Don’t judge one Ethan’s future by another Ethan’s past. This one has a long road to walk to get to that point, and right now he’s in a lot of pain. Let him heal a bit first, yeah?
I’ll judge this Ethan’s future by this Ethan’s past. Have you forgotten already that this Ethan thought of Lilah when Lucas asked him about reasons why he might be trying to break up with Emily?
Oh man, I wish I still had that question unanswered, alas I have mirrors.
Mr Todd the Fox
5 years ago
For the best. From the way Tim has made her I don’t think there would ever really be a way (short of Ethan saving her life) that she would ever accept him for who he really is. Its not something she was ever likely to easily get over.
I feel for Ethan. I don’t know if the relationship is salvageable at this point.
Jacob K.
5 years ago
Don’t know what you have planned for this storyline in the future, Tim. But i hope it doesnt get resolved right away. I can see Emily and Ethan being done with their relationship and going there own ways only for the city to be attacked. (Possibly by Zeke, dont know if that was resolved or not) And have Analog save Emily only for her to see that it is Ethan and he told the truth. But have him already be with Lilah or someone else. Either way i hope Emily doesn’t end up just disappearing from the story.
Or more appropriately (for the comic book genre), Emily would be saved by D-Pad and develop feelings for him! Again, in the vein of comic books, Ethan would not yet be in a relationship with Lilah and jealousy high-jinks could ensue. With Tim’s usual brilliant seasoning of comedy, of course.
The problem with that is Lucas is gay in this continuity. But yeah it would be funny, I just want to see Zeke make another appearance and what better way than to have Emily be attacked and saved.
I honestly half expect Zeke to nab Emily as a way of getting at Ethan considering there’s an unresolved sword of damocles of Ethan’s fingerprints being possibly in Zeke’s possession.
copasetical
5 years ago
“I… I’m an artist. I do online web comics.”
“You expect me to believe that!?”
James
5 years ago
I love the fact that this is still part of the “Demolition” comic installment. Physical demolition from the bank heist, but also the demolition of Ethan’s relationship. To me, that seems to imply that the Ethan / Emily era has drawn to a close (no pun intended). Amazing work as always Tim, real characters written in a believable way (super powers not withstanding!) I’ve said it before, my guess is that GameBoy is actually Lilah’s son. Explains the gaming connection for GameBoy via Lilah being the gaming correspondent. Also, why she was so keen to start doing superhero stories too!… Read more »
The believable characters and reactions is great. And the positioning of the ‘demolition’ is well done as well. I agree.
But I think GameBoy being Lilah’s son is too contrived. And the everything is connected bit over done. From Star Wars with the droids Luke has belonging to his parents. And Yoda knowing Chewie. The Star Trek reboot with the entire crew having been in the same class and getting the same ship? I will be very happy if Tim skips the coincidence.
I know what you mean. It might be a bit too convenient, just thought it would be a fun little link. I’m sure our illustrious author has a better story line planned and I defer to his better judgement. They are his characters after all!
Star Trek is a good example, but a Lilah/Game Boy connection isn’t much of a coincidence, especially for a story contained within a single moderately-sized city. Brother, nephew, or some non-familial connection would be more viable and less complicated though.
Some connection based on her professional endeavors would be hardly coincidence at all.
Gameboy is a teenager, and it feels like everyone in the comic is in their early to mid 20’s besides scott, so I don’t feel like the timing works out very well for that one.
My thought process was that I had put GameBoy at more like 12-13 and Lilah at late 20s / early 30s. So maybe late teens when she had him, not outside the realms of possibility. But if he is older or she is younger, then yeah, the timing doesn’t work.
But as nealithi pointed out, it is a bit of a sci-fi trope so maybe too convenient.
Late teens was where i was going, nothing dodgy! I seem to have put GB as a bit younger than everyone else though…
Killiak
5 years ago
Really capturing the dichotomy of feelings there, when you rationally know this is for the best but emotionally torn up.
Well done Tim.
Bwauder
5 years ago
Those JRPG’s were just too much… but tbh I’ve seen some otherwise promising IRL relationships end over much more trivial issues.
