SFP

sfp 6 90 for web

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  • Sam

    I adore this horrible little ratbeast. She is the most precious baby ball of fangs and violence ever.

  • Lizzy

    Haha Feral looks so adorable in Panel 1!!

  • Sendaz

    Ah, Classic Archer while Drinking pose :)

  • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

    I’m confused, do they not feed her on a regular basis? Here I was thinking being the organ powerhouse of the world would grant you at least any fine meal you could ask anytime, especially considering she can’t get intoxicated or ruin her lungs/liver with anything she can throw at her body.
    I mean look at what’s left of the bag! Did she ate the bag in the midst of her exuberant tearing it open? For God sake, nourish this woman!

    We additionally have confirmation she was the one amped, so… shall we go one more round of speculation time? Gather round and share your ideas (still looking for a credible one were Tara gets both to help people and her life back), not much else to munch on on this page. Some fanservice is delightful every once in a while but come on now, not having these answers is starting to get old.

    • Tylikcat

      I’m sure she was getting the calories, but I bet it wasn’t nearly this much fun. Feeding tubes aren’t generally.

      • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

        I’m surprised this is a compromise that was never discussed. Alison imposing Tara to only undergo surgery some days of the week, with the best rest and luxurious leisure God tier philanthropy can afford the remainder of the time.
        Tara would be likely to argue that twice, thrice more people alive because of her are worth not taking even naps, that such a compromise with only beneficiary being Alison emotional well being and concern for a friend… but, in a very twisted sort of way, I would very much like to see them splitting hairs on such a horrific matter.

        I don’t know, I find the image of Al and Tara negotiating an appropriate amount of time paralleling in a sickly fashion to human lives, strangely compelling.

        • Weatherheight

          “I don’t know, I find the image of Al and Tara negotiating an appropriate amount of time paralleling in a sickly fashion to human lives, strangely compelling”

          Maybe we’ll get to see something akin to that in the near future. 😀

          • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

            Hopefully!
            Sorry weird tangent but since you made me reread what I wrote first off waow is it bad and do I need some serious sleep I mean “to parallel to“? What am I, a transitive verbs denier

            But also it struck me reading because we’be been told times and times again that it’s forbidden (well, as much as grammar can ever be, so let’s rather say gauche) to separate a verb and its complement in all the English classes of my life, so this “in a sickly fashion” right the fuck there is strangely upsetting.
            But is it an actual rule? Or am I bothered because I’ve believed it all along? You don’t seem bothered –and I generally tend to distrust people telling me your silly language as any rule at all– but then again maybe you all are very nice and give me a pass on my terrible English

            (Seemed like you enjoy putting on the pedantic hat last time so go crazy.)

          • Weatherheight

            I assumed you meant something like:
            “I find the idea of being able to watch Alison and Tara negotiating what is an appropriate amount of time for Tara to be under the knife to be both a rather sickening parallel to our conversations on deciding the value of human lives… and also strangely compelling.”
            If this was not your intent, then I may have misunderstood what you wrote or your meaning may have been unclear based on word choice or order.

            There is a school of style that says Hemingway and Faulkner, who tended towards relatively simple sentence structures, are the epitome of literary style. There are others who deem more complex sentence structures indicate a greater facility with the language, provided they aren’t nonsensical. I have found that doing what Hemingway and Faulkner did by minimizing their structural and vocabulary choices is a lot harder than it looks – hence why they are taken so seriously. But I also recognize that a well written and composed sentence can itself be poetic and evocative in ways that a more concise sentence might not (and I like verbose, if you haven’t noticed).

            The reverse can also be very true. There is a legend about Hemingway being challenged to write a complete story in ten words or less (I think). His response: For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn. Probably not a completely true story, but Papa told a good story.

            Nearly all of the rules of American English have exceptions, and grammar is no exception. As far as I know, it’s generally frowned upon to separate a verb and its complements, but this is mostly for reasons of clarity rather a hard and fast rule. This is why passive voice is so frowned upon – it can be unclear. But since the point of using passive voice is to suggest rather than to declare, the goal is, in essence, to downplay the starkness of the meaning.

            All that said, in general your English is just fine (at least to this burro). On occasion it’s left me a bit taken aback, but that’s almost always been a typographical issue rather than a structural one. And I have no room to complain about anyone else’s typing skills.
            But I will anyway… 😀

            “we’be been told times and times again” (time and time again sounds better to the American ear
            “your silly language has any rule at all”

            All kidding aside, as long as your point got across, don’t sweat it.
            Have a nice nap. 😀

          • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

            So it wasn’t exactly what I was trying to say but, again, this one is totally on me. I’ll try to illustrate it with the thing I’m indisputably better at, mise en situation:

            “Three days. I won’t let you do more than three days per week of… this. I won’t accept it!”
            “Call it what it is, Alison. I can save 58 people every day. You’re asking me to let die 232 people every week. More than 12,000 a year. We’re not having this conversation until you own up to what you’re asking and start giving me the number of people you’re willing to letting me kill.”
            “You’re not killing them!”
            “That you may call it however you want. So what will it be? What magic number of people is okay for you not to care about?”
            “…five days. Please Tara, I beg you, get some rest for at least tw~”
            “116. Say it. Beg me to ‘get some rest for at least 116 people.'”
            “…A hundred. You get to leave a hundred people on my conscience, not yours. I’m fine with that. Okay?”
            “100 children?”
            “Jesus, Tara!”

