July 9th, 2010
Page 378
Comics for July 9, 2010 - Page 378
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July 9th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Well, I confess to a certain degree of surprise. He’s not quite as much of a pure evil idiot as I’d thought. Guess that shows how judgemental I can be when I’m in a depressive phase.
However, there’s still the aristocratic arrogance in full display, and hopefully the guard won’t just rob her blind.
July 9th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
And so he see himself in her. And he’s giving her her chance to be free, which he isn’t. Even if she doesn’t understand or want to.
Dude, that’s the most humanity we’ve seen out of him. Maybe his situation isn’t completely beyond hope.
July 9th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
@Lictre While not a pure evil idiot, he’s still an idiot. If any of his enemies learns of this bit of generosity, we could see the girl again, though not necessarily alive at the time, or wanting to remain so if she is.
July 9th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
He needs to throw away his only touch of remorse. Knowing what his future will bring, at least he knows he did ONE THING for the good. From this moment forward, all that he does, no matter how terrible, will have little to no affect to him. Psychotic is him…
Jeez, where did that come from. “Bartender, more Scotch! Need to scrub what few brain cells I have left”.
July 9th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Bah. He thinks that giving her money makes everything alright again. Soothes his soul, etcetera. What a worthless POS.
July 9th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
[quote]Well, I confess to a certain degree of surprise. He’s not quite as much of a pure evil idiot as I’d thought. Guess that shows how judgemental I can be when I’m in a depressive phase.[/quote]
I am not surprised at all, it is entirely within his character. He is not a caricature but a person… a traitorous power hungry person that will deal with urts, sell out his family and country for power, and blow off at a whim and beat someone for just “being there” when he is angry, but he is an actual person.
July 9th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
[quote]Bah. He thinks that giving her money makes everything alright again. Soothes his soul, etcetera. What a worthless POS.[/quote]
Looks to me like he is sending her away from him, somewhere where he is not going to hurt her again.
July 9th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
[quote]Dude, that’s the most humanity we’ve seen out of him. Maybe his situation isn’t completely beyond hope.[/quote]
While it is extremely human of him, that merely makes him realistic, not redeem his crimes or absolves him of responsibility. Its not like he had a change of heart and decided to not sell his people out and stop his dealing with the urrts. He is the exact same person he was 20 strips ago, you just now view him as a person instead of a complete monster, but not let this newfound revelation gloss over the bits where he is a power hungry traitor who deserves death.
July 9th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
@author: very nice touch with the last panel, clearly showing that even in his “remorseful apology” (the money) he is still being a bully (”Did I say you can ask me why?”)
My prediction is that he asks the guards to see her out of the castle, unharmed, but if she ever comes back .
July 9th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Well damn.
I’m surprised. But he didn’t say “I’m sorry” so… meh.
July 9th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
@Jim Farris, for that level of culture, yep, money would have been a more than ample. Look up “weregild”. Of course, JED isn’t sticking to our world, but some of the similar concepts should apply.
July 9th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Jim, he did more than give her money, he SET HER FREE. Of him, of the life she was living before, giving her a chance at a better one. No, it does not entirely absolve him of his crimes, but it makes him a little more human and a little less of a monster.
It also guarantees his death warrant. You’ve seen in before in various works of fiction, where the apparently irredeemable villain makes a sacrifice for the good of someone else, then dies shortly afterwards (half the time it’s the sacrifice that leads directly to the villain’s death).
So don’t worry, JED has just guaranteed that Maldik will get the violent death that’s coming to him-and that at least some of us will feel sorry for him when he gets it.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
He is not totally through-and-through evil.
He can die fast.
Or attempting to redeem himself (Darth Vader style)
But he has to die.
July 10th, 2010 at 3:19 am
[quote]Jim, he did more than give her money, he SET HER FREE.[/quote]
interesting, I might have mixed up some different comics. I Thought she was a manipulative power hungry girl trying to sleep her way into power. If she is a slave of sorts I completely missed it and mixed her up with a character from another comic (don’t laugh, I have 1748 seperate comics in my “actively read webcomics” bookmarks directory… anyways, I should go reread some of the archives to clear it up…
anyways, I retract my questioning of her own morals if that is the case.. she would be just a random innocent.
