This is it, the last SuperFogeys of the regular story for a couple of weeks. This strip wasn’t intended to be an extended cliffhanger, but now that we have it serving that purpose I quite like it. What happens immediately following this strip is my favorite stuff in this chapter, so it will be good to come at it refreshed.
Two weeks! But we’re not leaving you high and dry. On Monday you’ll get the first of four new strips from me as a solo act, doing both writing and drawing chores. It’s been a long time since I’ve drawn anything with that kind of regularity, so we’ll find out together how it goes. As of this writing I have about one and a half strips completed and only two written. But don’t worry, I’ll meet my deadlines. Expect all four strips to roll out on the usual days.
Headed to NYCC this weekend? Don’t forget to stop by Table i6 in Artist Alley to say hello to SuperFogeys artist Marc Lapierre! Get all the details on what he’ll be doing right here!
Jerry’s either going to get punched or walked out on. Possibly both.
My money’s on punched. Or worse.
Yeah, mine too. And a gool old-fashioned scolding afterwards.
I think she’s going to snap his neck, nevermind punching him.
I’m predicting a bloody beatdown for Jerry here, although if wanted here a really great event that nobdy would see coming, I would like to see Spygirl dead (suicide or by Jerry’s hand) so Jerry would have to suffer with her loss for the rest of the eternity, knowing that all his plans came to that point.
I don’t know. I feel like her just walking out on Jerry and leaving him alone and immobilized, stuck with his plans and his loneliness forever (until he dies of old age) would be more apropos.
I mean, he’s clearly insane. There’s no point in getting vindictive on someone so far gone into their delusion that they won’t care about you yelling at/beating them up.
Here comes the well deserved windup for the punch/slap moment… 🙂
I manipulated everyone and destroyed half of Las Vegas stalking you, but am willing to sleep on the couch for it.
Lets see how much our heroes have learned. With their past misadventures there is a good chance that spy gal will accept it because heroes always do when the villain gives the “Sorry speech” (especially when they don’t mean it). Well spy gal do the same or will her do something else instead?
But Jerry is not apologizing 🙂 He’s boasting! He claims that what he has done is a proof of how much he loves her, he doesn’t regret anything, he just offers to do MORE things to prove his love. He still believes that what he did was right, and everything has been for the best. Spygal can’t possibly forgive him, because if he isn’t regretting anything there IS nothing to forgive 🙂
I’m hoping he gets knocked out, or else he could still escape.
However, my money is on someone losing it and there being at least one death.
I’m expecting something along the lines of …
“You are an Idiot!”
At the very least. Possibly followed up by a slap.
I have decided that SuperFogeys has a very violent fanbase.
I’d wager nobody can contradict you on this one.
Violent in spirit maybe, but I’m sure only a tenth of us would would hurt a fly so much as flee in fear of it.
I respectfully disagree that I am violent, much less very violent. I am the veriest picture of peacefulness.
While all violence is force, not all force is violence. It is a misnomer that all uses of force must be violent because they have the potential to cause injury, pain, or even death. Context is everything. While Gandhi preached passive resistance to collective authority, he also bespoke individual self-defense, even with deadly force. Why would one be bad and the other good? It depends on boundaries, discipline, and control.
Violence is not simply being forceful, aggressive, or even causing harm. Violence is inextricably linked to its root, “to violate”. But what is being violated when one is being violent? Boundaries, discipline, and control, both on an individual scale and on the collective group scale. Violence is when one acts in disregard of laws, customs, and the boundaries of others. What is being violated is the sanctity of the ones attacked, and the society to which one belongs, whose rules have been callously tossed away to that end. The social contract is violated. The individuals for whom one has no respect are violated. You can do so with the simplest of acts that causes no injury and cannot kill, or using complex means to blow up a building. It is the flagrant disregard of the boundaries of another for personal gain that makes it violence. Degree of injury does not necessarily so equate.
