Just a thought, but maybe they could’ve tried using words first and then demonstrating once Scott was ready? I’d figure it’d be in Ethan’s natural to want it to be a surprise, but there’s no way at least one of them didn’t know what Scott went through in the past, so pretty terrible call on their part.
I say this with a broken wrist that I got because I didn’t think through how a tree was going to fall when I pushed on the nearly cut trunk with a long two by four.
If I had I would have realized said trunk was leaning over my head and that gravity would introduce said trunk to my skull.
Brain just went “Problem? This solution! GO! NOW!” and never once entertained a what if.
This sounds a lot like what I experience with adhd, especially when I was untreated. I haven’t had anything so wild myself, but similar if less impactful experiences
I think there is a comic where Ethan dies in front of a civilian because he missed a grapple, and he just hands out the contact details of some therapist. Probably this here is the first instance where he reallizes the effect his power can have on others.
Agreed… though… friends should know each other, and it should be at least a little apparent, to at least Lucas, that Scott’s not doing OK.
Though maybe at this point, Scott’s more Ethan’s friend and Lucas’ acquaintance. And considering everything, they might be over at Scott’s not because he’s a trusted friend, but more because they need help.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand PTSD unless they have it. And even as a sufferer myself I sometimes forget to be sensitive in that regard.
It’s not easy to see the signs if you’ve never been through it before. You might think “Esh, he needs to clean up,” or “Huh, something feels weird.” Not necessarily, “Oh wow, this might trigger emotional trauma and he could be a suicide risk.”
Not to mention, if he’s on an emotional high of “OMG I’m a super hero and I can share it with someone,” it’s very hard to have the empathy to take yourself out of that rush and realize that someone else is a polar opposite of you.
100%. Unfortunately, some people are oblivious. Myself included. And there’s been a few panels where Lucas has shown not the best common sense in response to a few things.
I also thought it looked like Lucas. But not exactly like Lucas. Maybe more like Lucas’ evil twin……………….. Rufus? There’s not a lot of good matching twin names to go with Lucas.
Oh, it might be “SHLLINK!” as well. Either way, I’m all for it.
Acher4
2 years ago
ok, that was brutal.
This should have been at least talked about first.
Seeing a friend being murdered by another friend, even if he knew the context, is still horrifying.
Come on Lucas, you are better than that.
nealithi
2 years ago
Damn it Tim!
How do you make me so angry at a character one month, and so sorry for him the next?
I used to be a superhero like you, then I took an arrow to the ches — oh wait I’m still a superhero.
Salty
2 years ago
This just feels kinda counter to the whole previous arc and the thoughtfulness that Lucas has been shown to have. Both to Ethan and to Scott (nonetheless of the PTSD), literally killing someone with a smile on their face and causing them pain of death, albet with the expectation of non permanence. Also, he choose the spot where it was least likely to die, but mainly cause pain vs something like his throat…. it feels just as a reason to trigger PTSD by having similar wound area. Ethan described death with a sort of reverence when it discussed with zeke,… Read more »
Don’t forget that this is a flashback, years before the previous arc. They don’t have the years of wisdom and experience they have in that arc (yet). And at this point it’s been less than a day since they received their powers, so they’re not really in the most thoughtful of moods right now.
Agreed, but if the pain is that intense based on that page. I would think there would be some hesitation…. and the ability of Lucas to use his powers to kill with such abandon is a little chilling. Ethan seemed to be more concerned than Lucas was.
I agree that normally there probably would be more caution or hesitation. However, right now he’s (presumably) still a bit too giddy about suddenly having superpowers and becoming superheroes to properly consider the full ramifications of his actions. It’s not that he doesn’t care about Scott’s feelings, Lucas simply didn’t realize how much pain this’d cause him. I imagine that in Lucas’s expectation Scott’d merely be as surprised as they were by the cool new thing(s) they can do, and that perhaps it could even be a welcome distraction from his grief. Lucas isn’t actually casual about killing people, he’s… Read more »
Haha I hadn’t thought about that, but that’s a great point. Lucas seemed ready and willing to take him out for the sake of demonstration. Granted, we know that currently, he’s fine with using his ability to give Ethan a quick slice if necessary. But it’s darkly humorous this early.
Sheesh, that’s one heck of an old reference. You’ve got a heck of a good memory!
Leon
2 years ago
EMOTIONAL DAMAGE
Nightdagger
2 years ago
So I gotta admit, I figured Ethan would be all gung ho to show off his power because let’s face it, we love him because he’s an idiot, but I didn’t think Lucas would be that dense especially after him taking notice to the fact that Scott’s having a hard time of it.
