Deathblood seems to go mostly for violent/active threats to society and those that the justice system failed to properly deal with. (repeat offenders).
Troll isn’t really his kind of target; He’s relatively low harm and hasn’t been properly tried yet.
He’d presumably shoot Troll without issue if they do cross paths, but I doubt he’d bother to actively look for them. Especially in a situation like this, where there supposedly are are people already dealing with it and there’s no real need to pick up the slack.
Low harm? He escalated to strapping three people to bombs and asking A&D to choose which “console” to save. And since becoming active again, he’s been setting fires and (so far, allegedly) has more people strapped to bombs.
Oh, and the reason he hasn’t been properly tried yet? He was in police custody at the hospital for the first bomb incident, and escaped. In other words – the justice system failed yet again.
The Troll is the perfect target for Deathblood at this point.
Hence why I said relatively low harm. Obviously he’s still plenty evil, but as (super) villains go one or two murders isn’t particularly impressive. Random gang thug #186 can have a higher body count than that. Again, I don’t doubt Deathblood would shoot Troll if he happens to be nearby. I just don’t see why he’d chase after Troll over the myriad of other possible targets. I’d expect him to have other priorities. I also think Deathblood would make a distinction between a criminal breaking out once (but justice still working on it), and a criminal simply sitting out a… Read more »
Sure is wild that during the Deathblood pages, everyone was saying how Deathblood was wrong, and simped for violet drug dealing criminals the the justice system failed to deal with. But now that we’re in the Joker arc, suddenly the popular response is “Where’s Deathblood, this guy needs killing!” Couldn’t even get some points for Deathblood back then by pointing out that characters like Batman would have prevented a lot of suffering and death of innocents if he had just had the stones to kill The Joker instead of letting him live, escape, and repeat. Now we have this universe’s… Read more »
Its always like that. People don’t want to admit the brutal violent solution may actually be the best solution in some cases. Then, when those scenarios occur, and every other solution is clearly a dud, we call for the violent solution.
I said it previously and I’ll say it again: even Jesse on Burn Notice once said “Sometimes you gotta put the rabid dog down.” That situation was a religious cult leader/extremist who was going to blow up anyone who approached him if he wasn’t taken out first.
The Sun Devils do engage in crime and occasional violence… for profit. The Troll engages in crime and continual violence… for the lulz. Bit of a differerence there.
Those same people are still saying “Ethan does it once, he’ll never find the line not to cross again,” it’s just that now we’re getting drowned out by the people who wanted him to go full Deathblood from the beginning.
As someone who only occasionally ventures into the comments, and vaguely recalls doing so back then, I’ll toss in my rationale With the random thugs, it felt much more like they were criminals due to necessity rather than because it was their calling. Also it was sorta feeling like if Analog talked to them long enough that they would actually consider turning over a new leaf This is certainly not the case with the Troll. As far as we can tell, he’s remorseless That said, I’m not sure I’d elect for killing the troll either, as much as I’d elect… Read more »
My guess is, Deathblood has lasted as long as he has by being smart and strategic. That includes, avoiding situations where he knows his methods are extremely likely to result in massive collateral.
Lord Foxxy Foxington
11 months ago
I think the Troll is about to get a whole lot more than he bargained for.
Just kill him now, Ethan. Sure, everyone and their dog will see it, but that’s a small price to pay to wipe that pathetic excuse for a human being off the face of the earth. And hey, the bad rep would likely fade over time.
I doubt he knows. Family is typically the first that comes to mind any time someone has trauma over being unable to protect someone. Closely followed by an SO.
Troll just happened to be un/fortunate it was in the first group.
We saw the Troll’s face in issue 3, and Carlie’s when Ethan confronted Scott about how he treated Zeke vs. how Deathblood treated criminals.
Definitely not the same person. Unless she didn’t actually die and then decided to change genders but Imma go out on a limb and say that’s NOT the plot here (I suppose the Troll could say so as a troll, but it’s too ludicrous to be remotely effective).
Nah, what Troll is doing is basically the same “cold reading” that television personalities will use to “talk to the dead”. He basically went down the entire list looking for a reaction until he got it. Which, is a perfect fit for the character of an evil troll.
Jedi
11 months ago
I guess someone just stepped on a landmine …
Soeroah
11 months ago
Losing his cool is the worst thing Ethan can do here, both for his reputation and for my worry of the story being a bit predictable, but it WOULD be TREMENDOUSLY satisfying for him to go all Broly on this guy for that
“Pretty gruesome what happened to that Troll guy, right?”
