SFP

3-I

Yaaaay~

monsterzero

Quick! Now ask him for money!

sammybaby

Next page: Hector and Alison become sworn enemies.

James Holman

This does not bode well. Who is tempting fate now Hector?

Pol Subanajouy

It’s sweet…but like to the point where I’m expecting them to argue next page…maybe I’m just paranoid, haha.

deebles

What a sweet conversation! But what happens next?

– Has Pintsize also acquired a new power?
– Will he be upset when he hears about Alison’s new project and realises there’s no place for him in it?
– Has he accepted that there’s no way Alison’s coming back to help rebuild the Guardians?
– Does Hector secretly harbour feelings for Alison?
– Does Moonshadow secretly harbour feelings for Hector?
– Does Cleaver secretly harbour feelings for Patrick?
– Is the random hawt guy Alison rescued actually Moonshadow in disguise?
– Is Moonshadow actually a hawt guy in disguise?
– Is yo Mama actually a hawt guy in disguise?

We’ll have to stay tuned for the next episode, same time, same bat-channel to find out 🙂

Steele

You know, I’m starting to get the feeling that a lot of this is some kind of illusion. I trust Brennan and Molly enough that I don’t think they’ll pull some “it was all a dream!!!1” cliche, but given the tone of the first several issues of the comic, everything falling into place so quickly feels REALLY “off” to me.
- The_Rippy_One
  
  They may be winding up for a really huge swerve – do not forget: “the higher the heights, the farther the potential drop,” especially in comics.
  - MrSokar
    
    Good thing Al can fly now.
Arthur Frayn

Answering your first question: Yes. Pintsize’s new power is- he’s growing UP.

Kris Dunlap

“Yes, all issues are solved forever……now about that money you owe me that you definitely didn’t blow on something stupid I hope.”

Loranna

Next page: Hector takes immediate issue with Alison’s new plan to make a non superteam superteam, on the grounds that he has sworn off Capecakes forever, due to an unfortunate incident back in ’11 involving a rogue biodynamic with strange powers over confectionery and Hector’s formerly-favorite triple-frosting covered Mega Pintsize Minicakes.

Seriously, though, Hector’s optimism here is just so . . . endearing. Even if I’m sure he’s being naive, I can’t help but love him for it anyway. I think Alison did herself – and Hector – a grave disservice by turning away from him in the first place. Plus, you know, it was totally not cool, but it’s cool now, ’cause they’ve made up ^_^

Loranna

masterofbones

>Hector’s optimism here is just so . . . endearing.

Is he being optimistic? I assumed he was being lightheartedly sarcastic. As in, he knows that they will likely argue again, but that he is happy that they are no longer fighting at the moment.

Unless you are just talking about his overall positive attitude, in which case I wholeheartedly agree.

Ralph, the Dire Opossum

Oh no. *whispers* foreshadowing

Mystery girl

This page is now one of my favorites.

Arthur Frayn

And the peace lasts 30 seconds until she brings up the royalty checks she now has a use for.

Dean

Er, you understand that Alison and Hector are kidding around in the last two panels, right? They’re both using humor to lighten the mood.

∫Clémens×ds

YES I DO GAH

Jacob

Off topic, but the mention of the guardians once again has me wondering about the military implications of supers. It’s mentioned that all of the supers were kids when powers first started showing up, that means none of them were old enough to serve in the U.S. military. Less ethical armies around the world make use of children. The week after supers started turning up had to have been a bloodbath. I also have wonder about the role of the guardians, considering what I just mentioned, there had to have been some pretty nasty foreign baddies coming out of the militias of African warlords, the Taliban, and other such groups. Were Alison and her team deployed to foreign nations to eliminate them. Or were there different, less publicized, teams to handle the dirtier aspects of super villainy. And what about the modern rules of warfare, super abilities are a real game changer, someone with moonshadow’s abilities would be the perfect special operations soldier, Furnace’s abilities would make him a cross between a frontline infantryman and close air support unit. The comic Vanguard tackled some of these issues, but superpowers all came from genetic engineering in that, with the exception of woden.

TSED

The soldier dudes that Moonshadow offed in a ‘training exercise’ were specialized in biodynamic warfare.

