Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2019-01-26
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2019-01-26

by shaenon on January 26, 2019 at 12:01 am
Chapter: The Iron Man
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Discussion (52) ¬

  1. Owlmirror
    January 26, 2019, 12:12 am | # | Reply

    And . . . no followup to the circumcision issue?

    Some people thought that Nick felt animosity towards Tip, but really, I think it was always what we see here: The clash of fundamentally incompatible worldviews.

    • David B Huber
      January 26, 2019, 12:24 am | # | Reply

      +1

    • D. Walker
      January 26, 2019, 9:47 am | # | Reply

      Tip doesn’t have a worldview. That would require him being able to differentiate the world from his ego.

      Also, how is it not blatantly obvious that Nick has animosity toward Tip? Even if you want to claim the cause of that animosity as differences in “worldview” (again, see above), it doesn’t change the fact that the animosity is there, plain as day.

      • Candace
        January 27, 2019, 2:07 am | # | Reply

        Yeah, I second this. I’m pretty sure that Nick dislikes Tip, and always has, because Tip is such a self-absorbed narcissist, and basically gets on Nick’s every last nerve. That is enough.

    • Bruce A Munro
      January 26, 2019, 11:46 am | # | Reply

      Well, it’s already been suggested he needs a mohel and maybe a rabbinical opinion, so there’s nothing he can really do about it right now. (And with the reality blindness plague, good luck finding ones he can explain the situation to).

      • Robert Nowall
        January 26, 2019, 1:18 pm | # | Reply

        Does a mohel handle adult circumcision? I remember them waving a particular kind of two-bladed knife in “Roots”…

        • Robert Loughrey
          January 28, 2019, 12:55 pm | # | Reply

          That was an Islamic circumcision, but tomato, tahmahto.

    • Ysabet
      January 26, 2019, 11:52 pm | # | Reply

      I suspect he’s seriously repressing. I don’t even *have* a penis, and –I’d– repress like crazy if I were Nick.

      • Robert Nowall
        January 27, 2019, 12:27 am | # | Reply

        This has to be said after seeing that statement, right here, right now.

  2. Towering Barbarian
    January 26, 2019, 12:14 am | # | Reply

    Yeah, but with flesh and blood you get to do pizza. Go for the pizza, Nick! ^_~

    • Shen Hibiki
      January 26, 2019, 12:44 am | # | Reply

      Bet he’ll find a way to simulate those sensations with the right file someday…

      • Bruce A Munro
        January 26, 2019, 11:53 am | # | Reply

        They already could – the original VR simulation he was in before he found out he’d been turned into a helicopter had convincing junk food. (Now I have a mental image of a semi-anthromorphic [1] helicopter eating Chinese food with chopsticks)

        [1] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w780/6LVbkFZy86pFKEPnq7SrHDKbiYf.jpg

        • awgiedawgie
          January 26, 2019, 7:43 pm | # | Reply

          Virginia would have to recreate the VR, since Nick had the original removed from his onboard servers a long time ago.

          • Bruce A Munro
            January 26, 2019, 8:42 pm | #

            I don’t expect she’d have too much trouble, especially with Dr. Jones helping.

          • awgiedawgie
            January 26, 2019, 9:03 pm | #

            If Dr. Jones is helping, be afraid. Be very afraid. Not saying it would be difficult at all. Just scary.

    • Robert Nowall
      January 26, 2019, 1:19 pm | # | Reply

      And he gets to swear, too.

  3. David B Huber
    January 26, 2019, 12:22 am | # | Reply

    Time for some of Dr. Jones’s “enhancements” to put in an appearance…

    • WuseMajor
      January 26, 2019, 12:58 am | # | Reply

      He found one of them yesterday.

  4. Trivena
    January 26, 2019, 1:50 am | # | Reply

    I *still* want to hug Nick.

  5. Brushtail
    January 26, 2019, 2:50 am | # | Reply

    Preach it brother!

  6. John Campbell
    January 26, 2019, 3:34 am | # | Reply

    I’m intrigued by Nick specifying “heavier-than-air”. Is he implying that he’s capable of lighter-than-air flight?

