Yeah, so many times you see this in media, especially the 2d type, where the bad guy magically knows how to disable the good guy. How did he even test it. I mean if there had been a series of unsolved disappearances of heroes and villains mentioned before this, I could see a thread. But without that, this is just a mcguffin. But I get it, he just needs him to doubt whether his power is still active. Ultimate troll indeed.
He could have gotten it from the guy with the Eldritch horrors. Green slime is kinda his thing to and I think he has been experimenting on heroes.
Mr. X
10 months ago
I assume Scott will have to create an antidote and Ethan will likely have to stay home while Lucas pursues the Troll. In the meantime, Zeke may confront Ethan while Scott is developing the antidote, meaning Ethan will be at risk of permanently dying.
Yeah I don’t Ethan is going to die, but he’ll probably fight much more cautiously and Zeke will be reminded of his conversation with Ethan about how dying hurts.
>I don’t think Tim will want to reboot to CAD 3.0 so soon.
Feels like we’re on this 2.0 for ages and ages. Seems much longer than the superior original ctr-alt-del run in any case.
I don’t think it’s longer at all. The issue is that Tim is telling an actual STORY unlike originally where it was all over the place of pure randomness until the end when his desire to actually write became obvious.
Jason
10 months ago
Oh Snap!
Fogel
10 months ago
So, looks like that entire dead man’s switch thing was a fake.
Not necessarily. It could have a time delay, much like how trains have a time limit to hit the dead man switch before the emergency brakes are applied. After all, your hand will cramp after a while, and you wouldn’t want to blow it up early.
Oh? Really? Well, thanks, this life was quite stressing. Do you know how hard is to coordinate day and night? Wah man! I owe you a beer!
(Keep trolling the Troll).
Member
Artisticfeets
10 months ago
This is it, this is the moment. If Ethan manages to keep face after this and stare down the Troll despite this, it might just outright break the dude.
Oh, cool thought there. Ethan just throws caution to the wind and dares him to try and kill him. Make him show how sure his “antidote” works. That could be intense.
JozMk.II
10 months ago
The question is, how long until it takes effect? Ethan might try a gamble: Throw himself off the building to try to force a respawn to his last healthy state from before he was injected with the green goo.
Hmm…Or maybe he could have Lucas use an arrow to hack his entire left arm and shoulder section off, before the green goo has a chance to spread any further in Ethan’s body? Then Lucas could later finish him off, theoretically enabling him to respawn with his arm and shoulder restored, likely without the green goo inside.
horrible, trollish beauty. I’m guessing this is one reason the troll decided to fixate on Analog. You couldn’t pull this on most supers. Ethan doesn’t have a way to test if any antidotes would work.
he got injected with a cure. In theory this isn’t an unhealthy state. Therefore his respawning ability – if not already lost – might not even reset it…
Something *called* a cure. Also, basically every medicine is unhealthy which is why it’s only supposed to be taken for conditions that are worse than the potential side effects.
If there are any, when the Troll dropped the switch, nothing happened, even though it wasn’t held between Troll’s and Ethan’s hands.
Depends how it’s made I suppose, maybe it needs to be loose for, say, at least 3 seconds? (That would defeat the purpose of dead man’s switch however, what if someone grabs it in that time? So I’m leaning towards it being a decoy to distract Ethan)
I’m guessing never. The Troll is Trolling. Which is really more likely that
A:The Troll some HOW came up with or acquired a cure for Ethan’s specific super power or powers in general. OR
B: He’s doing it to mess with him as the only way for Ethan to test it is to die.
BUT It could be tested, He just has to be dead in such a way that he can still be resuscitated. And that’s assuming they don’t get a hold of that injector to test the chemical residue.
John
10 months ago
Ya I wonder if such a “cure” would even exist. He let go of the trigger for a moment and it doesnt appear that anything happened, i had wondered if it was even the actual detonator, assuming he bomb threat is real at all.
The really question is how would he know that that mixture cures him. He doesn’t know his origin or how he got his powers. If this is a mass cure all that’s a bigger issue to deal with, but I doubt it.
It might just be a generic cure for all superpowers. After all, the Troll knew someone else might show up instead.
BakaGrappler
10 months ago
Huh. Yeah. I don’t think Ethan is really going to throw in the towel on being a hero. He’ll just be removing the “Super.” Shorter career, still helping some people before being snuffed out.
