“A while longer.” Somehow, I kinda had a feeling Scott had no attachment to life. It’s one thing when he said he didn’t care about himself in an earlier issue. But when Zeke was approaching him with intent to kill in the last issue, there was no real… alarm? Sense of urgency? Just this look on his face of, “I might get this done in time.” Or it could just be me. I just get a feeling that Scott cares about three things. Ethan, Lucas, and Carlie. And he’s okay with going to the side of any of those three,… Read more »
Hmm. Scott isn’t helpless now, and he may no longer see the status quo as the best way to make Carlie’s death mean something. You can tell they have all grown from their experiences since they all started together. It may simply be time for Scott to go on his own.. ?
Unfortunately, this could also mean further conflict when it comes to Zeke.
No, it was there before they knew A&D or Scott. The events after the bomb exploded was their default programming till they slowly regained access to what they learned from Ethan. (Just like when Data was damaged, but a different default).
I don’t know, Page 14 has a scared face as Zeke was about to punch his face into the back of his skull until an Arrow saved him. https://cad-comic.com/comic/deposited-p14/
His other faces though were rather defiant. Like the “I knew it” panel and such.
“Hesitation Marks”. No matter how determined or resigned someone is, there is always an instinctive hesitation when committing suicide. That hint of self-preservation instinct that we still retain despite clearing out virtually all instincts at around six weeks of life…
John Swift
2 years ago
“I’ll stay. A while longer.” Yep, thats a good strong line. Good character base. I didnt expect something like that before seeing the flashback. Does make sense with his stance on zeke tho. He considered the risks of letting them get out and kill others to simply be bigger than the value of Zekes “life”. Id say this supports that, but is problematic in wether or not zeke counts as alive.
I think the difference here isn’t so much “alive” or “artificial,” it’s more simple- “good” versus “evil.”
Seeing his motivations… do we REALLY think Scott would give, say, that mugger a second chance? Would give ANY villain a second chance?
There’s no forgiveness. No second chances. There are two types of people: the “pieces of shit” and the innocents who must be protected. Scott never believed that Zeke could be rehabilitated, and therefore was *always* a dangerous experiment on the verge of ending violently.
Hmm. Ya, good way to put it. I was kinda thinking along the lines of after disarming Zeke it wasnt like they were killing anybody now, but they could. It was prob far more about being evil tho. Past actions speak loudly. Theres more to it such as if they had freedom or anything but thats not really the point.
Meh, it depends. At one point, Scott points out that even IF he would accept that Zeke isn’t being serious about “destroy all humans” and such… He explains that he’s worried about governments and supervillains. Firstly you have the supervillains and actual GOVERNMENTS finding out about him, and wanting to make their own army of autonomous soldiers and/or henchmen. At which point even if they SOMEHOW manage to avoid the inevitable “SkyNet” scenario, now we have amoral jerk wads pointing disposable soldiers at things they don’t like. Then frankly, we have the SkyNet / Singularity issue. Where once we have… Read more »
Add the experience of “Robots are really sophisticated computers, thus not alive” and Scott’s action is even more reasonable. Scott is a computer guy.
Dame
2 years ago
I would have liked to have seen a couple pages of Scott’s history before Ethan’s big can’t-die reveal. This could have started with Scott, and spent a few pages with him, to make me care more about his pain. The story would be more linear, but my opinion is my own, and a rhetorical POV; many paths would get there. Do flashbacks serve narrative, or do they paper over it? Ehhh.. reasonable people may disagree.
Hard to say. If you go back to the part where Zeke triggers the bomb, would people have reacted as strongly if there were these insights into what motivates Scott? One could argue that, in real life, we often don’t know the “why” behind why someone would make the decisions that they do. On the other hand, the additional insight might have fostered less emotional discussions instead of almost all of the readers going straight to the “Scott is a tool” argument. Looking back at a video game story, the same conversation was had over Nisha. Before PS came out,… Read more »
PhobosRising
2 years ago
Why do I get a disturbing feeling like this highlighting of Scott “staying awhile longer now” is just warming things up for a snapback to current events, where he suddenly Scott feels like a failure with the Two he decided to stay here with, and he will be wanting to try his luck with the one he wanted to catch up with?