“Yeah. Who was the guy in the wheelchair mech that ripped him to pieces?”
“I don’t know, but Analog just stood there in shock. Poor guy.”
Good opportunity to blip behind, swipe that deadman switch and get it to safety.
Blue Griffin
11 months ago
Remember Analog doesn’t have a sister. Ethan does. Keep your cool.
If you don’t get a rise from him the troll is going to lose his cool more and more with everyone watching.
(Also man it would be great if he was wearing a wire so others could hear this.)
Bertch
11 months ago
Not that I think it’s going to happen… However this would be a perfect opportunity for Ethan to throw himself off the roof, in an I’m sorry sort of way, to basically troll the troll.
Then either respawn elsewhere, maybe back on the other roof with Lucas, or directly behind the troll and grab the switch before he realizes what is happening.
Yes the Bad Blood arc confirmed it when the Sun Devils expressed confusion about where Analog’s body disappeared to after they shot him.
Kasey
11 months ago
The best thing for him to say there. Reminds Ethan of why he does this, and the ideal he strives for.
Richard II Weatherfield
11 months ago
He went there…Dear God, he went there…
Frank
11 months ago
Epic Analog monologue incoming 🙂
foducool
11 months ago
uh oh… that’s one button you didn’t want to press
Daniel
11 months ago
I wonder about the Troll himself. While been now unrecognisable, he acted for years not using any mask. Doesn’t he have his own identity? Old history, family, soft spots one can use against him? Maybe, like in the internet, the bully is not so thug when he can’t hide behind his “persona”
Oh snap. You pushed the Goku button. You shouldn’ta done that
Merida
11 months ago
Analog doesn’t have family. Remember the mask.
Hugh
11 months ago
Regarding ads: today I couldn’t find an “X” to click to close the video in the lower right, so I also couldn’t close the banner at the bottom (the video was overlaid on top of the banner’s “X”). If these are getting too obnoxious, I guess becoming a patron would get rid of them?
There’s a button for reporting bad ads! (Below the sidebar stuff on the right). You should fill out the questions properly so your experience doesn’t get lost in the comments.
Epsilon
11 months ago
The Troll just accidently hit Ethan’s biggest trigger. Welp, Ethan is either going erupt in rage or he’s going to get crushed by guilt. His sister’s death is fresher in his mind after everything that happened with Zeke, so he’s probably still raw about the subject currently. Not to mention Ethan did have a run in with Deathblood where he failed to stop him from murdering all of those criminals, something Ethan still feels guilty about. So to compare him to Deathblood is not gonna help in this situation. I don’t know which way Ethan is going to react to… Read more »
Last edited 11 months ago by Epsilon
Kevin Greenbaum
11 months ago
Yep, he’s going of the roof again, spartan kick him for good measure.
Then jump off the roof himself afterwards to make it look like a suicide of guilt, clandestinely respawn, and disappear for a few months or a year. By the time Analog reappears fighting crime on the streets, he can give a plausibly deniable story that he’s someone who decided to take Analog #1’s place.
Oyee
11 months ago
I think the troll is going for another suicide with Analog. I sort of recall him already making at least one hero offing themselves. Something like that does seem possible.
I really don’t think he would go into a fit of rage, because Ethan being (too) empathetic has been the plot point for both the Zeke and Deathblood arcs. He wants to do the good thing, because he wants to amount up to what his sister represents for him.
This definitely feels like a defining turning point for his hero career.
SteelX
11 months ago
Don’t. Don’t give in to him…
Crestlinger
11 months ago
‘Perfect positioning. Now to neutralize the hand and device with a dissolving drone. …and Now!’ *Click ‘Okay now second deployment. Let’s melt that troll face off.’ *Click.
Neither of them are looking up right now and his hand Is out there…
Halosty
11 months ago
*looks at the chapter title from a new perspective*
Don’t surrender to the Dark Side, Analog!
Even if I think *someone* should probably permanently remove The Troll, I’d rather it not be our boy here at the loss of whatever innocence he has left.
Hmm, now that I think about it there’s a certain homicidal robot out there. Just saying.
Last edited 11 months ago by Halosty
J.D.
11 months ago
Ive always hated the villain trope
“i have all these hostages and their deaths will be on your hands if you don’t do as i say.” just once id like to the hero ask them to explain that logic.
The logic is the everyone else who’d be loudly asking the Hero after the fact “why didn’t you do more to stop this pile of dead bodies! You could have X and Y and definitely Z…”
So, the same social behavioral illogical, except serious and from a different direction.
