Shortpacked! seems to be pretty 1:1 in terms of time. Sure, it slows down for story arcs, but then time catches up in the lull. So it has been a year or so.
I have to admit, seeing Mike freaking out so much is hilarious to me. I have to wonder if he’s thinking to himself “So this is what it’s like when I’m a jackass to people.” … Probably not.
Now let’s stop exaggerating. If you knew a guy like Mike, you’d be visiting him in PRISON. It’s almost impossible for you to know someone exactly like Mike.
Threatning people. Lghting at least one person to memory on fire, and various other accounts of committing bodily harm to others that I’m not going to go through.
Hmm, okay, you have a small arsenal of points, though I still think these incidents are both greatly outnumbered by his more usual acts of asshollery, which tend more to mindgames and shattering hopes and the like. Plus, how much of these incidents are 1) covered under the rule of funny, and (relatedly) 2) common to the rest of the cast? I mean, Amber wields a cornpopper with lethal accuracy, Ultra-car kidnaps people to the amazon, Galasso engaged in creative child abuse, at least once Ethan and even numerous nearby kids have joined in on the beatdown of a whatchacallit, a dude who returns wrong toys in packaging. So either *everyone* goes to jail, or there’s a different standard, under which Mike doesn’t seem all *that* criminal to me.
Mike is getting burned over and over and over all of a sudden! He’s losing his edge, his motive, his intimidation and Amber is hitting for the cycle here! Amber has finally become fully immune to criticism.
Seems I’m the only one with the inside scoop that she’s Amazi-Girl…..WHOOPS! Shouldn’t have said that outloud, of course everyone knows that that’s Ultracar, Amber’s SpiderCar!
I’ve always thought that if I were Batman and I were determined to get back at the Joker without killing him, I’d knock him out and have the words “Not Funny” tattooed backwards on his forehead.
Never occurred to me to deliver a marriage proposal that way. That would add a whole new angle to the comics, let me tell you.
That actually sound romantic. Need to get a good henna set.
My first thought about the banner is to say, “Is John Stewart chopped liver?”, but then I realize that I’ve never read the JL comics and have no idea about them outside of the cartoon…
I don’t know (remember) the exact dates as I never read Justice League, but it just so happens I used to read Green Lantern back in the day. There was a story line (Collected in “Brother’s Keeper”) at the end of which Kyle had a personal crisis and left earth for a few years leaving John Stewart (who’d been a GL character for a long time) behind to look after earth and he took Kyle’s place in the Justice League during that time (which I believe more or less coincided with the run of one or both of the Justice League Cartoons) though the main GL title was still about Kyle.
Hal’s only in the JL for the flashback storyline and another Lantern is taking his place when it concludes. Think there’s a pretty good chance it’s John, since Guy’s in the JLI and Kyle in the New Guardians. They might go with some random, surprising choice though, who knows.
I find it interesting that Amber trails off with “You’re still in…” If she was referring to Mike still working at McAwesome’s, then wouldn’t “You’re still at [McAwesome's]” make more grammatical sense? Is there something we don’t know yet, or am I just nitpicking grammar?
I’m assuming she means “in” as in “in this relationship”, not having broken up with her yet. Anyways, the whole blackmail business was ended when she offers him the chance to leave and he says no.
“You’re still in… (love with me)” or did you forget that after she punched him in the face, he said that. Not to mention how upset she was when he did tell her he loved her. It wouldn’t surprise me to see that Amber didn’t want to bring that particular event up again.
I betcha two bob to a penny that the black guy has a hero name with one of these words included: black, dark, night, shadow or some other reference to him being black.
And then I just remembered that she’s essentially blackmailing him with his drunkard state into being her boyfriend. Is Mike really still in it cause he wants to be?
Limb replacement? Half of his HEAD has been replaced. He’s a weird transhuman who regularly mopes about how alienated he is and once tried to renovate the moon into a space fortress before his old team mates woke him up.
Yeah, that doesn’t make him any less of a black person. It’s ridiculous. If you replaced half of me with machinery, I’d still be white. If you downloaded me into a friggin’ computer, I’d still be white.
If we downloaded you into a computer it would be a pretty tenuous claim to still call you a HUMAN, much less white. I agree that having prosthetic parts that leave your remaining organic parts wholly black doesn’t make you ‘half-black’, since black/whiteness in this case is purely a statement about your organic genetics; however if you have no organic parts whatsoever, at that point I think you’ve lost your claim on an organic, genetic racial state.
I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think race is a state of mind – you don’t get to be white/black solely on the basis of an assertion that you are despite all physical evidence. And no, Jazz is not a counterexample.
No, you aren’t getting it. He’s only half person. Being black depends on being a person so he’s still only half of “a black guy” using the strip’s terminology. He’s only half of a guy. He’s a CYBORG.
He’s not just a guy with some prosthetic limbs and a robot jaw and a robot eye. His BRAIN is half robot too. And that IS a big part of how DC have described his character unless they’ve revised him somehow in the comics. When Jericho recently tried to possess Cyborg he ended up being digitized into Cyborg’s machine-memory as a file and was later downloaded to a disc. That’s because Cyborg (Victor Stone) shut his human eye cutting Jericho off from the organic side.
Personally I wish DC would just say he’s a person (the TV show did!) but that’s not “WildStorm-esque” enough for today’s comics audience who want tortured beings who are forced to betray their established nature every now and again.
I think you missed the part where I said if my brain was downloaded into a computer, I’d still pretty much be a white dude. But as a program. Cyborg’s no different. He is who he is, no matter how that manifests in physical form. Metallo’s still a white dude. Hank Henshaw’s still a white dude. Extremis Armor Iron Man is still a white dude.
If you want to be mean to poor little Cyborg, he’s 50% of a 100% black dude. He’s not 100% of a 50% black dude, so he’s not ‘half-black’ – his blackness hasn’t been divided; his humanity has (arguably).