Lucas is just as excited about showing off his super-powers as Ethan is. Lucas is the smart one, but even he’s prone to making dumb-ass decisions from time to time.
ThatGuy
2 years ago
Had a feeling it was gonna go in this direction. We’re seeing Scott’s flashback so the origin of how his wife died and how he became paraplegic would have had to come up at some point. Wasn’t expecting a Batman-styled origin, though, but if you stop and think about it Bruce and Scott have some similarities in their mentality in that regard: Never wanting to lose a loved one ever again, justice by (almost) any means necessary, technologically super-smart, traumatized by his past… I know some folks think Scott may be falling down the path of the villain or anti-hero,… Read more »
In my opinion, I really hope that this goes a little more in depth of Scott being a hero, but one that we don’t agree with but still as much of a hero as others. I mean, we look at public figures who did great things and realize later “wait… they also did this really terrible thing…” I hope that Scott stays a hero. Maybe one that comes back fully to ethan and lucas’ side, or maybe a hero that just has to run parallel to them with a piece of history that he himself does not regret, but we… Read more »
Yeah, this is often a silly comic with plenty of weird/fun moments – I mean c/mon it’s guys with video-game powers and an xbox robot – but it can similarly switch to “dark” with serious moments or topics like this. Maybe in this case an extra panel would be helpful where they basically tell him “this is going to be shocking, but wait for 2 minutes and don’t freak out”. On an unrelated takeway, I’m wondering how the “respawn” ability corresponds to time. We’ve seen that Ethan can be pretty beaten up and his solution is to force a respawn… Read more »
Though the bigger question I’d have is, is it Ethan’s power to revive, or is it Lucas’ power, to bring back anything he kills?
I’m guessing they assumed that as the coffee table and other things didn’t regenerate, it was Ethan getting extra lives, but dang, this is a tricky power to experiment with.
Drama takes a priority over common sense, I know. But it takes a hideously large lack of judgment, to do that without a warning. It’s way too far out of character for both.
It’s not even about Scott’s trauma. Witnessing a murder is horrible and traumatising often enough, even when you haven’t gone through it before. Even when it’s not a loved one like Ethan is.
We all know this.
And even for Ethan, that would be too insensitive. Nevermind Lucas.
Last edited 2 years ago by Rolando
James Rye
2 years ago
I honestly expected Ethan to take the sleeping pills and down them like smarties to die in the way Scott had intended to die, but this….. this is way more brutal. And thoughtless. Like who gonna clean up the blood splatter on the ground? Oh wait, those disappear as well, right. Still thoughtless considering that now we know how Scott lost his wife and the ability to walk.
I bet we gonna see that shooter/murderer sometime down the storyline.
That would be a brutal way to try and break Scott out of his stupor. “You want to see what will happen if you do this?” Cut to Ethan suffering agonizing stomach pain, vomiting, losing balance and being unable to breathe properly, but still not dead, because to my knowledge it’s *not* a quick death.
Someone posted the link to their first try. The splatters will be gone.
william scott
2 years ago
yep i saw this triggering Scott… poor guy
Phoebe
2 years ago
And here I thought Lucas was the smart one…
rck
2 years ago
I am disappointed by the lack of highlander quote before the impaling.
AshKetchup
2 years ago
Wow way to trigger his PTSD guys.
Pyre
2 years ago
Y’know, the only way this could be worse (other than this being the one where the revival not working) is if it turned into “Oh, he didn’t die right away. Hang on a sec”
my fav saying – everyone is immortal until they are not.
if ethan runs out of respawns going to be an awkward lesson VERY fast.
Lincolen
2 years ago
A little eager to stab your best friend to death are we
Chris
2 years ago
This is getting good this little six pages is the most I think I’ve ever enjoyed the comic
Alpha-00
2 years ago
It was kinda shitty way to demonstrate. I’d say assholly from both of them. Nice way to stir up PTSD, even if they didn’t knew about his suicide thoughts at that moment.
I’m imagining this as a reddit AITA post: “Am I the AH for getting mad at my friends for covering my floor with blood after an stupid hero game?”
omg omg
2 years ago
Hey, Ethan, Lucas… the idea of spitting blood inside the room of an horrible event survivor is not exactly a good idea.
