154

Do not remove
Posted on June 19, 2018 by David M Willis

154 thoughts on “Do not remove”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    the final showdown between Amber and Amazi-Girl will be EPIC

    1. Doctor_Who

      Artist’s conception.

      1. JessWitt

        Yeah that looks about right.

    2. StClair

      Might it take place in a junkyard, and involve a stack of tires, a crane, and/or a car crusher?

      1. Yumi

        I’m just thinking of Toy Story 3.

      2. Screwball

        That really would be a Super fight, wouldn’t it?

        1. Dana

          He must be evil. Flying under the influence.

    3. jeffepp

      You misspelled “make-out”. And, I don’t think of it as final, as much as just never ending, lasting the rest of the comics lifetime.

      1. Yumi

        What do you…imagine that…to look like…?

        1. Tacos

          Messy.

        2. Fire_daws

          What are doing to each other? I need information, stat! I need speculation! I need detailed scenarios! I need provocative illustrations and some time to myself in the bathroom!

        3. Yumi

          Are you all misreading Amber and AG as Amber and Sal, or are you all just into people making out with their own alter egos?

        4. Fire_daws

          You don’t?

          …don’t judge me.

        5. Fire_daws

          …how about all three?
          …
          …
          I’m just going to…go…right now… :$

        6. Deanatay

          Hey, do you mind? Some people actually need to USE that bathroom!!

        7. HeySo

          So it’s basically a twin fetish, but both “twins” are different personas of the same person? I gotta say, that’d definitely make for an interesting narrative.

        8. Clif

          Course you really need a time machine to make it work well.

        9. erejnion

          I’m not just into people making out with their alter egos. I mean, I don’t need there to be alter egos, people can make out with themselves too.

        10. jeffepp

          Yes.
          Noooo.
          Maybe?

        11. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          I have indeed shipped a character with their own alter-ego on more than one occasion.

          Linda Lee/Supergirl
          Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana
          Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug….

          So yeah, totally not above shipping Amber with Amazigirl. 😀

    4. Inahc

      🙁

    5. erejnion

      It will end with a few skyscrapers demolished, surely.

  2. Doctor_Who

    The canary yellow costume was probably an early hint that Amazi-Girl did not consider stealth a priority when plotting her whole super-shtick.

  3. adjudicus

    Sal didn’t see her… right?

    1. Raen

      Does it matter?

    2. Needfuldoer

      Wouldn’t Sal have heard her land? Just because there’s no onomatopoeia, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, right?

    3. Felix

      Nope. Might have heard her though.

  4. Passchendaele

    good call, she’ll never suspect

  5. Bagge

    Fun, fun, FUN day for Amber 🙁

  6. miados

    point the red letters at you. less obvious, by a tiny bit. if you want to be not as obvious don’t hide behind your thievings.

    1. Kernanator

      Maybe she subconsciously wants to be caught.

    2. erejnion

      She wants to show her feelings, which at that moment are that she doesn’t want that folder removed from in front her face.
      That, of course, is a stupid idea, because Sal will instead take it as a challenge.

    3. UniqueSnowflake2

      It probably has the same message on both sides.

  7. Sadz

    I love Amber’s expression in that third panel

    1. Portland

      Same

      1. Screwball

        #DatHair 😛

  8. BBCC

    Oh, Amber. Sweetie.

  9. ShinyNeen

    Do not turn around
    Do not look at Amber

    1. Fire_daws

      *plays “Don’t Turn Around” by Ace of Base on the hacked muzak*

  10. Kyrik Michalowski

    Oh Amber, you can’t help but make yourself feel worse even when you are trying to do something nice, can you? Semi-relatedly, I really want the flashback with Mike to continue, I’m fascinated to see where that goes.

    1. Clif

      Careful what you ask for. Particularly involving Mike.

  11. Stephen Bierce

    *plays the theme song of For Your Eyes Only on the hacked P.A. speaker*

    1. Stephen Bierce

      Only For YOU!

  12. Nono

    Reminder that the last time we saw Amazi-Girl was waay back in November.

