Not Good Company 2015-05-14

[Atomic]

OK - I see this is playing out in the forum into the expected for/against camps with the obligatory nod toward shock value for it's own sake.

Yes, my first reaction was a big Oh No! as the full effect of the scene sunk in, and it wasn't pleasant. At all. But then I remembered two very important things about the character and this series:

1. Suzi is fixated/dedicated/driven for vengeance AND compassion. It's that second part that makes her a beautiful if horribly flawed character. She's thousands of years old, stronger than Lilly, and has experienced (and participated in?) horrors beyond our imagination. And because of that, she's dedicated to doing all she can for those helpless souls who would otherwise be further dammed without her work. Law enforcement is a means toward that end. And, today's events also point out her familiarity with what lies beyond, and suggest her actions may be righteous!

That she would be aware of the afterlife and what awaits, surely then she is aware of what waits for her, when eventually her time is up. She is well aware of the Seven Deadly Sins, probably pursues the Seven Virtues, and does her work among the Seven Corporal Mercies: to bury the dead. I don't doubt though she be jury and executioner, she thoroughly judges before acting.

2. PW has made it clear that his arena includes the macabre, and can be ghastly doing so. I've had a few squick moments along the way, they they have ALWAYS been toward an important plot point and supporting the character and narrative. This is not pandering. We understand Phix better by having seen her at her most primal. And laughed at it! I fully expect this atrocity is going somewhere worth going toward.

[Wdot]

Some people like "horror" films. Others don't, but they are popular enough to make money.It's why they make slasher films of stupid teenagers breaking the rules that TV tropes tells you not to break. Comics are a visual medium and this scene is probably very important and had to be shown, because Paul doesn't do it often and it's usually an important part of the story. Can you imagine how big the wall of text would be to accurately describe the scene?

Things to remember about Suzi. She's NOT human. She became a vampire because no one loved or remembered her. Think about that. She had no connection to the human race any more, but she still hates bad guys for doing bad things to innocents. Human society's rules do not apply to her... she's undead and really not part of our society any more than a mosquito is and Phix at one time felt they were nothing more than that. Phix has since changed her mind. If Suzi is guilty of anything by Vampiric rules she guilty of playing with her FOOD. Vampires EAT people. It's what they do. Suzi just seems more selective than the run of the mill vampires. Suzi knows Monica. Who do you think she was referring to when she told mister fillet what to expect in the after life? Monica HATES rapists. I expect she hates child rapist even MORE. I'm not a big fan of moral relativism, but in this case I'm going to say stop trying to apply human morals and morays to nonhumans. They ain't us even if they look like us. Yes. I pity the paramedics. They are going to have to make some pretty dark jokes about this one, but maybe the paramedics will be paranormals and handle it better. I can only hope.

Can Suzi be redeemed? Do we want her to be? Word on the street has it that the child molesters are scared of something worse than getting caught by the police. Sometimes it's good that the predators have predators.

[jayessell]

As others have stated, I thought the paranormals were trying to keep a low profile.
Also...
I thought if there was a version of the Men In Black to keep it that way, I thought
Suzy was one of them.

Now there's no recourse other than to magically sew that guy up so that he's presentable
for his autopsy.

Also...
Demons in the afterlife are offended and will hold a grudge?
Really?
Demons??
What, they'll think he killed children improperly?
Cooked them instead of eating them raw/alive as The Dark Gods intended?

[Warrl]

It occurs to me that Suzi telling this guy about what to expect in the afterlife is another form of torture.

I mean, by now he knows she's a vampire, and I'm sure he knows at least some of the legends - so he suspects she might have inside information on life after death.

And look at what she's put him through.

And now she says it's gonna get worse...

---

as for the the seven corporal works of mercy, her taking an interest in the forgotten dead could also be construed as, in a way, sheltering the homeless.

[Vitrbjorn]

I LIKE Suzi, she has a wonderful sense of humor and a great sense of justice!

