117

Authority
Posted on January 4, 2012 by David M Willis

117 thoughts on “Authority”

  1. NCP19

    I’m getting a really strong Hulk vibe here.

  2. Dahlia

    O_O Way to take the high road, Sal!!!

    v.v ‘Kay the whole Ruth thing is depressing so I’m not gonna mention it.

    1. fellixe

      I don’t think Sal was choosing the high road so much as the ‘don’t kill people’ road.

      1. Dahlia

        ^ ^;;; agree’d…

        1. Mischka

          I liked Ruth better in the original buuuuuuuut its making me less emotionally attached for…whats to come (maybe?).

  3. Plasma Mongoose

    Totally worth it!

    1. Kernanator

      What’s that? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY FIST HITTING SHINJI MATOU’S RUTH LESSICK’S FACE IN MY IMAGINATION.

      1. Aizat

        WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF CAPTAIN BRIGHT’S HAND HITTING RUTH’S FACE IN MY IMAGINATION.

        1. Kernanator

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF BATMAN’S FIST HITTING RUTH’S EYE IN MY IMAGINATION.

        2. Aizat

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MAZINGER’S ROCKET PUNCH HITTING RUTH’S FACE IN MY IMAGINATION.

        3. Commander Clash

          WHAT’S THAT? SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER HOW AWESOME SAL IS BEING BY NOT MAKING RUTH INTO A BLOODY RED SMEAR.

        4. Kernanator

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF A GIGA DRILL BREAKER BEING JAMMED INTO RUTH’S FACE IN MY IMAGINATION.

        5. Anne Onymous

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU…oh wait, I can.

        6. Kannyn

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU BECAUSE THE WORDS ARE TYPED ON A SCREEN.

        7. Aizat

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF GETTER EMPEROR’S GETTER BEAM BEING BLASTED AT RUTH IN MY IMAGINATION

        8. MikesMom

          K-k-k-k-k-ombobreaker!

        9. AckAckAck(Now with sugar powered speedster!)

          WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU! I ALREADY RUNNING OUT OF COTTON BUDS SINCE LAST MONTH!

          Now my inner ears are kinda sticky…..

      2. TheBenenator

        WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER ALL THE NICKELS AS I JOE YOUR MOM BETWEEN HER FEMURS

    2. Zoey

      WHAT’S THAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF SALS POWER LEVEL BEING OVER NINE THOUSAND!

      1. Fluffy776

        What 9000?!

        1. saturnwonder

          HAHAHAHAHA

          *giggles*

  4. Rognik

    No no no NO! It would be SO worth it! Oh, why did you have to wuss out now?

    1. alex

      because the mess would be a bongo.

      1. Chris Ashtear

        it already is a bongo, though…

        1. alex

          touche.

  5. Thor

    At least she didn’t get elbowed in the tit. I know women who would disembowel you if you did that to them.

    1. saturnwonder

      I being one of them. It hurts like a mo’fo, and if my friend wasn’t there the jerk would of had a size 11 shoe in his back hole.

  6. jaredstar

    And thus Ruth was spared the fate of her main universe counterpart… for a time anyways maybe a time and a half.

  7. dchorror

    That is the best why to rile somebody up.

  8. Wonder Wig

    Looks like brother and sister both have a thing for paying-attention-to and then rapidly-ignoring freckled glasses girls.

    1. Mr. Morningstar

      Ha.

  9. Aizat

    Well, that was expected.

  10. Joraiem

    We’re reaching pretty high on the badassitude meter, but we need something to push it over the edge…

    Is there a window to jump out of?

    1. NF

      Ruth chases Sal while ranting about the roommate agreement, and follows Sal into her room, only to find Sal not in the room and the window open. A piece of paper blows into Ruth’s hand, and she looks at it to see that she is holding the signed agreement.

      A motorcycle can be heard starting up and going off into the distance.

      1. Kernanator

        Cue skyward scream:

        “SAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

  11. Aizat

    My guess, Ruth will try to attack Sal from behind but Sal just do the patented Bat Punch also known as the Offhand Backhand.

  12. Henry

    Aww. Ruth just wants Sal to respect her authoritah. Can’t they just get along?!

    1. Zababcd

      To build authority around fear is to invite rebellion.

      1. DagonXIII

        Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved. – Machiavelli

        1. Seraph

          Nevertheless an RA ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if she does not win love, she avoids hatred.

        2. Seraph

          Machiavelli, next sentence.

        3. fellixe

          I will believe you because you speak with Leslie’s authority.

        4. Twibbit

          people seem to forget Machiavelli wrote that book as satire

        5. Seraph

          Oh, I remember, but my point was that even by the standards of Machiavelli’s parody of a tyrant, Ruth is fucking up.

  13. Nexev

    I think the best part about this is that Billie and Sal with bond as roomates against the fucking system.

  14. Kernanator

    Sibling Psychic Bond Time~!

  15. Janos

    -adds a second charge of assault to Ruth’s list of reasons why this woman should be behind bars-

    1. begbert2

      Technically that was battery.