James Rye
5 years ago
Because in the end you wanted her to believe you, you wanted her to like this superhero part of you and you didn’t minded the JRPG that much.
Steve
5 years ago
I must criticize Ethan for a bit of a wrongheaded approach here: “*I* needed to change her opinions.” He may want to, but that’s not really how opinions change. Few people are persuaded by someone forcefully or obviously trying to change their mind — instead, they tend to double down on current beliefs, often even regardless of evidence. Which at least shows Emily’s reaction as very human — there was enough evidence to make Ethan’s admission plausible, but she breezed right by it, possibly because it meant revising a core part of her own identity. Probably wouldn’t have helped that… Read more »
Well, it shows what his approach to the relationship was. He knew she was against superheroes, which, given his nighttime work, was obviously eventually going to be a problem. But she did show signs of being open to SOME persuasion on the subject, the same way I’d expect her criticism to have resonated with Ethan. He was hoping he’d eventually be able to prove to her that supers can be useful instead of attention-seeking, property damaging walking egos. It’s not so much that he wanted to manipulate her, he was just betting on eventually being able to prove himself to… Read more »
The number of relationships between humans that have failed because the one side felt they could ‘persuade’ or ‘change’ the other is very, very large. On the other hand, sometimes people do come to see the other side’s view and that attempt to change them effectively works out. I frankly think the odds of effecting that change vs. the relationship tanking is about 1:10…. but it does sometimes happen. People are much more likely to have a shot at a lasting relationship if they don’t enter it with key deal-breakers as differences (kids/no kids, religion/no religion or aetheism, open relationship/monogamy,… Read more »
Reasonable, though I still think that even though Emily called it like not liking cake… I seriously doubt it was *entirely* no big deal to her as she claimed. Her mom got hurt, superheroes are costing her money (health and insurance premiums) to live where she wants (Omnitropolis). Those are meaningful personal experiences, not just enjoying turning your brain off to watch some mindless trash TV. My objection is Ethan saying he needed to change her. I think what he really needed, for the relationship to function, was complete honesty, which she wasn’t giving him any space for, probably because… Read more »
Jetroid
5 years ago
Tim, I have to congratulate you. In my opinion this series of strips has been the most human and relatable few strips in the comic. Bravo.
I think this might be the single most potent strip in all the years I’ve followed CAD. It’s strength is it gets the emotional point across with the art (which has improved over time), the paucity of pretense, and the simplicity of Ethan’s thoughts and feelings which convey his conflict and sincere hurt without having to overdo the presentation. That’s a fine grade of maturity in story design, Tim. Also, the fact Lucas is really there for him rings true to most of my similar experiences. There’s always one or two friends willing to listen to you, not try to… Read more »
RoL
5 years ago
Damn. It’s weird seeing so much real emotion from these characters seeing as I’ve known them to be such colossal goofballs since, what, middle school for me? But I LOVE what you are doing with them! Excellent job, Tim!
Brent
5 years ago
Poor Ethan….maybe it would have worked in the end, but going off how she reacted to everything, I almost think she might have been wanting an excuse to end things, too. Still, I hope we continue to see her in some capacity, since as a character she was great.
raven0ak
5 years ago
on to wait when xbot reappears as enemy, its been quite few arks since last time enemy of technology appeared
Sigurther
5 years ago
Because love sucks and human emotions are the worst thing since unsliced bread.
Padraic
5 years ago
It almost feels like Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” was playing in the background. I feel for Ethan, I’ve been there.
“Jay: You know what they say. It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Kay: Try it.” Men in Black
Ivan Pirsic
5 years ago
Thats a good strip.
Lola The Destroyer
5 years ago
the only pain he can’t rez from
Leon
5 years ago
Dude, just be honest. You love Lilah, you’ve always loved Lilah.
Cragfast
5 years ago
Christ, get a grip. It’s hardly the romance of the century.
