was not addressing Sageress and I apologize for it coming off that way.

        10. 3-I

          Some opinions are unpopular for a reason.

        11. Sageress

          Bruv I’m not trying to play martyr. I’m trying to say people shouldn’t jump into my gullet over me:

          A) I disagree about this guy being abusive in this comic

          B) I’m not taking the discussions about said disagreement as seriously as they’d like, makin jokes n shit.

          And both are in fact valid problems to have with me, and I understand people having them. The part where I go on the defensive is when people start givin’ me grief about it and being aggressive with it instead of having a polite conversation or something.

    6. Teddae

      Yeah if it weren’t enough that this comic gave me enough chills, people defending this beanface mcfuck just because he “doesnt show abuse yet” pisses me off even more

      Like. What the fuck. This was exactly how one of my friend’s mom was. She treated me pretty nicely but she was fucking abusive towards her kid behind my back. The same goes for my paternal aunt. Her smile could charm all and do no harm, but behind it was just a pile of rotten flesh and abusive garbage.

      And its people who defend them that contributes to more emotionally abusive behavior because they didn’t “see them abuse anyone”.

  57. Xartarin

    How much of an investment is being an RA in college really, though

    1. Sageress

      He probably means her tuition.

  58. Eukie

    He’s completely unlike what I imagined. I imagined someone tall and a bit lanky, and fairly thin, like a geriatric male Ruth. Someone a bit like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, and roughly as personable.

    1. Some1

      But those guys always turn out to be kind beneath the surface!

      1. Thevoiceoftreason

        I was think its old Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond.

    2. TemporalShrew

      Well… you got his name right, at least!

  59. Wraithy2773

    …does anyone else hear a whistling? Like… something falling?

    1. WikiDreamer

      Oh, you hear it too. Good, Willis hasn’t broken me yet.

    2. aeromechanicalace

      It sounds like a very large shoe to me.

      1. Yet Another Laura H

        Really? Not one of the recurrent musical themes from earlier, transposed into a minor key, stretched almost into the unrecognizable (but still tickling the back of the brain, somehow) and played on a cello? Huh.

  60. Jess

    I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.

  61. Tarmaniel

    For those of you having trouble getting why this guy is fucked up, just imagine him as Kurtwood Smith’s character from Dead Poets Society. I’m calling it now, that’s basically who he is.

    1. caesaria82

      That is SUCH a good call, oh my god.

    2. Jess

      Agreed, nicely done.

    3. Delicious Taffy

      I think some of us would prefer him to be more like Kurtwood Smith’s character from That 70’s Show. Tough, but fair, and the worst he does is let you stew in your own failure to teach you a lesson.

  62. MatsuoTanuki

    He’s saying lots of nice things about everything being okay… why am I not the least bit comforted though..?

    1. Sageress

      Because this comic has conditioned you to be instantly distrustful of any parents and/or parental figures that show up because they’re probably abusive in some way. It’s genius on Willis’ part, really. That way the nice ones are actually a TWIST.

      1. Fart Captor

        …or he has accurately depicted subtle indicators of an emotionally abusive parent, as evidenced by multiple people commenting on how “Sir” reminds them of their real-life experience.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          “…or he has accurately depicted subtle indicators of an emotionally abusive parent”

          I’d add “and how said abusive parent/guardian will usually behave in public, making it seem to clueless outsiders like they are clearly having the kid’s best interest at heart and not making people suspect them for the abusive shitheads they really are”

          One of the reasons we were cautiously optimistic about Hank even before his full conversion is because he never gave those vibes. Never. Like Joyce, he’d wear his (sometimes misguided) heart on his sleeves, and we’d see that too. And no matter what else he did, he still treated Joyce like a human being, not like a goddamn fucking “investment”.

        2. Emperor Norton II

          Yeah, the italics were meant to be cut off after “clearly” there. You know, for sarcastic pathos.

        3. MatsuoTanuki

          All of what you and Sagaress and Fart Captor said plus, y’know, that whole thing about his ‘investment’ being safe.

          Props to Willis here. In one strip he has completely obliterate my hopes that Clint here wasn’t nearly as horrific in the flesh as Ruth’s fear made him out to be.

          My own battles with crippling self-loathing and depression would often get so bad that even though I had a loving, supporting family I STILL felt like a worthless parasite who didn’t deserve anything that they gave. I thought, because we only ever got the one strip with Ruth talking to him on the phone was that Clint was merely being stern with her, and Ruth’s depression and alcoholism only made it ten times worse and sent it spiraling from there.

          But clearly I was wrong. Ruth is nothing more than tool for him to boost his status and stroke his ego.

  63. tenkiforecast

    *was secretly hoping that we only see aftermath, not the actual person*

    *Grandfather shows up*
    Okay, this is getting unsettling, and…oh fuck. Refer to a suicide attempt as “close call” and “ungrateful” attitude by shutting down…this is bad. This is really, really bad. Everything about this reeks of the sort of person described in group therapy meetings as horrifically toxic, abusive, and controlling. Every single warning flag I have is flying right now.

  64. Meep

    I don’t know who that is but, kill it. Kill it with fire.

  65. Pigeon Pollyx

    So I was kidding when I said I was expecting Sir to be some kind of Dr Claw type super villain, but now I’m getting hot flashes to Senator Armstrong.

    1. MatsuoTanuki

      DON’T F&@K THIS… erm, um… WHATEVER IT IS I DO FOR A LIVING!

    2. Delicious Taffy

      I also get pretty hot when I think about Senator Armstrong.

      1. MatsuoTanuki

        Hard not to with all that fire he throws around while duking it out with Jack.

  66. Dana

    So Ruth was “unknown evil” all along!

  67. aeromechanicalace

    There’s a silver lining to all of this.

    Given how obviously slimy this guy is, there’s FANTASTIC odds he’ll end up getting decked.

    Ryan, Blaine, Ross, Mary, All have recieved their Karmic beatings. This guy will be no different.

    We’ll probably have to wait until after Robin’s gotten hers though.

    1. Zatar

      It says a lot about Willis’s skill as a writer that we’ve only just met the guy and we’re already looking forward to seeing him punched.

      1. BP

        And there will be much rejoicing! (Had to repost, first one got weird and had wrong gravatar)

  68. PapayaPunkPixie

    Oh boy more shit parents! My favorite

  69. Rukduk

    “Investment.” Oh you cock-faced fucker!! Ruth is a person, not some fucking business venture, not a piece of property, not some fucking stock market gamble you think will pay dividends, a fucking person!! No wonder your kid left for Canada you fat old oil conglomerate looking fuckfaced dick!! Tabarnak!!

  70. (((Mkvenner)))

    Explains so much.

  71. Zatar

    Jesus Christ he’s already even more terrifying then I thought he’d be, and this is his “nice” face. Everything about him, The cold glare when when Ruth first arrives while saying seemingly”Friendly” thing” in the first panel, that evil smirk he constantly has on his face after, Describing his granddaughter as an “investment”. It all tells us so much about what kind of person he is. I mean goddamn…That is some good villain writing.

    I’m going to hate this guy aren’t I?

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Wait until he pulls out his false teeth…

  72. Fallingivy

    But as a side note, props to Willis for skillfully and unflinchingly rendering such a wide variety of the many flavors of abusive parents.

    1. StClair

      Indeed. That takes, uh, talent.

    2. caesaria82

      Totally.

    3. Leorale

      Dumbing of Age: parents make abusive choices, and now their kids make foolish choices.

      Dumbing of Age: even the grownups are dumb.

      Dumbing of Age: surprise, abusive patriarch!

    4. Cerberus

      True. And to do so in ways that fucking hit home for folks who’ve had to deal with that shit.

  73. JessWitt

    A brute in a suit. Wonder if he spray-tans just his face.

  74. AY

    chloe, i had more faith in you :’U

    1. StClair

      Why? She may be sympathetic and have good intentions, but everything we’ve seen so far suggests that she’s a terrible manager – as long as she doesn’t hear anything bad and there’s no problems she has to deal with personally, everything’s fiiiiiine.

    2. Riley

      Abusive people can be really good at hiding their abusiveness from people outside the family.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        It’s one of the things they are ‘best’ at It allows them to stay out of jail and keep up the abuse, while looking like they’re just “having our kid’s best interests at heart”.

      2. Whirlwitch

        Truth. You would like both of my parents if you met them.

  75. caesaria82

    I think it’s kind of amazing that we all (well, most of us) are getting this really foreboding vibe and are really scared and getting chills and this character is literally making his first on-screen appearance. Like, shit Mr Willis, that is some EXCELLENT writing.

    1. MM

      To be fair, we are kind of conditioned by now.

      1. caesaria82

        I mean, true. But he’s really done some textbook planting and pay-off here and now we’re all terrified. Just… so good.

  76. Riley

    Oh wow, Ruth’s Grandfather is my mother when I was a kid. This is going to be fun.

    1. Emperor Norton II

      *Sympathy via appropriate over-the-internet light ‘physical’ contact*

      1. Riley

        *reciprocates*
        I love your username.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          Thank you.

          And it’s not just for show either. In addition to the name, We have indeed also taken up the mantle of Our predecessor. Except We are emperor of the Internet instead of any one nation, for long and complicated reasons*.

          *The reasons being “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          As your Majesty knows (but your subjects may not) your illustrious namesake was both Emperor of the United States AND Protector of Mexico. Is it possible that your Majesty is also, unknown to we benighted subjects, Protector, Dominator, or Basileus of other realms?

    2. Cerberus

      *Appropriate gesture of support*

    3. Rukduk

      *appropriate gesture of support*

  77. UltraKyrie

    Sir looks like a batman villain.

    1. Thevoiceoftreason

      No, he’s Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne.

      1. Pat

        Exactly, a Batman villain.

    2. SgtWadeyWilson

      He’s basically what Owlman would look like if Batman Beyond ever ventured into that universe. I imagine he has a very old cat that’s surprisingly badass.

      1. Zatar

        God. The fact that the image of this guy in charge of Gotham seems more messed up then the way Gotham is normally says a lot.

      2. StClair

        That is a fascinating comparison.

  78. BBCC

    I see only one solution to this.

    Murder. Of the ‘he had it coming’ variety.

    I volunteer as tribute.

    1. caesaria82

      And then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times.

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        Are you it wasn’t 30? I just to be absolutely sure.

        1. caesaria82

          Sure, but that’s not how the song goes 😉

      2. Delicious Taffy

        He ran into your knife penis-first?

        1. caesaria82

          No one is running with my Cell Block Tango reference, I officially give up xD

        2. BBCC

          I am so disappointed.

        3. caesaria82

          Me too. Alas, they had it coming and only had themselves to blame.

          (<3)

        4. BBCC

          If you’d have been there, if you’d have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same~

      3. Cerberus

        If I’d have been there, I’d have done the same.

        1. caesaria82

          You’re my fave, 10/10, would swallow arsenic for or possibly do #17 the spread eagle <3

      4. Deanatay

        He bumped his head on a baseball bat.

        Then he slipped and fell down a locked elevator shaft.

        Onto some bullets.

        1. BP

          “You know, I always found that story rather improbable…”

          “Yeah, as did I.”

          Mystery Men reference! :3

    2. Rukduk

      Need any help? I know a good dumping ground.

    3. Sageress

      And we have officially crossed into “Woah there” territory

      1. BBCC

        Ah, yes, because nobody ever makes snarky and hyperbolic comments regarding hated characters and horrible things being wished on them before.