    • Proxiehunter
      January 26, 2019, 3:41 am | # | Reply

      If you fill him with enough gas. Not sure how many burritos that takes though

      • s854
        January 26, 2019, 5:59 am | # | Reply

        I think you just need some heavier-than-Nick air. He’d probably still complain, though. Maybe he just needs a jetpack.

        • Shadowmehr
          January 26, 2019, 8:38 am | # | Reply

          The Department of Jetpack Suppression might have left one of two in the building. Time to scavenge what you can from the remaining offices!

          • Eva Schiffer
            January 27, 2019, 3:11 pm | #

            Not a long term solution, but I bet it’d make him feel a little better in the short term! 🙂

    • awgiedawgie
      January 26, 2019, 7:52 am | # | Reply

      You might be inferring that, but he’s not implying any such thing. He is simply referring to the fact that his helicopter body is a heavier-than-air type aircraft (as opposed to lighter-than-air aircraft, such as a balloon). He was capable of heavier-than-air flight, because he could personally produce the necessary lift, whereas this human body is not able to do so.

  7. Owlmirror
    January 26, 2019, 7:59 am | # | Reply

    A whack notion I’ve had in mind, based on the chapter title, and the color scheme of Nick’s clothing, is that there may be a temporary (or even permanent) solution for Nick in the form of flight-enabled armor.

    What happened to the pieces of Red Knight’s armor that Dr. Lee used, especially the rocket boots? Were they put back into Nick’s cargo storage, or were they stashed at the safe house, or did Dr. Lee take them home?

    Could there be some non-functioning jetpacks and whatnot that could be repaired, left behind in Annex One by the Department of Jetpack Suppression?

    • Shadowmehr
      January 26, 2019, 10:17 am | # | Reply

      I approve of this scenario. Plus, it would help him look more like the original design of the Tin Woodsman (sans axe, Nick’s still a pacifist).

      • awgiedawgie
        January 26, 2019, 7:46 pm | # | Reply

        You do realize, of course, that an axe’s principal purpose is non-violent, right?

        • Trivena
          January 26, 2019, 11:08 pm | # | Reply

          So is an aerial tree-trimming apparatus’s: http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-541/

    • David B Huber
      January 26, 2019, 5:23 pm | # | Reply

      +2

  8. kiralamouse
    January 26, 2019, 8:57 am | # | Reply

    … Nick, I thought you just felt like you were a copter, not that you were somehow not good enough to be human. I’m not sure I can support the idea of you ditching the human life if it’s out of an inferiority complex.

    *crosses fingers for Nick to get over that inferiority complex and still prefer to be a copter*

    • D. Walker
      January 26, 2019, 10:05 am | # | Reply

      I really don’t think it’s an inferiority complex.

      Comparison – if someone changes jobs because they feel they suck at the one they have, would you assume they’re just suffering from a neurotic lack of confidence? Or would you instead accept that not everyone is skilled at the same things, and some people are better suited to living one way over another?

      Living successfully as a human in modern society requires a certain skills and a comfort with using them. Nick never really had that skill or comfort, but he never had an option otherwise, so he bumbled through until he got turned into a cyborg. Remember, he was specifically chosen for his perceived compatability with the process – they clearly recognized that certain kinds of minds are more suited to being stuck in a helicopter than in a human body.

      I flatly refuse to believe Nick ever felt he was somehow “not good enough to be human”. What makes humanity so great, anyway, that he would feel he needs to measure up to it somehow?

      He never gave a damn about “being good enough to be human”, he just was unhappy being one, because it didn’t suit his aptitudes. If anything, -humanity- was never good enough for -him-.

  9. Midwestmutt
    January 26, 2019, 9:10 am | # | Reply

    Be a mensch, Nick.

  10. Robert Nowall
    January 26, 2019, 9:38 am | # | Reply

    Remember, Nick, you said Dr. Lee was a friend you would so try to bang if you had a schvantz. You’ve got one. What are you waiting for?

