The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Flyboy Bonus Comic—Page 50

January 12, 2016 Alex Woolfson 191 Comments

Things are looking up, Cory. 🙂

And that’s the end of the Flyboy Bonus Comic! Hope you enjoyed the ride! This Friday we are back to the “main story” with the beginning of Chapter 4. Hope to see you there!

Some news:

You can still pre-order copies of The Young Protectors Volume One and other Kickstarter rewards. Watch this video for more information about that.

Also, Ugandan Filmmaker and Activist Kamoga Hassan is raising funds for a new documentary that follows Ugandan LGBT asylum seekers. Things are quite awful for LGBT folks in Uganda. I think you should check out his Kickstarter and consider supporting his work.

Liked it? Take a second to support Alex Woolfson on Patreon!

191 Comments

Smooch

Wait.. I got it? It did look like I showed up to a whole new page, but thought tablet just hadn’t loaded properly yet as it often need a refresh to load new comments when I first open a premade tab.

Doki, isn’t this the one?

Yes, you got it. Congratulations.

Wee, I need Doki to confirm but I think this is the much expected V #69 😀

69 .. How nicely appropriate that my smexy V came with a kiss *lol* Good end to the bonus story, here as we return to the ‘storm’ ahead.

*✲ﾟ*｡✧٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶*✲ﾟ*｡✧

cheering? or swearing? lol.

Cheering.

Danish has achieved 69 TYP V’s she should retire at such a number. 😛

HA! Good luck with that.

NEVER! Now next goal is reaching #100 if that can be done before this comic is over.

It’s only .. 31 more. Uuh, this may be a bit hard *lol*

and after that 801 😀

BONZAI!!!!

Huzzah!! 69 and boys kissing. My Smexy V is full of love.

It would seem so. Congrats.

SO CUUUUTE!!!

I think Cory agrees that skintight shiny pants are perfect on Mitch.

Absolute head canon!

Aw, he kept the card.

That was going to be my comment.
He kept the card with a smile.

Same here. It tells me there’s hope for him and Mitch.

Now if only that first panel was a little bigger….

Perhaps PRINT size. 😀

I recall a few other people being worried that Cory’s pride might make him toss the card and walk away.
I had the slightly more a esoteric concern that (and here I’ve been reworking this sentence to get the proper nuance and I’m still not expressing it right) that Cory might get it into his head that Flyboy is a busy superhero who Cory shouldn’t put too much of a claim on – and then toss the card and walk away.

I got it.

thank goodness that being a teenager does make a perfect mix of being a child and an adult at the same time and here grown-up reason kicked childish pride 😀

Never underestimate the power of a good kiss! 🙂

And there was that painful reminder that it’s going to take a while before Mitch is back, even if it was a couple more panels that I thought. ‘Predicted’ the top of the page.

There was three more at the bottom, but I like what Cory does in those very much 🙂

*Doki squee*

I hope you enjoyed the Flyboy Bonus Comic, Doki. 🙂

LOVED IT!!!

🙂

I think we all did, Alex! I’ve been wanting to see more of Mitch since he was first introduced. 🙂

Never too much Mitch!

What is that line…”I hate to see you leave, but I love watching you go?”

Dat ass…umption that Cory is looking exactly where you’d be looking, Doki. ;P

Blarg!! I…I must confess I completely forgot it was Tuesday. I blame it on the benedryl.

Aww, feel better soon.

I was sneezing uncontrollably last night and this morning and afternoon. so I took the benedryl. It does seem to know me upon my ass.

Poster size

Ha!

Bleh! Sneezing a lot sucks.
I woke up with what felt like a bad headache coming, now sadly arrived, which was why I considered skipping camping and not check the page until later. Just took a pill, and instead of going to work I’m waiting for it to set in so I can go to sleep again :-/

Sneezing, watery eyes. It’s awful.

And that parting line is another reason to why Team Silverfox need their asses kicked.. as soon as there’s a solution to how not to release hell on earth on a permanent basis.

I admit I expected Cory to drop the card on the ground

Of course, I’m really really glad he didn’t. I hope we see Cory again.

Me too!

Like a one panel cameo somewhere in the middle of chapter 4? Just after the demon hordes have been released you get a brief montage of Bad Things happening as a way of showing that the Young Protectors need really need their second innings strategy together, and part of that montage is Cory protecting the hospital that Diego is at by using his TK to shred demons.

(No, wait, it wouldn’t work like that. Cory is in North America, which Annihilator bargained to be demon free… Oh well, Cory shredding demons is a nice image anyway.)

Well, something where Cory takes the imitative and starts kicking bad guy butt because it’s the right thing.

The right GAY thing to do!

well she did include butts :p

Always a ‘plus’ in my book. 😀

always wanted to ask: is that art by Mentaik in your avatar?