I’ll just politely agree to disagree whether Metallo has any claim on his race left – I find it hard to distinguish his current state from a robot that was always a robot and simply programmed to *think* it was a white man. And suffice to say I wouldn’t be inclined to argue the point with him (in part because I wouldn’t want to get dead).
Before 2005 I would have agreed with you due to the sheer lack of great Hal Jordan stories at the time. However, since Rebirth, Hal Jordan has rocked it and has become the greatest Green Lantern once again, until a few weeks ago, that is.
I’ve always had a weird affection for Mike, despite his insane cartoon villiany. Or maybe because of it. It may seem weird, but I’m glad that Amber can go toe to toe with him and win, I’m glad he has someone in his life whom he wants there, and who is his “equal.”
If I’m remembering right, the last time we saw the whites of Mike’s eyes was when Dina died.
… Amber is officially the second woman to ever break through the shell of general unpleasantness to the rage (or other feelings hidden within) that Mike has.
And she did it not once, but twice. That girl has a talent, and I can honestly say that she’s one of the few people who can put Mike in his place. And she doesn’t even need super powers to do it.
If she was an abductee she would have shown signs of stregnth at least near similar to Mike’s. The only shows of stregnth I can remember is when she socked him hard.
I don’t believe that it was demonstrated that all abductees have the same level of super-strength – did Dina ever bend any bars? Actually I’ll correct myself – we *know* that they have varying levels of super-strength; we just don’t know if there’s a lower bound above ‘none at all’. Is Joe super-strong?
(I’ll hasten to add that there is _no_evidence_whatsoever_ that Amber is actually an abductee. But eh, wild speculation is fun.)
Mike looks genuinely unnerved by all this. But Amber does have a point. I don’t think Mike has, at any point, really made any effort into trying to destroy or sabotage their relationship. Either Mike has really deep feelings for her, or he’s suffering from some sort of Stockholm syndrome. That or this is all leading up to the most epic of mind-fuck tricks that will destroy not only Amber but everyone else in their group.
And I got a big kick at the “Justice League: We have a black guy now!” banner. I find it really odd that they replace Martian Manhunter (who for the longest time was in almost EVER JL team at one point or another) for Cyborg who honestly hasn’t fully managed to break out past B-Level character. I mean, yes, he’s appeared in shows like Smallville and Super-Friends. But he’s usually associated with the Teen Titans. Even when he graduated to the JLA in Robinson’s run, it was only as a minor supporting guest star.
I’m just curious as to why they decided on him over Mister Terrific or… um… Well not Steel, because they already have a Super character. And not John Stewart because they already have Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern… and not Ragman because he’s not nearly popular enough… and not Static because he’s still a kid… but what about… um… Well Firestorm II might work… but he has to merge with a white kid to activate his powers I think, so I’m not sure if that counts… But they could have always used… uh…
Huh. Does DC really only have 7 prominent African American heroes? (Cyborg, Steel, Mr. Terrific, Ragman, John Stewart, Static, Firestorm) I can’t think of any other prominent ones.
I cant believe I forgot Black Lightning. I blame Dan Didio’s run on Outsiders. That book has been so far below my radar that I completely forgot it, and its characters still existed.
B.V. was created only for the SuperFriends show, so uh, that’s a big “no.” In fact, let’s never mention that show again. It makes even the 90′s X-men cartoon look like a masterpiece. (well, maybe not -that- good, but certainly better than SF)
Hey, Super Friends (well, one of it’s renamed direct sequel serieses) gave us the first on-screen representation of Batman’s origin. (That episode was astonishingly dark, too.) It’s not *all* bad. Just large chunks of it.
2nd Amazing Man (The other two were black but I think two of them are dead now, one from Old Age and one from a really dumb ‘kill lots of unwanted characters to make your new villain look bad ass’ scene in Robinson’s Star Man that also killed off Blue Devil and Crimson Fox)
Black Vulcan Technically he’s just a re-imagining of Black Lightning to get around some sort of IP rights problems on the 2nd season of the Super Friends show involving Tony Isabella.
Mal Duncan was the really weird Teen Titan who had a magical horn he could blow that did things.
Bumble Bee was also a Teen Titan for a while though she was pretty much just a DC rip off of the Wasp who shrinks, flies, and shoots little blasts.
Yeah, but like Black Lightning’s kids none of those characters are really PROMINENT African American characters. I think all of them are basically considered C-level characters who get vaguely remembered solely out of a nostalgic factor rather than being popular enough to make it onto the JLA. Its probably safe to say all those characters are going to be benched for the foreseeable future.
The JLA had Vibe, Gypsy, and Steel(the fake cyborg captain America version now called Citizen Steel) in it during the Detroit era. It is FAR from being a popularity contest. It even had a crappy angel character in it at one point. Zauriel I think?
When you think about it, even “prominence” doesn’t mean much. DC has had no consistent ever idea what to do with Wonder Woman since they brought her back for the damned Silver Age and it’s probably why she is one of the more constantly renovated characters. I remember when she was a kung-fu disco secret agent with no powers in the 70′s.
Aquaman is prominent but he’s also a crap magnet who is regularly chased around by idiots who want to cause him to get a divorce, use him to break up the Justice League, give him a purple costume, or declare him a water elemental, or give him a harpoon-hand and a Conan(TM barbarian harness or water hand powers, just turn him into a hooded squid and kill him off.
Black Lightning also had a daughter in the Outsiders. Thunder, I think. But I stopped reading that book aged ago, for all I know she could be dead by now.
Yeah, but both of Black Lightning’s kids )Thunder and Lightning) aren’t really prominent characters. I don’t think anyone except people who read the comics they appear in would know who they are. And they’re probably going to be benched or erased from existence in the DCnU
The latest Azrael is black, though he’s not exactly JLA material. There’s also the new Aqualad. Unfortunately, they weren’t around in the Silver Age.
