Man this guy is really turning up the charm.

Good god, he’s going from zero to jerky scum bag really fast.

I, I, I…

Alright, I try very hard to respect Alison’s decision to stay and continue to engage, here, but I confess that Feral’s decision actually brought me to tears and that little smirk on the last panel has gotten me going nuclear so I’m going to quietly just nope out with visions of red ink dancing in my head.

Oh god it just keeps going

Note subtle use of “that” instead of “she” as pronoun for Feral

Max and Patrick are starting the Evil League of Bad Evil-Doing Evil-Doers of Doom, aren’t they?

Eventually the Guardians will have to reform to deal with this, with the support of Alison’s new infrastructure and tech.

Welp, benefit-of-the-doubt-time is officially over.

LEAVE. Honestly, just leave. This guy sucks.

Awwwww I remember when I was little and my mother took me on her knee to say, “Now, whenever a friend confides if you about a selfless person they admire greatly, you must always answer right away, ‘Are they though?'”

Not there aren’t people who miss conversational cues that a three year old would get. The final panel just cracks me up.

Ohhhhhh you did not just go there. #flyaway

Aaaaand go fuck yourself.

So I hated this guy for not being the character I would have chosen for Alison to date. Thank you for giving me concrete reasons to hate him now!

Why does it take such an absurdly long time for comments to post? I have comments from LAST strip, which still haven’t posted, from 3-4 days ago. Weird.

Yes, Max. Yes, she is.

Why is Alison always attracted to guys who like to mess with her brain

Please don’t day anything about “job creators”.

Soooooo Max is an extreme libertarian, is what’s going on? His whole “my axiom is that no one should tell people what to do” thing, combined with his privileged stance on “it’s their choice not to negotiate an hourly wage,” combined with what I assume is about to be some “Feral is really just self-interested and getting fame and attention for what people see as a selfless act” Ayn Randian bullshit? Ughhhhh.

This is it. I’m joining the presumably hundred-strong conga line of people who’re not buying this anymore.

Or at least I hope it’ll be made clear why Al fails to react with more than a “Huh.” to his BS.

It’s not even that I don’t like the guy, at least I can understand his words and thoughts in relation to his character, speaking from a Doylist perspective.

But why hasn’t Al used his own words to eviscerate his ridiculous position.

Choice? The illegal immigrants don’t play hardball with the rich family that could easily have them deported. Clearly they have a choice.

And what about whatshisface’s choice? So by his own twisted logic, he chooses to be a garbage human being?

Or maybe someone told him to be a callous dickhead, because clearly he has to do everything someone tells him to. After all, that’s what distinguishes Al telling him to be an actual human from his exploitations of the illegals. They have a choice. That’s the difference for him.

What the actual flip.

Why hasn’t Al taken apart his sham of an argument? From what I’ve seen she’s smart, driven, and not afraid to stand up for what’s right.

Or is it all finally sinking in? The fiasco with the date-rape intervention, Moonshadow, whatever the hell Patrick pulled on her, and last but not least Guwara?

Has the world finally started to erode Al’s inner superhero enough that she doubts herself in what should be a clear-cut situation?

I’m kinda on the edge of my seat here.

Edit: Also I refuse to take anyone seriously who uses the phrase “incentive structure” with a straight face.

Double-also: sitting there going “Meh, could do better.” without even acknowledging Feral’s sacrifice? Not cool. Even if he’s got some inredibly clever utilitarian reasoning on how one could be more selfless than Feral, as long as he considers the lives of others worthwile *at all*, he should at least pay her respect.

Wow, now I want to punch something. Well done, Molly & Brennan.

One of those folks who was born on third base and is convinced he hit a triple.

I’m amazed at how Max continues to get worse with each page. It’s reached the point where I’m predicting that his next line will be “Actually I’m the most selfless person you’ve ever met.”

And here we see the perspective of a rich person who doesn’t question what it means to have a lot of money on poverty.

Never mind that they’re not “making money” by working extra hours instead of going home to their kids/ whatever else they could do if allowed their legal free time, because they aren’t being paid for those extra hours.

Never mind the skewed power dynamic between Max’s parents and the workers that means they won’t dare “negotiate for an hourly wage” for fear of being fired, because from a wealthy employer’s perspective, they can easily be replaced for someone who “knows their place”, and won’t fight for fair pay and working hours.

It’s all their choice, the world’s a meritocracy, an “incentive structure”, everyone gets what they deserve.

I still think you should ditch his ass, Alison.

Whoops, he’s not going to live this one down. Oh well, at least it will probably be interesting. Was nice knowing you!

More and more I feel like I have gone on a date with this exact guy, minus the helicopter.

Words are never worth violent physical action in response. You combat words with words, or the point of your side is weak and meaningless. It’s a tyrant feels they can disguise or supplement the weakness or invalidity of their stance in a debate with physical force to win.
Note…. Alison is NOT engaging in physical violence. She’s not a tyrant. Take that, Gurwara!

I hope not, because then he would be moving from ‘logical argument’ to ‘douche.’

Did Feral ever give her real name?

I think that Alison’s lessons learned from Axiology should have an impact on her ability to point out that the game is stupid. She already has the skill to ask straightforward questions so that he can have all the rope needed to hang himself with, and the indicating of idiocy flows from there..

Except, he said upfront, “They get paid under the table, so there’s no overtime or anything.” It’s true that he didn’t spell out, “They work hours that would constitute overtime if they had a legal job, heh heh,” but he certainly implied it.

It’s a testament to how engaging this comic is, for me to feel so strongly about this little exchange between Max and Alison. It’s one I’ve had before, and it’s one that pushes all of my “Fight or Flight” buttons. Let’s see if Alison is able to show more decorum than I am 😀

I would agree with you, to an extent. But I would argue that just because she grew up with a supportive, feminist family and good role models doesn’t mean that she didn’t also grow up in modern America. I mean, I had one of those, and I still have to function as a woman within a patriarchal society. And for most of her formative years (she is still 20, right?), she *didn’t* have powers. While she may know that she is physically the most powerful person on earth, Alison has been struggling this whole series with the notion of strength not being the same as power: she can’t “hurl poverty into the sea,” as she once said. In terms of social dynamics, Alison is still very much a regular human, like the rest of us. This is also one of the first dates she’s been on in… However long, if ever. So pretty socially intimidating.

And that brings us back to where we agree: this is a social (and social-sexual) power issue, which is an area where Alison doesn’t feel like she necessarily is more experienced than everyone else, as opposed to crime-fighting/physical strength.

But I am just pleased as punch that she gave him a chance, gave him another chance, tried to help him get his foot out of his mouth, and finally realized: fuck this guy. X’D

Paul Ryan is a far, far second to Martin Shkreli in the Backpfeifengesicht contest, though.

I explain the term to people by showing people ANY picture of Shkreli, and ask them how they feel, and they all say, “I have no idea why, but I want to punch that person.”

Then you explain that he’s the guy who jacked up the price on lifesaving medicine by huge margins, and they feel fine about wanting to punch him — but the desire to punch him in the face happens FIRST, before you even find out who he is.