Aeroprism
2 years ago
Please, please, keep at it, keep this storyline going.
I have been reading CAD for ever, I was there when you started all and I’ve always enjoyed your content but this, this is pure awesome.
Analog and D-Pad deserve their own book and comic series and you deserve our overflowing gratitude for sharing them with us.
ThatGuy
2 years ago
Scott will be ok. The thing with ZK was a speed-bump at 40 miles an hour, sure, but their brotherhood will recover from this. And it feels to me like Scott is reminding himself why he’s with them at all instead of following his original path. He let his emotions get away from him again (hey, it happens to all of us. No one is immune) but this flashback is gonna remind him why he’s a hero too.
He’s reminding himself why he’s still here: to do good works and help prevent others from experiencing similar loss.
He’s foreshadowing just how bad of a place Scott is currently in, and Scott is about to say “I’m done.” If he’s lost his friend and potentially crossed a line he never wanted to cross, that might be enough to push him over the edge.
Last edited 2 years ago by Someone Else
Rolando
2 years ago
Yeah, it definitely makes sense. Survivor guilt is one of the most destructive issues out there. The likelihood of actual suicide attempts is one of the highest ever, at like 80% (or so I’ve read). His will to live had clearly been compromised, that much was visible since long ago. And that’s something that sort of… Shifts your perspective. Forever. For better or worse. I always felt the wheelchair worked as a 24/7 reminder for him. When you’ve gone through some truly dark moments, and even if you’re still behaving rationally and got it “under control” and so, you still… Read more »
Well, we’ve seen before hints that he may have been dealing with his past through repression rather than working through it. As an example of one of those moments:
The way you put it makes me think that A&D is his channel and now he needs to decide weather after the way it went it’s still can be his channel.
foducool
2 years ago
sometimes, you just gotta talk yourself into doing something
Dodgy
2 years ago
And there we have it. While I damned Scott at first, I now fully understand where he’s coming from. He wants to protect those dear to him, at almost any cost. One could argue that what he did to Zeke (and the lie by omission to Ethan and Lucas) was out of loyalty to his friends and his desperation to protect them. I still don’t approve, mind you! But at least I understand it now. Kudos Tim, telling and planning this story in the way that you did has truly demonstrated how much you have grown as a writer and… Read more »
And now we have Stockholm Syndrome: Knowing the past and the reasons of someone doing something prevents us from condemning them as purely evil. According to the Stockholm Syndrome narrative, thus we are insane.
Malebranche
2 years ago
I’m loving the comic series, and this flash back episode to show Scott in a different light is very well done and done in a timely manner after what happened with Zeke.
But even this insight into why he is the way he is ain’t gonna make me like him after what happened with Zeke.
Someone Else
2 years ago
Also Tim, I gotta say. You’ve come a long way in your storytelling since the old days. As much as I enjoyed your old stuff with 2 friends chilling and playing video games, and I REALLY enjoyed that stuff… your latest stuff is very good. You manage to balance the comedy and idiot-Ethan stuff along with your frankly solid drama story-telling in this new superhero format. Your old stuff was top-tier webcomic material, but your newer stuff is like a comicbook I’d actually go out and buy.
Last edited 2 years ago by Someone Else
hash
2 years ago
@TimCAD I would literally buy a poster of that last panel. Just that, no context, no words, nothing. It totally embodies moments I’ve felt in my life, and probably will again.
Smol Bear
2 years ago
“I’ll stay a while longer and try and make it mean something”
Fuck me, this hit me close to home
Kasaix
2 years ago
So they really never caught Carlie’s killer. I hope they do in some issue so the guys can get some sense of closure over it.