It certainly could be, but I don’t know. It’s a crappy small image with poor resolution, I’ve searched all over for a source and never found one. It’s a pretty common face and hair style for anime so it certainly looks like it ‘could’ be. If you find it, let me know. I just like him because he looks nice and a bit confused, which is the way I feel most of the time on line. LOL.

xDD he sure is charming! And this makes you even more loveable IMO 🙂

if I ever happen to stumble upon it I’ll let you know 😀

The right HERO thing to do. :p

GAY = HERO, potato = potahto… 😛

The Duncanator is GAY.

Okay, point. Well, he’s certainly hot enough to be gay, but I’m not sure he wasn’t just faking the date, because they needed Kyle to fuel the doorway to hell. Golly, Duncan could have a wife in Conecticut for all we know. 😛

The more important thing right now is to find out who’s going to be dead when Chapter 4 starts. 🙂

#Iwannaknownow!

Okay, you and I will fine tune our ‘gaydar’ for chapter 4!!!! I’m ready!

Bring it. 😀

In less than 24 hours we’ll know! ARG!!!

Proving incontrovertibly that if it weren’t for gay kissing demons would be EVERYWHERE. Hooray for gay kissing!

“Will we see you… around?”
“I’m always around, Lois.”

Yay! 🙂

“Oh, and if by some random chance a portal to a hell dimension should get opened, call this other number.” *scribbles on back of card*

Ha!

Up, up and away!!

to infinity and beyond! *runs away*

i really wounder what is going to happen now? (woundering)

Chapter 4 is next —
The scene will go back to the half-destroyed portal that will enable Laampros to cross over from the Hell dimension with his army of nasty creatures and take over the world.

I wonder if there’ll be villainous gloating/monologing? I mean, I’d be a bit disappointed if at this stage of the game either the priestess or Annihilator were careless enough to waste even one second with unnecessary gloating – but if they have an exact moment for the ritual to be cast, then they have a bit of downtime. The timer gave 55 minutes just before Commander started outlining her plan, corroborated by the Priestess’ comments about having plenty of time to re-orient the portal if they so choose.

I have thought about that.
If I were writing a short story and had a break like this then I might return to the main story with the YP Team tied up and waiting to be part of the sacrifice or to watch the portal open and be given to Laampros.
Now I’m under the impression that there are two more chapters. If that were true then there can be lots of PP and Duncan talk and taunting of the Team. At the end of Chapter 4 the portal opens and Lammpros parades through. Big impressive scenes and mucho drama.
Chapter five has some sort of escape and wild battle. Laampros defeated and Duncan either dragged to hell or killed.
If there is only Chapter 4 till the end of the story, then it might open a few minutes before the portal and that is opening with a bang.

added: I have thoughts about the final demise of the Platinum Priestess and Duncan, The Annihilator… HOWEVER, I will keep those thoughts to myself for a while longer. If what I think might happen does happen then I want to be able to giggle and smirk in the privacy of my bedroom in a very undignified manner. If it doesn’t happen the way I think, then I will tell no one and assuage my damaged ego with lots of goodies and sweets.
wink, wink

I think Alex has said somewhere that the story would be 5 chapters long? (not sure about this) If so, I think Laampros and the military arrival would have to happen in chapter 4, and then chapter 5 would deal with the aftermath.

I remember that, sort of. I wasn’t sure.

I thought the military was supposed to drop by for tea during the TYP ‘delaying’ tactic… hmmmmmmm… wonder what happened to Mom and the troops?

That’s all part of the big battle.
I think that the PP has some tricks that will give the military grief and cause them much confusion.
I also think that there’s more to the Platinum Priestess having Duncan make the deal with Laampros. Either she has set Duncan up to take a fall or Laampros doesn’t care for her and wouldn’t have made the deal with her.
They have to invoke the “Keys to the Kingdom” to open the portal. The PP said it does have to be made of flaming bone and look pretty. That promises to be a great piece of artwork.
Laampros couldn’t use his fire to cross from the Hell Dimension to our dimension. However, Duncan could use Kyle’s fire to cross over. AND, Kyle was able to resist the bindings. There’s something going on their that we don’t understand yet. Kyle burnt Duncan who was absolutely positively sure that he was fireproof. Just how powerful is Kyle?
Or do we get a weepy scene of Duncan slowly dying of Laampros’ deal/curse and telling Kyle that he really, really, really, love him and wants his forgiveness?

You read one of my apocalyptic scenes in THE CURSE OF RAIN FALLS and it isn’t anywhere near as dramatically involving to the people as this. The lovers were on one side and the other side was motivated by pure hate. That made the scene simpler.
This is still an apocalyptic event and gets to be treated that way in the art. So what if a giant flame bursts through the portal first and blackens everything we’ve seen? Then demons fly through and take up side positions for Laampros’ entrance.
You see what I meant below when I said that I have ideas. These aren’t even the most spectacular (from my POV) but they are fun things to create.