And I’d think Steel (either John or Natasha) could easily distinguish himself/herself as a strong enough character to stand on their own (like Oracle, but she’s gone too). Hell, John-Steel was part of the JLA for a while.
They seem big on media synergy right now, so I think his spot in the Young Justice cartoon will assure he gets some pagetime. Probably in Teen Titans unless Geoff Johns has plan for him.
That does bring up an interesting question, however. “Without converting, is it possible to be Black and Jewish?” Now I’m curious. Now look what you did! XD
Dude! Ragman’s a white Jew! I assure you that if you count him, youbetter add Batwoman to the list. And since when was Ragman prominent?
But, really, there really aren’t a lot of prominent superheroes at all, so if those are the only prominent black superheroes you can think of, it shouldn’t be surprising. I’d like to add Spectre, Amazing Man, Bronze Tiger, and the new Aqualad to the list, but I’d need some clarity about what ‘prominent’ means.
As I said above, my mistake. For some reason I thought he was Black. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a comic with him not wearing his mask. And he got a lot of attention the last few years appearing in Shadowpack, Robin, pretty much every Crisis Book lately and assorted other mystical books.
And by “Prominent” I’m talking about characters who non- comic fans would recognize and who could be considered popular by most fans. Characters for example who have appeared outside of comics or as primary characters in Flagship books like JLA such as Steel, Black Lightning, Aqualad II, Static, John Stewart, Mr. Terrific, Vixen and Fire Storm. All of them have appeared in shows like JLU, Smallville, Young Justice or even Batman Brave and the Bold in prominent roles.
I don’t imagine there’s more than 50 DC superheroes that non-comic readers would recognize, so 6 black ones probably wouldn’t be too few. I don’t see how you can count Mr. Terrific as prominent by that measure, though, because didn’t he only have one line in JLU? And as far as I can tell, Ragman’s two claims to fame are that he was once a member of a canceled (but admittedly fun) team whose most prominent character was Detective Chimp, and during one crisis he got to talk to Mr. Terrific. Maybe I haven’t been reading the right comics, though?
Faz would never admit to getting a seemingly successful idea from someone else…unless, of course, Mike convinced him that Amber would love him even more for taking Mike’s advice?
Mike would plan all sorts of wonderfully evil Wedding plans, only for Amber to spoil them by not showing up to the wedding.
However…..Mike would love her for this
Previous Black Justice League members = John Stewart (GL), Vixen, Black Condor, Black Lightning. It’s not a long list but then the Justice League doesn’t have enough employees to have to follow EEC laws.
Yea, but the fact dc’s been sidlining alot of minority characters and increasing the the presence of strait white males (and to a lesser extent strait white females) while alleging “Diversity!!” deserves commentary.
Technically, Cyborg was a member of Donna and Dick’s Justice League for like an issue or so.
I’m not sure. I liked the line up and bought the series. But, reading it made no sense at all. There were so many crossovers into titles that didn’t interest me that I had no clue what was going on or who was on the team.
I should have said that I liked the advertized line up: Donna, Dick, Cyborg, Starfire, Guardian, Dr Light II, Ollie, Hal, Atom, a gorrilla, and a guy dressed as Superman with the shield on his shoulder rather than across the chest. Never did find out who he was supposed to be.
Black Condor isn’t black. The second one was Native American, and third one is Mayan. I don’t know which one was in the League; I know it wasn’t the first one (who was white, anyway).
This comic is inaccurate. There needs to be about five gajillion more people in the background for this to even begin to look like it takes place at SDCC.
I had a lousy week, and this is the first time I've logged in all day. Seeing Mike and Amber together, made me forget all my body aches, stress and fatigue for the day. :3
LOL! This reminds me of It’s Walky when Mike was dating Dina. *We will always remember you Dina.* Amber and Mike are perfect together, but I truly cannot imagine them married. :/ … I wonder what that would look like. *begins imagining it* Ahhhhh, something tells me that I will get in trouble with Mike if I try imagining that. DX
I think in their relationship, Amber would prove how much more in charge she is by waiting for him to ask her (or, as she did now, TELLING him he is going to ask her) than by asking herself–if she asks him, she exposes weakness, because asking leaves you vulnerable to being told “No.”
Amber has check-mated Mikes never ending cynicism! The only way this could have been better is if she had made a crack about Mike’s mom and a nickel… perhaps later.
So I have to ask, that poster was a reference to the animated Justice League in the early 2000′s, right? There’s not some new Justice League thing I’m missing, right?
Awesome!
By the way, Willis, did you see my awesome proposal to my girlfriend in the web comics section on Saturday? With the doomsday device and the imperial troopers?
I wonder sometimes if I’m the only one who HATES the Amber-Mike relationship. Well, to be fair, I think I may be the only person who doesn’t like Mike at all. And that’s fine. I’ve NEVER been a Mike fan. I hope DoA Amber ends up with someone else down the line.
It can be cute sometimes like right now, but I was hoping she’d dump him for Jacob. I don’t care for Mike either. I know this is a comic where you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, but I find Mike especially taxing because someone that prone to violence would be arrested hundreds of times over. He’s a prick and proud of it which is why I like how Amber seems to be turning the tables on him.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who dislikes Mike. This pairing kinda saddens me. But whatever, it’s not a big deal. He’s a troll, though, and I just can’t stand trolls, fictional or not.
I think Amber is slowly taking control. She started out shy,timid,and mousy but has more confidence now in herself. I think shes playing Mike to piss him off. Never crazy about Mike either, especially after he boinked Joyces’ other half. Yes Amber and Joyce are my top 2 cuties here.
I just realized that at this point, Mike has the recording of Amber’s mom and Jacob having sex, which means he’s probably in the middle of doctoring it for his proposal.
Or maybe this is what caused him to doctor his proposal?
Man, Amber’s taste in men is questionable.
Also, WOAH THEY HAVE A BLACK GUY NOW!
Tokenism.
And less women.
Fewer. Women are not sand, water, or blood.