  16. OhHayMike

    Willis, I beg of you… please, PLEASE let Sal beat the snot out of Ruth.

    1. turkishproverb

      Indeed. Just remember: Touch your throat. That tube you feel is your trachea. Think of it as your handle. That thing your thumb is on is your carotid artery. Think of it as your button. I want you to grab the handle, push the button.

      1. Icalasari

        …That avatar is way too perfect

  17. Mkvenner

    *sad* Awwwww. 🙁
    and why do I feel suddenly reliaved?

  18. Ridureyu

    Yeah… Ruth is pretty clearly trying to goad Sal into getting herself expelled by fighting.

    1. brasca1

      I’m not sure if that’s enough to get expelled especially at a state university. She’d definitely get kicked out of the dormitories, but there’s plenty of housing and it’s probably cheaper too.

  19. Chase

    Even though she’s totally trying to bait Sal, I really really really wanna see her kick Ruth’s deserving ass.

  20. Eve

    Punch her sal!

  21. Uniqueantique

    …Sal would not kick her ass, she would kill her..and that I think, is why she backed off.

    1. Viktoria

      This. Look at how Sal was holding Ruth. She could easily have turned that into a broken neck. And Walky’s response wasn’t just “You’ll get expelled”, he is honestly frightened. Sal has hospitalized or killed someone before, he knows it, and she only got into college because the records were sealed.

      1. Kernanator

        This Sal is hardcore.

        1. Seraph

          What, the original Sal attempting to destroy the world with an alien superweapon wasn’t hardcore enough?

        2. Aizat

          Hardcore is subjective. What’s hardcore to one person may not be for another.

        3. Kernanator

          Besides, I meant by the standards of this universe, not by the standards of other Sals.

      2. Seraph

        Billie is honestly frightened, too. Even as one who’s attacked Ruth herself, she’s shocked that someone actually hit Sal, and afraid of what’s about to happen as a result.

        Ruth does not know what she’s messing with, and I suspect she’s not going to stop as a result.

  22. Blob Marley

    Get back to Dotty being adorable!

  23. Aizat

    Sal’s done far worse than punching Ruth. She’ll hurt her. And she wish to go on hurting her.

    1. L

      She shall leave her as she left her. Alone. In the dormrooms for all eternity, in the center of the university annex. Buried aliiive…

      1. mechaqua

        KAHNNN….. I mean RUTHHHHH!!

  24. lawzlo

    Is it just me, or is Sal levitating Ruth with her force powers in the last panel?

    1. MrNobodyReally

      Force push ftw!

    2. iSaidCandleja-

      I sense a force choke is also involved, based on Ruth’s expresion.

    3. Zanosuke_Kurosaki

      Just you, but tossing her backwards with one hand is pretty badass – and says Ruth needs to watch out, because Sal works out a LOT more than she does…

      1. fellixe

        Well, yeah! Sal can throw a rope hard enough to drag herself across a lake on skis without a boat. Ruth has a lot of catching up to do.

  25. MrNobodyReally

    Jesus… Sal was about to DESTROY her…

  26. Rikushadow5

    No Dark Side Sal today, kids.

    Back to your lives.

  27. b

    I have never seen any physical fights between RA’s and students at my school. Is this something that happens in other schools or only drama filled fictional schools?

    1. Viktoria

      An actual RA that behaved like Ruth would be fired from any competent institution. Now, if she has political cover, like a popular football coach likes her or something, then something like this is possible.
      Even in that case, all it takes is her pushing one kid too far. If you make someone think their life can’t get any worse, then they might try anything to escape. Ruth’s behavior here is a good way to end up hospitalized or dead.

    2. Aidenn

      An RA in my dorm was killed when he discovered a student was dealing cocaine out of his room. For this reason RAs no longer enforce drug rules, they are just required to call the cops.

  28. mechaqua

    Well that was….. anti climatic, I expected as much though, still i think this epic brawl will take place at some point in the future.

    Oh and Billie you should be running….

  29. Corsair114

    And so DoA dodges the *explicit* violence label.

    Though, I’ve gotta be honest, it would be cool to see if Sal really could pull the nervous system out of a person in one piece.

    ….

    $3.50 says she can.

    1. Kernanator

      She will then strangle Ruth with her own nervous system.

    2. ryan

      i’ll take that bet.

  30. Bekah

    Wait’ll you see her bankai

    1. Kernanator

      It’s Chuck Norris. They’re married.

    2. Zanosuke_Kurosaki

      Hell, wait’ll you see her shikai, she hasn’t even released yet. =D

    3. Aizat

      Little known fact: Sal is secretly a Saiyan.

      1. ADHadh

        Secretly?

        1. Aizat

          Yes.

  31. Valkeer1

    Walky may have just prevented one of the single most bloody event in the history of everything…

    1. Mr. Morningstar

      It would have ben the most violent, and sexiest cat fights in existence.

      1. TheBenenator

        Cat fights =/= sexy.

  32. Terah

    I think Sal just gave Ruth the ultimate insult.

    ‘Not worth it.’

    As in Ruth is worthless of the energy it would take to beat her face in.

