Comic for Monday, June 20th, 2022

Jun21

by PastUtopia on June 21, 2022 at 3:15 am

Chapter: Chapter 17

Characters: Arron, David, Mium, Rovak

Location: Far Side of Utopia

Comic. Sorry this took a bit longer than expected.

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Discussion (32) ¬

Naldru

June 23, 2022, 1:37 am | # | Reply

In that center-top piece of the page, are those branching structures to the left and right supposed to represent decision trees for Mium and Rovak?
- Jim
  
  June 23, 2022, 8:41 am | # | Reply
  
  It represents Eidos data and Mium’s F8 connection to the rest of Mium spread out among all/most net connected devices.
  
  Hmmmm … That may be the reason for Rovak’s insanity. In the monday-november-1st-2021 comic, Tyler sees lines coming from F8 Mium’s head. Mium warns Tyler to leave the Palace Beyond since “a human mind cannot handle too much Eidos data. If you go insane …”
Nivek

June 22, 2022, 8:35 pm | # | Reply

just checking but where Arron calls Rovak a “walking war criminal”, did you mean “walking war crime” instead? Because that would make a lot more sense.
- Dave Howe
  
  June 23, 2022, 2:29 pm | # | Reply
  
  I think both/either would work.
  Rovak is a war criminal – that is, one who commits war crimes.
  But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was himself the victim of (or evidence of) a war crime, unless he became a psychotic immortal warmage of his own volition of course.
  - Nivek
    
    June 23, 2022, 4:14 pm | # | Reply
    
    Most war criminals are capable of walking, so calling him a walking war criminal doesn’t make much sense.
    
    However Rovak is insane and loves blowing people, places and things up. His mere presence is begging for atrocities and collateral damage. Thus his presence is esentially a war crime waiting to happen…. a walking war crime.
    - Glider
      
      June 24, 2022, 11:30 am | # | Reply
      
      Probably walking war crime.
      
      However not all war criminals walk. Only those still alive and free. Those who have been arrested or executed tend not to be as “foolishly pugnacious” as those who are still walking about. I’m guessing, my sample size is small.
- Skulker
  
  June 24, 2022, 9:21 am | # | Reply
  
  No, “walking war criminal” carries the correct meaning. The “walking” adjective serves as an emphasis to the accusation of being a war criminal in the same way that “blatant” does for “blatant liar”. Rovak is not just a war criminal but he is a here and now strutting, in-your-face example of same.
SiliconWolf

June 22, 2022, 2:29 am | # | Reply

Panels 3 and 4 made me laugh so hard! (it was laughter born out of sympathetic terror)

After all, just because you spell ‘digital god’ without an uppercase letters, doesn’t mean you aren’t in danger of being smited.
- Jim
  
  June 22, 2022, 7:20 pm | # | Reply
  
  If one thinks about it, there is symbolism in panel 3. Picture the M.Y.M. symbol as the “Eye Of God” and Rovak knows that God is taking a close look at him. Besides a shocked look, Rovak didn’t panic and leave like Elmon did. Poor Elmon lost bladder control and teleported out. I wonder where Elmon went and when we’ll see him again.
The Sidhekin

June 21, 2022, 7:08 pm | # | Reply

“This is the last rope down the well. Take it.”

Man, Arron may be desperately trying to talk David down, but he still lives by his flair.

And it’s still adorable. 🙂
Ferrus

June 21, 2022, 6:29 pm | # | Reply

Happy Birthday, PastUtopia!

As I recall MayW is the one that managed the site while PastUtopia was gone, so am taking their word for it. But it might just be a successful prank.
Delta-v

June 21, 2022, 2:01 pm | # | Reply

I’m going to take a chance here and also say Happy birthday, Past! ^^
Jim

June 21, 2022, 12:53 pm | # | Reply

In panels 2 through 5, Rovak has an Elmon moment. Perhaps Elmon is who Rovak is referring to when he says “I think I can see why he fears you.”
- Ferrus
  
  June 21, 2022, 6:27 pm | # | Reply
  
  My best guess is he means Doctor Martin, which probably ties into what happened here. We know that Rovak can see Martin’s “ghost”.
  
