Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2014-10-14
‹‹ First ‹ Prev Buy! Comments(53) Next › Last ››

2014-10-14

by shaenon on October 14, 2014 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Mixed-Up Files
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Discussion (53) ¬

  1. Dave Van Domelen
    October 14, 2014, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    Action Guild?

    • GMan003
      October 14, 2014, 10:23 am | # | Reply

      Possibly, or maybe:
      Anasigma Government (or maybe just A-siG)
      Attorneys General
      Arizona Gypsies
      Apocalypse Guardians
      Avatar Galaxy
      Artifact Gelatinous
      Airborne Group
      Action Girls

      • irdburns
        October 14, 2014, 11:40 am | # | Reply

        Actor’s Guild?

      • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
        October 14, 2014, 11:05 pm | # | Reply

        Autonomous Growth
        Aulder Gods
        Ambiguously Gay
        Art Garfunkel
        Assemblies of God
        Ancient Greeks
        Arbitrary Guidelines
        Appendage Grafts
        Ace Grocers
        Acronyms Galore

        • luciferlordofpride
          May 5, 2016, 5:09 pm | # | Reply

          Y’all read ‘Guilded Age‘?

        • Aname
          March 1, 2021, 7:54 am | # | Reply

          Amazing Gazongas

  2. GDwarf
    October 14, 2014, 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Frankly, I think Nick’d have a heck of a lawsuit on freedom of speech grounds (since it’s literally government-installed) about that filter, now that non-human intelligences have full rights.

    Also, I think perhaps he’d be more inclined to trust his boss if her name didn’t come from a theoretical prison wherein prisoners had zero privacy, as they were being watched 24/7 by guards. 😛

    • Frank Hightower
      October 14, 2014, 12:40 am | # | Reply

      There’s a theoretical prison named Kate?

    • Alphaghoul
      October 14, 2014, 1:32 am | # | Reply

      Actually I think Nick’s giving her that specific nickname based on the fact that she’s in his personal brain, I’ve also never heard of panoptica or that it was a prison till now, so I never would have guessed that he was talking about the prison if you didn’t mention it. Also when she says tarsier girl it confirms that she’s dressed like a superhero because they’re a superhero themed group.

      • Beachfox
        October 14, 2014, 3:04 am | # | Reply

        The concept in question is “Panopticon”, a prison where there layout enables the guards to maintain a view of all the prisoners 24/7. Has since been generalized to any sort of “Big Brother Is Always Watching” situation.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
        The More We Know!

        • Stewart C Baker
          October 14, 2014, 12:38 pm | # | Reply

          As a literary theory nerd, a reference to the Panopciton hit me right in the happy spot. (Foucault talks about it a lot in “Discipline and Punish.”)

          Of course, given her situation and apparent powers, the name seems quite apt. 🙂

    • jdreyfuss
      October 14, 2014, 6:54 am | # | Reply

      1983 lawsuits are very hard to win and Nick has a few things going against him in this case.

      1. He was willing to work for another government agency while restricted, which creates a legitimate laches argument as to why he doesn’t have standing to bring action against AG.

      2. If his unfiltered language was severe enough to cause actual trauma to a coworker and he’s pretty clearly unable or unwilling to stop without it, then they could make a case that maintaining a safe work environment is a compelling government interest and the filter is the only way to serve that interest.

      3. It could be considered content-neutral, since his intent gets across to the recipient even if the actual, harmful language does not. This is a weak argument, which is why it’s last.

      • GDwarf
        October 14, 2014, 11:52 pm | # | Reply

        I am anything but a lawyer, but I think he’d still have a strong case. He only recently gained the right to any sort of autonomy, so his working for the government doesn’t mean much, especially if he had reason to believe that only the government could get his filter removed or keep his body operational.

        Further, he could certainly be fired for his language, but I don’t think there’s legal grounds to literally alter what he says.

    • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
      October 14, 2014, 11:06 pm | # | Reply

      Technically he’s corporate-installed. A-Sig built him. Skin Horse just hired him.

      • GDwarf
        October 14, 2014, 11:53 pm | # | Reply

        A-Sig built him for the government, though, didn’t they?

        Regardless, in this case we know that a government agent enabled the filter after it was disabled.

    • Kanta
      July 2, 2016, 10:36 am | # | Reply

      Nonhuman intelligences have full rights in California. This agency is probably on the east coast.

  3. Towering Barbarian
    October 14, 2014, 12:23 am | # | Reply

    Wow! That Casual Fridays Party Room sure is festive! O_O

    • tpmanw
      October 14, 2014, 2:14 pm | # | Reply

      Nothing says party like an empty white void!

      • bergerjacques
        October 14, 2014, 4:15 pm | # | Reply

        It’s a pink void… Hey, Pink Void. Now that certainly sound festive.

        • Eddurd
          October 14, 2014, 10:03 pm | # | Reply

          We don’t need no decoration …

          • Caelo
            October 14, 2014, 10:14 pm | #

            we don’t need no curse controul

  4. Frank Hightower
    October 14, 2014, 12:32 am | # | Reply

    wait, he found someone able to remove the swear filter, only to have it put back?

    I say Nick is the one that should be in therapy!

    • Dorcus
      October 14, 2014, 12:40 am | # | Reply

      Only because you didn’t hear what he said.

    • Towering Barbarian
      October 14, 2014, 12:43 am | # | Reply

      Actually, it now sounds like he’d be in the same position as Cyclops of the X-Men if Cyclops didn’t have his goggles. Perhaps the right thing to do with Nick would be to just leave the swear filter in place and let *him* have custody of the on/off switch so that he doesn’t cause any harm that he didn’t intend? o_O

      • Anson
        October 14, 2014, 3:14 am | # | Reply

        But then he might hurt… the wrong people. And we can’t be having that.

