Power’s gonna be out here in Columbus for a few days, so here’s a fill-in strip from best bud Chris Hallbeck! He does the strips Maximumble and The Book of Biff.
True story: Chris lost power right after finishing this.
Amber probably looks around corners and checks rooms before entering just because she knows Mike might have laid traps or started walking around with a fist out. He is Mike, after all.
Man, I really wanna see Robin use her super-speed to save the day.
“Robin, Amber is about to jump off of a building on the other side of a country due to post-pardem, and you’re eating cotton candy? What’s wrong with you?”
(Robin swallows, looks at Leslie for a few seconds, looking sad, then…)
(…runs across the country in like 5 seconds and up the building and grabs the back of Amber’s collar)
Leslie:”…where the hell did THAT come from?”
Power went out here in Cincinnati for a while and there’s still a lot of outages. I’m just grateful it was only about 3 hours and not 5 days like last time.
Sorry to hear about your power being out. I’m an hour east of Columbus, and while we got royally slammed by that storm, most of the city still has power. *sends some spare Internets to Columbus*
After all years of strips about transformers(which is how I first found ‘packed), this is the one I can most identify with. You see, I have a 5-month-old, and she too, is a “walker.”
Btw, Westerville has their own power people and got us electricity back after only about 8 hours, best part of living in the city.
Less scary you say?
Indeed… you might believe that he is…
but exercise the following in your imagination
Picture her as a 3-5 year old girl crying because someone (another kid) pushed her or didn’t want to play with her.
Picture her as a 10-12 year old and feeling sad because of something somebody said or did to her.
Picture her as a 14-16 year old feeling sad because she has some of her first love/crush problems (and in ‘packed, that is bound to be full of drama and what not)
Picture her after breaking up with boy/girlfriends….
Now picture that you are any of “those people” and tell me if Mike is not scary as a father…
In my experience the more open a character(both RL and fictional) is on been a total ass, jeroff, obnoxious guy in general, the more he uses his serious jerkoffiness (not the everyday one) against those who hurt his family, and in a lesser degree those he deems part of his life (friends and zoidbergs). If only because nobody will say anything if he goes full throttle with a semblance of legitimate reason…
Besides, Amber didn’t have a c section, so no sexy times for several weeks, that’s bound to blow up somewhere, and I wouldn’t want to be around when that happens.
Holy crap, the last two weeks have been a gigantic archive binge for me. I found Dumbing of Age and read it in one sitting. Then started in on Roomies/It’s Walky/Joyce and Walky (yes I know it was backwards of me but whatever) and now finally I’ve finished Shortpacked (including the TNI strips).
So yea, wow. Dave has created an amazing thing(s). The depth of the characters, how little plot points are expanded upon much later, how far Mike will go to be a complete and utter asshole. Awesome, some of the most enjoyable stuff I’ve found on the web. Now waiting for strip updates will be like agony.
Ugh. reminds me of the months I had to watch a friend’s son. If I ever stopped walking… The odd thing was the walking only worked when I did it most of the time.
That’s my strategy for walking while reading. If a wall comes up, my extended fist will stop me from running into it, and if a person comes up, they’ll probably avoid my fist. But if not, well, the fist takes care of that too.
Foolproof.
SCREW DAT POWER OUTAGE
Well, in Donna’s defence, if I woke up and saw that my dad didn’t have a neck anymore, I’d probably cry too!
My dad always took his neck off after work. It was just something I had to get used to
Justifiable self-infliction
And then he turns around and puches out Amber by mistake.
and then he sleeps on the floor forever…with a black eye
couched, or considering her father, out of the relationship (i’d be really sad about that though)
Amber probably looks around corners and checks rooms before entering just because she knows Mike might have laid traps or started walking around with a fist out. He is Mike, after all.
I feel with you on the power outage. We lucked out but a lot of people here in the Dayton area are out potentially until Wednesday or Thursday.
“Obey the fist!”
Man, I really wanna see Robin use her super-speed to save the day.