Eric Hebert
5 years ago
PLOT TWIST! Take it or leave it. Ethan finds out that his super power has some time space implication while fighting the Xbox robot guys, learning that he works on the possibility of coming back to a “save state” that would be prior to Emily fighting so he can makes things right. But something wrong happens and he instead re-appear, terminator 2 style, in the same time space that his origin story happens and notice a thief running away with a brown bag from a chemical plant. His hero moods kick in and runs after the thief to realize with… Read more »
Dirk Bergstrom
5 years ago
It occurs to me that Ethan can’t commit suicide to escape his emotional problems.
smittycr22
5 years ago
DAMN THE FEELS!!! Well played Tim… Well played
Ashi
5 years ago
Getting denied by a D.Va main…we’ve all been there, Ethan
Pawel
5 years ago
I’m really suprised how emotional this is. I did not like Emily too much but I still feel for Ethan…
Twilight Faze
5 years ago
Because for her all her faults, she was still a great girl. Heartbreak is never easy, but once it passes you understand why it had to happen better than when you try to rationalize it during.
People rationalize the loss too. We rationalize whenever such rationalization or cognitive dissonance help us to move ahead (no matter how bent or scarred we may be and no matter what dysfunctional or messed up views we bring with us). True honesty and clarity are rare in and after deeply emotionally wounding situations.
T.J.
5 years ago
This has been a great story. I only hope that the current arc isn’t a setup to Emily being fridged. Very tired of that trope.
Justno
5 years ago
THPTHPTHPTHP. The sound of a comic with the emotional impact of a wet turd dribbling down the thigh, emitted from the talentless hole of buckbuck. Ham for hands indeed.
ShonaSoF
5 years ago
Aaaand the chapter title wasn’t actually referring to the criminal, was it?
Somewhere in an Omnitropolis maximum security cell, Demolition Duke is sitting, desolate, with no one to comfort him. His one phone call was to his wife. She’s leaving him, taking their son and and moving back in with her sister. He was the only source of income they had, and his crackpot stunt essentially destroyed the family. If she has her way, he’ll never see them again.
Probably. Maybe. Who knows?
GameBoy’s probably having an amazing time, though.
Well at least someone’s having a good time. Someone deserves a chance to enjoy the highlights of being a super hero without having to deal with all of the heaviness of adult life, at least for a while.
Kenneth Lineberger
5 years ago
This is how I felt breaking up with my girlfriend two years ago… so relieved, yet so crushed.
Clark
5 years ago
Kind of unrelated to most of the comments, but I really like Lucas’ eyes in the last panel.
Eldest Gruff
5 years ago
Great work. It’s just kind of ironic. Ethan spent so long in this relationship keeping himself closed off, looking for reasons they wouldn’t work well together, mostly to spare himself of the pain. When Emily cornered him, he decided to go all in, so much that when confronted with her views on superheroes he WANTED the relationship ship to work, rather than fail. Being in a relationship is hard. And sometimes, when there’s nothing wrong with the other person, it’s hard to acknowledge that the relationship isn’t going to work out. Sometimes, people just don’t click. Sometimes, people just don’t… Read more »
Besides – and I want to avoid theorizing here – the story isn’t necessarily over. Ethan DID tell Emily the truth, and if Omnitropolis is anything like our world, there’s bound to be fan sites and photos of every active Super out there. I’d Emily really wanted to find out the truth, I’m sure a little research would show her two video game themed Supers who look VERY similar to Ethan and Lucas.
It could very well be over, but it’s up to her and whether any part of her still wants the relationship. Ball’s in her court.
It would be quite interesting if Ethan’s last desperate try of truth stays within Emily and then she investigates it just to be sure that he did lie to her just to find two certain game-themed supers where she goes all “wait a minute….no way…is that….no way!”. And then runs to Ethan and Lucas and be all “it’s too easy to recognize your faces, what the heck were you thinking?”. xD
You know, I actually think their disguises work out pretty well. Lucas’ pompadour is probably the most identifying thing about them, and it’s not exactly an uncommon haircut. It’s like… if they’re just two guys in a city of millions, no one would suspect them out of the crowd. If you knew them personally, and had any reason to think they were involved with Superhero stuff, then it becomes obvious. I kind of hope that she stays part of the cast in some way, even if she’s not still dating Ethan. She’s an interesting character in her own right: smart,… Read more »
Krystal
5 years ago
This is hitting on some sore points for me.