I doubt anyone actually agrees with that reasoning (outside of insane troll logic). It’s mostly a cheap villainous taunt. That isn’t really the point though. It doesn’t matter that it’s only the villain killing them, it’s still bad if the hostages are killed. People don’t comply with hostage takers because they’ll somehow be responsible for the deaths otherwise, they do it because that’s often the best chance to get (to an opportunity to get) the hostages out alive. The main goal is to keep the villain from killing them until then. Arguing with the villain why their logic is dumb… Read more »
Tomaltach
11 months ago
In the words of an Abridged series: “You pressed the Carlie button. You shouldn’ta did that.”
WIlliF
11 months ago
The fan is about to get hit by something for sure.
FireballDragon
11 months ago
“I mean, what is it with you? What made you what you are? Girlfriend killed by the mob, maybe? Brother carved up by some mugger? Something like that, I bet. Something like that…”
william
11 months ago
obv he will bite but i would have just loved ethan to go no fuck it thats on you and walked off.
leduk
11 months ago
if he snaps, the troll wins
Adaon
11 months ago
He is too close.. and Ethan will be careless. Once he turns around to confront the Troll, i am afraid that he will use the Syringe with Goo in his right hand to inject Ethan. And i just have no idea what will happen then.
Bakhtosh
11 months ago
Turn the tables on Troll, engineer a situation where the media can get a pic of Analog hanging on to the building with Troll standing above him before he falls to his “death”.
24
And there’s the edge. And Troll just tied a boat anchor around Ethan’s ankle and threw it into the screaming rage filled void.
Queue the Zomboid Jumpscare SFX for The Troll
Speaking of Deathblood, where is he when you need him? Surely he watched the news too?
Probably his targets are criminal bands rather single targets.
Deathblood seems to go mostly for violent/active threats to society and those that the justice system failed to properly deal with. (repeat offenders).
Troll isn’t really his kind of target; He’s relatively low harm and hasn’t been properly tried yet.
He’d presumably shoot Troll without issue if they do cross paths, but I doubt he’d bother to actively look for them. Especially in a situation like this, where there supposedly are are people already dealing with it and there’s no real need to pick up the slack.
Low harm? He escalated to strapping three people to bombs and asking A&D to choose which “console” to save. And since becoming active again, he’s been setting fires and (so far, allegedly) has more people strapped to bombs.
Oh, and the reason he hasn’t been properly tried yet? He was in police custody at the hospital for the first bomb incident, and escaped. In other words – the justice system failed yet again.
The Troll is the perfect target for Deathblood at this point.
Hence why I said relatively low harm. Obviously he’s still plenty evil, but as (super) villains go one or two murders isn’t particularly impressive. Random gang thug #186 can have a higher body count than that. Again, I don’t doubt Deathblood would shoot Troll if he happens to be nearby. I just don’t see why he’d chase after Troll over the myriad of other possible targets. I’d expect him to have other priorities. I also think Deathblood would make a distinction between a criminal breaking out once (but justice still working on it), and a criminal simply sitting out a… Read more »
Sure is wild that during the Deathblood pages, everyone was saying how Deathblood was wrong, and simped for violet drug dealing criminals the the justice system failed to deal with. But now that we’re in the Joker arc, suddenly the popular response is “Where’s Deathblood, this guy needs killing!” Couldn’t even get some points for Deathblood back then by pointing out that characters like Batman would have prevented a lot of suffering and death of innocents if he had just had the stones to kill The Joker instead of letting him live, escape, and repeat. Now we have this universe’s… Read more »
If it makes you feel better, I did think back then that what Deadblood was doing was ok, I just didn’t feel strong enough about it to comment on it.
Same for me.
Disappointing to see so many fascists.
You don’t need to be a fascist to see the appeal in making sure psychopathic serial murderers don’t live to see another day.
Its always like that. People don’t want to admit the brutal violent solution may actually be the best solution in some cases. Then, when those scenarios occur, and every other solution is clearly a dud, we call for the violent solution.
I said it previously and I’ll say it again: even Jesse on Burn Notice once said “Sometimes you gotta put the rabid dog down.” That situation was a religious cult leader/extremist who was going to blow up anyone who approached him if he wasn’t taken out first.
The Sun Devils do engage in crime and occasional violence… for profit. The Troll engages in crime and continual violence… for the lulz. Bit of a differerence there.
God, I loved that show…
“When you are a spy…”
Those same people are still saying “Ethan does it once, he’ll never find the line not to cross again,” it’s just that now we’re getting drowned out by the people who wanted him to go full Deathblood from the beginning.