July 10th, 2010 at 3:20 am
but just to clarify, as I said before, even if she wasn’t it doesn’t justify his actions.
July 10th, 2010 at 3:40 am
I Know as a reader mine is not to direct only to enjoy. That said FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, If you do kill this POS, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be death by Spikey Anvil
July 10th, 2010 at 4:09 am
No apologizing, but instead a lot of gold to send her away with. His way of saying I’m sorry, I guess.
And the poor girl doesn’t understand any of it. Hopefully she will buy a new life for herself and find happiness.
July 10th, 2010 at 4:42 am
I dont think it’s such a great thing, as people said he is only trying to cover for the guilt he is feeling, also: Only the wisest and the stupidest of men never change. Guess what he is.
July 10th, 2010 at 4:54 am
Woah. That was quite surprising.
lol gremalkin XD
He is stupid, although it is a nice act of generosity.
But…Jesus, Maldik, you just threw out the only person in the world (apart from your mother) \who actually wants to be near your miserable existence. She looks like an abandoned puppy in the last 2 frames. I hope she doesn’t get robbed, she doesn’t look smart enough to keep the money safe for long,
July 10th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Holy s**t. I just thought that Maldik’s face in the last panel looks kind of cute. I need therapy. O_o
July 10th, 2010 at 6:46 am
Has not changed my mind.
I’ve lived through situations with similar people.
He needs to die…slowly and painfully.
July 10th, 2010 at 6:58 am
And he runs away again…
At least he tried to do something good while he did so…
July 10th, 2010 at 7:11 am
“They always feel sorry afterwards.” The beaten spouse survivor. At least this sycophant has enough decency not to be possessive and actually sent her away. Nothing is stopping him from getting another “punching bag” though.
July 10th, 2010 at 7:48 am
When people strat giving away their posessions… may wish to move away from the blast radius.
July 10th, 2010 at 10:45 am
To those rooting for Maldik’s death, I give a reminder: sometimes the bad prince lives.
“So who kills Prince Humperdinck?”
“Nobody kills him. He lives.”
And another quote from _The Princess Bride_ that was in the book but not the movie: Life isn’t fair. It’s just more fair than death. >:)
July 10th, 2010 at 11:17 am
re: my last post; methinks Maldik looked into a mirror after all…
July 10th, 2010 at 11:28 am
I see a different picture. M’s whole life has been surrounded by royal plots and betrayal. Manipulating and selling out people at his social level and more conniving than himself (however ineptly), and treating the kingdom as a personal leverage tool, this is all part of normal life for him. But giving a helpless girl a beatdown is a moral cliff he’s never crossed before, and he’s horrified about it. In his dysfunction, this pathetic and condescending attempt at recompense is quite simply the best he knows how to do. He may have never once _seen_ an example of integrity, honor, selflessness, honesty, courage, generosity, affection, or even common courtesy without ulterior motives.
He’s an eel in a sea of sharks, a product of his environment, remarkable for having survived this long, but his time is running out. He’s more sympathetic than he seems. Redeemable? Everyone is in real life. In this story? I dunno…
July 10th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
[quote]He may have never once _seen_ an example of integrity, honor, selflessness, honesty, courage, generosity, affection, or even common courtesy without ulterior motives.[/quote]
Nonsense. Don’t forget that as kids he got to stay with Tula and Zona. Of course at the time he was brainwashed to think that the Erogenians were barbarians. It’s more fair to say that the examples of those qualities that he did see were denigrated by his culture.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I sit corrected. Rather than ‘example’ I might have done better to say ‘role model’, since barbarians…GIRL barbarians already had two strikes of prejudice against them (infatuation notwithstanding). “Hrmph! Who would emulate THOSE primitives?”
July 10th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
When he looked at her, he saw the evil in what he was doing. He couldn’t stand to look at it, so he sent her away in a token act of goodwill.
