Predator
Posted on April 1, 2020 by David M Willis

189 thoughts on “Predator”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    *ring*ring*

    Mike: ‘sup fucker, I’m out

    tomorrow’s comic tho lol

  2. NinjaNick

    Well, we now know the whole thing. Come on, Amber. Show your rage!

    1. Hugo Bedward

      He said it with the logo so now she has to fight back

  3. Hugo Bedward

    Wait how exactly can Blaine “end his life with a phone call”?

    1. HeinousActsZX

      His mob connections, almost certainly.

      1. NinjaNick

        Great. We can add (attempted) murder-for-hire in his ongoing list of charges.

        1. Nono

          Man, I wish Ruth or Billie were here, they would have roundhouse kicked Blaine by now.

        2. NinjaNick

          In his ugly faaaace!

      2. Hugo Bedward

        so he has undercover mob people working at the hospital?

        1. NinjaNick

          I doubt it.

        2. Tarnagh

          More likely just regular people who have had to purchase kneecap insurance.

        3. Foxhack

          No, he probably knows some HMO employees.

        4. Myles Adams

          Or someone on whom he has enough leverage for them to “trip over a power cable.”

        5. Bicycle Bill

          If indeed Mike is in hospital, comatose – or at the very least heavily sedated – and possibly on a ventilator, all it would take would be for one nurse/med tech to ‘accidentally’ unplug the ventilator or somehow mess up the meds he is on.  Poof!  No more Mike.

          And I don’t doubt for a second that Blaine couldn’t find at least one person there who he’d be able to bribe or otherwise have under his thumb.

        6. Needfuldoer

          He may have sown some connections while he was there (after the last time Amber kicked his ass).

    2. krveale

      Worst-case scenario, the weapon is the US medical system: he’s put Mike in hospital under his own insurance somehow, and can call to say “nope pull the plug.”

      No idea if that’s possible, but enough of the rest of the US’ medical system is nightmare-fuel that I can’t 100% rule it out.

      1. TheKelliestKelly

        No, it isn’t. Blaine wouldn’t be able to foot the bill for someone who isn’t family. And even if he did commit insurance fraud, the hospital would check before they let a teenager die

        1. James

          I think assuming Blaine would foot the bill for someone who IS family might be a generous assumption, honestly.

        2. Hugo Bedward

          He’ll foot the bill for anything that will help get his daughter out of college, apparently

        3. woobie

          He can’t put just anyone on employer provided insurance.
          He certainly can ‘foot the bill’ for anyone he chooses. The polite person with the clipboard would be happy to have someone, anyone sign.

        4. thejeff

          The hospital certainly wouldn’t just pull the plug on a ventilator like that, just because some apparently unrelated person stopped paying the bill. Cause that’s a massive lawsuit waiting to happen.

          They’d be trying to contact family, who would be authorized to make such care decisions if he was unconscious.
          Plus, if you’ve got an unidentified teen brought in with traumatic injuries, they’re going to get the cops involved – to identify him and the possibility of foul play.

          Blaine might well have paid someone off, but he can’t just legally have the hospital kill him. Even in the US. He could also be bluffing of course.

        5. N0083rP00F

          Nothing Blain ever did was “Legal” in the strictest sense.

          As for hospital admin or the cops, anyone who has encountered either in the states knows full well where their priorities lie and to whom they answer to. If DOA is a reflection of the sad reality that is then things will be dicey to say the least,

        6. coru

          While true, Mike is a reasonably attractive (we can assume) white college boy. Based on American rules, people will care about him.

      2. SuperZero

        The US’s what system? No, we don’t have one of those.

        1. Ed Rhodes

          Yes we do. It sucks… but it’s there.

    3. SuperZero

      If he were telling the complete truth, he’d have led with that threat instead of using Mike as an example of what he’d do to them.

    4. Agemegos

      Blaine is a lying liar who lies.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Aww, you’re so nice to Blaine. Not a single curse word.

      2. Keulen

        Even liars tell the truth occasionally. But I’m not going to believe what Blaine’s saying about Mike’s whereabouts until I see Mike in a later strip.

