One would expect the Anasigma employee handbook which is so strict about shoes might have a policy which would come into play here?
I’d love to see Gavotte arrive with security guards in tow, proclaiming “Take that rapscallion away, men!” (having arranged for the entire uncensored dialog to be broadcast over the company intercom)
Yes. Anasigma’s strict policy on interpersonal relationships with one’s organizational superior REQUIRE those to be the only choices.
That’s just the type of organization that they are.
He said something once that would have meant he was born not much later than ca. 1930. I suspect his real interest in her is other than “romantic”. Besides, a *real*, major villain in a Shaenon comic?
I hope this comic ends like Seventies movies, a montage showing what became of everyone. The Dane, the henchman whose name eludes me, and so on…
But being perhaps 85, and still doing his thinking with his “smaller head”? Being weak, while in a position he could only gain and keep by strength?
Shaenon’s up to something… We still don’t know some Big Secret(s).
I would be worried for Nick and Virginia, but I know that there is a giant, stompy, fusion-funk powered robot on the way, and that makes everything better when mad science is involved.
Any time now, Gavotte. Even if he doesn’t tend to have an adverse reaction to bee stings (and even if this is yet another drone), if his head is encased by an entire swarm, it should still allow Virginia to escape.
I would be surprised if Ira didn’t have a counter for bees. Even if he wasn’t aware of the past few minutes of attacks–doubtful–anticipating problems from Gavotte or her daughter would be logical to plan for.
Let’s face it, the next strip or two will probably play out along the following lines:
Ira: I have you now!
Ginny: Not so fast! I’ve got a swarm of bees on my side!
*Gavotte appears.*
*Ira snaps fingers, Gavotte drops to the floor.*
*Ginny makes a humorous quip to the effect of “Welp, it was nice while it lasted.”*
I would be surprised if Ira didn’t have the sonic weapons Nick made a few years ago. He was there when they were deployed, and probably knew what was going on.
I do worry that he hadn’t realised that pointing a gun at someone and then talking to her was only ever going to make her mad.
Sorry for getting graphic, but can somebody please explain to me how holding hands with Ginny’s digitized mind inside a virtual recreation of her body is in any way better or more enjoyable for Ira than holding hands with an AI designed to look talk and act like Ginny?
Because a large part of the attraction is having power over someone powerful. An AI Ginny would mean that the real one is still free and autonomous, and he wouldn’t have the thrill of control.
Well, at least we now know the Wizard is an out-and-out villain, and not some well-intentioned extremist. It reduces the guilt when he’s stepped on by a building. Or by whatever chassis Nick ends up in.
Well, for starters, he’s old enough to be her grandfather (possibly even great-grandfather). That’s more than just a little creepy. Or from her perspective, “Ew!”
Although, if she did, he would be more vulnerable to her going all ‘Basic Instinct’ on him with an ice pick… or a cranial saw.
Tip has positive sex mojo, so maybe Ari/Ira has negative vibes that creep out sentient beings: Yes, sex with the old fart could be *that* bad a choice.
Because after having sex with two men who were both kind to her, having sex with someone who stalks, terrorizes, assaults, and coerces her isn’t that bad?
The guy that’s been trying to push himself on Virginia for ages, and who just tried to kill Nick (and almost succeeded), whom Virginia loves? Not that bad? In what way is that not gross and creepy?
He’s also the guy who rappelled down to drop an origami unicorn on Dr. Lee’s desk for Nick, as well as helping Chris win Tigerlilly’s funk contest. How awful could he be?
“How awful could he be?” When an evil person does something nice, it doesn’t make them any less evil. It usually just means that they’re up to something. And in Ira’s case, it was simply subterfuge, so no one could get a level bead on who he was, other than a dottering old man with an unknown past (and for him, an unknown present, as well).
I have never hated any fictional villain more. Erase him, Dr. Lee. Erase him so completely that Shaenon is forced to re-draw all the old comics without him.
I don’t want him erased quite that thoroughly. I want him ground into a fine powder under Annex One’s heel, and placed on display as a warning of what happens to people like him.
I’d say it’s because I have a daughter of my own, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. Even long before I had children, I still hated people who would try to force anyone to have sex. It is the ultimate invasion of one’s person and privacy.