The truly “good” thing to do would have been to stare long and hard into this mirror, and face the reflection. Instead, he chose the option that would abate his conscience without actually requiring him to make any real sacrifice. I’m calling it now, it was a coward’s choice and he’s not going to become a good guy.
July 10th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Just remember that very few people think of themselves as being bad or evil, especially when they are bad or evil. I applaud JED for giving us such 3-dimensional characters.
July 10th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
At least he is capable of some compassion, but I can’t help seeing this as him buying his way out of apologizing. He is too weak to apologize so he lets his money do it for him. Better than nothing I guess. And much nicer for her.
July 10th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
@Retiarius: while this is true, he is making a lot of very powerful enemies, his only “allies” see him as nothing but food, and he is generally rather stupid and his plans are terrible.
Frankly I almost pity him for just how screwed he is.
July 11th, 2010 at 12:19 am
“Guards!”
“Sieze her! She was caught tampering with my chest, and as you can see, she was about to help herself to a sizable portion of my-*cough*-our treasury! See to it she never could think that she’d ever succeed with it!”
Given his chaotic swings here, that’s also a possibility.
July 11th, 2010 at 12:49 am
you know , we have all been ooking at the rat but what about the girl. Does she really want to leave or is she actualy in love with the rat?
July 11th, 2010 at 4:31 am
This has been arguing back and forth, intentions, meanings and the like behind them. My own two coppers to throw into the ring is that he actually realized he did something wrong there. Who can say if the money will give the woman a new lease or not, but this is the first really charitable thing we’ve seen him do to my recolection.
July 11th, 2010 at 7:03 am
My guess is that M saw himself. He was insulting her “A whore will do anything….sleep (deal) with anyone. You are not even ashamed of it…it is how you get your way. Some where in those insults he suddenly realized that he is the whore. He has been making deals with evil…and is now at the whim of his own advisers. It was a very big…very ugly realising for him. He then gave her the freedom out of whoring that he is not going to get.
July 11th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
still think he’s a jackass. maybe not as big a jackass as I did before.
July 11th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Hmmm, seems he is doing this much to get rid of his shame for someone seeing him like this as much as projecting himself on the girl and setting ‘her’ free.
Sure he is doing a good thing for her, and in his mind there is a sliver of selflessness in that, but he is saying as much a goodbye to his humanity so he will not regret what he has to do/to come… because he cannot escape that.
July 11th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
All I’m seeing is someone who has become extraordinarily cold. Maybe psychotically cold. If so, this could be the beginning of a turning point for this character to become a much bigger villain than any of those around him would give him credit for (including, for the moment, himself). Would be interesting to see how that could develop.
JED. Story-telling of this magnitude, on your part, just may stave off Alzheimer’s, on my part, an extra day or two or hundred. I’ll take all I can get.
Now, where’s that Barkeep with my Scotch?
July 11th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
I’d just like to mention to all those tossing around the term “psychotic” that, the basic difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is essentially that a psychopath cannot tell the difference between right-and-wrong/good-and-evil while a sociopath CAN tell the difference… they simply don’t care.
I don’t think we’ve seen quite enough of Maldik’s thought processes at work to make that determination yet.
Keep ‘em coming JED! And keep us guessing!!
July 12th, 2010 at 1:11 am
Actually, this is more Freudian than anything. His mother said it herself. Everyone seems so quick to condemn him for the nasty things he said to her (”I loathe the very FACT of you!”) that they’re failing to consider that… maybe, just maybe, he might be justified in his feelings about her. And for her part, the Queen certainly wasn’t exactly protesting innocence; rather the opposite, in her open admission of being unworthy of the title of mother.
I doubt Maldik was speaking to the girl while he was hitting her; rather, he was addressing… his own mother. And then struck by the realization that he was not attacking his mother… but an innocent person, a victim like… himself.
What seems to be motivating Maldik’s actions throughout are anger, petulance, and bitterness. He wants to be admired, to be in charge, to be… loved. He’s screwed up horribly, but remember this. Everyone is the protagonist of their own personal story. Maldik doesn’t see himself as the bad guy. He sees himself as the victim, the oppressed and put upon heir whose destiny it is to prove them all wrong.