    5. Shane

      You have a nurse or janitor or something on the inside who hits a switch on a ventilator or pinches a line closed or mixes up a prescription. Nobody asks very many questions about why the heavily injured guy who could die, died.

    6. pseudo

      “Hello, hospital? Yes. Kill the child, thanks.”

    7. hof1991

      Mike was sent to Salem University Hospital in the Days of Our Lives universe. Being in a coma there guarantees a murder attempt. And never trust their dna / paternity tests. And never get on a car because their accident rate is 100%. Though you can get shot or have a heart transplant and be walking around in no time.

      1. Roborat

        Well, yes, getting on a car is just an accident waiting to happen.

  4. Jonah Sanville

    happy birthday to me, mikes not dead yet

    1. clif

      April Fool!

      1. Geneseepaws

        That this happened today was Not lost on me….
        No, it wasn’t.
        I still wanna say “thank you” to David Willis, who always yanks the rug I’m standing on.

  5. HeinousActsZX

    Literally everything else aside I’m just glad Mike is alive.

    1. clif

      April Fools!

  6. YakkoRex

    And what’s going on with Blaine’s voice?

    1. Doctor_Who

      Broken nose, maybe?

    2. King Daniel

      It’s contractually mandated that each member of the cast has to at some point say Amazi-Girl’s name in the proper tone. Just like Othar Tryggvassen, GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!

      1. Roborat

        Don’t say that idiot’s name out loud, you don’t want him to appear.

    3. Hiredgoon

      trying to speak after getting your nose bashed in is something of an experience, even with a day or two of recovery

    4. Foxhack

      People yesterday were speculating his ribs are bruised if not broken.

      1. AntJ

        Amazi-Girl hit them with a scooter https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/scoffed/

    5. CJ

      I just thought this was the Darth Vader reference.

  7. Stephen Bierce

    *the soft, ironic version of the Amazi-Girl theme song is playing on the soundtrack*

    1. ZerglingOne

      With the saddest instrument available. Perhaps a cello or keys 44 through 66 of a piano.

      1. Needfuldoer

        As the credits roll, we see a montage of Amber walking down the side of several roads, hitchhiking to passing cars.

  8. Beef

    H E L I V E S

    1. emeraldbeacon

      I swear, if there’s a “Mike suddenly arrives to save the day” gag coming, scheduled for Easter Sunday…

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        He is risen!

        1. clif

          What’s the date today? I forget.

        2. Opus the Poet

          12 days before Easter Sunday. So it’s hypothetically possible for Mike to show up with the cops on Sunday next, Blaine to get “accidentally” shot in the fracas (almost always a kill shot, lots of vulnerable blood vessels are routed through your fracas) and die in the confusion. (Also a bad place to get shot)

        3. clif

          Counts on fingers. Hey, you’re right.

        4. Beef

          The CW did say the story doesn’t end until June though so if Mike shows up on Easter we’d still have 2 months of updates. Though a lot of that time may be revolving around Joyce dealing with the fact that her mom nearly got her killed.

        5. Commander Clash

          Or an epic story/chase to save Joyce who has been taken hostage.

        6. Andrusi

          On the first day of Easter my true love gave to me…

        7. Needfuldoer

          He is risen indeed!

  9. Tarnagh

    I sincerely hope that difficulty breathing stems from internal bleeding.

  10. Kyrik Michalowski

    Hooray, Mike isn’t dead, I won my bet. In other news, Amber if ever there was a time for superhuman rage to kick in, now is the time. I honestly see no good way out of this, unless Blaine accepts that Amber is Amazi-girl. Anyone else see a good (+plausible way) out of this?

    1. King Daniel

      Oh, this chapter will continue until late June. I think the worst is still yet to come.

    2. SuperZero

      I kinda expect Ross to club Blaine over the head at some point. He’s a very bad man, but he’s a bad man who likes to pretend he’s good and Blaine is making that difficult.

      1. Sam

        He’s a bad man that likely still does have some good morals in there that aren’t just to justify bad actions. Buried underneath all the other garbage he was taught and never unlearned, unlike Joyce, who has been taking a crash course in unlearning it all in 2 months.