        1. Sageress

          I was playing along. “Woah there” being a huge understatement to plans of murder, itself, being part of the joke.

        2. BBCC

          Okay.

        3. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Obvious ass cover is obvious.

        4. Sageress

          My ass cover is showing? Darn, the guys at the ass cover store said nobody would notice.

    4. TemporalShrew

      Yikes, tiger. The man’s clearly not good news, but I don’t think his attitude, while it speaks a thousand slimy words, is technically grounds for a death sentence.

      1. BBCC

        How about a snarky and hyperbolic comment from someone who can’t actually affect whether he lives or dies?

        1. DonDueed

          Not to mention that he’s a fictional character in a webcomic.

  79. Thevoiceoftreason

    Not to mention, Ruth should not be responsible for other people in her condition. Just giving her back her job sweeping everything under the rug is the worst thing that could happen.

    1. RacingTurtle

      This this this

  80. DarkoNeko

    If he solved that problem by a “generous contribution” to the school and Chloe happily accepted it, I’m gonna be pretty disappointed in her…

  81. crys

    chloe, what are you doing, are you that bad at reading faces or circumstances, she is clearly not relieved nor in a state to be a capable RA ????

    1. Pat

      This is shocking. Chloe always seemed so good at things. There have been no signs of utter incompetence hardly at all.

  82. Romanticide

    Anyone who also reads shortpacked had flashbacks to the first apperance of Blaine in that universe? Because I did… a lot.
    I don’t Clint will be as awful, but I can feel the presure here… well at least she doesn’t have to return to live with him, but I am sure she will remind her of that time he intervened to “fix” her life.
    Even if I have the feeling Chloe didn’t want to fire her, and really wants to help and would have tried to keep her.

  83. Teddae

    Noooope nope nope nope nope this is creepy and scary and holy crap NOPE PUNCH HIM AND GUT HIM I DONT LIKE HIM

  84. Leorale

    I am proud/dismayed that I called that “all the necessary people” would include a Sir surprise. Granted, I phrased it more like a “please tell me this won’t happen, this won’t happen, right?” but still!

    1. Cerberus

      Not only “all the necessary people” includes a Sir surprise, but only includes a Sir surprise. There’s none of Chloe’s bosses. There’s no one else involved in any complaints. There’s just “Sir”.

      He literally is the only one Chloe considered “necessary”.

      Which… flames, flames on the side of my face…

      1. Fart Captor

        From how happy she seems, I get the feeling this was her idea. She totally thinks she’s helping. I’ll bet she gets really annoyed when Ruth never seems to be grateful for it.

        1. Pablo360

          *Clark Wing is on fire, Sidney Yus has taken over the school, and Billie and Clint are locked in an epic beam struggle that threatens to wipe the county off the map*

          Chloe: Go Choe! Go Chloe! I’m useful!

      2. Leorale

        Good point — jeez louise, Chloe is so bad at her job.

        breathing-breathl- heaving breaths. Heaving breaths…

  85. RacingTurtle

    Poor Ruth. Her eyes have lost her green! Clint is such bad news, yikes.

    As an aside, he kind of looks like John McCain with more hair and a Batman villain smirk. I think it’s the shape of his head?

  86. Leorale

    Also I’m so mad at Chloe. Like, you are in charge of RAs, you should not assume that all relationships are healthy happy surprises, you are supposed to look for harmful relationships, particularly surrounding somebody fresh out of the hospital for stated suicidal intentions, what the hell are you even doing

    1. Leorale

      I can get that a layperson with limited info might not recognize that Ruth has been trying to destroy her job as RA. Sometimes it’s hard for healthy people to wrap their heads around self-destructive behaviour.

      But, dude, this is a secretly-suicidal teenager, so her home situation must be perfectly hunky-dory…?
      Yes, this is clearly true, let’s not even ask her first.

  87. Sageress

    Chloe is the real idiot here tho.

    Like holy shit lady why would u even entertain the notion of Ruth being let back in charge.

    1. All-Purpose Guru

      I have less problem with Ruth being in charge than I do Chloe being completely out of the loop as to WHY Ruth had the problem.

    2. Leorale

      I had such hope that Chloe would be basically competent, but no, she is not, at all. Time to fire everyone and start over??

    3. Pat

      She entertained the notion of Ruth being put in charge in the first place. And of inviting Sir to this meeting.

      Those were not good decisions.

      1. Sageress

        And she pours gravy in her hair every morning. What a goof!

  88. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    *curl into ball and weep softly*

    … okay, no I can do this.

    Panel 1: Oh fuck, I’m broken already and we’ve only just started. I mean, there’s the camera angle here. Right over Ruth’s shoulder as we’re seeing the room from her eyes. We’re right there with her as she’s fucking breaking at seeing her abuser.

    Like fuck, those darkened eyes again, that scattered frown, sketchy and shaky. She’s barely holding on to functionality in the direct presence of the man she fears so strongly. And that tells us everything before he even opens his goddamn mouth.

    And when he does. Holy fuck. Glaring over her like she’s nothing, reacting to her being hospitalized (and I’m not willing to give Chloe the benefit of the doubt that she didn’t tell “sir” why given the fact that she seems to consider “all the necessary people” to be “sir” and only “sir”) like it’s the fulfillment of a disappointment he already had. Reducing it to a “close call” but only focusing on the job side of that.

    He shows no concern for her well-being. No comforting of her obvious transparent fear of him. No questions to see if she was okay.

    And he is inserting himself into her life very deliberately here. “We had a close call”. It’s not “you had a close call”. It’s “we” because he feels that much ownership over her life that he feels no hesitation in asserting his authority over what is at the end of the day her life.

    And… let’s be frank to Miss Shithead here. Fuck Miss Shithead. Like, inviting only a family member to a “relevant persons” meeting when he has no legal right to be there, especially for what was sold as a disciplinary meeting, ignoring the fucking red flags written all over her face, giving her no warning that a potentially abusive family member is visiting…

    Like, yeah, I get that she’s unbelievably bad at her job and that she just wants the return of the status quo so she has to do the least amount of work, but fuck… one of my greatest flaws is I can’t stand people who do jobs I care about poorly and in ways that harm others. It’s why I despise Jason more than any of the other non-family-member characters in the strip.

    And Chloe here… fuck, her blindness to these red flags and her mishandling of a situation with a student she knows is struggling with suicidal ideation just infuriates me. And the fact that she’s treating it all with a smile and a happy welcome like Ruth isn’t three seconds away from curling into a ball and rocking back and forth is just… fuck that shit. Ugh.

    1. Kole

      why do u gotta drag jason like this

      1. Emperor Norton II

        Because Jason’s pretty fucking shitty as a TA. Why else?

        1. foamy

          I dunno. Aside from Leslie basically every person associated with IU appears to be completely incompetent at their job, occasionally with additional moral failings. I give Jason points for at least trying to do his job in the face of all that anyway.

        2. Emperor Norton II

          Jason has a shot at redemption. Whether or not he’ll actually grab it is still up in the air. Nothing would please me more if he managed to; but he’s got to do something pretty damn big… Like, “Your mother would be proud of you” big.

        3. foamy

          I remind you that the standard of comparison for Jason is Penny.

          And also, man, Jason gives individual attention to students in a first-year math class. I dunno about you guys but my first year calc classes had like four hundred people in them (and IIRC from what we’ve seen of the lecture hall, the DoA class is also a big one) and a TA that actually tracked each person’s progress and made an effort to reach out and help the strugglers would have been worth their weight in gold.

        4. thejeff

          That’s a good point. The really sad thing about Jason is that he’s the good TA.

      2. Cerberus

        We actually did a podcast episode on that.

        1. MatsuoTanuki

          You guys have a podcast? Holy crud, its already a pleasure reading your in depth commentary, it’d be even better to actually hear you speak. What’s the podcast called?

        2. Cerberus

          It’s Podcasting of Age.

          Here’s a link to the soundcloud:
          https://soundcloud.com/user-956738444

          But it’s also available on iTunes and Emperor has a site for folks to comment on the episodes and discuss how wrong we got everything. ; )

        3. MatsuoTanuki

          Much obliged.~

        4. Bagge

          It is suitably awesome!

        5. nobilis

          Thanks!

          How did I miss TWO podcasts??
          MUST. CATCH. UP.

        6. Emperor Norton II

          So far, everyone who’s ever talked about how wrong we got everything has disappeared in very mysterious and entirely unrelated circumstances… Must be one of those coincidence thingies.

          But yeah, my blog: https://skepticalclown.wordpress.com/

    2. Rukduk

      I lost control with my initial response to the comic as can be seen. My…not father, at least not more than biologically, was very much like Clint. But he’s been dead multiple years now and the lives of my mother, my two younger brothers, and myself have been much better since his death. And I know from your comments that yours was to Cerberus. So, I just want to offer you a gesture of support, and let you know that if you do start curling up on floor and crying, there will be someone there to keep you company. Not literally physically because that would be very creepy and disturbing of me, but in a metaphorical sense. *tentatively offers internet hug*
      …Also, I’m beginning to wonder/be suspicious about how Chloe was hired as an RM in the first place.

      1. Cerberus

        *hugs back* Thank you.

        And I am sorry about what happened to you as well and am glad the bastard is gone and can’t hurt you anymore. *commiserating hug*

      2. StClair

        I imagine she gave a very good interview and had all the right boxes ticked off on her resume.
        Sadly, selling yourself and your ability to do the job do not necessarily have anything to do with doing the job. (Unless it’s in sales.)

    3. Pl0x

      Chloe is so bad at her job. I USED TO LIKE HER!!!!!! :'(

      1. Cerberus

        She initially seemed to care… but it turns out all she initially seemed to care about is how inconvenient replacing Ruth would be for her personally.

        1. 3-I

          This. And look at how exceptionally cheerful she is to have an excuse NOT to replace her. It’s almost as if the suicide attempt and drinking problem never existed! And the targeted harassment and threat of blackmail? Totally gone now. Everything is fixed, forever.

          I think I hate her. Not because she’s evil, but because she is just neutral in a way that hurts every vulnerable person in that dorm.

        2. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          The practical difference between that and evil is nothing.

    4. Bagge

      “Aren’t we all happy that it all worked out?”
      No, we are NOT, Chloe.

    5. thejeff

      In fairness to Chloe, this isn’t really the disciplinary meeting we thought it was. Clint’s there because it’s all being swept under the rug, no official action. No official meeting, therefore no reason not to have him there or to have other admin people there. If it did involve donations to the university or some such, that was likely all way over her head – she wouldn’t be in a position to accept or reject such.

      And that’s about as fair as I’m willing to be to her. She’s apparently completely hornswoggled by him and thinks she’s doing the right thing, which leaves her at best clueless and incompetent.

      1. StClair

        “Clueless and incompetent” is, sadly, my assessment also.

        This is someone who thought Ruth was her best subordinate, because there were no problems or complaints from her floor. No news is good news, right?

  89. Smiling Cat

    You’re going to make me hate Clint the GI Joe Guy, aren’t you?

  90. Omymel

    I BET THIS IS THE “UNSPEAKABLE EVIL” WE ALL VOTED ON IN THE LAST POLL. We did this to Ruth

    1. inqntrol

      We are to be blamed for her suffering.