Perhaps, but for how long? One of the things pulling Scott back here is the hope that he might not be powerless. That he might be able to (help) stop at least one violent criminal from going on a rampage. And now Zeke happened. Another violent, dangerous criminal (at least in his mind). And when it came down to actually stopping him, Scott was powerless AGAIN. His automatic detonator failed, Zeke got up anyway. His emergency coding attempt failed, Zeke would’ve shred him if Lucas hadn’t intervened. And just like with Carlie’s killer, nobody seems willing to do anything to… Read more »
24
“A while longer.” Somehow, I kinda had a feeling Scott had no attachment to life. It’s one thing when he said he didn’t care about himself in an earlier issue. But when Zeke was approaching him with intent to kill in the last issue, there was no real… alarm? Sense of urgency? Just this look on his face of, “I might get this done in time.” Or it could just be me. I just get a feeling that Scott cares about three things. Ethan, Lucas, and Carlie. And he’s okay with going to the side of any of those three,… Read more »
Hmm. Scott isn’t helpless now, and he may no longer see the status quo as the best way to make Carlie’s death mean something. You can tell they have all grown from their experiences since they all started together. It may simply be time for Scott to go on his own.. ?
Unfortunately, this could also mean further conflict when it comes to Zeke.
Zeke’s “intent to kill” resulted from Scott’s unprovoked attack.
No, it was there before they knew A&D or Scott. The events after the bomb exploded was their default programming till they slowly regained access to what they learned from Ethan. (Just like when Data was damaged, but a different default).
I don’t know, Page 14 has a scared face as Zeke was about to punch his face into the back of his skull until an Arrow saved him. https://cad-comic.com/comic/deposited-p14/
His other faces though were rather defiant. Like the “I knew it” panel and such.
I thought it was the last bit of self-preservation instinct inside Scott. Apart from that, he is always so emotionally numb, and now we know why.
“Hesitation Marks”. No matter how determined or resigned someone is, there is always an instinctive hesitation when committing suicide. That hint of self-preservation instinct that we still retain despite clearing out virtually all instincts at around six weeks of life…
“I’ll stay. A while longer.” Yep, thats a good strong line. Good character base. I didnt expect something like that before seeing the flashback. Does make sense with his stance on zeke tho. He considered the risks of letting them get out and kill others to simply be bigger than the value of Zekes “life”. Id say this supports that, but is problematic in wether or not zeke counts as alive.
I think the difference here isn’t so much “alive” or “artificial,” it’s more simple- “good” versus “evil.”
Seeing his motivations… do we REALLY think Scott would give, say, that mugger a second chance? Would give ANY villain a second chance?
There’s no forgiveness. No second chances. There are two types of people: the “pieces of shit” and the innocents who must be protected. Scott never believed that Zeke could be rehabilitated, and therefore was *always* a dangerous experiment on the verge of ending violently.
Hmm. Ya, good way to put it. I was kinda thinking along the lines of after disarming Zeke it wasnt like they were killing anybody now, but they could. It was prob far more about being evil tho. Past actions speak loudly. Theres more to it such as if they had freedom or anything but thats not really the point.
Meh, it depends. At one point, Scott points out that even IF he would accept that Zeke isn’t being serious about “destroy all humans” and such… He explains that he’s worried about governments and supervillains. Firstly you have the supervillains and actual GOVERNMENTS finding out about him, and wanting to make their own army of autonomous soldiers and/or henchmen. At which point even if they SOMEHOW manage to avoid the inevitable “SkyNet” scenario, now we have amoral jerk wads pointing disposable soldiers at things they don’t like. Then frankly, we have the SkyNet / Singularity issue. Where once we have… Read more »
I’d say Scott is the kind of guy who would kill Paarthurnax in a heartbeat.
Add the experience of “Robots are really sophisticated computers, thus not alive” and Scott’s action is even more reasonable. Scott is a computer guy.
I would have liked to have seen a couple pages of Scott’s history before Ethan’s big can’t-die reveal. This could have started with Scott, and spent a few pages with him, to make me care more about his pain. The story would be more linear, but my opinion is my own, and a rhetorical POV; many paths would get there. Do flashbacks serve narrative, or do they paper over it? Ehhh.. reasonable people may disagree.
Hard to say. If you go back to the part where Zeke triggers the bomb, would people have reacted as strongly if there were these insights into what motivates Scott? One could argue that, in real life, we often don’t know the “why” behind why someone would make the decisions that they do. On the other hand, the additional insight might have fostered less emotional discussions instead of almost all of the readers going straight to the “Scott is a tool” argument. Looking back at a video game story, the same conversation was had over Nisha. Before PS came out,… Read more »
Why do I get a disturbing feeling like this highlighting of Scott “staying awhile longer now” is just warming things up for a snapback to current events, where he suddenly Scott feels like a failure with the Two he decided to stay here with, and he will be wanting to try his luck with the one he wanted to catch up with?