            And so on and so forth.

            And thank you for the lesson!

          • Weatherheight

            While I slept, my subconscious dredged up an example of where clear syntax and grammar adherence nevertheless don’t help parsing a sentence.

            “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

            Syntax and grammar are just fine, but cognitively there’s almost no acceptable meaning there. 😀

    • palmvos

      I suspect that during the surgery she was fed intravenously. Doctors don’t want food in the patent for some surgeries because… well… the patient might give the surgeons back the food at an inopportune time. (food isn’t sterile no matter how bland it tastes!) I image that some jostling of the stomach is needed from time to time as liver transplants are a thing.
      my speculation is: Tara’s powers are now area effect- in other words she heals people around her for some distance. they may discover that Tara provides some of the energy herself, leading to an awful fate…. the need to consume large quantities of calories… I’m sure the local ice cream and candy shops will prove up to the challenge…think of the sacrifice!.

  • Zac Caslar

    Wait.
    …is Feral a _catwoman/nekomimi_ minus the tail/ears/secondaries?!
    Mind. Blown.

  • http://www.zachgoldie.com/ ZBass

    Very cool to see Feral in colour! I hadn’t imagined her eyes to be vivid green.

  • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

    Next page:
    “…wait. I can’t get drunk. I haven’t been drunk since I was 13. Don’t ask. I can’t, my body metabolizes ethanol even better than it does medicine. What happened?”
    “I depowered you. You’re a normal now. With fancy eyes and fangs and claws that I couldn’t do nothing about. Also you sleep 14h every day, so you’re basically a cat.”
    “…At last.”

    I dare you to come up with a better explanation for that one.

    • Stephanie

      I think that’s why she wants the cigarette right away–she’s only going to be drunk for a minute!

    • Christophe2314

      Another possibility is that Max has boosted her anomaly to the point where her organs can grow more organs, removing the need to harvest directly from Feral.

      • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

        Why wouldn’t her own (I mean, those in her body at any moment) burst out of herself if that were the case?

        • masterofbones

          She starfished. Now they have multiple ferals all regrowing organs. But Alison thinks that they don’t count as real people, so she is fine with *them* experiencing horrors unimaginable.

          Alternatively, the person she powered up is completely unrelated to feral, and the only reason we are focusing on her is that this is why Alison wanted a solution so badly.

        • Dean

          “While you’re still buzzed, I need to tell you that a giant constantly-regenerating transplant liver is currently rampaging through Miami.”

          • Weatherheight

            “Willard just sent me out laughing,
            I thought Ben looked a little bit ratty (sorry, sorry about that),
            But they’re not half as bad as the worst scare I’ve had –
            The Transplant that ate Cincinnati!”

            Ole!

        • Tsapki

          They only seem to replicate when damaged. It’s why Feral needed to vomit up damaged tissue and blood when injured in the early comics.

        • Christophe2314

          For the same reason she hasn’t been uncontrollably growing new organs all this time. She works like a starfish: remove a part and it grows back. If I’m right about the power boost, then you could remove, say, her heart and it would grow back, after which you could cut the removed heart in two and each half would grow into a complete heart, each of which could then be split into even more hearts.

          • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

            Why wouldn’t one severed organ regrow the entire body around itself instead of just itself?

      • Soqoma

        that would be the best-case scenario I can come up with….

  • Yirtimd2

    So what happened? WHHAHHATTTTTT!!!???!?!??! I WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Stephanie

    It’s nice to see Feral in good spirits! I was worried she’d be more messed up from all that time in a living hell, but it looks like she’s resilient in more ways than one.

    So from this page we can conclude that Feral most likely was the one Max boosted, but not in a way that makes her unable to continue saving lives. Some people were theorizing that the boost just made her heal too fast for surgery, but the doctor wouldn’t be happy about that or consider it “exciting news.”

    I think the most likely possibilities are either that Feral’s amplified powers will let her continue donating organs in some way that doesn’t require her to be in permanent surgery, or that she’ll now be able to save lives in some more efficient way than donating organs. I just hope this doesn’t get her targeted by the conspiracy.

    Also, she was already asleep when Max fairy dusted her. Could that mean Alison contacted the hospital in advance with her plan, convincing them to pause the surgery? It’s also possible that the machines happened to be under repair at that time, but when it comes to fiction I’m never inclined to chalk things up to coincidence.

