I lied.
My bad.
Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
Convention appearances:
Calgary Expo Calgary, AB: April 26-28
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Multiplex
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Tags
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animated
batman
botcon
conquest
conventions
dark of the moon
david willis
dinobot
drew
duncan
ethan
faz
galasso
generations
gijoe
guest strip
hamsters
homosexuality
jacob
jesus
joe
justice league
ken
leslie
malaya
megatron
merch
mike
ninja rick
nipple
optimus prime
politics
religion
robin desanto
ronald reagan
roz
sdcc
sg ravage
shattered glass
star wars
tni strips
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transformers prime
ultra car
©2005-2013 David Willis | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑
GODBLESS YOU WILLIS! MAY ANGELS SERVICE YOU SEXUALLY!
seconded.
With their Penises. FOR FREE.
Not into that? Sorry, bro, guess that’s what happens.
Are we talking about Evangelion style angels here? :O
I really don’t want to know how that would work. O_o
I’d rather be consumed by Leliel.
“And God took pity on Willis, and sent an angel to comfort him for the weekend. And together entered they the jacuzzi. Here endeth the lesson.”
(Let’s see who gets the ref)
There are very few Monty Python references that escape me
Sad, I know, but apparently not as sad as it used to be. Martyrdom of St Victor, Contractual Obligation Album.
I think the angel is either Willis’ wife, or a future murder victim once she finds out.
That’s a pretty awesome gift. There is just one problem…What if his wife sees him. Then we’ll have a dead comic creator, and we can’t love Willis at this point in the story. Maggie would probably kill him if a bunch of angels came down a pleased him sexually. What if the angels came down and gave him all of the special edition transformers? Then there would be no death.
>.< I mean we can't *lose him. Sorry I didn't check it before I pressed post. :<
Well if she does kill him then we will have to resort to necromancy if Will does not rise as either a Revenent (must complete story arcs) or a Lich ( he is a master of the arcane arts of online comics ) ……
So if we do manage to bring him back unto undeath, what form should we choose … and no, no sparkly vegan emo vamp wanabees ….
Hermaphrodite Bisexual Angel, God-Approved. Willis and the wifey must be happy by pulling out all the stops!
Oh Willis, I knew ALL along you cunning bastard you.
DAMN YOU WILLIS
FOR REAL THIS TIME
HAHA YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD THIS IS WHY YOU’RE MY FAVORITE
that is the best icon you could possibly have for that comment
Hell, that’s the best icon he could have for the last 20 comics.
I think I just got relationship wiplash.
Willis, I love you for this. Both for giving it to us today and especially for keeping them together. Its a weird combination but I love Mike and Amber together.
OH SHI-
You have brought a tear of happyness to my eye and it did seem odd if she didn’t notice that he reeked of alcohol since its drunk mike.
I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure that this is sober Mike. Sober Mike just genuinely loves Amber and it makes him act Un-Mike-Ly in certain areas.
it is definitely sober mike. Drunk mike doing this would make is completely cheap and sucky. Even Willis doesn’t hate us that much to mess with our emotions like that.
Doesn’t he?
Check the tags…
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
With all of the ridiculous twists and turns this comic has made (and I mean that as a compliment), this is the first time it has ever made me do a spit-take. Bravo, Willis
Heheh…
heheheh. Nice one Willis.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
BOW BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY LESLIE, AIDER OF THE RELATIONSHIPS!
<3 I think <3
I think so as well. It looks like she went out to get Amber or something. She’s and Robin make quite the relationship angles. Robin will beat up anyone who screws up their happiness, and Leslie will comfort and bring the hurt subject back.
Robin & Leslie: Taking H/C to whole new levels. XD
You magnificent bastard.
awww this made me tear up a little and by a little I mean a lot
Glad I’m not alone.
….was the tag always ‘Drunk Mike’ instead of just Mike?
I JUST noticed that. Uh oh…
I don’t think things will turn around one more time. If he’s drunk, he got HIMSELF drunk, which means he wanted to be in “nice mode,” probably so he’d have the guts to actually propose. Sober Mike is no idiot. He’s also not totally wasted – if he were, he wouldn’t have it in him to do something like that awful proposal… so he’s only a little tipsy.
I mean, if Willis doesn’t SOMETIMES make his characters’ relationships pan out long-term, we wouldn’t have Joyce and Walky.
He apparently went back and changed it (on all the strips this week) just the other day.
Yeah, it was switched after the last strip
(semi)-SHOCKING SWERVE
i have only one word: NOOOOOO i was okay with them together but married?! i just dont see it oh well it’s Willis’ decision
the one word was: NOOO (in all caps) rest was just added comment
YOU SIR have trolled us well.
Damn you, Willis. Damn you.
Except now she kicks him in the groin and leaves, never to return, and the tags switch to “drunk amber”
Hmmmmmm…
You magnificent bastard I read your book!
…I will anyways. When this story line come out in book form.
I will read the hell out of it.
He’s not Ross Hagen!!! But yeah, well played Mr. Willis, well played.
I tip my hat at thee, sir.
Well done! Well done!! *claps* WOOH! Will we actually see a ceremony tho?
If so, I’m going to be annoyed that we still haven’t seen Joyce and Walky’s, because these couplings are strange beyond words and the reception afterwards are BOUND to have hijinks. I mean for crying out loud, look at their friends and try to tell me with a straight face that that wouldn’t happen. See how far ya get into the sentence.
DAMN YOU, WILLIS!!
This is my first time posting a comment and it’s to tell you that you made me squeal like a high school fan girl seeing Gerard Butler (the 300 version) naked.
I love you, man.
That sickly pallor tells us she was literally sick just now though, not just faking it. The form of Mike’s proposal absolutely disgusted her, but she powered through it. I think Amber may just be a masochist at this point.
Surprised everyone else is celebrating instead of noticing that part
There are many reasons one may get sick as a reaction. Shock rather than revulsion is the one Amber was feeling, I’m betting.
Of course, she could also be pregnant…
Or she could have been incredibly grossed out by the method of his proposal, but still happy for the proposal itself. I mean, seriously. She had just listened to audio of her mom BANGING HER FRIEND. Rearranged into “will you marry me”. Being vomitously disgusted by that fact doesn’t -have- to mean she doesn’t love Mike anymore.
Does David know morning sickness is not exclusive to the morning? Is a little Ceilidh on the way?
either she’s preggers (although that’s highly delayed morning sickness), or listening to her mom bang made her sick. either way i love seeing them together so unlike some i’ll say THANK YOU Willis
I was hoping you were lying and were gonna surprise us all. And you did, THANK CHEESE
…also I’m now seriously wondering whether Amber actually has morning sickness/is ill for rlz because her face is a legit sick shade of pale right there.
Also she called him doofus. D’awwwwwwww. I’m so happy. <3
Also, the two main theories seem to be that either
A.) Mike did this to see if she’d stick around by being as assholish as he could and then seeing whether she could withstand it
or B.) Mike did it to drive her away because he loved her and didn’t want her stuck with an asshole like him.
Seeing how bereft he was yesterday though, and being drunk meaning he was in “be good to Amber” mode… I’m kind of leaning toward the latter explanation at the moment.
Hard to tell, though!
My god man, you made me laugh out loud with glee, which probably caused my parents to be like, “wtf? what is she reading?”
i love this comic and i’m so happy you didn’t break these two up, Amber and Mike are awesome together
Dawwwwww.
