Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2017-11-22
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2017-11-22

by shaenon on November 22, 2017 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Unsinkable
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Discussion (36) ¬

  1. Moe Lane
    November 22, 2017, 12:11 am | # | Reply

    And they wonder why he fights for a future that has her in it.

  2. awgiedawgie
    November 22, 2017, 12:26 am | # | Reply

    “A bad vibe”? AG-I gives off an insanely incompetent vibe. That’s well beyond “bad”. Panoptica and maybe Shelby seem to be the only reasonably intelligent members, and even they still lean heavy toward clueless. All the other AG-I agents seem to have IQs that are desperately trying to catch up with their shoe size. No wonder Nick couldn’t wait to get out of there.

    Granted, the SH team can make their fair share of dumb mistakes, but even Unity comes off as smarter than these guys most of the time — and especially when she’s high on brains.

    • EvilMidnightLurker
      November 22, 2017, 5:27 pm | # | Reply

      The “bad” part for me is that, from the beginning, they’ve shown a distinct anti-nonhuman bias.

      • Shikome Kido Mi
        November 23, 2017, 6:45 pm | # | Reply

        Definitely. It makes me wonder if they’ve even tried talking to this Sea Monster, for example.

      • awgiedawgie
        November 23, 2017, 6:55 pm | # | Reply

        And even a bias against normal humans.

    • vincentmuyo
      November 25, 2017, 3:36 am | # | Reply

      They’re a bunch of murdering sociopaths.

      • awgiedawgie
        November 25, 2017, 12:21 pm | # | Reply

        Well, so is H.T. — the difference being that H.T., in comparison to these guys, is relatively intelligent.

  3. WuseMajor
    November 22, 2017, 12:36 am | # | Reply

    This is why a policy of only hiring “enhanced” humans isn’t smart. Shelby’s powers are basically useless for anything other than qualifying him to be here and they’ve already indicated they need a new IT person, which position Nera is clearly overqualified for.

    Besides, it’s not like “enhanced” or “modified” human status is actually hard to attain. Just go ask Marcy for an irradiated animal that you want to gain the powers of, and there you go. Alternately Dr. Lee is an admittedly less pleasant option and then there’s always the Mad Science community. Plenty of opportunity.

    One would think AG-I would keep some of that stuff on hand.

    • RandomFan
      November 22, 2017, 12:45 am | # | Reply

      Superpowers as a signing bonus would change things from discrimination to an awesome hiring bonus.

    • awgiedawgie
      November 22, 2017, 1:01 am | # | Reply

      Or just have Chris and Marcie irradiate you directly.

      Hmmm…. given those options, I think I’d go look up Helen and Dave and see what they could do. I’d much rather be a biochemically-engineered, morphically-unstable superintelligent gerbil or a cyborg than anything we’ve seen here. (Although if I wanted to be a cyborg, I rather have Virginia digging around in my head than Dave.)

      And it occurs to me that if Helen has isolated the genetic formula for mad genius so that she could cure it, that means she could also induce it.

      • Forzin
        November 22, 2017, 7:22 am | # | Reply

        Why would you have Virginia do it? Have you seen her track record? Everything she creates she installs a very sensible killswitch in, and then gives it a trigger phrase related to a breakfast food.

        I can’t live my life like that!

        • awgiedawgie
          November 22, 2017, 7:31 am | # | Reply

          Yessss…. You make a not-unsubstantiated point. But she only installs the killswitch so her employers can control whatever it was she was contracted to design. If she was doing a free-lance job, she wouldn’t need to install that. Yeah, I know… she might do it anyway, even if only out of habit. But still, she’s a LOT better looking than Dave. I know, because I look a lot like Dave, and she’s a LOT better looking than me. And call me shallow, but that counts for something.

  4. Chrisn
    November 22, 2017, 1:43 am | # | Reply

    We still haven’t Virginia yet – maybe AG1 looked at how she used her super-suit on the Red Knight and hired her. It’d make Nick’s day to see her dressed like that again.

  5. Riniko
    November 22, 2017, 1:51 am | # | Reply

    Nena does have a superpower, it is just not physical but mental, she is very good with computers.

    • awgiedawgie
      November 22, 2017, 2:52 am | # | Reply

      Nera’s being a genius doesn’t qualify her as “enhanced”. This also applies to Chrisn’s comment above. Just because Virginia is hyperintelligent doesn’t mean she gets to join their exclusive club.

      • darkstarling
        November 22, 2017, 3:08 am | # | Reply

        It’s the same way Iron Man and Syndrome TOTALLY don’t have superpowers you guys…

        Never mind that a good gageteer is probably the most dangerous super out there. They keep on improving their gear and getting tougher, while most other powers are static. Plus, while it probably violates some rules of the Hero Union, they can give their gear to OTHER PEOPLE.

        • awgiedawgie
          November 22, 2017, 3:37 am | # | Reply

          Yeah, but we’re talking about AG-I here, and Panoptica made it fairly clear — albeit only implied — that you have to have some sort of actual modification or mutation — whether it’s cybernetic like Nick, or radiation like Jonah — to be invited to join.