  My theory is that Rovak can either partially see into Eidos (like Magnolia) or that he is a cyborg/prototype of some kind. Depending on the nature of Martin’s “ghost” either of those could explain why he can see something other people cannot (Mir is being somewhat evidence for the later, but it’s also possible she can see into Eidos give her modifications and profession).
  - Jim
    
    June 21, 2022, 8:11 pm | # | Reply
    
    My old brain doesn’t remember a confrontation between Mium and Dr. Martin. I do seem to remember Dr. Martin commenting that he was glad Peter brought MYM back.
    
    Panel 3 of today’s comic reminded me of when Elmon looked at Mium while in the Palace Beyond.
    
    In comic-for-monday-october-11th-2021/
    at/in the Palace Beyond, Elmon looks at Mium, sees something frightening and says “You… It’s infinite- You’re not- Stay away!” Elmon promptly teleports back to the “real” world leaving Mium, Tyler and Amy stranded. By the look on Rovak’s face in today’s panel 4, Rovak was shocked but didn’t freak out like Elmon did.
    - EmperorArthur
      
      June 21, 2022, 11:42 pm | # | Reply
      
      I don’t believe there has been a confrontation. Though, I believe Dr. Martin did say he killed Mium. Which could easily be because he was afraid of him.
      
      This shows why Rovak has lived so long, despite there likely being several people who could kill him. I say that because Kally’s dragon erases Eidos, and there have to be others as well. He knows when to back down.
      
      My bet for why he didn’t freak out is that Rovak already knew what Mium is, and that he just has more experience with the weird and unknowable. Plus, some people just react differently.
      - NavTrans
        
        June 22, 2022, 5:33 pm | # | Reply
        
        The latter seams pretty likely, given that Rovak also immediately recognized that ILA is an artificial human .
  - Jim
    
    June 24, 2022, 3:14 pm | # | Reply
    
    Just had another thought. Perhaps Mir and Rovak seeing too much Eidos drove them insane as Mium warned would/could happen. Same for Dr Martin?
willis

June 21, 2022, 11:31 am | # | Reply

Happy Birthday man.
Dave Howe

June 21, 2022, 8:28 am | # | Reply

Reclassify!
Mr Zombie -> Mr Psychotic Warmage

😀
- Tgape
  
  June 27, 2022, 5:13 pm | # | Reply
  
  Well, I don’t think that Mium necessarily wants David to understand that Mr. Zombie is Mr. Zombie. Sure, David’s *seen* it enough to call Rovak a cockroach, but it could adjust David’s assessment to know that other people have seen it also. Further, I don’t think referring to Rovak as Mr. Zombie would possibly be conducive to Mium’s goals here, while pointing out that Rovak is a bit more combat happy than a group known for being a bit combat happy, so by not backing down, David is committing to actions that he would himself classify as insane could possibly work. It doesn’t look like it did, but it could have.
Josh S.

June 21, 2022, 5:21 am | # | Reply

Glad to have it, Creator!

And… David really is a bit slow. He’s already been told what his options are and already been told that he is wrong about whether that is a Family mage or not – rogue or otherwise.

He just can’t accept either that simple truth or that he is *that* far out of his league. He couldn’t beat Rovak, but Rovak doesn’t want to fight Mium. Yet David thinks such a fight is a good idea? Or even the best available?

And he’s already been told that Arron would take him back to Central, where David could “expose” that traitor’s actions, yet he is refusing that, too!