Very nice… you give good doom and gloom. 🙂

I really like your Macy’s Day Parade description of the demon blowing through in fire to line up for Big L’s entrance. This should be very cool.

It’s a guess. I have no knowledge of what Chapter 4 holds.

Good morning good people…. new page good kissing 😀

Morning, Ms Strawberry!

Good morning Admiral. I see the ship is sailing and the winds are good tonight.
But what is this I hear of a storm coming?

I hope it doesn’t get my glasses all foggy.

Considering the fire and water coming up, fog might be a problem. But then hell on earth might be worse.

It’s going to frizz my hair so badly!! But with my new glasses at least I’ll be somewhat stylish.

Being an optimist, good! As long as hell on earth will leave my morning coffee alone, I fear nothing. And I heard that you might be the right person to talk to about this.

I will find way to make certain you always have coffee despite the demon hoard running about Europe.

Coffee? Laampy will get control of the parts of the world that produce the cocoa bean. The risk of no chocolate; now that is worth kicking demon as for.

Some coffees taste like chocolate.

new glasses… will some soonish, too… after 5.5 years… it sure is time x’D

Yeah. It had been about eight years for me. It really was time and the timing was perfect.

Morning Sapfo sweet, Danish got her 69th V ^_^

Oh the sexy goodness of 69!

Yes, it came with kissing practice and all 😉

Alex, do you have any idea how scared I am of going back to the main storyline?
I remember! And I know that you will do your utmost to tear out my fandom heart with emotions and hurt character arks. This kiss might have distracted for a bit. But we are going to hell!
*get out the goat and cloak*
Now I am ready for anything! Bring it on Alex! =D

THIS!
And seriously I don’t consider myself to be M… but if it comes to stories and comics…

hbhebgrb I was afraid he would rip the card and ditch to be the dark loner. OMG
Now I get to find out if PP nuked him, right?! I need closure!! D=

I know – I was so sure he was going to chuck the card and go off to be noble and lonely. I’m very much wondering what had happened to him in the main storyline now.

Hopefully they can meet up again after the chaos. Like Mitch being all injured (and ALIVE) but cocky to return to him like “Hey, you stayed.” <3

And Cory gets to take care of Mitch.

Naturally! I’ve the whole scene just set up in my head. xD Because that’s not crazy at all.
This story <3

Remember their off to the warehouse this same night. The jet ride and the battle all happen the next morning. Cory will have only had time to call the car and get home, showered and to bed… maybe breakfast.

It’s not long to them…

Fair point. I had forgotten that the big fight was the very next day, for some reason I was thinking there were several days in between. A number of things make more sense now, keeping that in mind.

Returning to the main story makes me nervous, we didn’t exactly leave on a happy note.

WHAT was the main storyline, anyway? I forgot because it’s been so long.

Then refresh memory with a re-read?

Exactly… and it’s free too!

As far as I remember, Zapranoth was just about to attack Draffut.

Ask your doctor about Zapranoth.

HA!

Works for me. Laampros has to have minions.

Oh my gosh, that was a heart-melting kiss. My insides have melted. Truly and utterly melted into goo.

But, seriously, do not read this page and listen to David Bowie’s “Lazurus” at the same time. I am crying buckets of tears. DAMMIT DAVID BOWIE. Somehow it fits this page with Mitch flying away. #cryingbucketsoftears

I had my crying jag after listening to “Darkstar” last night.

I think what hits me about Lazarus is it’s about pain and finally getting to escape it. To me, who lives with chronic pain, it just stabs me in the heart. It’s like, “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, THE FEEEEEEELS. I KNOW THE FEEEEEEELS.” Except, you know, I don’t to escape mine until I die. My heart has now been shredded to tiny little bits.

I thought Mitch’s hand was doing something else in that first panel. With Cory’s encouragement. I guess a little squeeze after slipping in the note could have happened;)

Wow, was it really eight months since the end of chapter 3?

…..I don’t know what to say….the wandering around…the “bonuses”…I guess if I was doing a series I’d milk it for all I could get too but sheesh! Alex man, you’re an on-point writer but this is all over the place.

I don’t know about “things”, but Cory is looking up.

And Cory came to live at the house, had numerous heroic young adventures, and they all lived happily ever after.

Aw, that kiss was so sweet.
I over-use the word sweet a lot…

Quick question on the kickstarter- Last I checked Kickstarter didn’t give money to people/allow them to set up projects in Africa or most of Asia (although it allows people from those places to fund any project it hosts). Have they changed their policy or is this guy not based on the continent?

