218

Gramps
Posted on August 2, 2019 by David M Willis

218 thoughts on “Gramps”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    *Asher picks up and hurls Blaine into a bottomless pit as Blaine electrocutes him*

    ha, dang, wouldn’t that be something

    1. Ana Chronistic

      DAMN YOU WILLIS NOW EVERYBODY WILL

      (pls don’t I will totes upvote Leslie’s couch if you don’t)

      1. Clif

        Leslie’s couch and Gramps. What a choice.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      How long has the server been close to normal time? I was shocked when I refreshed at x:03 and the new strip came up!

  2. AeromechanicalAce

    Asher, lighten your Karmic Load by Giving Blaine a second Ass kicking. Please.

    1. Screwball

      *Dial tone, answers..* “……Hey Gramps. It’s me. Yeah, doing alright so far I think. Heya, you remember that Blaine guy? Yeah, Blaine ***? Yeah, he’s trying to blackmail me right now, wants me to work for HIM! Yeah I know, right? Oh, he’s standing right in front of me. I think he’s about to cr** himself. Yep, cool, thanks for that. See you during the holidays……………….Well, Blaine……A word of advice- RUN!!” ?

      1. Ana Chronistic

        Sadly, that’s the wordier version of Panel 5, and about as effective

        Don’t underestimate the bullheadedness of assholes tryna get their way

    2. Charlie Spencer

      I would joyfully read a new comic where different characters take turns using Blaine as a punching bag, with ‘F-Up Faz Fridays’ for variety.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        *Sierra walks up* “What’s this, now?”
        “Beat Up Blaine. It’s like a dunk tank.”
        “Oh! Ok!” *sidekicks to the face!*

        1. Jhon

          I would pay money to see that.

          ( stretch goal for nxt kickstarter maybe pls )

        2. butts

          LAWsome 2.0

          it’s just the same thing but the victim is always Blaine

          maybe throw a lil’ toedad and gashface in there too, why not

  3. Kyrik Michalowski

    Come on Asher, stay strong. What’s the worst Blaine can honestly threaten you with?

    1. Clif

      You heard him. Disappointed gramps.

    2. Nono

      Depends how much influence Asher’s grandfather actually has. If he’s responsible for Asher’s tuition and living expenses? Blaine can honestly threaten that if he has enough sway with Gramps.

      1. Jane

        Given what the content of the conversation suggests about Gramp’s work… I’d be worried about a bit more than just money.

        I mean, depending on just what Blaine says about Asher, which needn’t be true in the least, things could get pretty serious.

        1. someone

          The solution is for Asher to make sure Blaine can’t speak anymore after his thrashing. Breaking his jaw could do the trick.

        2. Mollyscribbles

          “Hey Gramps, your underling threatened me so I beat him up. Just FYI.”

          Gramps might not be happy his grandson doesn’t want to be involved in crime, but he’s substantially less disappointed.

        3. Icalasari

          Heck, gramps may then finish off Blaine. He may be disappointed in Asher, but last I checked, you do NOT threaten a mob boss’ kid if you value living. And that’s if gramps feels merciful

        4. Roborat

          You got that right, blood relative of a Korean mob boss would be much higher up in the pecking order than a hired flunky. Doesn’t matter if he has disappointed gramps, he is still family.

        5. thejeff

          Depend on how badly he’s “disappointed” and more importantly on what Blaine’s so subtly threatening to reveal. Some kinds of disappointment get even family offed.

        6. Pylgrim

          Esopha-lcon Punch.

      2. Kamino Neko

        Given that Gramps is (presumably) a mobster, I’d be more worried about getting whacked.

        1. Lumino

          Ha-Ha-Ha! Body In A Woodchipper

        2. Deanatay

          Doesn’t have to be a DEAD body… not until afterwards, anyway…

        3. anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness

          I would recommend the CAT Brushcutter so he will have the illusion of being able to run away through the bush.

      3. Lucy Gillam

        Yeah, that was my thought. Tuition at a major state university is no joke.

    3. Eve

      I guess it depends on how willing his grandfather is to have a disappointment in the family.

    4. GreyICE

      Well, given that it now sounds like they’re involved in organized crime (which would explain the loose connection from yesterday) actually quite a lot.

  4. TrueVCU

    Blaine. Is. Satan.