    • Rich The Bluegeek

      I’m thinking that Feral’s organs are now able to reproduce themselves or something. Or maybe a blood transfusion temporarily allows the recipient to gain her regenerative powers. Or maybe Allison shut down the program by making it so that Feral regenerates too fast to be operated on. In the first case, I could see that go horribly wrong. And regardless, forcing Max was still wrong. Why? Because realistically Allison couldn’t have known exactly how amplifying Feral’s power would turn out. Because in real life, there is no selfless regenerating superhero to harvest organs from. But there is a real-life mindset that says it’s okay to force other people to do things they don’t believe in for the benefit of a select few. It doesn’t matter how good the benefit or how many people benefit. It’s still wrong. There should still be consequences for doing that and I am strangely looking forward to watching Allison reap what she’s sown.

      • Lostman

        I’m not looking forward to the body horror though.

      • Stephanie

        I’ve already explained in great detail why I disagree with that view, so I’m going to leave it at that.

        • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

          Let’s revisit it ♪ anyway ♫

          (I’m genuinely sorry if I upset you back then.)

          • Stephanie

            It’s cool, I’m not upset–just bored of retreading it.

  • Danygalw

    Oh, come on! What happened?

    I wish I’d missed this arc and come back a couple of months later. Because seriously? This’ll be a lovely cute moment… when we get to the explanation.

  • Lysiuj

    OH. MY.
    Is this the first fun she’s had since the surgeries began?
    Think about it – unending suffering for years, then all of a sudden she sleeps for half a day, and then the woman she loves shows up with a burger and a bottle of liquor… She must think she’s dreaming.

    • spriteless

      Months, but yeah.

  • Demononion

    She looks so satisfied here.

  • Marc Forrester

    Okay, there we go. Drugs affect Feral, just not for very long. I think we can assume the pill bottle on the end table there is basically heroin.

    • Weatherheight

      More likely morphine (lot more predictable what it will do to someone), but you’re essentially right.
      Imagine the dosage… 😀

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      Still not consistent. If that were the case, it’d mean there’d be a certain quantity of drugs (be it absolutely all of it, as long as it exists) to inject in her so that she’s constantly under their influence. It takes her ten second to process the amount of morphine that would kill two hundred elephants? Pumps twice as much every five seconds.

  • scottfree

    So, do you think Max’s powers made it so Feral’s tissues can continue growing/regenerating after they’ve been harvested so Feral doesn’t constantly need organ donation surgeries, or do you think he just buffed her powers for organ harvesting won’t work on her any more? Because I’m pretty sure she’ll be pissed if Alison just took her ability to save lives away.

    • Stephanie

      Of those two options, IMO the first one is much more likely, for a few reasons.

      First, Alison respects Feral’s choice. If she really wanted to override her on this, she has always been capable of physically preventing Feral from going through with the surgeries.

      Second, Alison wouldn’t have described this plan as something that would save “countless, countless lives,” if the only thing she planned to accomplish was the exact opposite.

      Third, the doctor is happy. She wouldn’t be happy if Alison had ruined everything for everyone.

      Fourth, the “burgers and bourbon” are meant for an occasion when Alison finds her own one-punch solution to the world’s problems, not for an occasion where she just ruins Feral’s contribution.

      It’s possible that boosted Feral can no longer be harvested, as a side effect of whatever cool enhanced abilities she now has, but I think there’s ample evidence against that being the main event. I expect that whether or not she can still be harvested, she no longer needs to be harvested in order to save at least as many lives as she already was.

      • Weatherheight

        Might have pushed her pain threshold or ability to deal with shock to the moon, as well. It’s clear that her pain threshold or resistance to shock was already beyond baseline normal values.

      • Izo

        “It’s possible that boosted Feral can no longer be harvested, as a side effect of whatever cool enhanced abilities she now has, but I think there’s ample evidence against that being the main event. I expect that whether or not she can still be harvested, she no longer needs to be harvested in order to save at least as many lives as she already was.”

        Then Alison’s claim about ‘countless countless lives’ being saved, and the argument you made about countless countless lives being at risk would have been, basically, a crock. Because countless countless lives were not at risk. Feral’s comfort was at risk. The countless countless lives would be saved either way, because Feral would still have been making her sacrifice. So even the ‘utilitarian’ calculation is no longer countless > 1…. it becomes 1=1. In fact, Feral’s actually less important, even from a utilitarian view (as much as I think Utilitarianism is a massively flawed philosophy), because Feral can prevent herself from being in pain any time she wants by quitting what she was doing. Or just taking a break from it, at the very least.

        I hope Feral hates Alison for what she did, says she can’t be her friend anymore, and can never forgive her after how she prevented Alison from doing something else crossing the line after the hospital incident (even if, in my eyes, more forgivable because of emotional shock). The only person I will feel sorry for (aside from Max, the victim) is Feral, because she will lose a friend. I won’t feel sorry for Alison, who became a villain with what she did to Max. I won’t feel sorry for the doctor, who’s basically using Feral’s self-sacrificing nature, and utterly violating the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm (BIG TIME).