I had a feeling when she didn’t say “no” the other day.
DAMMIT, WILLIS, I HAD A DEPRESSING AND/OR BORING-ASS SPEECH PREPARED.
Freaking Willis, Killin’ mah fun…
Well-played, sir. Well-played.
ugh. Well, not a fan of this, but fine, if she wants to be with a complete asshole, then I guess that’s her prerogative.
The assholes get the girls. The story of life.
Yeah. Poor, innocent Amber. Blackmailing a well known complete dick into becoming her boyfriend. Telling him she liked him better when he wasn’t drunken-nice. The same girl who willingly participated in rock hurling at sea lions for their first date.
Yep, looks like she totally got suckered into this one. *rolls eyes*
I am a nice guy to a fault, but I love Mike. I’m glad he got Amber. He’s an extremely damaged individual, not evil like some seem to think. Mike has several extremely good qualities. He’s devoted, he’s strong willed, he’s reliable, he’s honest, he’s humble (I’ve never once seen him compliment himself, even though he should), and he’s actually surprisingly non-violent (With the exception of his Alien fighting, the only person Mike has really hit is Faz… And Faz isn’t a person…) These are all excellent qualities, and ones I would like to have in a friend.
I wouldn’t say that damaged and evil are incompatible. Most child abusers were abused themselves; that doesn’t make them not evil for beating children, though.
Mike’s damage, though, was simply that his overwhelmingly nice parents couldn’t just shut up about their sex life. That’s it. All that violence and meanness? Just TMI.
Mike’s one of my favorite characters, but he is pretty much textbook Chaotic Evil. But being evil doesn’t mean that he can’t have any positive feelings, though. Even genocidal dictators can find love.
I think being an abductee (and experience in SEMME in general) would cause damage in itself. I don’t think it would necessarily have to come from parents.
It’s not always something subjected from an outside source. Some people are just ‘that way’. I mean he was like that with his parents, too, I think (although, I don’t remember the visit to his parents too well.)
I’ve seen alot of people who have almost the literal ‘model upbringing’ turn monster. Good parents who punished when he was bad, praised when good, friends who they liked and such, etc… but still became bad people.
In Mike’s case it might actually be ingrained through abductee stuff, but probably not, it’s just who he is. And on a side note, it is true that besides people who were extremely, obnoxiously, and PAINFULLY annoying to Mike (cept the Transformers movie), he hasn’t really been violent.
We don’t know much about Mike’s background in Shortpacked! There is a lot more depth to Mike in Willis’ other comics. Read those. Its a lot more than parents that won’t shut up about their sex life.
OK, I’m taking exception to this. You are so, so SO WRONG! Mike is capital E Evil. He HAS attacked people, and done several terrible things. Here’s a little list.
He has kicked a little girl to incite a group of pacifists to attack him, punched Jason from Multiplex in the face with absolutely no provocation, tried to kill a dog/puppy, and may do so on a regular basis, dropped Joyce on her head, hit Amber in the back of the head with her signature “corn popper” toy (before they were together), and attacked several people in the store (kicking them in the groin). Knew Galasso was locked in a cage for several weeks, including at least a few days without water (which constitutes a “deadly risk”, by the way) and did nothing. Mike is violent. He’s not unstable, but he is a brutal, violent man.
The internet is, of course, the worst place to get into a philosophical debate… But I don’t believe people are evil. There are evil actions and evil idea’s, but that doesn’t make the person who commits them or has them ‘evil’. Good people can commit evil actions, and I don’t believe any person is what would be considered ‘evil’. Someone who commits an evil action is driven to it, some way or another, in extreme circumstances. People considered to be ‘born evil’ are mentally ill, and, therefore, not entirely responsible for their actions. I’m not saying I would justify or condone evil actions, but they happen.
That all being said, Mike is VERY far from evil, as I feel the most evil actions are rape and murder and he hasn’t done either of those. He is most certainly a sadist, but that does not make him ‘evil’.
Jason deserved it.
See, I knew this weird amnesia was going to keep coming up, so I saved the link this time:
Amber released Mike from the blackmail over a year ago.
^ This. I would be friends with a Mike in a heartbeat. (I’m also emotionally resilient enough to shrug off his verbal abuse, though.)
Small quibble on the ‘only person Mike has really hit’ point. One that springs to mind for some reason is the popcorn kid at the movie theater who wasn’t wearing a costume.
He beat a theater ticket sales man for not wearing a costume for Transformers.
If I said that Jason from Multiplex (the guy Mike hit) was kind of like Ethan and Mike’s movie-snob love child, would that make you feel any different?
Wow, you sound like such a Nice Guy ™…
Yep, he does. Beat me to it.
<3
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
…Apparently there is a big romantic vein of sap in me that only activates when the pair is really demented. I may have teared up, here. Good show, Willis!
GODDAMMIT I’M GLAD I CHECKED FOR A SURPRISE BEFORE I WENT TO BED
Ha HA! I knew she wouldn’t cut and run.
Also, this needs to be said: Willis, you glorious bastard!
So I guess she just needed urgently to throw up XD Good, let’s hope this last and turn alright for them at the end.
“And IIIIIIIIIIIII will alwaaaaaaaaaaays Loooooooove yoooooooou!”
*please let me be the first to have posted this. Please?*
Dohohoho, you almost tricked me into waiting three days until the next update! Unfortunate for you Willis, I ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED SHORTPACKED IN MY BOOKMARKS!
Does Amber have grey in her hair?
Actually, I think that is light reflecting.
You magnificent bastard! I love this series!
i love this, but what’s with the grey hairs?? distracting me way much from everything else i should be paying attention to…
Oh thank god. I love these two so much. I squealed so much.
…and then Amber walks up to him and kicks him in the face anyway, because even if they genuinely love someone people who choose to be enormous fucking assholes don’t actually deserve to be loved in return? Probably not, huh? Oh well.
OH SHI
Wasnt there someone who was saying this was the end there was no way, what Mike did , was gonna be fixed?
HA!
Amber, and Mike win Drunk Mike Gambit…or maybe Drunk Mike Lost. WHO CARES
IM HAPPY. everyone deserves to be happy, even someone like mike…and considering what he was willing to do? he earn it.
T. Campbell was trumpeting that pretty loudly, yes. I bet he’ll be surprised with this strip.
I wonder if he’s purposefully not posting, or he was among the fooled that didn’t check today because of Willis’ statement about not posting to celebrate….
Nah, I think he was just sleeping like a sane person would.
AUUUGH
you win
I….
What even….
DAMN YOU WILLIS! But at the same time BLESS YOU WILLIS!
Also, I just now realized that all these strips had the Drunk Mike tag…
Does this mean that, while drunk, Mike was trying his damnedest to be the worst he could be? Maybe to scare Amber off, because he actually does love her enough to not want her to have to deal with his Mike-ness?
Or am I reading too much into it?
My theory this week has been that he’s been trying to pull off the absolute worst action he’s done to date to show Amber who he is, and to let her rethink this whole thing. She’s shown him a lot of herself over the years, but him not so much. This way, she gets the full, true Mike, so she can make her final decision.
Him being Drunk apparently (only changed on Friday, btw) changes this theory a little for me. In which way, I’m not sure, as it’s been indicated that he’s not exactly ‘true Mike’ when drunk.
YAAAAAAAY!!
I feel conflicted, is this “damn you Willis” or a “thank you Willis” moment?