  91. BBCC

    It being common likewise does not make it good nor healthy

  92. Pl0x

    What the fuck is Chloe even doing. I thought she was a good guy. But of course not, apparently she’s kind of clueless and has flaws just like most other characters. I should’ve known, but I had hopes for her. I was holding out hope even when we found out someone called sir for a meeting. Like, maybe it wasn’t Chloe who called. (I know nothing about the chain of command and job duties.) And why does sir look so enthusiastic. They are both smiling, cheerfully, not compassionately. This is ridiculous. Ruth just had a suicidal episode, for fuck’s sake.

    1. Leorale

      Maybe Chloe is one of those people who thinks that you’re out of the hospital so you must be 100% all better now? Idk, man.

    2. Ellegos

      Chloe doesn’t have the context that we have about Sir. If I had to guess, she’s probably just happy to be able to tell Ruth that she isn’t fired and gets to keep her job and her scholarship. That is under more circumstances genuinely good news. She also didn’t see Ruth as she was heading into the room, and probably registers her deer in the headlights look as shock over hearing SUCH GOOD NEWS! News that might help brighten up life for a suicidally depressed person who thought they had just thrown everything away, right?!

      The jokes from Sir may just sound like jokes from a crotchety old Grandpa who may or may not have a complete understanding of how serious depression can be.

      I think Sir knows exactly what he’s doing, but I get why Chloe may or may not be acting like this.

      1. Leorale

        I think you’ve got it, Ellegos.

        Last Chloe saw her, Ruth was sad, and concerned about her job. Who wouldn’t want to give good news to a sad person?
        Chloe very clearly does not understand the depths of Ruth’s depression (even though Ruth was hospitalized). Ruth has been hiding it for a pretty long time before the comic even started, and made a great first impression on her, and who knows what Chloe (mis)understands about depression.

        Chloe probably hypothesized that Ruth did fairly typical college stuff — drank too much one night, slept with somebody she oughtn’t — leading to a scare that sent Ruth to the hospital just to make sure she was okay. The hospital decided she was okay, that’s why they released her, right?

        If that had been true, if Ruth was as functional and responsible as Chloe seems to think she is, sure, it’s good news that she can learn the relatively easy way, and not get fired for her one bad day, hooray.

        That’s as far as I can be sympathetic to Chloe. It’s unconscionable that she didn’t accurately verify these optimistic assumptions before acting. It’s even worse to assume that everyone’s family is okay and to call them in without consent. Especially when being sensitive to diverse situations is literally her job.

        This is why it’s dumb to minimize somebody’s situation.
        Depression is super common, people you know can get it, Chloe should read a damn book, rar.

  93. Cerberus

    Panel 2: But Jason and Chloe still take a backseat to the family member characters because holy fuck is this a vile piece of bullshit right here.

    Like fuck, where to even begin with this garbage. There’s the smug look on his face, the fact that he went behind her back and “solved” everything with the department. The fact that he leads with how “he solved the problem” without ever checking in with her about the problem or what she wanted. The implied use of bribery to keep her in a position that was exacerbating her illness. The way he doesn’t even tell her the solution, like she’s some 9 year old who’s not grown-up enough to be involved in “grown up” stuff. The emphasis on “solved” like it’s a goddamn threat. The magnanimous presentation of himself as “the savior” come to pick up the broken pieces of the mess Ruth made, leaving her to be the “problem” he solved.

    But of all that, I think the part that bugs me the most is the context. He’s here in this room with a “solution”, having driven how ever many hours it took to get here, inserted himself into some large portion of the decision making several levels above her, with no input or check-in to see how she was holding up, and presenting himself as a “good guy” for doing it.

    It’s all a fucking threat. By doing this he’s reminding her that her life is not hers, it’s his to do with as he sees fit. She can try to escape the path he sets out, but he’ll go out of his way to insert himself back into it and “get her back on the right track” regardless of what she wants.

    And by presenting himself as magnanimous he gains more tools to use in abusing her in the future, allowing him to cite this in his next “you’re a disappointment” rant phone call.

    Panel 3: And you see that realization in Ruth’s eyes there as she starts to go full robot face again. He’s literally cut off all her options and inserted himself into every level of this. Which goes even above what I feared he would try to do to exploit this situation.

    And Ruth is fucking defeated by that. She’s got no fight in her eyes. She’s barely even able to question his use of “solved”. She sees here the lengths he’ll go to retain control over her life and how much he’ll resist her attempts to escape his direct control over her life.

    And I feel that fear deeply. Realizing how far an abuser will go to try and control you and get you to do what you want is fucking terrifying and raises the stakes to the point where you feel absolutely stupid for still thinking about jumping for the escape.

    At the time everything was at its worst, my dad was pulling out all the stops to get me into reparative therapy, poisoning my relationship with the rest of my family, abusing my partner at the time behind my back with nasty emails, and of course trying to exploit my financial situation at the time with strings I could never accept and live and just being utterly vile to me in every way possible even using things like my sexual assault, my eventual breakup, my love for my mother, and my discrimination out of a job to try and undermine me and break me down…

    And that feeling realizing that if I didn’t accept their disownment and get out, he’d continue taking over as much of my life as I allowed him to get me to do what he wanted… well, it felt a lot like I imagine it feels for Ruth there. Certainly it feels how she looks there.

    “Sir” is a vile piece of shit and Chloe all Stepford smiler about his “good news” is… fucking par for the course. Cause abusers are great at seeming just short of abusive when they need to, so as to better gaslight their victims. My dad fucking played that game like a pro because he was a salesman. Fucking selling himself as the overcaring father who was willing to do anything to support me to the family as a whole while he dropped the mask a hell of a lot more when he was interacting privately.

    And fuck, fucking flashbacks suck.

  94. Bagge

    “My poor girl, how are you holding up?”
    No…

    “I’m glad to see you are OK and made it out from the hospital.”
    No…

    “I have been so worried about you. Can you tell me what happened?”
    No…

    “We have to figure out what to do now. How do you think we should proceed?”
    No…

    “You are a fuckup, but then again, I didn’t expect anything else. I have decided what you are going to do, and if you fuck up again I will have to increase the level of control even more. Also, your boss eats out of my hand, so don’t forget that.”
    Nailed it!

    1. Bagge

      FUDGE THIS FUDGING FUDGEHOLE!!!

      1. Cerberus

        Looks like “sir” got really miffed about being passed up by Blaine and Toedad and wants to be a serious contender for the gold medal in the Worst Dad competition.

        It’s just so heartlessly callous and so intentionally so, seeing this only as an excuse to grab more power over her and he can’t even be arsed to feign concern while doing so.

        1. Bagge

          He is not quite in their league yet, but I expect him to edge up there as soon as we learn more about him.

          He has already surpassed Carol, which is no mean feat.

        2. Bagge

          I mean, Carol at least STARTED with “are you OK?”

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/sweetie/

      2. Whirlwitch

        A simple “Ruth, how are you?” would have been exponentially better. Yer average not-a-total-scumbag would have managed as much.

  95. Delicious Taffy

    Is it a #FirstWorldProblem to wish you had more in common with the characters in a webcomic, even though most of those characters have some serious baggage?

    1. DonDueed

      Dunno. For my part, the only thing I wish I had in common with (most of) the characters in this comic is their youth.

  96. Reltzik

    …….

    Okay, I’m like 80% on board with the “the asshat is talking about his investment and her employment rather than the suicide-watch thing, ergo he’s an asshat” people. The remaining 20% is waiting for a smidge more confirmation that he even knows about that rather than just assuming, but yeah, lots of very strong clues there and it looks bleak.

    … also, WTF Chloe? I mean I could halfway understand this if Sir Clint strong-armed you into this via your boss’s boss’s boss. I could even understand (though not really condone) the lack of warning about Sir Clint being here, because that sort of situation would be super-awkward and who the hell has a script for that and who the hell wouldn’t have a chance of screwing it up? And not noticing cues because you’re freaked out by the prospect of someone committing suicide (and that’s a pretty freaky prospect) also makes sense. But this delighted, celebratory attitude is just…. Chloe wtf? I mean, it’s Chloe no, but it’s also Chloe wtf? Forget good or bad, this is just nonsensical.

    ……. okay, I’m trying to struggle to find some possible motives for that, because it doesn’t seem to be born out of cruelty, or indifference, or anything like that. I think Chloe genuinely expects Ruth to be very happy at this news.

    And that, in turn, would have to come from Chloe not really understanding the underlying suicidal impetus. And looking back, I’m pretty sure she DOESN’T. I mean, no one’s told her what’s going on with Ruth beyond her being suicidal and she hasn’t had any clear indicators. When she first found out it came in the context of Ruth sleeping with one of her wards. The health center wouldn’t have given her details of the counseling/support sessions. And her conversation with Ruth at the health center (or whatever it’s called) revolved around whether Ruth was going to lose her job and the additional revelation of Ruth slapping a dick onto a dick.

    So if Chloe jumped to the conclusion that Ruth was suicidal out of shame or fear or something of the sort that she was going to be fired, all of this makes perfect sense. RM to the rescue, Chloe’s solved everything now, terrifying suicidal impulse goes bye-bye, that’s worth celebrating. Hell, that’s worth breaking a shit-ton of rules to make happen.

    … except for the part where she made it one big build-up and dramatic reveal and an hour wait to ratchet up the tension (and hence, supposedly, the suicide risk factor) rather than telling Ruth immediately. I mean, maybe she wasn’t super-aware of the risk factor, that would explain it, except this entire theory hinges on the notion that she was hyper-aware of (and not competent to deal with) that factor, so…

    … okay, no, this don’t make no sense no way no how.

    1. Leorale

      I think Chloe doesn’t know how it feels to be Ruth, or how it feels to be suicidal, so she’s imagining herself in Ruth’s situation, as close as she can.

      Ruth was very, very sad. Okay, Chloe can imagine feeling sad, check.

      Ruth had messed up her job — if Chloe had messed up her job, Chloe would be scared of losing it, and happy not to lose it. (Chloe wants to keep her job; doesn’t everyone?)

      Happy not to lose the job = not sad. Problem Solved!!

      Also Chloe’s grandfather was a gentleman who made things better and loved her very much. Grandfathers are always great.

      …yeah basically she’s being super foolish and “dumbing of age” doesn’t just describe the teenagers anymore.

      1. Reltzik

        And all of that makes sense, except it doesn’t fit with Chloe ratcheting up the tension for an hour.

        If she thinks the likely loss of her position is the source of her suicidal state of mind, how does she not instead tell Ruth “We think we’ve found a way for you to keep your job, meet me in my office in an hour to talk about the details, and oh by the way you’re likely to keep your job so YOU DON’T NEED TO KILL YOURSELF BETWEEN NOW AND THEN!”

        (Okay, maybe not that explicit, but.)

        1. Pigeon Pollyx

          Maybe she herself wasn’t fully aware on how the situation with Clint was gonna resolve and didn’t want to breed what she considered false hope?

          Like maybe Clint arrived about an hour ago and set up a meeting with Chloe during this time block. I doubt they were just chilling in his office hat whole time. So Chloe was less building up tension and more herself uncertain in how it was gonna go.

          Though then again, her wording of”we should have everyone necessary by then” implies waiting for him to arrive…but on the other hand her very abrupt change in demeanor implies to me that a resolution (In her mind) itself was more recent, probably whatever she and Clint discussed.

          I dunno, it’s plausible

      2. Deanatay

        Ruth WAS feeling sad, but the hospital gave her drugs to fix that, right? So, the only problem left is her job, which Clint just fixed. So, everything’s perfect forever, now, right?

        Right?

