Grrl Power #532 – Monster hunting
You know, I think Doctor Chuckles may be misrepresenting their purpose there to Coot. Also, for as paranoid a person as Coot most likely is, his paranoidar seems to be a little on the fritz here.
I was trying to come up with the least offensive offensive term for Coot in panel 4. I didn’t want him to actually say anything gross, but I wanted to preserve the sentiment. “Ackbar types” seemed like a good compromise. Actually sounds kind of cool to me, but Coot obviously doesn’t mean it that way. He’s one of those culturally myopic types as you might guess. As I said Coot isn’t the charismatic type, but is he’s still fun to write.
Doctor Chuckles is the guy who put Sciona back together, in case you were wondering, so boy’s got some skills to say the least.
PS I know the vote incentive is stale, I’ve gotten a little behind with producing the comic, but I’ll try to get a Grrl Power related commission at A-kon next weekend. Which I’ll be at BTW. No table, just wandering around.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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I don’t like cooter as a person, but I do look forward to seeing three role he plays, not because I think he will accomplish anything meaningful, but because sometimes it is just plain fun and hilarious to have a complete dumbass running around throwing everything into chaos.
He seems like he’s being set up to be a massive distraction and/or fall guy.
Oh he has patsy written all over his face.
the Leeroy Jenkins meme is great for asphyxiating laughter :P
Thereupon old man Henderson comes out. I’m shocked he doesn’t have a stuffed parrot super glued to his shoulder. This man is as dangerous to his teammates as he is to his enemies. Don’t underestimate his drunken rage.
This joker is nowhere near as competent as Old Man Henderson. Maybe Boxcar Joe on a bad day.
I dunno, Dr. Chucks/Sciona, you might not have the best idea teaming up with Coots here. Or rather, you really ought to understand what’s going to happen if you actually succeed in taking down the Veil.
Like it or not, Cooter sorta represents the opinions and beliefs of vast number of humans. And the Veil is sort of the only thing preventing those BILLIONS of people from turning on “monsters” in a violent revolution. Sure, maybe that’s the point, but you can’t be surprised with the tide of that fearmongering and xenophobia turns against your own aims.
I mean, just look at what happened to Republicans in the US Congress. You got what you paid for, dupes.
On another topic, I insist (since we haven’t seen his feet) that Doctor Chuckles wears Chuck Taylor sneakers.
Everytime I hear “Alua Ackbar” I hear “I love Admiral Ackbar”.
Aloha Snackbar
There is no god but Azathoth and Nyarlathotep is His Messenger.
Now, let me tell you about the glory of Cthulhu. Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn. So there.
By C’thulhu I declare a jihad against you! Let your insane god remain dreaming forevermore while the great one rises to consume this tiny blue globe!
Infidel fools.
Great Cthulhu is but a priest of the Outer Gods! You a no more than a sectarians, worshiping one, who already worships my kind. How delightfully meaningless and ultimately self-defeating of you, pitiful creatures, eternally chained by you own stubborn ignorance to the source of your sufferings.
You have my permission to proceed.
“There is no god but Azathoth and Nyarlathotep is His Messenger.”
The Holy Emperor of Man and his grandchildren would like to have a word with you, heretic.
Death to the False Emperor! Death to the Weakling Imperium of Man!
I want Scooter to live, just to upset the normal tropes regarding the fates of disgusting characters. If Dave wants to upend the norms even more, he could have Scooter never even realize how stupid he was. Karmic consequences are easy, even expected, in stories like this. Of course our favorite Archon heroes would be rather disgusted at having saved him. Sort of like Superman saving Lex Luthor (if Lex was dumb as a post).
When he said “Akbar” I thought about the “ITS A TRAP” guy [Admiral Akbar, I Think] in episode VI of Star Wars
I think he means traps as in the girl/boy type. But you may be right, too.
Thus the Fond of Traps line he offers…. It would be really hard for most of these guys to resist dangling hints and lines in front of a man like coot…..
She, it has been already established that Cthillia is female, whether fully is debatable…
Sexist :-)
Speciesist :-)
GO JESUS?! HAHAHA Gods balls. I can’t hate these villains. I can’t.