[Dave]

Also...
Demons in the afterlife are offended and will hold a grudge?
Really?
Demons??
What, they'll think he killed children improperly?
Cooked them instead of eating them raw/alive as The Dark Gods intended?

Something/someone in the afterlife objects, it seems. Suzie ddn't say "demons".

It might, or might not be the same class of beings that we've come to know as the demons of the Wapsiverse (which are, as Paul has pointed out, rather different than the diabolic "demons" if traditional Western religion and mythology).

It's possible that Paul is about to introduce us to a new class of players.

Or, well, it could be demons. We've seen that demons do play by a set of rules... some imposed by the sphinxes, some apparently of their own social agreement. They are not purely chaotic beings. Maybe the Rules (their own or the sphinxes') have an "OK, you are allowed to really torment some humans" exceptions which apply to humans who have crossed certain lines? Do something bad enough, and you become a chew-toy for some powerful, ancient beings who are really really bored and frustrated?

And, as others have noted, the little shoe that Suzie dropped about their actually being an afterlife of some sort for humans, could carry the storyline into areas that Paul has only hinted about before (souls, Monica's role, Conscience and her unique nature, etc.)

[DilyV]

Good... Good... Use your agressive feelings, girl... Let the hate flow through you...
...
And now I'm hungry. I think I'll have a burger...

(My stomach does not seem to care if I've just seen something grisly or nasty. I can talk about how getting shot in the stomach is a really nasty way to go because your own stomach acid and enzymes start to eat away at you, painfully, for a good long while before you get the mercy of dying from eventual blood loss.)

And maybe some mashed potatoes...

"You want fries with that?"

Ding... Fries are done!

[jwhouk]

I know what that video is without even looking.

As for a jumping point: I think we might be in for a little backstory as to why the Jaguar Girl can speak with the dead. And, if Pablo really wants to spin a yarn, he will tie it in to Castela's newfound crunching powers (pun not intended there).

[Dave]

"Revenge" also often leads to an intractable path of revenge for the revenge.

We, as a species, invented a justice system júst for cases like this. To have a neutral party (a judge and/or jury) decide what the appropriate punishment is for deed x. Suze is nòt a "neutral party" she's a "cop" with a deep trauma bubbling, festering under the surface. They are the worst partners on the beat, tbh.

Buut.. That's just me.

I think you've pointed out the most important reason to walk away from this sort of vengeance. "Justice" and "honor" and "payback" are somewhat subjective, and if you allow the "eye for an eye" mentality to take control, you run the risk of setting up just the sort of positive-feedback revenge-for-revenge loop we've seen all too many times.

Hatfields-vs.-McCoys. Protestants-vs.-Catholics in Northern Ireland. Sunni-vs.-Shiite in the Middle East. Crips-vs.-Bloods and Nortenos-vs.-Surenos in America's cities. Muslim-vs.-Hindu. Years, decades, centuries of hostility and death driven by a mutual sense of "payback for having been wronged". Both sides are "right", both sides do further wrongs in revenge, and the dying continues.

It's the same problem you see in electronics, when the gain is too high and there's too much of the wrong kind of feedback... the system oscillates and the feedback howls. To stabilize the system, you have to break the feedback loop... turn down the gain!

That's what a good system of justice does... it applies enough negative feedback against misbehavior (adequate deterrence and punishment, and isolation of those who will not be deterred) without allowing the sort of excessive overreactions that lead to tit-for-tat vigilante atrocities.

Suzie is on very dangerous ground here.

[DinkyInky]

"Revenge" also often leads to an intractable path of revenge for the revenge.

We, as a species, invented a justice system júst for cases like this. To have a neutral party (a judge and/or jury) decide what the appropriate punishment is for deed x. Suze is nòt a "neutral party" she's a "cop" with a deep trauma bubbling, festering under the surface. They are the worst partners on the beat, tbh.