  97. Fart Captor

    I was going to make a joke yesterday about a potential twist where it’s revealed that Sir is actually a moose (Canadians are tricky like that), but the more I look at his face, the more likely it seems

    1. Leorale

      Hahaha head canon accepted, I will hereafter mentally replace every picture of Sir with a rather dour and judgmental moose.

  98. Cerberus

    Panel 4: … Let’s be frank, any motherfucker who ever talks about a human being as an investment and places the value of employment, status, and money over the lives of others cannot and should not ever be trusted.

    It’s one of the more red flaggy statements you can utter and I’ve never met a person who did this that wasn’t a complete fuckwad who made a habit of normalizing the dehumanization of others, especially those already on the raggedy edge.

    Like, fuck, there’s a reason so many survivors on the thread have jumped on that line. It’s more red flags than a Danish festival. And his little follow-up of “I’ve put the train back on the tracks” is just… ugh… so slimy.

    Like, it’s again, that faux magnanimous gesture, placing him as hero, while reminding Ruth that she’s not a person to him, she’s a disappointing investment that he needs to intervene constantly with to “set right”.

    And that line… fuck, it just evokes so strongly what he’s doing. Putting an unstoppable train Ruth thought she had fully derailed back on its tracks so it can keep going. Whether or not it runs Ruth over on its path. Because to “sir” all that matters is that his tool is completing the task he has set for it. Her happiness. Her wants. Her needs. None of those need to be factored or considered. He knows best. He always knows best. And he’ll go to these extents to keep her under thumb.

    And the implication of bribery to do so that hangs heavy in the air also hammers home the likely economic abuse that is occurring here as well:
    http://www.loveisrespect.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Power_And_Control.png

    Using money and the threat of its loss as a token of control, but also demanding specific jobs to “teach her the value of hard work and not to take his ‘generosity’ for granted”. And specifically a job that offers her no real freedom from him.

    He clearly has easy access to her employers and if it’s like most RA positions, it doesn’t pay real money, just free room and board, meaning she’s still reliant on him for any form of disposable income and tuition and thus allows him to constantly threaten her on those terms. And so she has no means of actually escaping him and building an independent life.

    And that is very true to life. My girlfriend’s dad is an unbelievably abusive fuck. Hit her repeatedly growing up, hit every woman he’s ever dated, raped most of them too. And this sort of shit was his bread-and-butter. He was very big on my girlfriend getting work to “build character”, but not the type of work that would allow her to live independently and not rely on him for day to day money. And so when she got a job instead that allowed her those things, he raged at her constantly to quit and take a “proper” job instead until he realized he had no real means to control her over that and started instead on continuously playing games with her tuition payments instead.

    And I see this sort of fuckwittery all the time in my day job. Parents who abuse the fuck out of their kids, but use that economic dependency the kid has with them to ensure they won’t try and disobey the path they set for them.

    And just like Ruth, most of the kids trapped like that turn to various substances to numb them out to the point where it no longer hurts to be trapped.

    So yeah, fuck “sir”.

    Panel 5: :{ Fuck, Ruth’s face here. She’s just… broken. She’s shut down at the elegance of his complete fucking of her life and assertion of power. And she’s getting closer and closer to the dead eyed stare she had in her murder cave when she was completely non-functional.

    I’ve never wanted to hug a fictional character more.

    1. Bagge

      He really seem like a grade A fuckwit. We are talking Ross and Blaine proportions. I wouldn’t be surprised if he will start edging in on their headstart of “shittiest parental figure ever” when we learn more about him.

      What really gets to me is that, for all horrible places we have seen Ruth in over the years, we have never seen her as scared, as damaged and as broken as when she is in a room with “Sir”.

    2. MatsuoTanuki

      With all of that said, only one question remains: If a verbally abusive, domineering dad gets a sock to the jaw, and a crazed, fundamentalist Christian dad with a gun gets that plus a broken neck and jail time, what sort of comeuppance is gonna come to this filthy sack of diapers not soon enough?

      1. Bagge

        I kinda expect it to be the alpha-bongo-mother-effin-cheerleader kind of solution.

        Either that or Roz or Dorothy will prove their salt as RA by disposing of him in a manner suitable for their own temperament.

        1. BBCC

          Dorothy firmly but politely tells him to leave and calls security when he refuses.

          Roz chases him out with her condom hat.

        2. Bagge

          They would make an awesome team of good cop/bad cop

      2. Schpoonman

        Blaine got significantly worse than a sock to the jaw. Amber straight hospitalized that motherfucker. While I’d love to see Ruth and/or Billie kick the shit out of Clint, the kind of beatdown that Amber delivered would probably kill him. Not that I’m necessarily against a permanent exit.

        In a lot of ways, Clint is scarier than Blaine or Ross. The scariest that I see right now is how completely Ruth shuts down. Amber was defiant, Becky was defiant, but Ruth, who is in some ways more difficult to handle than Becky or Amber, gives up the second Clint is on the scene.

        I don’t know what this fucker is made of, but I get the feeling even Satan’s down in Hell thinking “Hey man, I just tried to turn God’s chosen people against him, this shit’s on another level.”

  99. CJ

    OMG Chloe, you clueless idiot!!!!
    How can you be in HR and not notice all that is off about this?

    There is this guy – who hasn’t been around for parents day and whom Ruth never asked to be informed about her situation – walking in, making decisions without checking in with Ruth to ask what she wants, and them confront her with the result of his meddling and you both expect her to be thankful?

    There are more red lights there than in the whole of New York!

    And still no one gave Ruth a shred of actual information about what has been decided. Chloe, can you really be as stupid as this? Or do you know Sir as a beneficiary of the university and that’s why Ruth was your best RA in the first place? You obviously believe what he says even though everything in Ruth’s pose contradicts it.

    1. Cerberus

      We knew she was awful at her job, but this is some gross negligence shit.

    2. foamy

      It’s good to see someone else spotted the >complete lack< of information being conveyed here.

    3. nobilis

      Oh, Chloe. I’ve met your kind: You think you are being helpful in solving my problems, but you don’t take the trouble of asking me what exactly they are.

      I’ve had someone in a position of power tell me that the fact that she and another person had been talking about me behind my back meant that they cared and were being helpful.

    4. boop

      i want every staff member to be replaced with a bean

      Ms. Bean, specifically. she would take such better care of these people

  100. Bagge

    I’m still stunned about just how badly Chloe fucked up here. And again, being bad at her job is no defense. She is not a young and dumb teenager. This IS her job. She IS the adult professional hired to sort out exactly this sort of situations.

    Her happy smile doesn’t help either.

  101. Aprion

    lets just toss a grenade in there and pre-empt this whole debacle.

  102. CJ

    The Laughing Ogre seems like an appropriate place for Willis to appear after this update ?

  103. Cerberus

    Panel 6: Holy fuckberries and cream, Chloe, fucking pick up on a red flag. Any of them. He’s literally gloating about the conditioned terror response she has to his abuse to your fucking face as you’re constructing your happy little “I don’t have to do real work, everyone must be as relieved as I am” fantasy.

    Like, fuck, that’s how smooth he is, that’s how little he’s scared of being caught. He’s just straight up boasting about it and using that conditioned trauma response to make a fucking dig about millennials and get an extra knife poke under the ribs hinting Ruth to thank him for the privilege of him taking another chunk of power right out of her life.

    And… fuck… if he already wasn’t hatable enough, of course he has to be one of those Boomers. The ones who rant about the kids today not being “grateful” enough to a generation that fucked them and their planet over. The kind Thinkpiece Bot endlessly skewers and who Trump used to rise to power.

    Like, fuck, I loathe those fuckers. Not only because they are the type of unconscionable bullies who kick a generation when it’s down and recovering from a second Great Depression no one wants to say out loud and when it is almost impossible for a millennial to survive in the same manner as the typical Boomer did when the marginal tax rate was 95% and you could afford a house on one salary, not a single room in an apartment on two.

    But because my dad and uncle were these types of fuckers to a “t”, boasting about what a failure I was to get discriminated out of a job and be struggling, while giving countless recollections of how easy it was for them to waltz untrained into their first middle class job with nary a scrap of debt saddling them down and full of advice that fundamentally was not applicable in any way to the modern day and job market.

    And constantly using that to hammer at my self-esteem to get me to cave to my dad’s demands. The most bullshit moment of it all was when my dad tried to crow about how he didn’t waste his 20s like I did. When I used my 20s to get a master’s degree in a tough economy and worked my ass off with (at one point) upwards of 6-7 jobs. And when I knew that he spent his 20s high off his ass, fucking up one job after another with a buddy always willing to land him the next decent paying job despite that, impregnating his girlfriend at the time, and having her leave him and the kid become a ward of the state because he sexually assaulted the kid when she was 2.

    But, I was the one with the disappointing 20s…

    And so “sir”‘s smug little gloating here just ruins me. It’s just so conceited and vile and so convinced he’s getting away with all of it. And Chloe is fucking feeding that by not even blinking an eye at his little song and dance and buying it completely that he’s just a “nice guy” helping out his “fuckup kid” who is just so “withdrawn” to even give him a “proper thank you” for his sheer level of unmitigated gall.

    It reminds me of all the people I had to flee, who made me beg for my humanity and still denied it to me. Who made me feel owned and trapped. Who have so left their mark on me, I’m shaking in pain and rage years later at their mere evocation at the hands of an abusive character.

    And so as hard as it’ll be for a good long while, I trust that this fucker will get his comeuppance and Ruth will finally be free. Just like I was able to.

    1. MatsuoTanuki

      *opens arms to offer an internet hug, or at least an appropriate gesture of comfort*

      1. Cerberus

        *accepts hug* Thanks.

        This comic really ends up being good therapy for me a lot.

        1. MatsuoTanuki

          I am very glad to hear that, coz from the sound of what you’ve had to deal with in the past and deal with in your day to day life, your skull would have exploded from multiple stress-induced aneurysms if you didn’t regularly take the chance to vent.

    2. Aeromechanicalace

      I am Sincerely hoping Willis breaks his ‘no one dies’ rule for this slimy bourgeois sociopath.

      I’m not even that picky as to the How, just as long as it’s painful.

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        Don’t demonize neurodivergent people. Just call him what he is: a complete and utter shit.

      2. Emperor Norton II

        Remember, the “no one dies” rule is basically there because the way the comic spends up to hundreds of strips on a single day, it means that normally, someone dying would mean that everyone around them would spend the next 1 200 strips or so mourning; and an entire day would have to be devoted to a funeral, etc. etc.

        But with characters that nobody would actually ever mourn…

        OK, sure, it’s probably still not going to happen. But a person can hope, right?

        1. thejeff

          I don’t know. The weeks of celebration and wild partying would interfere with the story for years. 🙂

        2. Emperor Norton II

          You mean like the wild partying that Mandy and Sierra have been doing all this time?

        3. thejeff

          You know that scene takes on a slightly different meaning in light of this.

        4. thejeff

          Dammit: this

    3. Bagge

      In temperament I think he is much more of a kindred soul to Blaine than Ross. Blaine and “Sir” both know exactly what they want: Power over this person. And they both are extremely smug when they are “winning”.

      Kinda puts this conversation in an interesting light
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/spot/

    4. Sam

      *Appropriate gesture of support*

      Tbh this doesn’t even make me feel angry.

      Just sad. In a lot of ways. Particularly that abusers like this would gleefully use the sweetest and most kind people you know as weapons against you to keep you trapped.