BOTH
“Thank you, Willis” is almost always implied in “Damn you, Willis.”
I think I have whiplash from all the shocking twists and turns these last few comics have displayed.
I knew it would play out like this, but still…so much awesomeness. You are a glorious bastard, indeed.
/DELIGHTED SCREAM
You tricked me! You told me no update today. I foolishly believed you.
So it was all a ruse. Lulling me into a false sense of security, getting me to stay up and check DoA’s page at midnight, certain I wouldn’t think to come here. Well played, cartoonist. It seems I have underestimated you. Rest assured it will not happen again. For here it is, only a quarter past one that I realize my error. Your schemes have bought no more than an hour’s peace of mind at best!
Unless….no…unless this too is part of your master plan! But what could stalling me for a mere hour possibly gain you? What damage could you do in so little a time span. No…my tfwiki updates! ::Checks site:: Damn you, Willis!
In all honestly, thank you. This strip is awesome, and even better for being unexpected.
I like how Roz’s hair in the top right of the page makes it look like the Roz on the website’s template is running/kicking really fast.
IT CANNOT BE UNSEEN…and should also totally be made a thing.
Ok, you keep doing this.
WHY DO YOU KEEP CALLING ROBIN HER SISTER’S NAME?!
DERP!! I failed.
Wait…what just happened? Did she just accept mike’s proposal?
Huzzuh–Azibuh–Hubbuh–Whaaa!?
Well played, Willis, VERY well played!
guess I’m just a big ole idiot, because this just further sickens me. Nothing I like to see more than an complete waste of flesh somehow trick a broken girl into being with his circle of crap. Of course there’s alot to be said of girl what decides that her sick weakness is excuse enough to forgive her idiocy, but…nah, I’m through with these kind of people. Sorry to see them in a comic I like. But this relationship is a sad joke I see too often in real life. Move along. There’s no redemption here. Oh sure, make it happen, and that’d be great, but if you’re true to the characters, they’re just going to get worse, and if Mike did get better, his dumb fans would be angry. Just bleah to this whole thing. I’m waiting to be wowed and this have a payoff that is satisfying.
But I bet much like the end of “The Devil’s Rejects” we’re supposed to sympathise with scum, and I’m just not having it. He get’s his just dues (which aint going to happen) or stop giving me this crap (which aint going to happen either)
Don’t even go into the ‘Poor, Foolish Innocent Amber!’ routine. SHE BLACKMAILED HIM. Mike even called her on it, at one point; she was using him to (in her mind) get back at her father, by controlling a guy that (she saw) was just as much as a total dick as her father. The whole first half of their relationship was her exercising her control. This didn’t change until SHE punched HIM in the face. (Here’s the comic in question: http://www.shortpacked.com/2010/comic/book-11/02-the-relationshipocalypse/punch/)
Now, Jason stated to Amber that Mike only does things because he wants, and if true, means she wasn’t ‘really’ controlling him. But does that matter as long as she believed she was?
Gah. Delete the ) at the end of the link if you want the comic…
Stupid no edit button…
I do believe it’s foolish to play the ‘poor, innocent Amber’ routine, when she’s shown herself to be nearly as Machiavellian as Mike – that’s exactly why they make a good couple.
On the other hand, it’s equally foolish to play the ‘poor, manipulated Mike’ routine. I mean, c’mon, seriously! Just look at the very next strip after the one you posted:
http://www.shortpacked.com/2010/comic/book-11/02-the-relationshipocalypse/smile/
Obviously at least part of Mike’s attraction/love for Amber is tied up in the fact that she fucked with him the way he fucks with other people.
Amber’s not “tricked”–technically it’s HER that blackmailed Mike. But since one of the arcs (the one where Mike and Amber moved out) there hasn’t been blackmail. On either end. She gave him an out, he stayed.
You…sound really bitter about it all, though. Personal experience?
Some of us just see the good in those that others consider jerks or horrible people or whatever. And than they say we’re getting abused in the relationship when we aren’t. If you spend the time showing the “jerk” you can see them for who they really are, you end up with a caring, loyal, loving partner. Sure, it’s hard. But it’s also worth it. And if you don’t like it, I guess that is your right. But it is mine to chose to marry my “jerk” boyfriend.
I was going to say, “Well, it’s a free country,” but I guess until the gay angle is sorted out, “right” and “marry” have a kinda jarring ring to them.
It seems bad policy to me to pick someone assy who may or may not come around, rather than go with someone who isn’t an ass in the first place. I mean if people are OK with the odds that’s fine, but it sets a weird precedent for “Be an ass, and get rewarded with extra attention and care,” which I’m not sure is the society I wanna build, but hey, your mileage may vary.
I am glad that your gravatar is what it is.
oh and I’ve been reading this straight since pretty much day one. Well, there was some backlog, but not a whole lot. Been here along time. This is the only one a read, so dont know mike from any other comic.
And I allow the drama stuff. Can be good stuff. It always feels off and misplaced, but there are at least interesting stories.
But so much “Oh good, this is a good thing that is happening”. I dont get it. This whole thing has been bad from the start, and mike is just a worthless crapload that I never saw any reason to like. But boy has he got his idiot fanbase. And fans of this relationship? You guys are a sorry bunch. But at the end of a day, I guess that just shows I never have been on the right page, since page one. This isn’t a good thing that is happening that deserves praise. It’s pathetic and sad. But at least it’s fiction. I just cared about this comic, and this… god, I guess I dont have much in common with you people at all, you can be happy this thing is getting deeper and deeper. What am I missing?
You’re taking this way too personally.
Yeah, I wish there was a better way to put it, but Crimson Magic sums it up nicely. And to be honest, if you don’t get it now, after all these years, you may never really comprehend it. Mike’s just the guy we all love to see being a raging jackass
It’s more than that. Mike represents the part of our minds that think hateful thoughts when we’re wronged, even in trivial ways sometimes. We want to be loved in spite of those thoughts, and Mike wants to be loved in spite of the fact that he invariably spouts those thoughts.
We can’t like fictional characters we don’t relate to on at least some basic level… thankfully, almost all fictional characters are relatable to most people. (Exception: Faz, for most people, because he is rather flat and unbelievable as a character – there are a few occasional people who like him, but most don’t. The relating factor is what separates Faz and Mike.)
Seconded.
Love Mike, hate Mike, either way is cool. There’s no need to tell people they’re “idiots” or part of a “sorry bunch” for having a different opinion than yours about a fictional situation and fictional characters, though.
Jacob, is that you?
LOL
best comment
What you’re missing is that this is completely fictional and no real people are getting hurt, thus we have no obligation to worry about their eventual mental well-being.
I see where you’re coming from. I guess most people just like Mike because he never shows redeeming qualities. Yeah, he’s an asshole, but he’s really, really good at it. It’s entertaining and often really funny.
But people are still curious about what’s really going on in his head, and what weaknesses he has, and why he’s such an ass to begin with. I personally think Amber’s an idiot for staying in that relationship. But the last week’s strips gave us some insight to Mike’s thoughts and their whole relationship, and I guess it’s just new and unexpected!!
Yeah, sorry, I can’t explain it. It was kind of awkward and oddly paced, but I liked it anyway. It’s just interesting, even though I don’t agree with Amber for staying with him at all.