      • Michael Brewer
        October 14, 2014, 3:14 am | # | Reply

        I’d say that would be like giving Unity blanket permission for her to decide when to use deadly force, but both she and Nick have grown some. It’s possible Nick might be mature enough to be allowed control of his own profanity filter now.

  5. M. Alan Thomas II
    October 14, 2014, 12:35 am | # | Reply

    Am I the only one who wants to meet Tarsier Girl now?

    • Towering Barbarian
      October 14, 2014, 12:39 am | # | Reply

      No, no you definitely are not! I think I’m looking forward to meeting everyone in their group since they do seem like a nice set of people! ^_^

    • irdburns
      October 14, 2014, 12:49 am | # | Reply

      Absolutely not.

    • BMunro
      October 14, 2014, 1:52 am | # | Reply

      I’m sure she has a charming personality.

      http://i2.wp.com/listverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/tarsier.jpg

      • Jeffrey C. Wells
        October 14, 2014, 7:38 am | # | Reply

        Biggest eyes-to-mass ratio of any mammal, IIRC. You’d think this fact would make them cuter!

        • Kirala
          October 14, 2014, 10:05 am | # | Reply

          The problem is you need not only large eyes, but large pupils (or at least not relatively small ones), to seem cute. Dilated-pupil tarsier is pretty cute:
          http://cdn0.cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/tarsier%20primate%20ultrasound.jpg
          …but also probably not a very frequent thing IRL.

          • Tom Flapwell
            October 14, 2014, 10:55 am | #

            I’m sure it all depends on the exposure to light at the time.

          • davidbreslin101
            October 14, 2014, 1:06 pm | #

            Hm. Thanks for that picture of a tarsier who is NOT screaming in terror from encountering a camera flash….
            True fact about the Tarsier: each eyeball is the roughly the same size as its brain, and incapable of turning in the eyesocket. They also have elongated foot bones for leaping between trees… so Tarsier Girl’s superpowers are night vision and parkour?

  6. irdburns
    October 14, 2014, 12:49 am | # | Reply

    But back to the previous topic…where’s the respect for the personal identity? Personally, the ideal meeting room would be an office inside a facsimile of him.

  7. Andrew
    October 14, 2014, 1:17 am | # | Reply

    If there’s no ball pit room, it’s not a causal Friday room.

    • Shadowmehr
      October 14, 2014, 6:57 pm | # | Reply

      You and I have worked in verrrry different places.

  8. Dave
    October 14, 2014, 1:34 am | # | Reply

    So Nick is a bona-fide superhero now?! SWEET.

    I hope his name is Copter Boy. :3

    • BRGR
      October 14, 2014, 4:38 am | # | Reply

      Something like that:
      http://www.xevil.com/xevil/profiles/chopper_boy.html

  9. BMunro
    October 14, 2014, 1:51 am | # | Reply

    I’m wondering again how much of the Secret Government is A-Sig controlled, and it occurs to me a telepath would have to be either a high-ranking member of A-Sig or if not, would have to be manipulated through intermediary dupes, because there’s no way they’d want someone like her accidentally picking up on their Sinister Plans unless she was fully on board with them. (Or does A-Sig have effective means of baffling telepaths?)

    • irdburns
      October 14, 2014, 8:55 am | # | Reply

      They’ve got mad geniuses on staff. My guess would be a hat that ‘plays’ recorded thoughts on a loop like in Promethea.

  10. Robert Nowall
    October 14, 2014, 5:11 am | # | Reply

    A cute girl is willing to talk to you, Nick, and you want to start swearing at her right away?

    • Andorxor
      October 14, 2014, 5:48 am | # | Reply

      To not be allowed to swear in your own head is a bigger breaking of his rights than just having his audio filtered.

      • Robert Nowall
        October 14, 2014, 6:40 am | # | Reply

        I figure if Nick swears now, he has nothing left for later when he has sex inside his own head.

  11. Eddurd
    October 14, 2014, 6:23 am | # | Reply

    (TUNE: “Singing In The Rain”, Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown)

    Stop messing with my brain!
    Stop messing with my brain!
    Now I look like a human
    Instead of a plane!

    My language you block …
    Our teammate’s in shock!
    She’s dafter now, after
    She heard normal talk!

    Swore at Tarsier Girl …
    Now she’ll fetally curl!
    She will jump at loud noises,
    And frequently hurl!

    I sound so inane!
    Stop yanking my chain!
    I’m guessing, you’re messing with my brain!

  12. jbevan70
    October 14, 2014, 3:30 pm | # | Reply

    Now I really want to see Tarsier Girl.

  13. Gez
    October 14, 2014, 5:10 pm | # | Reply

    I personally love the fact the balloon popped into existence

  14. Guesticus
    October 14, 2014, 5:13 pm | # | Reply

    Kate looks so happy in panel 3 😀

  15. mickeyf
    October 14, 2014, 8:06 pm | # | Reply

    Didn’t last long, tho’.

  16. Saberbeam
    October 14, 2014, 9:04 pm | # | Reply

    Nick, in all probability the only reason Gavotte didn’t pick around in your brain (that we know of) is because she already guessed what you would be thinking in nigh any given situation. Gavotte seems like the type who would refrain from mind reading simply because it would take the fun out of being several steps ahead of your employees, and maybe because it wouldn’t be quite cricket.

    • BMunro
      October 14, 2014, 9:19 pm | # | Reply

      So bees worry about being cricket? Sounds bugs to me.

      • Mildweasel
        October 14, 2014, 10:38 pm | # | Reply

        You sure crawled all over that opening……

  17. TheLivingNick
    July 27, 2015, 10:54 am | # | Reply

    http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-05-20

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