Cooter Jones is now my favorite character, and I demand a spinoff starring him and Chuckles as they hunt Bigfoot across the good ol’ US of A.
Murrika!
I’d buy that for a dollar!
“Sam and Max Hit the Road” an old Lucas Arts graphic adventure computer game where a rabbit and a dog go coast to coast tracking down a bigfoot and giraffe necked girl that ran away from the carnival together. Fun times.
Well, you can’t buy “Cooter and Chuckles on a Big Hunt” for a dollar, but for $5.99 you can get:
https://www.gog.com/game/sam_max_hit_the_road
Tell-Tale Games has been making new Sam and Max games for a little while now, i personally enjoy them
…As a Lewisian Christian, I am NOT offended. (Akbar types seems to work…describing him as one of those ‘boom’ types might work too.)
Also? I’m getting Hellsing Abridged flashbacks…with Maxwell “recruiting”…
On the one hand, I’m not offended as a Christian. On the other, it’s getting harder and harder to fail to comprehend how many Christians are becoming annoyed at how they’re being portrayed. Per the media the vast majority of Christians are either fanatical witch burners or… well… this. I guess the concept of an ordinary God-fearing moral human being who lives by his principles and doesn’t try to impose his morals on others is too much to ask of modern media where everything is played for the quick laugh or the outraged reaction.
This venue plays with things for laughs, it’s going to play with this archetype because of course it is, that’s the whole point, Dave has every right to do this and I may even wind up enjoying it. But I do wish there were a few more creators in the world who could approach the subject of the world’s major religions with a little more maturity and nuance. It’s ironic when I find more maturity in the works of open Christian artists like RHJunior (with all his tendency towards outraged rants at the state of the world) than I do in the mainstream media that so often looks down on them.
I see your point, but on the other hand, for the average moral reasonable Christian, there’s very little need to bring up their religion at all. We have no idea what the religion most characters in the strip follow, and statistically speaking a lot of them are probably Christian.
As a non-Christian myself, the only time I take issue with Christians is when they’re very outspoken about their faith, and why they’re right and I’m wrong. Characters like that, Coot for instance, are a lot more likely to have their faith clearly defined. They are also very much in the minority. In fiction, as with real life, it’s unfortunate that a vocal minority gives the entire group a bad name.
Zack Tilly, it’s the same thing with sexual orientation, most times it is irrelevant, unless it’s being used directly as part of the storyline, but you will get idiot viewers who will only pick up on their religion or sleeping partners rather than the focus of the story
Imgran, I suggest to you “Dumbing of Age”: https://www.dumbingofage.com/
The author is an ex-Christian, and is fairly honest about people being people have having their own strengths and weaknesses. Probably about half of the cast is Christian of some kind, with a range from the “good people who are part of a religion” type to… well… a couple people who would make Coot seem relatable. It’s tackles the topic a lot better of the role religion does (and doesn’t) play in our modern civilized society than I’ve seen a lot of others do.
I really like RH’s Tales of the Questor – if he’d just stick to that he’d be on my Patreon list.
Unfortunately, his rants really lower the average quality of his work. IMO…
Don’t forget the way he insists on crowbarring his political views into his strips, either. Or the fact that’s probably worse on his forum.
You may be interested in reading the Dresden Files. In a world of grey morality, there are a couple of absolutely badass christian side characters who follow their faith against all odds.
True enough, but even then they aren’t screaming their faith, they’re just LIVING it. (Although the fact one of the Knights became one was because he though he was gonna meet Elvis is Hilarious.)
Frankly I am starting to find Cooter rather admirable
Why would a Christian be offended? Is Cooter here meant to be representative of Christians, rather than of louts?
Isn’t that the question?
Here we get to one of the biggest ethical problems with the Veil scheme; what do you think this poor guy got when he tried to tell his story about said “monsters”? It’s hard not to conclude violence is your only answer when nobody will actually listen.