Esc
10 months ago
I remember a few people guessing this. I didn’t think it was possible but if it really does what the Troll says, that’s it for Ethan as a superhero. Seriously. He gets to hang it up. The only reason he’s out here is because his power allows him to take upon more responsibility. If it’s gone, that’s the end of it. Meta narratively, I’m trying to figure out how he either keeps or regains his powers. Not much of a strip if one character isn’t super anymore. Or maybe there is as he has to transition to more of Scott… Read more »
Daniel
10 months ago
When did the troll learn what his super hero power was? Others have tried to tell him a couple times before but they were always cut off short before giving the power away.
Even if we assume he learned from the internet, there’s no way the troll knows how to shut off a unique power or had a way to test it. It’s probably a lie, the ultimate trolling.
it doesn’t really matter what superpowers he had. He became a vigilante because he had “a superpower” and now it’s gone. If he had done it to Lucas he wouldn’t be able to conjure arrows so he wouldn’t be able to be a superhero anymore as that is what makes him able to resolve dangerous situations.
Only in Ethan’s situation he is unable to test wether he actually lost them.
okay i should have said “supposedly gone”.
the point is his superpower is immortality but wether it was a cure or not he can’t be a vigilante if he’s unsure he still has his power. Well he can but it could mean a very short adventure (especially if you’re ethan).
Would you test it, even if it was “the troll” saying you’re not immortal anymore
Maybe there’s a common source of the powers*? That’s fairly common in superhero fiction: X-Men (mutations), Spinnerette webcomic (something called Cherenkov-Kirby reaction), Wild Cards book series (alien virus), Freedom Force games (also some imported alien stuff), The Boys series (manufactured compound V), etc. – and as such, they might all share a common “cure”. In the strip where the origin of Ethan’s and Lucas’s powers was shown, the thief running past them dropped a vial of some stuff at their legs, which reacted with the arcade machine – he was carrying a whole bag of those, maybe the supers in… Read more »
Oh, good Idea. If someone was able to steal a batch of the Super-Hero – Goo, afraid of being followed.. it would fit. It could also be that this goo was originally produced to work against Superheroes, but as we know the accident with this stuff and the lighting strike gave Analog and D-Pad their powers – so this injection could produce the exact opposite effect the Troll thinks it should have, by making Ethan “more” super. Or not working at all, since it already gave him a power. I mean, if the Troll does not know how they got… Read more »
I think you’re on to something. IF such a thing exists as a “superhero antidote,” it’s a known quantity. There’s no way that the Troll is smart enough that he could have developed it himself, and there’s no way for him to know that it works as an antidote if it hasn’t already been tested on multiple Supers. That WOULD suggest they all get their powers from one source. If such a thing DOES exist, then every Super in the world is in danger, for two reasons. First – if it’s something that’s so easily obtained that a two-bit terrorist… Read more »
VibrantEvolution
10 months ago
That is brilliant! Even if he doesn’t know what powers Ethan has they’re gone. But he probably knew and in Ethan’s case he can’t actually check wether he lost em. That’s so evil!
There (probably) is but it would take some professional help they might be unwilling to give. Hearts are stopped for surgery everyday. Depending on what his power determined as “dead” that is. We’ve seen Ethan respawn from things that he could probably be revived from though if an ambulance was on hand. That said, from a story perspective, I expect Ethan to angst about it for a while.
It’s pretty clear from previous strips that the troll has some serious resources. In fact, all of the “bad guys” in this strip have serious resources. I’d argue that’s the one thing that requires massive suspension of disbelief.
Daniel
10 months ago
Can’t buy it. This is not his style, having a scientific advantage over the heros.
Of course, as many people here noted, he can’t risk it, so soon he’ll have to do some terribly heroic sacrifice to get back to the business. I bet Zeke will be involved, it just fits
I am pretty sure it is a bluff, but it is the ultimate troll move. It is a bluff that wouldn’t effect any other superhero. For Ethan however, even if there is a 1% chance his power won’t work, he can’t risk using it.
zox
10 months ago
Everyone discussing this as if its real – It’s a TROLL. A masterful one, for sure, but a troll nonetheless.
Ethan should be like “Powers? I don’t have any powers” and just beat him up.
The -Devil +Troll will tell the truth if it serves to tell a lie
Norbert
10 months ago
Ethan might actually get some other superpowers due he does not have any what can be considered superpower, as dying isn’t one 🙂
super steve
10 months ago
he HAS the detonator now, situation defused, surely he can just get off the roof and let the police move in
SURELY thats what he’s going to do
Verdiekus
10 months ago
If he kills himself immediately before the “cure” takes effect it should remove it and restore his body to its natural state. Or as natural as Ethan ever gets.
Heh, I would laugh if it had the opposite affect and made Ethan’s power even better, or gave him a new power altogether!