Maldik just did something that clashed horribly with his own self-image. Now he’s trying to fix things accordingly. He’ll go back to scheming and plotting and doing things that are horrible in the eyes of Zona and Mentl and everyone else tomorrow… but again, they’ll be actions that seem heroic and justified to him, even if not to anyone else.
July 12th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Archone, great comment! How insightful, especially pointing out that everyone is the hero of their own story.
Just a minor observation: in Panel 4, lines formed by shapes in the background frame Maldik in a closed triangle. Perhaps Maldik is entrapped by his past, even as he tells Dia to be free.
July 12th, 2010 at 3:40 am
Just remember, people: He never gave an apology–gold is never an apology. It’s a way to send the guilt as far from him as possible, so he never has to actually own up to it. This is not a sign of remorse, it’s a sign that he does realize when he goes too far, but is still too much of a disgusting coward to admit that going too far is actually wrong.
July 12th, 2010 at 3:42 am
It is, however, a very obvious attempt to see himself do better, vicariously. She’s stuck in the same life as he, just in crummier clothing.
July 12th, 2010 at 4:42 am
@TheLastGarou. Thank you, you’re right. I stand corrected, (”…that, the basic difference between a psychopath and a sociopath…”), sociopath it is. I still stand by what I said. With story telling like this, the possibilities are endless. And with JED at the helm, we’ll just get surprised again! Looking forward to it.
July 12th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Well done ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I still want the toad DEAD !!!!!…. > {*v*} <
July 12th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Hi JED, haven’t posted in many moons, but you’re still in my top 5. Been following the last three pages with a bit more interest than ususal. True to form, you are very much unpredictable and yet you present a very logical storyline that makes sense, keeps very much in context with it’s characters and continually surprises even though, in hindsight, it shouldn’t. Interesting to see where you’ll be going with Maldik. Yeah he’s a rotten little shit and while I’d have no problem stomping the crap out of him, you’ve managed to make him a pitialbe little wretch. Closest analog I can come with is Golum, but then not really. Maldik has a miserable pathos all his own.
Enough for now, but I think I’ll pose an ethical question regarding Maldik on the next page. Kudos!
July 12th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Interesting. I think he basically gave her the money because he found himself incapable of saying “sarry”. And you know what? Something tells me she would have valued that more. Because whether she started as a whore or not (and IIRC she didn’t) I think that against all reason and logic she actually cares about the little POS. When he dies (as he must. I agree with those that say that the best he’s earned at this point is a quick, reletively painless death or maybe redemption-by-death). I suspect that she and Yanora will be the only ones that truly mourn him.
July 12th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
trickerston., i think your on to something , love is indeed strange at times .
Not that it excuses him for his behavior .
July 13th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
As a Christian, people like Maldik challenge my thinking. The Bible says Jesus died to redeem “the worst of sinners”: rapists, murderers –and people like Maldik.
July 13th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
@Danak Jovax: Calling the guards on her seems more appropriate. Maldik’s moment of compassion is on a very short leash. She does not respond as the victim according to the script running in his head — he expects whimpering gratitude for her life/freedom thus validating his Rescuer role — instead her question “why” betrays the moral authority he assumed was his by “fixing” the problem with gold. This causes him to immediately flip back into the persecutor role to complete the classic passive/aggressive play containing the triad of Victim/Rescuer/Persecutor.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Rereading this arc while awaiting new stuff. I think Maldik is a fundamentally weak person, trying his damnedest to look smart and tough. Smart enough to make a deal with someone from way outside the lines, tough enough to betray them in turn…
It’s all bullshit, of course.
But I do think he set up that attempted stabbing of Tethik, since Urrts likely don’t think in terms of emotional blackmail. The poison was Gorshach’s little gift.
Being a fundamentally weak person, he will lash out sooner or later against his ‘co-conspirators’. Like he did here with Dia. While I want it to be against Gorshach, I suspect it’ll be the Bishop, being as how he’s closer.