Well, that’s pretty much Mike’s entire role in DoA so far, right? He refuses to let people take their own shit. I’d say maybe 15-25% of the story lines so far have resulted directly from some innocuous comment or action by Mike. This is just much more direct than usual. It’s like he’s the Mr. Miyagi of total, dickish honesty.
Depends on how you mean it. In one sense, Gandhi would be the anti-Batman.
Think about it. We’re both obsessed with creating peace and a safe, stable society, and neither of us care if we break a few laws on the way. The difference is that he worked publicly, passively, and non-violently, refusing to seek revenge for wrongs or to reward violence with violence; while I work secretly, aggressively, and violently, making myself so dangerous to criminals as to scare the unmentionables out of anyone who thinks about breaking the law.
…it kinda depends on the writer, that’s all I’m saying. Hard to find the “opposite” of a guy that has been written as everything from a terminally obsessive misanthrope that kills deities for fun to the big blue bat buddy, a policeman’s best friend.
Wait, Danny turns down sex, because he doesn’t want to screw just any stranger that shows interest and because he’s feeling a little uncertain after his last relationship blew up, and that’s apparently “absurd.” But Sal hooks up with her TA in part to get better grades than she’s earned, and between the two, it’s Danny’s attitude on sex that makes him less likable?
Geez.
John
Oh, I’d parsed that as “doesn’t turn down (sex for absurd reasons)”, not “(doesn’t turn down sex) for absurd reasons”.
I think both Billie x Danny and Sal x Jason qualify as “sex for absurd reasons”!
Doctor_Who
Here’s the actual conversation where he justifies his reasons.
Danny: “I did want to! I’m not dead! I just didn’t want to take advantage of her.”
Joe: “Was she underage?”
Danny: “No.”
Joe: “Was she drunk?”
Danny: “No.”
Joe: “Was she crying?”
Danny: “No.”
Joe: “See, I don’t get why I’M the one who doesn’t respect women when YOU’RE the dude who thinks he knows better than the girl about whether she wants to have sex.”
Danny: “Yeah, but what if he thinks it was a bad decision later?”
Joe: “She thinks she made a bad decision now. Turns out it was asking you!”
Milosh
And then in the very next strip (if I recall correctly) he admits that those aren’t the real reasons.
Valdrax
Yep. That was mostly just an excuse, and his real reasons were as I outlined. He’s not comfortable with casual sex (strip before), and also is still messed up by his break up with Dorothy (strip after).
Plus, his reasons in that strip itself aren’t that absurd, if you credit him with enough awareness to pick up on Billie’s motivation for pouncing him. It was a moment of vulnerability for her self-esteem. Personally, I’m not sure I can credit him with that, so I’m going with “excuse” more than “reason.”
Sal has enough superficial cool to somewhat balance out her personality flaws, at least when they’re not comp[lately out of control (but the odds of that happening in this universe is slim). You look at her and you think ‘damn, she’s awesome’ and it’s not until later you realise what a fuck up she is. With Danny there’s nothing really impressive so you start neutral and his behaviour drags him down from there.
It’s actually kind of interesting to go back and read the comments for Danny’s first few strips. The readers started fairly positive, even siding with him against Dorothy during the first few break up strips. Danny’s kind of the strip’s unofficial fuck up. He doesn’t do anything really bad but you toss him a straight forward scenario and he finds a way to fumble it. It can be funny or endearing or annoying but you can guarantee he’ll stick his foot in his mouth at least once.
Sal however doesn’t really do much so she still comes off as the cool girl.
If Sal attacks, Mike wins, by making her realize how screwed up she is AND getting her kicked out in one go. If she doesn’t attack, he wins because he knows people far better than her and can destroy the lies she tells herself. Remember his smile in SP! when Amber hit him? Violence against Mike merely makes him stronger.
190 thoughts on “Lures”
Vivvav
Fuckin’ A, Mike. How do you do it?
Jen Aside
cynicism with humanity =p
qka
At his age, it’s cynicism. As you get older, it’s called experience.
GupyF
Nah, this goes past cynicism and experience. This is pure unadulterated Sardonicism. Cynicisms older, cooler and harsher brother.
newllend
Probably has a masters in physiological warfare.