Jaq
10 months ago
I’m surprised & a bit disappointed that anyone is buying the BS the Troll is trying to sell, even for a minute. The Troll is a tech villain. Doing technological f@ckwittery is in his wheelhouse & might, theoretically, work if Ethan’s power has any basis in science. However, Ethan’s power is just pure effing magic. Tech can go pee up a rope at having a chance to ‘cure’ magic. Now if his power was consciously controlled there MIGHT be a chance to short-circuit Ethan’s use of his power by making him THINK it was gone. But Ethan has been blind-sided,… Read more »
Almost nobody is buying it, we’re all just correctly observing that it’s a great troll because Ethan can’t really test the claim. The chance that the “cure” actually worked and he would stay dead is too high a price to pay to risk testing it.
Also it’s not magic, we saw some guy spill a vial of goo on the arcade machine that then shorted out and gave Ethan and Lucas powers. If a vial of go can giveth, there is no reason not to assume that another vial of goo can taketh away.
Well- he got them at a gaming cabinet. Was it “magic” derived from the gods of Gaming? If so, is that “tech”? Can he be hacked? It’s obviously BS, yeah, but there’s that miniscule chance it isn’t.. and not understanding the powers to begin with isn’t going to help that.
Man.. Ethan was already worried about running out of lives eventually.. guy really needs a HUD.
No he got them because a vial of green goo leaked onto a gaming cabinet he was playing.
this thing doesn't remember anymore
10 months ago
Damn that’s a good troll. Even if it’s not the cure, that’s not something Ethan’s going to want to test.
Banjo
10 months ago
The even bigger troll event: The bomb and hostages were fake, and the Troll himself didn’t actually get seen/caught doing anything illegal other than faking a hostage crisis. You can’t even prove that he “cured” Ethan in a sourt of law.
At the end of all this, the Troll won’t even go to jail, or if he does it’ll be a relatively mild sentence compared to the harm he actually caused.
Ehhhhhhh…. so here’s the thing, I would liken this to a false bomb threat/hostage situation. Depending on the state that’s 5-10 years in prison as a minimum. Probably a felony charge of aggravated mayhem as it seems to fit the definition, which can be a life sentance. He also just stabbed Ethan with an unknown chemical sludge, tenuously that’s poisoning with intent to injure, depending on the state, that’s a life sentence, and literally the entire police department and a few supers saw it go down, there’s probably video of it as well. Hell the troll is probably livestreaming it… Read more »
Even if they did authorise it, if the syringe contains something other than what you expected, illegal, there was a nurse in Germany done for this early in the Covid vaccination roll out, I don’t think they said what she replaced the vaccine with.
sure, because you dont have any problem with the law when you fake an hostage and bomb crisis or inject ppl with random chemicals. Totally.
FireballDragon
10 months ago
Hell, maybe it’s not even a “cure,” maybe it’s a vial full of the stuff that mutated the Troll when he fell. “You turned me into this, now Imma show you how it feels,” you know?
I’m sure the troll has no idea how Ethan’s power works, so this is just another mind game. The troll did say “I took away your ‘powers'”, not power, Ethan only had the infinite lives. And that is hardly common knowledge. I mentioned this before, he might reset to the point he got the power, which would mean he’s immortal. Or he resets back from the moment before any damage was inflicted, so the moment troll injected him made a reset point. When Ethan slipped in the Mega game mart and broke his arm, he stated he could reset to… Read more »
Ethan threatened to sue them over the fall, and he told Lucas that he couldn’t reset, because it would either let the cat out of the bag or land him back in court for “running a scam” just read back to it.
Wasnt he jyst trolling psycho to begin with? Where did this master chemist came from? Even Ethen and pals dont know why he can respawn. I call BS trolling on this one
You don’t need to be a master chemist to steal some unique chemicals.
The guy is a psycho, but he is pretty good at what he does. It’s entirely plausible that he could’ve hacked into a factory or research lab somewhere and gotten some kind of ‘depower juice’ from there. Possibly even by tracking the original source of the goo that gave Ethan his powers.
Daxblue
10 months ago
Assuming that you can be old and health until you body gives out. Ethan should thank the troll. Now he won’t be caught in a cycle of constantly dying of old age. Thanking the troll would also put the troll in a position of admitting if it was fake.
william
10 months ago
yeah not buying that the troll knows the exact super powers analogue has and built a cure for it. he trolling. likely green jelly
update seems i was wrong and this troll on the level… for now; still suspect a double bluff where the vial is fake to mess with ethan
ThatGuy
10 months ago
I was wondering when that vial would show up. I was expecting it to be a bomb around Analog’s neighborhood that made him mean and green too. This is better. Tim is a MASTER story teller and it trolls ME that we have to wait every other day for the next page. I get why, but still Y_Y
Number51x
10 months ago
Weird, because it looks more like the stuff that gave him his super power.
