To be continued…
We’ll take a little break from this storyline and pick it up in the fall.
24
24
24
To be continued…
We’ll take a little break from this storyline and pick it up in the fall.
Seriously!? Fuck you.
ahaha someone doesn’t like hiatuses
ditto!
“To be continued…
We’ll take a little break from this storyline and pick it up in the fall.”
I for one say: Thank you.
I’ve got too much other stress in my life to worry about Ethan’s Basic Instinct relationship.
Buddy… you realize it’s just a comic character, right? He’ll not be fine, because there’s not an actual person that can be fine or not fine. It’s a story.
Wow.
Talk about not being able to read humorous context, or the room for that matter.
As we say in the South with sugary sweet intonation:
“Have a blessed day.”
Buddy, if humor cannot be inferred from your text, you are the one who failed to convey a joke.
As for reading the room, I have read the rooms, and they are filled with people going off their rocker about what this comic is doing to them emotionally.
As they say on Vulcan, live long and prosper. Or something.
I would post a smart @$$ reply. . .
But I fear it would exceed your mental capacity to understand.
(Ha, two can play this game.)
I was totally waiting til her obsession level hits “kills boyfriend” and then her reaction when he re-bloops and says “well, that’s DEFINITELY break-up worthy.”
I don’t think we want to see a toxic sex montage…
Didn’t see this coming? Beware page 24, and occasionally 36.
Tell me you don’t like cliffhangers without telling me you don’t like cliffhangers.
Also, fall is only 5 weeks away.
In this case, it’s more that I really can’t stand watching this toxic relationship even if it’s fictional.
For some reason I thought Tim had said “September” but he said “fall” which is mid/late Sept to Dec. Not defending the language but I can see some nerves that “in the fall” is Thanksgiving. I was looking forward to a resolution, thinking Ethan was maybe waking up here, but, oh well. C’est la vie. I do enjoy A&D, but personally, I tend to lean more towards liking the plot stuff rather than the melodrama/antics (some is good, sometimes it goes on a bit long for me, even though it going on lile that may make a lot of sense,… Read more »
It’s a couple weeks away. Grow up.
im sorry yall, i just dont think this relationship is as ‘destructive’ as everyone is making it out to be
sure it’s not very healthy at the time, but they can 100% work through this
I really hope you are joking. It has bigger red flags than the Soviet Union and PRC together
People in comments sections famously can’t detect shitposts.
You do realize that written word doesn’t convey sarcasm well. There are people that stupid to think that.
i guess i AM ‘that stupid’ cause this really isnt that bad ðŸ˜
like there’s no abuse here, she’s just a little too over-protective
ooh we see it. we just don’t do that here.
Reminds me of a girl I briefly dated off Match.com. I had suspended my account when we started dating, but that doesn’t stop Match (at the time, anyway) from sending emails out with “here’s some matches for you!” She saw one of those in my email and accused me of “still looking.” And, when I explained why it was there, she was clearly quite skeptical and “checked up” on it a few days later on my computer. I ended the relationship a few days after that. If your partner can’t trust you on the small stuff, they won’t trust you… Read more »
I suppose that depends on what you consider ‘working through it’. I’m sorry to say it, but you sound as delusional as Ethan about this.
There’s definitely a chance to have a long-term relationship. It just won’t be compatible with the rest of Ethans life. Nicole is happy to keep him, but only as long as Ethan is always willing to submit and give up on his other activities, friends and general autonomy. It’s pretty much the epitome of a destructive relationship.
When she finds out he’s moonlighting as a superhero and gets pissed at him for lying to her about it then pushes him off a bridge, killing him, and that’s the reveal for Ethan still having his powers, I want you to remember how you ignored all the obvious red flags, and really think about your life.
And THAT is Nicole’s villain arc. And Ethan gets himself ANOTHER arch-nemesis.
Don’t worry about the smoke in the middle of the forest. I am sure it will burn itself out…?