    1. thejeff

      Yeah, she’s been out and about, but we haven’t seen her on panel since before the stabbing.

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        Ominous.

  13. CrazyJ

    She did a 3-point landing. Doesn’t she know how terrible that is for your knees and back?

    1. Yumi

      If I tried that, I’d probably break my knees and back, so she could have done worse.

    2. Bagge

      Yeah, sure, but Spiderman did it so therefor it’s cool

    3. Needfuldoer

      Eh, she still has about 10-15 years before it starts catching up with her.

      1. Vulcanodon

        Yup. Back before GoPro cameras and YouTube I was a devotee of what are today called “extreme sports” but then were called reckless insanity. Now at 61, I’m not movin’ so good no more.

    4. Pylgrim

      You misspelled Superhero Landing.

    5. hof1991

      Hurt my knee in Boy Scout camp in 1968. Got it fixed last Friday. You can have lifelong injuries as a kid AND time will catch up with you.

  14. Yumi

    I want Amber to become a force of Chaotic Good. It’d probably land her in a lot of trouble, but I’d enjoy it up to that point. And it’s not like she’s not heading for trouble as-is.

  15. Darkoneko

    Yeaah, like Sal of all people would tell on you to the authorities lol

    1. Yumi

      I think the reaction is more that, y’know, it’s SAL.

      1. Regalli

        Yeah, Amber hasn’t run into her since AG had the Realization at the Robin rally and they came to an understanding. And usually when Amber sees Sal it causes her to start panicking or straight-up dissociate over to AG. Add in the fact that Amber associates Sal first and foremost with the hold-up and here is Amber stealing things, and her mental state right now is probably on fire.

        Which honestly, good. It’s past time Amber and Sal cleared the air a bit, Sal will probably connect the dots about AG (especially if she heard anything Amber was saying on her way down,) and while I don’t think they’ll ever get along, I can see ‘begrudging allies in both superhero and civilian identities’. Also if Sal realizes Amber’s stealing WALKY’S grades, after the initial drama Amber might change them back (GOOD) and/or finally realize they’re twins (messy but ultimately necessary.)

        Basically I am so looking forward to how this interaction plays out. At least until my hopes are inevitably dashed by our Damned Overlord.

        1. Yumi

          Actually, she has seen–even interacted with–Sal since the rally. It even ended up pretty much okay:
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/challenger/

          But Sal’s still a trigger for Amber. And she’s making progress with how she copes, but progress isn’t always going to be linear, and the initial moment of recognition still seems like it’s a lot for her.

        2. Regalli

          Oooh, thanks. Forgot that completely. Good to know Amber was making steps forward there. But yeah, trauma follows no predictable trajectory and she’s clearly struck here. Plus it’s a very different thing initiating contact than being surprised by it while doing something illegal.

        3. Inahc

          “on fire”, yes. that is probably a very good description. I imagine several dark trains of thought all collided in that instant. :/

        4. Regalli

          This looks like it’s gonna get very, very messy tomorrow.

          I. Can’t. WAIT.

        5. Kamino Neko

          Nah. Not until the weekend. 2 strips of Walky/Billie/Jason, another Mike flashback, THEN we can get back to this.

      2. hof1991

        Nope, It’s Sal’s boots. Amber is sooo jealous of Sal’s boots that she is losing control. That’s why the boots are highlighted. But maybe I am missing some context here.

    2. Jamie

      They met when Sal was playing a common thief.

  16. FLUFFYWOLF

    “something very silly happened behind me and I do not care”

  17. K. Ivan Ruppert

    I agree. Do not remove Amber’s face.

    1. Kamino Neko

      <Optimus Prime> … But I wanna….

  18. DailyBrad

    Hmm. Amazi-Girl made her peace with Sal, but has Amber?

    1. BBCC

      I think even if Amber knows rationally that Sal’s not the root of all evil, it’s hard for her emotions to follow suit. Anxiety and PTSD aren’t rational.

      1. Regalli

        Yeah, what’ll be really interesting is whether or not AG seizes control on seeing Sal again.