Ace5762
10 months ago
‘Cure’ or not, being injected with someone that glows in the dark is probably not great
Paula
10 months ago
Nooooooooooo
The Riddler
10 months ago
Yeah – whatever. If Troll had actually developed a generic “cure” for superpowers then everyone would want it. Obviously just another mind game, particularly when Analog’s ‘powers’ are largely unknown by everyone, let alone Troll. Seems more like just another cold troll where he’s just fishing with random until he gets some reaction.
Gravshire
10 months ago
A cure? You have a face like that and you didn’t use it on yourself?
Of course, the troll is not just crazy, he’s insane on top of stupid, as well.
The Troll doesn’t have powers though. He’s like the joker–disfigured, sociopathic, and obsessed with a caped crusader.
Maz
10 months ago
Anyone recall if an issue revealed the troll discovering what Analog’s power is? If not, I think we’re about to get a monologue about the troll nation keeping tabs on him…
bloof
10 months ago
As much as a blow this is to Ethan, does this mean he may have a shot at having a normal life with the girl he likes?
Which one? If you mean Emily, I wouldn’t count on it. Him actually being a Superhero wasn’t a direct factor in their breakup. If I remember correctly it was mostly the other stuff around it, keeping secrets, different opinions on heroes in general, etc. None of that changes if Ethan loses his powers.
I think Ethan even told her he was a Super at one point, but she simply didn’t believe him. If anything that’d be even harder now, since he can’t even prove anymore that he really wasn’t lying.
Daniel
10 months ago
Jab!
Laughing Man
10 months ago
Place your bets!
It’s a troll- the Troll has no clue what the hell powers Analog.
The Troll made a critical mistake and accidentally gives Analog a power upgrade.
The cure works, and Ethan tries to regain his powers by recreating the accident.
Ethan gives up being a hero until a fix can be found. Cue angst.
This is why you punt criminals off the roof when you can, kids.
Throwing them off the roof may lead you to becoming like that killer “hero” Ethan ran into (I forgot his name, the one that uses firearms and executed some criminals, that Ethan talked into surrendering).
But anyway, in case of Troll I’m inclined to agree… but if you do that, make sure they are dead (if Troll died when Ethan dropped him, he obviously wouldn’t be able to cause the current problems).
Im with you. I’m actually more disappointed that an interesting plot idea like “Ethan losing his respawn powers” is being used with such a shitty villain, no offense to Tim.
Just to clarify: I think the plot is very good, and because of that, the troll is THAT unbearable, at least to me…
evilleet
10 months ago
Wait, did the troll actually know what superpowers ethan has?
Epsilon
10 months ago
I look forward to the explanation from the Troll on how he found, or made, a “cure” for something that was caused by a freak accident involving lightning and an arcade machine. Like is a general removes super power thing or is it specificly made for Analog?
Odds are this is just the Troll trolling, but I would be interested in the explanation if it is not.
MercuryGreen
10 months ago
So my question is would it actually change anything with how Ethan lives his life? When was the last time he died?
Most likely he’s STILL put on the costume and he MIGHT be a little more careful! (Maybe…)
Scarsdale
10 months ago
Oh jeez, I didn’t realize that it might be the same goop that gave them their powers in the first place. Still, I doubt the troll is as smart as he thinks he is, and in order to activate the goo there needs to be a strong shock…
Khaisz
10 months ago
The chance of The Troll actually creating a cure is like 0.00001%, However. Ethan can’t test if he actually did create a cure, because what if actually did create one and isn’t just Trolling?
Guess we have to wait for Zeke shows in like 2-3 seasons from now and kills Ethan and Ethan discovers the powers never was gone.
CTOWNS
10 months ago
Analog got the jab! Now he will die for sure
Crestlinger
10 months ago
Oh the anti-vaxxers are going to be triggered by this one. Good!
Jeff
10 months ago
This is just like the series by Marissa Meyer, Renegades.
24
That is so messed up, because he is probably lying but how does he test it?
Doing normal Ethan things will eventually suffice 😉
That is the ultimate trolling.
You must be able to take the shot
That’s been my theory. Howndo you just make an “off” switch like that. It’s the ultimate troll.
Yeah, so many times you see this in media, especially the 2d type, where the bad guy magically knows how to disable the good guy. How did he even test it. I mean if there had been a series of unsolved disappearances of heroes and villains mentioned before this, I could see a thread. But without that, this is just a mcguffin. But I get it, he just needs him to doubt whether his power is still active. Ultimate troll indeed.