        Ross gets to have one (1) moral epiphany. As a treat.

    3. SystemofEleven

      Give him Sal’s phone number and tell him the person on the other end knows how to contact AG, then while he’s telling Sal his demands, have Amber (loudly) call him dad and insult his Scary Villain Voice. Sal hears Amber, knows “AG” is one of the hostages, and can probably figure out to play along and pretend to set up a meeting. Or even if she doesn’t figure that out, while Sal hella doesn’t trust cops, she would at least know dang well that AG would just escalate the situation, and find a better solution.

  11. Vangeln

    So he still doesn’t believe Amber is Amazi-Girl?

    1. Tarnagh

      It’s okay. He’s about to.

      I hope.

      1. Nono

        Amber doesn’t have rage to feed off right now, so I think she’s out of commission for the time being.

        Ethan and Dorothy are too pacifistic and Walky can’t really fight, so uh, it’s up to Joyce and Sarah.

    2. NinjaNick

      His head was bashed way too many times to found out. I’m sure there will be more head bashings to come until his overdue demise.

  12. Suet

    Blaine both tells and doesn’t know the truth? Real duality there.

    Whoever Walky’s RA is, well, communication could have been more to the point.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      His RA is the same guy from Walkyverse that is too into Star Trek. Not so much help.

      1. Deanatay

        RA: This is my cat.
        Walky: Wait, I thought no pets were allowed…?
        RA: I’m the RA, they’re my rules.
        Walky: Ah…
        RA: His name is SPOCK.
        Walky: …Spock?
        RA: NO! Not ‘Spock’. ‘SPOCK’. You have to say it in that breathy, almost-pleading tone William Shatner says it in, or it’s not his name!
        Walky: ‘Kay, Imma stop listening to you now.

  13. Nono

    Between a guy with a shotgun, attempted murder, and kidnapping, IU is gonna have a lot of kids getting pulled out of school after this, huh.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Not by their parents, but by being closed because of incompetence at dealing with criminals so much that they needed a vigilante to stop gangs, rapists and shooters.

      1. woobie

        Plus coronavirus.
        They are probably at least doing remote classrooms atm.

      2. thejeff

        I’m not really sure where the incompetence comes in. None of those things are exactly unknown basically anywhere. The vigilante is, of course.

        What would you expect the cops to have done to stop any of what we’ve seen?

    2. Agemegos

      Ross used a rifle, not a shotgun.

  14. DailyBrad

    Ah, okay, that explains it.

    Is Indiana college super expensive or something? Like, college by and large is ludicrously overpriced, but the amount of favors Blaine must be pulling for this, surely doing all of this to get Amber to drop out can’t be worth it, given I doubt he’s in good enough with the Korean mob where they’d just do this stuff for him for free.

    Is it just the principle of the thing?

    1. Yumi

      Spite

    2. Nono

      This is a guy who claimed he got beat up by a giant man instead of some teenage girl.

      It’s all pride.

    3. TheStranger

      Almost certainly the principle of the thing. For a narcissist, that’s how it goes.

      And the gaslighting of his new partner with “oh we can’t afford what YOUR kid needs because Amber” reflects that.

    4. SuperZero

      He dum.

    5. abysswatcher1993

      Pure spite. He is more immature than Walky.

    6. Needfuldoer

      All-in, for an in-state student that doesn’t qualify for any grants or scholarships, it’s about $25,700 for the 2019-2020 school year. Total “direct costs” (tuition and boarding, no meal plan) are about $21,800.

      So roughly $2,000/mo if you’re paying for everything out of pocket, up front.

      Double those costs for an out-of-state student.

      https://admissions.indiana.edu/cost-financial-aid/tuition-fees.html

      Remember, prospective college students in the audience: “financial aid” means student loans.

  15. Dunedon

    And there’s Amber getting the memory flash that he really is Blaine … this is going to be interesting.

    1. Ron again

      Yeah that memory flash was overdue. If only Amber and AG were more on speaking terms with each other. Hope these events help her/them to do that.