    5. Rukduk

      *tentatively offered internet hugs* That’s…that’s horrible. You should never have had to go through that. The strength you have to survive that, and succeed despite that…that strength is inspiring though.

  104. Gesc

    I fear that Ruth is going to mechanically go through this shit storm, go somewhere she can be alone and try to do something horrible.

    I mean, I hope not, but she got the lifeless eyes again and the world is probably closing in on her big time right now.

    I hope Billie didn’t leave. That she’s behind that door, waiting.

    1. MatsuoTanuki

      And even better, is devoting all of her brainpower to memorizing as much detail as possible of what she hears so she can (hopefully) tell the other girls what’s going down so they can work out a plan on how best to further support Ruth.

  105. lia47

    go play with your army dolls old man

  106. Proto

    I hope this nice man is actually a good person but I know in my heart that the laws of drama mean he is actually a devil in disguise.

    1. Liliet

      it’s a pretty shitty disguise, given the firework of red flags all over this strip

  107. BenRG

    “Okay, thanks and all but, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but what’s the catch?” <- That's going on in Ruth's brain if nothing else but I doubt that she'd dare to say it right now.

    1. StClair

      she already knows what it is, though.

      1. BenRG

        Does she? She knows what she fears it will be but she doesn’t know what it will be.

  108. Reltzik

    Another thought. How much reality-twisting had Clint been pulling on Chloe before Ruth even got there?

    1. thejeff

      Exactly. That last line reads to me like a “See, just what I described. This is what she’s like.”

  109. CJ

    It’s really hard to see a good outcome of this situation.
    Everyone confronting Sir about his behavior (you don’t interfere between any adult and her employer without being asked to, you don’t tell an adult you have “put everything back on the right track”, and you don’t appear at the workplace and living place of someone who was suicidal without at least giving her warning you intend to come) would be confronted with this “not being thankful” bullshit. No, you fucking don’t have to be thankful for being fucking disrespected and robbed of agency!
    Actually, Amber/Amazi-Girl is the one who would be the most likely to catch on, because you can bet she knows the whole song and dance from Blaine.
    Maybe her Fort in the hall will serve another purpose today?

  110. BP

    So, uh… Without sharing too much, I feel I should share this.

    I was in an emotionally abusive relationship. My abuser never had financial control over me like this (thank luck), and we only interacted through computer screens (thank God), but they had full control over me emotionally for over a year of my life. Clint’s attitude and Ruth’s dread really hit home today, in the cold-pit-in-my-guts kind of way. The only difference is that my family and friends could all see how miserable I was and actively tried to warn me; I was the one who refused to see reality until my abuser broke up with me, then tried to gaslight their way back into my life. That and a lot of support made me snap out of it.

    I think Chloe’s probably naive, possibly lazy, and definitely misguided. I think Clint sets off all my worst warning bells. And I think we’re in for a frigging sad, awful ride, people. 🙁

    1. MatsuoTanuki

      *offers appropriate gesture of support* The important thing is you got out, and are now wiser and stronger for enduring.

    2. Cerberus

      *appropriate gesture of support* I’m glad you were able to escape. You are awesome and you deserve so much better than that shit.

      1. BP

        (accepts and returns gestures) Thanks, guys, and thanks for the kind words as well. 🙂

  111. Decon Theed

    Honestly, I can see why people are quick to jump to the “maybe he’s not an abuser!” reasoning, because we as a society have a very specific idea of what an abusive parent is ‘supposed’ to be. Y’know, obviously cruel, always physically abusive, if it’s Daddy he’s wearing a wifebeater and if it’s Mother she’s screaming about wire hangers, so on and so forth.

    As any social worker- or more pertinently, any abuse victim- can tell you, though, abusive behaviour covers a wide spectrum of putrid grey shades. “Sir” over here may not beat Ruth within an inch of her life behind or call her every rotten name under the sun behind closed doors, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t abusive. Hell, for all we know, he might actually believe he IS operating with Ruth’s best interests in mind and will tell himself he loves her (although for the record, I’m not buying that), but even if any of that were the case, his choice of words here are telling. He very clearly sees Ruth as little more then an investment or a mini-me to mould, and the fear and dread that instills in her is no less palpable then it would be if he was Generic Abusive Alcoholic Deadbeat Caretaker #92000.

    And, personally speaking, I genuinely don’t get how people could see this and not immediately react the way I did. Which was to immediately exclaim “oh, I’m gonna hate this twat”. I’ll eat my non-existant hat if he doesn’t turn out to be the exact kind of See-You-Next-Tuesday a good 90% of us are reasonably confident he’s going to be.

    1. Krys Brynhildr

      See, even without having the “personal experience” in regards to such things that a lot of people in the comments section seem to unfortunately have had in their lives. Which honestly is really horrible for people to have had to deal with from their own families especially…

      This guy sets off some pretty big red flags. I mean, I really hope he isn’t a physically violent person (though how concerned Ruth seemed for Billie’s safety last comic doesn’t bode well for that), but the kind of person who sees Ruth’s issues coming to a head as a “Close Call for us” and with the power to “Solve everything”…

      I mean, that is not the signs of a nice upstanding person. It seems pretty blatantly obvious that this is actually mainly about their family and therefore his reputation, instead of any real attempt to try and help Ruth personally.

      It isn’t even about her qualifications or whether she deserves the job, from the sounds of it. Not with the way he brushes off the situation as something he solved just by having a little chat with the powers that be at the college like talking them down from firing her for very legitimate reasons where they know she violated quite a few regulations during her time on the job was the easiest thing in the world.

      Even before getting into how obviously terrified of him and other clues along the way, just the way he talks in this single strip oozes a lot of bad vibes. Its pretty clear he’s stepping in mainly to stop her from disappointing him further, though how much Ruth is freaking out over being reinstated and how much she’s doing so because he’s not dressing her down over all the ways she’s disappointed him once again, well, I guess that’ll be next comics job to answer maybe?

      Plus, what kind of person does it take to become “Sir” and “Sir” alone in their grandchild’s mind? Maybe not a monster, but there’s plenty of things that were accepted back in older days that are pretty clearly not healthy ways to treat children especially when we look at them now. Plus, no offense to people who have served in the Armed services, but having served in wars doesn’t innately mean someone is a good person, no more that being a Christian does.

      And hey, Toedad already proved that second one isn’t a universal proof of goodness in the DoA-verse, so I’m not holding my breath that the first one is either.

  112. Kactusjak

    No more Webcomic Rampage? I was wondering why it wasn’t on your schedule last year. Or was that because of the kiddos?

  113. CJ

    What I also don’t get: Chloe has NO sense of self preservation.
    You do not paint yourself into a corner. And she did. She made a deal with Sir behind Ruth’s back – probably thinking it was a good thing – but never considered that she’d look real stupid if Ruth says no. Never considered that this put her in a situation were she cannot back out of the deal with Sir. Even if she would get that Sir is an abuser now, she hasn’t room to move.

    1. Sam

      One of my teachers is a fire marshal. The fire alarm went off for a drill once. She tried to get everyone out. Three construction guys ignored her and walked back in the building to get their sandwiches. That has to count as at least -10 in self preservation skills.

      The self-preservation skills of some people are just, shockingly bad.

  114. AGV

    “its solved”… “your position”… “back on the tracks”…

    NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

    Ruth, if you have any strength to snap contundently, this is the time

  115. Benjy

    Really, Chloe? You just saw Ruth shut down to catastrophic levels and you’re going to let that pass unobserved, or worse, uncommented on?

    1. BenRG

      To her, Ruth’s grandfather is a generous, kind and reasonable adult figure whilst Ruth is essentially an emotionally-troubled child; her reactions are to be expected but discounted as the essentially irrelevant symptoms of her unfortunate condition.

      1. thejeff

        And Clint has prepped her for that – “See, she’s reacting just like I said”

        1. Cerberus

          Yup, which is a nice abuser trick and great for creating isolation in your target by making it look like you’re over-reacting when you react naturally to very stressful abuse you are receiving.

          And it also normalizes the abuse, makes it seem innocuous, gives a justification for the actions that masks how terrible its been in private. And so it’s easy to come away just thinking “gosh, he’s being so given, if a little cold” when he’s actually being incredibly cruel and controlling.

        2. 3-I

          This. All of this.

          And she is the one person here who should be trained to recognize this.

  116. BenRG

    I’m genuinely wondering if Ruth’s grandfather doesn’t get it. He has no clue how his behaviour affects Ruth (especially in the context of the loss of her parents). It’s possible that he comes from a generation that just denies and ignores emotional illness on the grounds that it is ‘moral weakness’, so he expects Ruth to suck it up and deal with it. He literally doesn’t understand why Ruth withdraws when all he’s trying to do is toughen her up and have her ready to deal with the world.

    The harm we cause when we believe we are doing good!

    1. Guairdean Beatha

      He probably doesn’t care. A good soldier doesn’t think, and he doesn’t freeze. He acts without question. Sir wants his little soldier to snap to, reply “SIR, THANK YOU, SIR!” and then stand at parade rest. I worked with a guy whose dream was to have a family compound where he could be the ruling patriarch. He didn’t have the money to make it happen, Sir might.

      1. StClair

        “Now stop malingering and get back in formation. We have an objective, we have a mission, and it will be completed on schedule, am I clear?”

        (*twitch*)

  117. Reltzik

    …..

    You know, in retrospect, the fact that every single RA in the building doesn’t have their act together should probably have struck me as a warning sign that Chloe isn’t actually good at her job.

    1. Bagge

      The way Ruth could act as a tyrant and get within a hairs width of drinking herself to death AND suicide is a bit of a clue too.

      1. StClair

        Yyyyyup.

  118. Emily

    This is way more concerning than yelling.

  119. zellgato

    Oh wow… That ARD girl.
    what…
    what are you even trying to do your job girl!?

    1. BenRG

      Chloe has made it quite clear in the past that she regards her priority is having an easy life with the bare minimum of supervision of the RAs and definitely not having anything the RAs can’t handle ending up on her desk.

      1. StClair

        Yyyyyup. (x2)

  120. strictly speaking

    I don’t think the grandfather is abusive in the sense of hating Ruth or wanting to put her down. He seems to mean well. But the way he does things does remind you about the tale of the bear and the gardener.

  121. Boomer Gonzales

    …Oh this is gonna get bad. I sense a “But I was out…I was finally free…” moment coming on.

    1. BenRG

      I am thinking that Ruth may actually tell Clint this towards the end and I strongly suspect that his reaction might surprise some. I don’t think that he really knows what’s going on in his granddaughter’s head; he thinks that he knows but he doesn’t.

  122. Greylurker

    I’m not sure what chills me more. Her Grandfather or Chloe, who despite knowing what happened is sitting there all smiles happy that the “problem” is now fixed

  123. Elsendor

    Why do I ever read the comments why do I ever read the comments why do I ever read the comments

    1. Arianod

      Yeah, why?

    2. SgtWadeyWilson

      Because every so often it’s worth it? I mean, at least twice a year anymore there seems to be a pretty good AU fanfic write here in the comment section.

      Plus snark and puns are usually more prevalent.

      It’s just not a great page for comments unless you need internet hugs/inspiring perseverance from Cerberus and the like. This is a big, serious moment for many readers.

      1. missilentmurmur

        I have to tell you, I like the arguments here as well. They are waaay better than what I encounter in real life. I don’t think anyone that reads a comic like this would be a real asshole, even if they are not as sensitive yet as you would wish. Mind the ‘yet’. This comic, and this comment section seems genuine and worldview-forming to me. There are pieces of life I have never encountered before. So that’s why I read the comments.