    • Marisa Mockery
      January 26, 2019, 12:40 pm | # | Reply

      I don’t think he’s thinking that way. Lee was a solid look don’t touch. He probably still feels like that. Tbh he should be considering that the new body doesn’t require expensive fuel or will get outdated in a couple years and deemed unnecessary like the copter. In the long term he upgraded.

    • awgiedawgie
      January 26, 2019, 7:59 pm | # | Reply

      From everything we’ve seen, Nick seems to be fairly strict about observing Jewish laws. While a Rabbi will probably not check to see if Nick is circumcised, since he presumably went through his rites of passage when he became a man (forgive me for not knowing all the correct terminology), Nick might require it of himself on principle. And then Virginia would have to convert to Judaism, and they would have to be married before he would consider anything sexual.

      Of course, if she can actually find a way to get him back in the machine, he may consider doing it while he still has a schvantz. (She may also consider installing one in the machine)

      • Shay Guy
        January 26, 2019, 8:32 pm | # | Reply

        IIRC, he isn’t entirely strict about this stuff; he only sticks with his fuel-based variant of the kosher-for-Passover rules the first couple days, for instance.

  11. Seph
    January 26, 2019, 10:16 am | # | Reply

    But he is capable of lighter-than-air flight? Is that one of Tigerlily’s ‘additions’?

    This reminds me a little of when Artie acquired his human form—and he retained the ability to assume that form permanently.

    • Robert Nowall
      January 26, 2019, 1:16 pm | # | Reply

      If he was eating those burritos he’s all gassed up.

  12. Dr. Steve
    January 26, 2019, 10:39 am | # | Reply

    Rogue Skin Horse: Operations Section: – File #1, bad plan #1-A… Nick a new osprey for Nick.

  13. Darwin Smith
    January 26, 2019, 2:33 pm | # | Reply

    I miss the swearing.

    • Frank
      January 26, 2019, 11:42 pm | # | Reply

      yeah, Chopper Nick wouldn’t say “suck”, would he?

  14. Saberbeam
    January 26, 2019, 4:26 pm | # | Reply

    It’s ok Nick, I’m pretty sure that all humans suck at being human to some degree or another. We’ve only had the one perfect example to compare to anyway. Besides, just look at the other humans that you are currently sharing the building with… I mean, so far the most calm, collected and capable entity present is either a swarm of bees or a water cooler.

    • Candace
      January 27, 2019, 2:03 am | # | Reply

      Captain Olympia isn’t there. She had to take her ship waaaay up north to keep it from melting due to Mr. Green-caused global warming.

      • Saberbeam
        January 27, 2019, 8:39 pm | # | Reply

        Ah, good point. I’ve… I’ve kind of been losing track of where I’m at in assorted webcomic plots these days.

  15. Sleepy John
    January 26, 2019, 9:08 pm | # | Reply

    Oh, Nick, you can go back to being a machine at any time. Just click your heels and say, “Up your ASTIGMATISM, CUDDLE PUMPKIN” …

  16. Gyrre
    January 29, 2019, 2:16 am | # | Reply

    Tip, I wear a men’s 10 6E and I have to find slip-resistant steel-toes for work that aren’t $300+.

    • awgiedawgie
      January 29, 2019, 8:55 am | # | Reply

      I wear a 10 1/2 5E and usually wore 12 or 13 when I was younger simply because they were wide enough. My work boots I have now are a 10 1/2 EW (extra wide) from WalMart of all places. They’re steel toe and slip resistant. I paid $45.

      • Gyrre
        January 30, 2019, 2:44 am | # | Reply

        Lucky!
        My feet are wide all the way back to my ankles. I’m just glad my toes aren’t webbed! 😀
        Seriously, though. 12Ws+10 hour shifts=it feels like daggers in my arches. I’m a line inspector so I spent 8 to 9 hours on my feet.

      • Gyrre
        January 30, 2019, 2:46 am | # | Reply

        And, yes, I wear arch supports.

  17. Jon
    December 22, 2019, 11:27 pm | # | Reply

    “I suck at being human.” Relatable, Nick. Relatable.

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