  5. Suitora

    PleasecallahitonBlainePleasecallahitonBlainePleasecallahitonBlaine…

    That’s all I want for Christmas.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Cue The Doubleclicks’ “Sexist Bullshit”

      “They don’t have to die, and this doesn’t have to hurt,
      But by eight on Christmas morning, I want these fuckers off my earth”

      1. Deanatay

        Eh, since the alternative is to have them in space, where they can drop kinetic missiles on cities, I’m fine with leaving them here. Send ME into space!!

  6. Nono

    Panel 1 Blane is actually the scariest he’s ever looked.

    That’s probably how he wheedled Stacy in in the first place.

  7. tim gueguen

    Scary thought: Asher is related to Faz in some way.

    1. HeyAdora

      I’m guessing he might be Yuri’s (even younger) brother.

  8. Leorale

    https://youtu.be/_MolWhOGhRc

  9. Cattleprod

    With those people skills, it’s a wonder Blaine doesn’t get beaten up more often.

    1. Bagge

      I think he is working up to it.

    2. Eve

      To be fair, he talks like this with people who are younger than him and easier to control. Asher wasn’t even willing to hit someone who punched him in the face, he may have a record to worry about and Blaine may know this.

      1. BarerMender

        I don’t think you understand why Asher didn’t punch Walky. It wasn’t about being willing. It was about giving Walky a chance to walk away before Asher killed him.

  10. Stephen Bierce

    Are Asher and Ruth…COUSINS?
    *plays Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” on the hacked P.A. speakers*

    1. Bicycle Bill

      I was thinking along the same lines.  Is “Gramps” going to turn out to be the same “Sir” that seems to be able to pull Ruth’s strings like a master puppeteer?

      1. King Daniel

        At least in the Walkyverse, Blaine was explicitly a Korean mob stooge, which if that carried over to this ‘verse would likely rule that out.

        1. Foxhack

          I think it he’s still a Korean mob stooge, since Blaine is Faz’s stepfather. And the things he asked Faz to do is… pretty blackmailey.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/stepfather/

        2. Some1

          Plot twist: Its actually a multi-country organization, Clint and Gramps are both subservient to Jason’s father.

        3. Rabid Rabbit

          See, that’s the brilliant twist. All the cops everywhere are looking for the Korean mobsters, but don’t realise that actually, it’s a Korean War Vet mob.

        4. Needfuldoer

          Wait, wouldn’t the youngest people eligible for service in 1953 be in their eighties by now?

          Or do we need to worry about G. W. Bailey and Jamie Farr beating us up?

        5. woobie

          DoA time>

      2. Jamie

        FWIW, “Sir” is located in Canada, so it’s unlikely.

        1. vlademir1

          Clint’s local (he’s at least in Indiana anyway). Ruth’s parents, well at least her mom, moved to Canada to be as far from him as possible. Ruth and Howard ended up in his care after their parents died.

        2. Kamino Neko

          Sir isn’t Canadian, that was Ruth’s dad.

          His daughter leaving the country to be with him may be one of the reasons Sir hated Ruth’s dad, or it may be a sign of just how much Ruth’s mom wanted to get away from the controlling old fuck. Or both. I’ll go with both.

        3. seikodelic

          Both of Ruth’s parents are long dead. That’s why she was being raised by her Grandfather in the first place. She enrolled in an American university to put some distance between them and gain her freedom.

        4. thejeff

          No. I mean, yes they’re long dead, but it was her parents who were in Canada and Clint who lives in Indiana.
          As Kamino suggests, it’s not entirely clear why they moved to Canada, but we do know that her grandfather stayed in Indiana and she and Howard moved to live with him when they died.

        5. Kamino Neko

          She enrolled in an American university, because she had to. Ruth makes it clear, in conversation with Howard, that she wouldn’t have left Canada if she hadn’t had to when their parents died.

        6. Marsh Maryrose

          Ruth’s father is from Canada. Her mother, Clint’s daughter, is presumably from the US. Clint (and Howard) currently live in Carmel, Indiana, or so I am told.

          I glean from Google Maps and Wikipedia that Carmel is a very wealthy suburb of Indianapolis.

        7. supersonic92

          Oh hey, we’ve got a town here in California also called Carmel that’s full of rich people.