Aeron
Nuclear Psychological Warfare
Mattyos
I like to think mike has a doctorate in LIFE
Bizar
Mike IS life.
Makkabee
Shrek is life. Therefore by the transitive property Mike is Shrek.
The credits confirm this.
gka
Well, that’s pretty much Mike’s entire role in DoA so far, right? He refuses to let people take their own shit. I’d say maybe 15-25% of the story lines so far have resulted directly from some innocuous comment or action by Mike. This is just much more direct than usual. It’s like he’s the Mr. Miyagi of total, dickish honesty.
Badeyes
Mike and innocuous comments? Are you reading the same comic as me??
Beige
maybe not innocuous. but a lot of it has come from either mike or joyce
No
I do “judgemental christian” better then Joyce EVER will.
TPman
Fuckin B. That’s what a 76% will get you.
BrokenEye, True False Prophet
No, she’d never fuck a Mike
Darbinator716
That’s shockingly passive-aggressive.
Yotomoe
I’d prefer her being Aggressively Passive.
Jen Aside
I’m pretty sure Mike’s being active-aggressive =p
Plasma Mongoose
Mike fights you in a way you don’t want.
Super Duper
And then they make out.
Drunken Nordmann
That could actually work.
Jen Aside
Dangit, now it looks like Sal’s checking out his package.
JustCheetoDust
I was going to avoid commenting on that last panel until I realized how pointless that was.
Anyways, panel 5 = potential pre-sexytimes panel.
RK
Oh good I’m glad I’m not the only one who wants this to happen.
Joe
It’s been too long since we’ve had some good old-fashioned hatefucking in a Willis comic.
Doctor_Who
Mike is like the anti-Batman.
He’s not the villain we deserve, but he’s the one we need.
Mr. Random
Wouldn’t the anti-batman be the villain we deserve? One which is the product of all our deceit and hypocrisy.
NF
That certainly sounds like how Mike would justify himself.
Batman
Depends on how you mean it. In one sense, Gandhi would be the anti-Batman.
Think about it. We’re both obsessed with creating peace and a safe, stable society, and neither of us care if we break a few laws on the way. The difference is that he worked publicly, passively, and non-violently, refusing to seek revenge for wrongs or to reward violence with violence; while I work secretly, aggressively, and violently, making myself so dangerous to criminals as to scare the unmentionables out of anyone who thinks about breaking the law.
But, if you look at in the sense of alignments…
http://alzrius.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/batman-alignment.jpg
Batman
…it kinda depends on the writer, that’s all I’m saying. Hard to find the “opposite” of a guy that has been written as everything from a terminally obsessive misanthrope that kills deities for fun to the big blue bat buddy, a policeman’s best friend.
Clif
You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?
begbert2
Is that top center one supposed to be B:TAS? The staging looks like it, but the shading (both detail and color) is throwing me off.
R2
No, that’s from The Long Halloween by Leob and Sale.
HentMas
I don´t think the word “Anti” means what you think it means
Kintrex
I don’t know, I think a lot of the people Mike “helps” completely deserve it.
Wonder Wig
He blue balled my fists.
Yotomoe
It’s gonna be hard to pick things up for a while.
JustCheetoDust
That’s unfortunate if you didn’t have it coming.
chris73
Never could understand why Sals so popular yet Dannys not
John
Because when Sal fucks up, she does it spectacularly and entertainingly.
Yotomoe
Because Danny’s boobs aren’t nearly as nice.
chris73
Fair call
Doctor_Who
Sex appeal + motorcycle + accent + doesn’t turn down sex for absurd reasons + glorious chocolate river of hair.
Call us when Danny has a glorious chocolate river of hair.
MM
Fanart in ten, nine, eight…
Mr. Random
Seven… Six… Five… Four…
Yotomoe
http://i.imgur.com/0GmwfLZ.png
Doctor_Who
Had a feeling you’d answer the call, but I didn’t want to put you on the spot.
If Sal and Danny had stayed together in Universe-A, that’s what their kid would have looked like.