So what I take that to mean is “some really shady dudes made a LOT of money killing superkids.”
MrSing

People with the biggest guns or the most flashiest displays of destruction/importance are usually the first ones to die in a war. So I would imagine that unless they got a lot of support, were invincible, or had more subtle powers, they would die in the first week they were deployed.
- Jacob
  
  That isn’t necessarily true, sure, a machine gunner will be targeted before a standard infantryman, but that doesn’t mean a machine gunner dies first. And the issue still stands, Allison is unquestionably on par with nuclear ordinance. Now, assuming that there are others on par with Allison, none have been mentioned but some could be out there and there are definitely a few who are only a league or two under her. If Allison were deployed against North Korea or ISIS or any one of a dozen other foreign countries, would that be seen as an act on par with launching a nuke. Thus, would there be a new set of rules of warfare that would have to be followed.
  - MrSing
    
    Not really. The problem with a nuke is that it is indiscriminate and ruins the land for decades. Deploying Alison would be more like invading with an army.
    But still, from what we’ve seen most superheroes aren’t invincible. So for the most part they would be primary targets on the front lines, to make a moral blow against the enemy if nothing else. And they would likely die very quickly unless they had any of the qualities I mentioned earlier.
    Because they can’t be replaced and there are a very limited amount of them, heroes would barely be deployed in warfare because they are simply to precious.

KCIvey

I’m pretty sure he’s joking, and she understands that.

3-I

And suddenly, I understand the problem with all your other “joke” comments. You don’t seem to fully understand what sarcasm is.

I’m so terribly sorry.

∫Clémens×ds

You know, not everything besides the first degree is sarcasm, and especially not here where he certainly doesn’t think the opposite of what he’s saying.
Here used to make light of the situation (duh), but it’s not like people don’t use humor to deflate bitterness, even their own.

But most importantly, foreshadowing doesn’t much care about character intent!

Oh and, moderation, it’s been twice now that this person explicitly insults me personally, can we do something about it?
- 3-I
  
  Criticising your repeated conduct and insulting you personally are kind of two different things.
  
  The problem is that every single time you are called on simplifying the situation you comment on down to the level where your opinion is offensive, you immediately turn to “I am joking,” “I understand storytelling better than you” and “I am being attacked.” Your criticism of Alison is almost always rooted in the core conceit that she is somehow unrealistically flawed or downright selfish, but whenever I or anyone else have raised the point that she’s behaving like a real person WOULD in a situation, you immediately turn to one of the above counters instead of either addressing what’s said or considering that your opinion might be flawed. When I or anyone else point out that your counter doesn’t make much sense… Well, we end up here, don’t we?
  
  You aren’t being hounded. You aren’t being stalked. You’re not being trolled. You are being REPLIED to. If you honestly think that replying to you is a campaign of harassment just because I haven’t forgotten the things you said two days prior, you need to reevaluate your life a little.
- 3-I
  
  But, you know what, fine. There are plenty of people perfectly willing to point out when your comments are ridiculous and unacceptable, and it is clear that my words aren’t getting through to you at all, since you keep assuming copypasted replies to other people are going to convince me you were right all along. I’ll piss off, shall I?

Greg R. Fishbone

I’m expecting “Batman vs. Superman” to end exactly like this.

MrSing

With Superman asking Batman for money for his women shelter?
- Thursday Violist
  
  That makes lots of sense. Batman’s got the money.
  
  Wonder Woman would have to fit in there somewhere, too, since she shows up in the movie trailer, too. So who would she be?

∫Clémens×ds

You’re not, and due to comments moderation, I get everyone telling it to me at exactly the same time. I don’t want to copy/paste the same answer a billion times, but, uh, yeah, I got that. I managed to recognize it was not first degree (although “sarcasm” seem a bit off, hence why I didn’t use it in my own comment, clearly at my expense.) and it certainly played in the way I saw it.

∫Clémens×ds

I viewed it that way as well, sans the sarcasm considering he doesn’t think the opposite (but with y’all telling me it is, it turns out that it can mean that in English? That’s so dumb. When you steal French words, steal their intended meanings as well, please)
I just so happens to find it kind of uncalled for, or maybe a bit forced, so either I’m onto something or I keep having issue with the writing.

chaosvii

I’m pretty much of the opinion that you have an issue with the writing of dorks that make fun of themselves because they’re huge dorks that cope with major stress being suddenly relieved by ribbing each other over non-conflicts like “jinxing it.”