Lucky for them, I’m not, but if I were the one in charge of heaven and hell, rapists and molesters of all kinds would suffer for all eternity in torment. And it wouldn’t be “virtual torment”, like Ira is trying to impose on Virginia. It would be the real thing. No chance for escape, and no hope of death.
“You…will disappear. Nobody will even remember you. They won’t be able to match DNA records to the shoe-sized stain that’ll be your remains. I will wish you away to the fucking cornfield, disphit. But before I do….
Never hated any villain more? Hmm. That seems odd to me for some reason.
I can’t take Ira seriously. He’s too cartoonish in his villainy. He’s essentially Lord Farquaad – utterly egotistical, hates and vicimizes the fairy tale creatures for no real reason, and wants to bang his princess of choice without caring what she thinks.
Ira himself isn’t that threatening or frightening. Basically all of his power comes from the fact that he has legions of moronic goons who he can order around, and they listen because reasons. It’s funny, and it’s very in keeping with the Narboniverse’s way of operating, but when you apply real logic to it, it kind of breaks down.
The people who work for Ira are all just obedient, ignorant sheep. He didn’t sway them to join his side with some insidious message or terrible charisma. They aren’t loyal to his cause, because they don’t even know what his cause is, and they aren’t loyal to HIM, because they don’t even know who HE is. They’re just faceless goons doing nondescript jobs and following random orders because that’s just what 90% of non-main-characters do in the Narboniverse.
Aside from concealing his identity, Ira’s not really been shown to be all that smart or clever. In fact, we’ve seen him get foiled and mocked more than we’ve seen him succeed (although sometimes we didn’t know it was him at the time). He’s not really all that menacing, he’s not really all that persuasive, and he’s not really all that evil.
He’s just some crotchety old guy in an unexplained position of authority with a Patriarchal and “Conversative” worldview.
He’s basically Retired Baby Boomer – The Villain. He’s a scumbag, but he just doesn’t feel “villain-y” to me. He’s not a real, hateable monster – he’s just a hammy, schlocy, “Bad Guy”. He’s the equivalent of a pulp magazine cariacture Nazi who exists purely so that the heroes can have someone to grab by the collar and punch in the face, Indiana Jones or Captain America style.
So yeah, basically just Lord Farquaad, or possibly Prince Humperdinck.
Never encountered Farquaad but Humperdick sounds about right. The only correction I’d apply to your description is that he’s Retired Greatest Generation rather than Retired Baby Boomer given that he’s mentioned having fought in WWII. But otherwise, yeah. You do get the feeling that he does some of this stuff because the script calls for it rather than because it would be in character for him to do it. @_@
As a man, I’d like to think that this was an exaggeration:
That there would be some limit to how blatant a man in a position of authority would be in abusing it and making sexual demands of his subordinates.
I don’t think that, but I’d like to.
Google “Harvey Weinstein told me he liked Chinese girls” if you have an afternoon to discover how much worse things could have been for Dr Lee. There’s a lot of depressing parallels to Green’s behavior.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure threatening her at gunpoint because she won’t have sex with you is several different crimes that all carry heavy or life sentences. Especially in Virginia.
Whether it’s actually illegal is irrelevant to him.
It should be rather obvious by now that Ira believes himself – and all of A-Sig, really – to be outside the law. Quite likely everyone in the organization, including Dr. Lee, has committed atrocities that would get anyone not hidden under the umbrella of a shadow government organization tossed in prison for the rest of their natural lives. And they’ve all done these things on his orders. In his own eyes, he’s practically a god.
Gosh.
One would expect the Anasigma employee handbook which is so strict about shoes might have a policy which would come into play here?
I’d love to see Gavotte arrive with security guards in tow, proclaiming “Take that rapscallion away, men!” (having arranged for the entire uncensored dialog to be broadcast over the company intercom)
I somehow doubt it. Those kinds of power structures tend to be fairly vulnerable to the oldest policy of all: “rank hath its privileges…”
Mr Green? No, they’re detaining Ira, Skin Horse’s security guard.
Yes. Anasigma’s strict policy on interpersonal relationships with one’s organizational superior REQUIRE those to be the only choices.
That’s just the type of organization that they are.
Who are Anasigma’s employee policies meant to serve? The leaders of Anasigma, presumably.
Yowch. Not cool, Ira.