4th Dimension
Didn’t we see their kid in J&W? He didn’t have too much hair.
Drunken Nordmann
…
That’s very long hair.
MM
Gotta say, it’s not a bad look for him.
HentMas
That is sickeningly sweet O.o
Jen Aside
You mean his one chest hair finally gaining some friends?
Valdrax
Wait, Danny turns down sex, because he doesn’t want to screw just any stranger that shows interest and because he’s feeling a little uncertain after his last relationship blew up, and that’s apparently “absurd.” But Sal hooks up with her TA in part to get better grades than she’s earned, and between the two, it’s Danny’s attitude on sex that makes him less likable?
Geez.
John
Oh, I’d parsed that as “doesn’t turn down (sex for absurd reasons)”, not “(doesn’t turn down sex) for absurd reasons”.
I think both Billie x Danny and Sal x Jason qualify as “sex for absurd reasons”!
Doctor_Who
Here’s the actual conversation where he justifies his reasons.
Danny: “I did want to! I’m not dead! I just didn’t want to take advantage of her.”
Joe: “Was she underage?”
Danny: “No.”
Joe: “Was she drunk?”
Danny: “No.”
Joe: “Was she crying?”
Danny: “No.”
Joe: “See, I don’t get why I’M the one who doesn’t respect women when YOU’RE the dude who thinks he knows better than the girl about whether she wants to have sex.”
Danny: “Yeah, but what if he thinks it was a bad decision later?”
Joe: “She thinks she made a bad decision now. Turns out it was asking you!”
Milosh
And then in the very next strip (if I recall correctly) he admits that those aren’t the real reasons.
Valdrax
Yep. That was mostly just an excuse, and his real reasons were as I outlined. He’s not comfortable with casual sex (strip before), and also is still messed up by his break up with Dorothy (strip after).
Plus, his reasons in that strip itself aren’t that absurd, if you credit him with enough awareness to pick up on Billie’s motivation for pouncing him. It was a moment of vulnerability for her self-esteem. Personally, I’m not sure I can credit him with that, so I’m going with “excuse” more than “reason.”
timemonkey
Sal has enough superficial cool to somewhat balance out her personality flaws, at least when they’re not comp[lately out of control (but the odds of that happening in this universe is slim). You look at her and you think ‘damn, she’s awesome’ and it’s not until later you realise what a fuck up she is. With Danny there’s nothing really impressive so you start neutral and his behaviour drags him down from there.
It’s actually kind of interesting to go back and read the comments for Danny’s first few strips. The readers started fairly positive, even siding with him against Dorothy during the first few break up strips. Danny’s kind of the strip’s unofficial fuck up. He doesn’t do anything really bad but you toss him a straight forward scenario and he finds a way to fumble it. It can be funny or endearing or annoying but you can guarantee he’ll stick his foot in his mouth at least once.
Sal however doesn’t really do much so she still comes off as the cool girl.
nothri
See, most of the time I’m simply frustrated with Danny and his shenanigans, as opposed to furious at some of the crap other characters pull.
Opus the Poet
This could end badly for Mike, Sal is not one of the more stable characters in the comic. But then neither is Mike.
Weyland
have you read any of the walkyverse stuff?
Opus the Poet
ShortPacked but only since about 2011 or so. I remember Robin having to deal with the sex tape and losing Leslie for a bit, nothing before that.
All-purpose guru
Dude. Reserve a week, phone in the fish tank, blinds down, pizzas ordered, and start at the beginning. See ya Monday.
Viktoria
If Sal attacks, Mike wins, by making her realize how screwed up she is AND getting her kicked out in one go. If she doesn’t attack, he wins because he knows people far better than her and can destroy the lies she tells herself. Remember his smile in SP! when Amber hit him? Violence against Mike merely makes him stronger.
John
“No punch.”
LiaHansen
Hooray for mike dialogue!
Black Drazon
I just made an “oof” sound like I was somehow verbally winded.
Regalli
… Well, that hurts.
Yotomoe
That’s right, Sal. ROW ROW, FIGHT THE POWER.
newllend
As much I would love too I dont think making a drill reference would work here.
AwkwardGirl