Why, specifically, do you think this comic shows the relationship isn’t as destructive as people are saying? Why do you think this comic shows it being healthy? It definitely doesn’t. If she had actually discussed the issue with Ethan, apologized, explained that she’s very insecure, allowed herself to be vulnerable instead of immediately shutting him down while he’s trying to address his concerns, THEN your comment might be reasonable. She didn’t do any of that. She accused him, defended her paranoia, and then immediately distracted him from talking about why her actions weren’t okay. That’s not healthy at all. Even… Read more »
It’s not very healthy “at the time” “At the time” is at the very start of the relationship. They just started seeing each other. If she is already this distrusting when they just met, when Ethan hasn’t done anything yet, it is NOT going to get better. They cannot 100% work through this. Nicole needs to take time for herself to work on her trust issues, come to terms with whatever happened to her that caused these trust issues, before she can ever hope to have a healthy relationship. Ethan needs to remove himself from this for now, Nicole needs… Read more »
Maybe you need to look at your own relationships if you think this is ok. Just saying….
I once read about an analogy for Ethan’s situation. If you lock a kid in a room his whole life and only give him a piece of cardboard to play with, it would be the most amazing toy that kid has ever seen. But that kid doesn’t realise that there are other toys like Lego, plushies, water guns, video games… That kid is Ethan now, who has yet to see what other relationships are like.
You think you can fix her?
You should be ashamed for ragebaiting the entire audience.
This is the hot mess express. It can only end miserably. But there can be some fun times between the bouts of instability.
I’ve been in a relationship like this and I’ve seen others do so as well. She’s controlling and manipulative. And this is only how it starts. It’ll get worse. A relationship like this can never be healthy. Don’t be so naive.
I’ve seen stage-4 cancer patients with more hope than this relationship…
as someone who had a mrs like this. its 100% toxic and took me 6 years too long to realize and abort.
Wow, this sentiment only got double the downvotes of the one that literally said F U to the writers face. Lol, priorities.
…run
*dramatic distorted guitar hook*
This was my thought as well…. Followed by, “Crawl through, the holes in the evidence” etc.
*GIF of Samantha Morton screaming in Minority Report*
Always having to report your location just because your partner is afraid you might be cheating is the most triggering and dealbreaking bit for me. Experienced that, I reported in and replied quickly to their texts, but they didn’t do the same for me. Did that for weeks, but ONE slip up and they were all ranty.
After dumping them, I felt like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders. 10/10 would do it again (dumping that kind of partner-to-be)
Congrats on breaking the cycle! I know it’s not easy.
You’d be surprised at how easy it was, once you’ve reached the so called ‘breaking point’. She was angry for me not checking in, scolded me, and threatened that we should break up.
Me: “I think you are right, we should break up then.”
Her: “…..”
Me: “Anything else you want to say?”
Her: “I don’t know what else to say.”
Me: “Good, because I’ve got a lot of things to do today. Good day to you.”
*click*
Damn I honestly feel really bad for Ethan. He deserves better, but at least it’ll be interesting to see where the rest of this story arc ends up lmao
…This is gonna be how he finds out his powers are back, isn’t it? When she goes psycho in a while, and comes at him with a knife, or something…
She doesn’t need a knife with guns like those.
Oh Lord no what if she attacks him finds out about the powers and determines she can utilize that in the bedroom….I don’t think he would go that dark but I can’t unthink it now
Brain bleach time
I don’t think brain bleach is enough. 😳
Thanks, I hate it.
What a terrible day to be literate.
It would have cost you nothing to not post that comment.
But, he did, and I am here for the chaos ensuing hahahah
This just gets worse and worse. Okay Tim, you win. I may not like Lilah, but Ethan sure as heck would be a lot better off with her than this toxic mess of a woman. Here’s to hoping those are the first rays of realization shining through in Ethan’s head in that third panel.
Man, this sounds…real. Either Tim did his research on toxic relationships, or he has personal experience. I really hope it’s the former.