And I gather it is your birthday, Creator? I hope it has been a happy one and that the year ahead bring just enough challenge to be interesting, with plenty of joy along the way!
- Jindra34
  
  June 21, 2022, 12:32 pm | # | Reply
  
  I don’t think its just that he can’t accept that he’s that far out of his league. He refuses to accept that the ‘locals’ can measure up to the IDS and therefore their decisions shouldn’t reflect on his. If asked, he’d say that he would have killed Rovak if Arron (and Mium) hadn’t interfered, and he 100% believes that. He’s got a superiority complex the size of a planet, both for him and the IDS.
  Arron’s ‘treason’ is simply accepting the fact that the IDS aren’t powerful enough to impose their will on this ‘backwater’ nation.
  - EmperorArthur
    
    June 21, 2022, 11:34 pm | # | Reply
    
    I agree. Arron’s literally offering him exactly what he wants, but it means admitting that he can’t do it by himself. There’s a small chance he backs down, and a not insignificant chance he attacks Arron.
    
    Personally, I’m calling for Naomi coming out of left field and everyone else on David’s side realizing they’re outnumbered. It doesn’t matter if the enemy is using muskets to a modern rifle and body armor. If there’s ten of them pointing them at your head you surrender.
    
    Plus, you know, Arron’s offering them a way home. If David doesn’t take it that’s on him.
    
    It’s also a different beast politically between one person in foreign custody for attempted murder of a head of state and an entire team trapped there.
    - Tgape
      
      June 27, 2022, 5:09 pm | # | Reply
      
      Not quite. Accepting Arron’s offer means he goes back ‘arrested’. Even if Arron hadn’t said the word, that he’s the director of Criminal Investigations would have implied that anyway.
      
      It probably doesn’t matter. While it’s almost certainly not yet resolved into a coherent thought in David’s mind, and certainly not a coherent thought that David would be willing to accept right now, however David got back to Central, he’d not find the support he wants and part of him knows that.
      
      Assuming that he doesn’t go with Arron but survives this to get back to Central, I see him finding himself going on a rampage there, too, on finding out that he has indeed been classified as a war criminal. Clearing his name would require that he got a lawyer and fight it through the courts, but I’m guessing he’d instead try to fight it through the streets in the suit, cementing the charge to a point far past any possible recovery.
      
      Of course, that’s abstracting from the little we’ve seen of him. David could very easily be a more complicated person and we’ve just seen him at inopportune times. But I can only go with what I’ve seen.
- Jim
  
  June 21, 2022, 12:48 pm | # | Reply
  
  I think that David is using cocaine.
  - Glider
    
    June 21, 2022, 2:42 pm | # | Reply
    
    Cocaine would explain a lot.
    
    When the crazy war mage decides to leave a player on the battle field unmolested and walk away? It takes a lot, possibly chemically induced help, to say “I think I’d like a piece of that! ”
    
    But hey, plain simple stupid sure goes a long way too.
  - Dave Howe
    
    June 23, 2022, 2:34 pm | # | Reply
    
    Or combat drugs that give an equivalent mental outlook of course.
    - Tgape
      
      June 27, 2022, 4:58 pm | # | Reply
      
      It feels more like combat drugs that do a bit more than cocaine.
      
      Granted, I’ve only known a couple cocaine users. But the people I knew who used cocaine didn’t seem to be completely stupidly into actual fighting with people while on it. More irritable and more prone to fighting than baseline, sure. Just, not to this degree.
      
      One of them even let a couple of burly security guards walk him out of his employer’s building when he was fired for being intoxicated on the job. Granted, they were each literally twice his size, and the employer had deliberately selected two of their biggest security guards for the job knowing what he was on.
      
      Of course, I don’t know what David was like prior to getting one of those suits. But I do suspect that the suits do present something of a combat drug effect, even if it’s just “holy crap, look what I can do with this thing!”.
      
      I am guessing from Arron’s comment that he was probably just somebody who was found to be physically capable and adept to doing things in the suit, so, hey, wanna lead a squad?
MayW

June 21, 2022, 3:30 am | # | Reply

Happy Birthday, PastUtopia!
- Glider
  
  June 21, 2022, 1:43 pm | # | Reply
  
  WooHoo! Happy Birthday, Past!
  
  Rock out loud brother! Party in Vegas!
  - NavTrans
    
    June 22, 2022, 5:33 pm | # | Reply
    
    Happy belated birthday, PastUtopia!