I like Mike because he’s honest, because he was outraged at being held drunken hostage to Dina and yet was still heartbroken by her death, and because when beaten near to death for it, all he did was croak “No punch…” to save his own life last minute.
He also loves Amber for being self-assured, and not for being the nervous under-confident thing she once was.
Which doesn’t mean he’s not a little turd, but there are good reasons to like him and many people do see them.
Except him being himself, how has Mike ever hurt Amber in a way that is abusive in any manner? When has Amber indicated she did not know what she was getting into with this relationship? Mike was Mike from the start – an asshole.
However, he is a devoted asshole. He cares so much he pulls all the stops to show her just how assholish he can be.
You also have to take something else into account. Mike did not make Amber’s mom sleep with Jacob – nor did he make Jacob sleep with Amber’s mom. Amber’s mom could have said no and walked away.
On that note, if Amber ask Mike not to do something he doesn’t do it. “Don’t F*@& my mom.” And guess what he doesn’t. Had she said not to let anyone do it, he probably wouldn’t have contrived a plan.
But again, Mike did not force Amber’s mom to have sex with Jacob – she is a lot older then the other cast and made that decision on her own.
As for anything else – I know a guy in a relationship with what I would considered a bitch. However, she doesn’t hit him or abuse him in any manner. It is just the way she is and how she grew up to become. It’s a coping mechanism. And no, the guy didn’t start dating her out of pity or anything – he actually made a bet with her and she lost and as a result had to go out with him when he wanted for 6 months (not hanky panky was involved in those 6 months). After those 6 months she could walk away. But when he asked her on a date after all that time she still dated him – and he got to know her better. Now, has she changed? Haha, not much. But she didn’t like that I could see right through her first time we met (the guy was a classmate btw) – but hey at least for that few hours she had another woman to talk to who wasn’t going to shun her cuz of dirty looks and slight jabs.
I could go far more into detail but I don’t wish to – but I hope what I mean has come across alright. If not I apologize for all the rambling.
It’s possible that starting from It’s Walky gives me more liking towards Mike than I would have had otherwise. Mike was just a walking one-note joke, good enough for his purpose, but never intended to be in a real relationship any more than someone like Ninja Rick – that is, until the Dina incident (again, from It’s Walky). Since then I’ve been a fan of Mike. If for no other reason than the fact that one never really knows what he’s thinking or what his real reaction is to things. He’s a mystery, and in fiction that is interesting. Even having a love interest who can ‘keep up’ with him asshole-wise (yes, I’m talking about Amber) hasn’t made him much less of a mystery, and I’m glad of that.
Part of it also seems to be that you can’t perceive Mike as more than the worst of everything – that he is capable of love and cares about someone more than he cares about his own happiness makes him a far better person than most “nice” people I know. Just because it isn’t the standard flavour relationship you come to expect doesn’t mean it’s invalid.
It does seem to be a matter of perception; much as is the problem with Jacob in the comics, you seem to have assumed Amber as being some textbook wilting flower gentle and delicate, looking for a Nice Boy to take care of her. What if Amber doesn’t want that? What if she wants someone who’s faults she can clearly see? I’m a girl who has been around the dating circuit more times than I care to count, and the guys that hurt me most were the ones who put on a nice face and indulged all the Sensitive Guy Tropes – they hid who they were from me, for weeks, months, in one case even years, and when everything came out it damaged me and ruined everything we had. The best relationships I’ve had were with jerks who may not have been able to communicate well, but when they did were honest and up front, as Mike has been, and therein I was able to understand them and put trust in them.
It’s about whether a person is able to fall in love with a person or if they’re falling in love with love – in the case of amber and mike they have come to love eachother as they are rather than wanting love and attempting to make eachother the thing they desire.
You nailed it.
Mike, while an ass, is an honest, upfront ass. And that is apparently very important to Amber (and to others). Which is why the jerk many times end up with the girl; he’s honest and open about who he is.
Some girls find honesty attractive, I suppose?
Mike is by far the most entertaining character in the Walkyverse (possibly not in the DOAverse so far). This relationship has been fairly entertaining. Thus, people are happy about it. The fact that you (baron) think that gives you the right to be an insulting ass is the part that’s sad.
Oh, yeah. Mike is the best because his is such a perfect brand of evil that almost everybody he victimizes in some way kind of deserves it because they simply weren’t bright enough to run screaming when they met him.
You never read Mike in the previous comics, and yet you presume to understand his character, which was mainly developed in comics you ignored?
Quoth Yoda: “THAT is why you fail.”
Aww…
<3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dude, Mike is like the only character who doesn’t masquerade what he is (Well, perhaps Drew, as well.) Even though he may seem like an ass, he’s still a pretty straight up guy. There’s something charming in his UNprententiousness.
I like Amber and Mike, so f u.
Amber doesn’t either. Maybe that’s why they work so well together – they’re just who they are, even to each other. There are no secrets, so there is no fear.
Look like T Campbell jumped the gun!
Bless you, Willis.
I…I…I…
*wibble*
D’AWWWWWWW
Also: HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY, WALKYVERSE! You’ve been around since I was 4! Now I’m reading webcomics sitting in my dorm room!
Feel old yet?
WILLIS. I don’t even know how to feel anymore, you magnificent bastard, you! Me and a friend who also loves SP! have been in a glass case of emotion the entire week over this. First I’m thrilled that Mike’s getting down on one knee, then I’m irritated with Mike and don’t think he deserves forgiveness as well as shocked that my favorite Walkyverse couple just got irredeemably crushed, THEN I feel a little bad for Mike even with all the irritation, and NOW I’m happy and touched even though I feel like I shouldn’t be?! Willis, you are a mad genius of webcomic writing and I couldn’t respect you more for that. Bravo!
No one can pretend Mike and Amber aren’t dysfunctional, but I’d be willing to argue that their particular dysfunctions actually work out pretty well for eachother most of the time. For better or worse, they’re eachother’s best match, and even if they WEREN’T, they both clearly love eachother and don’t want to be with anyone else, so it’s a moot point! If their relationship somehow really does somehow get through THIS shit intact, then it is literally impossible to separate these crazy.
God damn it, I’ll always think they’re the cutest ever. I can’t help it, I’m morbid that way.
*these crazy kids
Well done! Glad I decided to check the comic today anyway.
oh HELLyeah. I wish I could say I called that, but YES. Epic Win timez for all.
*laughs*
I almost feel sorry for everyone who won’t stop by until Monday and gets confused because they missed this one.
Oh my gosh! Willis I am so sorry I lost faith in you and almost stopped reading. I also apologize for any other negative things I might have said that I don’t remember.
Thank you for updating! And thank you for THIS!!!!!
Wow, I was expecting a much longer angst fest. Possibly with a speech.
But thank you for updating again! It’s freakin’ awesome!
Goddammit. Just when I finally think Amber/Mike relationship is going to make sense, this shit happens. Fuck it, that’s what I get for getting my hopes up.
Could anyone tell me why people use the word “Psyche” when there is a big change in a story? What does the mind have to do with that? Or is Willis simply a reader of Homestuck?
At least in this case, I’m pretty sure he was saying he psyched us out by posting a new comic even though yesterday he told us he wasn’t gonna post a new comment, a “Joke’s on you, I tricked you!” moment.
Unless you were trying to comment that’s not how you spell it because it should be “psych” because “psyche” is something different, in which case ignore me.
Yay 90’s slang!
Man, what a roller coaster that week was.