Unfortunately, a lot of men have experience with toxic relationships.
And a lot of women, too. Seems the experience is fairly universal …
Oh yeah. This totally isn’t a supervillain origin story…
The ex from hell… with superpowers. Dear god. 😳
There’s an actual romantic comedy about this exact premise. Breaking up with Discount Super Girl means getting a shark thrown into your high-rise apartment room.
At that rate, we will soon know if he can re-spawn.
Or her, for that matter. 👀
Sounds like Nicole has her fair share of relationship trauma as well.
Other than her causing it, I don’t see any reason to assume that. The ‘Report to me at all times or (I think) you’re cheating’ here isn’t because she’s genuinely worried something like that might happen, it’s just another link in the emotional manipulation chain. Make them feel guilty for hanging out with other people, and for doing anything not involving her. Note the instant topic changing into cuddle times, deliberately cutting off any attempt at discussing the issues. She’s barely even listening to Ethan addressing her own supposed concerns, because her objective isn’t to get reassurance. It’s preventing Ethan… Read more »
I’m just seeing signs of her behaviour and insecurities being rooted in past trauma.
I understand the reader community has majority voted her to be bad, toxic and horrible beyond redemption. However, Tim has rarely written characters to be so one-dimensional.
People’s lived experiences can cause them to go off the deep end in all kinds of ways. I’m not that eager to completely write her off in that manner just quite yet.
Trauma can cause trauma; that’s why they called the cycle of abuse. Abuse parents can create abusive kids, abusive partners can create abusive people, etc. Breaking out of the cycle can be very difficult.
We see such controlling behaviour often as a reaction to them knowing it is difficult to control. This can be due to past trauma, but it is often more prevalent in people who can’t control themselves, or at least think about such behaviour for themselves. They project their own flaws on someone else, so they can avoid their own responsibilities, as well as distracting other people from it. That means if they accuse you of cheating, it is more likely they are thinking about cheating themselves or have done so, compared to having been cheated on. As she’s distracting the… Read more »
Okay, I’m going to call it… She’s working with the Troll and the other villains to destroy them.
She IS the troll.
AHHHHHHHH! MY EYEBALL HOLES!! I’M THROWING UP FROM MAH EYEBALL HOLES!!!
No, she’s OBVIOUSLY Ben. Geez.
Glad someone else thought in this line.
Pretty sure thebTroll broke out AFTER he started seeing Nicole? Besides, body type/height is completely off as well as voice I am sure.
While it’s possible she’s with the other villains, presumably to cause tension and hostility in the group, I think the more likely scenario is that she’s just your textbook toxic partner who happened to show up at the worst possible time, not all heroes wear capes, not all villains have grand plans to dominate the world
I’m not sure I’d even call it possible, none of them had any way of arranging this meetup. They don’t know Ethan, they don’t know about his dating, and there’s no way to ensure they could get the date.
There’s plenty of interesting possibilities where Nicole does eventually come in contact with the villain club, but her being part of from the start is just nonsense.
At this point calling it feels like standing up at a flat earth convention and yelling: “I’m calling it! The Earth is flat!” It is kind if not a revelation any more that this theory is floating around, and there’s still no more evidence than before we even knew of Nicole’s existence that she works with the Troll.
Give me a single compelling reason she is working with the Troll.
I don’t think she is, but I am almost certain she *will* if Ethan breaks it off.
So she has the powers of coercion through touch, or is Ethan just a weirdo to being touched? =D
Guessing she’s whispering something just the two of them can do together in his ear.
That, or biting it, etc. That was my take.
I think the powers of having someone who cares about you, even in her own toxic way, are very strong with someone who is lonely and had a very difficult time the last so many weeks or months.
The promise of sex is merely a bonus.
Every single red flag there is…and some that aren’t, are flying here.
Just Nicole…(just like Just Monika…
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Nicole doesn’t need a boyfriend right now, she needs a therapist. I don’t know what happened to her in her past to make her this distrusting, but she needs to work on that for herself instead of putting other people through this.