        1. thejeff

          Hasn’t the last few times. Amber’s still not comfortable around her, but she doesn’t completely panic anymore.

          Plus, it’s likely AG isn’t able to know she’s seen Sal.

        2. Regalli

          Yeah, I had forgotten that when I made the first comment. I’m thinking if it still happens, it’d be because the initial surprise made Amber lose a bit of control and AG’s looking for cracks to get through, not caring how or why.

      2. Fart Captor

        Yeah, she had no problem playing Mario Kart with Sal as long as she kept her distance. She’s made peace, but Sal still triggers panic attacks for her

  19. Tacos

    Sure, point the folder with the words, “Do not remove” in red letters away from yourself so people can read them.

    On another note, I sorta wanted it to say “Top Secret” instead >.>

    1. brionl

      Obviously, it should say “Front Toward Enemy”

      http://milspecmonkey.com/store/patches/31-front-toward-enemy.html

      1. thejeff

        The other side, of course, says “Do not eat”.

  20. Icalasari

    Dammit, was hoping for a flashback explaining Mike’s whole, “That’s not how the flow of power usually works in that dynamic” thing. Because I REALLY want to know how he knows enough about that to say usually

    1. WonderRabbit

      It could simply be him being general, rather than any personal firsthand knowledge.

    2. Kamino Neko

      I’m pretty sure it’s just that he’s actually absorbed the whole ‘power imbalance is bad’ thing, which isn’t exactly arcane knowledge, and Billie is a perfect person to poke with that.

  21. John

    Internal monologue, Amber. Internal.

    (Superhero landing!)

  22. Derek

    why did she take that folder? I thought she changed Walky’s grades by hacking?

    1. Yumi

      Yes, and now no one can look back at any copies of his work to verify differently.

      1. ShinyNeen

        Hmm… though, if they look back for the copies of his work and find nothing, wouldn’t that be pretty suspicious too?

        1. Yumi

          “Well, guess we found out what student Jason was twing-twanging.”

        2. Needfuldoer

          *twin-twanging?

          As long as they don’t pull Sal’s record and see an obvious uptick in her grades in the week or two preceding Penny’s accusation, then draw their own conclusions based off that…

        3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          But the copies of her work are still there and support the grade increase.

        4. thejeff

          Now you’re just making up words.

        5. Inahc

          then again, maybe they’ll think Jason or Penny took them as a fuck-you on their way out. it’s not clear whether that folder has walky’s grades, everyone’s, or just like the W-Z’s or something.

        6. Regalli

          Since apparently the things Jason collects from students include notes after every class, I’d guess W-Z or the like? But maybe those are kept separately.

          I bet that collecting the notes makes things an absolute joy for students who need or are note takers, too. Seriously terrible policy.

        7. Pidgey

          Which is why in the real world we use electronic scans of anything we need to keep and excel spread sheets of marks. Mainly so students who maybe barely failed can challenge and review their marks. We don’t really have contingencies for Ambers…

        8. CJ

          I though Jason collected the notes and gave them back next session, marked?

        9. timemonkey

          He doesn’t mark notes, those are used for attendance. He marks their tests and work projects.

      2. vlademir1

        I’m not so sure. She may have just grabbed the first folder she noticed with “Walkerton” on it and failed to notice the first name wasn’t his…

        1. Yumi

          Alternatively: “Huh, his first name’s Sally? Well, that explains why he goes by ‘Walky,’ I guess.”

  23. OnyxIdol

    Amber/Sal slipshine when

    1. jeffepp

      In 3… 2…

  24. Reltzik

    Alt text: Why shouldn’t she sell herself short? It’s not like she’s very ta- *vaudeville hook*

  25. Vago

    Finally up to date with the comic.

    Oh well, looks like amber is going to face her fears

  26. Pidgey

    She did the superhero land! She did the superhero land! That’s super bad for your knees

    1. Inahc

      and your wrist.

    2. CJ

      I rather thought what we see is her starting to get up again. No indicator how she did land. When you come up after a judo roll the position looks very much like that.