  16. Lex

    This would be a good time to say “Mike was the one who knew how to get in contact with her”. Or for Amber to offer to prove she’s Amazi-Girl. “Untie me and I’ll prove it to you” right before she unleashes an epic beatdown on Blaine would be the best proof of all. Poke him in the eyes and kick his kneecaps for starters.

    1. woobie

      Don’t throw the person who is probably injured at least and hospitalized under the bus.

    2. Ron again

      There’s a number of goons with unknown weapons at the door. The moment Amber beats Blaines head in, one of them might severely injure one of the kids to subdue Amber. This is a situation that’s more disadvantaged than just “get your hands loose and fight”.

  17. abysswatcher1993

    Nice reference to the RA from Walkyverse… But I am still sad about Mike.

    Also, if Mike is in a hospital there should be secur… I am forgetting people get killed easily in mexican telenovelas when they are alone in their rooms… and I am forgetting Persona 5, where you can’t trust authorities to do their goddamn job without incompetence and corruption… And I am forgetting Willis writes most jobs in his universe like a Simpsons episode… Damn.

    1. woobie

      So Mikes doctor is Dr. (Nick) Riviera or Dr. Hibbert?

      1. Opus the Poet

        Yes, ? That is correct.

  18. emeraldbeacon

    Who’s not in the room, that knows the true identity of Amazi-Girl, that could come and save the day? The only two that come to mind are Dina and Sal… and while I can’t imagine Dina deciding to put on the costume, I’d be damned if my jimmies weren’t just a LITTLE rustled at the idea of Walky’s sister, in the AG jumpsuit and mask, sans cape, with the leather jacket…

    1. Nono

      Dina, Sal, Marcie, Ruth and Danny know.

      1. BarerMender

        Ruth is dangerous. Also, she knows something is wrong, whether she admits it or not.

        1. BarerMender

          Also, Asher is might cop wise and drop a dime.

        2. Agemegos

          He might call either the police or his gramps.

        3. Needfuldoer

          Gramps might not take kindly to Blaine using resources to fulfill a personal vendetta. Why should Gramps care if Blaine has to pay for Amber to go to college?

        4. thejeff

          But Blaine has something on Asher – apparently that Asher stole from gramps. Gramps wouldn’t take kindly to Blaine’s vendetta, but he also wouldn’t take kindly to learning it was Asher who stole from him.

        5. Agemegos

          Asher might be, or think he is, smart enough to dob Blaine in in such a way that Blaine doesn’t get a chance to, or doesn’t realise that he ought to, take revenge on Asher. Informing the police without Blaine figuring out that he did it seems more straightforward, but reaching out to one of Gramps’ senior lieutenants might have countervailing advantages. I reckon that a lot depends what if anything he knows about Blaine’s scheme other than he wanted that fire alarm at four AM.

    2. King Daniel

      Billie: “I KNEW IT!!!”

  19. BlackScarabZ

    And the comments breathe a collective sigh of relief because at least he’s alive.

    Also, I eagerly await Blaine receiving the “I lived, bongo” text from Mike tomorrow.

    1. timemonkey

      He was always going to be alive by the very nature of the comic.

      1. Needfuldoer

        DYW’s vague “oh no I broke one of my DoA rules with this arc” Twitter hint opens up the possibility, though.

        1. timemonkey

          No it didn’t for the same reason it was a rule in the first place: we’d be dealing with the characters grieving/dealing with guilt for years.

          Blaine could die and things could move on normally, nobody cares about him and Amber’s already got to deal with the damage he’s done to her.

  20. Sirksome

    Yeah but uh are we sure Blaine didn’t fall off that stairwell too cause he seems like he’s about to drop dead any minute now.

  21. BBCC

    Yeah, good news: Mike’s alive

    Bad news: Who knows when he’ll be back? If he’s comatose he’s not taking out this clown.

    1. clif

      Things to consider:

      Blaine is a lying liar who lies.
      Blaine says Mike is alive and uses him as an additional threat.
      Today is April 1.

      Conclusions anyone???

  22. Meagan

    That was anticlimactic. Told not shown.