        8. Zee

          We have the same thing in Jamaica. Well, it’s more a street than a town but still

        9. Marsh Maryrose

          I’ve been there! That was a couple of decades ago, but my memory is that the downtown main street consisted entirely of fancy art galleries and fancier restaurants.

        10. BarerMender

          No, Sir is located in Indiana. Ruth moved down from Canada to stay with him when her parents died.

  11. Nono

    Dumbing of Age: All Grandfathers Are Bad

    1. Mra

      Family ain’t worth shit.

      1. wwwhhattt

        “If anyone comes to me and does not hate their father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even their own life–such a person cannot be in my comic.” – David Willis

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          I googled this, expecting a movie reference. Wow.

        2. David

          It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. At any rate, there is no reason why it could not be a movie reference: the original, at least according to current rules, has run out of copyright.

        3. Agemegos

          Death of the Author in 1882 plus 95 years?

        4. anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness

          Unless the studio does a limited special edition vault release for select theatres for one day only, then the copyright gets extended or reset.
          I am not 100% up on the studio and Disney shenanigans when it come to copyright in the states though I do know it is really messed up.

        5. thejeff

          I don’t think so. Rereleases do not extend copyright, as far as I know. Even back when copyrights needed extension, rereleases weren’t necessary.
          With modern works it’s either 95 years from creation if it’s work for hire or life of the author + 70 years.

          I’m not sure what the work in question is, but anything published by 1882 is long out of copyright. I think currently anything published before 1925 is out of copyright (along with somethings from after.)

          The life of the author part only came in with the 1978 revision, so nothing has ever gone out of copyright due to that, amusingly enough.

        6. Marsh Maryrose

          In both of the examples given, authorship is difficult to establish.

    2. Deanatay

      A grandfather is, like, a vintage Dad. So, double potency evil.

      1. Leorale

        Evil with a patina.

      2. hof1991

        As a grandfather, I try not to resemble that remark.

  12. GoblinScribe

    Yeah, that’s generally what I figured, it’s the mob connections. Like I said about yesterday, it’s not so much that this particular connection is over-the-top, it’s that it comes after the whole Toedad bail thing, and as part of a kind of goofy trilogy of Nic Fury after-credits scenes.

    I’m willing to wait and see if Willis manages to keep this all grounded, I’m just a little bearish right now.

    1. Regalli

      Honestly the Toedad bail makes a degree of sense to me. The whole ‘armed kidnapping + car chase with a FUCKING SUPERHERO’ thing was guaranteed to make news, Blaine knows about AG, obviously whoever she fucked up a highway at midday over has to be important to Amber and therefore, he has leverage.

      1. BBCC

        Also, the congregation was raising money to try to bail him out anyways.

      2. Matthew Evan Davis

        I still think Toedad is basically being set up to be the patsy for whatever Blaine has planned. If it goes south, he’s sure as hell not going to take the fall.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      Let me get this straight:

      Amazi-Girl pulling a grappling hook AND a set of caltrops out of a close-fitting jumpsuit: totally fine.

      An abusive guy going to great lengths to ruin someone’s life: utterly unrealistic.

      ?

      1. Jamie

        She has pockets on her utilibelt.

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          Have you ever held an actual grappling hook in your hand? Now imagine walking around with one hooked to your belt.

          Now imagine also, at the same time, half a dozen 4-inch spiked steel balls also attached to your belt while you’re doing parkour maneuvers . No, Amazi-Girl definitely stores a bunch of stuff in hammerspace, and I am totally fine with that.

        2. Geneseepaws

          I’m tots fine with hammer space in comics. It’s kinda like a boyscout backpack. It can hold the whole house, with basement.

      2. TemporalShrew

        More like, Amazi-Girl *existing* at all: totally fine.

        This: Ungrounded and goofy.

      3. Nono

        I think it’s that Amazi-Girl has always had a degree of cartoon physics.

        Blaine was grounded in uncomfortable realism, this is maybe a bit twirling moustache villain.

        1. Kinoko

          Yeah, the moustache-twirling, assembling an evil league part of it feels kind of out of place in a college webcomic, dunnit? That said, I’m intrigued to see where it goes, and I definitely didn’t see it coming!

        2. RicardtheDragoon

          Speaking of moustache-twirling villains…
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvrUTtnmIM

        3. Marsh Maryrose

          Just like “Rotten Egg” in Belle Yang’s graphic novel, “Forget Sorrow.” A cartoonish version of an abusive stalking ex-boyfriend, who is (spoiler alert) based on a totally real person in her life.