  • zellgato

    I like her priorities.

    Though if her healing factor is a bit wonkey then smoking mightnot be the best habit.

    I like “while i’m drunk” i guess she woudln’t stay drunk very long

  • Khlovia

    Hence the name “Feral”….

  • Pol Subanajouy

    Did Feral always look this Neko kawaii?

  • palmvos

    and…. the suspense it builds.
    what we know now-
    we have a TARDIS – in the brief instant of the burger’s existence out of the bag. (having met a skilled burger predator. who somehow is not wearing some of it) we see that it is A. big, and B. was not 1/2 a burger. unfortunately the bag was destroyed so further research into this point cannot be made.
    The Plan(tm) almost nothing. the authors in their way have allowed the rampant speculation and conclusion jumping (there’s a diving board for jumping to conclusions here!) to continue almost unabated. they have good news about her anomaly so it is fairly likely that the change did not render her serial organ gifting impossible.
    other notes- Feral is running the full gamut of ‘decent’ things to do in this situation, she has eaten, she has drank, and she’s attempting to smoke. let us hope that we will be spared graphic details of the ladies room.
    ‘The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.’ Gene Wilder.
    at least we only have two days to wait. but I’m betting that that page will not tell us much either. my cynical side is dancing with glee at getting the bet money….

  • Psile

    Never change, Feral. Never change.

  • Mujaki

    Bourbon and burgers, they’ll let you bring those into a hospital.
    Cigarettes? Not so much. Open flames and oxygen assistance don’t go well together.

  • FlashNeko

    They DO say that generally one of the first things Americans who have been held/tortured overseas want when they come back is a hamburger…

    • Tsapki

      They pulled that with Tony Stark in Iron Man too.

      “I want two things, a cheeseburger and a press conference. Cheeseburger first.”

  • Insanenoodlyguy

    This is where Allison knows it was worth it. The path to the Tryant glitters so splendidly.

  • Lostman

    Alison should of gotten a ball of yarn.

  • weedgoku

    Well, her hair seems to be growing fast.

    • spriteless

      Oooh, that could get inconvenient.

  • SuddenFan

    Look at that doctor’s sly-ass expression on panel 6. No way she doesn’t ship Feralison.

    • Hiram

      The only reason she’s still in that room is on the off chance that one of them requires an emergency injection of mood music and scented candles.

  • Lysiuj

    HARMPH! SHLORP! SHLURP!

  • Manuel Simone

    Now I’m very curious to know how Max’s “fireworks” helped Feral’s powers, maybe she’ll be stronger from now on, possible able to heal in a matter of seconds or become virtually impossible to get killed. Anyway, Feral is my favorite character and I wish only good things for her to happen.

    • weedgoku

      Given that it looks like her hair is growing across the panels, I’m assuming it’s the “She’s healing too fast to operate on” idea people threw out last page.

  • Shweta Narayan

    ohgods i want this to keep going happily and can’t believe it will given the rest of this chapter

  • https://www.youtube.com/user/Goatmon Goatmon

    Well, that about wraps up the mystery of “Which of these women is most fun at parties?”

  • Richard Griffith

    Nice character moment, but the dragging out of the reveal is becoming more painful every strip.

    • Stephanie

      I’m anxious for the reveal too, but this pacing should work fine for an archival reading.

  • JohnTomato

    Even a vape would be good…

  • Brotherbot

    That was definitely and Archer call out. And it made me so happy! 😀

  • ClockworkDawn

    Love that last panel.

  • http://monster0.org monsterzero

    I’m going to guess that with the boosted anomaly they were able to cut off Feral’s head.

    Her head has grown a new body, seen here. And the old body can keep donating spare parts painlessly, as long as they keep cutting off each new head that sprouts before it can develop a brain.

    • Stephanie

      That would make infinite Ferals! Maybe just keep a blowtorch trained on the neck stump at all times, like you’d do with a hydra.

      • Weatherheight

        Ever see an anime called The Melody of Oblivion?
        Imagine a conga line of Taras getting onto or off of a tourist bus… 😀

    • Susan Smith

      I love this idea! That be awesome, and morally conflicting, all at once.

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      Waaaay too fucking gore even for that webcomic. I don’t buy it.

  • Thewizardguy

    Goddamnit, keeping us waiting like this >.<

    It is nice to see them happy, though, in contrast to recent events.

  • KevlarNinja

    Anyone else picturing Feral, off-panel, just eating the burger in one go like a snake?

    • palmvos

      i think she tore into it like a cat hungrily gobbling down the burger, deftly catching each drip and sensuously licking her fingers..

    • Shweta Narayan

      SHLORP SHLURP GLOMP!

      …would her jaw dislocate (and stay dislocated long enough) though?

      • Lysiuj

        She’s a cat, not a snake!

