Flesh Forge posted:

What a pity Max is going to have to die. Oh well he's just a rich libertarian shitbird designed from the ground up for everyone to hate his guts and to enjoy seeing him get tortured

JuniperCake posted:

I still don't understand why you think the comic is trying to portray what Allison is doing here as a good and heroic deed. If it was the case, the chapter would not have started off with that whole Axiom of the Tyrant thing, nor would she be crying or doing the whole thing in the dark. She overpowered a defenseless person who has no chance in hell to resist her and with very negative staging all the while. Now she looks like she might be trying to drink herself into oblivion (if she even get drunk? I can't remember). Like everything about this has bad move written all over it and even if you don't trust what you read, the artist herself said it was a violent kidnapping. If you cant trust the text, and you can't trust the author intent that is explicitly stated then what exactly are you basing anything off of?

Don't get me wrong, the comic completely mishandled a lot of stuff particularly in the previous chapter, but if the comic is one thing it's not subtle and it hasn't been subtle about this. Like whatever else you want to read, it's clear that Allison kidnapping a dude is not something we are supposed to be cheering about. Where it's going, who knows but this is clearly supposed to be a dark moment for Allison's character.

Skellybones posted:

Who is Max?

Skellybones posted:

Who is Max?

BravestOfTheLamps posted:

BravestOfTheLamps posted:

Hollismason posted:

I'm still unclear what his power even is. Like does in last forever? Did Allison partake?

I hate leave poo poo blank for no purpose other than, guess what happened?!?!

Rand Brittain posted:

I was wondering why the author decided not to reveal so much information until the end, but someone pointed out one important thing. A burger and a bottle of bourbon is the thing Feral requested Allison bring her if she ever figured out how to fix the world.

So, I guess Allison figures she has?

The Lord of Hats posted:

Gonna bet she thinks she has, but has instead ruined everything. Like, if it's Feral she boosted, Feral now heals too quickly to even operate on.

ManlyGrunting posted:

it's not completely incompetently written

Flesh Forge posted:

I remember there was a lot of speculation that the "kill the supers who can upset the applecart" conspiracy didn't kill Allison because she would be too hard to kill, but it seemed pretty clear to me that they just didn't bother because she didn't really have anything going on except "punch hard", i.e. no power that could particularly threaten the status quo. That doesn't explain how Max got passed over but I kind of think Mulligan came up with Max's story idea afterward and didn't bother to try to make it fit the conspiracy story

Galvanik posted:

The other thing that irks me about this comic is something someone said a few pages ago. Apparently the author said he doesn't want to explain what's happening or what he intends the audience should take away from a scene. It's bothered me for a long time that the comic feels like it isn't actually trying to say anything. Instead it just throws stuff out there and expects the audience to do all the work interpreting it, like some kind of narrative Rorschach test. Before I thought it was just bad writing, but now that I know he's doing that on purpose I think it's really bad writing.

Brought To You By posted:

Allison will cause a lot of collateral damage if she got into a fight but I refuse to believe she is anywhere near as big a threat as we've speculated. And the reason I'm so fond of gas is because it completely circumvents her invulnerability. Not to mention there are gasses that affect the body on inhalation so she can fly all she wants, as long as she gets a lungful of something she'll go down eventually. Right now she's sitting at superboy tiers of power. She has some form of telekinesis and body augmentation that allows her to fly and mitigate damage so long as her focus isn't broken between the two.

There are even abilities like that puppet master guy who can rob a human of their bodily control. No explanation on the specifics but he could easily render Allison powerless if the conditions for activation are easy enough to meet.

Brought To You By posted:

The guardians were only one group of Super Heroes and like it's already been stated, most governments have their own bio-dynamic soldiers. Even then The Guardians were just the east coast branch of a domestic security force. Get the Midwest Avengers or something to step in (not the literal Midwest avengers those guys suck)

Rand Brittain posted:

I was wondering why the author decided not to reveal so much information until the end, but someone pointed out one important thing. A burger and a bottle of bourbon is the thing Feral requested Allison bring her if she ever figured out how to fix the world.

So, I guess Allison figures she has?

idonotlikepeas posted:

I think the comic is definitely trying to say things. I mean, Jesus, that's pretty obvious. The author just doesn't want to explain what they are, he wants people to read the comic and come to their own conclusion about them. This is somewhat annoying, but understandable.