I think you will find that women are composed of a sizeable percentage of blood.
by reading up on biology, I mean, not by practical studies.
Please don’t do practical studies.
Didn’t they already have a couple of black guys? And not the honky killing legacey types, but orginal black heroes?
This reboot gonna suck worse then the GL movie.
na things will be the same some titles will be good other titles will suck and only Didio will care about OMAC.
Honestly I think that joke was better than the real punchline. Good job Willis; even your background jokes are great.
“YOU RUINED THE SURPRISE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE”
Then, Bridezilla.
Mike as a bridezilla? I can see it.
Though technically, wouldn’t that be husbandzilla?
Don’t you mean Groomzilla?
No he does not.
I say she is bluffing.
Then again, I say he is too.
Mike is oddly non-hopes-dashing here. Perhaps he’s in after all?
it is Amber who has taken the role of hope dashing… She’s blocking Mikes attempts at every turn!
Well, you see, she pissed him off. And he considers that extremely sexy.
Whites of his eyes… WHITES OF HIS EYES!
Will they be a new feature for Mike or will they disappear once the status-quo has been returned?
What status quo?
You know, the status-quo of Mike being in control of the situation, THAT SQ.
Hasn’t that been out the window for at least a year now?
In our time maybe, but in comic time? Way shorter.
Shortpacked! seems to be pretty 1:1 in terms of time. Sure, it slows down for story arcs, but then time catches up in the lull. So it has been a year or so.
Still, Mike freaking out… that’s quite unusual.
I have to admit, seeing Mike freaking out so much is hilarious to me. I have to wonder if he’s thinking to himself “So this is what it’s like when I’m a jackass to people.” … Probably not.
The M-word often freaks out even the manliest of men.
Honestly? I hope so. He looks hilarious with those whites.
OH GOD MAKE IT STOP, I CAN’T HANDLE THIS
Notice the pause before Mike came up with a response. Also notice how the response wasn’t calm and collected like Mike’s one-liners always are.
Mike just realized that he’s DOOOOOOOOOOM’d.
How is it I still like Mike even though he does terrible things, but I disapprove of Amber for other, perhaps even lesser, terrible things?
Because no one expects anything different from Mike?
So, Mike’s the scorpion stinging the gullible frog? I can see it, but what’s that make Amber?
A bullfrog. They eat scorpions after all : D
Because Mike doesn’t even approach being a realistic character usually, while Amber (and everyone else) does?
That’s exactly how it; for me, at least.
i know a guy exactly like mike in real life and i still like him too. people just like tremendous dicks
Now let’s stop exaggerating. If you knew a guy like Mike, you’d be visiting him in PRISON. It’s almost impossible for you to know someone exactly like Mike.
What has Mike done that’s been worthy of prison? Just out of curiosity.
I’ll grant you one: being accessory to the kidnapping of Galasso. Anything else?
Threatning people. Lghting at least one person to memory on fire, and various other accounts of committing bodily harm to others that I’m not going to go through.
Hmm, okay, you have a small arsenal of points, though I still think these incidents are both greatly outnumbered by his more usual acts of asshollery, which tend more to mindgames and shattering hopes and the like. Plus, how much of these incidents are 1) covered under the rule of funny, and (relatedly) 2) common to the rest of the cast? I mean, Amber wields a cornpopper with lethal accuracy, Ultra-car kidnaps people to the amazon, Galasso engaged in creative child abuse, at least once Ethan and even numerous nearby kids have joined in on the beatdown of a whatchacallit, a dude who returns wrong toys in packaging. So either *everyone* goes to jail, or there’s a different standard, under which Mike doesn’t seem all *that* criminal to me.
Repeated, regular assault. Hell, he beat the shit out of a guy in the movie theatre a few comics ago
It’s because you’re TOTALLY SEXIST. (nods)
Does it seem to anyone else that Mike has been out-Miked? This page amuses me so.
I second this. This is Mike’s most interesting, almost cute, moment – when he realizes she’s right and he’s been outdone for once.
In Mike World, that’s practically a proposal right there.
It occurs to me… Has anyone reading these forums seen or read Level E? Because I’m suddenly seeing some blindingly obvious parallels.
Oh, God yes. I can’t believe I didn’t see it. Though Mike’s usually a lot smarter than The Dumbass Prince.
And now I wanna see the remaining Shortpacked! cast as the Color Rangers. . .
Mike, don’t encourage her.
Mike is getting burned over and over and over all of a sudden! He’s losing his edge, his motive, his intimidation and Amber is hitting for the cycle here! Amber has finally become fully immune to criticism.
Well, she’s been dating Mike for years. You too could be immune to criticism if you spend your time with Chaotic Neutral like Mike.
Immune to criticism? Now why does that sound sooo familiar? HMMMMMMMMM!
Seems I’m the only one with the inside scoop that she’s Amazi-Girl…..WHOOPS! Shouldn’t have said that outloud, of course everyone knows that that’s Ultracar, Amber’s SpiderCar!
I though Jacob was Spider-car
Chaotic Neutral? Mike would never be that half-assed.
Agreed Mike is Chaotic Fuck-you.
Mike is everything you don’t want him to be.
And your mother.
For a nickel.
With his peni- oh wait, wrong universe.
“I’m not evil! I’m chaotic neutral!”
Woah, they have a black guy now!
Maybe they could bring back Apache Chief, Eldorado and that other token guy from Super Friends!
You mean Samurai? I think it was a Japanese guy named Samurai.
Yup, just as Shortpacked lost theres…. GASP! In the DCnU, Jacob is the new Cyborg!!!
I’ve always thought that if I were Batman and I were determined to get back at the Joker without killing him, I’d knock him out and have the words “Not Funny” tattooed backwards on his forehead.
Never occurred to me to deliver a marriage proposal that way. That would add a whole new angle to the comics, let me tell you.
You just know he would find either funny anyways.
How about the word “Puddin”. It’s set him off before.
What difference would a tattoo make under all that make-up?