  • Steele

    Uh oh.

    I think I know why Feral’s gonna be pissed about her anomaly being boosted.

    She won’t be able to stay drunk for more than 5 seconds! It’s gonna SUUUUUCK!

  • CalvinCopyright

    So that line about her anomaly makes me think that she got Max to use his powers on her.

  • Weatherheight

    Seriously, I’ve got two, maybe three minutes of good buzz here…

    I guess asking for a cigarette is better than asking for speed…
    And was I right? Wild Turkey isn’t so bad if your throw it back fast.

  • CrazyBeautiful

    Um…looks like you are doing MUCH better Ms. Cooper but with the Oxygen tank behind you I told think we should TEST that theory

    • Stephanie

      Pfft, at least two of the three people in the room would probably survive it…

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      I’m not sure that’s how that works? Not so easily at least. I mean, hospitals are known to get fires from time to time and they don’t generally explode by virtue of having oxygen tanks about

  • BMPDynamite

    …. I’m gonna gorram cry, don’t do this to meeeeee

  • Walter

    Know what, I’m fine with it. I don’t even WANT to know what the exposition doc is trying to say. Next comic:

    Panel 1
    Doc: Listen about what happened-
    Feral: *Long drag on cig* Aaaah
    Panel 2
    Doc: It’s actually-
    Alison: Wow, you really enjoy smoking
    Panel 3
    Doc: A critical –
    Feral *Long drag on cig* Aaaah
    Panel 4
    Doc: You need –
    Alison: I’ve missed you
    Panel 5
    Doc: Something’s-
    Feral: *Fist bump Alison* Back at ya
    Panel 6:
    Doc: …forget it.

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      Now the page after that is Alison trying to convince Tara that her *and* the doctor aren’t going to jump into Tara’s bed at her request no matter how stubborn she can get about the fact that she saved 78,692 people and that should ethically grant her some action she hasn’t seen in a while, dammit

      “When I told you to bring a Big Ass burger and bourbon once you saved the world, there were *three* requests on that list: some food, a drink and the cute freckles on your silly face, beautiful. I woke up to get lucky and drink bourbon, and I’m half out of bourbon.”

      • Stephanie Gertsch

        Maybe there’s a comma after “ass.” Sneaky Tara…

  • Izo

    Apparently Feral forgot the significance of the choice of food and drink. I guess endless torture without eating, drinking, sleeping, or anesthetics can do that to you.

    I wonder if I’m First. Probably not :)

    • Eric the .5b

      I took it the other way, that she saw what Alison had for her and took her having found a solution on faith, which is why she isn’t asking why she’s out of surgery.

  • http://stirvinolady.tumblr.com/ Ciella

    So happy to see Feral back!! 😀

  • noctuatacita

    I don’t even care what the consequences are, this page makes me happy.

  • cphoenix

    So. If Alison had hurt Max solely to rescue a friend from ceaseless agony, I would say she was a good friend. I’ve talked to Objectivists and heard them say they have no moral obligation to rescue a drowning child at no risk to themselves… and that may be true in theory (depending on one’s morality) but there are times when theory just falls apart.

    If Alison had hurt Max solely to save the lives of millions of people per year, I would say she had made a difficult and dangerous moral choice, but it was the right one. It’s a choice that most people prefer to ignore most of the time, but if you actually look at the real world, it’s inescapable.

    If we assume Alison is supposed to be ideally bound by a theoretical morality, then there are some moralities that justify each reason but don’t justify the other.

    Since her actions have both a personal and an impersonal benefit, it will be easy for those who don’t like them to focus on whichever benefit makes Alison look more selfish or dangerous, selecting the morality they think should apply to her, and insisting that she follow it to a fault.

    When in fact, no one follows a theoretical morality 100%; we’re just not built that way. By common sense and basic humanity, either reason would be enough for her to do what she did. Both reasons together make it a slam-dunk.

    Theories are a dime a dozen. As Edward O. Wilson, an ant-omologist, remarked of Communism: “Great theory. Wrong species.”

    It’s just really hard to look at this page and say that, in the end, in the “real world” of the comic, Alison did the wrong thing.

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      You’re essentially saying we shouldn’t criticize narratives about the difficult choices we have to make in the face of impossible circumstances if and when they end up justifying these choices without giving a genuine hard look at the consequences involved. I say that’s insane.

      You speak about people not built to follow theoretical morality, but Alison isn’t people, she’s essentially light coming out of your computer device shaped like people, and you’re not supposed to look at her behavior and shrug tell yourself with a shrug “welp, life’s messy and unpredictable and essentially a random sequence of events governed by too many variables to understand the natural process of”, but acknowledge that her journey is carrying meaning and intent carefully considered.