        Also, this is the only place where I feel at ease enough so I can comment too.

  124. Heather

    Is no one else kinda freaked out by how he said that was a ‘close call’, like… WTF your granddaughter tried to commit suicide, no hug, no asking if she’s alright. In the previous strip the reason for chloe’s bringing in her granddad was suggested because of Ruth’s attempt to commit suicide. So he must KNOW what’s happened.

    I’m just, there’s so much wrong here and it grates me the wrong way. It feels like Ruth has probably never had her emotions considered by anyone before Billie.

    1. Emperor Norton II

      I think it got lost in all the other things to get freaked out about, though at least some people did notice it.

    2. Cerberus

      I think you’re 100% right. Or rather I think the last time her emotions were considered might have been when her parents were still alive.

      And yeah, it’s one of the super gross things about his response. There’s just no pretense of love there. It’s straight into how this “setback” nearly disrupted the fine machinery of her usefulness as a tool for him.

  125. Big Box

    Guys, I think we’re looking at this the wrong way round. I don’t think Clint here treats Ruth badly at all. Might have some out of date perceptions vis-a-vis women, but I don’t think he’s being abusive towards her.

    I think he’s being abusive towards Howard.

    First of all, two things give precedent to this. Ruth already said that he’s making life hard for Howard in some way, namely that she thought that dying rather than simply failing would make his treatment of Howard less harsh. Furthermore, Ruth said that she doesn’t care what happens to her, but cares greatly when something happens to someone in her care, as demonstrated with the Carla/Mary situation.

    And Clint, a veteran who very probably carries his generation’s misguided mindset on what ‘manliness’ is, probably does not think highly of his ‘nerdy’ grandson. Perhaps even sees him as his legacy, and judges his perceived failures to live up to his generations warped standards even more harshly for it.

    Also, Clint focusing more on his granddaughters employment over her mental health seems more of the “don’t talk about mental health” mindset of his generation more than it does intentional disregard.

    1. BBCC

      So we’re ignoring that phone call and the fact he’s treating her like an investment then?

      Goody.

    2. Schpoonman

      I can reconcile that idea of Clint, that he’s not actively abusive of Ruth (so much in that he mostly ignores her), but he’d still he massively emotionally neglectful and Ruth clearly despises him but is too afraid (possibly for herself, though she has alluded to being more worried about Howie) to say anything, like “It’s 2017, Howie doesn’t have to join the army and women aren’t weak.

      Either way, Ruth is not in a good position so long as Clint can influence her.

      1. Big Box

        I never said he was doing good by her, just not being directly abusive. It’s a bad situation for sure.

        It’s more in response to those expecting him to go apeshit on her the second they’re alone. Perhaps brusque and unsympathetic, but the things it’s implied he’s put Ruth through seem more nuanced then say, Blaine. (Not that they aren’t any worse.)

  126. Heather

    AND OMG THE FECKING ‘See? She just closes up! Withdraws.’ Excuse me sir WTF?! He’s literally giving Chloe, oh see it’s NORMAL for Ruth to close up, that’ s EXPECTED BEHAVIOR. CHLOE GET A CLUE GODDAMMIT

    1. Cerberus

      Yeah, that’s the part that really fucks with me. Because he’s just openly lampshading his abuse and knowing that he’s not going to face a single consequence for it.

      And when an abuser gets that smug, that means they’ve gotten away with some epically horrendous shit before.

  127. Crumplepunch

    Well, he seems nice.

    1. Jhon

      “seems nice” = damn you Jeph Jaques

  128. podian

    Oh no, another dad.

  129. Solenoid

    good lord. it’s a CEO ur-boomer. no fucking wonder

  130. Falcon

    Seriously, what the hell guys? Put yourself in Chloe’s shoes, and *only* Chloe’s shoes. Up to this point, Chloe has done exactly what she should have. A student became suicidal. Chloe called the student’s next of kin. The next of kin offers to do something so good that the school has to oblige letting the student stay on as RA. As far as Chloe knows, the student wanted the RA job and even expressed concern about losing her job during the depths of her suicidal depression when Chloe came to visit. So yes, all Chloe sees is a student’s ‘parent’ looking out for their kid, and is happy she’s able to do Ruth a favor.

    Please stop expecting other characters to be psychic just because they’re inadvertently making a situation worse.

    1. bookworm389

      If the RMs where I went are any indication then they are trained to spot and try to help both potentially abusive situations and with students who may need mental health help, so she’s at the least really shitty at her job. .

      Which actually brings up the question of why she was contacting Sir at all, shouldn’t that be the job of the counseling services office? And at least where I went they were very big on “we won’t contact anyone without your express consent unless you pose an immediate danger to yourself or others” and in that case they called a hospital, not your family.

    2. 3-I

      “Chloe has done exactly what she should have. A student became suicidal. Chloe called the student’s next of kin.”

      Okay, but, like, that is literally not what she should have done. That is in fact illegal. You do not do that.

      1. Falcon

        Really? I would be interested to be pointed in the right direction on this. If I was hospitalized for several days with my life in the balance, I would be shocked to discover the school was *legally prohibited* from calling in any number I gave them.

        1. bookworm389

          If you gave them the number and permission, then they can. Its the permission that’s the problem here.

        2. Falcon

          When you give the name and identity of a person, the form will say under what circumstances the person may be called. Being hospitalized for suicidal depression seems to cover most of the typical urgent grounds.

        3. thejeff

          If he was listed as an “Emergency Contact”, there might be justification. Especially early on when her mental state was worst.

          Absolutely no justification for not telling her he’d been contacted – that’s true for whoever made the call, which we still don’t know.

    3. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      For Ruth to have gotten as bad as she did is an undeniable sign of incompetence.

      1. Falcon

        That’s results-based judging. Not unreasonable in the long term, but full of arbitrary holes in the short term. People make things worse all the time while doing what they should be doing based on what they know.

        1. BBCC

          Chloe did not do what she is supposed to be doing. If she were, Clint wouldn’t be allowed in the meeting.

    4. BBCC

      Actually, Ruth said in that visit that she WANTED to lose her job, so this is in fact ignoring what Ruth asked.

      She also should have informed Ruth beforehand her grandfather would be there, in case it is a bad relationship or she doesn’t want him there.

      1. Falcon

        Ruth said “Now get me fired so I can stop wasting so much goddamned space.” while in the midst of her suicidal depression when Chloe visited Ruth in the hospital. What, are we next going to complain about not giving a suicidal person the gun they own so they can shoot themselves with it?

        So yeah, I don’t think a suicidal person is in the right mental space to be making those decisions for themselves. Ruth didn’t even say she wanted to resign. She said she wanted to be fired so she could stop living. Screw that.

        1. Fart Captor

          Trying to help Ruth keep her job isn’t the problem. Chloe doesn’t know how much of a relief it was for Ruth to have that off her plate.

          The issue is that she doesn’t know that because she did this without talking to Ruth about it. She didn’t just not ask Ruth if this was what she wanted. She didn’t even keep her in the loop.

          If she’d mentioned this to Ruth at all, she would have learned about her relationship with her family, AND that Ruth may not want to keep her job, even now that she wants to live

        2. Falcon

          The only opportunity Chloe would have had to mention that her family had been informed would have been during Ruth’s hospitalization for suicidal depression. Erring on the side of caution rather than risking mortifying Ruth further at that point was a reasonable call.

        3. thejeff

          During the hospitalization. On release. When she spoke to Ruth earlier about the meeting.
          If you’re worried about mortifying them just by mentioning it, you don’t handle that by bringing them face to face without any preparation. Without even knowing what you’ve told him.

        4. Falcon

          Yeah, you’re not getting Chloe on an hour’s difference to give Ruth surprising good news once she’s stable.

    5. thejeff

      Note: Calling the next of kin of a suicidal employee is very definitely not her job. It might be the hospital’s, depending on the exact circumstances. It’s not clear if Ruth was ever sufficiently non-responsive to not be able to decide such things for herself. It’s also not clear if Ruth had Clint listed as an Emergency Contact, which would make it somewhat more acceptable.
      We also don’t know who actually called Clint or under what circumstances – or even what he was told.
      It’s not at all acceptable to negotiate with someone else over your employee’s future, but that was almost certainly done way over Chloe’s head, so she doesn’t bear responsibility for that.
      It is, as you suggest reasonable for Chloe to think this is a good thing for Ruth, now that it’s happened.
      What is completely unacceptable under any circumstances, whether from Chloe or from the hospital staff, is never to have told Ruth what was going on – that Clint had been contacted, that he was coming up, that he was coming up help, etc. There is absolutely no good reason to leave her out of the loop. There’s no need to be psychic to do that basic bit of communication.

      It would be nice if she picked up on how distraught she was at his presence, but he’s likely charmed her and given her an dismissive explanation for Ruth’s behavior – as seen in his last line.

      1. Falcon

        I started out calling Sir Ruth’s guardian, then next of kin after someone corrected me about how Ruth is old enough to not need one anymore, and now it’s emergency contact. My apologies if I’m getting the terminology mixed up. My point is that there’s someone the school is meant to contact when the shit hits the fan, and Sir is officially it until Ruth says otherwise.

        I’m personally really comfortable not risking further screwing up a suicidal person’s mental state while they’re still hospitalized. Ruth has officially told the school, “Sir is trustworthy. I trust him to handle my life if I’m unable to. Trust him.”And Ruth was very much unable to handle her own life.

        Chloe might still be able to show herself to be utterly incompetent in my eyes, but so far she’s handled Ruth’s situation the way it should be handled.

        1. thejeff

          Has she told them that? That’s an assumption you’re making. A likely one, since he was probably telling her to fill out the forms, but still an assumption.

          Next of kin being a somewhat different thing than emergency contact. You can pretty much pick your emergency contact. Next of kin is much harder to change – short of marriage, formal adoption, etc. Which has certainly bit many LGBT couples before marriage was legal. Ruth literally has no say in the matter, short of a formal legal process.

          I think a lot depends on exactly how legally “unable to handle her own life” Ruth was. I’m not sure enough of the process to say. Even so, that’s a medical and legal issue, way above Chloe’s pay grade. Ruth was released to her own care, so she wasn’t actually judged incompetent.
          Even so, there’s no damn reason not to tell her. Preferably first – “We’re going to contact Sir, anything particular you’d like him to do?” But afterwards and as soon as possible. Normally it would be a comfort, but it’s even more important if it isn’t going to be.

        2. BBCC

          Someone being in the hospital does not mean you keep important information from them because ‘oh, they might not be able to handle it’. That is not a good assumption to make. The key’s not to dodge out of telling Ruth something upsetting, the key is to check with the hospital, see if she’s good to hear it, and then go for it as tactfully as possible. Or let the hospital do it.

          Ruth was in the hospital. If anything happened, she was in the best place to take care of her and prevent her from doing anything. It’s not up to someone else to decide she’s not competent to hear important things.

        3. Falcon

          Asking the hospital might well have been the best decision. But it’s important not to confuse the best decision with a reasonable decision. It was reasonable to not want to risk aggravating the situation, take some time to arrange something good for Ruth while she recovered in the hospital and then give her a nice surprise when she came out.