Also, to those commenting on her “grey hair,” the shine on her hair always looks like that??
Bizarrely, I think there were a couple of streaks of grey that DID show up in her hair, at least when I first saw the comic page. But by about 40 comments in or so, I stopped seeing the grey streaks. So I don’t know if it’s a glitch of some kind or if Willis uploaded a fixed version or what.
Oooh, okay, that makes sense. Art glitch!
I…I….loss of words, damn you Willis and damn you too words.
But I damn you in the nicest way possible, cause I like this couple.
Boo! Considering Amber manipulated Mike into this relationship with blackmail to prop up her own self-image, I’m disappointed that it’s come to this.
Go back and read the strips where Jason says Mike doesn’t do ANYTHING he doesn’t want to for any reason.
Also go read the strip where Amber ‘let’ him out from under the blackmail.
Also also go read the strip where Amber specifically says that he LET her find the uniform that lead to said “blackmail”.
That line’s REALLY starting to annoy me. >_>
None of that changes that she CHOSE to blackmail him. He certainly deserved it, but that doesn’t change Amber’s intentions. Yes, she stopped. Yes, she apologised. Yes, it didn’t hurt him. Yes, he wanted it to happen. I am not comparing her to Mike or anyone else. That doesn’t change the fact that she chose, of her own free will, to try to force a person into a emotional and sexual relationship without that person giving her informed consent. She did something wrong, and whether she’s redeemed herself for it is a matter of opinion.
The whole “she chose to do it of her own volition and it was a bad thing” is probably a big part of why Mike fell for her…
But it’s that wrongness in her that makes her perfect for Mike. If she were the type of person who coudln’t do such a thing, she would not have been the type of person who could be with Mike.
I find equally strange the people who say “Mike is too good for her!” as I do the people who say “Amber is too good for him!” Both of them are obviously deeply flawed, but somehow those flaws work to make something greater than the whole of it’s parts. It is ONLY with someone like this that Mike could ever be contented, and yeah, I wanted him to be contented. So sue me.
http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/9/10/a73ae66d-dd46-4c34-a82d-a974b055ff7d.jpg
I had to do this >_> It’s been festering in my brain for hours… couldn’t really think of the right word for the first part though….
This picture accurately describes what I’m feeling. I love it! So glad I checked Twitter.
OK, at first glance this looks like Amber is accepting Mike, but after the week we’ve had, I SERIOUSLY doubt that this is the end of it. There HAS to be another shocking swerve coming up, seeing as how there is still SOME ambiguity.
Don’t forget that Mike crossed his relationship with Amber off the chalk board, and we haven’t seen her response to that, or what Mike’s true intentions were, and why he had to be drunk to do it. There’s a LOT of questions left to be answered. Was he trying to force her away? Testing her? just proposing “His Way”? No matter what, I’ll be here Sunday/Monday to see what the next “Shocking Swerve” will be.
On a different note, congratulations on 14 years of comics, and thanks for the extra one!
I think Mike crossed the arrow off because he was trying to push her away for her own good, and didn’t expect her to bounce back. It wasn’t a “glad that’s over,” it was a “well, so much for that.”
PREDICTION: The next comic will be yet another Shocking Swerve, where Mike reveals that he was trying to force amber away, by yelling/ranting that she deserves better, or that she shouldn’t be with him.
PREDICTION: Amber ISN’T accepting Mike. She has more to say, and breaks upwith him to his face.
Check the tags, guys! Mike’s drunk!
Why’s Malaya tagged though?
Maybe that black thing next to Leslie seen through the glass is the top of Malaya’s head
It’s time for you to show Amber the dead SNKRS, if that doesn’t drive her away, nothing will.
Okay, I admit it: I don’t get it. I can’t make sense of this yet.
I don’t really see how Amber can shake off what’s been done to Jacob, someone she clearly cares about a lot. The “oh, he would’ve relapsed anyway” argument doesn’t seem valid. “Oh, that purse would’ve been stolen anyway! And those nuns would have died of natural causes eventually.”
The only interpretation that seems to make sense here is Amber telling herself things like that, going into near-total denial, just for the sake of preserving her dark romance. If so, this should not be a heartwarming moment, and what seems like a small smile on Leslie seems very much out of place.
David’s earned my trust, though, so I’m going to assume there’s clarity to come.
Why does Amber have to be in denial?
She could just care more about Mike than she does about what happened to Jacob.
Actually, Roz had already sent Jacob down that slippery slope by the time Mike switched the number placards and stole Stacy’s phone. Jacob was already obviously in a vulnerable place and Roz would have kept hounding Jacob until he broke. Mike was, really and truly, only responsible for Jacob banging Stacy, not Jacob’s relapse. I’m not saying that’s a GOOD thing, but we may as well give credit where credit is due.
Amber doesn’t know that, though. All Amber knows is that Mike put Jacob and her mother into a position where they could end up having sex.
Here’s the thing: Mike didn’t lock Jacob in a small room with a woman. Mike didn’t get Jacob drunk. Mike didn’t talk to Amber’s mother about how sexy Jacob is and tell her maybe she should get some of that. All Mike did was cause two people to meet. You seriously, seriously think that’s the worst thing ever and Amber can never forgive it? Mike has done some pretty awful things, but that little performance barely rises to the level of social engineering.
If you were at a party, and introduced a recovering sex addict to an attractive woman at the party, would you feel guilty if meeting that woman caused the sex addict’s relapse?
I think the part that would be hardest to get over is not the fact that Mike caused two people to meet (oh noes!), but that he recorded Amber’s mother having sex with the man crushing on her, and then used it as a proposal. That’s the part that made her ill, probably.
While thinking about it I agree that mike has been known to do some despicable things, but I don’t think introducing two people was wrong plus Jacob was drunk at the time and apparently Amber’s mom went for it even though he did look a little drunk. Anyway I agree that using amber’s mom’s moans and Jacob’s was despicable I think anyone hearing there mom moaning and such would make anyone want to leave and puke or at least scream in terror at that.
Mike didn’t lock Jacob in a small room with a woman. Mike didn’t get Jacob drunk. Mike didn’t talk to Amber’s mother about how sexy Jacob is and tell her maybe she should get some of that. All Mike did was cause two people to meet.
This is a pretty stupid way of focusing on specifics to the exclusion of context.
Mike specifically and knowingly took advantage of Jake’s moment of weakness in order to hurt him. You don’t get to put a needle in front of a recovering junkie and go ~oh well how was i supposed to know~.
But Mike didn’t put a needle in front of a junkie.
To rearrange your analogy to fit the facts, Mike left the address for a nearby pharmacy in a place that he knew the junkie would look.
The levels of magnitude are so far removed it’s not even funny.
If I knew a guy was struggling to control his hypersexuality, sought out an attractive woman I believed would be esspecially hard for him to resist, and then introduced them at a party with the intention of taperecording his failure to control himself, then yeah, I deserve blame when that actually happens.
If I leave the address for a local pharmacy for junkie to find, knowing and hoping that the address will provoke him, so that I can use his addiction to my benefit, I’m still a jackass who sees sick people as oppritunities for profit.
Jacob’s responsible for his own mental health, but that doesn’t absolve Mike of his responsibility to not be an asshole about it. Mike knew about Jacob’s mental weaknesses and planned on taking advantage of them. He wanted Jacob to make a mistake that would ruin his self-esteem and further his relapse into unhealthy compulsive behavior, and created an opportunity for such a mistake to happen, so he could present Amber with with a recording of her mother being fucked.