    Anyway, could someone record their impressions of the hk hnn noises Blaine is making? And also the hnnns from the slipshine’s? I cannot relate them to any real sound I have heard a human make, and it disrupts my reading flow. Surely someone would fine this a fun project?

    1. Agemegos

      They are weak coughs.

    2. BarerMender

      From personal experience, the sound of a cracked rib is screaming.

      1. Agemegos

        in 2011 my middle brother, Then aged 58, fell off a bicycle at high speed and suffered multiple fractures of nine ribs, with a broken shoulder and collarbone. He had a punctured lung, and developed a pneumothorax and haematothorax. There was a cock-up at the hospital, and he got sent home before the radiologist reported on his x-rays. I helped carry him from the car to his bed. Lots of pain. I thought he was likely to die (and got his doctor to come and see him). But anyway: no screaming. If he had screamed maybe his cycling buddies would have called an ambulance rather than his wife.

        1. BarerMender

          I was lying on a backboard with the cracked rib under me. There was lots of screaming. Double pneumothorax before it was over and a week and a half not being able to lie any way but on my back. Injury to the pancreas, which is normally a death sentence. Gastric artery severed, inferior vena cava nearly severed, stab wound clear through renal vein, laceration to the liver. Nerve damage to my strong hand. It was a bad day.

        2. Agemegos

          It’s possible that in that case other injuries were so loud that you couldn’t hear the cracked rib. It’s also possible that Blaine having been kicked a few times and had a bit of a fall is not as badly hurt as you were by whatever frightful event left you with all those injuries.

        3. ischemgeek

          The times I cracked ribs (1x martial arts injury, 1x slip and fall in the shower, landed ribs first on the edge of the tub, 1x very nasty weeks long asthma flare-up so bad doctors tested me for pertussis 4x thinking there was no way it was just asthma where I coughed so hard I cracked a rib), there was weak whimpering & pained groaning involved but I couldn’t get enough air in for screaming because deep breathing in felt like getting stabbed in the ribs.

          My father OTOH was definitely screaming when he broke his ribs falling off a horse so I think it depends on how you respond to severe pain. Some people are screamers and some shut down.

  23. adam Black

    what does -HK- -KK- -Khhn- mean ?

    1. Agemegos

      It means that the patient is experiencing pain on inhalation.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Internal screaming trying to get out. Suppressed screams of pain.

    2. Keulen

      He’s in pain, almost certainly from the injuries he got when he last fought Amazi-Girl.

  24. Leorale

    And here I was expecting something for April Fool’s.
    (I enjoyed the Shortpacked! one.)
    It kinda feels like this whole year should be an April Fool’s.

    1. Yumi

      Coronavirus is revealed to be one incredibly elaborate April Fool’s joke pulled off by world leaders.

      1. clif

        I knew it!!!

      2. PiotrW

        Or by “Big Pharma”.

        (I have honestly seen anti-vaxxers claiming the whole corono epidemics scare and social isolation is a plot by “Big Pharma” to stop the world from developing immunity to the virus quickly, so that needless vaccines and drugs could be pushed instead)

        1. Wizard

          I don’t wish debilitating, potentially fatal disease on anyone, but I’m seriously tempted to make an exception for anti-vaxxers. I’m perfectly willing to let informed adults endanger themselves, but those idiots endanger so many others as well.

      3. Needfuldoer

        They’re trying to keep us all inside so they can change the batteries in all the birds.

    2. Rheinman

      Based on my work experience over the last three weeks, the corona virus is a plot by Zoom to increase demand for their remote meeting software.

  25. Bagge

    Clearly, what this situation is calling for is punching evil dads in the face.

    1. Commander Clash

      No it’s calling for a strike to the ribs or chest, he CLEARLY having breathing problems

      1. Bagge

        Fine, I’m willing to compromise, as long as evil dads are punched.

  26. JessWitt

    Fingers crossed for another Walkyverse superhero to show up somehow and KO Blaine.