          I remember reading “Bartleby the Scrivener” as a 20-year-old and thinking that Melville had to have a vivid imagination to come up with a character as strange as Bartleby. With a little more experience under my belt, I am certain that “Bartleby” was not only a real person that Melville knew, but that Melville toned down the real story.

        4. Bryy

          Yeah. I know a few people that have been obsessed – absolutely obsessed – with destroying others for literally no reason at all.

        5. Roborat

          When did she have time to go to Acme Looniversity?

      4. Needfuldoer

        I think we as the audience just don’t have all the information yet. We have a page full of connect-the-dots, but they don’t have numbers so we’re not sure what the picture’s going to be. The connections the story has made so far don’t make complete sense because we’ve yet to see how they all fit together.

        Everything will fall into place at some point.

      5. Shawn L.

        The willing suspension of disbelief is not a constant. It comes and goes.

        1. thejeff

          “My disbelief is not merely suspended, but hung by the neck until dead.”

          Different things break it for different people too. Lots of people found the car chase sequence too much. Others find the evil fundamentalists ridiculous (though in that case, unlike the car chase, it’s counter by others saying “this is my life”.) I find Robin too unrealistic to take seriously as a threat.
          I’m not sure about this one yet. Honestly I find this part more reasonable than him showing up to pay Ross’s bail – there’s an obvious connection between Asher and Blaine.

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          But that obvious connection only showed up in today’s strip. Yesterday, the connection wasn’t obvious. It could be that there’s a plausible but as yet unrevealed connection between Blaine and Ross.

          I more or less think of DoA as having aspects of magical realism. Objects generally behave realistically, until there’s a car chase scene and cartoon physics take over. Characters are generally believable, but then there’s Galasso and Robin and the over-the-top cartoonish Sydney Yus.

          As someone reminded me the last time I was snarking about some detail or other, it’s a comic strip.

        3. thejeff

          It was less obvious, but it the groundwork had still been laid for it. Some people guessed at least part of it before yesterday. And many more as soon as it was established they knew each other.

          We knew Asher was part of a youth gang (and was Asian). We knew Blaine was a mob stooge and given the Korean Mob angle from SP! and given Yuri and Faz, it wasn’t a leap to “Asian mob”, which sets up the connection that’s now explicit.

      6. hof1991

        They make folding grappling hooks that lie flat, then spring open. The caltrops are clearly in hammerspace.

    3. ESM

      I’m totally down with Blaine assembling a Legion of Doom to take down Amazi-Girl, so him recruiting Toedad makes sense, him knowing Asher seems a smidge contrived, though.

      I’m surprised he’s not recruiting Ryan, honestly, since offering Ryan revenge in lieu of cash solves both their problems. I guess there are some tone issues with having a serial rapist on the cartoony super-villain team, though

      1. King Daniel

        I think Ryan’s still down for the count from what Amber did to him.

      2. thejeff

        Maybe a little contrived, but it’s all been set up. We know Asher’s criminal background. We know Blaine’s mobbed up. We’ve got at least hints (Yuri and Faz) that his mob connections are Asian.
        How many Asian mobs are there in Indiana?

      3. BarerMender

        From my experience with abdominal knife wounds, I’d say it’ll be about a year and a half, real time, before Ryan can even think of getting up to violence.

  13. Shane Wegner

    “Hey Gramps, I was creeping around on a college campus bothering your grandson for no obvious reason. And he wouldn’t do exactly what I want. Doesn’t that make you mad?”

    “It does. It makes me furious. At you.”

    1. Agemegos

      “Uncle? Blaine O’Malley is leaning on me to rough up his daughter on campis. Do we have business with her?”

  14. CMasta

    Blaine is gonna overplay his hand and get himself killed and no one is gonna feel bad.

    1. Solenoid

      Now taking bets for whether or not Amber topples the gravestone.

      1. Mollyscribbles

        Now, now. Let’s not assume he gets a proper burial.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Now, now. Let’s not assume he gets a proper burial there will be enough identifiable remains left to bury.

          FTFY

          (Also, nice comment/gravatar synergy!)

        2. Deanatay

          Amber and Faz find a tissue sample left in storage after a gall bladder surgery Blaine had several years ago. They give it a nice, proper funeral, bury it in a nice grave… then dig it up and mutilate it, and throw it in a dumpster fire. Just to make them feel better.