It’s not the worst thing Mike’s ever done, but it does demonstrate a complete lack of compassion for and a willingness to emotionally damage someone Amber cares about. I really don’t understand why she should overlook that.
I’m not sure where people get the impression that Amber’s mom is super hard to resist. No offense to actually sexy moms out there, but she looks pretty mom-like, ie not that irresistable. Jacob was just at a point, thanks to Joe, Connie, and Roz, that anything that appeared at his door and was willing would have been fodder.
Speaking of, Roz was a hell of a lot more of a jerk in this situation that Mike even tried to be.
I’m not saying Mike is a saint, he certainly isn’t that. But causing a moderately attractive woman to come within sight of Jacob is not exactly the evil of the century, and it’s insulting to put that on level with giving drugs to a junkie.
Stacy (Amber’s mom) would be especially enticing to Jacob because she’s Amber’s mom. She looks a lot like Amber. He has a huge crush on Amber. Put two and two together…
She doesn’t look that much like Amber to me. She looks like the generic mom-figure that Willis draws. (no offense, Willis). Your assumption that she would be a particular weakness is just that, an assumption.
Roz was not more of a jerk than Mike there.
Oh, Roz was a huge jerk in that incident. But Roz, ultimately, believed she was doing Jacob a FAVOR (since she assumed sex addictions aren’t real). Mike, on the other hand, knew damn well that what he was doing was destroying Jacob’s life.
I don’t think “she assumed sex addictions aren’t real” excuses Roz actions. For me, it makes it worse. I might draw a comparisons to exorcisms for schizophrenics; well intended, but doing serious harm while denying needed medial attention (though there is surely a difference in degree of severity between what Roz did and exorcisms).
I think it is safe to presume that Roz has given thought, research, and reflection in matters of sex and sexuality, and to not believe in sex addiction strikes me as willing ignorance, or deliberate suspension of belief.
Oh? Mike knows that, does he? As far as any of us have ever seen, Mike simply does the things that people don’t want him to do. For all we know, Mike doesn’t believe in sex addiction, either.
But with all that, Mike didn’t try to force Jacob to relapse; Roz did.
I second this.
In fact, I can’t remember any instance of meeting the mother of a girl I had a crush on/was dating and thinking “damn, she looks like her daughter, that’s so hot.”
I honestly find the idea of sleeping with the mother of someone I’m attracted to very, very squicky, and unappealing.
It may be that MANY people find the idea of sleeping with someone-they-find-attractive’s-mom disgusting. However, it’s clearly a thing. I mean, there’s a song about it! Stacy’s Mom has got it going on, Stacy can’t you see, you’re just not the girl for me! I know it might be wrong, but I’m in love with Stacy’s mom! See also, The Graduate.
I really think Mike knew Jacob would have extra difficulty with Amber’s mom because of his crush, but it’s a moot point. The important part is, Mike knew Jacob was in a bad place and vulnerable, and planned on Jacob failing to resist temptation. If he didn’t cause Jacob’s relapse, he certainly had no qualms about using the relapse to further his scheme. That’s maybe not as evil, but it’s still way past the red line.
Again, the distinction doesn’t matter.
Mike deliberately undertook actions for the explicit purpose of causing an addict’s relapse.
The particular actions don’t really matter because he undertook them because he knew it would happen and wanted that result.
“Mike deliberately undertook actions for the explicit purpose of causing an addict’s relapse.”
Not at all.
Mike deliberately undertook actions for the explicit purpose that Amber’s mom would get fucked by the guy crushing on her.
Still evil, but not the specific evil he’s being accused of. It was Roz/Joe/Connie that cause the relapse which Mike knew was going to happen. Mike just took advantage of his knowledge.
Mike cares enough for Amber to fuck up everyone else’s lives just to make her happy.
I think it’s more an issue that what Mike did hasn’t exactly clicked yet with Amber. She certainly doesn’t look like she’s taken much time to think about it, and that’s certainly a lot of information to process. That Mike is the one responsible for pretty much destroying Jacob probably hasn’t even actually crossed her mind yet.
there is such a thing, as people who like other people even more after their actions, mike in that short phrase explained why he did something so horrifying, ultimately to as I understood as a gambit,to either accept him, as he is flaws, and all, or push her away because he doesn’t think he will change.
People we are human, and this is a thing of everyday, Im a pile of issues, my fiance is a pile of issues, we both have deal breakers in our repertory of issues and we still are together, and Im sure thats with a lot of people in this world. I am not an isolated case.
either way one of my friends once say, dont try to get humanity, thats the fastest way to go mad.
and I also believe on you make your own fate, Jacob chose his, true he has his addiction, which I dont doubt it exists, but he let himself relapse after everything, he could have , should have , didnt, while I dont deny mike has some fault on his relapse, as he put the subtance on his reach, he chose his fate in the end.
the proposal while evil, I have heard this said before to me on the same route about my fiance and I issues, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
he let himself relapse
You really don’t understand how addiction works do you?
Not entirely , as I have never had an adiction myself, so my opinion is bias, but one of the things a former addict told me is that you depend on your own strength to not relapse, and keep going on your life, and sometimes that means removing yourself from bad situations. he didnt do that and I understand that not everything was on his control -Roz stupidty for example- but his choices are his own, thats what I meant by that. maybe I should have said that instead, then again I am a firm believer of you create your own fate, for good or ill.
Well, one thing of note was that Jacob *was* relapsed when Amber’s mom came onto the scene, and it was of somebody else’s doing. He was already pretty far down a hole, so the “he would have relapsed anyways” argument doesn’t even make sense. Mike had nothing to do with that.
As for the Mike setting it up so he’ll fuck Amber’s mom? Is he doing it because he’s an asshole? Yes. This is Mike. He thought it would hurt her feelings, so he’s doing it. Why did Amber forgive him? Well, one reason would be that she’s a bit of a sociopath too (laughing when he told her he liked her?), and the other would be that he heard Mike’s “because I love her” bit and connected the pieces (Mike trying to drive her away for her own good).
I dunno. Cheers!
aaaaaaaaaaa WHERE IS THIS GOING?!?!??!
I’m not sure, and that makes it all the more awesome.
Hah! Got me!
I came here today intending to click the DoA link and found this nice little surprise.
Much better than Thursday, when I kept getting a script error at work and had to wait until I got home to see the bottom tier of that day’s strip…
I don’t even care that that big long analysis I wrote of why Mike did what he did now seems invalid.
I’m glad Mike got punched, he deserved it. It was sweet, in his own twisted way.
WILLIS YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD. I READ YOUR COMICS!
Awwww….
I’m so glad I always check Shortpacked! to click through to Dumbing of Age or I wouldn’t have seen this.
It’s really hard to find words to express how emotionally attached I am to these characters and their lives.
Thank you.
YESSS!
The noise I just made.
Was not human.
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
I hope they have kids.
“We worked together in a toy store and your father had sex with me and your uncle Ethan when we were emotionally vulenerable. Then we all moved in together. Then I found out that your father isn’t an asshole when he drinks and used that information to blackmail him into a relationship… or so I thought. Your father insists it was all an elaborate scheme to mess with my life, which he did repeatedly, up to the point of manipulating a co-workers relapse in to sex addiction with your grandmother which he used to propose to me a year later. After initial revulsion, I inexplicably returned after he admitted he loved me.”