      This conversation has been had a million times already, but again, if that was the point, if the comic is essentially telling us now “see? In the end, did Alison really do the wrong thing?”…
      that’s terrifying

      • http://davidg-flatout.blogspot.co.uk/ David Gillon

        “if that was the point, if the comic is essentially telling us now “see? In the end, did Alison really do the wrong thing?”… that’s terrifying”

        OTOH, there’s a long tradition of posing ethical dilemmas or difficult real-world scenarios as a form of thought-piece, shows like ‘The Moral Maze’ and the like. ‘Did Alison really do the wrong thing?” has to be seen in that light, which isn’t so much “terrifying” as “humans find the weirdest things entertaining”

  • GelasticJake

    Honestly, I’ve been pretty worried about the psychological effect that Feral’s constant torture would have on her. This… is a big relief. That smile!

    • Hiram

      Agreed. I imagine having her anomaly eases some of the long term physical repercussions of trauma. I just hope she doesn’t feel depreciated by Alison’s alternative solution.

  • MrSing

    “The change in your anomaly has made you gluten intolerant. You, uhm, might want to find a really good book and take the rest of the day off after eating that burger.”

    • Weatherheight

      Oh yes, I do remember the villain from the Savage Dragon comic known as…
      BackBlast!

  • wordfan

    Between Max being such a jerk and Feral being so cute, you are making it painfully easy to justify Al’s dictatorial tactics. Imagine an omnipitent don’t-be-a-kerk-ocracy. I’m sure the other boot is about to drop though.

  • Frank

    Is that an Archer reference I see before me? First time I’ve seen Feral. Already like her.

    • palmvos

      go back- seeing her with a sword sticking through her skull is also memorable….

    • Dean

      The finger held up while she’s drinking? I wondered that too.

  • Rascal_Face

    I need to figure out how to make panel 4 my IM avatar when it’s set to ‘away’

  • shereadstoomuch

    Oh wow, it’s a truly miraculous moment: Alison SMILED AND LAUGHED. And not from hysteria, but just from simple happiness at her friends happiness.
    Can we keep this moment? Can we not break it with misery and pain *too* quickly?

    • Christophe2314

      Misery and pain is gonna follow pretty fast, considering what Alison had to do to make this happen. There’s no way she won’t feel guilty.

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      No they have to date first and it’s like the best for two days and then Tara reveals she considers almost all rape victims are asking for it or something that’s how it works don’t you see the webcomic pattern clear as day by now

  • http://davidg-flatout.blogspot.co.uk/ David Gillon

    Feral by name, Feral by nature….

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      Which makes it really fun to know that it happened by sheer coincidence when she wanted to be called Flare as a superhero but had then diagnosed dyslexia and a hard time to write

  • Mechwarrior

    Feral can has cheezburger!

  • Kid Chaos

    How much do I love Feral? Let me count the ways… 😍

  • pidgey

    HARMPH! Shlorp Shlurp.

  • Christopher Jordon

    The real question is, WWBD?

    Would Batman have threatened to hurt some rich jerk in order to save many people?

    Of course he would.

    • Hiram

      I’d actually be more interested in knowing how Superman would have handled the situation. Or Patrick, although I suspect this IS how Patric chose to handle the situation.

      • Beroli

        In most portrayals, he would have simply left. “I accept that people suffer and die every day in ways I could prevent if I was willing to establish a dictatorship” is part of his philosophy.

        The version in Superman IV who decided he was going to throw all the nuclear weapons into the sun, and only card-carrying villains didn’t view this as a reason for great rejoicing, on the other hand, I don’t know what he would have said to Max, but I know Max’s response would have included multiple mua-ha-has.

      • Matrix

        By all accounts, It looked like Patrick gave her the file that showed who Max was and what he could do. So, that is how he handled it, Manipulated Allison into using him. Being who he is, a very manipulative mind reader, depending on his range and how accurately he can guess the mail service delivery time. If he guessed correctly, then he is manipulating the heck out of the situation. Breaking her on purpose to prove his point. It is still her choice though.

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      Then again Batman stories have two modes: harmless, shallow wish-fulfillment fantasy; and horrifically mature insight into psychological delusions of a traumatized kid who never learned to cope and is consistently making things always indisputably worse for his city as a metaphor for the ongoing fall into madness that is the consistent denial of mental disorder and possibly a social commentary on our inability to treat it correctly.

      So, an example to follow? Eh

      • http://davidg-flatout.blogspot.co.uk/ David Gillon

        “horrifically mature insight into psychological delusions of a traumatized kid who never learned to cope”

        Alison to a T!

    • Giacomo Bandini

      No, Batman would have never done that. Batman would have set up a extremely complicated scenario to predict Max action and manipulate him accordingly into using his power to do what is necessary to save many people. Superman on the other hand will have never surrendered, probably continued to ask, politely but relentlessly to Max to change his mind.
      But both of them are superhuman, at least mentally; Alison is not, she is a pretty normal person. An she reacts as one.

      • Izo

        Superman would not have forced Max at all, and when he said no, he would have left and found another way that doesn’t involve forcing his will on another person.