  27. Bagge

    “Hello, hospital clerk.”
    “Hello bleeding masked, unstable person who clearly just had the shit beaten out of him.”
    “I would like you to treat this person who was clearly just in a fight. also, if I call you I want you to kill him.”
    “Sure, that is a service we provide.”

    Honesly, at this point I’m prepared to believe any and all horror stories I hear about american health care, so why not.

    1. Shane

      It would’ve gone down like this.

      “Toedad, you’re out in front for this one. This rabid, possibly Satan-possessed young man clearly tried to tackle me off the balcony and kill me. But we will be good Christians and take him to the hospital. I would do it myself, but the socialist Obamacare medical professionals wouldn’t understand my condition and would get too involved.”

      “I do seem to recall something about a Samaritan or something. I will take this misguided youth in the hospital and say I don’t know who he is but that he needs help.”

      Or maybe they just dumped him by the door to the ER and skeedaddled before anyone could ask for some names and IDs.

      1. Bagge

        It’s more that whole “end his life with a phone call thing” I question, unless the phone call is to tell them Mike lack insurence or something like that.

        Of course, I also feel like Blaine taking Mike to a hospital sends awefully mixed signals on that whole “lets murder some kids” thing, but Toedad seems to be fine either way, so whatever.

        1. ValdVin

          As believable as your first paragraph is, the “sneaking into a hospital (even past guards/cops in the hallway outside a witnesses’ room) to off him” is a thing in fiction.

          And Blaine does know how to trope.

        2. Stanistani

          Well, US hospital security ranges from nonexistent to crappy. One time I was visiting a friend who was ill, came in after visiting hours by mistake, walked in the wrong door, went to the wrong room, and spent an hour talking to an elderly gentleman who needed the company more than my friend did. I left without anyone noticing me.

        3. thejeff

          More likely he’s got a contact at the hospital he can bribe/threaten into “accidentally” doing it.
          Or he’s just bluffing of course.

        4. Bagge

          I’m gonna go with “Blaine is an idiot, so even if he has a plan he will eff it up” and call it a day.

        5. Bagge

          Sorry, I obviously meen BALL-PEEN(tm) is an idiot.

          Blaine is also an idiot, of course, but that might not be relevant right now.

        6. Wizard

          Lack of insurance doesn’t mean you’ll be denied critical care, only that you’ll be stuck with a huge bill. Sadly, lack of insurance may mean you don’t get care that would have kept you from getting into critical condition in the first place, but that’s a whole other issue.

        7. thejeff

          And it may mean you get stabilized and sent home with a prescription you can’t afford to fill for the medicine that’ll keep you from going right back into critical care.
          But no, they won’t actually deny you critical care. (And likely the doctors will try to slip you as much of the medication as they can before you have to leave, because most of them really do care and hate the constraints as much as anyone.)

        8. Bagge

          I’m glad I got that wrong about american health care, at least.

  28. PB

    Oh thank God

  29. Cholma

    Second panel Blaine reminds me of a Power Puff Girl villain, whose name I cannot recall.

    1. Bagge

      The masked idiot?

    2. He Who Abides

      Now that you say that, Blaine looks kinda like . . . Him in that panel, yeah.

  30. Rikunda

    He still has mafia tabs for killing someone in a public hospital?!

    1. Bagge

      Honestly, I find his threat about as credible as Billie’s threat here

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/04-time-keeps-on-slippin/finished/

  31. FacelessDeviant

    Observe: A man cant push a button if you disable his hand.
    Unless he has like, voice activation for his phone but who uses that?

  32. Erica

    What is blaine’s end goal exactly? Does he hate his own daughter so much he wants to kill her? Or has he gone totally bonkers and doesn’t realize amazigirl is amber and just wants revenge for getting beaten up? I know he’s working with Ross to get Becky but I don’t get what’s in it for him

    1. Sam

      He is too deluded to put together that Amber ‘is’ AG even with her saying it to his face, though ‘is’ isn’t entirely right so much as ‘are within the same body so for all accounts and purposes it is partially true but not the whole truth’. He wants Amber out of college and under his control, he wants revenge on AG, and achieving Ross’s goal gets AG to him with his method.