Make up? Doesn’t that depend on which Joker we’re talking about?
That actually sound romantic. Need to get a good henna set.
My first thought about the banner is to say, “Is John Stewart chopped liver?”, but then I realize that I’ve never read the JL comics and have no idea about them outside of the cartoon…
I don’t know (remember) the exact dates as I never read Justice League, but it just so happens I used to read Green Lantern back in the day. There was a story line (Collected in “Brother’s Keeper”) at the end of which Kyle had a personal crisis and left earth for a few years leaving John Stewart (who’d been a GL character for a long time) behind to look after earth and he took Kyle’s place in the Justice League during that time (which I believe more or less coincided with the run of one or both of the Justice League Cartoons) though the main GL title was still about Kyle.
and now you know!
[/nerd]
And then, since he is semi-retired, he started on the comedy circuit and now hosts an evening news comedy show?
Hal’s only in the JL for the flashback storyline and another Lantern is taking his place when it concludes. Think there’s a pretty good chance it’s John, since Guy’s in the JLI and Kyle in the New Guardians. They might go with some random, surprising choice though, who knows.
Pretty sure it’s gonna be this guy. (SDCC news. Don’t click if you think that stuff is spoilers.)
I had a laugh about that. If they don’t retcon his leaving the corps, how could anyone accept him being a hero?
He just proposed the best proposal ever.
I find it interesting that Amber trails off with “You’re still in…” If she was referring to Mike still working at McAwesome’s, then wouldn’t “You’re still at [McAwesome's]” make more grammatical sense? Is there something we don’t know yet, or am I just nitpicking grammar?
I think Amber meant “in”, as in “you’re still in the relationship”.
But I dunno
Damn, ninja’d
No, that could definitely be it… it’s probably just me who sees issues with it.
I’m assuming she means “in” as in “in this relationship”, not having broken up with her yet. Anyways, the whole blackmail business was ended when she offers him the chance to leave and he says no.
I was thinking ‘in denial’ but only Walky knows for sure.
“You’re still in… (love with me)” or did you forget that after she punched him in the face, he said that. Not to mention how upset she was when he did tell her he loved her. It wouldn’t surprise me to see that Amber didn’t want to bring that particular event up again.
Mike’s balls: She’s got them.
Black people in the JLA? Poppycock and farthingrass!
I betcha two bob to a penny that the black guy has a hero name with one of these words included: black, dark, night, shadow or some other reference to him being black.
Black Mask is not black and Cyborg didn’t have black in his name.
…Does that mean they cancel each other out?
Cyborg is more of an expection than a rule.
Expection? Is that a fancy word for spitting?
I’m deriving no joy from pointing out these typos, PM – starting to feel like I’m just being mean…
It was meant to be exception, what can I say, I had a brain-fart or something.
“Brain-fart”? But “expection” would be such a nice neologism for expected exceptions.
Instead, he has a name referring the the much smaller minority that he is a part of (Techno-Organic Americans).
You mean like Black Lightning, Black Racer, Black Spider, Black Vulcan, Blindside, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Black Eagle
Carla White of the Darkstars. While name is not Black she is a Darkstar.
Mike looks worried and desperate in the last panel. Perhaps for once he really doesn’t know how to turn a situation to his advantage!
And then I just remembered that she’s essentially blackmailing him with his drunkard state into being her boyfriend. Is Mike really still in it cause he wants to be?
She told him he could be out a while back, but he stayed.
He also flat-out told her he loved her. Knowing Mike, it could’ve been a lie, but it sure seemed like he was being sincere. Evil-sincere, naturally.
From my observations of Mike, I’d say he has near compulsive honesty, except about your mom.
Or does he?
Mike is honest about all the things you (really really) don’t want him to be.
I guess by that logic, I have a girlfriend, she just hasn’t asked me yet.
You have someone blackmailing you too? OH MY!
God dammit George Takei, get out of my head!
willis both you’re logic bombs rock today
Dumbingofage.com
OH MY GOD!!!!! There’s a black guy in the Justice League?!!?!
The whites of Mike’s eyes make me think that Amber may have broken him.
This comic is misleading. Cyborg is only half a black guy tops.
That’s an assertion that’s always bugged me. Why would limb replacement make a man less of what he is?
Maybe it’s because he’s half machine that most people assume that he’s half black.
When the machines are sentient, they’ll be considered a race.
Limb replacement? Half of his HEAD has been replaced. He’s a weird transhuman who regularly mopes about how alienated he is and once tried to renovate the moon into a space fortress before his old team mates woke him up.
Yeah, that doesn’t make him any less of a black person. It’s ridiculous. If you replaced half of me with machinery, I’d still be white. If you downloaded me into a friggin’ computer, I’d still be white.
(I am pretty damn white.)
If we downloaded you into a computer it would be a pretty tenuous claim to still call you a HUMAN, much less white. I agree that having prosthetic parts that leave your remaining organic parts wholly black doesn’t make you ‘half-black’, since black/whiteness in this case is purely a statement about your organic genetics; however if you have no organic parts whatsoever, at that point I think you’ve lost your claim on an organic, genetic racial state.
I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think race is a state of mind – you don’t get to be white/black solely on the basis of an assertion that you are despite all physical evidence. And no, Jazz is not a counterexample.
By volume you’d be half white and half person.
I’m with Mr. Willis on this one. Both of Victor Stone’s parents were black, so there is definitely no “half-black” here.
No, you aren’t getting it. He’s only half person. Being black depends on being a person so he’s still only half of “a black guy” using the strip’s terminology. He’s only half of a guy. He’s a CYBORG.
He’s not just a guy with some prosthetic limbs and a robot jaw and a robot eye. His BRAIN is half robot too. And that IS a big part of how DC have described his character unless they’ve revised him somehow in the comics. When Jericho recently tried to possess Cyborg he ended up being digitized into Cyborg’s machine-memory as a file and was later downloaded to a disc. That’s because Cyborg (Victor Stone) shut his human eye cutting Jericho off from the organic side.