Ginny, you work for a villain organization and expect it to have *nice* attitudes towards courtship and romance? o_O
He said something once that would have meant he was born not much later than ca. 1930. I suspect his real interest in her is other than “romantic”. Besides, a *real*, major villain in a Shaenon comic?
I hope this comic ends like Seventies movies, a montage showing what became of everyone. The Dane, the henchman whose name eludes me, and so on…
Upvote! A nice “Where are they now?” epilog…
I’m not sure why being born in the thirties means he’s not a lech. Contary to popular belief, baby boomers didn’t actually invent sex.
But being perhaps 85, and still doing his thinking with his “smaller head”? Being weak, while in a position he could only gain and keep by strength?
Shaenon’s up to something… We still don’t know some Big Secret(s).
Of course not. Sex what first proposed in 406 BCE by the philosopher Grigorios. Baby boomers were just the first ones to develop a working prototype.
Why would you want this webic to ever end? There is already a next generation writer and artist in training to carry on 😀
Well, that is what we got at the end of Narbonic – all drawn by guest artists.
I would be worried for Nick and Virginia, but I know that there is a giant, stompy, fusion-funk powered robot on the way, and that makes everything better when mad science is involved.
Thank you, Jerry. I believe in rescue as a positive human behavior.
Any time now, Gavotte. Even if he doesn’t tend to have an adverse reaction to bee stings (and even if this is yet another drone), if his head is encased by an entire swarm, it should still allow Virginia to escape.
Adverse reactions to bee stings don’t really matter when the bee swarm is sentient and knows to aim for the eyes.
I would be surprised if Ira didn’t have a counter for bees. Even if he wasn’t aware of the past few minutes of attacks–doubtful–anticipating problems from Gavotte or her daughter would be logical to plan for.
Let’s face it, the next strip or two will probably play out along the following lines:
Ira: I have you now!
Ginny: Not so fast! I’ve got a swarm of bees on my side!
*Gavotte appears.*
*Ira snaps fingers, Gavotte drops to the floor.*
*Ginny makes a humorous quip to the effect of “Welp, it was nice while it lasted.”*
I would be surprised if Ira didn’t have the sonic weapons Nick made a few years ago. He was there when they were deployed, and probably knew what was going on.
I do worry that he hadn’t realised that pointing a gun at someone and then talking to her was only ever going to make her mad.
It does look as though Ira understands the value of Rule 53 of the “Evil Overlord List”. ^_^
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
Sorry for getting graphic, but can somebody please explain to me how holding hands with Ginny’s digitized mind inside a virtual recreation of her body is in any way better or more enjoyable for Ira than holding hands with an AI designed to look talk and act like Ginny?
Because a large part of the attraction is having power over someone powerful. An AI Ginny would mean that the real one is still free and autonomous, and he wouldn’t have the thrill of control.
Well, at least we now know the Wizard is an out-and-out villain, and not some well-intentioned extremist. It reduces the guilt when he’s stepped on by a building. Or by whatever chassis Nick ends up in.
Why not, Dr. Lee?
Well, for starters, he’s old enough to be her grandfather (possibly even great-grandfather). That’s more than just a little creepy. Or from her perspective, “Ew!”
Although, if she did, he would be more vulnerable to her going all ‘Basic Instinct’ on him with an ice pick… or a cranial saw.
Well, after Tip and Artie, Ira aka Mr. Green couldn’t be *that* bad a choice.
Tip has positive sex mojo, so maybe Ari/Ira has negative vibes that creep out sentient beings: Yes, sex with the old fart could be *that* bad a choice.
Because after having sex with two men who were both kind to her, having sex with someone who stalks, terrorizes, assaults, and coerces her isn’t that bad?
What the hell are you even thinking?
The guy that’s been trying to push himself on Virginia for ages, and who just tried to kill Nick (and almost succeeded), whom Virginia loves? Not that bad? In what way is that not gross and creepy?
He’s also the guy who rappelled down to drop an origami unicorn on Dr. Lee’s desk for Nick, as well as helping Chris win Tigerlilly’s funk contest. How awful could he be?
“How awful could he be?” When an evil person does something nice, it doesn’t make them any less evil. It usually just means that they’re up to something. And in Ira’s case, it was simply subterfuge, so no one could get a level bead on who he was, other than a dottering old man with an unknown past (and for him, an unknown present, as well).
she’s in love with nick, that’s why not.