      It will be interesting to see how Joe and Joe’s dad react to Amber’s mob stooge father literally having kidnapped her!

    2. temperaryobsessor

      I think he wants an excuse to scare or kill his daughter that doesn’t lead back to him.

  33. clif

    Blaine: Mike is dead. I threw him head first from the 3rd floor.
    Everyone: Blaine is a liar. You can’t believe a word he says.

    Blaine: Mike is alive.
    Everyone: Yay!!!

    1. Deanatay

      Worst part: Blaine knows it’s April 1st.

  34. Brasca1

    One other possible outcome is Mike’s Dad isn’t who he appears to be and will take his time torturing Blaine once captured.

  35. PiotrW

    So, he’s alive!

    BTW. Has it finally clicked for Amber that the masked guy who talks like her dad is, in fact, her dad? It’s one aspect of this storyline I can’t buy into…

    1. Ron again

      I think Amber just got AG’s memo about that.

    2. Needfuldoer

      It looks like Amazi-Girl managed to shove a few memories under the door, yeah.

  36. Dracke

    Im surprised he survived…but that could also be a lie

  37. Kella

    First read: Blaine is telling the truth, that lines up with plenty of theories I’ve seen

    Second read: Blain is telling the truth about Mike being comatose, but he’s bluffing about having the ability to end his life with a phone call. There’s not a clear way for him to have done that without multiple plot devices we haven’t been privy to.

    Third read: IT’S APRIL FUCKING FOOL’S DAY WHICH MEANS EVERYTHING IS A LIE

    1. Azhrei Vep

      Ending Mike with a phone call only requires one plot device we’ve been aware of for a while: Mob Ties. He calls a guy who arranges an ‘accident.’ Problem solved.

      1. Kella

        Only if the guy is competent enough to figure out where Mike’s room is, get past multiple layers of security, and get out before the nurses respond to the flat line. He’d have to work there or already have extensive knowledge of the hospital for that to be simple. Too complicated.

  38. Shane

    On a side note, his breathing doesn’t sound too good. Maybe a good hard kick to the ribs can cause that fracture to turn into a full on puncture and nick an artery or something.

  39. Keith Curtis

    I find it hard to believe Toedad is still on board with this. Yes he has real behavioral problems, but I can’t believe he’d be on board with murder. Which makes me suspect that Blaine is bluffing.

    1. Bagge

      He tried to murder amazi-girl during the car chase.

    2. Bagge

      also, his initial reluctance of murdering a kid he never met before was basically waived asied by “double dog dare you”, so…

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/fixit/

      1. Needfuldoer

        Both of those are in line with his “I must save Becky at all costs” line of thinking. Amazi-Girl tried to stop him from getting away with her, Mike could have landed him back behind bars. Blaine’s skills in manipulation helped push him over that reluctance, too.

        Again, consistency. Blaine is evil. Ross is horribly misguided and easily swayed.

        1. Needfuldoer

          He was also satisfied with just scaring Mike a few strips later. I think we’ll see more of this, Ross reluctantly going along with Blaine’s plans and questioning (if not tempering) his more extreme decisions.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/bluffing-2/

    3. Azhrei Vep

      I’m expecting one of the twists of this storyline to involve Toedad turning on Blaine eventually.

      If Blaine manages to come out of this both alive and free, I may have to look into his background to see if he’s got a noble title. Perhaps he holds a barony … in the land of Badass…

      1. FacelessDeviant

        With his history of threatening and emotionally scarring children and young adults along with his hiding from those stronger than him disqualifies him from any position in the courts of Badass. He’ll be lucky if he gets to be a jester at court.

  40. DarkoNeko

    He really seems to have trouble breathing. Must be the broke nose

    1. FacelessDeviant

      Heres hoping its broken ribs. Those hurt a lot.
      At least we know its not spinal injury.
      Cant break what one does not have.

  41. Agemegos

    Does anyone else think it seems unlikely that Abusi-Dad would leave off trying to murder Mike and take him to a hospital instead, then resume a course of crimes that is going to see him still in prison when they launch the Starship Enterprise?

    So if Mike is in hospital, who took him there? My guess would be the Amazi-Girl did it.