Personally I wish DC would just say he’s a person (the TV show did!) but that’s not “WildStorm-esque” enough for today’s comics audience who want tortured beings who are forced to betray their established nature every now and again.
I think you missed the part where I said if my brain was downloaded into a computer, I’d still pretty much be a white dude. But as a program. Cyborg’s no different. He is who he is, no matter how that manifests in physical form. Metallo’s still a white dude. Hank Henshaw’s still a white dude. Extremis Armor Iron Man is still a white dude.
If you want to be mean to poor little Cyborg, he’s 50% of a 100% black dude. He’s not 100% of a 50% black dude, so he’s not ‘half-black’ – his blackness hasn’t been divided; his humanity has (arguably).
I’ll just politely agree to disagree whether Metallo has any claim on his race left – I find it hard to distinguish his current state from a robot that was always a robot and simply programmed to *think* it was a white man. And suffice to say I wouldn’t be inclined to argue the point with him (in part because I wouldn’t want to get dead).
“Less of what he is?” What is your problem, man? Suddenly you’re hating on robots? Are you a vitalist? :p
I can’t tell if Mike is extremely frustrated…or just incredibly turned on.
Maybe they’re synonymous for him?
Maybe he’s both extremely frustrated and incredibly turned on.
HATESEX.
it is not often we get to see the look of true fear on Mike’s face.
LOL love the “we have a black guy now!!!”
I am loving this so much
Wow, Mike looks quite flabbergasted. I don’t quite think I’ve ever seen him this perturbed at something.
And I’ve been reading since Roomies!
That Justice League poster joke would be awesome if it hadn’t been the slogan for the Justice League animated series
Yeah, but Stewart is at least three times the Green Lantern that Jordan ever was.
(Ten times the GL that Hal was if you go with his JLU incarnation, just based on the “Savage Time” alternate-history World War II arc alone.)
Before 2005 I would have agreed with you due to the sheer lack of great Hal Jordan stories at the time. However, since Rebirth, Hal Jordan has rocked it and has become the greatest Green Lantern once again, until a few weeks ago, that is.
I’ve always had a weird affection for Mike, despite his insane cartoon villiany. Or maybe because of it. It may seem weird, but I’m glad that Amber can go toe to toe with him and win, I’m glad he has someone in his life whom he wants there, and who is his “equal.”
If I’m remembering right, the last time we saw the whites of Mike’s eyes was when Dina died.
… Amber is officially the second woman to ever break through the shell of general unpleasantness to the rage (or other feelings hidden within) that Mike has.
And she did it not once, but twice. That girl has a talent, and I can honestly say that she’s one of the few people who can put Mike in his place. And she doesn’t even need super powers to do it.
What do you mean – she’s Immune To Criticism!
And more/less seriously, are we *quite* certain that she’s not an abductee too? We know she’s rather strong for her size…
If she was an abductee she would have shown signs of stregnth at least near similar to Mike’s. The only shows of stregnth I can remember is when she socked him hard.
I don’t believe that it was demonstrated that all abductees have the same level of super-strength – did Dina ever bend any bars? Actually I’ll correct myself – we *know* that they have varying levels of super-strength; we just don’t know if there’s a lower bound above ‘none at all’. Is Joe super-strong?
(I’ll hasten to add that there is _no_evidence_whatsoever_ that Amber is actually an abductee. But eh, wild speculation is fun.)
Faz was abducted. (And probed. Repeatedly.)
That makes Amber half-abducted.
I think that only applies to parents. Though that does make her half related to an abductee, think that counts?
Mike looks genuinely unnerved by all this. But Amber does have a point. I don’t think Mike has, at any point, really made any effort into trying to destroy or sabotage their relationship. Either Mike has really deep feelings for her, or he’s suffering from some sort of Stockholm syndrome. That or this is all leading up to the most epic of mind-fuck tricks that will destroy not only Amber but everyone else in their group.
And I got a big kick at the “Justice League: We have a black guy now!” banner. I find it really odd that they replace Martian Manhunter (who for the longest time was in almost EVER JL team at one point or another) for Cyborg who honestly hasn’t fully managed to break out past B-Level character. I mean, yes, he’s appeared in shows like Smallville and Super-Friends. But he’s usually associated with the Teen Titans. Even when he graduated to the JLA in Robinson’s run, it was only as a minor supporting guest star.
I’m just curious as to why they decided on him over Mister Terrific or… um… Well not Steel, because they already have a Super character. And not John Stewart because they already have Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern… and not Ragman because he’s not nearly popular enough… and not Static because he’s still a kid… but what about… um… Well Firestorm II might work… but he has to merge with a white kid to activate his powers I think, so I’m not sure if that counts… But they could have always used… uh…
Huh. Does DC really only have 7 prominent African American heroes? (Cyborg, Steel, Mr. Terrific, Ragman, John Stewart, Static, Firestorm) I can’t think of any other prominent ones.
You forgot Black Lightning and….I’ll be damned….
Is Vixen prominent enough? (Is she even in any comics at the moment?)
She’s gonna be in JLI
I cant believe I forgot Black Lightning. I blame Dan Didio’s run on Outsiders. That book has been so far below my radar that I completely forgot it, and its characters still existed.
Does Black Vulcan count?
B.V. was created only for the SuperFriends show, so uh, that’s a big “no.” In fact, let’s never mention that show again. It makes even the 90′s X-men cartoon look like a masterpiece. (well, maybe not -that- good, but certainly better than SF)
Hey, Super Friends (well, one of it’s renamed direct sequel serieses) gave us the first on-screen representation of Batman’s origin. (That episode was astonishingly dark, too.) It’s not *all* bad. Just large chunks of it.
Isn’t Black Vulcan essentially just Black Lightning? I mean, they have the same powers and their costumes have similarities.
There’s Vixen and Black Lightning.