“sans the sarcasm considering he doesn’t think the opposite” What?! Hector totally is mocking the transparently stupid idea that will never actually transpire!
How is Hector saying something like this and your claim is something to the effect of “well he obviously sincere about the dumb things he’s saying with a wry closed-eyed smirk which is then immediately accepted by Alison with the exact same expression.”
I am baffled that you would claim this, so I looked at this comment chain to see if I was mistaken, and I still find you claiming that Hector is a naive person that has managed to delude himself into thinking that this goofy crap about best friends forever he just said is a plausible outcome.
I too would have problems with the writing if I saw Hector as a childish friend to Alison rather than an optimist that is having trouble letting go of his old dream because he doesn’t see how he can dream better than that yet. But I’m firmly of the view that Hector is super sarcastic right now, and as such the writing comes off as fun rather than insane.
- ∫Clémens×ds
  
  I don’t want this to devolve into a semantics argument on the nuances of irony, plus this has lasted long enough, and it takes me too long to come up with counter arguments to keep being a hundred percent certain of my own opinion, so I’ll concede.
  
  Still expecting them to resume fighting next page or so, though.
  - chaosvii
    
    Sure thing, the build up on the next page can go either way as far as personal conflict or impersonal conflict is concerned. Or stranger still, he might want to do something with his time that Alison isn’t up for encouraging despite it being a fair choice.

Opus the Poet

I agree, this would let Pintsize have an actual effect on people’s lives similar to when he was a Guardian. It would give his life purpose again without the troubling “government assassin” aspect the Guardians took after wiping out/arresting most of the supervillians.

deebles

Her plan is for a team of female superheroes. Which might allow a support/logistics role for him, but not much of a real use for his powers nor a chance to play hero.
http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-5/page-164/

chaosvii

Hector had one other appearance as Pintsize during & right after Alison’s battle with Cleaver. He was just as silly then as he is now. It’s great to see him that way once again 😀

Jostikas

Hector is, by now I guess, well aware that that’s not how friendships, or anything really, works. They both know that. He also knows that dwelling changes nothing, and that the matter, once resolved, should be put away to concentrate on the future. The fact that he chooses to express that in childish jest is just a character quirk. That’s how I see it.

∫Clémens×ds

I feel like we haven’t seen enough of him to know him that well, what gives you this impression? Then again, maybe I need a refresher on earlier issues. It’s been a while.

Daniel Vogelsong

That’d be my thought. Either they expand on the field theory, so he learns to shrink other objects, or they expand his normal power so he could grow massive in addition to shrinking. If the basis of his powers are Molecular Manipulation, he may gain the ability to do any sort of thing, including healing, Mass/Density Manipulation, Intangibility, or even just raw matter manipulation.
They could also rip off Ant-Man to make him communicate with insects/other small things, but this comic thus far has no interest in that, which is a relief.

Duke Araja

Planck’s Constant (thanks, Fantastic Voyage).

Brainsturm

Thank you! Science, for the win.

masterofbones

>Alison’s come back, and wants to make super powered people matter as something other than just child soldiers

She wants to make *female* super powered people matter. For some reason she isn’t interested in letting men join.

Rumble in the Tumble

Give her a benefit of the doubt, it’s kind of obvious that women seeking help from domestic violence would feel safer in presence of *female* superheroes than male. Wasn’t there something about getting male heroes for endorsement/behind-the-scenes, not-directly-with-victims work? I mean, I love fishing for men-bashing just as much as anyone, but let’s see the results first.
- masterofbones
  
  >it’s kind of obvious that women seeking help from domestic violence would feel safer in presence of *female* superheroes than male.
  
  Some of them, sure. Just like some women would prefer a white protector, since a black protector would be scary. But encouraging racism/sexism isn’t really something I condone doing. There is also the fact that some of these people would prefer male protectors, since they would *look* more imposing. And of course this also ignores male DV victims, but that’s a whole different argument.
  
  As for giving Alison the benefit of the doubt… this seems right in line with her personality. She very much seems to be the kind of person who hears something that *sounds* right(women protecting women) and then throws herself into it without fully considering the full situation. I mean, she went back to college. She had no practical reason for doing it – she pretty much did so because “that is what you are supposed to do”.

Balthazar

Why do I have the premonition “forever” means “until the next page”?

Thursday Violist

And it turns out that Moonshadow is hanging out in the same room also! She was there because she wanted to join in on Allison’s plans, without letting her know about it.