Stephen
5 years ago
Hey Tim, bug to report here ( sorry if this is the wrong place to do so ). The password reset email, when looked at in Gmail, doesn’t appear to actually show the reset link. I needed to open the raw “original” message to see that it was actually included.
24
Oh well, at least he still has Lilah.
Emily fans: “too soon man, too soon”
Original CAD fans: “still too soon”
No he doesn’t they met like… twice. And on barely-friendly terms at that
I think he meant he has lilah to hope for. she was a big focus for him even when he was wanting to go out with emily at first.
Don’t judge one Ethan’s future by another Ethan’s past. This one has a long road to walk to get to that point, and right now he’s in a lot of pain. Let him heal a bit first, yeah?
I’ll judge this Ethan’s future by this Ethan’s past. Have you forgotten already that this Ethan thought of Lilah when Lucas asked him about reasons why he might be trying to break up with Emily?
so this is what a broken human looks like
Oh man, I wish I still had that question unanswered, alas I have mirrors.
For the best. From the way Tim has made her I don’t think there would ever really be a way (short of Ethan saving her life) that she would ever accept him for who he really is. Its not something she was ever likely to easily get over.
Because it was real.
-Thranduil
Dude. Deep. I will remember that one.
I feel for Ethan. I don’t know if the relationship is salvageable at this point.
Don’t know what you have planned for this storyline in the future, Tim. But i hope it doesnt get resolved right away. I can see Emily and Ethan being done with their relationship and going there own ways only for the city to be attacked. (Possibly by Zeke, dont know if that was resolved or not) And have Analog save Emily only for her to see that it is Ethan and he told the truth. But have him already be with Lilah or someone else. Either way i hope Emily doesn’t end up just disappearing from the story.
Or more appropriately (for the comic book genre), Emily would be saved by D-Pad and develop feelings for him! Again, in the vein of comic books, Ethan would not yet be in a relationship with Lilah and jealousy high-jinks could ensue. With Tim’s usual brilliant seasoning of comedy, of course.
The problem with that is Lucas is gay in this continuity. But yeah it would be funny, I just want to see Zeke make another appearance and what better way than to have Emily be attacked and saved.
I honestly half expect Zeke to nab Emily as a way of getting at Ethan considering there’s an unresolved sword of damocles of Ethan’s fingerprints being possibly in Zeke’s possession.
“I… I’m an artist. I do online web comics.”
“You expect me to believe that!?”
I love the fact that this is still part of the “Demolition” comic installment. Physical demolition from the bank heist, but also the demolition of Ethan’s relationship. To me, that seems to imply that the Ethan / Emily era has drawn to a close (no pun intended). Amazing work as always Tim, real characters written in a believable way (super powers not withstanding!) I’ve said it before, my guess is that GameBoy is actually Lilah’s son. Explains the gaming connection for GameBoy via Lilah being the gaming correspondent. Also, why she was so keen to start doing superhero stories too!… Read more »
The believable characters and reactions is great. And the positioning of the ‘demolition’ is well done as well. I agree.
But I think GameBoy being Lilah’s son is too contrived. And the everything is connected bit over done. From Star Wars with the droids Luke has belonging to his parents. And Yoda knowing Chewie. The Star Trek reboot with the entire crew having been in the same class and getting the same ship? I will be very happy if Tim skips the coincidence.
I know what you mean. It might be a bit too convenient, just thought it would be a fun little link. I’m sure our illustrious author has a better story line planned and I defer to his better judgement. They are his characters after all!
There is no coincidence, there is only the Force.
Star Trek is a good example, but a Lilah/Game Boy connection isn’t much of a coincidence, especially for a story contained within a single moderately-sized city. Brother, nephew, or some non-familial connection would be more viable and less complicated though.
Some connection based on her professional endeavors would be hardly coincidence at all.
Gameboy is a teenager, and it feels like everyone in the comic is in their early to mid 20’s besides scott, so I don’t feel like the timing works out very well for that one.
Wouldn’t Lilah be a bit too young for having a son at the Gameboys age?
My thought process was that I had put GameBoy at more like 12-13 and Lilah at late 20s / early 30s. So maybe late teens when she had him, not outside the realms of possibility. But if he is older or she is younger, then yeah, the timing doesn’t work.
