That’s some shockingly insightful and mature self-reflection there, Ethan.
…Aaand, there it is. XD
I love how much depth you put in these characters, Tim.
JozMk.II
12 days ago
I now theorize that a situation is going to come up where he has to trust that he has his respawn ability and ‘use’ it. EG like when he saved Gameboy from getting crushed by falling debris, and got himself crushed in the process.
One thought I had regarding the comic above here, and what you just said her Ashi was maybe Ethan selflessly/without thinking acting as a hero somehow by some means triggers him being ‘worthy of respawning’ or something? Where as before he mostly used it selfishly or uselessly at times. Maybe some kind of Marvel/DC like deity or alien super being is like ‘ok you earned this’ or something? Food for thought maybe
But I notice that Tim did something really interesting here. He made it possible that Ethan could knowingly, intentionally, decide that there was something worth dying for, and putting himself in a situation that he knows he’s not coming back from.
So I don’t expect us to go back to status quo any time soon. I DO expect Ethan to get more and more Batman-like. This is just going to be sitting in the back of our minds – that he’s probably safe, but we don’t really know.
Frankly I would welcome it. Back to superheroing, but a distinct change. A lasting effect. It will be pretty cool to see him not rely on his powers to still be a hero. In addition, the ‘hero without powers sacrifice’ is the most obvious story beat. It has been done countless times. If I had to choose I would go the Thor route, though in a different jacket. There is time to think. To assess the consequences. Not a split second decision, but a drawn out affair shere you can truly feel the uncertainty. Because it is a mental game… Read more »
What would be interesting, is Ethan running and getting seriously injured trying to save or protect Zeke. Then Lucas completely freaking out and trying to rescue him and get him to a hospital. And Zeke suddenly realizing that the one human he assumed would always be around, could potentially not. Thing is, Ethan had his powers, but he never really used them. They were mostly a fallback, an insurance policy or for slapstick humor; I think there was only once or twice that he used them for an advantage – the old fake-out-die-and-get-you-from-behind bit. Ethan’s biggest weakness and failing was… Read more »
Argl
12 days ago
Wrist laser sounds like a great way to injure oneself with a little bit of clumsiness or absent-mindedness.
Unlike a blade that you will feel touching you, and that will not hurt if you slam it at low speed/pressure, the laser will go through the flesh all the same.
It is an absurd risk. Let’s say your friend lost the ability to feel pain in an arm, and ‘killing and reviving’ him would ‘reboot’ the system. Would you A: use house and garden tools to basically kill your friend, hoping that without professional attention and maybe a public defibrillator that he will make it? A machine that is meant only to keep people alive until the professionals arrive? Or B: you live with the new condition. Even with medical professionals it is not something you want to do. The chances of survival are simply not high enough to chance… Read more »
There are plenty of ways to induce near-death experiences, and they all have the same inevitable problems:
-The revival techniques are not foolproof. You’re still risking Ethans life on a test.
-It’s not a ‘death or fine’ deal, Ethan might survive but still have horrible health issues afterwards.
-Revive needs to be before he is fully gone. Impossible to tell if there should or would’ve been a respawn.
In terms of usefulness it’s no better than actually killing him and gambling on his powers being there.
Eitan
12 days ago
there goes a wrist
Steve
12 days ago
There was *always* a little doubt. There was that blip in their origin where they shocked Scott and Ethan only came back slowly. And at least in-strip he isn’t even up to Konami Code number of deaths (I think I got something like 22 when I tried to count them). 30-31 should be very nervous numbers for them!
Soeroah
12 days ago
I can see an alternate timeline where Lucas got too confident and didn’t want Ethan to angst any longer and just discretely murders him to trigger it. And then another timeline where he doesn’t respawn.
I’m glad we avoided that and went with the mature route lol
Crestlinger
12 days ago
Now are we talking blinding lasers, plasma lasers, or gundam lasers?
He wants his very own Starcaster to be like his future great-great-grandson Cort!
Clell
12 days ago
Okay, I can see Lucas suddenly just splooghing an arrow or three when under stress and discovering his powers. How did Ethan discover that dying was optional?
there is a strip with origins.
Lucas just sppoghing an arrow and killed ethan the first time.
Drew
12 days ago
Scott: “Well, first we need a penguin….”