Buut.. That's just me.

I think you've pointed out the most important reason to walk away from this sort of vengeance. "Justice" and "honor" and "payback" are somewhat subjective, and if you allow the "eye for an eye" mentality to take control, you run the risk of setting up just the sort of positive-feedback revenge-for-revenge loop we've seen all too many times.

Hatfields-vs.-McCoys. Protestants-vs.-Catholics in Northern Ireland. Sunni-vs.-Shiite in the Middle East. Crips-vs.-Bloods and Nortenos-vs.-Surenos in America's cities. Muslim-vs.-Hindu. Years, decades, centuries of hostility and death driven by a mutual sense of "payback for having been wronged". Both sides are "right", both sides do further wrongs in revenge, and the dying continues.

It's the same problem you see in electronics, when the gain is too high and there's too much of the wrong kind of feedback... the system oscillates and the feedback howls. To stabilize the system, you have to break the feedback loop... turn down the gain!

That's what a good system of justice does... it applies enough negative feedback against misbehavior (adequate deterrence and punishment, and isolation of those who will not be deterred) without allowing the sort of excessive overreactions that lead to tit-for-tat vigilante atrocities.

Suzie is on very dangerous ground here.

Show me a good justice system because I ain't seen one yet.
I've been wronged more times than I can shake a stick at by our very own American justice/legal system. I personally have little faith in it, but I still raise my son to follow the rules, and this system is in place to help us.
My beliefs are my own, and I won't become part of the problem by raising my child with my personality flaws/jaded world view.
Personally, I wish there was a Suzie to protect the children, but on the side of reality, hope for a better way for these monsters to get caught and kept where they won't harm people. The storytelling is superb, and not just shock for shock sake as some think. Even the gore and trigger scenes have purpose, and I have many issues that these scenes button push, but I tend to go have a breather, and come back to give it an objective review, and not even once has it been done just to shock, but always to further along a story.

That said, I want to see the poolside arc finished, because as a parent I want to see how Atsali's family helps her grow or learn through this event. I also want to see her friends issue with her brother resolved, as Nadette and Atsali's relationship or not issues dealt with. Oh, then there is Cricket and teeny Dietzel. Tina's developments, and Bia's redemption attempt. I think that's all of them.

He's sure left a lot of threads for us to dance on...

[Warrl]

Well, I expect that if nothing is done Dietzel's shrinking will wear off in not more than a year and a day. Whether it wears off slowly or abruptly - to be determined.

Of course, Calista is trying to figure out how to undo it. Unless she's found something extremely authoritative saying it can't be undone until it wears off - and I think that would have been mentioned.

[Thor]

I feel sorry for the paramedics. What did they do to deserve having to walk in on that?

This is really the most objectionable part of the whole strip for me. She's going to give a whole team of paramedics a lifetime of nightmares and mental trauma, all so this waste of flesh gets an extra half-hour of suffering.

If the extra half-hour of suffering is really so important, there are ways to do it without involving other people. She became a vampire because nobody cared about her, right? She's being guilty of doing the same thing by not caring about the paramedics and all the paramedics' loved ones who will feel the backlash of the "justice" she is perpetuating tonight.

[Sgt. Howard]

I feel sorry for the paramedics. What did they do to deserve having to walk in on that?

This is really the most objectionable part of the whole strip for me. She's going to give a whole team of paramedics a lifetime of nightmares and mental trauma, all so this waste of flesh gets an extra half-hour of suffering.

If the extra half-hour of suffering is really so important, there are ways to do it without involving other people. She became a vampire because nobody cared about her, right? She's being guilty of doing the same thing by not caring about the paramedics and all the paramedics' loved ones who will feel the backlash of the "justice" she is perpetuating tonight.

Here here!!! I have been taught methods of death that take days... and he would be screaming in the first three seconds. No need to cause trauma for those who save lives...