        3. JBento

          I mean, Blaine isn’t built like Toedad. I bet he’d fit snugly in an acid-filled drum barrel.

    2. etherealdesiign

      hey, this is dumbing of age. nobody can get killed, right?

      i’m pretty sure there’s no official line on permanent comas, though, so that’s what i’m writing to santa about this year.

      1. thejeff

        Sadly correct. In most cases it’s because everyone would be in mourning for years of real time.
        In Blaine’s case because the celebrations would last that long.

    3. Eve

      Faz will feel bad, he’s like 15 and desperately wants Blaines approval. Then again Faz was the one of the few who mourned him in his shortpacked funeral, so that’s nothing new.

  15. BBCC

    I call bullshit – Blaine, you’re a stooge. No self respecting mobster gives a shit about the stooges. And it’s a stooge’s word against his grandson. Go on. Try it. I dare you.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      I really hope that’s how this plays out, because I want Asher to maintain his separation from that life as much as possible.

      1. BBCC

        I can dream.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Come on, everybody loves the Stooges! Even Joe Besser has his fans.

    3. JBento

      See, if it were me, I wouldn’t be all too keen in trying to strongarm the actual blood relative of a Korean mobster, on account of family being super-duper-hyper important in Korea and me actually liking having all my bits attached, plus having a core to have those bits attached TO.

      Of course, I lack the intellectual acumen of Blaine, a man who was once utterly owned by an 8-year-old and has yet to have an interaction with his own late-teens daughter that doesn’t result in him needing medical attention, so what do I know.

      On the upside, here’s another grandfather for you to seethe at. That’s what we get when people feed shitstains after midnight, or at all instead of letting them starve.

      1. thejeff

        If he actually has something on Asher that the family doesn’t know about, that might be different. Plus how disappointed gramps might already be.

      2. Needfuldoer

        That’s why he’s a stooge and not a Don.

  16. Shane Wegner

    His nose is already hurt. I wonder what another punch to it would do right now. If only Asher had recently been shown the potential for surprise sucker punches…

  17. TemporalShrew

    Blaine, you have *far* too little power to let it go this far to your head.

  18. Shadowypenguin

    Is he really trying to bully a mob bosses grandson by threatening him with the mob? Willis if this goes well for Blaine I’m calling utter bullshit on anything that happens.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      It’s a standard trope in fiction that gangsters and criminal organizations have some sort of weird sense of ‘honor’.  Think of the character ‘Colombo’ in the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only”, who freely admits to being a smuggler of many things … but not drugs:  “I smuggle, yes.  I smuggle gold, diamonds, cigarettes, pistachio nuts… but no heroin.”  Perhaps Blaine has some info/proof that Asher may have strayed into ‘forbidden territory’ and done something that, were it to come out, would attract unwanted attention to “Gramps” and the rest of the organization or otherwise crossed some sort of clearly-defined line.

      1. No Name

        That depends on how the mob feels about all the lines Blaine has crossed. If they have any sense of honor, I’m sure it includes “don’t hurt family, unless they really asked for it”, and Stacy and Amber most certainly did not ask for it – and that’s not even getting into what he might be doing to Yuri and Faz.

  19. ShinyNeen

    Blaine really likes talking like a creepy villain, huh.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      He talks that way because he IS a creepy villain. He probably doesn’t talk to normal people much anymore, and when he does, creepy villain talk is probably pretty effective in getting them to do what he wants them to.

  20. Foxhack

    So, okay. I’m guessing the thing with Amber rattled Asher so much that he decided he wanted out of “the business” very early on. And this also explains why he didn’t get in trouble.

    It’s possible his grandfather agreed so he could run a legitimate business in the future. You can’t be too careful.

  21. Khantalas

    Blaine could you please go offpanel and… remain there forever ok thanks you’re a doll bye.

  22. Anywhere

    Student priorities: MIDTERMS, DUDE. Oh, and also, I have ethics and morals now.

    1. Ron

      Sounds about right

    2. Zee

      That’s a whole ass mood

    3. Roborat

      Probably taking a whole course on that.

  23. foducool

    please, can someone shank that asshole and let him bleed out to death?

  24. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    . . .Is Asher not as much of an asshole as we have thought?