Sir Guestalot
11 days ago
Honestly, I think there’s one thing he never really internalized: He should have had this kind of uncertainty for every life. Strictly speaking, they don’t know if he ever had infinite respawns, they just assumed that he did because he’d always come back so far. But all that ultimately proved was that he had a lot of respawns. For anyone familiar with FullMetal Alchemist, think about the Homunculi. They could regenerate and recover from mortal wounds with little issue over and over and over again…but while their number of extra lives was vast, they were still ultimately finite and would… Read more »
Derfman
11 days ago
Once again, this should have been the attitude day one. They have no idea if his extra lives are infinite. It should have been treated as if his current life was his last every time he went out. Oh, I am surprised he isn’t asking for a light saber.
Last edited 11 days ago by Derfman
nsimic
11 days ago
Ethan: not the hero we deserve, but the one we need
hash
11 days ago
Ah Profound Ethan.. how fleeting..
Dom
11 days ago
I know I’m repeating myself, but it’s the writing that keeps me coming back to this webcomic 3 times a week.
Scortch
11 days ago
If they knew of someone in the medical field, they could stop his heart under controlled conditions and bring him back within a short period of time. See if killing him causes a respawn, and if not immediately revive him.
Del Cox
11 days ago
Guessing Tim is saving the reveal for a self-sacrificial moment, so it has real meaning to Ethan’s character.
Mike
11 days ago
i seriously expected him to greet Ethan by throwing an arrow through his neck, so he could re-materialize, scream at him, and then thank him for murdering him.
I still wonder if we’re going to solve this mystery in a big dramatic way where Ethan sacrifices himself to save someone. Or he suffers a household accident, breaks his neck then respawns.
wysskers4
11 days ago
Attabub, there, Ethan! Wrist lasers are a good place to start!
Freddie!
11 days ago
Wrist lasers? Then it’s time to bring in morphic fields. Primitive starcaster tech!
Mog
11 days ago
Or what if Ethan always had just 99 lives
Asterus
11 days ago
Several years from now:
“Mwahahaha, like I always told you Analog, you’re nothing without your fancy gadgets. NOW DIE!
…
Wait, you had powers the whole time?!”
Omg omg
4 days ago
I thought the Troll’s face was unreadable.
I like the logic game here involving Ethan and the fact that proving if he has his powers is like a zero-one gamble: You win or you absolutely lose.
24
That’s some shockingly insightful and mature self-reflection there, Ethan.
…Aaand, there it is. XD
I love how much depth you put in these characters, Tim.
I now theorize that a situation is going to come up where he has to trust that he has his respawn ability and ‘use’ it. EG like when he saved Gameboy from getting crushed by falling debris, and got himself crushed in the process.
Aaaand it’s going to be a cliffhanger!
Possibly Literally.
I think it less likely that he trusts in a scenario that he can respawn and more likely that he acts without thinking (selflessly, not stupidly!)
One thought I had regarding the comic above here, and what you just said her Ashi was maybe Ethan selflessly/without thinking acting as a hero somehow by some means triggers him being ‘worthy of respawning’ or something? Where as before he mostly used it selfishly or uselessly at times. Maybe some kind of Marvel/DC like deity or alien super being is like ‘ok you earned this’ or something? Food for thought maybe
Maybe.
But I notice that Tim did something really interesting here. He made it possible that Ethan could knowingly, intentionally, decide that there was something worth dying for, and putting himself in a situation that he knows he’s not coming back from.
So I don’t expect us to go back to status quo any time soon. I DO expect Ethan to get more and more Batman-like. This is just going to be sitting in the back of our minds – that he’s probably safe, but we don’t really know.
Frankly I would welcome it. Back to superheroing, but a distinct change. A lasting effect. It will be pretty cool to see him not rely on his powers to still be a hero. In addition, the ‘hero without powers sacrifice’ is the most obvious story beat. It has been done countless times. If I had to choose I would go the Thor route, though in a different jacket. There is time to think. To assess the consequences. Not a split second decision, but a drawn out affair shere you can truly feel the uncertainty. Because it is a mental game… Read more »
What would be interesting, is Ethan running and getting seriously injured trying to save or protect Zeke. Then Lucas completely freaking out and trying to rescue him and get him to a hospital. And Zeke suddenly realizing that the one human he assumed would always be around, could potentially not. Thing is, Ethan had his powers, but he never really used them. They were mostly a fallback, an insurance policy or for slapstick humor; I think there was only once or twice that he used them for an advantage – the old fake-out-die-and-get-you-from-behind bit. Ethan’s biggest weakness and failing was… Read more »
Wrist laser sounds like a great way to injure oneself with a little bit of clumsiness or absent-mindedness.