Actually it looks like the stuff the troll fell in last time
He could have gotten it from the guy with the Eldritch horrors. Green slime is kinda his thing to and I think he has been experimenting on heroes.
I assume Scott will have to create an antidote and Ethan will likely have to stay home while Lucas pursues the Troll. In the meantime, Zeke may confront Ethan while Scott is developing the antidote, meaning Ethan will be at risk of permanently dying.
I don’t think Tim will want to reboot to CAD 3.0 so soon.
Yeah I don’t Ethan is going to die, but he’ll probably fight much more cautiously and Zeke will be reminded of his conversation with Ethan about how dying hurts.
But… DYING IS WHAT ETHAN DOES BEST!
>I don’t think Tim will want to reboot to CAD 3.0 so soon.
Feels like we’re on this 2.0 for ages and ages. Seems much longer than the superior original ctr-alt-del run in any case.
It has been longer. I’n not so sure about the original being superior. This one has definitely been a much slower story though.
I found the original superior personally. I mainly stick around for console wars now and the one shots.
I don’t think it’s longer at all. The issue is that Tim is telling an actual STORY unlike originally where it was all over the place of pure randomness until the end when his desire to actually write became obvious.
Oh Snap!
So, looks like that entire dead man’s switch thing was a fake.
Not necessarily. It could have a time delay, much like how trains have a time limit to hit the dead man switch before the emergency brakes are applied. After all, your hand will cramp after a while, and you wouldn’t want to blow it up early.
reminded of mythbusters testing ‘how long you can hold a grenade’.. and was stupidly long.
Actually a dead man’s switch is designed to trigger instantly the on operator’s death
Not all of them
Oh? Really? Well, thanks, this life was quite stressing. Do you know how hard is to coordinate day and night? Wah man! I owe you a beer!
(Keep trolling the Troll).
This is it, this is the moment. If Ethan manages to keep face after this and stare down the Troll despite this, it might just outright break the dude.
Oh, cool thought there. Ethan just throws caution to the wind and dares him to try and kill him. Make him show how sure his “antidote” works. That could be intense.
The question is, how long until it takes effect? Ethan might try a gamble: Throw himself off the building to try to force a respawn to his last healthy state from before he was injected with the green goo.
Hmm…Or maybe he could have Lucas use an arrow to hack his entire left arm and shoulder section off, before the green goo has a chance to spread any further in Ethan’s body? Then Lucas could later finish him off, theoretically enabling him to respawn with his arm and shoulder restored, likely without the green goo inside.
That is the beauty of it. It might entirely be a bluff, but how does he test any of it, without risking seriously injury or death?
horrible, trollish beauty. I’m guessing this is one reason the troll decided to fixate on Analog. You couldn’t pull this on most supers. Ethan doesn’t have a way to test if any antidotes would work.
he got injected with a cure. In theory this isn’t an unhealthy state. Therefore his respawning ability – if not already lost – might not even reset it…
Something *called* a cure. Also, basically every medicine is unhealthy which is why it’s only supposed to be taken for conditions that are worse than the potential side effects.
I think that was the whole point of giving Ethan the dead man switch to hold. To try any such tactic, he’ll have to let go and kill the hostages.
If there are any, when the Troll dropped the switch, nothing happened, even though it wasn’t held between Troll’s and Ethan’s hands.
Depends how it’s made I suppose, maybe it needs to be loose for, say, at least 3 seconds? (That would defeat the purpose of dead man’s switch however, what if someone grabs it in that time? So I’m leaning towards it being a decoy to distract Ethan)
I’m guessing never. The Troll is Trolling. Which is really more likely that
A:The Troll some HOW came up with or acquired a cure for Ethan’s specific super power or powers in general. OR
B: He’s doing it to mess with him as the only way for Ethan to test it is to die.
BUT It could be tested, He just has to be dead in such a way that he can still be resuscitated. And that’s assuming they don’t get a hold of that injector to test the chemical residue.
Ya I wonder if such a “cure” would even exist. He let go of the trigger for a moment and it doesnt appear that anything happened, i had wondered if it was even the actual detonator, assuming he bomb threat is real at all.
The really question is how would he know that that mixture cures him. He doesn’t know his origin or how he got his powers. If this is a mass cure all that’s a bigger issue to deal with, but I doubt it.
It might just be a generic cure for all superpowers. After all, the Troll knew someone else might show up instead.
Huh. Yeah. I don’t think Ethan is really going to throw in the towel on being a hero. He’ll just be removing the “Super.” Shorter career, still helping some people before being snuffed out.