You probably couldn’t even point out any positive interactions he had with “monsters” because they were likely hidden from him. #NotAllMonsters
With the way The Veil works, it’s possible 1 or many more of the people he was trying to tell WERE “monsters”. I doubt they would have been too happy to hear his story, probably could do nothing for him except “not believe” him, then report it to the Counsel…
Monsters, hunting.
I think everyone who, on the last page, said Cooter is here to be a sacrifice, is completely correct.
Coot is also a “satire” on the Monster Hunting Trope of Redneck way to fond of Military weapons hunting Monsters….. any smart monster fills their lair with Hydrogen or Propane and let the hunter toss in a grenade….. while they watch from the porch of a mansion a mile away….
…If they’re evil enough, have some actual “Monsters” to operate the site, then when Trigger-Happy-Redneck strolls in & does his thing…
…Craters are easy to fill in, just need some dirt…
Hmm. The “Evil Overlord” list says one should keep a 5-year old on hand to review any plans, and any flaws they find should be resolved prior to implementation. Perhaps they’re using Cooter for this, since a missing child could get authorities involved?
+1
+1, seems to work well… :P
I have a feeling Coot would make for a decidedly below average 5 year old.
All the better, than. Any problems he can find should be remedied.
well there goes the idiot that every team need wonder how badly he screws their plan up
If he screws it up he shows them how full of holes their plan was. Next time they review and make a stronger plan.
My guess? They’re going to toss him in front of Maxima. There’s no way he’ll be able to do anything to harm her, but she’d be able to splatter him across the pavement without even trying. We’ve seen her have self-control issues before. How long do you think she’d be able to tolerate his vitriol before she snapped and murdered a civilian on live TV? That’d be a hell of a lot of negative press for poor Arianna to deal with, and it would likely hinder ARC for quite a while.
you’re really underestimating Maxima. The only time she lost control was when Vehemance was literally using a special power that made everyone around her lose control too. She may have a temper, but she knows how to conduct herself in a fight well enough.
You are forgetting when that guy in the conference baited her about burka’s, just to be able to snap a photo of her angry face for his collection
Or when she was testing Sydney’s shield in the conference room, because she’d forgotten about the collateral damage of her punches. There’s also the time after he bank robbery that she tossed around an ambulance that ostensibly had critically injured people in it. Sure, she knew nobody was actually in danger, but she got annoyed and forgot to keep up appearances. And while it wasn’t fully her fault, there’s also the time (in flashback) she got surprised and blew a hole in her house.
I don’t think she’d just walk up to the guy and rip his spine out. “Murder” was somewhat hyperbolic. But she does seem to have trouble remembering to moderate herself, so if he’s spraying buckshot and obscenities at people who aren’t invulnerable, and Max has to take action, I can easily see her forgetting to pull her punch enough for a vanilla mortal to live through it.
Even if there are extenuating circumstances, if a gif of Max splattering a guy across the sidewalk goes viral, it’s going to make life very difficult for ARCSwat. Especially in the wake of Max’s threatening display at the press conference.
Narratively speaking, Max is such a powerful character that any story Dave writes is going to have to have some reason why she can’t just snap her fingers and solve the problem. Something like this, where there’d be public pressure for her to step down from her position in ARCSwat, would be a very effective way to tie her hands and make the rest of the team deal with threats on their own.
Max knows more about her limitations. During the restaurant fight she was more or less being the coach on the sidelines directing the players unless someone (like Hex) attacked her until V showed up simply because she knows how much damage she’d do.
What if he’s a super, his powers are limited to taunting, and he just incidentally also happens to be a “cousin marrying type”?
Aren’t Supers supposed to be “the embodiment of perfection” or something like that? You mean there are Humans out there who would accept this as perfection? You Humans are a weird lot…
Don’t looks at me, I surpassed “Human Perfection” a long time ago.
Some of us take pride in being weird!
Dave said supers don’t grow hair below their heads. That guy is sporting arm fur.
Traps aren’t gay.
(yes they are, but we shouldn’t care either way)
It occurs to me that DaveB might have fallen into a trope trap here. In trying very hard to make Cooter the ‘obvious awful person that we should hate because he’s crude’ – he might have set up the ‘Strawman has a Point’ trope.
