Seems a bit insane that the more serious heroes haven’t already stepped in and squashed the random unpowered lunatic threatening the city. But yeah.. definitely no point to letting him dunk them since he will just pull the trigger anyways and find a way to blame them. Never worth it to feed the trolls.
Give them some time to respond, or even just assess the situation. It’s not like Troll is some massive threat they’ve been ignoring for ages, it’s been barely 5 minutes since he suddenly upgraded from ‘escaped nobody’ to claiming to be endangering the city. So far Troll has been mostly small-scale feud, and Analog and D-Pad have been dealing with him well enough. I’m pretty sure the cops even mentioned having some other heroes standing by during the previous public presentation, they just haven’t had to step in yet. And there is always the whole ‘anyone else shows up and… Read more »
I believe when the Troll was first introduced, they mentioned that he went after other heroes. They mentioned one hero specifically that gained bad publicity in the manner in which they responded. They even had a conversation with another hero specifically about the Troll and that hero was aware and disliked him. I think they just avoid him while he has a current target. Analog and D-Pad decided against any response. The Troll didn’t like this, so forced them to respond via kidnapping and threatening to kill hostages if they didn’t play his game. The result is Analog (accidently?) dropping… Read more »
We have had Phasar summoned by the city as backup for the last time we saw him, but yeah i think by now Troll has definetely bumped up to a large scale threat, as the main focus and reasoning for him to go full nuclear Analog and D-Pad are still involved, but i think as things are progressing, we may see more heroes get involved to try and find a way to essentially defuse this bomb without it blowing everything up.
They talked to Captain Prime about The Troll back in “Infernal Demons”: https://cad-comic.com/comic/infernal-demons-p17/
She said he was hard to track down, and had driven another hero to suicide. So they’re very aware of how serious he is as a villain.
Well, people have been speculating that Nicole is the Troll, and that Nicole is Captain Prime. I’m going to take it one step further: Nicole is both the Troll AND Captain Prime. That’s why prime could never catch the Troll, and why she won’t step in now.
Definitely would love to see steroid rambo guy turn him into a piece of moldy swiss cheese.
Darkhorse
5 days ago
At this point U can’t believe Elijah is working together with the Troll. Sure he’s out to get Analog and D-Pad, but his bit is eventually about saving lives. Helping the Troll to these chemicals, even as a “bluff,” is too much a risk. How many children should be threatened to be disfigured and possibly die directly or indirectly before he steps in? The same for Black Hat. I can imagine him being angry at the world, but he wasn’t after physical or mental harm. He just wanted what he thought he didn’t get because of disfigurement. And this is… Read more »
I think Elijah still thinks his speed makes him unbeatable, regardless of him being beaten once. The troll probably set him up by “Here, you place all the sprayers” making him think that he can just go and grab them all before they go off if the ‘bluff’ fails. Not telling him that they will go off when moved after set down, or that he had someone else place a lot more as well.
I can still easily believe it. It’s true that it shouldn’t make sense from the ‘saving lives’ viewpoint, but when your perspective gets as warped as Elijah’s, logic mostly stops mattering. It’s disturbingly easy to twist any situation and see horrible things as a valid option regardless. All you have to is imagine the alternative is somehow worse, and suddenly doing the horrible thing almost becomes a moral duty. It becomes less about how horrible the thing you’re doing is, and more about how horrible you can imagine the alternative is. Is a city of disfigured children bad? Sure. But… Read more »
No I can’t believe that. He has a very distinct idea, where killing gun store owners and game store owners can aid the world. Being thwarted once by Analog and D-Pad does not instantly warp everything else in his psyche, causing him to be okay with ***Stealing chemicals, weaponising them and threatening a city of several million people with horrible disfigurement, harm and death.*** If it would be a descent into madness I can understand. But he’s hardly had the hardship to get there. This is a 500 steps above what he was doing. However much he might have a… Read more »
He’s also killing the guards, not just the owners. Being unemployed and desperate for work (that would be considered legitimate to most non-ideologues) put him a few steps down this path.