But as nealithi pointed out, it is a bit of a sci-fi trope so maybe too convenient.
More likely a younger brother than a son.
I don’t want to think about how old Lilah would have been when she got pregnant for GameBoy to be her son. ?
Late teens was where i was going, nothing dodgy! I seem to have put GB as a bit younger than everyone else though…
Really capturing the dichotomy of feelings there, when you rationally know this is for the best but emotionally torn up.
Well done Tim.
Those JRPG’s were just too much… but tbh I’ve seen some otherwise promising IRL relationships end over much more trivial issues.
Because in the end you wanted her to believe you, you wanted her to like this superhero part of you and you didn’t minded the JRPG that much.
I must criticize Ethan for a bit of a wrongheaded approach here: “*I* needed to change her opinions.” He may want to, but that’s not really how opinions change. Few people are persuaded by someone forcefully or obviously trying to change their mind — instead, they tend to double down on current beliefs, often even regardless of evidence. Which at least shows Emily’s reaction as very human — there was enough evidence to make Ethan’s admission plausible, but she breezed right by it, possibly because it meant revising a core part of her own identity. Probably wouldn’t have helped that… Read more »
Well, it shows what his approach to the relationship was. He knew she was against superheroes, which, given his nighttime work, was obviously eventually going to be a problem. But she did show signs of being open to SOME persuasion on the subject, the same way I’d expect her criticism to have resonated with Ethan. He was hoping he’d eventually be able to prove to her that supers can be useful instead of attention-seeking, property damaging walking egos. It’s not so much that he wanted to manipulate her, he was just betting on eventually being able to prove himself to… Read more »
The number of relationships between humans that have failed because the one side felt they could ‘persuade’ or ‘change’ the other is very, very large. On the other hand, sometimes people do come to see the other side’s view and that attempt to change them effectively works out. I frankly think the odds of effecting that change vs. the relationship tanking is about 1:10…. but it does sometimes happen. People are much more likely to have a shot at a lasting relationship if they don’t enter it with key deal-breakers as differences (kids/no kids, religion/no religion or aetheism, open relationship/monogamy,… Read more »
Reasonable, though I still think that even though Emily called it like not liking cake… I seriously doubt it was *entirely* no big deal to her as she claimed. Her mom got hurt, superheroes are costing her money (health and insurance premiums) to live where she wants (Omnitropolis). Those are meaningful personal experiences, not just enjoying turning your brain off to watch some mindless trash TV. My objection is Ethan saying he needed to change her. I think what he really needed, for the relationship to function, was complete honesty, which she wasn’t giving him any space for, probably because… Read more »
Tim, I have to congratulate you. In my opinion this series of strips has been the most human and relatable few strips in the comic. Bravo.
I think this might be the single most potent strip in all the years I’ve followed CAD. It’s strength is it gets the emotional point across with the art (which has improved over time), the paucity of pretense, and the simplicity of Ethan’s thoughts and feelings which convey his conflict and sincere hurt without having to overdo the presentation. That’s a fine grade of maturity in story design, Tim. Also, the fact Lucas is really there for him rings true to most of my similar experiences. There’s always one or two friends willing to listen to you, not try to… Read more »
Damn. It’s weird seeing so much real emotion from these characters seeing as I’ve known them to be such colossal goofballs since, what, middle school for me? But I LOVE what you are doing with them! Excellent job, Tim!
Poor Ethan….maybe it would have worked in the end, but going off how she reacted to everything, I almost think she might have been wanting an excuse to end things, too. Still, I hope we continue to see her in some capacity, since as a character she was great.
on to wait when xbot reappears as enemy, its been quite few arks since last time enemy of technology appeared
Because love sucks and human emotions are the worst thing since unsliced bread.
It almost feels like Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” was playing in the background. I feel for Ethan, I’ve been there.
“Jay: You know what they say. It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Kay: Try it.” Men in Black
Thats a good strip.
the only pain he can’t rez from
Dude, just be honest. You love Lilah, you’ve always loved Lilah.
Christ, get a grip. It’s hardly the romance of the century.