Erikulum
2 years ago
I never do these kind of things, but out of love for this web comic this need to be said. This page need to be reworked! I get why this happens, and the idea is great. This is just way too out of character for Lucas, even for a younger version of the character. Under the circumstances, forgetting to take into account Scott trauma is understandable but him killing his best friend after he re-spawned once make no sense. For all they know this was a one-time deal, following game logic they should believe he probably only have a few… Read more »
Last edited 2 years ago by Erikulum
Cmd1095
2 years ago
OK I expect the impulsive and insensitive plan from Ethan, but Lucas absolutely should’ve known better
24
Just a thought, but maybe they could’ve tried using words first and then demonstrating once Scott was ready? I’d figure it’d be in Ethan’s natural to want it to be a surprise, but there’s no way at least one of them didn’t know what Scott went through in the past, so pretty terrible call on their part.
People don’t think things through fully.
I say this with a broken wrist that I got because I didn’t think through how a tree was going to fall when I pushed on the nearly cut trunk with a long two by four.
If I had I would have realized said trunk was leaning over my head and that gravity would introduce said trunk to my skull.
Brain just went “Problem? This solution! GO! NOW!” and never once entertained a what if.
This sounds a lot like what I experience with adhd, especially when I was untreated. I haven’t had anything so wild myself, but similar if less impactful experiences
Unfortunately everybody has their not-so-smart moments.
“People don’t think things through fully.”
Especially Ethan.
I think there is a comic where Ethan dies in front of a civilian because he missed a grapple, and he just hands out the contact details of some therapist. Probably this here is the first instance where he reallizes the effect his power can have on others.
I wonder if Ethan gets commission for referrals?
I’m sure they wanted to freak him out. Friends always take it too far.
Agreed… though… friends should know each other, and it should be at least a little apparent, to at least Lucas, that Scott’s not doing OK.
Though maybe at this point, Scott’s more Ethan’s friend and Lucas’ acquaintance. And considering everything, they might be over at Scott’s not because he’s a trusted friend, but more because they need help.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand PTSD unless they have it. And even as a sufferer myself I sometimes forget to be sensitive in that regard.
This is a comic, not a book. Lotr over them yonder :p
Considering the method Lucas used, you could say that he cut straight to the point.
Right to the heart of the matter.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9CUm15MA62Q
Such cutting commentary in this thread
At least he went the direction it needed to go.
GET OUT! ALL OF YOU! ? Stop pointing out the obvious! It cuts deep!
Yeah, it hurts to the core.
Oh! My heart, I can’t even!
Last two pages: “Surely, Lucas will have enough sense to not kill Ethan in front of someone who just lost a loved one?”
Lucas: “PTSD TRAIN HAS NO BREAKS“
Yeeeep, Lucas was noticing things, but not all the things…
It’s not easy to see the signs if you’ve never been through it before. You might think “Esh, he needs to clean up,” or “Huh, something feels weird.” Not necessarily, “Oh wow, this might trigger emotional trauma and he could be a suicide risk.”
Not to mention, if he’s on an emotional high of “OMG I’m a super hero and I can share it with someone,” it’s very hard to have the empathy to take yourself out of that rush and realize that someone else is a polar opposite of you.
You are right. Maybe is because I got various friends with depression, have seen how their moods fluctuate, and have seen some of their signals here.
You do now, but what about early into that relationship?
Exactly, exactly…
100%. Unfortunately, some people are oblivious. Myself included. And there’s been a few panels where Lucas has shown not the best common sense in response to a few things.
Yeah I sure got that one wrong.
Brakes*
Dammit.
both spellings have meaning here
why does the shooter look sorta like lucas?
Looks like a woman to me
Probably because Lucas moonlights as a mugger
and…what do muggers do?
*Twitches* *Squirms* Ththththey MUG PEOPLE!!!!
(I really hope that was the reference you were going for)
So? Let’s go mug ’em!
So, let’s go MUG EM!
You’re so $h17 at mugging, you can’t even mug a chicken! I bet you 500 gold, that you can’t mug that chicken right there!
Viva La Dirt!
oh, well. easiest 500 gold i ever made.
HEY CHICKEN!
*whack*
Where is that reference from?
They mug people!
………….. sell mugs? Make funny faces at passers by?
Create Batman?
I also thought it looked like Lucas. But not exactly like Lucas. Maybe more like Lucas’ evil twin……………….. Rufus? There’s not a lot of good matching twin names to go with Lucas.
Mucus?
His name is probably why he went evil.
Mario → Wario
Lucas → Vucas
Luigi – Waluigi
Lucas – Walucas
Ooo, a flashback inside a flashback. We need to go deeper.