What makes you say it would be an instant warp, or somehow caused by Analog and D-Pad beating him? Or that it isn’t such an ongoing descent into madness? This isn’t some new development. Elijah’s psyche has been slipping ever since what happened to his brother. He was already doing badly in his first appearance, and he’s only gotten worse since then, temporary talk-down by Analog notwithstanding. Every day that things aren’t changing is probably already a reason for Elijah to believe things aren’t working, and that more drastic measures are necessary. The first time we saw him he was… Read more »
The last time we saw Elijah, his bit was taking lives, not saving them. We saw someone willing to warp and twist logic to justify doing anything, no matter how reprehensible. I’m sure Elijah has already justified this to himself too, all in the memory of a little brother who would be ashamed and disappointed if he could see the evil his big brother was using his powers for.
Okay I’m really finding it strange that we’re having an actual discussion about this. Elijah is a serial killer with warped values. I agree. Even so, they are fostered in a belief that killing gun/game store owners and anyone related to that business, including security, can help save the lives of some children. Stealing chemicals to use as weapons on millions of civilians is something else entirely. It does not fill any philosophy he adheres to. It does not achieve his goal in any way. It is not even remotely akin to murdering every single game/gun store owner in the… Read more »
I agree, and Ibelieve they’re both uncomfortable with this whole plan, even though agreeing to it (maybe the Troll lied that no one will actually be hurt?)
My bet: Elijah will understand that he got too far only when he attacks Game Boy, who will come to help
I am admittedly still on edge with Elijah’s characterization as of late, but i think that Alex and Elijah’s alliance with him, if there is any, is most likely out of a feeling of desperation and necessity. Both Alex and Elijah are (most likely, assuming on Elijah’s end since we know Alex was bare minimum 20 when we saw him last) young adults without much standing and were both imprisoned, so it may be a situation of a rock and a hard place. Follow along for a little bit and you can go free again, get some new lives, even… Read more »
Well, a couple of options spring to mind. Zeke might be willing to help out here or, in the unlikely event that the Troll shows up personally, that unhinged murderhobo superhero from earlier might want to speak to the Troll.
Or this is where we find out that his power was never negated and he still has all his extra lives.
Fartsy
5 days ago
The thing with the Troll is that you never know if he’s serious or straight up bluffing, which makes this character a serious threat.
BeF_Aviko
5 days ago
…well, that escalated quickly.
Scortch
5 days ago
I think this is where Ethan is going to find her still has his powers.
Robert
5 days ago
Ah yes, the good old agreeable: “If they don´t obey, they will FORCE me to mess up all those innocents, why are they doing that?” … which exists in every variation and scale.
They made me hit them.
They made me shoot them.
They made me bomb them.
They made me invent a killer AI to destroy humanity, see the consequences of your actions, Cindy from tenth grade?
They provided shelter to refugees, which forced me to deport citizens.
They showed concern for the future, which forced me to eliminate years of scientific research.
They tried to hire people based on competence, which forced me to invent high ranking positions and assign them to family and those who bow to me.
Can you imagine how dystopic it would be if someone tried to pull this kind of stunt in real life, and how utterly soul-crushing it would be if people bought it? I’m sure glad this is merely fiction.
Yeah, similar things have actully happened in the past. Rare exeptions so far but that isn’t unbelievalble twisted logic, at least to anyone who has done deep dives in history, especially last couple hundred years.
And as always with these, is you that must look at the things from their point of view, never the other way
Daniel
5 days ago
What a wonderful, inconsistent speech: Earlier it was just him and his cult, now he has to speak against videogames to gain Elijah’s cooperation, and for Alex he have to express his victimhood, making it some racial matter. And of course he have his own vendetta… And so he uses terribly lot of words to make up the fact that his all plan is nonsense, and there is no way that disfiguring two low ranked heros solves school shooting or helps Alex in any way. This is the price he pays for his coalition: His last ultimatum was somewhat convincing,… Read more »
Yeah, I think at this point I would´nt be surprised if one of the S-Tier Heroes steps in and vaporizes the building that idiot monologues from.
Sasquatch
5 days ago
If you’re a regular citizen living in this city, is that threat enough to get you to pack up the family and rent an air bnb for a day or two? Or does this happen so much you just figure the supes have it under control?
– Darling, have you read the news?
– Yeah, just another Monday in our loved city…
In an Ultimate comic, Ben Grim is the only human in all the planet without powers. He is used to be kidnapped by super villains or about to be hit by an asteroid that he just go on with his life and enjoy the adventures.
Alek
5 days ago
As much as I miss when it was two dudes on a couch playing video games, I do enjoy these super hero stories the most out of your current line up.