    1. Mollyscribbles

      I was cautiously optimistic about him after he demonstrated a surprising level of understanding over the whole getting punched thing.

    2. Agemegos

      He has been controversial, not reviled.

    3. Zee

      I’ve liked him fairly consistently

  25. Mitchell Aitchbee

    Ohhh, I see. Before Asher got out of the game, he skimmed a little off the top of Gramps’s earnings or did some other stupid shit that Blaine knows about. Dammit, Asher. Fuck you, Blaine.

  26. newbie

    He must want that fractured nose to remain fractured it seems

  27. DailyBrad

    I’m interested in where this is going, and it’s nice seeing Asher push back.

  28. Bagge

    Ah, welcome to the ‘shits-for-parents’-club, Asher.

    1. BBCC

      Dammit, when I was saying I was sure badness was happening at his house because smoking and robberies and shoplifting, that would have been an EXCELLENT time to be proven wrong.

      1. Bagge

        It would have been AWESOME to have a Blaine-free situation, but here we are.

    2. JessWitt

      Heck of a university organization but if truly popular, it would be especially well-funded.

      1. Bagge

        I hear they even have a representative in congress. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/startreks/

  29. Agemegos

    So, Asher is formerly Korean mob or trying-to-be-former Korean mob rather than currently Korean mob, but Blaine indeed works for Asher’s grandfather.

    1. Agemegos

      Damn the lack of a preview feature for postings with obscure errors in their HTML

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/walkaway/#comment-1409974

    2. thejeff

      “trying-to-be-former” sounds right.
      Just like the KGB, there’s really no “former” mob. They’ve always got something on you if they want to bring you back in.

  30. Josh Spicer

    Or you can just fuck off Blaine.

    1. Bagge

      He should. He really should.

      1. Bryy

        I have a feeling that this is the Final Boss Arc coming into play, so I figure we won’t be dealing with him much longer.

        Just, like, you know, 2 – 3 more years.

  31. Alex Boston

    Well this little factoid about Asher would likely make Walky crap himself if he sucker-punched the grandson of a mob boss.

    1. Alex Boston

      if he *knew that* he sucker-punched the grandson of a mob boss.

    2. Bagge

      To be fair, I’m pretty sure Walky craped himself anyway

  32. Zatar

    Hey Asher. you’ve been a super controversial character people have been divided on. Want to change that? Punch this motherfucker in the face.

    1. Mollyscribbles

      Hey, now. He might be seeking a nonviolent path in life.

      Calling campus security will also win you over, Asher.

      1. Agemegos

        There’s no particular reason for Asher to know that calling campus security would have any effect. Students are even less likely than campus security enforcers to know off-hand who has been declared persona non grata.

        Furthermore, having Blaine ordered to leave the campus or even escorted off won’t be decisive enough.

        1. Ray Radlein

          …except Blaine just admitted he can’t be seen around campus

    2. Bagge

      I have made a running gag of calling Asher a piece of shit.

      I hereby declare that I will completely cease doing so if he punches Blaine.

  33. Matthew Evan Davis

    I still think Toedad is basically being set up to be the patsy for whatever Blaine has planned. If it goes south, he’s sure as hell not going to take the fall.

    1. BenRG

      Ross and the entire church at La Porte. They’ll provide the manpower and (at least according to Blaine’s plan) take the fall. Even if Blaine’s core plan fails, I’m still sure that they’ll be facing state and federal investigations into racketeering and money laundering.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an epilogue to DoA in which Joyce recalls that her childhood church ended up bankrupt and its membership basically scattered. “You would think that they would have recognised a serpent offering them the forbidden fruit” she will muse in the text-over.

  34. PB

    You know, it’s moments like these that make me realize that maybe breaking Blaine’s nose really WAS Amber expressing her anger in a positive way.

  35. JessWitt

    So Asher is – or was – in the Korean mafia?

    Also where the heck are the campus police to eject Blaine out of IU?!

    1. BBCC

      Asher’s family is in it. His grandfather is Blaine’s boss.

      1. JessWitt

        That’s some big stuff to weave from Shortpacked to DoA but it works.

  36. zombycow

    soooo, is this going to end with that abusive asshole getting stabbed? cuz im feeling oddly ok with that.