As someone who only occasionally ventures into the comments, and vaguely recalls doing so back then, I’ll toss in my rationale With the random thugs, it felt much more like they were criminals due to necessity rather than because it was their calling. Also it was sorta feeling like if Analog talked to them long enough that they would actually consider turning over a new leaf This is certainly not the case with the Troll. As far as we can tell, he’s remorseless That said, I’m not sure I’d elect for killing the troll either, as much as I’d elect… Read more »
A coworker of mine used to have a quote for this:
“Everyone’s a gangster until its time to do gangster s#&$”
My guess is, Deathblood has lasted as long as he has by being smart and strategic. That includes, avoiding situations where he knows his methods are extremely likely to result in massive collateral.
I think the Troll is about to get a whole lot more than he bargained for.
No, he’s about to get exactly what he was hoping for.
you mean, he’s about to win
I’m pretty sure Ethan will be up to the task. That’s a typical transforming moment in a hero’s journey, and Ethan is definitely a good guy at heart.
You are getting tired? Well, allow me to hold it and get yourself under arrest
Ooooh. Troll hit the sister button. You do NOT hit the sister button.
“you sholdn’ta did that”
Just kill him now, Ethan. Sure, everyone and their dog will see it, but that’s a small price to pay to wipe that pathetic excuse for a human being off the face of the earth. And hey, the bad rep would likely fade over time.
Except that we’ve already seen The Troll has an entire army of minions, all wearing his mask, all doing his work.
Killing him here makes him a martyr for his followers – if he dies here, The Troll will become immortal.
Does the Troll actually know about his sister? I don’t think that’s likely right? Just getting “lucky” here.
I doubt he knows. Family is typically the first that comes to mind any time someone has trauma over being unable to protect someone. Closely followed by an SO.
Troll just happened to be un/fortunate it was in the first group.
Unless the Troll IS his sister…
Dun…dun…DUNNNNNNNN
We saw the Troll’s face in issue 3, and Carlie’s when Ethan confronted Scott about how he treated Zeke vs. how Deathblood treated criminals.
Definitely not the same person. Unless she didn’t actually die and then decided to change genders but Imma go out on a limb and say that’s NOT the plot here (I suppose the Troll could say so as a troll, but it’s too ludicrous to be remotely effective).
Nah, what Troll is doing is basically the same “cold reading” that television personalities will use to “talk to the dead”. He basically went down the entire list looking for a reaction until he got it. Which, is a perfect fit for the character of an evil troll.
I guess someone just stepped on a landmine …
Losing his cool is the worst thing Ethan can do here, both for his reputation and for my worry of the story being a bit predictable, but it WOULD be TREMENDOUSLY satisfying for him to go all Broly on this guy for that
was thinking more vegeta after someone presses the goku button
Oh shit… he just pressed the sister button
Welp. The hostages are probably done for now. And the Troll. And Analog’s reputation.
I’m curious how he gets out of this without going feral on Troll for hitting the sister button…
How are you so sure there even are any hostages?
“Pretty gruesome what happened to that Troll guy, right?”
“Yeah. Who was the guy in the wheelchair mech that ripped him to pieces?”
“I don’t know, but Analog just stood there in shock. Poor guy.”
Unfortunately there’s no mech for Scott, but now I’d really want to see it.
Maybe they could borrow one from the guy they and Gameboy tangled with.
Demolition Duke or sth?
Its existence has been a secret until now. It’s his Technological Exoskeleton Drone, or T.E.D. for short. It looks somewhat like a penguin.
I truly wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be precisely what Tim is planning for Scott down the road.
This would be a great moment for Analog to stage his own “death” at the hands of the Troll.
I been saying that for a bit actually. IT really comes down to whether the troll knows what ethan’s power is or not.
Good opportunity to blip behind, swipe that deadman switch and get it to safety.
Remember Analog doesn’t have a sister. Ethan does. Keep your cool.
If you don’t get a rise from him the troll is going to lose his cool more and more with everyone watching.
(Also man it would be great if he was wearing a wire so others could hear this.)
Not that I think it’s going to happen… However this would be a perfect opportunity for Ethan to throw himself off the roof, in an I’m sorry sort of way, to basically troll the troll.
Then either respawn elsewhere, maybe back on the other roof with Lucas, or directly behind the troll and grab the switch before he realizes what is happening.
This is what i’ve been saying!
Not sure if Analog is able to actively control where to respawn.
still, in an alley odds are behind a wall or back where he started and no one would notice because they would be looking at the dead one.