Entercoven
5 days ago
I would love to make a comment about how no citizen could see this message and think “Huh he’s right! All the heroes have to do is horribly disfigure themselves otherwise it will happen to me! The Troll is such a good per…wait… happen to me? He has bombs set up to spread that to ME!? Holy crap the Troll is Evil! I hope Analog and D-Pad stop that psycho!”
…. But as an American, with the current country, we’ve been told the crap that would happen, and so many have been willing to drink that koolaid…
Many people would be more than happy to deliver the heroes to the villian themselves as a form of self-preservation.
Matt Braddock
5 days ago
To be frank, agreed with the rest. Tim might have written himself into a corner with this, because at this level of a threat, Captain Prime or other top grade supes would have to step in. Leaving them out when someone threatens to disfigure every single person in the city, creates a huge plot hole. What are they for if not for threats this severe?
It would probably follow the usual DC trope of “Superman’s off-planet, Flash is asleep, Dr Fate is in another dimension, and Captain Atom is unavailable” with any Batman only storyline. The problem with having characters with wildly variable power scaling in the same general area is that you need to bench people who are way too OP from a writing perspective. No one would put up with DC for long if every single storyline was “And then all the speedsters from One-Minute War did the thing, resolving the problem instantly from everyone else’s perspective” Could be that Captain Prime does… Read more »
Cypher
5 days ago
Ah, methamphetamine yoshi is back….
Greevar
5 days ago
The question in my mind is whether Troll believes his own bullshit or is just addicted to trolling. Perhaps it’s both?
Everything he says is full of logical fallacies, lies, and circular reasoning.
Extreme
5 days ago
Welp, Nicole is about to fly off the rails when Ethan tries to leave without being able to give an explanation as to where or why.
24
first!
also, oh no!
Seems a bit insane that the more serious heroes haven’t already stepped in and squashed the random unpowered lunatic threatening the city. But yeah.. definitely no point to letting him dunk them since he will just pull the trigger anyways and find a way to blame them. Never worth it to feed the trolls.
Yeah like at this point, this is when you involve more supers, you’re not dealing with petty thieves and vandals anymore.
Give them some time to respond, or even just assess the situation. It’s not like Troll is some massive threat they’ve been ignoring for ages, it’s been barely 5 minutes since he suddenly upgraded from ‘escaped nobody’ to claiming to be endangering the city. So far Troll has been mostly small-scale feud, and Analog and D-Pad have been dealing with him well enough. I’m pretty sure the cops even mentioned having some other heroes standing by during the previous public presentation, they just haven’t had to step in yet. And there is always the whole ‘anyone else shows up and… Read more »
I believe when the Troll was first introduced, they mentioned that he went after other heroes. They mentioned one hero specifically that gained bad publicity in the manner in which they responded. They even had a conversation with another hero specifically about the Troll and that hero was aware and disliked him. I think they just avoid him while he has a current target. Analog and D-Pad decided against any response. The Troll didn’t like this, so forced them to respond via kidnapping and threatening to kill hostages if they didn’t play his game. The result is Analog (accidently?) dropping… Read more »
We have had Phasar summoned by the city as backup for the last time we saw him, but yeah i think by now Troll has definetely bumped up to a large scale threat, as the main focus and reasoning for him to go full nuclear Analog and D-Pad are still involved, but i think as things are progressing, we may see more heroes get involved to try and find a way to essentially defuse this bomb without it blowing everything up.
They talked to Captain Prime about The Troll back in “Infernal Demons”: https://cad-comic.com/comic/infernal-demons-p17/
She said he was hard to track down, and had driven another hero to suicide. So they’re very aware of how serious he is as a villain.
Ohhhhh, thanks for the link, it reminded me that Zeke is still a piece on the board!
Well, people have been speculating that Nicole is the Troll, and that Nicole is Captain Prime. I’m going to take it one step further: Nicole is both the Troll AND Captain Prime. That’s why prime could never catch the Troll, and why she won’t step in now.
Definitely would love to see steroid rambo guy turn him into a piece of moldy swiss cheese.