Hogge Wild posted:

the author doesn't want the readers to come to their own conclusions, he wants the readers to agree with him

and the people who disagree get their comments deleted

Nuebot posted:

There's an icon in the comments for the people who give them money now. Unsurprisingly the people who give them money are also the people who will post like fifty comments on every page about how mind blowing it constantly is.
EDIT: Turns out it's just one person who posts so many comments I thought it was multiple people. Jesus.

idonotlikepeas posted:

If there were an odorless gas that could be deployed into any area to instantly knock someone out without extensive preparations on the space to be gassed and without serious danger to the surrounding civilian population, we would be deploying that poo poo in every hostage situation ever. I'm not saying gas is off the table, but it's definitely not that simple.

quote:

As for puppet dude, as a government official, a criminal with mind control powers is basically the last person I want to let near one of the most powerful superheroes on earth. That's sort of like the Master continually making alliances with other evil aliens on the basis that THIS one probably won't horribly betray him by the end. The same thing applies to almost any superhero or villain you want to send after her. How do you know they aren't going to take her side, or use her against you for their own ends?

quote:

Really, what it boils down to is this: there is no simple, surefire way of taking out Alison. It's not impossible, it's just a huge, huge risk. If it escalates into an open confrontation, Alison has many important advantages, so you basically have to do it by subtlety, stealth, or coercion, and you generally only get one shot at that before it escalates to that direct confrontation. Do you want to be the one who gives that order, and then has to explain that because your guys did things less than 100% perfectly, an angry superhuman is currently tearing the Pentagon into tiny pieces with her bare hands? And that what the U.S. is almost certainly still counting on as a primary weapon against a superpowered attack from China is now not only off the books but about to put a serious dent in your military capacity?

quote:

I think it's basically inevitable that Alison will come into conflict with the government at some point, but if I'm the person in government making that call, I want to do it for a better reason than her messing with some rear end in a top hat senator's rear end in a top hat son.

quote:

The government's best recruits to replace the Guardians include a worse version of Aquaman who can talk to wolves, but "not persuasively". If that's who they're putting on their A-team, what does the B-team look like? Even the Guardians were only reasonably good superheroes, with the exception of Alison. The world is not exactly swimming with Supermen at this point.

BravestOfTheLamps posted:

Stormgale posted:

This is going to be something dumb like she made a catatonic organ factory using feral's powers or something.

Mikl posted:

Reminder: when she started donating organs, Feral was wanted for multiple murders. In fact, the only reason she isn't in jail right now (or dead, assuming The Man can find a way to execute her) is because she was donating organs. And since she's not anymore...

Brought To You By posted:

Two things. First is that this is a work of fiction where a 13 year old super genius was manufacturing giant robots for another 13 year old who could read minds. I think we can put "fast acting but slightly unwieldy riot gas" on the table.

Two, the gas doesn't need to be fast acting just effective in limited doses. I stick with Gas because it's a simple idea but unless Allison really does have superman's durability she will be suceptible to any attack that circumvents direct physical damage. You can think of sound waves or concussive blasts, extreme heat and cold, electricity or other energy forms, etc as other possible solutions. Even Chemical attacks are still on the table it's just a matter of finding a method of application.

Amanda Waller has proven to me that explosive neck collars are an effective way to get bad people to do what you need them too. But really my point of bringing him up is to reiterate that there are plenty of abilities shown in the series that circumvent Allison's main selling point, her inability to take direct damage. You could just get a telekinetic person like the one from Feral's chapter and hold her down (while watching for stray shoes). Unless her newfound flight cancels out a telekinetic force hold she's not going anywhere.

Also why do you think that a superhero sent after her would just decide to side with her? I can understand a reluctantly recruited villain. but if she did rampage arguably she'd just be seen as a hero-turned-bad guy or someone who has lost their mind and I'd assume most heroes that don't have a personal relationship with her wouldn't consider her words worth hearing. Unless she pulls a Menace on them and hits them with some compelling information which she probably won't because she doesn't have the benefit of a large corporation and telepathy.

I never got the impression that Allison is some key part of the U.S. defense plan. That interviewer was talking about what the Guardians would do now that all of the tier-one villains had been rounded up. The comment about joining the military was something that was unsubtly dropped after Pintsized said the Guardians would still help mop up all of the lower tier criminals. She laughed at the idea and the interviewer asked if she thought it was beneath her and maybe she would be willing to help the military against China.

There is no doubt that Allison is a tier-one biodynamic. But she's not Dr. Manhattan. She'll be hard to take down but I liken her to Cleaver for a reason, they have a similar capacity for destruction.

She just demonstrated that she's willing to abuse her powers for personal gain. She's also willing to do it again and use the threat of force to coerce people. She's gotten a pass before but that's because those people didn't have the same connections Max had. This isn't the same situation as threatening a bunch of protesters in a hospital parking lot.

The Guardians are also an irrelevant fighting force and are only being kept around as a hollow shell of it's former glory. Nobody needs to stock the place with powerful or useful heroes, they'll be stopping common criminals now.