Think about it. Cooter’s entire family was killed by monsters, so now he wants to kill monsters. If your entire family was murdered by monsters, wouldnt you hate monsters too and want to kill them? In trying to make him as awful as possible, this has made him a sympathetic character.
In fact, it sets up a very good reason why the average human WOULD hate and fear monsters, given that ALL he knows about them, seemingly, is that monsters killed his family. Plus they’re right now using him, although he does not realize this. This is just more reason to have the average human think ‘Monsters are bad…. kill em.’
Humans do seem to have a knack for finding reasons to hate entire collectives of “them,” whether it be by skin color, religion, nationality, gender…
Im more reminded of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where there were humans killing monsters who hadnt yet done anything to them …. but they were still pretty evil creatures, like one who tgey pointed out to Buffy, asking why she was defending them when “that one is a species that eats babies!!!!” And the monster agreed that his species does in fact eat babies, and Buffy is like “you’re not helping!!!”
Guess no one thought to point out to those up-themselves self-righteous idiots about eggs, and veal, and that lamb roast they had last Sunday…
Do you not know the difference between a human baby and a animal? Humans have inherent moral worth. Animals don’t, and even if they do its far, far less.
Wow, just about the most speciesist thing I have ever heard! Of course it does match the kind of things that white supremacists say, about other races mind. So your moral compass is not unfamiliar, even if it is pointing at a different target.
There are a lot of animal-lovers who place an equal, or higher, moral worth on their pets, than themselves. A large number risk their lives, each year, trying to rescue drowning pets, for example. And some die, in the process.
Yet it is not one-way. There are many examples of dogs risking their lives to save humans. Sometimes in identical circumstances. One of the most heartwarming ones, I think from last year, was a toddler who wandered out of their home, in a blizzard (in one of the colder countries, like Russia).
Once a couple of hours had passed they were basically expecting just to find a corpse, as the toddler was not dressed for blizzard survival.
Yet it was found, safe and well, the following morning, with the family dog wrapped around it! It had stayed with the child throughout the blizzard. Risking its life as it could have easily found a less exposed place, or even gone indoors. So I rate that dog’s moral worth higher than many a human!
Likewise we only know snippets of the higher animals’ languages. Someday we might yet translate them fully and find that whales, chimps, elephants and octopi all have poets, philosophers, theologians and historians.
Just because they can’t build a Boeing dreamliner does not lessen their moral worth!
If I had to choose between saving the life of a random human and a random animal, I would save the person first. So, to that degree, I have some overlap with your stance.
However if I had the same choice between a dog, of known high moral worth, versus a human of conversely known low moral worth, I could not guarantee the same decision!
Oh, so it’s okay for hyu-mons to eat the offspring of other life-forms, but it’s not okay for other life-forms (some who may be older than mankind) to eat hyu-mon offspring? o_O
@ jee To add to your list… Fandom(As in what fiction you enjoy), smell, overall mental and physical health…
I’m worried that “Monsters” is in quotes. It could have been done by normal humans (or even supers), but he’s been convinced that they were monsters covered by the Veil. Then again, “Coot” could be some sort of sorcerous overlay on an upstanding citizen, so far removed from how that person normally acts that nobody would believe that he acted that way. This could be for the purpose of, as has been stated above, tricking Archon into killing, maiming, or incarcerating him “unjustly”. He could also be the next construct from Sciona, and “Coot” is just the OS for it.
Ultimately, I look forward to seeing where it goes with him. No matter what happens, it should be either amusing or satisfying.
I’m curious as to why The Veil doesn’t have an affect on Cthillia?
Nothing supernatural about having bandages around your face, is there?
The Veil needs to be coded for things. Given Cthillia’s comments, she is unique.
It took me quite some time to figure out what Coot meant by “one of them Akbar types.” All I got was a reference to Star Wars, and Cthillia’s final line did not help clarify matters. I was utterly confused as to what his issue was with fictional space squids.
Racism against the people of Mon Calamari runs deep.
Everyone’s calling bait, sacrifice, distraction, whatever.