    3. Pidgey

      I suck at quoting deadpool

  27. Inahc

    oh. if sal is there, the rest of the gang is probably close behind, right? so either they’ll distract amber and keep her from freaking out, or they’ll notice that suspicious folder she’s holding in front of her face…

    1. Yumi

      Well, last comic showed Sal breaking off from the others. They could still show up, but they might not, say if she went off to more of a side area to smoke.

  28. Antonio

    Amazi-girl might be immune to criticism, but hypocrisy appears to be Amber’s kryptonite.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Now picturing Sal in costume as Amazi-Girl’s nemesis, The Hypocritizer!

      1. abysswatcher1993

        Amber: BUT I AM THE HERO!!!!
        Sal: Yes, and so was Handsome Jack.
        Amber: How do you know who…
        Sal: Danny shared with me Borderlands 2.
        Amber: *Angry noises.*

  29. Reltzik

    So, how much control does Amber have over when AG takes over? Because if she can control it… and very much does NOT want AG taking over at this moment because law-breaking…. that could turn pretty darn bad for Sal Amber’s reaction isn’t flight or freeze.

    1. thejeff

      It’s unclear at the moment. She used to panic and let AG take over when she saw Sal, but that hasn’t happened in awhile. She’s also not sharing memories with AG anymore and isn’t on friendly terms, so she’s not going to give up control if she can avoid it. And it’s likely AG can’t watch what’s happening either, assuming the lack of memory goes both ways.

      That said, I don’t think Amber’s going to fight Sal here. She’s got more control than that, whatever she thinks.

  30. @zombieundergrnd

    Karma, meet the bongo.

    1. Inahc

      weird. the rss feed has the unfiltered version of this comment. it really threw me off, seeing that word again after so long…

      1. Inahc

        even weirder, the rss feed on my phone is filtered. but they should be using the same url. wtf…

      2. erejnion

        Huh? Filter? What’s the filter?

        1. Needfuldoer

          The site automatically replaces a colloquial term for a female dog with the name of a small drum that’s usually seen in conjoined pairs.

          It was a thing to use the former in reference to one character a couple years ago, so the filter was put in place. Once it was discovered, the comments just ran with it.

        2. erejnion

          I see. So normal over 9000 stuff.

        3. Kamino Neko

          It’s not colloquial for a female dog…it’s colloquial in its use re:humans. It’s perfectly standard (albeit falling out of use outside of the realm of dog breeding) in the canine use.

        4. thejeff

          It is weird when you stumble into the dog breeding world though and suddenly all these nice, polite, older ladies are using it every sentence.

  31. JessWitt

    Thought for sure Sal would head to Galasso’s. Probably taking her time to think things through and throw off any suspicion.

  32. Lungdoc

    Little help here please? I am unable to determine, from context(s), what the word “bongo” is supposed to mean in this comment community. And Urban Dictionary has been no help. Can someone please give me a rough translation of “bongo” (as a descriptor of a person) to Old Guy’s English? –Many thanks.

    1. Lungdoc

      Addendum… never mind… My question has been answered by Needfuldoer upthread. Thanks again!

  33. abysswatcher1993

    AMBER, FOR THE LAST FIRCKING TIME, STOP SAYING YOU ARE EVIL AND THAT AMAZI-GIRL IS GOOD! YOU ARE JUST A GIRL WITH MANY EMOTIONAL ISSUES AND AN ABUSIVE FATHER! YOUY ARE BEAUTIFUL AND ARE WORTH LOVING!!!!

  34. erejnion

    Bad idea, Amber, that “do not remove” label can only serve as a challenge when it comes to Sal.

  35. Pan

    Super hero landing!

  36. Lawzlo

    SAL: “After all your posturing, all your little speeches, you’re nothing but a common thief.”

    AMBER: “I am an exceptional thief, Ms. Walkerton, and since I’m moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite.”