Oh, don’t look at me like that.
You know, if not for the pale sickly face she has, I’d suspect that Amber made with the “your proposal made me sick” routine just to screw with Mike. I mean, what better gift is there to give the asshole you love than to show him you can hit back just as hard where it really hurts?
She still hasn’t said yes. What if we’re about to find out that Amber’s a bigger Mike than Mike is?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
What interests me here is that it’s Leslie & Robin who are getting involved in this, um, event.
I love how they are both in this scene – sort of framed on opposite sides. Interesting.
Fun Fact: Leslie is totally checking out Amber’s butt.
Aw that’s sweet…YOU LIED TO US WILLIS!
Seriously though happy 14th Walkyverse may you continue for years to come.
So guys.
I fucking called it yesterday.
AWWWWWW YEAH.
Will they or won’t they!? Either I get a clear cut answer or I beat both Mike and Amber within’ an inch or their fictional lives! (Sure that’s impossible on several levels, but I’ll do it anyway!
)
I will argue that I find Mike to be unfit for relationships, but perhaps Amber could help him; I mean he just showed that he is capable of human emotions.
On the other hand Mike is REALLY screwed up…
Perhaps this is the flood gate to character development all around?
Damn it all; I don’t actually support the pairing, but I’m not against it either! [slams head against wall]
Mike has done some pretty terrible things and that proposal was horrible, but damn it – why did he have to make that face!? (Not that I forgive him, but damn it!)
Perhaps she hasn’t actually forgiven him yet; or to be more precise she might not MARRY HIM after this. She might break up with him, but she does seem to be acknowledging that he does love her…
I’m just gonna wait patiently…
On a side note: Hey congrads on the many years of web comic-in’ somethin’ or ‘nother and the Walkyverse and all that…
Blah-blah-blah…
Blah blah blah…
Yeah – point is you lied…
Ya Jerk…
well I cant say I expected a Sat strip.I`m glad I clicked on today to read more comments on Fridays strip .very interested now to see whats next!
Fuck. Yes.
Maybe after seeing Amber forgive Mike for all the horrible stuff he did, Leslie will learn to forgive Robin and they can totally go back to being a couple again!
God, Primus, Grumpy Bear, and the Fonz, please make this happen, we all miss our loveable lesbian duo.
Not all of us.
*punches computer screen*
You just got Robined.
*squints eyes* Live with it.
If you were Amber, and you’d seen the kind of pain that Amber’s mom has gone through, you’d be grateful for anyone who could bring her that kind of pleasure. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing for Jacob, but I sure don’t see Stacy complaining.
Still, kind of a gross way to discover your mother is sexually active.
grrrrr, I so wanted to kill you when I saw the previous comic, but now that I see this one I feel better…. so you live…. For now.
OK, I’ll admit, this relationship is something I REALLY don’t know how to feel about.
On one hand, even damaged people deserve happiness.
On the other hand, Mike is a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE person. He’s tremendous fun to watch, but that doesn’t change the fact that he hurts people – a lot – just for the hell of it. I mean…this is the guy who manipulated Amber and Ethan into having sex with him at an emotional weak point just to put a strain on their friendship. The guy who kicked a little girl just to make pacifists turn violent. The guy who ruined Jacob’s life (The fact that he wasn’t alone in that task does not make him any less guilty. At least Roz thought she was HELPING).
Granted, Amber is not exactly the picture of kindness and goodness herself…
Honestly, I don’t think Mike hurts anybody just for the sake of hurting them. He never screws with people who are honestly innocent. Virtually every time he does something hurtful to someone, it’s to show them that they’re kidding themselves, or that they’re being hypocrites.
I think this is why the Jacob thing seems especially bad. Because the usual pattern of Mike’s behavior is pretty much the way you identify it. But in Jacob’s case it’s like, he knows and admits he has trouble controlling his behavior, he’s already had it fuck up his life once, and was in the process of recovering from that, learning to control himself and trying to rebuild his life. There’s no real hypocrisy or avoidance to speak of, it’s just Mike fucking up someone’s life because he could.
Honestly, i agree to an extent. Mike’s definitely a huge asshole, but i wouldn’t call him a “horrible person” because, while he has done tons of things that had NO reason beyond jerking people around, he’s also done some things that were genuinely heroic, selfless, or helpful, even though always with the appearance of being more of an ass. He’s saved a number of lives, even to the point where he died saving Joyce. He allowed himself to get beaten badly in order to bring tony back from his brainwashing(yes, he got to me an asshole in the process, but still), he usually accepts the consequences of his actions when there are any (there usually aren’t) like when walky beat him after Dina’s death, and even when no longer with Semme, he risked his life fighting off the honey bun. He’s far from good person, but i wouldn’t say he’s as horrible as people make him out to be.
d’awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Somewhere, M. Night Shyamalan is reading this and shouting ‘What a Twist!”
And thanks to you Walky for whatever you fixed on the site with the script loading issue. I couldn’t fully load the page for a week until today.
When I read XKCD, I imagine the Guy in the Hat to look like Mike
Well, there’s White Hat Guy and Beret Guy in addition to the Guy in the Hat that you’re thinking about (His name is Black Hat Guy).
Fracture my spine,
And swear that you’re mine,
As we dance to the masochism tango!
First Homestuck, then Gunnekrigg Court now Shortpacked, what is it with trolling webcomic authors recently?!
Love it =D
YESSSSSS
Oh, thank Kord, I thought I was going to cry. Crisis averted.
Um… hooray, an awful, irredeemable man does THE worst thing he’s ever done to try to break up the mutually abusive relationship he’s in, and then the girl accepts his proposal anyway and they go off to Hap-Happy Land because there’s no way this is going to end badly.
Could’ve been worse. He could’ve killed Amber’s hamsters and wrote “Will you marry me?” on the bedroom wall with their blood.
Also he’s saved people’s lives before, and unlike, say, Walky or Joyce, he’s not responsible for having murdered anyone (I think?) other than Honey Bun, who was evil anyway, so he’s not irredeemable. An asshole, yes, absolutely, but not completely irredeemable.
Also also I think Mike’s done worse things than this before. Though that depends on one’s opinion of what’s worse than what. Is it worse that he did this, or is it worse that he had sex with Amber and Ethan in an attempt to drive them apart as they fought over Mike? Or is it worse that he used the bodies of his recently dead SEMME comrades to plug up Monkey Master’s cannons? etc.
My iconic Mike moment was when he and Ethan were walking down the sidewalk; Mike was on the phone, and Ethan asked who he was talking to. Mike said “Your mom.” Then Ethan grabbed the phone, put it to his ear, and immediately said, “MOTHER!?”
Well, I honestly don’t see anything wrong with using the recently dead to plug up cannons. They’re dead, and it saves the living from joining them. What do they care? Yeah, it’s sorta brutally pragmatic, but for all we know they were organ donors, in which case, I’m not even sure it’s unethical. ;p
It’s a work of fiction AND a webcomic. Don’t take it so seriously.
We’re not sure what’s gonna happen yet. Let’s wait and see before passing any judgement.
I’m with you. This is a terrible idea on Amber’s part. Mike is an awful person and I will never understand why people like him.
I’ve never before commented on any webcomic ever, but your deceit, and my love for Mike+Amber, has inspired me:
DAMN YOU, WILLIS!
DAMN YOU FOR LYING!