At least it seems Ethan had a moment, however short, of realizing that this is not a healthy relationship.
Wait til he starts “heroing” at night… that should be fun…
Yeah… Probably for the best. Though this is a CRIMSON RED FLAG! Especially considering WHO is out there.
Trust me. I’ve seen how this type of “relationship” works.
Isn’t August considered “fall” in most parts of the country? I’m a Texan, currently in Vermont. Pretty sure VT is “fall” right now… chilly nights, turning leaves. In Texas, I’m sure it’s just “summer, as usual”.
I don’t think August has ever been fall/autumn.
Sadly most kid’s schools start in august, so it feels like fall. Especially from the west coast where “seasons” are a suggestion.
From NJ: I’ve always known the seasons to officially start on the solstice/equinox, regardless of weather. Though I’m told that Australia matches the start of the seasons to the 1st of a month, so for instance, Fall there starts on March 1 rather than on the equinox that month.
Seasons do start on equinoxes and solstices. But then, human calendars might decide the start is a whole different date. Canada, for instance, considers labour day the last day of summer…
All the red flags
The comments outing themselves are hilarious.
As a survivor of abusive relationships, I am happy to see something like this getting tackled. I am worried that the relationship ties in with the Jailbreak but I’m really hoping it doesn’t; as dealing with Relationship Issues outside of Comic Book Dynamics is a strong (and valued) choice.
There are a lot ways this could go- Just because she is throwing out red flags right now, doesn’t mean that she will always be this way. that is called growth and learning. It is possible she develops as a character despite having flaws and issues (which could be from past trauma) and learns to have healthier relationships. But realistically that kind of growth or development has to happen through conflict- so maybe after her and Ethan go through it-and face the conflict- but y’all are boring yelling at Tim to just go the predictable and uninspired way with his… Read more »
I think it’d be a very difficult topic to tackle, AKA an abuser actually choosing to heal themselves and stop hurting others.
I don’t think it would be responsible to handle that type of dynamic unless it is the PRIMARY focus of comic which would mean Nichole would get a pretty significant spotlight put on her.
Recovering from abusive dynamics and learning to be better usually takes many years, dedication, and professional support. Tim’s already created a pretty severely abusive relationship, so the most likely scenario is that Ethan will find a way to break up with Nichole.
Kinda surprised he didn’t take the easy W here and just tell the truth? “We found out that a super powered nut job who vandalized our store awhile back just escaped from prison and needed to talk about what we are going to do about it.”
100% the truth, not even creative truth, just honest truth.
Vandalized our game store and well as other game and gun stores, and before his arrest had started killing the owners instead.
I agree with you, BUT there is one flaw in that plan – if the escape isn’t public knowledge yet, that could land Ben in even more hot water.
I don’t think Ethan would think of that here, though.
damn, that’s more red flags than in China XD
She has trust issues, control issues, insecurity, and paranoia. She needs a therapist, not a boyfriend. Bye Felicia!
I am gonna presume that she is a bait from The Troll. Too bad.
I figured it out, Nicole IS the Troll.
Anyone want to bet Ethan is going to do something stupid like carry his cell phone around when he is out in his superhero persona, so his toxic/paranoid girlfriend gets all paranoid/axe murdery thinking Ethan is cheating on her?
I did not call “Fatal Attraction” as the inspiration for Ethan figuring out if he can still respawn but…here we are.
Tim: Master of suspense.
Sucks we gotta wait when all this is happening. But on the flip side, I’m excited to see the one-offs and other stories pick back up too!
Can’t wait for the next Starcaster chapter, personally!
I’m getting the creeping sensation that we’re going to find out if Ethan still has his powers when a jealous Nicole STABS HIM for talking to Reporter Lilah.
The relationship is toxic, but the nookie is spectacular….
WORST possible spot for a cliffhanger. Well played, Tim.