I have never hated any fictional villain more. Erase him, Dr. Lee. Erase him so completely that Shaenon is forced to re-draw all the old comics without him.
Yeah, that’s seriously icky.
I don’t want him erased quite that thoroughly. I want him ground into a fine powder under Annex One’s heel, and placed on display as a warning of what happens to people like him.
I’d say it’s because I have a daughter of my own, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. Even long before I had children, I still hated people who would try to force anyone to have sex. It is the ultimate invasion of one’s person and privacy.
Lucky for them, I’m not, but if I were the one in charge of heaven and hell, rapists and molesters of all kinds would suffer for all eternity in torment. And it wouldn’t be “virtual torment”, like Ira is trying to impose on Virginia. It would be the real thing. No chance for escape, and no hope of death.
“You…will disappear. Nobody will even remember you. They won’t be able to match DNA records to the shoe-sized stain that’ll be your remains. I will wish you away to the fucking cornfield, disphit. But before I do….
…I will hurt you.”
Barry Ween, Boy Genius, in a bad mood.
Never hated any villain more? Hmm. That seems odd to me for some reason.
I can’t take Ira seriously. He’s too cartoonish in his villainy. He’s essentially Lord Farquaad – utterly egotistical, hates and vicimizes the fairy tale creatures for no real reason, and wants to bang his princess of choice without caring what she thinks.
Ira himself isn’t that threatening or frightening. Basically all of his power comes from the fact that he has legions of moronic goons who he can order around, and they listen because reasons. It’s funny, and it’s very in keeping with the Narboniverse’s way of operating, but when you apply real logic to it, it kind of breaks down.
The people who work for Ira are all just obedient, ignorant sheep. He didn’t sway them to join his side with some insidious message or terrible charisma. They aren’t loyal to his cause, because they don’t even know what his cause is, and they aren’t loyal to HIM, because they don’t even know who HE is. They’re just faceless goons doing nondescript jobs and following random orders because that’s just what 90% of non-main-characters do in the Narboniverse.
Aside from concealing his identity, Ira’s not really been shown to be all that smart or clever. In fact, we’ve seen him get foiled and mocked more than we’ve seen him succeed (although sometimes we didn’t know it was him at the time). He’s not really all that menacing, he’s not really all that persuasive, and he’s not really all that evil.
He’s just some crotchety old guy in an unexplained position of authority with a Patriarchal and “Conversative” worldview.
He’s basically Retired Baby Boomer – The Villain. He’s a scumbag, but he just doesn’t feel “villain-y” to me. He’s not a real, hateable monster – he’s just a hammy, schlocy, “Bad Guy”. He’s the equivalent of a pulp magazine cariacture Nazi who exists purely so that the heroes can have someone to grab by the collar and punch in the face, Indiana Jones or Captain America style.
So yeah, basically just Lord Farquaad, or possibly Prince Humperdinck.
Never encountered Farquaad but Humperdick sounds about right. The only correction I’d apply to your description is that he’s Retired Greatest Generation rather than Retired Baby Boomer given that he’s mentioned having fought in WWII. But otherwise, yeah. You do get the feeling that he does some of this stuff because the script calls for it rather than because it would be in character for him to do it. @_@
Lord Farquaad = John Lithgow’s diminutive evil prince in the Shrek movies.
As a man, I’d like to think that this was an exaggeration:
That there would be some limit to how blatant a man in a position of authority would be in abusing it and making sexual demands of his subordinates.
I don’t think that, but I’d like to.
Google “Harvey Weinstein told me he liked Chinese girls” if you have an afternoon to discover how much worse things could have been for Dr Lee. There’s a lot of depressing parallels to Green’s behavior.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure threatening her at gunpoint because she won’t have sex with you is several different crimes that all carry heavy or life sentences. Especially in Virginia.
Whether it’s actually illegal is irrelevant to him.
It should be rather obvious by now that Ira believes himself – and all of A-Sig, really – to be outside the law. Quite likely everyone in the organization, including Dr. Lee, has committed atrocities that would get anyone not hidden under the umbrella of a shadow government organization tossed in prison for the rest of their natural lives. And they’ve all done these things on his orders. In his own eyes, he’s practically a god.