So we’ve got 9 prominent African American characters… huh. Doesn’t seem like that much.
Yeah, but how many asian, latino, or american indian heroes are there?
There’s Ryan Choi and Element Woman in the new Justice League.
Tempest of the Doom Patrol revival
2nd Amazing Man (The other two were black but I think two of them are dead now, one from Old Age and one from a really dumb ‘kill lots of unwanted characters to make your new villain look bad ass’ scene in Robinson’s Star Man that also killed off Blue Devil and Crimson Fox)
Black Vulcan Technically he’s just a re-imagining of Black Lightning to get around some sort of IP rights problems on the 2nd season of the Super Friends show involving Tony Isabella.
Mal Duncan was the really weird Teen Titan who had a magical horn he could blow that did things.
Bumble Bee was also a Teen Titan for a while though she was pretty much just a DC rip off of the Wasp who shrinks, flies, and shoots little blasts.
That’s all I can think of right now.
Orpheus (who got killed off in the War Games Batman crossover) was kind of a martial artist vigilante who had a stealth suit.
Yeah, but like Black Lightning’s kids none of those characters are really PROMINENT African American characters. I think all of them are basically considered C-level characters who get vaguely remembered solely out of a nostalgic factor rather than being popular enough to make it onto the JLA. Its probably safe to say all those characters are going to be benched for the foreseeable future.
The JLA had Vibe, Gypsy, and Steel(the fake cyborg captain America version now called Citizen Steel) in it during the Detroit era. It is FAR from being a popularity contest. It even had a crappy angel character in it at one point. Zauriel I think?
When you think about it, even “prominence” doesn’t mean much. DC has had no consistent ever idea what to do with Wonder Woman since they brought her back for the damned Silver Age and it’s probably why she is one of the more constantly renovated characters. I remember when she was a kung-fu disco secret agent with no powers in the 70′s.
Aquaman is prominent but he’s also a crap magnet who is regularly chased around by idiots who want to cause him to get a divorce, use him to break up the Justice League, give him a purple costume, or declare him a water elemental, or give him a harpoon-hand and a Conan(TM barbarian harness or water hand powers, just turn him into a hooded squid and kill him off.
Part of that may be because they have to print so many Wonder Woman stories a year or they lose the character.
That was true at one point, but DC owns the character outright now.
Black Lightning also had a daughter in the Outsiders. Thunder, I think. But I stopped reading that book aged ago, for all I know she could be dead by now.
Yeah, but both of Black Lightning’s kids )Thunder and Lightning) aren’t really prominent characters. I don’t think anyone except people who read the comics they appear in would know who they are. And they’re probably going to be benched or erased from existence in the DCnU
The latest Azrael is black, though he’s not exactly JLA material. There’s also the new Aqualad. Unfortunately, they weren’t around in the Silver Age.
And I’d think Steel (either John or Natasha) could easily distinguish himself/herself as a strong enough character to stand on their own (like Oracle, but she’s gone too). Hell, John-Steel was part of the JLA for a while.
I think the new Azreal is probably going to get benched in the new DCU though. I don’t think he’s been mentioned in any of the new solicits.
Oh, and is the new Aqualad even appearing in the new DCU? I haven’t heard much about him since Brightest Day finished.
They seem big on media synergy right now, so I think his spot in the Young Justice cartoon will assure he gets some pagetime. Probably in Teen Titans unless Geoff Johns has plan for him.
Dude: Ragman is white. Doesn’t belong on that list. Sorry! http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Rory_Regan_%28New_Earth%29
Ah, my mistake. For some reason I thought he was Black and Jewish. Sorry about that.
That does bring up an interesting question, however. “Without converting, is it possible to be Black and Jewish?” Now I’m curious. Now look what you did! XD
Black and Jewish? YES!
Just check the news archives for the rescue and repatriation of the Somali Jews to Israel.
Dude! Ragman’s a white Jew! I assure you that if you count him, youbetter add Batwoman to the list. And since when was Ragman prominent?
But, really, there really aren’t a lot of prominent superheroes at all, so if those are the only prominent black superheroes you can think of, it shouldn’t be surprising. I’d like to add Spectre, Amazing Man, Bronze Tiger, and the new Aqualad to the list, but I’d need some clarity about what ‘prominent’ means.
As I said above, my mistake. For some reason I thought he was Black. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a comic with him not wearing his mask. And he got a lot of attention the last few years appearing in Shadowpack, Robin, pretty much every Crisis Book lately and assorted other mystical books.
And by “Prominent” I’m talking about characters who non- comic fans would recognize and who could be considered popular by most fans. Characters for example who have appeared outside of comics or as primary characters in Flagship books like JLA such as Steel, Black Lightning, Aqualad II, Static, John Stewart, Mr. Terrific, Vixen and Fire Storm. All of them have appeared in shows like JLU, Smallville, Young Justice or even Batman Brave and the Bold in prominent roles.
I don’t imagine there’s more than 50 DC superheroes that non-comic readers would recognize, so 6 black ones probably wouldn’t be too few. I don’t see how you can count Mr. Terrific as prominent by that measure, though, because didn’t he only have one line in JLU? And as far as I can tell, Ragman’s two claims to fame are that he was once a member of a canceled (but admittedly fun) team whose most prominent character was Detective Chimp, and during one crisis he got to talk to Mr. Terrific. Maybe I haven’t been reading the right comics, though?
Mr. Terrific had a much larger role in the final season of JLU when Martian Manhunter quit the Watchtower. He got more than one line.
Not that anybody who’s not big on comics would know who he is anyway.
How sweet!
Mike… has been trained….
The world is ended.
Mike just admitted he’s going to propose some day.
Lol!
Mike never said the marriage proposal on Amber’s head would be to her.
Or for that matter, from him.
“Sweet Amber is impressed with Faz’s unconventional and romantic gesture? I got the idea from Mike!”