    Now, I don’t know about America, but when I come from hospitals report suspicious and mysterious injuries to the police, or at least they are supposed to. What scenario does not lead to a detective at Mike’s room in the dorms asking his room-mate about where and when he was last seen?

    1. thejeff

      One where Mike had no id on him by the time he made it to the hospital. They could be looking into it, but not have gotten that far yet.

      His injuries were also mostly (maybe entirely?) from a fall, so it wouldn’t be that hard to spin a story that made it less suspicious.

    2. Falconer

      Blaine could have taken Mike to the hospital. I’d like to hear whatever story he spun to avoid raising suspicion.

      But he wouldn’t have an insurance card for him. The hospital would be required to treat Mike in the ER but I’m not sure it would be required to admit him.

      Also he wouldn’t have power of attorney for Mike, because he’s not Mike’s dad, lucky for him.

      I suppose he could have ditched Mike’s wallet somewhere and claimed that Mike was Faz, if he had an ID that didn’t have Faz’s photo on it. Also Faz is younger than Mike.

      So I think it’s more likely that Blaine has someone On The Inside who can arrange for the patient to fail treatment than he can call up on the level and say, you know what, take my child off of life support after barely more than 24 hours, it’s time to let him go.

      ‘Course, he’s probably lying. Mike’s probably comatose in a bed upstairs.

      1. thejeff

        They have to stabilize him. If that’s straight from the emergency room into intensive care, that’s what they have to do. They can’t just kick him out on the street if he’ll die without continued treatment – I’d assume not if he’s comatose. There’s all sorts of horrific stuff they can do, but it’s not quite that bad.
        And in this case, they certainly wouldn’t do it without making every effort to identify him. He’s a comatose teenager, found on a college campus, presumably without id. Not the typical indigent population. He very likely has insurance and quite possibly parents with the resources to sue.

      2. FacelessDeviant

        I don’t think Blaine took him to the hospital. I think Toe-dad did.

    3. thejeff

      I agree that Amazi-Girl taking him seems more likely. That would be a reason for her to have let the Evil Dads run off. I can’t really see her just letting them leave with Mike without continuing to fight. Unless she had some kind of incapacitating breakdown, but then they would have been able to capture her or something.
      Though if she did, she would have identified him or at least not taken his wallet/id.

  42. hof1991

    Better call Sal. Tell him it’s Sal and call her asking for help. Sal knows enough to recognize that as a call for help.

    Nope, no enough personal trauma and development that way.

    1. DarkoNeko

      I have hope Asher will tell her.

  43. Josh Spicer

    I mean…now is probably the best time to reconcile your multiple personalities to combine memories.

  44. Rabisch

    It’s the end of the adolescence.

  45. Pat

    “Oh and I also just got back my repressed memory of that guy with his mask off, so that’s a revelation.”

  46. Alan in DC

    Well, something happened while the camera was turned off. Blaine is missing a tooth, his face is scratched up and he’s having trouble breathing. He was able to shake off a kick to the chest earlier. Although astoundingly, his hair looks perfect.

    Waiting for that blue-tint flashback scene any day now.

    Stay safe, everyone.

  47. Mitsukara

    I’ve never had a more perfect opening for this, so: a month or two ago I noticed Walmart had a Dr. Soren action figure, from Star Trek Generations, still in stock. So you could say… “Time is the fire in which we pegwarm”.

  48. Sombrero

    Aaaaand no Mike presence today. Well played, Willis.

    1. Sombrero

      Also: I should be all ‘Hey, I totally called that we would know Mike’s true fate on April 1st!’, but somehow I do not feel so confident. This Blaine guy is a delusional liar and we still do not know which kind of connection Amber is currently making with AG memories.

  49. Mishyana

    Is it bad that I kinda hope whatever is causing those hitches in Blaine’s breathing turn out to be fatal?

  50. Ellegos

    Walky: “I don’t believe you. Cut off his finger and send me a picture of it next to today’s newspaper!”

  51. thumb

    To be fair, her ignorance of these events is a sound argument against her being Amazi-Girl.

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