I remember a few people guessing this. I didn’t think it was possible but if it really does what the Troll says, that’s it for Ethan as a superhero. Seriously. He gets to hang it up. The only reason he’s out here is because his power allows him to take upon more responsibility. If it’s gone, that’s the end of it. Meta narratively, I’m trying to figure out how he either keeps or regains his powers. Not much of a strip if one character isn’t super anymore. Or maybe there is as he has to transition to more of Scott… Read more »
When did the troll learn what his super hero power was? Others have tried to tell him a couple times before but they were always cut off short before giving the power away.
Even if we assume he learned from the internet, there’s no way the troll knows how to shut off a unique power or had a way to test it. It’s probably a lie, the ultimate trolling.
it doesn’t really matter what superpowers he had. He became a vigilante because he had “a superpower” and now it’s gone. If he had done it to Lucas he wouldn’t be able to conjure arrows so he wouldn’t be able to be a superhero anymore as that is what makes him able to resolve dangerous situations.
Only in Ethan’s situation he is unable to test wether he actually lost them.
Just because The Troll SAYS it’s something doesn’t mean it IS what he says it is, especially considering he is a TROLL
While discussing this argument one would suspend the disbelieve
Firstly, does Troll even know what Ethan’s power is? And secondly, where would Troll have sourced the “cure” & how does he know it works?
“Troll just took away Ethan’s powers!” requires far greater suspension of disbelief than “Troll is trolling”
okay i should have said “supposedly gone”.
the point is his superpower is immortality but wether it was a cure or not he can’t be a vigilante if he’s unsure he still has his power. Well he can but it could mean a very short adventure (especially if you’re ethan).
Would you test it, even if it was “the troll” saying you’re not immortal anymore
Maybe there’s a common source of the powers*? That’s fairly common in superhero fiction: X-Men (mutations), Spinnerette webcomic (something called Cherenkov-Kirby reaction), Wild Cards book series (alien virus), Freedom Force games (also some imported alien stuff), The Boys series (manufactured compound V), etc. – and as such, they might all share a common “cure”. In the strip where the origin of Ethan’s and Lucas’s powers was shown, the thief running past them dropped a vial of some stuff at their legs, which reacted with the arcade machine – he was carrying a whole bag of those, maybe the supers in… Read more »
Oh, good Idea. If someone was able to steal a batch of the Super-Hero – Goo, afraid of being followed.. it would fit. It could also be that this goo was originally produced to work against Superheroes, but as we know the accident with this stuff and the lighting strike gave Analog and D-Pad their powers – so this injection could produce the exact opposite effect the Troll thinks it should have, by making Ethan “more” super. Or not working at all, since it already gave him a power. I mean, if the Troll does not know how they got… Read more »
I think you’re on to something. IF such a thing exists as a “superhero antidote,” it’s a known quantity. There’s no way that the Troll is smart enough that he could have developed it himself, and there’s no way for him to know that it works as an antidote if it hasn’t already been tested on multiple Supers. That WOULD suggest they all get their powers from one source. If such a thing DOES exist, then every Super in the world is in danger, for two reasons. First – if it’s something that’s so easily obtained that a two-bit terrorist… Read more »
That is brilliant! Even if he doesn’t know what powers Ethan has they’re gone. But he probably knew and in Ethan’s case he can’t actually check wether he lost em. That’s so evil!
Assuming that it actually is that what he says. But there isn’t a way Ethan can really safely test for that.
There (probably) is but it would take some professional help they might be unwilling to give. Hearts are stopped for surgery everyday. Depending on what his power determined as “dead” that is. We’ve seen Ethan respawn from things that he could probably be revived from though if an ambulance was on hand. That said, from a story perspective, I expect Ethan to angst about it for a while.
assuming a random dude like the troll has the knowledge and the money to create something that works.
It’s pretty clear from previous strips that the troll has some serious resources. In fact, all of the “bad guys” in this strip have serious resources. I’d argue that’s the one thing that requires massive suspension of disbelief.
Can’t buy it. This is not his style, having a scientific advantage over the heros.
Of course, as many people here noted, he can’t risk it, so soon he’ll have to do some terribly heroic sacrifice to get back to the business. I bet Zeke will be involved, it just fits
I am pretty sure it is a bluff, but it is the ultimate troll move. It is a bluff that wouldn’t effect any other superhero. For Ethan however, even if there is a 1% chance his power won’t work, he can’t risk using it.
Everyone discussing this as if its real – It’s a TROLL. A masterful one, for sure, but a troll nonetheless.
Ethan should be like “Powers? I don’t have any powers” and just beat him up.
The Troll gave the game away when he said “Super powers”, plural. A classic “Still no luck catchin’ them swans, then?” mistake.