What I hope to see is Coot actually turning out to be scary efficient at what he does. The others are “monsters”, but he, the human, outshines them all in cruelty. Classical “Humans are the real Monsters” stuff.
He’s disgusting, crude, and a joke. Which will make it all the more painful when he turns out to be most dangerous one among the whole menage of supernaturals. While everyone else has some sort of agenda, he’s just here to hurt people.
Sorta like Starfish in Unsounded.
Was lampshading the “racking unfired gun” trope intentional? If it was kudos for that, if it wasn’t well you did. That is clearly an unfired shotgun shell that has been ejected when Coot needlessly pumped the shotgun.
That is the worst weapon handling I have ever seen… Ejecting an unused round and finger on the trigger.
Most actual redneck/hunter/gun nut types I know would read ol’ Coot here the Riot Act for that.
“Gall’durnnit Coot! Ha’minny tames aya gunna’hafta tellu? Dun wase amma! Shit’spensive!”
Could be worse. At least the muzzle isn’t actually covering one of his new “friends”.
And, agreed, kudos to Dave for including the ejected shell. I came to the comments specifically to mention that. Just glad I scrolled through to see if anyone else already had.
Oh, I’ll be at A-kon too! Sad you won’t have a booth though
Um.. but troll ladies body just change?
the panel’s got “what coot sees” clearly pointed out…i.e. the veil at work.
So did worm-boy’s
I realize that it might be somewhat stereotypical, but PLEASE tell me that underneath all that hissing gravel, Cthillia has an English accent. She does in my head now, at least.
Yes, but which dialect? Geordie? Cockney? Dales? Cornwellian?
The stereotype is upperclass londoner but something different would be welcome.
That’s a very American thing to say… a “London” accent would be a cockney accent, which in US terms would be equivalent to a “Bronx” accent or something similar. An “upper class” or “RP” (Received Pronounciation) accent is what you mean, I think; it isn’t a Regional or local accent.
Hardly, given Spicefreak is from Scotland. :-D
Whilst Cockney is a London accent it is not an ‘upper class’ accent, quite the opposite. Plus it is traditionally a very localised one (you had to be born ‘within the sound of of beau bells’), although it is reasonably widely spread now (about a third of London).
Another third speak with an “Estuary” accent. Which is a blend of Cockney and “Standard” or “Queen’s” English. Which straddles the social classes.
The latter accent is also referred to as “Received Pronunciation” although most often by Americans. The elder term is actually “Standard English” though, as it was established in the 15th Century, in the City of London.
Those of older generations will often refer to it as “BBC English”, as it used to be mandated for all presenters to use it. As it was considered the ‘posh’ accent. Fortunately the BBC has gotten over that hangup and seeks out presenters with various local accents (both in the UK and overseas, for world-news reporting).
Queen’s English is very much regional mind, being most predominant in the South (hence why a third of London has it). As it is the one I have, I am very used to being classed as ‘posh’ or ‘a soft Southerner’. Or, for that matter, of having a ‘posh London accent’. Which, yea, it is considered to be.
Mind you, being spoken by a third of the city, that is not a very reliable guide. My dad is a Londoner, and has the some one, as did my granddad. As a railway worker though he was not upper class, nor my dad, nor myself.
But you get used to being pigeon-holed, by your accent, in the UK. Which is why I dropped the Afrikaans accent I grew up with (thanks to having a lot of Afrikaans friends, as a pup, as well as being taught, in that language, for half my lessons, in school).
Spicefreak did say ‘upperclass’
Wouldn’t say “BBC English” was used because ‘it sounded posh’, but more because it was more easily understood, they were taught how to properly announciate* the words clearly with a level tone (not a monotone)
*that has always seemed odd to be: ‘announce’ has an ‘o’ in, but the auto-wrecker tries to remove it when it comes to ‘announciate’, makes it sound like Anansi ate something o_O
Not liking the coot character; feels like real world politics I want to escape from are in this comic book. Also that character went much lower than I have ever seen done outside of fan service.
Coot would certainly be in the “Traps are gay” camp.