At this point U can’t believe Elijah is working together with the Troll. Sure he’s out to get Analog and D-Pad, but his bit is eventually about saving lives. Helping the Troll to these chemicals, even as a “bluff,” is too much a risk. How many children should be threatened to be disfigured and possibly die directly or indirectly before he steps in? The same for Black Hat. I can imagine him being angry at the world, but he wasn’t after physical or mental harm. He just wanted what he thought he didn’t get because of disfigurement. And this is… Read more »
I think Elijah still thinks his speed makes him unbeatable, regardless of him being beaten once. The troll probably set him up by “Here, you place all the sprayers” making him think that he can just go and grab them all before they go off if the ‘bluff’ fails. Not telling him that they will go off when moved after set down, or that he had someone else place a lot more as well.
I can still easily believe it. It’s true that it shouldn’t make sense from the ‘saving lives’ viewpoint, but when your perspective gets as warped as Elijah’s, logic mostly stops mattering. It’s disturbingly easy to twist any situation and see horrible things as a valid option regardless. All you have to is imagine the alternative is somehow worse, and suddenly doing the horrible thing almost becomes a moral duty. It becomes less about how horrible the thing you’re doing is, and more about how horrible you can imagine the alternative is. Is a city of disfigured children bad? Sure. But… Read more »
No I can’t believe that. He has a very distinct idea, where killing gun store owners and game store owners can aid the world. Being thwarted once by Analog and D-Pad does not instantly warp everything else in his psyche, causing him to be okay with ***Stealing chemicals, weaponising them and threatening a city of several million people with horrible disfigurement, harm and death.*** If it would be a descent into madness I can understand. But he’s hardly had the hardship to get there. This is a 500 steps above what he was doing. However much he might have a… Read more »
He’s also killing the guards, not just the owners. Being unemployed and desperate for work (that would be considered legitimate to most non-ideologues) put him a few steps down this path.
What makes you say it would be an instant warp, or somehow caused by Analog and D-Pad beating him? Or that it isn’t such an ongoing descent into madness? This isn’t some new development. Elijah’s psyche has been slipping ever since what happened to his brother. He was already doing badly in his first appearance, and he’s only gotten worse since then, temporary talk-down by Analog notwithstanding. Every day that things aren’t changing is probably already a reason for Elijah to believe things aren’t working, and that more drastic measures are necessary. The first time we saw him he was… Read more »
The last time we saw Elijah, his bit was taking lives, not saving them. We saw someone willing to warp and twist logic to justify doing anything, no matter how reprehensible. I’m sure Elijah has already justified this to himself too, all in the memory of a little brother who would be ashamed and disappointed if he could see the evil his big brother was using his powers for.
Okay I’m really finding it strange that we’re having an actual discussion about this. Elijah is a serial killer with warped values. I agree. Even so, they are fostered in a belief that killing gun/game store owners and anyone related to that business, including security, can help save the lives of some children. Stealing chemicals to use as weapons on millions of civilians is something else entirely. It does not fill any philosophy he adheres to. It does not achieve his goal in any way. It is not even remotely akin to murdering every single game/gun store owner in the… Read more »
I agree, and Ibelieve they’re both uncomfortable with this whole plan, even though agreeing to it (maybe the Troll lied that no one will actually be hurt?)
My bet: Elijah will understand that he got too far only when he attacks Game Boy, who will come to help
I am admittedly still on edge with Elijah’s characterization as of late, but i think that Alex and Elijah’s alliance with him, if there is any, is most likely out of a feeling of desperation and necessity. Both Alex and Elijah are (most likely, assuming on Elijah’s end since we know Alex was bare minimum 20 when we saw him last) young adults without much standing and were both imprisoned, so it may be a situation of a rock and a hard place. Follow along for a little bit and you can go free again, get some new lives, even… Read more »
The enemy of the enemy is my friend.
Maxium 29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. No more. No less
Honestly, this is what I enjoy most in the main CAD arcs these days; The superhero stuff. I hope the toxic relationship drama is resolved soon.
same, my dude.
Well, a couple of options spring to mind. Zeke might be willing to help out here or, in the unlikely event that the Troll shows up personally, that unhinged murderhobo superhero from earlier might want to speak to the Troll.
Or this is where we find out that his power was never negated and he still has all his extra lives.
The thing with the Troll is that you never know if he’s serious or straight up bluffing, which makes this character a serious threat.
…well, that escalated quickly.
I think this is where Ethan is going to find her still has his powers.
Ah yes, the good old agreeable: “If they don´t obey, they will FORCE me to mess up all those innocents, why are they doing that?” … which exists in every variation and scale.