        4. Liliet

          So, like, if we assume that contacting Ruths’ family is a reasonable and benevolent decision, shouldn’t telling her that it was done make her feel better? Like, it’s one or the other – either you worry that telling their family can make them feel worse, IN WHICH CASE YOU DO NOT TELL THEIR FAMILY, or you have no doubt it’s a good and comforting thing, IN WHICH CASE YOU TELL THEM IMMEDIATELY. Because lying in the hospital in fear, worry and uncertainity of what’s going to happen next? One of the worst things I’ve ever experienced in my life.

          The ~nice surprise~ is not even remotely worth the relief and comfort of the person knowing what’s going on all the way through.

          Just… no. No, no, no. Chloe sucks at her job/

    6. RacingTurtle

      Ruth was alive, conscious, and legally an adult when she was in the hospital. Calling anyone without her say-so and then not informing her that someone had been called is completely inappropriate.

      1. Falcon

        Being in the hospital for suicidal depression is a very different ball game from being in the hospital due to a car accident. Ruth was not in a position to manage her own life, and it was clear for all to see.

        1. RacingTurtle

          I have been hospitalized for suicidal depression. Whoever called Clint without letting Ruth know they were doing it was being completely inappropriate.

  131. Aviana

    I… need more information on how this was solved before I know how to react to this, to be honest. Like, Ruth is obviously thrown off because she wasn’t expecting this, and that makes sense, but how did this get solved? Can she keep her job because she’s getting an assistant RA to help handle the stress that’s clearly putting her over the edge? Can she keep her job as long as she keeps going to mandatory therapy? Are they going to require her to break up with Billie, or have they worked out an arrangement where they can stay together? I can’t blame Chloe for thinking Ruth must be happy about this, since Ruth has never indicated to her that she’s looking forward to being fired. Very keenly interested in seeing exactly how this was resolved – and also glad that “Sir” finally has a name now, calling him “Sir” was so awkward.

    1. Aviana

      (Well, depending on how you interpret her “I’m in the hospital because I’m suicidal and don’t think I deserve to keep my position” comments – I couldn’t really blame Chloe for thinking it was the depression talking rather than what Ruth actually wants.)

    2. BBCC

      I believe the implication is that Clint made a large donation and so now they’re keeping Ruth on board.

      1. thejeff

        And she’d better shape up and fly right and not give him any reason to make him regret that investment.

        No more of these pathetic depressive episodes.

  132. Scar Man!!!

    and that subtle insult right there. Yep, everyone was right about how this would go down

  133. Deanatay

    Ah. He’s the ‘investment’ type. As in, “Your life is my investment, therefore, it must be carefully guided along lines that only I think are profitable. Since it is MY investment, only MY opinion is valuable.”

  134. Rectilinear Propagation

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

  135. Tufto

    Hmm.

    On the one hand, the “investment” line is indeed worrying. This is clearly a suspect individual, at the very least, and is probably an awful human.

    On the other hand, Ruth might get to stay. And not have to go back to Canada. Where he is. In fact, it appears she might get to stay here. Where Billie is.

    Hmm.

    1. DinaWho

      Ruth would most likely not be moving back to Canada. It was established during the Family Weekend strips that she and Howie moved to the States to live with Sir when their parents died.

      1. Tufto

        Oh, yeah, forgot about that. Well, either way, she might not have to go back home.

  136. smashman42

    Am I the only one creeped out by Howard seeming to be totally fine with Grandpa while Ruth is scared shitless? It makes me think sexual assault, otherwise wouldn’t Howard be a target too?

    1. Emperor Norton II

      Oh, there are several other options too… And not a single one of them is particularly happy.

      One is that Clint’s a classically trained sexist. A woman failing is always to be mocked (and if she’s not failing, then make it seem like she is, then mock that), a man failing is not.

      Another option is that Howard is having his own coping mechanisms. Much like Becky, I suspect he’s gotten good at the act of pretending he is fine. After all, he’s still living with Clint, so he has to keep up appearances for now. Letting that mask go, even for a second… Yeah, that’s something he wouldn’t dare doing until he’s actually run off.

      1. Shiro

        Another one: with Ruth as scapegoat, that leaves Howard free to be the golden child. Ruth only takes the abuse because she knows otherwise it would fall on Howard, and she wants to shield her baby brother.

        1. Greenygal

          In this strip, Ruth wonders if her grandfather would be nicer to Howard if she died, or if he would just make things worse. Ruth may well be playing scapegoat, but she evidently thinks Howard’s being targeted anyway.

        2. Emperor Norton II

          True, but the strip also shows she’s still concerned on Howard’s behalf; so maybe historically, she has at least tried what little she could (and at her age, one can only demand so much of her) to deflect the worst of the hits away from Howard.

      2. thejeff

        I’m on the second team there.

        Howard’s behaviors are not actually “healthy, happy and normal”. How deep it goes and how bad he’s had it, we don’t know, but he’s been hurt by it.

    2. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      Yeah, I’ve had my money on rape for a while now.

      1. spoopyfox

        i never really put much thought into that but thinking about her behavior in his presence….

        i just really hope you’re wrong :((

  137. Guairdean Beatha

    Ruth was expecting his dark side, but his public face is on display for Chloe. The real Sir will only manifest itself when no one he deems important is watching. He wrote a check to cover up any problems, and he’ll demand repayment later. Hopefully, Ruth will be in a better, stronger personal position when he tries to collect.

  138. Pablo360

    Okay, that’s the last straw. Someone get Joyce in here, there’s an abusive patriarch figure that needs punching.

    1. AlexDenton

      Let’s have a certain vigilante teach her how to throw a punch without breaking her hand before that ^^

    2. Pinja

      Her wrist is still busted tho

    3. Bagge

      No, no. Remember what Chloe said. EVERYONE needed to be present.

      This is clearly an audition for the next RA. Get Joyce, Dorothy, Roz AND Billie in here and see who deals with the abusive parental figure best.

      1. thejeff

        Can we get Amazi-Girl to show up to? She’s also good with abusive parental figures.

        1. Bagge

          I don’t really see her as an RA… That whole “secret identity thing” is a pain for the paperwork

  139. Pablo360

    A thought. What if Ruth sent Billie away because she knows Clint is incredibly homophobic and would double down on abuse?

    Why do I give myself these thoughts?

    1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      Chloe will have either told him or blurt it out soon enough.

    2. Sam

      It could also be because he is the type of person who turns people against you like Blaine used Danny as bait but could have manipulated him against Amber. And you don’t want your only support going ‘huh, he seemed nice, don’t know what you’ve been making a fuss about’.

      Not saying that is how Billie would react, I think she would react by punching him in his snake face, but that could be a genuine fear.

  140. Vulcanodon

    If a kid flinches when his dad raises an arm to adjust his hair, that’s a red flag. This is the adult equivalent. Ruth’s reaction to Sir should be a pretty clear sign to Chloe. If she were paying attention.

    Also; swooping in the “fix” everything without even asking Ruth what she wanted… Jeebus, fuck this guy.

  141. altalemur

    finally get to see the grandpa. i feel like i’m watching a horror movie, for how apprehensive Ruth is. and sure enough he’s being all vague and shit on what he did. “our investment” what does that mean? i get the feeling he gaslights her a lot.

  142. Pinkie

    Meh… I don’t trust Sir. The way he talks about his “investment,” and fixing things…He’s making a big show of generosity, and you better believe Ruth is going to have to give something exorbitant in return. He likes being the one in power, he likes having her over a barrel, and is probably looking forward to having her grovel in gratitude.

    And then he makes the belittling remark at the end, just because he can. Rubbing it in.

  143. Joe Covenant

    Well now the dust has settled (somewhat).

    I’M hoping that Chloe has sussed what is going on, and is overplaying the *Everything is fine now your Grandad’s here* stance, to get Clint the hell out as soon as possible.

    My reasoning being, that the last time we saw Chloe, her face was etched with worry… and she knew who was coming to her office. (And had no doubt already spoken to him.)

    Yet, when Ruth comes into the room she is suddenly all arms wide and “Here she is!” as if welcoming a long-expected, much-missed friend. (A front: playing along, and not letting Clint know that she has a real concern for Ruth in this situation…)

    And then, the “oh give her a moment…”
    (Smile wide – Fixed grin, play along with Grandad Clint… don’t let him know you can see past his barely concealed façade – Play along so he leaves…)

    And if this isn’t the case there are only two alternatives.

    1) Jeph hasn’t followed his own set-up too well (which doesn’t really happen too often).
    2) Chloe really is clueless. (But then that doesn’t explain her obvious concern when setting up the meeting with Ruth in the first place.)

    ??

    1. Emperor Norton II

      I can totally understand why you hope all of this. It’s a vastly preferable option to the alternative, is it not?

      But I’m not so sure I can share that hope, as much as I want to.

      I guess the main thing is that I think Chloe’s concerns in the past seems to turn out to have a sort of hollow ring to them, even before today’s strip. I mean, I so, so, sooo wanted her to be basically a more ignorant version of Leslie; someone who means just as well as Leslie does, but who lacks the life experience to understand what is truly going on at times.

      But… Well, she seems to be a bit worse than that. Even before this strip, she’d already been giving some pretty strong hints that she’d probably try to let Ruth keep her job, throughout pretty much all her interactions with Ruth.

      But then here’s that thing: No matter how compassionate that seems and maybe even was; and I can see the argument being made that she wants to support someone in a crisis, and yes, that would be extremely compassionate of her…. But it also would not be right towards the rest of the students. And Chloe’s job is to ensure that what is being done is right towards everyone, not just one.

      And the reason this makes it all seem a bit hollow is that if Chloe’s not taking the concerns of the other students seriously… Then it makes it a bigger question mark if she’s really doing this out of compassion. One could start to suspect that she’d have some self-serving motive; such as thinking that firing an RA makes her look bad in picking RAs. One might think that what she primarily wants, is to avoid being seen as having done a mistake. Because being seen as doing a mistake is a big fat no! in… Well, in most cultures, really. I mean, some more than others, but still, this article shows what is clearly an exception rather than the rule: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-i-made-failure-important-part-our-company-culture-john-lombard

      And all of those concerns was before today, and with Clint showing up in a meeting he clearly had no right to be in; and with the heavy implication that his wallet is in control of all the things going on.

      Now, assuming your hopes about Chloe are correct and she’s putting up a show. Well then, will Ruth even be able to trust her motives after this? Will Ruth think that Chloe was ever trying to be compassionate about this whole thing? Would she assume Chloe speaking the truth if Chloe was telling her that she was playing along? Or will Ruth think that Chloe was just a dancing puppet to Clint’s strings all along? The latter seems to be far more likely…. And thus, for all her possibly good intentions, Chloe would end up in the same position vis-a-vis Ruth’s level of trust.

      But hey, if your hopes turn out to be right, I’ll gladly celebrate with you. For now, I’m just finding it hard to do anything but prepare for the worst.

    2. Vulcanodon

      A nice hypothesis (setting aside that there were flags she ought to have seen earlier). I hope you are right!

  144. Charles RB

    The old man’s back again
    ooo-ooo-ooo

  145. Paul1963

    Addressing your grandfather only as “Sir” is always a sign of a warm and loving relationship, I’m sure. (eyeroll)
    (My grandmothers were both “Grandma,” and the one grandfather who was alive to meet was “Grandpa.”)

    1. C.T Phipps

      I always addressed my father as Sir. Why shouldn’t you? It’s a sign of respect.