Faz would never admit to getting a seemingly successful idea from someone else…unless, of course, Mike convinced him that Amber would love him even more for taking Mike’s advice?
Mike would plan all sorts of wonderfully evil Wedding plans, only for Amber to spoil them by not showing up to the wedding.
However…..Mike would love her for this
I like this idea.
It’s a trap!!!
Does Mike realize that they are now officially “engaged to be engaged”, since technically what he just said = “I am going to propose to you one day”.
Previous Black Justice League members = John Stewart (GL), Vixen, Black Condor, Black Lightning. It’s not a long list but then the Justice League doesn’t have enough employees to have to follow EEC laws.
Yea, but the fact dc’s been sidlining alot of minority characters and increasing the the presence of strait white males (and to a lesser extent strait white females) while alleging “Diversity!!” deserves commentary.
Technically, Cyborg was a member of Donna and Dick’s Justice League for like an issue or so.
I’m not sure. I liked the line up and bought the series. But, reading it made no sense at all. There were so many crossovers into titles that didn’t interest me that I had no clue what was going on or who was on the team.
Theno
I should have said that I liked the advertized line up: Donna, Dick, Cyborg, Starfire, Guardian, Dr Light II, Ollie, Hal, Atom, a gorrilla, and a guy dressed as Superman with the shield on his shoulder rather than across the chest. Never did find out who he was supposed to be.
The guy with the S-shield was Mon-El.
-airfox
Steel and Icon were both in the Justice League too, and I feel like I’m forgetting someone else.
Black Condor isn’t black. The second one was Native American, and third one is Mayan. I don’t know which one was in the League; I know it wasn’t the first one (who was white, anyway).
This comic is inaccurate. There needs to be about five gajillion more people in the background for this to even begin to look like it takes place at SDCC.
Plus there needs to be a least one person walking in front of them in panel
Why does the tag say “justice lague”? What’s a lague?
Panel 3!! I <3 Panel 3!!
I had a lousy week, and this is the first time I've logged in all day. Seeing Mike and Amber together, made me forget all my body aches, stress and fatigue for the day. :3
LOL! This reminds me of It’s Walky when Mike was dating Dina. *We will always remember you Dina.* Amber and Mike are perfect together, but I truly cannot imagine them married. :/ … I wonder what that would look like. *begins imagining it* Ahhhhh, something tells me that I will get in trouble with Mike if I try imagining that. DX
Like all men, even Mike is afraid of commitment.
Like all men… Bite me.
I don’t know. It’s rare that we see anyone get this sort of reaction (or any reaction) out of Mike. Maybe it’s meant to be.
Black people in comics. Next you’ll be telling me there are female teams or female writers. Silliness.
“You haven’t asked yet”? Tch. So 20th century, Amber. Take charge! Ask him yourself (like you kind of just did)!
I think in their relationship, Amber would prove how much more in charge she is by waiting for him to ask her (or, as she did now, TELLING him he is going to ask her) than by asking herself–if she asks him, she exposes weakness, because asking leaves you vulnerable to being told “No.”
Shouldn’t Amber have used the term “tweetable” instead of “twitterable”?
This doesn’t bother anyone else?
Amber has check-mated Mikes never ending cynicism! The only way this could have been better is if she had made a crack about Mike’s mom and a nickel… perhaps later.
… as in that she owes his mom a nickle? ….
I feel happy and sorry for Mike at the same time…
So I have to ask, that poster was a reference to the animated Justice League in the early 2000′s, right? There’s not some new Justice League thing I’m missing, right?
nope, everything is exactly as it always has been. nothing new to speak of at all…
Those …’s seem ominous though…
… now why would you say that?
…
More fun expressions from Mike
Awesome!
By the way, Willis, did you see my awesome proposal to my girlfriend in the web comics section on Saturday? With the doomsday device and the imperial troopers?
Gahahaha! I can’t tell who has who wrapped around who’s finger.
I am willing to bet all my nickels that drawing third panel Mike’s expression was the highlight of Willis’s evening last night.
I used to like Mike. I thought he was funny, and his rampant violence was amusing.
Now I hate him for being such a pussy-whipped little bitch. ^-__-^;;
I like that he seems so thrown off….and that he refers to her as ‘woman’.
That is so damn cute you don’t get to see him this incredibly dumbfounded and freaked.
I just can’t take Mike seriously with that ridiculous thing around his neck.
IS it sad that my first thought when I read this was that there should have been another g on dig so you could Digg it? I’m pathetic.
I wonder sometimes if I’m the only one who HATES the Amber-Mike relationship. Well, to be fair, I think I may be the only person who doesn’t like Mike at all. And that’s fine. I’ve NEVER been a Mike fan. I hope DoA Amber ends up with someone else down the line.
It can be cute sometimes like right now, but I was hoping she’d dump him for Jacob. I don’t care for Mike either. I know this is a comic where you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, but I find Mike especially taxing because someone that prone to violence would be arrested hundreds of times over. He’s a prick and proud of it which is why I like how Amber seems to be turning the tables on him.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who dislikes Mike. This pairing kinda saddens me. But whatever, it’s not a big deal. He’s a troll, though, and I just can’t stand trolls, fictional or not.
i think im the only one who didnt actually realize that its been a few years. i was gonna ask hasnt it been a few months in SP! time?
Shortpacked! characters (as well as Roomies! and It’s Walky!) age in real time. It’s only Dumbing of Age where time passes slowly.
I think Amber is slowly taking control. She started out shy,timid,and mousy but has more confidence now in herself. I think shes playing Mike to piss him off. Never crazy about Mike either, especially after he boinked Joyces’ other half. Yes Amber and Joyce are my top 2 cuties here.
Mike is such a romantic.
I fucking love this.
Damn. It’s pretty hard to ruffle Mike, but… well, shit.
I just realized that at this point, Mike has the recording of Amber’s mom and Jacob having sex, which means he’s probably in the middle of doctoring it for his proposal.
Or maybe this is what caused him to doctor his proposal?