    1. Fire_daws

      …I’d totes pay for Amber to be voiced by Alan Rickman (although tricky coz he’d have to play it from beyond the grave 🙁 )

      1. abysswatcher1993

        What about Vincent Price? He is dead, but he still appeared in The Simpsons. Maybe he can help get Alan Rickman to work again?

  37. Needfuldoer

    “Do not remove”?

    Well, the words are still on the folder…

    1. BenRG

      I think that Willis is giving us a message about Amber’s personal mental state and the masks behind which she needs to hide.

  38. Wright

    Amber, there was always a reason why you had Amazi-Girl.

    She’s there to help you. Strength, when you had none. Confidence, when you were scared. Direction, for when you lost your way. And the courage to do the right thing, no matter how hard.

    You want to get rid of Amazi-Girl? Don’t fight her. Instead, embrace her and become her, so she has no reason to exist.

    1. thejeff

      Except that Amazi-Girl isn’t actually better than Amber. And Amazi-Girl’s been doing her part in pushing all the bad stuff onto Amber.

      It’s not that simple.

      1. Regalli

        Yeah, we saw AG actively push blame on her vendetta against Sal onto Amber, for instance. Almost certainly happened before too.

  39. BenRG

    Amber sense of personal guilt is approaching 105%!

  40. Socky

    I hadn’t even considered the implications of Amber aiding and befriending someone who looks exactly like the person she blames for fucking her up. This could get messy.

  41. Jack

    …. so what’s Dina doing in QC today?

    1. BenRG

      She’s standing behind Emily, unseen and unremarked upon. Even the readers of the strip can’t see her in this one!

    2. Kamino Neko

      Looking for the cereal. There is coffee, so other breakfast foods must be somewhere.

    3. Myles Adams

      Listening for tips on dinosaur mating?

    4. Marsh Maryrose

      She’s probably trying to figure out how she wound up in Northampton all of the sudden, and how she can get back to Bloomington in time for her classes.

  42. C.T Phipps

    I wonder how long it will take for the Evil Amber to emerge. The one who will try to kill Sal.

    We need the Superman III Junkyard Fight between Amazi-Girl and Amber.

  43. KSClaw

    This is gonna be an incredibly random question, but has Beef shown up anywhere yet?

    1. adjudicus

      Yep. is his first appearance

    2. Kamino Neko

      He was a jock that harassed Danny (and got beat up by Amazi-Girl for his trouble), early on. Then he was a guest at the party where absolutely nothing whatsoever happened, nosirreebob, nope, nuh-uh (and almost banged Roz, from the look of things). Then he was at Robin’s rally…where absolutely nothing of note happened, either.

    3. Reltzik

      And here’s all of them

      1. KSClaw

        thank you all, I was just wondering because someone brought up “It’s Walky” over at the QC forums, and linked to a comic Beef was in, which in turn made me go “I wonder if he’s showed up yet.”

  44. motorfirebox

    Amber, look out! It’s Amazi-girl!

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Ha!

  45. Crusading Barista

    *freeze* It was at this moment, she knew….. she f***ed up.

  46. Lone Duck

    I like to think that there might be a moment of honesty, empathy, and personal growth. I mean, Amber isn’t a perfect hero, and Sal isn’t a despicable villain. There’s no reason they can’t be pals. Also, I ship it.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Somehow that ship seems more possible than Amber x Danny, Amber x Walky, or Sal x anyone else.

  47. Clif

    I love the succession of expressions across Amber’s face.

  48. ValdVin

    Panel one really is a great. It practically moves all in itself.

  49. ruhrow

    I’ll be even happier if it turns out that Sal saw her go in, and decided to conveniently take a smoke break in a spot that just-so-happened to allow her to stand lookout. It would explain why she’s not reacting to the sound of Amber dropping out of the window (or her talking to herself/AmaziGirl about having stolen something).

    1. ruhrow

      Also, totally just won gravatar roulette for matching this particular comment.

  50. Peter

    I’m sort of surprised that nobody here in the comments has yet pointed out the inherent irony in Amber being confronted with Sal, the former thief, at the very moment when Amber steals something.

    Well, consider it pointed out.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.