Unlike a blade that you will feel touching you, and that will not hurt if you slam it at low speed/pressure, the laser will go through the flesh all the same.
“Oops. I had them the wrong way around.”
– A respawned Ethan
Just put him into an ice bath and induce cardiac arrest. Either he respawns, or you have 5 mins to return o2 to the brain.
A bit odd to deliberately torture your friend that way.
It’s not torture, it’s science.
Why not both?
If you can revive them, then they weren’t dead yet.
It is an absurd risk. Let’s say your friend lost the ability to feel pain in an arm, and ‘killing and reviving’ him would ‘reboot’ the system. Would you A: use house and garden tools to basically kill your friend, hoping that without professional attention and maybe a public defibrillator that he will make it? A machine that is meant only to keep people alive until the professionals arrive? Or B: you live with the new condition. Even with medical professionals it is not something you want to do. The chances of survival are simply not high enough to chance… Read more »
Flatliners
There are plenty of ways to induce near-death experiences, and they all have the same inevitable problems:
-The revival techniques are not foolproof. You’re still risking Ethans life on a test.
-It’s not a ‘death or fine’ deal, Ethan might survive but still have horrible health issues afterwards.
-Revive needs to be before he is fully gone. Impossible to tell if there should or would’ve been a respawn.
In terms of usefulness it’s no better than actually killing him and gambling on his powers being there.
there goes a wrist
There was *always* a little doubt. There was that blip in their origin where they shocked Scott and Ethan only came back slowly. And at least in-strip he isn’t even up to Konami Code number of deaths (I think I got something like 22 when I tried to count them). 30-31 should be very nervous numbers for them!
I can see an alternate timeline where Lucas got too confident and didn’t want Ethan to angst any longer and just discretely murders him to trigger it. And then another timeline where he doesn’t respawn.
I’m glad we avoided that and went with the mature route lol
Now are we talking blinding lasers, plasma lasers, or gundam lasers?
I’m hoping he’s after Akira destroy-the-stadium lasers.
But, y’know, wrist-mounted.
He wants his very own Starcaster to be like his future great-great-grandson Cort!
Okay, I can see Lucas suddenly just splooghing an arrow or three when under stress and discovering his powers. How did Ethan discover that dying was optional?
Was there an origin strip that I missed?
there is a strip with origins.
Lucas just sppoghing an arrow and killed ethan the first time.
Scott: “Well, first we need a penguin….”
Honestly, I think there’s one thing he never really internalized: He should have had this kind of uncertainty for every life. Strictly speaking, they don’t know if he ever had infinite respawns, they just assumed that he did because he’d always come back so far. But all that ultimately proved was that he had a lot of respawns. For anyone familiar with FullMetal Alchemist, think about the Homunculi. They could regenerate and recover from mortal wounds with little issue over and over and over again…but while their number of extra lives was vast, they were still ultimately finite and would… Read more »
Once again, this should have been the attitude day one. They have no idea if his extra lives are infinite. It should have been treated as if his current life was his last every time he went out. Oh, I am surprised he isn’t asking for a light saber.
Ethan: not the hero we deserve, but the one we need
Ah Profound Ethan.. how fleeting..
I know I’m repeating myself, but it’s the writing that keeps me coming back to this webcomic 3 times a week.
If they knew of someone in the medical field, they could stop his heart under controlled conditions and bring him back within a short period of time. See if killing him causes a respawn, and if not immediately revive him.
Guessing Tim is saving the reveal for a self-sacrificial moment, so it has real meaning to Ethan’s character.
i seriously expected him to greet Ethan by throwing an arrow through his neck, so he could re-materialize, scream at him, and then thank him for murdering him.
Lucas is the more level-headed of the two…
I still wonder if we’re going to solve this mystery in a big dramatic way where Ethan sacrifices himself to save someone. Or he suffers a household accident, breaks his neck then respawns.
Attabub, there, Ethan! Wrist lasers are a good place to start!
Wrist lasers? Then it’s time to bring in morphic fields. Primitive starcaster tech!
Or what if Ethan always had just 99 lives
Several years from now:
“Mwahahaha, like I always told you Analog, you’re nothing without your fancy gadgets. NOW DIE!
…
Wait, you had powers the whole time?!”
I thought the Troll’s face was unreadable.
I like the logic game here involving Ethan and the fact that proving if he has his powers is like a zero-one gamble: You win or you absolutely lose.