Self-defense is one of the cases where it does not so equate. When one is violated by a violent person, or threatened with imminent danger of same, one has the RIGHT to stop that danger, to negate that threat. This will require the application of force. But one must be responsible with that force, to use it precisely, to rein it in and control it, to shape it solely for the purpose of negating that which is arrayed against you and no further. One must be mindful (in the purest sense of the word) of laws and customs, and be considerate of boundaries and respectful, even toward that whom you are defending against.
You stop the threat. If that simply requires subduing the attacker, and you can achieve this with pepper spray — or if it requires shooting the attacker three times to center of mass — you stop the threat. If it is done in full accordance with law and custom, and respectful of the person whom you are defending against, it is not, by definition, violence. It is the antithesis of violence. The synthesis of violence and defense is…peace.
It may be peace through superior firepower, but it is not violence.
I’d untie Jerry. I wouldn’t remove his dampers. I’d say “get out of my life, forever.” I’d say “you’ve perverted the concept of love into control, power, and possession, and because you did not respect my own love, I no longer feel it for you. I do not love you. I do not want you. I want you to go away and never return, either in person or by any form of proxy.” Then I would wait.
Jerry might well lose it at that point and attack openly in rage. Then I would calmly put a bullet in his brain. It is not violence to defend oneself against a violent animal. It can even be akin to removing a predator that has learned to like the taste of human flesh because it is an untenable danger.
So no, Brock, I am not very violent. I am coldly precise and insist on responsibility for my own safety. I will do no harm to any being that does not first seek to harm me. But if they do so, I will finish it.
Well, I’ve been schooled.
Gwen, you’ve taken what I intended as a small (very small) joke and turned into a launch for some incredibly interesting thoughts on violence. There’s a lot to digest there and I’d be interested in more of your thoughts after things play out a bit.
Your points, however, on what is and what is not violence, are well taken.
Curses, Patricia beat me to saying, “Snap his neck.” Leaving Jerry locked away to drown in his sorrow over loosing Spy Gal would certainly be gratifying. After all, you can’t make your enemies suffer any more if you just kill them. I’ve always thought having your heart’s desire and loosing it is far worse than never having it at all. While some people might choose to treasure those fleeting memories of bliss and take comfort in them, most people would be tortured by them as a constant reminder of what they had lost. Since Jerry is obviously not in his right mind, very dangerous, and is someone Spy Gal loved, putting him out of his misery may seem like the most humane thing to do.
Especially with the “Oh Honey” and gentle touch and look you give a sick animal before you put it down…
I forsee a left hook in Jerry’s future.
I foresee that whatever violence people are guessing at, Jerry would take it all a thousand times over in lieu of the broken heart she’s about to hand him.
I really feel for the guy. A lifetime of ambition that culminated in his losing everything at the precipice of victory.
SpyGal, have some self-respect and don’t let him loose. EVER!!
I see two ways of this happen one the violent route with a quip like “I want a divorce” or I bet more calm and somber brooding of Spygirl about how she’s shocked Jerry fell this far for her, than she’ll tell Jerry it’s best if they separate and leave the room with Jerey screaming madly or sadly after her
[…] The Q and A strips are not intended to be part of the current narrative. They stand outside of that which is why I put them in the “Extras” section. If you missed the latest update in the main story, you can check that out right here. […]
I don’t think the Super Fogey’s, including Spy Gal, can just walk out on Jerry or stuff him in a prison somewhere. They RAISED him essentially, besides Aunt Harriet, from the time he was taken on by Captain Spectacular as a side kick and joined the league of super heroes he was their responsibility.
So, I would propose that growing up around Captain Spectacular, Spy Gal, and the rest is a big part of what made Jerry what he is today. The man composed of Jerry, The Third Man, and Dr. Klein is a creation of how the superfogeys treated Jerry as a kid and taught him how to behave through their example. Given that, it is their responsibility to treat Jerry humanely in how they chose to deal with his transgressions. That doesn’t mean let him off the hook, just recognize their part in the creation of this villain.
[…] SuperFogeys Q and A: 3 of 4 by Brock Heasley on October 21st, 2013 Comic » Extras/Guest Strips » Extras Week 2 of Marc’s break! I do art on these extra strips and Marc comes back next week! Miss the last regular update on the main story? Check it out right here. […]