      1. Andy

        In Ruth’s case, I see it as more a figure *demanding* respect, and more than respect – total obedience and dependence. She has never referred to him as anything *other* than Sir, and all his behavior here – referring to his investment, and stepping in without regard for her wants or needs, only what *he* thinks is best, is raising a huge number of red flags.

      2. Tadpole7

        It can be a sign of respect to a parent, but in my experience, it often indicated someone with control issues.

        That said I knew a few kids who called their dad/grandfather sir and had a good relationship. But their body language was vastly different than Ruth’s.

  146. Deanatay

    So wait…

    Ross became ToeDad…

    Clint’s a big guy, probably ex-military (he fought in wars), collects G.I. Joe…

    So… JoeDad?

    1. Deanatay

      Nah, we already have a Joe, and he has a dad, would be confusing…

      1. 3-I

        In fact, Joe IS Joe’s dad. JoeDad is in fact JoeDad’s dad, Joe, as well as JoeDad’s son, Joe.

        Joe being Joe’s father is still really amusing to me.

    2. Deanatay

      SirDad!

    3. Deanatay

      GIDad?

  147. Silly Name

    Ah, nice try, Willis! You’re going to make everything seem calm and normal, and when we have our defenses down, BOOM!, you’re going to unleash the horrible truth and make use cry! I’m not falling for it!

    … Uh. Does anyone knows if Willis plays D&D? ‘Cause he has the “Evil DM” personality to pull it off.

    1. Jhon

      I would totally play in Willis’ D&D campaign. Because screwing characters over is an ART.

  148. C.T Phipps

    Well, I was wrong, he’s a bad person. The lack of concern about anything but Ruth’s otherwise unimportant position says just about everything you need to know about the guy.

  149. Mr. Random

    He seems… Controlling. Not overtly, as in you must act and dress and say exactly what I want you to say, but a subtle and more dangerous type.
    As in, you will go to this college, you will take this job, and you will move here to live your life.
    He has a plan for her, and he’ll be damned before he lets anyone, even her, disrupt that plan.
    And in the way of all true villains, he thinks he’s right. He thinks this is what will benefit her in the long term.

  150. Lauralot

    You know, I’d really like to see a male character have their abusive parent introduced to see if the comments section still fails all over itself to say that we can’t be sure of anything yet.

    When Ethan’s mother called him a disappointment, were people rushing to defend her?

    1. Lauralot

      I meant to say “falls,” but “fails” is still rather accurate.

    2. BBCC

      I feel like I recall people saying she meant well or religious reasons or something.

      People definitely defend Danny’s mom and dad.

      1. Lauralot

        Well in that case, I’ll just go back to having no faith in humanity.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          But other people tend to call out such defense, so it’s not all bad.

          I suppose you can have some sort of half-faith in humanity?

        2. Lauralot

          That is a fair point.

          What I just can’t understand is, even if we accept the theory of these commentators that Sir is just from another time and can’t handle emotional issues well and has good intentions, that still doesn’t excuse a thing. Even if we ignore the way he’s glaring and smirking at her and talking about her as if she isn’t even there, she’s still clearly terrified of him. She completely shuts down just being in a room with him unexpectedly. She could barely open the door knowing he was inside. And she went on a drinking binge after a minute long phone call with him. None of that is all right, and the effect is the same whether he’s intentionally abusing her or not. Becky’s dad may have honestly believed kidnapping her at gunpoint was the right thing to do, but that doesn’t make his actions all right or even sympathetic.

          I just don’t see what compels people to so readily defend someone who inspires that level of horror in their dependents.

  151. Pinja

    I’m just cherishing the moment before he says or does something that makes me want to grip his skull in both hands and take his eyes out with my thumbs before crushing it in my mighty grasp.

    It’s peaceful right now but I am guessing at least a 0.7 on the Toedad scale.

  152. Pinja

    “wat a tweest!”

    People think maybe he is all right and Ruth is the one with the problem?

    What comic have you been reading up until now? Did you not notice a pattern with the parents? Did Ruth’s words and actions and reactions up until now just pass you by?

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Yeah, but maybe Ruth’s honest reaction to his phone call, when (she thought) nobody was around to see, maybe that was just her blowing things out of proportion for sympathy, and Sir isn’t even all that bad at all. How someone reacts, in the privacy of their own room, to dealing with someone isn’t indicative of how that person makes them feel. Maybe Ruth and Howie were actually really spoiled before their parents died, and now not having cable TV and knowing an authority figure’s disappointment feels like the end of the world.

      Did I cover all the grasping bases?

  153. Lauralot

    If I can find a silver lining to all this, it’s that if Chloe’s this incompetent, she may well find out about Becky and not do a thing.

    Also I just found out that Robin’s district means she’d be my representative, which has nothing to do with anything but is kinda cool I guess.

    1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      Nope; soon as that twit finds becky, she’ll call security.

  154. Reltzik

    I’m remembering a review of horror movies that I saw recently.

    The reviewer said that horror, properly done, isn’t about jump scares. It’s about a sense of creepiness, of things feeling off, disjointed in an unsettling way.

    Everything about this scene feels off.

    I mean, it COULD be a perfectly normal scene, even a positive scene, with different context. If Ruth hadn’t less than two hours ago left hospital treatment for suicidal depression. If every aspect of her body language wasn’t signalling a complete mismatch to the overt situation. Stark fear, or hatred, or something signalling a pretty deep trauma. And all the warning flags we’re talking about, those are deep things that a superficial skimming wouldn’t notice. They’re not out in the open for everyone to see.

    So, yeah, creepiness overload.

  155. RandomRedMage

    Noticed some people saying this grandparent figure dude is “alright” No, I’m fairly sure he isnt. Especially since he clearly called Ruth’s Collage/Job his “investment” He used the word ‘our’ but definitely means ‘his’ and considering hes calling it an investment, means he is looking for some kind of return on this, aka controlling business type that doesn’t LISTEN to others. My guess is hes made donations to the school, and is pulling strings to keep his little investment on track with the plans he has set. The close call, is he almost lost his investment.

  156. Clif

    Oh good. Everything is alright and solved, then. What a relief. And we have a new example of horrible to work with.

    1. Scar Man!!!

      not even solved

  157. spriteless

    I swear if willis changes the scene here I will drive into his house and steal all his future comics.

  158. chris73

    On the one hand this guy served in battle and as such gets my respect, if hes anything like members of my family that served then hes probably seen and done things that would make him think that what Ruths going through is nothing

    “That ain’t pressure, pressures a Messerschmidt up your arse” (for the australian readers)

    On the other hand hes probably just a giant asshole irrespective of his service

  159. Bluestreak7

    My biggest question is does he still collect 12″ GI Joe in the Dumbiverse?

  160. Sunny

    Chances are Clint will end up being as bad as Blaine, but by this strip he is definitely not yet a “monster” as so many proclaim. What he’s doing here is something I could imagine my own father having done for me before I started therapy, and my parents and I had some talks with a therapist at the table. And yes, I intend that as “for me” and not “to me”. The relationship between me and my parents, especially with my father, was not an easy one for some 15-20 years, but I have no doubt that no matter how frustrated we may have been about each other, he always did what he thought was best for me. A large part of the stress between us was due to both of us being poor at understanding the other’s feelings and how we affected each other. Without going into details, suffice to say we had to clear up some things that started 30 years ago now and didn’t affect me directly, but which I’d been worrying might affect me someday. Learning his side of the story instead of just the bits and pieces I’d picked up as a child helped immensely there, and he in turn had had no idea that I’d known anything and been worrying about it for most of my life by then.

    So while I have little doubt that Willis will do his best to milk us for our delicious tears of rage, I’m withholding judgement on Clint for now. I will not call him a monster, nor a good legal guardian. I know from first-hand experience that it’s entirely possible for a parental figure to strike fear and doubt into their child without intending to in any way, hell, it’s possible to do it while intending to do the polar opposite.
    So let’s see where this goes before getting the torches and pitchforks?

    1. BBCC

      I’m glad that your relationship is improving and I am sorry that you had such a rough situation, but it is not okay to summarily dismiss folks seeing red flags.

      As for me, this does not look like a situation where Ruth has heard things causing fear and doubt, but is straight up afraid OF HIM. He also doesn’t seem to give a flying fuck about anything but his investment in her, not her as a person. Your parents seem to care about you, which is good. That doesn’t look like the case here.

      1. Sunny

        Apologies if I came across as dismissive of the red flags. I will readily admit that there are some, and as I said, I believe that Willis will make us cry and rage and will feed on our emotions by making Clint be as bad as Blaine. He has made us identify with Ruth, and now he will make her SUFFER. Even more.
        But the red flags have been pointed out by others already, so I didn’t think it necessary to go over them again. My point was that it’s possible for a parent/guardian to intend only the best and still do harm. This is taking even the phone call between Ruth and Clint into account. Clint may genuinely believe that he’s only doing what is best for Ruth. I don’t know if it’s been stated when Ruth’s and Howard’s parents died, but chances are Clint missed roughly half the life of his granddaughter before his grandchildren moved in with him. My parents and I misunderstood each other regarding many things, and we knew each other for literally ALL my life. With the generational gap and ~10 years missed, I have very little trouble seeing Ruth’s and Clint’s relationship being wrecked by misunderstandings, misreading the other person, and plain old not being able to talk with each other.
        I freely admit, what I’m hoping for is the best. But from experience with Willis so far, I’m expecting the worst.
        I just want to provide an alternative view of what’s going on in the comic, and maybe make some of those who cry “monster” consider that even though they’re probably right regading the particular case in this comic, not every case that looks like this in RL will also be a clear case of abuse.

        1. BBCC

          It’s possible generally, but considering the context of this situation, I don’t think that that’s possible HERE.

        2. Vulcanodon

          Is Willis an MLP changeling? (shudder!)

  161. Kugai

    Ruthsplosion in 5 ….. 4 ….. 3 …… 2 …..

  162. Oberon

    Give her a moment? How about give yourselves a moment to maybe explain exactly WTF you are talking about? Ruth has no reason to be grateful for a situation she has no knowledge of, after all, and “We solved it” doesn’t even come close to an explanation.

    10,000 Quatloos that the ‘solution’ is a complete non-starter with Ruth. In the same manner as “We have the perfect solution for that wart on your little finger. We’re going to amputate your arm! See, no more wart! See, she just withdraws…kids these days, not even a thank you.”

  163. Micki

    How you know it’s a DoA comic section: a character shows up for the first time and is included in no more than four panels, and people spend paragraphs and paragraphs analyzing every last detail.

    Trust me, I have a degree in English literature, so I know it’s fun to (over)analyze. But…y’all. Don’t you have, like, laundry to do? haha

    1. Sunny

      I did my laundry last thursday.

      1. Bagge

        Perfect gravatar is perfect

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/kindness-4/

    2. StClair

      “Why can’t all entertainment be shallow, superficial, and unworthy of/incapable of supporting detailed analysis?”

    3. Captain Whoever

      This place makes the Questionable Content forum members / fans seem like casuals.

    4. Vulcanodon

      Story lines and characters that touch on abuse many people in the comments have actually experienced IRL, and they minimize it.

      Is there a way of scripting the comments section so that complaints of “Hey they’re just fictional characters, lighten up!” only display in tiny print?

  164. Pylgrim

    Ah, the kind of person that manages to look down on you even when he’s sitting and you are standing.

  165. Kaunisenkeli

    “Investment?” Solved so suddenly? I already don’t like this guy. Rich people need to be taught that they can’t solve everything simply by throwing money at it, as he appears to have done.

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