Quick, flashback to what flashed through Scotts head on the day of the event!
Spoiler: CAD 2.0 is all a flashback. This is all a bedtime story told by 45-year-old Ethan to his kids about how he met Lilah.
That went meta from 0 to 100 in an instant.
Probably when he accidentally spilled butter on the time machine.
Should have called themselfes “captain read a room” and “Super Insensitive boy” 😮
Aside from everything, “SHLUNK!” really is an amazing sound effect here!
Oh, it might be “SHLLINK!” as well. Either way, I’m all for it.
ok, that was brutal.
This should have been at least talked about first.
Seeing a friend being murdered by another friend, even if he knew the context, is still horrifying.
Come on Lucas, you are better than that.
Damn it Tim!
How do you make me so angry at a character one month, and so sorry for him the next?
Scott needs a hug and a room full of kittens.
.. I read kittens as knives.. A hug from a room full of knives.. sounds about right.
Way to disappoint us all, Lucas.
bruh, don’t trigger others’ PTSD
Ya, was hoping they wouldn’t actually do that. Now i wonder how many neighbors will be woken up in the ensuring “conversation”.
Hope he got the point.
I used to be a superhero like you, then I took an arrow to the ches — oh wait I’m still a superhero.
This just feels kinda counter to the whole previous arc and the thoughtfulness that Lucas has been shown to have. Both to Ethan and to Scott (nonetheless of the PTSD), literally killing someone with a smile on their face and causing them pain of death, albet with the expectation of non permanence. Also, he choose the spot where it was least likely to die, but mainly cause pain vs something like his throat…. it feels just as a reason to trigger PTSD by having similar wound area. Ethan described death with a sort of reverence when it discussed with zeke,… Read more »
Don’t forget that this is a flashback, years before the previous arc. They don’t have the years of wisdom and experience they have in that arc (yet). And at this point it’s been less than a day since they received their powers, so they’re not really in the most thoughtful of moods right now.
Agreed, but if the pain is that intense based on that page. I would think there would be some hesitation…. and the ability of Lucas to use his powers to kill with such abandon is a little chilling. Ethan seemed to be more concerned than Lucas was.
I agree that normally there probably would be more caution or hesitation. However, right now he’s (presumably) still a bit too giddy about suddenly having superpowers and becoming superheroes to properly consider the full ramifications of his actions. It’s not that he doesn’t care about Scott’s feelings, Lucas simply didn’t realize how much pain this’d cause him. I imagine that in Lucas’s expectation Scott’d merely be as surprised as they were by the cool new thing(s) they can do, and that perhaps it could even be a welcome distraction from his grief. Lucas isn’t actually casual about killing people, he’s… Read more »
Haha I hadn’t thought about that, but that’s a great point. Lucas seemed ready and willing to take him out for the sake of demonstration. Granted, we know that currently, he’s fine with using his ability to give Ethan a quick slice if necessary. But it’s darkly humorous this early.
He might have just chosen that spot because canonically, that’s where you’re supposed to stab Ethan.
Sheesh, that’s one heck of an old reference. You’ve got a heck of a good memory!
EMOTIONAL DAMAGE
So I gotta admit, I figured Ethan would be all gung ho to show off his power because let’s face it, we love him because he’s an idiot, but I didn’t think Lucas would be that dense especially after him taking notice to the fact that Scott’s having a hard time of it.
Lucas is just as excited about showing off his super-powers as Ethan is. Lucas is the smart one, but even he’s prone to making dumb-ass decisions from time to time.
Had a feeling it was gonna go in this direction. We’re seeing Scott’s flashback so the origin of how his wife died and how he became paraplegic would have had to come up at some point. Wasn’t expecting a Batman-styled origin, though, but if you stop and think about it Bruce and Scott have some similarities in their mentality in that regard: Never wanting to lose a loved one ever again, justice by (almost) any means necessary, technologically super-smart, traumatized by his past… I know some folks think Scott may be falling down the path of the villain or anti-hero,… Read more »
In my opinion, I really hope that this goes a little more in depth of Scott being a hero, but one that we don’t agree with but still as much of a hero as others. I mean, we look at public figures who did great things and realize later “wait… they also did this really terrible thing…” I hope that Scott stays a hero. Maybe one that comes back fully to ethan and lucas’ side, or maybe a hero that just has to run parallel to them with a piece of history that he himself does not regret, but we… Read more »
Yeah, this is often a silly comic with plenty of weird/fun moments – I mean c/mon it’s guys with video-game powers and an xbox robot – but it can similarly switch to “dark” with serious moments or topics like this. Maybe in this case an extra panel would be helpful where they basically tell him “this is going to be shocking, but wait for 2 minutes and don’t freak out”. On an unrelated takeway, I’m wondering how the “respawn” ability corresponds to time. We’ve seen that Ethan can be pretty beaten up and his solution is to force a respawn… Read more »
I always just assumed he reverted to “fully healed” like a video game character downing a healing potion and being at 100% health again.