The -Devil +Troll will tell the truth if it serves to tell a lie
Ethan might actually get some other superpowers due he does not have any what can be considered superpower, as dying isn’t one 🙂
he HAS the detonator now, situation defused, surely he can just get off the roof and let the police move in
SURELY thats what he’s going to do
If he kills himself immediately before the “cure” takes effect it should remove it and restore his body to its natural state. Or as natural as Ethan ever gets.
Would you risk trying that in his place, though?
Heh, I would laugh if it had the opposite affect and made Ethan’s power even better, or gave him a new power altogether!
I’m surprised & a bit disappointed that anyone is buying the BS the Troll is trying to sell, even for a minute. The Troll is a tech villain. Doing technological f@ckwittery is in his wheelhouse & might, theoretically, work if Ethan’s power has any basis in science. However, Ethan’s power is just pure effing magic. Tech can go pee up a rope at having a chance to ‘cure’ magic. Now if his power was consciously controlled there MIGHT be a chance to short-circuit Ethan’s use of his power by making him THINK it was gone. But Ethan has been blind-sided,… Read more »
Almost nobody is buying it, we’re all just correctly observing that it’s a great troll because Ethan can’t really test the claim. The chance that the “cure” actually worked and he would stay dead is too high a price to pay to risk testing it.
Also it’s not magic, we saw some guy spill a vial of goo on the arcade machine that then shorted out and gave Ethan and Lucas powers. If a vial of go can giveth, there is no reason not to assume that another vial of goo can taketh away.
Well- he got them at a gaming cabinet. Was it “magic” derived from the gods of Gaming? If so, is that “tech”? Can he be hacked? It’s obviously BS, yeah, but there’s that miniscule chance it isn’t.. and not understanding the powers to begin with isn’t going to help that.
Man.. Ethan was already worried about running out of lives eventually.. guy really needs a HUD.
No he got them because a vial of green goo leaked onto a gaming cabinet he was playing.
Damn that’s a good troll. Even if it’s not the cure, that’s not something Ethan’s going to want to test.
The even bigger troll event: The bomb and hostages were fake, and the Troll himself didn’t actually get seen/caught doing anything illegal other than faking a hostage crisis. You can’t even prove that he “cured” Ethan in a sourt of law.
At the end of all this, the Troll won’t even go to jail, or if he does it’ll be a relatively mild sentence compared to the harm he actually caused.
Ehhhhhhh…. so here’s the thing, I would liken this to a false bomb threat/hostage situation. Depending on the state that’s 5-10 years in prison as a minimum. Probably a felony charge of aggravated mayhem as it seems to fit the definition, which can be a life sentance. He also just stabbed Ethan with an unknown chemical sludge, tenuously that’s poisoning with intent to injure, depending on the state, that’s a life sentence, and literally the entire police department and a few supers saw it go down, there’s probably video of it as well. Hell the troll is probably livestreaming it… Read more »
Not to mention hes still wanted for blowing up someone in his last scheme
Yeah as it turns out, stabbing people with a syringe when they didn’t authorize it is actually pretty illegal.
Even if they did authorise it, if the syringe contains something other than what you expected, illegal, there was a nurse in Germany done for this early in the Covid vaccination roll out, I don’t think they said what she replaced the vaccine with.
Even splashing water on someone can be considered a crime.
sure, because you dont have any problem with the law when you fake an hostage and bomb crisis or inject ppl with random chemicals. Totally.
Hell, maybe it’s not even a “cure,” maybe it’s a vial full of the stuff that mutated the Troll when he fell. “You turned me into this, now Imma show you how it feels,” you know?
And only if Ethan kills himself now the effect is prevented from becoming permanent
Green goo, huh?
https://cad-comic.com/comic/analog-and-d-pad-04-06/
Thank you! I did not remember that detail!
I’m sure the troll has no idea how Ethan’s power works, so this is just another mind game. The troll did say “I took away your ‘powers'”, not power, Ethan only had the infinite lives. And that is hardly common knowledge. I mentioned this before, he might reset to the point he got the power, which would mean he’s immortal. Or he resets back from the moment before any damage was inflicted, so the moment troll injected him made a reset point. When Ethan slipped in the Mega game mart and broke his arm, he stated he could reset to… Read more »
He won’t stop being Ethan, which is way more dangerous than meeting Bloodbath.
He didn’t leave his arm to heal normally, he immediately stabbed himself in the throat with a knife to heal it.
Ethan threatened to sue them over the fall, and he told Lucas that he couldn’t reset, because it would either let the cat out of the bag or land him back in court for “running a scam” just read back to it.