  37. brasca1

    I’m intrigued as to who Asher’s grandfather is. Perhaps another character will be repurposed. Personally, I think Blaine is playing with fire. If Asher comes from a family of criminals and he ultimately goes into that business then by right of inheritance he’d own Blaine.

    1. Agemegos

      Blaine doesn’t strike me as the kind of schemer whose plans usually work out well for him. He’s cruel and brutal, but not very smart.

  38. Eve

    So Asher legit wants out of the mafia life, but Blaine has some dirt on him? I’d say it’s pretty shitty to threaten someone with things they did as a child they regret but it’s Blaine, shitty is his bread and butter. (Weirdly enough I get the idea that Asher is being threatened with Blaine revealing that he had fucked up crime he did rather than the crimes he did)

    1. Bagge

      I don’t think we have ever seen Blaine doing something even remotely non-shitty.

      1. JBento

        That’s unfair. Occasionally, he gets beaten up.

        1. Bagge

          Heh, I do like me some Blaine getting beat up.

          Ruth vs Blaine is still a highlight of the comic.

        2. thejeff

          But in at least one of those cases, he’s still damaging Amber’s psyche while it’s happening.

        3. Bagge

          He’s just that much of a shit

  39. BenRG

    Blaine, just consider how little you want Asher’s grandfather to hear this: “Grandpa! Mr O’Malley is meeeaaannn! He won’t leave me alone!” Broken legs, anyone?

    1. thejeff

      Depends on what Blaine has on him. Can he actually make gramps more disappointed?

      1. TachyonCode

        I’m starting to have the really bad feeling that what he has on Asher is what he has on Amber.

        And I’m beginning to suspect the reason Blaine is so bad to Amber is somehow because of Asher’s grandad.

        And somehow, that’s led me to worry about Faz, of all people. The heck are you scheming, Willis?

        1. thejeff

          Unlikely on the first two. I don’t see the connection.

          Faz? Yeah, Faz is being abused. That’s likely a good part of why he is the way he is.

  40. CJ

    Uh, oh.
    Did Leland(‘s family) have Asher’s gramps do a big move to set Sal up (his kind of vindictiveness usually doesn’t grow from compassionate parents, and they would be more likely to be underhand).
    And Amber was in it because Blaine though it would be enjoyable o see her in fear?

    1. Agemegos

      Remember that Blaine, Amber, and Ethan were not at the robbery Asher and his older brother were involved in. They were at the one that Sal performed on the spur of the moment.

      1. thejeff

        Asher kind of set that up though, so it’s possible. Definitely stretching it though.

    2. Zee

      I mean, the robbery was pretty slapped together last minute

  41. NinjaNick

    Smack his ugly face, Asher!

  42. Delicious Taffy

    Why can’t he just fuck off and stop polluting the lives of kids who are just there to fucking learn? Why does he have to be such a fucking loser? He could just stop hanging out around teenagers and leave people the fuck alone, but instead he decides to be a petty asshole about a bunch of nothing that nobody did to him. He is fucking worthless, except as a substitute for fossil fuels.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Blaine and other adults in Dumbing of Age don’t care about the lives of others. He complains about paying for Amber’s education, but he still visits her as if she were his property. He is just being evil for fun and not for pragmatic reasons.

    2. Delicious Taffy

      Also, a lovely artist called IgnorantDaddy spontaneously drew a delightful alien ‘sona of me, based on a quick sketch someone else drew that I colorised.

    3. BenRG

      Because, like a lot of people in the real world, control is central to Blaine’s self-identity. If he isn’t taking control of others’ lives and exerting what little power he can gather to himself, his life would have no meaning to him.

  43. abysswatcher1993

    And that day Blaine was found as dismembered pieces of flesh in bag floating in the Mississipi. Blaine is risking a lot in the mafia just because of a temper tantrum.

    1. Agemegos

      What Indianapolis needs is a crocodile farm.

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-31/central-queensland-crocodile-mystery/11367608

  44. Ray Radlein

    Man, just headbutt him is his fucking broken nose. Dude’s already admitted he’s trespassing.

  45. Keulen

    If Blaine is possibly afraid of Asher’s grandpa, I really hope we don’t see “Gramps” in this comic anytime soon.

    1. BenRG

      We might but only as an anonymous and kindly-seeming old man shuffling across a frame. The people we WILL see and have tagged are the bison-shaped barely-sapient goons he sends to do his will.