I actually think Mike used the alcohol because he couldn’t do it sober. He’s been an ass the entire time without alcohol, so why this particular time is he drunk?
Does this mean he needed the booze to get a shot of liquid courage?
I knew Amber wouldn’t go down that easily!
not until the honeymoon at least.
god DAMN IT DAVID WILLIS WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME
I just lost all of my respect for Amber.
Mr. Willis, thank you so much. After the previous strip I was reading all the emotional responses and thinking – though I wasn’t an ass enough to post – that it was well done but not quite the most emotional surprise I had ever read before in a webcomic. That distinction for me had previously been the death of Davan’s mom in S*P.
Then you brought it over the top. I Was legitimately fooled and didn’t even check in, so the surprise added to the impact for sure. You have given me a true emotional roller coaster ride.
And I’ll reward you with some of the same below. As well as nerd trivia.
The emotional roller coaster is that I checked in because I thought it might not be a bad place to share that Cliff Robertson just passed. Aside of being the actor with the insane dummy in the famous Twilight Zone episode, robertson may also be the only actor to appear alongside Batman (as the gunfighter Shame in the ’60s TV series) and Spiderman (of course as Uncle Ben in the recent movies).
As someone who dislikes conflict, I can respect Mike’s whole conspiracy to get Amber to love him.
Very good. I would rather they had broken up but hey credit where credit is due.
OMG
I’m so happy right now that I may cry.
I’m also druuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunk so that may be why.
Damn you Willis, damn you and your awesome.
I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY! i wish i had more to say but i don’t, because I AM JUST SOOO HAPPY!!!!
YAAAYY!!! HAHAHA DAMN YOU WILLIS BEST AND WORST TRICK EVER
Also: yay Leslie!
You hopeless romantics. You’re all so eay.
If they’re relationship crashes and burns, I’ll Lol.
If they doom themselves to a miserable marriage of wacky hijinks and wacky abuse, I’ll Lol.
Either way, it is all Lol worthy.
Huh. I just noticed that all the proposal comics are Tagged with “Drunk Mike.”
Is he drunk?
Drunk Mike is drunk
After giving it some thought thought and assuming she’s saying yes after finding out what Mike did to Jacob two things: 1)It’s already been said but Amber’s pretty damn fucked up isn’t she? I never really believed they’d break up I just really hoped they would. Them staying together for me is kind of a let down but hey a lot of other people (who I don’t totally get) seem happy so whatever 2) Hopefully Jacob finds out about all of this. It would probably pretty successfully kill his crush dead to find out that Amber knows about his sleeping with her mom and is basically okay with her boyfriend (fiancé) helping to destroy his attempts at recovery. Even if she tries to help him after this she’d still be willingly marrying someone who helped drive an addict into relapse.
Pretty sure that Jacob is enough of a stand-up dude that he wouldn’t blame anyone but himself for fucking Amber’s mom. At least from what I’ve seen of him, I wouldn’t suspect anything as douchey as him blaming someone else for something that he did.
That’s why I used the words “partly to blame” because yes it was ultimately Jacob’s choice but Mike is NOT innocent in this whole thing. Jacob already doesn’t see Mike as a good person or someone Amber should be with so how do you think he’d view Mike’s actions if told what he’d done? How do you think he’d view Amber? I think Jacob will acknowledge that ultimately yes his choices were his choices but I doubt he’s going to just be okay with Mike’s role in all of it. The guy deliberately set out to help him blow his sobriety and now Amber’s marrying him. He’s human. He will most likely get very pissed.
Okay so I didn’t use the exact words “partly to blame” (should have read over my post) but it is how I view it.
The moral is, Mike and Amber are both such terrible people they deserve each other.
i know this is probably very VERY un-Mike-like, but how’s this for an alternate theory?
Mike knows Jacob is crushing on Amber
Mike has met Amber’s mother and knows she is single
Mike knows Jacob’s a decent guy minus the sex addiction
Mike set them up together A) because he loves Amber and her mother’s relationship with her dad has been a sore point with her and B) it takes Jacob out of the picture so that he has no competition.
That’s possible.
It flies in the face of literally everything we know about Mike’s character, but it is possible.
I like this comic.
It takes a special kind of writing to make people rant and argue over the validity of a relationship between a fictional good-guy-asshat-with-a-heart-of-gold and a fictional good-girl-sometimes-superhero-with-a-history-of-bad-decisions.
I am not stating I am immune to feelings, nor that I don’t see whatever obvious parallel you (yeah, you, with the face) may be about to impart on poor, ignorant little me. Just that I find it funny that people will argue for hours over things like this.
I also find it funny that politicians can make the straight-faced claim that a natural disaster, akin to the ones that have been happening for far longer than man has concerned himself with where other men stick their little men, is a sign from the above that homosexuals porking is a no-no.
that reminds me of the website url i linked.
Next week: everybody dies.
In a tragic rock fall.
I think Willis just set some sort of record when it comes to being damned to hell several times in one week.
Whether Amber forgiving Mike (as she appears to be doing) is a good thing or a bad thing is your own opinion, and I myself am not sure how to feel about it, but it’s hard to deny that this is a heartwarming moment for the two of them.
What worries me is the “drunk mike” tag. If he is plastered, or even tipsy, it feels like it really minimizes both characters’ actions this last week – if Amber approaches Mike on Monday, takes a sniff and asks, “Wait, are you drunk?” … Well, that’s just kind of cruel. It takes away the emotional intensity of the last few days to think that it wasn’t even the ‘real’ Mike who proposed to her.
The fact that Willis just went through a couple days ago and changed the tags makes it feel like he made some kind of split-second decision about this. I’m loving the story so far, but I’m just a teensy bit worried about where it might be going.
Well, Willis hasn’t given us any stupid cop-outs yet; I guess I’ll trust him with this one.
At the very least, it wasn’t a split-second decision. Mike only gets what people refer to as the “blush stickers” when he is inebriated. And he most definitely had those this week even before the tags were changed. The only reason the tags didn’t start off as being “drunk mike” at first is because as an audience we weren’t supposed to know for sure that he was drunk. We could -guess- because of the blush, but we didn’t know – especially since we’d never seen him be a frowny asshole while drunk before.
And most likely, by this page at the very least, Amber knows he’s drunk. After all, she’s likely to realize he wouldn’t make that expression/say something like that to Robin unless he was drunk.
Damn you Willis, with your faux hinting.
*grins* Yay!
I am so counting down the minutes until the next one.
Which is both sad and irritating, by the way.
I didn’t even notice he said there was going to be a Saturday comic and I come back to this just before the Monday strip???? AHHHHHHH MY BRAIN!
He specifically said there wouldn’t! Then there was! And I read Monday’s first! And I only looked at Saturday’s after I noticed “Three minutes earlier”! Exclamation marks!
s… so, EVERYONE was right?
Wait….what?
This is why I love this comic… SO MUCH!!! You’re wonderful, Mr. Willis!
Really Amber? You “figured” that one out a while ago?
More like Mike told you, you whiny bitch.
Great Saturday comic Willis. Gotta admit that I didn’t check SP! during the weekend, and went straight to DoA.
-airfox
I am so glad I went back a couple of comics to check Mike’s angry eyes. I totally missed this over the weekend.
I LOVE this arc!
Happy belated Birthday W Universe!
So much disappointment. So much.
SO, um, this is the first time seeing this page.
Buh?