Dude. Read the room.
ohhh this is gonna come back full circle to the present when “we all make mistakes”
OK, most of us were sure Lucas was smart enough to know this was a bad idea. We overestimated him a lot….
On a separate note: a decapitation would have been a funnier way to show Ethan powers
Less painful, less traumatic and faster.
Those two dinguses…
It would have sucked if Ethan’s revival power was just a one time thing
I mean, at this point, how would they know it wasn’t?
Happened twice at least so far.
Though the bigger question I’d have is, is it Ethan’s power to revive, or is it Lucas’ power, to bring back anything he kills?
I’m guessing they assumed that as the coffee table and other things didn’t regenerate, it was Ethan getting extra lives, but dang, this is a tricky power to experiment with.
Maybe its a “I feel like this is my power” sort of thing?
Ooh yeah this was definitely not the best way to go about it
Flashback inception. We need to go one step deeper!
Oh my lord, those last three panels are brutal. Perfectly made.
Ohhh so THAT’S how they know Scott! He was married and/or dating Ethan’s sister! Ok.
i thought was implied early tbh.
Drama takes a priority over common sense, I know. But it takes a hideously large lack of judgment, to do that without a warning. It’s way too far out of character for both.
It’s not even about Scott’s trauma. Witnessing a murder is horrible and traumatising often enough, even when you haven’t gone through it before. Even when it’s not a loved one like Ethan is.
We all know this.
And even for Ethan, that would be too insensitive. Nevermind Lucas.
I honestly expected Ethan to take the sleeping pills and down them like smarties to die in the way Scott had intended to die, but this….. this is way more brutal. And thoughtless. Like who gonna clean up the blood splatter on the ground? Oh wait, those disappear as well, right. Still thoughtless considering that now we know how Scott lost his wife and the ability to walk.
I bet we gonna see that shooter/murderer sometime down the storyline.
That would be a brutal way to try and break Scott out of his stupor. “You want to see what will happen if you do this?” Cut to Ethan suffering agonizing stomach pain, vomiting, losing balance and being unable to breathe properly, but still not dead, because to my knowledge it’s *not* a quick death.
Someone posted the link to their first try. The splatters will be gone.
yep i saw this triggering Scott… poor guy
And here I thought Lucas was the smart one…
I am disappointed by the lack of highlander quote before the impaling.
Wow way to trigger his PTSD guys.
Y’know, the only way this could be worse (other than this being the one where the revival not working) is if it turned into “Oh, he didn’t die right away. Hang on a sec”
Done … Ooops, why doesn’t he respawn this time
Are we all missing the fact that it’s Lucas with a hole in his chest in that last frame?
It’s Scott, not Lucas. It’s a flashback to when Scott and his fiance were shot.
I do wonder if Ethan has unlimited lives or maybe 99 at most
my fav saying – everyone is immortal until they are not.
if ethan runs out of respawns going to be an awkward lesson VERY fast.
A little eager to stab your best friend to death are we
This is getting good this little six pages is the most I think I’ve ever enjoyed the comic
It was kinda shitty way to demonstrate. I’d say assholly from both of them. Nice way to stir up PTSD, even if they didn’t knew about his suicide thoughts at that moment.
I’m imagining this as a reddit AITA post: “Am I the AH for getting mad at my friends for covering my floor with blood after an stupid hero game?”
Hey, Ethan, Lucas… the idea of spitting blood inside the room of an horrible event survivor is not exactly a good idea.
I never do these kind of things, but out of love for this web comic this need to be said. This page need to be reworked! I get why this happens, and the idea is great. This is just way too out of character for Lucas, even for a younger version of the character. Under the circumstances, forgetting to take into account Scott trauma is understandable but him killing his best friend after he re-spawned once make no sense. For all they know this was a one-time deal, following game logic they should believe he probably only have a few… Read more »
OK I expect the impulsive and insensitive plan from Ethan, but Lucas absolutely should’ve known better
A flashback inside of a flashback.