      1. JBento

        “I’m so sorry for your loss, Amber. How did he pass?”
        “Bison stampede.”

  46. nlips

    I can’t see this working.

    “Hey Gramps? I know you’re not happy with me… but a guy you own just tried to blackmail me. Yeah, Blaine. He’s not behaving. Not saying I want to get involved again… but you can’t let him run around threatening family.”

    Mobs are HUGE on protecting their own. Gramps probably sees Asher as just temporarily leaving crime behind as a brief flick, and assumes one day he’ll come back into the fold.

    1. BenRG

      Besides, mob types are also big on debt. Any ‘favours’ Gramps does for Asher is potential leverage to coerce him to come back into the fold after he graduates.

    2. Axel

      yeah this is what I meant to say

  47. JepMZ

    He’s such a creep bullying children

    1. BenRG

      It seems to be something core to his nature.

    2. Eve

      And dating them, Amber says she doesn’t want to think about Faz’s Mom because she’s pretty sure her dad started dating her in her teens. Blaine straight up interacts mostly with young people cuz they’re all he can threaten and control.

  48. rustfire

    I find it hard to believe that the mob would be okay with some nerd like Blaine using mob resources and coercing the don’s grandson into going after some college student in spandex. In fact I think they’d laugh him out of the room if they didn’t punish him outright for being a moron with weird priorities

  49. TheFlamingonator

    Can Asher just punch him, like, right now? Not sure if that will un-disappoint his gramps but definitely wont make him more disappointed?

  50. Rabisch

    Blaine is a true Evil. I like him as a comics villain, he’s cruel, crazy and dangerous. What will he have in mind?

    1. BenRG

      I think that he just wants Asher to spy on Amber for him. I wonder how Asher will react when he realises that his target is Sal’s sort-of-sister-in-law.

  51. JoeCovenant

    “Really? You can make him more disappointed in me? Hmmm… I could make your neck an internal organ. Your move.”

  52. Eyebrow

    All right, who pulled the Drama tag?

    1. BenRG

      That happened when Joyce fought off an attempted rape.

    2. Electriccombines

      Your icon is very fitting!

    3. Zatar

      Came prepulled.

  53. Kitsune

    And the plot thickens

  54. Mr.Morningstar

    is… is asher part of a mob family?

  55. Fuchs Sakemann

    I’m kind of hoping for Blaine to be the first character to…have an accident…and end up dying in this series. With the amount of shit he’s caused just to be an asshole, it would be fitting.

    1. Cardinal Country

      I know, right? I hardly ever find myself wishing horrific death on fictional characters (definitely not real people ever)…even video game villains. Blaine is a rare exception. I don’t think there’s an ounce of good or “tragic” villain in the man.

  56. Alex Boston

    I wonder if this will set up a “Who shot J.R.?” plot? So many suspects if Blaine ends up dead.

  57. raccoonrebels

    I don’t know how this plot will unfold, but I just want to say that Asher is awesome. Its refreshing af to see a character with some level of self-confidence and awareness – even if he ultimately caves to Blaine in the end…

  58. davidbreslin101

    Asher? Take a punch, pass one on.

  59. Abbefaria

    Stranger danger stranger danger! (Seriously Blaine back the F off, your giving off way too many creepy vibes)

  60. Axel

    I’d like to think Gramps would be more pissed off that some white low level stooge is trying to intimidate his grandson.

  61. Cardinal Country

    Family is pretty thick most of the time. Even estranged family when they are being threatened. Asher ought to call the bluff. “All right. I’ll pick up the phone right now, give gramps a call. Let’s see what he thinks about you threatening his grandson.”

  62. Undrave

    Asher’s redemption arc incoming?

  63. thejeff

    I love how everyone here is going “Call his bluff. You’re family. Gramps will be on your side.”

    I’m like “Are you reading the same comic I’m reading? Family is dangerous round here.” Linda, Carol, Clint, Blaine, Ross. “Why does it have to be dads?”

    1. BBCC

      Oh, family sucks, I’m mostly thinking along the lines of ‘Blaine, you’re a stooge, you don’t have the pull you think you do’.

  64. ScarletSabre

    Sooooo…. is Asher Korean? Since in the Walkyverse Blaine was in deep with the Korean Mafia… o3o

  65. Micki

    Damn. Never could I have imagined DoA would have this much frickin’ drama. The Godfather what? Never heard of him.

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