Because Traps are gay. Not that I care since I’m bi~
No “traps” are crossdressing individuals that may register anywhere on the sexual spectrum from hetero to homo to bi or even tedsexual. By the way why is it crossdressing when it is their style and thus appropriate for them to ware? I somewhere heard it was the idea to trap a hetero person into intimacy like it eliminated saying no but that’s not how no works.
First of all, “trap” is a pejorative along the lines of “spade,” “wetback,” or “kike.”
Second, bravo for knowing that gender does not have anything to do with sexual orientation. You’re far better informed than many people. However, crossdressing is not the same as being transgender, which I’m pretty sure is what bigots typically mean when they call someone a “trap.”
Minor grammar thing: in the first sentence, it is Coot’s dead family that wants to join the monster hunters.
I say minor for two reasons: first, ’cause people often speak in grammatically incorrect ways, so perhaps this character does as well. Second, we all understood the intent of the statement anyway.
Heck, maybe his dead family does want to join, and he’s just here to represent them…
It’s an amibiguity in English whether “Coots” is a modifier of the subject Family, or “Coots” is the subject of the entire compound sentence, and “family was killed…years back” is the first phrase of the compound sentence that applies to Coots. that is, is the correct parsing this:
Coot’s [family…back] AND [desires…cause]
or this:
Coot’s family [was…back] AND [desires…cause]
A well known almost-example of this ambiguity:
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.
Not really. “Coot’s” is in genitive case. The sentence “Coot .. desires” would use a nominative form without the ‘s.
I think Chuckles just lost track of his sentence subject. It happens.
This guy’s almost too much of a stereotype and a little too on the nose in some respects to be entirely entertaining. He needs a foil. Like, if you changed nothing about him, but gave him a ‘my little pony’ tee-shirt he would be somehow. . . does ‘better’ even apply here?
But hey, that’s just my inane opinion.
Ayyyyy. You’re a republican or “economically conservative” democrat, aren’t you?
I don’t know of any way that “my little pony” could be an indicator of political inclination. But the rednick would look silly (and incongruous) in a “my little pony” shirt.
Not at all. I’d describe myself as nearly the opposite, if I didn’t find self identification with political parties to be intellectually and societally toxic. Political parties are like whirlpools of adversarial circular reasoning and distracting, divisive rhetoric that ultimately only serve people who thrive on pushing their own manufactured brand of horse-shit-as-truth through the festering port hole of identity politics.
Now you erroneously jumped to the conclusion that I’m someone who self identifies with conservative doctrine and has jumped out of the woodwork to shout ” We children o’ the sun dern’t act like dat! ” and you’re first reaction was one of dismissive derision. Which is actually rather my admittedly ill-expressed point.
When you get create a character that’s a ball of negative aspects, you’ll get indifference or rejection. Yes, with some people you’re actually going to have some reverse Poe’s Law effects. Someone may go “yep, that’s a hillbilly, they sure are terrible” or you hit too close to home and send the persons who could most benefit from glimpsing some unpleasant truth about themselves in that character running off into the night shrieking about straw men. It’s not engaging on either end of the spectrum, because people tend to define themselves into in and out groups, and moreover there’s no surprise, no mental whiplash. A bit of absurdism let’s people distance themselves and laugh or learn instead of just being horrified or tuning out.
Well then, sorry if that’s not cohesive, I wrote it in chunks here and there whenever I had five minutes.
tldr – never go full hillbilly ?
I can’t say that we haven’t seen any stereotypes so far but this is really the first purely pejorative stereotype that has been presented. Am I wrong about that? I also know that it doesn’t matter much but I should at least point out how entirely lazy it is to include it.
You could say that Max is the stereotypical angry feminist, Sydney is the stereotypical distracted nerd-girl, and so on; although both are slightly more complicated than that. But in the spirit of equal opportunity with ole Coot here I wonder if we will be seeing a stereotypical African-American? Perhaps we will be treated to a stereotypical Latino or Mexican? Oh here’s one, maybe we could see the stereotypical female driver in action, or any stereotype of women circa 1960. What a hoot, right? No? Oh, would those be inappropriate?