          Which begs the question, what exactly was Red Knight’s super power? Or did they change the requirement because of Red Knight, just to make sure that their recruits had some kind of super power besides just being a super ass?

          (Yes, a gadgeteer’s gear can be given to others. Conversely, their gear can also be stolen or even copied, whereas a mutant’s powers for the most part cannot. Case(s) in point — when Rhodey stole Iron Man’s suit, or when Virginia suited up with Red Knight’s spare parts.)

          • Trivena
            November 22, 2017, 6:40 am | #

            They had that rule long before Red Knight, it’s why they rejected Unity: http://skin-horse.com/comic/you-will-not/

          • awgiedawgie
            November 22, 2017, 7:21 am | #

            Point. But then again, they said Unity wasn’t human, period. So all we know for sure back then was that you had to be human.

        • chrisn
          November 22, 2017, 1:49 pm | # | Reply

          Tony Stark and Buddy (aka Syndrome) have the same superpower that Bruce Wayne does: they’re filthy stinkin rich.

  6. Jon
    November 22, 2017, 4:45 am | # | Reply

    Jonah: It’s not you.

    Narrator: It was totally about her.

  7. Barking Monkey
    November 22, 2017, 6:34 am | # | Reply

    Unless AG-I are part of the FBI they have no authority to be running investigations of other Federal Agencies and Panoptica and Shelby infiltrating Skin Horse would be a crime. So yeah – bad vibe. I can see why Nick wanted out. If I were Sweetheart I’d be whistleblowing the crap out of this.

    • Jon
      November 22, 2017, 2:42 pm | # | Reply

      Eh. This is the shadow government, though. Having secret agencies infiltrate and spy on other agencies is probably par for the course.

  8. Kaydrien Iceclaw
    November 22, 2017, 8:09 am | # | Reply

    This result pleases me.

  9. Kaydrien Iceclaw
    November 22, 2017, 8:22 am | # | Reply

    Bad vibe, huh? Wonder if there’s any chance September really is Mr Green…

  10. Robert Nowall
    November 22, 2017, 9:01 am | # | Reply

    So who’s fixing Nick, and are they up to it?

    • s854
      November 22, 2017, 11:19 am | # | Reply

      Robert Nowell: They were, until some maniac ran a virus which made the tools they were using to do it malfunction.

      Or maybe not.

      • Robert Nowall
        November 22, 2017, 1:21 pm | # | Reply

        So far, we’ve run into (1) Shelby, who can lift pencils with his mind, (2) Bubbles, who can carry water, (3) Alfie Cobra, moody adolescent, (4) Goose Girl, who can talk all in capitals, (5) Cinderblock, who can thump things to fix them, (6) Sweetdaddy whatever, Bubbles’s ex, whose main achievement involved putting oil in Bubbles’s water, and (7) Panoptica, who makes excellent bundt.

        I’m not confident in their ability to fix Nick, unless a good bang on his side will take care of it.

        • Jon
          November 22, 2017, 2:43 pm | # | Reply

          I feel that if we’ve learned one thing from this storyline, it’s not to underestimate Bubbles.

        • Daniel Barkalow
          November 22, 2017, 3:50 pm | # | Reply

          Bubbles’s crew is able to operate an aircraft carrier well enough to make it useful to rent; I’d guess between them (including members we haven’t seen), they’ve got the skills needed to destroy Nick.

          • WJS
            August 3, 2019, 8:57 am | #

            That’s the relevant thing, I think; AG-I may be hopelessly incompetent, but Bubbles and her crew aren’t part of AG-I.

        • =Tamar
          November 22, 2017, 4:03 pm | # | Reply

          Shelby can manipulate small parts without having to remove six layers of exterior tech. Bubbles can make large numbers of people do as she commands. Alfie can relay more complex commands, and could probably slither inside machinery to check for hidden damage. Goose Girl can fly and lift Shelby to see better. Cinderblock can lift heavy objects as well as hit them, so the undercarriage is more available. Sweetdaddy has multiple manipulating limbs – when he needs a third hand, he has several to choose from. Panoptica can follow a recipe which means she can follow complex instructions reliably. Besides, cake!

          • awgiedawgie
            November 22, 2017, 4:37 pm | #

            Panoptica is clearly one of the ranking “officers”, so yes, she can follow – and relay – instructions. Whether she can actually bake a cake, however, is anyone’s guess. She only psychically conjured a cake for Nick – inside his own mind – proving only that she knows what a bundt cake looks like.

            If she could communicate effectively with Bubbles and the Killbots by using telepathy, now that would be very useful.

          • jimhenry1973
            November 23, 2017, 8:25 am | #

            What? You don’t need telepathy to communicate with Bubbles and the Killbots. They’re ever so eloquent and expressive.

  11. casimir
    November 22, 2017, 10:07 am | # | Reply

    Great stuff. The pause after “normal lives” says so much.

    • WJS
      August 3, 2019, 8:58 am | # | Reply

      It gives you just long enough to remember what their ‘normal lives’ are like.

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