Please, please, keep at it, keep this storyline going.
I have been reading CAD for ever, I was there when you started all and I’ve always enjoyed your content but this, this is pure awesome.
Analog and D-Pad deserve their own book and comic series and you deserve our overflowing gratitude for sharing them with us.
Scott will be ok. The thing with ZK was a speed-bump at 40 miles an hour, sure, but their brotherhood will recover from this. And it feels to me like Scott is reminding himself why he’s with them at all instead of following his original path. He let his emotions get away from him again (hey, it happens to all of us. No one is immune) but this flashback is gonna remind him why he’s a hero too.
Tim could take it in either direction.
Yeah, it definitely makes sense. Survivor guilt is one of the most destructive issues out there. The likelihood of actual suicide attempts is one of the highest ever, at like 80% (or so I’ve read). His will to live had clearly been compromised, that much was visible since long ago. And that’s something that sort of… Shifts your perspective. Forever. For better or worse. I always felt the wheelchair worked as a 24/7 reminder for him. When you’ve gone through some truly dark moments, and even if you’re still behaving rationally and got it “under control” and so, you still… Read more »
Well, we’ve seen before hints that he may have been dealing with his past through repression rather than working through it. As an example of one of those moments:
https://cad-comic.com/comic/home-cooked-p1/
The way you put it makes me think that A&D is his channel and now he needs to decide weather after the way it went it’s still can be his channel.
sometimes, you just gotta talk yourself into doing something
And there we have it. While I damned Scott at first, I now fully understand where he’s coming from. He wants to protect those dear to him, at almost any cost. One could argue that what he did to Zeke (and the lie by omission to Ethan and Lucas) was out of loyalty to his friends and his desperation to protect them. I still don’t approve, mind you! But at least I understand it now. Kudos Tim, telling and planning this story in the way that you did has truly demonstrated how much you have grown as a writer and… Read more »
And now we have Stockholm Syndrome: Knowing the past and the reasons of someone doing something prevents us from condemning them as purely evil. According to the Stockholm Syndrome narrative, thus we are insane.
I’m loving the comic series, and this flash back episode to show Scott in a different light is very well done and done in a timely manner after what happened with Zeke.
But even this insight into why he is the way he is ain’t gonna make me like him after what happened with Zeke.
Also Tim, I gotta say. You’ve come a long way in your storytelling since the old days. As much as I enjoyed your old stuff with 2 friends chilling and playing video games, and I REALLY enjoyed that stuff… your latest stuff is very good. You manage to balance the comedy and idiot-Ethan stuff along with your frankly solid drama story-telling in this new superhero format. Your old stuff was top-tier webcomic material, but your newer stuff is like a comicbook I’d actually go out and buy.
@TimCAD I would literally buy a poster of that last panel. Just that, no context, no words, nothing. It totally embodies moments I’ve felt in my life, and probably will again.
“I’ll stay a while longer and try and make it mean something”
Fuck me, this hit me close to home
So they really never caught Carlie’s killer. I hope they do in some issue so the guys can get some sense of closure over it.
I got what I asked for https://cad-comic.com/comic/deposited-p12/ (last comment)
Hm ?, we have Analog, Scott, D-Pad. All we need is a W (not a win, nice try though lol) and we’ll have “Ant-man and the WASD”.
Also I love your writing Tim. ?
Welcome back from the brink, buddy…
Perhaps, but for how long? One of the things pulling Scott back here is the hope that he might not be powerless. That he might be able to (help) stop at least one violent criminal from going on a rampage. And now Zeke happened. Another violent, dangerous criminal (at least in his mind). And when it came down to actually stopping him, Scott was powerless AGAIN. His automatic detonator failed, Zeke got up anyway. His emergency coding attempt failed, Zeke would’ve shred him if Lucas hadn’t intervened. And just like with Carlie’s killer, nobody seems willing to do anything to… Read more »