I don’t believe he leaves behind a body, they would see it blip away. Otherwise I’d agree with this plan.
Yes the Bad Blood arc confirmed it when the Sun Devils expressed confusion about where Analog’s body disappeared to after they shot him.
The best thing for him to say there. Reminds Ethan of why he does this, and the ideal he strives for.
He went there…Dear God, he went there…
Epic Analog monologue incoming 🙂
uh oh… that’s one button you didn’t want to press
I wonder about the Troll himself. While been now unrecognisable, he acted for years not using any mask. Doesn’t he have his own identity? Old history, family, soft spots one can use against him? Maybe, like in the internet, the bully is not so thug when he can’t hide behind his “persona”
Ooh, call his grandma.
Oh snap. You pushed the Goku button. You shouldn’ta done that
Analog doesn’t have family. Remember the mask.
Regarding ads: today I couldn’t find an “X” to click to close the video in the lower right, so I also couldn’t close the banner at the bottom (the video was overlaid on top of the banner’s “X”). If these are getting too obnoxious, I guess becoming a patron would get rid of them?
There’s a button for reporting bad ads! (Below the sidebar stuff on the right). You should fill out the questions properly so your experience doesn’t get lost in the comments.
The Troll just accidently hit Ethan’s biggest trigger. Welp, Ethan is either going erupt in rage or he’s going to get crushed by guilt. His sister’s death is fresher in his mind after everything that happened with Zeke, so he’s probably still raw about the subject currently. Not to mention Ethan did have a run in with Deathblood where he failed to stop him from murdering all of those criminals, something Ethan still feels guilty about. So to compare him to Deathblood is not gonna help in this situation. I don’t know which way Ethan is going to react to… Read more »
Yep, he’s going of the roof again, spartan kick him for good measure.
Then jump off the roof himself afterwards to make it look like a suicide of guilt, clandestinely respawn, and disappear for a few months or a year. By the time Analog reappears fighting crime on the streets, he can give a plausibly deniable story that he’s someone who decided to take Analog #1’s place.
I think the troll is going for another suicide with Analog. I sort of recall him already making at least one hero offing themselves. Something like that does seem possible.
I really don’t think he would go into a fit of rage, because Ethan being (too) empathetic has been the plot point for both the Zeke and Deathblood arcs. He wants to do the good thing, because he wants to amount up to what his sister represents for him.
This definitely feels like a defining turning point for his hero career.
Don’t. Don’t give in to him…
‘Perfect positioning. Now to neutralize the hand and device with a dissolving drone. …and Now!’ *Click ‘Okay now second deployment. Let’s melt that troll face off.’ *Click.
Neither of them are looking up right now and his hand Is out there…
*looks at the chapter title from a new perspective*
Don’t surrender to the Dark Side, Analog!
Even if I think *someone* should probably permanently remove The Troll, I’d rather it not be our boy here at the loss of whatever innocence he has left.
Hmm, now that I think about it there’s a certain homicidal robot out there. Just saying.
Ive always hated the villain trope
“i have all these hostages and their deaths will be on your hands if you don’t do as i say.” just once id like to the hero ask them to explain that logic.
The logic is the everyone else who’d be loudly asking the Hero after the fact “why didn’t you do more to stop this pile of dead bodies! You could have X and Y and definitely Z…”
So, the same social behavioral illogical, except serious and from a different direction.
I doubt anyone actually agrees with that reasoning (outside of insane troll logic). It’s mostly a cheap villainous taunt. That isn’t really the point though. It doesn’t matter that it’s only the villain killing them, it’s still bad if the hostages are killed. People don’t comply with hostage takers because they’ll somehow be responsible for the deaths otherwise, they do it because that’s often the best chance to get (to an opportunity to get) the hostages out alive. The main goal is to keep the villain from killing them until then. Arguing with the villain why their logic is dumb… Read more »
In the words of an Abridged series: “You pressed the Carlie button. You shouldn’ta did that.”
The fan is about to get hit by something for sure.
“I mean, what is it with you? What made you what you are? Girlfriend killed by the mob, maybe? Brother carved up by some mugger? Something like that, I bet. Something like that…”
obv he will bite but i would have just loved ethan to go no fuck it thats on you and walked off.
if he snaps, the troll wins
He is too close.. and Ethan will be careless. Once he turns around to confront the Troll, i am afraid that he will use the Syringe with Goo in his right hand to inject Ethan. And i just have no idea what will happen then.
Turn the tables on Troll, engineer a situation where the media can get a pic of Analog hanging on to the building with Troll standing above him before he falls to his “death”.