Ok My bad, he did do that, my memory isn’t what it used to be a guess…
https://cad-comic.com/comic/winter-een-mas-2017-page-9/
Wasnt he jyst trolling psycho to begin with? Where did this master chemist came from? Even Ethen and pals dont know why he can respawn. I call BS trolling on this one
You don’t need to be a master chemist to steal some unique chemicals.
The guy is a psycho, but he is pretty good at what he does. It’s entirely plausible that he could’ve hacked into a factory or research lab somewhere and gotten some kind of ‘depower juice’ from there. Possibly even by tracking the original source of the goo that gave Ethan his powers.
Assuming that you can be old and health until you body gives out. Ethan should thank the troll. Now he won’t be caught in a cycle of constantly dying of old age. Thanking the troll would also put the troll in a position of admitting if it was fake.
yeah not buying that the troll knows the exact super powers analogue has and built a cure for it. he trolling. likely green jelly
“bought/acquired a generic antidote” is possible.
update seems i was wrong and this troll on the level… for now; still suspect a double bluff where the vial is fake to mess with ethan
I was wondering when that vial would show up. I was expecting it to be a bomb around Analog’s neighborhood that made him mean and green too. This is better. Tim is a MASTER story teller and it trolls ME that we have to wait every other day for the next page. I get why, but still Y_Y
Weird, because it looks more like the stuff that gave him his super power.
‘Cure’ or not, being injected with someone that glows in the dark is probably not great
Nooooooooooo
Yeah – whatever. If Troll had actually developed a generic “cure” for superpowers then everyone would want it. Obviously just another mind game, particularly when Analog’s ‘powers’ are largely unknown by everyone, let alone Troll. Seems more like just another cold troll where he’s just fishing with random until he gets some reaction.
A cure? You have a face like that and you didn’t use it on yourself?
Of course, the troll is not just crazy, he’s insane on top of stupid, as well.
The Troll doesn’t have powers though. He’s like the joker–disfigured, sociopathic, and obsessed with a caped crusader.
Anyone recall if an issue revealed the troll discovering what Analog’s power is? If not, I think we’re about to get a monologue about the troll nation keeping tabs on him…
As much as a blow this is to Ethan, does this mean he may have a shot at having a normal life with the girl he likes?
Which one? If you mean Emily, I wouldn’t count on it. Him actually being a Superhero wasn’t a direct factor in their breakup. If I remember correctly it was mostly the other stuff around it, keeping secrets, different opinions on heroes in general, etc. None of that changes if Ethan loses his powers.
I think Ethan even told her he was a Super at one point, but she simply didn’t believe him. If anything that’d be even harder now, since he can’t even prove anymore that he really wasn’t lying.
Jab!
Place your bets!
This is why you punt criminals off the roof when you can, kids.
Throwing them off the roof may lead you to becoming like that killer “hero” Ethan ran into (I forgot his name, the one that uses firearms and executed some criminals, that Ethan talked into surrendering).
But anyway, in case of Troll I’m inclined to agree… but if you do that, make sure they are dead (if Troll died when Ethan dropped him, he obviously wouldn’t be able to cause the current problems).
Deathblood.
I’m so frustrated with all the real trolls out there, that I don’t know if I can stand to follow this arc anymore…
Im with you. I’m actually more disappointed that an interesting plot idea like “Ethan losing his respawn powers” is being used with such a shitty villain, no offense to Tim.
Just to clarify: I think the plot is very good, and because of that, the troll is THAT unbearable, at least to me…
Wait, did the troll actually know what superpowers ethan has?
I look forward to the explanation from the Troll on how he found, or made, a “cure” for something that was caused by a freak accident involving lightning and an arcade machine. Like is a general removes super power thing or is it specificly made for Analog?
Odds are this is just the Troll trolling, but I would be interested in the explanation if it is not.
So my question is would it actually change anything with how Ethan lives his life? When was the last time he died?
Most likely he’s STILL put on the costume and he MIGHT be a little more careful! (Maybe…)
Oh jeez, I didn’t realize that it might be the same goop that gave them their powers in the first place. Still, I doubt the troll is as smart as he thinks he is, and in order to activate the goo there needs to be a strong shock…
The chance of The Troll actually creating a cure is like 0.00001%, However. Ethan can’t test if he actually did create a cure, because what if actually did create one and isn’t just Trolling?
Guess we have to wait for Zeke shows in like 2-3 seasons from now and kills Ethan and Ethan discovers the powers never was gone.
Analog got the jab! Now he will die for sure
Oh the anti-vaxxers are going to be triggered by this one. Good!
This is just like the series by Marissa Meyer, Renegades.