        Batman would have figured some way to get Max to WANT to do it. If no other reason, there was ‘Cut Luthor a Check.’ Then again, Batman doesn’t think there is a one-punch solution to the world’s problems to begin with. He considers the Mission to be endless and all-encompassing.

      • Psile

        Depends on the seriousness of the universe. Batman is a no-kill hero, like pretty much all heroes so Allison is already morally repugnant to them. Superman can scarcely look threateningly at a villian in most versions of him. I think that comparisons to existing super heroes is not as apt as they might seem. SFP is ultimately a deconstruction so it isn’t going to follow the same rules. Allison has killed at least one person in-panel 100% intentionally, and other kills have been alluded to. She already fails the test of being a “true” comic book hero, and really should already be half way through her slide to ruthless dictator like Superman in the Injustice comics. Point is that the super powers are where the similarities end between SFP and typical comic books.

  • Tylikcat

    Max’s position really sucks.

    I mean, I’m not sure how mad I am at Alison (emotional reaction and intellectual reaction are different) but I want Max to have his day in court, and I want Alison to have to take her lumps. And Max can’t even do that without outing himself. That part leaves me just sick and furious on his behalf.

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      I’m guessing we haven’t seen the end of Max.
      Which is kind of too bad, because this would be so effectively grim to just leave it at that. Nothing else.

      • Tylikcat

        I might hate Max’s position, but that doesn’t mean I want…

        Oh, hell. I suppose I do want more Max plot. He may annoy the crap out of me, and I may want to administer the great grand slappening upon him, but leaving it like this would just make me twitch. So, yes. That would be grim as hell.

        • Shweta Narayan

          Before she twisted his arm, I wanted her to do something thoughtless that would motivate him to come back as a villain, but now I don’t even want that. It’d be toooo much like a justification of her force.

          “Selfish asshole who is not a villain, who she has wronged badly” is someone Al ought to have to continue dealing with as is.

          But what options does he *have* other than like, teaming up w someone who wants to take her out? …his parents have political power; but is he angry enough to let them know? If so, then the next response could hit all biodynamics…

          • Weatherheight

            It would be neat (on one level) for Max to get his shit together in response on this night’s events. But it would feel too easy, narratively, to me. I want to see Max struggle with his essential twit nature and come to truly understand, through effort and suffering, why he’s a twit.
            On another level, having him go villain makes narrative sense, but he just doesn’t really seem the type. That would require Max sticking his head up above the top of the trenches, which seems unlikely based on what has been thus far revealed.
            If anything, proxy retribution via social and political pressure seems reasonable as Max’s agency here – and it is also the areas where Alison is least one stable ground, behaviorally. But this plot direction just seems obvious to me, and Brennan and Molly have done a lot of twists in those arenas that are damned cool, so I expect I will end up pleasantly surprised when the pivot happens. 😀

          • Izo

            Even if he tries to take out Alison, I can’t say he’d be a villain. Alison is the villain in this scenario. He’s the victim of a villain. It would be justifiable self-defense, given the last thing she said to him as she left – that she can and will do it again if she decides to, and he can’t stop her, because she’s stronger than he is.

          • Jagged

            Load of options. Such as just going public. I bet he even has cameras on his estate.

            Even if he doesn’t, unless he’s completely stupid he’d start hiring powered security. Who he can boost. No way Alison is just dropping in again.

        • Weatherheight

          It really does suck when cognitive dissonance taps you on the metaphorical shoulder and points out that you need something you don’t want. 😀

      • EveryZig

        Honestly I am kind of expecting him to kill himself, since he is now living in justifiable fear of a fate worse than death (in that someone could plausibly do what Alison did but keep him imprisoned and tortured as a power farm for the rest of his life). The only other way he can prevent such a thing is to find a super he can trust completely, and I can’t see him being particularly trusting even before recent events.

        • bryan rasmussen

          I am hoping he kills himself and leaves a note: goodbye cruel world, I am leaving you because if I stay I will be forced from time to time to help people.

    • Sendaz

      If word of this ever gets out, it will cause some uproar, but not necessarily where you might think. And it could very well come since Max knows he can’t counter Alison directly and for all practical purposes his secret is out. Alison knows it, Patrick knows it and seeing as Patrick bought said info others must as well, so he or more likely his folks might see coming out as his only defense because if he keeps quiet, Alison can just swoop in anytime for a power pick me up.
      Because I doubt Alison would face a whole lot of trouble from the general public because A) She did it to help her friend and B) said friend also happens to be one of the single largest sources of organ donations. Either reason can draw considerable sympathy for her position.
      However, among the dynomorphs this probably will not be quite so well received. They are already worried about being used or manipulated by governments or other groups and now they have one of their own strong-arming another. No matter how good or bad the reason, it sets an ugly precedent and every empowered one of them will be looking in the mirror and wondering when will someone come knocking at their own respecitve door(s) and telling them they have to do [fill in the blank] because reasons and they don’t get a choice.

      • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

        I’m sorry I’m just here to point out that the first Google Image result for “dinomorph” is this monstrosity and I blame the nightmares on you

        But seriously I think despite never hearing about them there are enough political parties concerned enough about Alison to not take it well that she would do as she pleases with people’s wills for personal convenience. That same elusive “they” when she tells about “they let me in without trouble” when she goes to meet Cleaver.

        Also remember “the general public” doused Tara with fire when it figured it out. The people Tara saved were the only ones knowing where the organs came from and such secrecy might have proven necessary to keep the program running.

        • MrSing

          Why

      • Tylikcat

        I don’t disagree – notice, I said day in court. Not time to hash it out in the papers or some such. I think it was more or less a given that Alison would get more popular support – and that she’s unlikely to be held legally responsible.

        Nonetheless. *sigh*

        • http://davidg-flatout.blogspot.co.uk/ David Gillon

          Give it time, and I suspect Alison may beat herself up more thoroughly than the courts would, but it may take her some time to get there, She just needs to make the conceptual leap that what she did to Max is the same kind of abuse she set up Valkyrie to protect women from.

          There’s a clear theme in the narrative of asking Alison to look at her own actions, and narratively there has to be a pay-off at some point. But if she keeps doing things like this, then it’s not going to be a pretty moment when it happens. (Hmm, and part of that process is probably apologising to Max in person, which will be an interesting few panels).

          It just occurred to me in writing this that we’re seeing a distinct fission/polarization in the biodynamic hero community. Some are slipping into vigilantism: Moonshadow and Furnace, and Feral always had a strong degree of that, while others are moving away from law enforcement: Lisa, Brad, Pintsize and Amanda. Alison was the poster girl for the latter, but she’s not been able to make a clean break. Is our overall arc actually ‘what do the warriors* do when the war is over?’

          We’ve talked about the biodynamics being child soldiers* in the past, but one aspect of child soldiers is they’re often even more damaged by PTSD when the party stops than are the adult soldiers. It might be profitable to examine everything that’s happening by looking at the characters as all being significantly more damaged than we initially thought.

          *IMO there’s a conceptual difference between ‘warriors’ and ‘soldiers’ to do with the rules of war, and whether you see yourself as making the rules, or subject to them. I’m no longer sure where several of the characters, Alison most notably, fall with respect to that line.

  • martynW

    I guess the deal is that Max can make permanent alterations in powers? I thought it was a deal where he had to be there to keep it going.

    • Weatherheight

      Could be the time frame is greater than a few minutes but less than the rest of their lives.

      Stay tuned, gentle reader.

  • bta

    Well, Feral is still as cool as always. I’d just like to know if she’s gonna question why Allison already know what happened.

  • MisterTeatime

    I’m guessing in Feral’s case “while I’m drunk” is a period lasting approximately five minutes.

  • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

    Hey… wait a sec. Look back one page and come back.

    Am I seeing things or is Tara’s hair silently growing like crazy in between panels?

    • Sendaz

      Well my Pa always said Wild Turkey would put hair on your chest, maybe in Feral’s case it goes on her head? 😛

    • weedgoku

      Looks like it, it was the first thing I noticed. I think it supports the “heals too fast to operate on” theory if her whole body is growing/healing at that rate. It goes from roughly being shoulder length to being halfway down her back in the time it takes to eat a burger and chug some booze.

    • palmvos

      she has Orphic princess hair!
      ok.. yes I read Blindspings….

      • Shweta Narayan

        with the amount of blood Feral’s shed, she’s prob fed the spirits enough to be owed an awful lot of power, too. (Also: Feral as a priestess would be even funnier than Street as a priestess)

    • Mechwarrior

      It looks like it’s changing color, too.

    • Shweta Narayan

      …It could be! It looks kinda like it on this page. But last page, we didn’t see how far down her back it goes, so hard to tell for sure yet.

  • Jac

    Omg she eats hamburgers like the Cookie Monster

    • palmvos

      she is Feral…
      ::rimshot::
      thank you for the setup.

  • Loranna

    Wait. Did Feral’s hair grow longer between panels 4 and 6?

    • ∫Clémens×ds 🐙

      Right? Right?!

    • MrSing

      Does that mean she is turning into cousin Itt?

    • Izo

      In addition to organ donations, she’s going to donate hair for cancer patients, like in my hypothetical scenario a few strips ago! gasp!

  • Soqoma

    aaand Feral has my entire heart today.

  • http://gem-sloop-fanclub.tumblr.com/ Gem Sloop’s #1 Fan

    Don’t think I didn’t notice the little heart shaped splash of ketchup in panel 2

  • palmvos

    in answer to Alison’s question….
    YES. more burgers.

  • J B Bell

    I’m super confused. How do we infer that Allison was using Max to “cure” Feral? I read the page with her spiriting him off, and he made some pretty light balls, and that was it? How was I meant to know it was Feral?