They made me hit them.
They made me shoot them.
They made me bomb them.
They made me invent a killer AI to destroy humanity, see the consequences of your actions, Cindy from tenth grade?
They provided shelter to refugees, which forced me to deport citizens.
They showed concern for the future, which forced me to eliminate years of scientific research.
They tried to hire people based on competence, which forced me to invent high ranking positions and assign them to family and those who bow to me.
Can you imagine how dystopic it would be if someone tried to pull this kind of stunt in real life, and how utterly soul-crushing it would be if people bought it? I’m sure glad this is merely fiction.
Yeah, similar things have actully happened in the past. Rare exeptions so far but that isn’t unbelievalble twisted logic, at least to anyone who has done deep dives in history, especially last couple hundred years.
I think Stix might have been thinking a bit more recent than that…
Um… “Whoosh”?
And as always with these, is you that must look at the things from their point of view, never the other way
What a wonderful, inconsistent speech: Earlier it was just him and his cult, now he has to speak against videogames to gain Elijah’s cooperation, and for Alex he have to express his victimhood, making it some racial matter. And of course he have his own vendetta… And so he uses terribly lot of words to make up the fact that his all plan is nonsense, and there is no way that disfiguring two low ranked heros solves school shooting or helps Alex in any way. This is the price he pays for his coalition: His last ultimatum was somewhat convincing,… Read more »
Yeah, I think at this point I would´nt be surprised if one of the S-Tier Heroes steps in and vaporizes the building that idiot monologues from.
If you’re a regular citizen living in this city, is that threat enough to get you to pack up the family and rent an air bnb for a day or two? Or does this happen so much you just figure the supes have it under control?
– Darling, have you read the news?
– Yeah, just another Monday in our loved city…
In an Ultimate comic, Ben Grim is the only human in all the planet without powers. He is used to be kidnapped by super villains or about to be hit by an asteroid that he just go on with his life and enjoy the adventures.
As much as I miss when it was two dudes on a couch playing video games, I do enjoy these super hero stories the most out of your current line up.
I would love to make a comment about how no citizen could see this message and think “Huh he’s right! All the heroes have to do is horribly disfigure themselves otherwise it will happen to me! The Troll is such a good per…wait… happen to me? He has bombs set up to spread that to ME!? Holy crap the Troll is Evil! I hope Analog and D-Pad stop that psycho!”
…. But as an American, with the current country, we’ve been told the crap that would happen, and so many have been willing to drink that koolaid…
Many people would be more than happy to deliver the heroes to the villian themselves as a form of self-preservation.
To be frank, agreed with the rest. Tim might have written himself into a corner with this, because at this level of a threat, Captain Prime or other top grade supes would have to step in. Leaving them out when someone threatens to disfigure every single person in the city, creates a huge plot hole. What are they for if not for threats this severe?
It would probably follow the usual DC trope of “Superman’s off-planet, Flash is asleep, Dr Fate is in another dimension, and Captain Atom is unavailable” with any Batman only storyline. The problem with having characters with wildly variable power scaling in the same general area is that you need to bench people who are way too OP from a writing perspective. No one would put up with DC for long if every single storyline was “And then all the speedsters from One-Minute War did the thing, resolving the problem instantly from everyone else’s perspective” Could be that Captain Prime does… Read more »
Ah, methamphetamine yoshi is back….
The question in my mind is whether Troll believes his own bullshit or is just addicted to trolling. Perhaps it’s both?
Everything he says is full of logical fallacies, lies, and circular reasoning.
Welp, Nicole is about to fly off the rails when Ethan tries to leave without being able to give an explanation as to where or why.
Yarp.
Seriously not trolling (pun intended). But is Tim ripping off the denouement from Batman?
P.S: I just wanted to use the word denouement, BTW.
I feel that’s a jpb for Deathblood
proper response, dont take the bait. never give a troll what they want, let him put a target so massive on his head there wont be any hiding for him.
I like how his face extends from one panel into another, to me it shows like he is, as a villain, getting into the head of the hero.
Nice show & don’t tell.
I forget, who was the dude with the prosthetic?
Black Hat/Alex, the kid with the hacking glove. First guy they caught.
*Bang! *Bang. *Chainsaw rip and tear. *Incinerate.
No more Troll.
Unless he has a massive bomb to distribute it, this isn’t practically possible.