As for your last point, that's reflection of a problem with the writing. The world doesn't seem to be stocked with supermen but at the same time we know they exist because the story hints towards the political situations in other countries. China has stockpiled powerful Biodynamics, why wouldn't other countries? We just haven't seen them because the story is focused on Allison's small world.

Another thing I can't state enough is that if Allison really is some super unstoppable force, it breaks one of the themes of the story which is "not being able to punch away your problems". Allison isn't in a position to become Ultraman and just declare the world under her control. She can be stopped, it may take effort or time but she can be stopped. She's strong but the bloke who can teleport is more of a threat than she is because he could conceivably just go and assassinate every major world leader by himself provided he knew where they were. The puppet guy was able to control one city which is impressive but he was contained and systematically routed.

If she manages to get away with kidnapping Max with no consequence from law enforcement I will be disappointed because she really will have become something very close to a Mary Sue. The kind of character where even if their wrong and the story knows they are wrong nothing truly bad ever happens to them aside from feeling bad for themselves.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Brought To You By posted:

Two things. First is that this is a work of fiction where a 13 year old super genius was manufacturing giant robots for another 13 year old who could read minds. I think we can put "fast acting but slightly unwieldy riot gas" on the table.

Two, the gas doesn't need to be fast acting just effective in limited doses. I stick with Gas because it's a simple idea but unless Allison really does have superman's durability she will be suceptible to any attack that circumvents direct physical damage. You can think of sound waves or concussive blasts, extreme heat and cold, electricity or other energy forms, etc as other possible solutions. Even Chemical attacks are still on the table it's just a matter of finding a method of application.

Amanda Waller has proven to me that explosive neck collars are an effective way to get bad people to do what you need them too. But really my point of bringing him up is to reiterate that there are plenty of abilities shown in the series that circumvent Allison's main selling point, her inability to take direct damage. You could just get a telekinetic person like the one from Feral's chapter and hold her down (while watching for stray shoes). Unless her newfound flight cancels out a telekinetic force hold she's not going anywhere.

Also why do you think that a superhero sent after her would just decide to side with her? I can understand a reluctantly recruited villain. but if she did rampage arguably she'd just be seen as a hero-turned-bad guy or someone who has lost their mind and I'd assume most heroes that don't have a personal relationship with her wouldn't consider her words worth hearing. Unless she pulls a Menace on them and hits them with some compelling information which she probably won't because she doesn't have the benefit of a large corporation and telepathy.

I never got the impression that Allison is some key part of the U.S. defense plan. That interviewer was talking about what the Guardians would do now that all of the tier-one villains had been rounded up. The comment about joining the military was something that was unsubtly dropped after Pintsized said the Guardians would still help mop up all of the lower tier criminals. She laughed at the idea and the interviewer asked if she thought it was beneath her and maybe she would be willing to help the military against China.

There is no doubt that Allison is a tier-one biodynamic. But she's not Dr. Manhattan. She'll be hard to take down but I liken her to Cleaver for a reason, they have a similar capacity for destruction.

She just demonstrated that she's willing to abuse her powers for personal gain. She's also willing to do it again and use the threat of force to coerce people. She's gotten a pass before but that's because those people didn't have the same connections Max had. This isn't the same situation as threatening a bunch of protesters in a hospital parking lot.

The Guardians are also an irrelevant fighting force and are only being kept around as a hollow shell of it's former glory. Nobody needs to stock the place with powerful or useful heroes, they'll be stopping common criminals now.

As for your last point, that's reflection of a problem with the writing. The world doesn't seem to be stocked with supermen but at the same time we know they exist because the story hints towards the political situations in other countries. China has stockpiled powerful Biodynamics, why wouldn't other countries? We just haven't seen them because the story is focused on Allison's small world.

Another thing I can't state enough is that if Allison really is some super unstoppable force, it breaks one of the themes of the story which is "not being able to punch away your problems". Allison isn't in a position to become Ultraman and just declare the world under her control. She can be stopped, it may take effort or time but she can be stopped. She's strong but the bloke who can teleport is more of a threat than she is because he could conceivably just go and assassinate every major world leader by himself provided he knew where they were. The puppet guy was able to control one city which is impressive but he was contained and systematically routed.

If she manages to get away with kidnapping Max with no consequence from law enforcement I will be disappointed because she really will have become something very close to a Mary Sue. The kind of character where even if their wrong and the story knows they are wrong nothing truly bad ever happens to them aside from feeling bad for themselves.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Stormgale posted:

This is going to be something dumb like she made a catatonic organ factory using feral's powers or something.

Synthbuttrange posted:

Full sized ferals burst out of all the people she donated organs to

Serene Dragon posted:

Okay, I'm done. I am 1000% done with this comic.

Honest to god, I wasn't even that put off by the whole Mary chapter despite how terrible that was. But this chapter is just abominable. loving dire in every way.