[Dave]

Well, I expect that if nothing is done Dietzel's shrinking will wear off in not more than a year and a day. Whether it wears off slowly or abruptly - to be determined.

And, what if there's a compensating backlash? He could end up spending a year and a day, enlarged to somewhere between the size of a Great Dane and a small pony. Or possibly a buffalo or a heffalump.

I feel sorry for the paramedics. What did they do to deserve having to walk in on that?

This is really the most objectionable part of the whole strip for me. She's going to give a whole team of paramedics a lifetime of nightmares and mental trauma, all so this waste of flesh gets an extra half-hour of suffering.

If the extra half-hour of suffering is really so important, there are ways to do it without involving other people. She became a vampire because nobody cared about her, right? She's being guilty of doing the same thing by not caring about the paramedics and all the paramedics' loved ones who will feel the backlash of the "justice" she is perpetuating tonight.

I think there seems to be a pretty good consensus developing hereabouts, that Suzie is seriously messed up in some significant ways. (Puts the Pen of Understatement back in its holder so the ink won't dry out).

I agree with the comment posted earlier - we're probably going to find her back-story rather horrifying when we learn it. Lily's was bad enough, and she's still working her way through the issues of loss she suffered, but she seems to have maintained a better overall balance than Suzie has managed.

[sheik]

Wdot asked if Suzie could be redeemed.
It would be of great interest to me to see what happens when a vampire achieves such redemption.
Or perhaps more importantly, how Paul leads Suzie down that path.

[Typeminer]

PUNNNN JAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!

*drops in a set of Bobby Flay ceramic knives*

That stopped my breath almost as fast as the comic. [Doffs hat and bows low toward SL]

Found the comic quite disturbing, yes. But art is supposed to do that. It's Pablo's show here, and I think we are sanguine about his work.

Very interested to see where this is going, since my adrenaline died down.

[oldmanmickey]

umm folks, could i point out one thing please. The paramedics are necessary. If you die alone and unloved you become a vampire. She does not want that sick piece of trash to come back even more powerful. As for the debate on how to treat criminals a lot of what are called criminals are capable of being reformed and should be. Murders, rapists and child molesters are simply like mad dogs in my view that should be put down swiftly and permanently. If anyone can show me a single case where using this penalty did not result in that person never again doing such things then i wont support it anymore. Until them i will continue to view it as a good idea.

[jeffepp]

Don't like Suzie at all. Nope, not one bit.

I've been expressing that from the time they were nameless pinups. And, have found little to change my mind about her.

Dreads, however, I have had entirely different... lets call them "feelings", in her direction. Even without the dreadlocks. I fully expect a Monica-Shelly-Lily-Jet (In no particular [dis]order [No, I take that back. Lots of disorder, and bed-head.].) polyamorous quadrupling in the future. That's my story (future head cannon), and I'm sticking to it.

In other words, I liked the first panel. After that, not so much.

[jeffepp]

If you die alone and unloved you become a vampire.

Actually, that was how Cerebus the Aardvark was to die (and did). It's alone and forgotten that makes the vampies in this universe.

[AnotherFairportfan]

As to "right" and "wrong" - the only reason that i oppose capital punishment is that it's very difficult to unkill someone a few years alter, when someone else confesses or we find out the cops lied or that the prosecutor withheld evidence or the lab messed up the DNA tests...

If i knew with absolute, undoubted, 100% indisputable evidence that someone was guilty of crimes like that - i'd be there helping Suzie (albeit with occasional pauses to throw up - at least the first time).

And Suzie does know. If he weren't guilty. she' be screaming on the floor, with blood running out of her eyes.

I've always said that Timothy McVeigh - if there were no possible doubt that he committed the bombing - would benefit greatly from a gelignite suppository. Too bad we wouldn't be able to re-assemble him and do it 168 times, once a day for six months (plus two weeks, with Sundays off) - once for each death he caused.