  33. dmbgrunt

    Something is going to snap soon-it has to. I wonder if Ruth’s faculty advisor’s noticed any signs of mental illness, ’cause she’s showing LOTS of them-and the illness she’s got on display is the kind that lands people in jail, or mental hospitals-and not the nice ones with the funky funny doctors, but the ones where they warehouse you and keep you baked/stoned at all times when not restrained.
    Sal’s got a sealed juvie record, technically still a minor-Ruth isn’t.

  34. Kelvin

    Sal should have beat the crap outta her. She deserved it. 😛

  35. AJBulldis

    I kind of hate Ruth in this continuity. Unlike the previous one where her death was sad, I’d be very happy if she died/vanished. I mean I guess she provides conflict which is important from a literary perspective, but bullies piss me off and no amount of comics from Ruth’s perspective will make her sympathetic to me. Once you decide to take your own self-loathing out on everyone else you lose the chance for sympathy.

    1. DagonXIII

      But that was Ruth’s character in Roomies as well. She was sympathetic only because she was trying to be better than her bongoiness. A year before Roomies and she would have been about the same as this Ruth.

      1. AJBulldis

        I guess, but it seemed a lot more tolerable and sympathetic in Roomies. Maybe she just seems worse now because of the authority she has now.

  36. Gundi

    See, I like this. When someone is a jerk, the best thing to do is not to punch them in the face. The best thing to do is to just walk away. “Don’t feed the troll” usually applies to real life too.

    Speaking of which, something I’m wondering is… Why is Ruth such a jerk? I mean, being an RA isn’t easy, sure, but Ruth crossed the line awhile ago. Of course, Billie has been escalating matters too, but mainly only in reaction to Ruth’s bullying.

    1. insomniac

      What we’ve seen suggests that she has an (at least) emotionally abusive father, depressive episodes, and a drinking problem.

  37. Darksen

    Buzz kill, but *sigh* she’s right bravo Sal. (I guess.)

  38. ADHadh

    You know, I’m really not a fan of violent, smoking, motorcycle riding delinquents. And yet Sal is mai waifu.

    My confusion persists.

    1. AJBulldis

      I’m just the opposite. I’d be totally down with a violent, smoking, motorcycle riding delinquent, but I can’t really see Sal as anything but a bro. A fem bro, sure, but still a bro.

  39. Zem

    Great jackets. The jackets should fight.

  40. numaron

    Ruth doesn’t realize how close to death she came.

  41. Terah

    Well, we saw earlier that whoever she was on the phone with, I’m going to assume her father, though I could be wrong knowing Willis, and that he was someone she wanted to be proud of her. But judging from her conversation with him that doesn’t happen very often. It seems she CAN’T make him proud, no matter what she does.

    So, being a bongo as an RA means she gets her job done. You’re afraid to cross her and you do what she says. Thus, she keeps them in line, and does a job worthy of praise. It seems that she may believe that if she can’t get praise from her father, she’ll get it wherever she can, and damn whoever tries to stand in her way.

    But this is Willis, so I may be wrong.

    1. Zanosuke_Kurosaki

      If this direction you’re going with it is the one that’s happening – Ruth is proving herself kind of dumb, then. =\

  42. fellixe

    I think this all comes down to the mirrored sunglasses (YEEEEEEAAAAAHH!) Ruth wants people to “respec’ her A-thoritay” and knows that the mirrord sunglasses (YEEEEEEAAAAAHH!) are the key. But she thinks Billie has them. She doesn’t know that somehow Sal awesomed them away for her before she threw herself acros the lake on waterskis.

  43. Keulan

    Ruth just narrowly escaped her death.

  44. Katana

    Until I watched MLP:FiM, I could not place a good Southern voice for Sal. Now, it just fits perfectly.

  45. saturnwonder

    I was hoping for a female smack down, but my hopes were shattered 🙁

    And Sal listened to Walky!! :-O

  46. TheBenenator

    Fun fact: In the last panel, Walky is watching Ruth fall so he can toe-kick her in the back of the head on her way down.

    — my headcanon

  47. Shifty

    And in the real world, that would be grounds for Ruth to be fired. She grabbed a student against their will while making a threat, and then when another student attempt to restrained her to help the offended student, she hit them. Ruth has broken so many RA rules.

    But I’m impressed by Sal’s restraint. After all, she’s really the kind of character who you get the feeling doesn’t have much to lose in her mind.

  48. Michelle J Caboose

    “Well, with some people, the nicest thing they can do for you is to not kill you that day.”

  49. Kernanator

    B-But Sal! Throwing! Ruth! Window!

  50. Fauxlosopher

    Ruth wouldn’t stand a chance. Maybe against a high school prom queen like Billy, but Sal?

    Hell no. Ruth’d get floored in seconds. Sal would have no problem beating her with a door.

  51. ProjectXa3

    Y’know, I’m not the “badass” type like Sal, and I’d *probably* be floored by that elbow Ruth threw, but damn if I wouldn’t have the same anger response in that situation.

  52. newllend

    Wow, that was like fucking TIGER VS DRAGON

  53. Bilfred

    wow.
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/author redirects here.

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