Huh…
But luckily there is still an underclass we can all laugh at.
You know it is a little telling. ScytheMassakur’s icon is of Peter Dinklage who once said in an interview with the New York times : “Dwarves are still the butt of jokes. It’s one of the last bastions of acceptable prejudice. “
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/peter-dinklage-was-smart-to-say-no.html
There are a few bastions to go I think Peter. So until we see a sexy Mrs. Teschmacher come wobbling through, forgetting her glasses in her head because we all know she can’t get anything right in a man’s world, I think I will point out that these sorts of literary devices only serve to inflame rather than entertain.
You can’t make everyone happy… but c’mon.
We have only seen the old coot for two damn pages
And I would like to add to your comment, do you think the villains are stupid?
Let’s talk about the cast of characters we see here right this moment.
Two vampires, one of which was alive during the Age of Vikings. Both of them are going to be super fast, super strong, and hard to hurt. Both of them easily have a minimum of a few hundred years of experience involving conflict and battle (and that is assuming Gunhyldyr (spelling is not a strong suit) is the older of the two, which may not be the case.)
Cthillia has been shown to induce heart attacks by looking at you, is equally ancient, and is part of Deus’ strike team, which means she has to have at least baseline soldier ability in hand to hand combat.
Sciona, who I did not include with vampires, is a vampire/troll monstrosity, and a blood mage so dangerous her introduction was “But she’s supposed to be dead” which is a classic indication of “Oh crap super scary villain”.
We know next to nothing about Wyrmil, but he’s at least a smart enough enemy to be worried about relying on his enemies stupidity, which is a good sign for him being dangerous.
Chuckles is a doctor of stupifying skill if things are to be believed.
They didn’t just go and pick up a random trope of a crazy guy. They went for Coot specifically. Whether it is skill or a particular item they need. Even a fall guy to throw suspicion off, there would be better people to choose, he’s bringing something to the table that is worth putting up with him for, and these people are dangerous enough alone that that should mean something
Well reasoned :)
Butt… Sci-fright is not a ‘vampire/troll’ monstrosity, her base species has yet to be determined and her new body is most likely that on an ogre or an orc, she took an injection of troll blood to repair the damage from Pixel Panther
Why not use “Moose-Lambs” like SNL did?
“Uploader hasn’t made this video available in my country”. Which is the US.
Really? Normally I’m the one seeing that message (I’m in Australia). But it’s from one of the Sean Spicer press conference skits – the first one, I believe.
Funny.
“… will not be de-turd…”
*wags tail appreciatively*
I been thinking if veil dosent work on snake like lady cant spell her name. and shes not a super then means shes probly an alien without a cloaking device of some kind
The Veil works on aliens as well, remember Jean Greenie fro the nightclub? And that alien tourist at the Grand Canyon?
He knows that they’re monsters, right guys? That’s why he offers to off them after they kill other monsters.
He’s talking exclusively to the unveiled Cthilia at the time.
Oh em GOODNESS! I love Coot! I wanna see a spinoff series, “Coot, Monster Hunter!” He could slay vampires and werewolves and leprechauns!
It’d be like in Preacher when Jody and T.C. got their own one-shot ^3^
Do you think if he shoots one with his gun it will spill out Lucky Charms everywhere?
In the what Coot sees panel? Yes.
I’d seriously hire him just because of his introduction, more specifically I’d hire him because anyone that can actually pull off his introduction with anything resembling a straight face is freaking hilarious at parties. The trick is just to avoid laughing, which honestly is not easy XD
I’m getting visions of Cooter sitting in traffic, yelling about women and Asian drivers, only for the camera to pan out to him driving an American Flag monster truck.
Day one reader, first time commenter here.
While in a technical sense there is no limit to how Dave writes his characters, what many authors fail to consider is that the point of a webcomic is to have people want to read it. Lazy, over-stereotyped portrayals like this one and the whole ‘gosh, I hope I don’t offend the WRONG people, because I certainly don’t mind offending the RIGHT people’ thing don’t cause people to only dislike the character, but the author and his comic as well.