“Robin, Amber is about to jump off of a building on the other side of a country due to post-pardem, and you’re eating cotton candy? What’s wrong with you?”
(Robin swallows, looks at Leslie for a few seconds, looking sad, then…)
(…runs across the country in like 5 seconds and up the building and grabs the back of Amber’s collar)
Leslie:”…where the hell did THAT come from?”
Power went out here in Cincinnati for a while and there’s still a lot of outages. I’m just grateful it was only about 3 hours and not 5 days like last time.
I expect Mike’s fist to stay floating there after he walks away Rayman style.
Speed Baby, Speed Baby…
Aww, Mike’s spending time with his little girl!
Sorry to hear about your power being out. I’m an hour east of Columbus, and while we got royally slammed by that storm, most of the city still has power. *sends some spare Internets to Columbus*
After all years of strips about transformers(which is how I first found ‘packed), this is the one I can most identify with. You see, I have a 5-month-old, and she too, is a “walker.”
Btw, Westerville has their own power people and got us electricity back after only about 8 hours, best part of living in the city.
No Mike! Think of the Children!
She’s a Walkerton? Man, Joyce must be pissed.
I love how everyone draws babies with the little curl on the head
I thought that was the baby looking down at the floor with a Mike-scowl. You can’t unsee it now! Mwahahaha!
Had a power outage today. Left some time at 6 P.M., came back 12:34 A.M.
As much of a jerk Mike usually is, this one’s perfectly understandable.
Been there. My two little ones were walkers too…
Anyone else get an “Extra Credits” vibe from the art? Not a complaint, just an observation.
Mike as a dad is surprisingly less scary thus far that I thought it would be.
I see the similarities!
Less scary you say?
Indeed… you might believe that he is…
but exercise the following in your imagination
Picture her as a 3-5 year old girl crying because someone (another kid) pushed her or didn’t want to play with her.
Picture her as a 10-12 year old and feeling sad because of something somebody said or did to her.
Picture her as a 14-16 year old feeling sad because she has some of her first love/crush problems (and in ‘packed, that is bound to be full of drama and what not)
Picture her after breaking up with boy/girlfriends….
Now picture that you are any of “those people” and tell me if Mike is not scary as a father…
In my experience the more open a character(both RL and fictional) is on been a total ass, jeroff, obnoxious guy in general, the more he uses his serious jerkoffiness (not the everyday one) against those who hurt his family, and in a lesser degree those he deems part of his life (friends and zoidbergs). If only because nobody will say anything if he goes full throttle with a semblance of legitimate reason…
Besides, Amber didn’t have a c section, so no sexy times for several weeks, that’s bound to blow up somewhere, and I wouldn’t want to be around when that happens.
Jesus, is everybody getting slammed with natural disasters? WTF planet.
The baby looks happy in the last panel, but that could just be me.
She is because he’s moving again.
Holy crap, the last two weeks have been a gigantic archive binge for me. I found Dumbing of Age and read it in one sitting. Then started in on Roomies/It’s Walky/Joyce and Walky (yes I know it was backwards of me but whatever) and now finally I’ve finished Shortpacked (including the TNI strips).
So yea, wow. Dave has created an amazing thing(s). The depth of the characters, how little plot points are expanded upon much later, how far Mike will go to be a complete and utter asshole. Awesome, some of the most enjoyable stuff I’ve found on the web. Now waiting for strip updates will be like agony.
Welcome… one of us… *hypno-toad eyes*
…one of us…
After reading through the archives I had neglected catching up with the strips. I forgot what made me read through all of Shortpacked. It’s AMAZING.
Ugh. reminds me of the months I had to watch a friend’s son. If I ever stopped walking… The odd thing was the walking only worked when I did it most of the time.
That’s my strategy for walking while reading. If a wall comes up, my extended fist will stop me from running into it, and if a person comes up, they’ll probably avoid my fist. But if not, well, the fist takes care of that too.
Foolproof.