PLOT TWIST! Take it or leave it. Ethan finds out that his super power has some time space implication while fighting the Xbox robot guys, learning that he works on the possibility of coming back to a “save state” that would be prior to Emily fighting so he can makes things right. But something wrong happens and he instead re-appear, terminator 2 style, in the same time space that his origin story happens and notice a thief running away with a brown bag from a chemical plant. His hero moods kick in and runs after the thief to realize with… Read more »
It occurs to me that Ethan can’t commit suicide to escape his emotional problems.
DAMN THE FEELS!!! Well played Tim… Well played
Getting denied by a D.Va main…we’ve all been there, Ethan
I’m really suprised how emotional this is. I did not like Emily too much but I still feel for Ethan…
Because for her all her faults, she was still a great girl. Heartbreak is never easy, but once it passes you understand why it had to happen better than when you try to rationalize it during.
People rationalize the loss too. We rationalize whenever such rationalization or cognitive dissonance help us to move ahead (no matter how bent or scarred we may be and no matter what dysfunctional or messed up views we bring with us). True honesty and clarity are rare in and after deeply emotionally wounding situations.
This has been a great story. I only hope that the current arc isn’t a setup to Emily being fridged. Very tired of that trope.
THPTHPTHPTHP. The sound of a comic with the emotional impact of a wet turd dribbling down the thigh, emitted from the talentless hole of buckbuck. Ham for hands indeed.
Aaaand the chapter title wasn’t actually referring to the criminal, was it?
Somewhere in an Omnitropolis maximum security cell, Demolition Duke is sitting, desolate, with no one to comfort him. His one phone call was to his wife. She’s leaving him, taking their son and and moving back in with her sister. He was the only source of income they had, and his crackpot stunt essentially destroyed the family. If she has her way, he’ll never see them again.
Probably. Maybe. Who knows?
GameBoy’s probably having an amazing time, though.
Well at least someone’s having a good time. Someone deserves a chance to enjoy the highlights of being a super hero without having to deal with all of the heaviness of adult life, at least for a while.
This is how I felt breaking up with my girlfriend two years ago… so relieved, yet so crushed.
Kind of unrelated to most of the comments, but I really like Lucas’ eyes in the last panel.
Great work. It’s just kind of ironic. Ethan spent so long in this relationship keeping himself closed off, looking for reasons they wouldn’t work well together, mostly to spare himself of the pain. When Emily cornered him, he decided to go all in, so much that when confronted with her views on superheroes he WANTED the relationship ship to work, rather than fail. Being in a relationship is hard. And sometimes, when there’s nothing wrong with the other person, it’s hard to acknowledge that the relationship isn’t going to work out. Sometimes, people just don’t click. Sometimes, people just don’t… Read more »
Besides – and I want to avoid theorizing here – the story isn’t necessarily over. Ethan DID tell Emily the truth, and if Omnitropolis is anything like our world, there’s bound to be fan sites and photos of every active Super out there. I’d Emily really wanted to find out the truth, I’m sure a little research would show her two video game themed Supers who look VERY similar to Ethan and Lucas.
It could very well be over, but it’s up to her and whether any part of her still wants the relationship. Ball’s in her court.
It would be quite interesting if Ethan’s last desperate try of truth stays within Emily and then she investigates it just to be sure that he did lie to her just to find two certain game-themed supers where she goes all “wait a minute….no way…is that….no way!”. And then runs to Ethan and Lucas and be all “it’s too easy to recognize your faces, what the heck were you thinking?”. xD
You know, I actually think their disguises work out pretty well. Lucas’ pompadour is probably the most identifying thing about them, and it’s not exactly an uncommon haircut. It’s like… if they’re just two guys in a city of millions, no one would suspect them out of the crowd. If you knew them personally, and had any reason to think they were involved with Superhero stuff, then it becomes obvious. I kind of hope that she stays part of the cast in some way, even if she’s not still dating Ethan. She’s an interesting character in her own right: smart,… Read more »
This is hitting on some sore points for me.
Hey Tim, bug to report here ( sorry if this is the wrong place to do so ). The password reset email, when looked at in Gmail, doesn’t appear to actually show the reset link. I needed to open the raw “original” message to see that it was actually included.