It’s one-dimensional, which is the ultimate sin of character writing. It’s cowardly, because it takes cheap shots at people’s beliefs (both religious and non-religious) for no perceived risk. I see enough of these caricatures of people in what’s disparagingly called ‘flyover country’ in the news and opinion journalism…I don’t need to see it when I’m trying to escape all that and just be entertained.
If you truly are a ‘day one reader’ (as in, someone who has being reading since day one, and not simply read the first day and then left for 10 years) then you will know that noneof that applies to DaveB
Again, this is only the second damn day we have seen the Coot!
It ‘didn’t’ apply to him until this depiction, which is why I stayed with the comic until it ‘did’ apply to him. Now that it does I’m not so sure I want to continue reading. I’m sick of the hypocrisy of there being both acceptable and unacceptable targets for hatred.
Well that does seem to be a bit extreme, given that the comic has shown what must be close to a hundred characters by now, of various sorts. Having a hundred good (or acceptable) characters, and one that falls short of expectations, is too bad, in the grand scheme of things.
Personally though, I reserved expressing my hatred for a female character, because of the traitorous behaviour she was exhibiting. Being a pretty white girl, that would not be a typical target to be set up for such!
Another one which was justifiably hateable was Shadowboxer, for his gleeful backstabbing. The big brawler guy, who got nose-booped was also set up to be unlikable. Apart from his size, all of these characters are fairly average members of their society (barring the ‘automatic good looks’ of heroes).
Whereas guy is just distasteful. And there is no particular reason to hate him, as he is seeking revenge for his family being killed by monsters.
So it seems to be that Dave is allowed to create fairly average members of mainstream society. But is not allowed to make one that is of a specific real-world stereotype. Stereotype vampire – fine. Werewolf – no probs. Southerner – *throws toys out of pram*
Um, just as a turn of phrase. It is not my intent to drive you back into the shadows, by making implications about yourself.
Plus, as others have pointed out, Dave very often masks the plot developments, with red-herrings. Although if this guy is what he appears to be, he is just a disposable fall-guy. So is not really worth our ire.
“is too bad” = “is not too bad”
As active military, I think you nailed Coot’s “Ackbar types” question perfectly. That was good for a solid laugh in my book.
And no, I’m not saying I agree with how that was portrayed (we do have to have cultural sensitivity training and all that jazz), however I do see where the basis for the character sits and yea, it’s creatively amusing to me (but so is joking about how those knuckleheads can’t aim a rocket as it sails over our heads).
How often did they do it a night with you? Was it while you were in a 4 story building a football field long and about half that wide? Did they do it from less than 30 yards away? Uuuh noooooo I have no experience with them being bad shoots really.
Maybe its my twisted sense of humor, or maybe how you describe Coot, but for some reason I swear I hear him voiced by Elmer Fudd….. Either that or Yosemite Sam…..
Oh heavens, Yosemite Sam would be perfect!
Also, I’m thinking a monster hunter like Coot is either very clever and hides this under a stupid Redneck persona (the reverse of golden/silver age superman hiding as a wimpy fearful Clark Kent), or is so skilled/difficult to kill that being a stupid Redneck doesn’t matter.
Remember when some of us (myself included) grumbled about Pixel because we couldn’t see what she brought to the story? Then she turns out to be a shapeshifting pink were
pantherleopard. DaveB is subtle and loves to blindside his audience.+1³
I don’t know, he could actually be hyper intelligent and be currently pretending to be stupid. He knows what they are after all and he came in knowing, so he really could be playing them in order to get in close for the kill…
That is the joy of seeing the ‘bad guys’ side of things. Good guys can (barring anomalies like Harem) generally trust each other.
Whereas their opposite numbers pretty much always have to assume that their ‘colleagues’ have an ulterior motive.
Is he even a real human? Given the doc’s…. skills… and the bad guys use of golems. Couldn’t he be a humanoid golem who’s a trap for Arc? (not the sexual kind)
Wondering how many people actually know the term ‘caricature’, but judging by a lot of the comments, the answer would be: “NO!”