It’s my understanding that he is working with a Canadian producer. But that would be a good question to ask on his Kickstarter page. 🙂

Aw such a cute kiss, with a full moon in the background 🙂 excuse me while I melt <3 (gosh, I'm such a sap, when it comes to romance XD)

too bad i couldn’t see this when it was posted first but its beautiful… Make sure to share w/ your friends.

That was a perfect last page to the bonus comic. Thank you, Alex, Adam and Vero. It was wonderful.

You’re very welcome, Jeldenil! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

Any page that starts with a kiss like that is A-OK in my book. Thanks guys. Now Alex can we have this as a print please? 😀

Just a thought before I go on about this adorbs page. It was mentioned previously about how mature Mitch can be at time (while still being very 15 at time). I really thought about that because at time his self-assurance is remarkable. So, I had a couple of thoughts about that in relation to how any of us stack up that way. In this backstory we learn that Mitch is a very fortunate young man. A very cool super, from a wealthy kind family, very handsome, clearly well-educated. Parents who care for him deeply (they offer housing for a friend in need without blinking — he must have called while waiting outside the hospital — so there was no hesitation.

So, between home and the team he is well supported both physically and emotionally and always has been. This gives him a huge leg up in self-accepting his gayness. We can see with Cory, he knew and accepted who he was years before 15. This was true of my husband also as a child of an urban family he knew and had gay friends years younger than I did. It was hard for me to accept myself alone. It took some community and example before I could accept it and reveal it in my late teens.

So, in some ways, Mitch is the kind of man that some people would shred as a very privileged white cis-male. We just happen to see what a good person he really is. That said, all those advantages can give one a huge leg up re confidence’ in one’s life.

Arbitrarily, we have people we can compare him to. Kyle: a child of the child-welfare system who lived with a temporary family and ended up accidentally hurting them and was severely traumatized because of it. That is NOT a set-up for self-confidence and we see him still working it out. It made the betrayal harder in some ways. I just have to believe the hardship will also make him stronger in the end (or at least that’s what I WANT to believe).

Spooky: Super trauma in hell at 13. And yet, again, we see that it made him who he is and, with Amanda’s eventual support, he’s come out (in many ways) the strongest and most generous of all these young people.

Amanda: I can but imagine her “gift” didn’t see like much of a “gift” for many years, until she learned how to control it and also gained the maturity not to hate people simply for what runs through their heads. If she dug in my head on squirrelly days, I’m sure she’d go for the brain bleach. It’s also important that her mother is so strong and clearly supportive. She had someone to teach her how to handle it. That had to be huge. Yet, still it’s pretty brutal if you think about it. It clearly made her the kickass woman she is.

The others we don’t know yet. Still I think it’s so interesting how many facets make these young men who they are becoming. In this context, Mitch’s generosity becomes much clearer. Although, I have no doubt that Cory is as good for him as he is for Cory. Kissing is THAT important. 😀

Panel #1: This kiss totally lives up to the promise of the last panel in the last page when Mitch grabs Cory’s jacket and I held my breath. Breath now happily released! 🙂

Panel #2: Love this line. The sincerity is just right for this hard moment. I BELIEVE him. I want to believe Cory does too.

Panel #3: I agree with those who mentioned this below. Cory and I both truly and sincerely appreciate that Mitch-butt… now if only it wasn’t flying away. LOL.

Panel #4-6: I must admit (like many others) I had a moment tracking that 1) Cory looked at the card. 2) Cory puts the card in his pocket. 3) Cory looks a little stunned as he considers everything that just happened (and I want to believe that’s in a good way).

Like some other mentions I had a moment where I didn’t see the card in the last frame and had a spasm that he got rid of it, until I re-looked and realized, it’s in his pocket you good… and relaxed. The subtlety of Cory’s final expression is really good. Consider his world has been seriously turned upside down in such a short time. I’d looked stunned to.

I vote for more kissing for both of them. They’re young. They need LOTS of practice.

Alex, Adam, Veronica… thank you for the perfect ending to this swell backstory. This was magical, exciting, scary and purely adorable. And, as always with your work… gorgeous. Now it’s nice to know that Mitch is off to give some friends a lift (literally). Can’t wait!

I really like how this comic clearly shows how each of their backgrounds (that we know) has formed, and still influence, who they are and how they’ve become as they are now.
I think you’re spot on with Mitch and Kyle (I think we’ve talked about Kyle before along the way, and now can add a better insight into Mitch), and it clear that Mitch’s parents and their support in every way has done a lot for him.

As for Spooky, I also see how much his hell time has matured him ahead of time, in so many ways, and there was no way he couild go back to being a ‘normal’ (whatever that is) teenager. Still, he seems a mix of a private person and someone, who nearly crave being around people; after nearly being alone and fighting for survival for a whole year.

Amanda, so mature and strong. Who help people, has friends, but also has a ‘distance’ – a wall of sorts – between herself and them all. All, pretty much except Spooky.. and they still have topics they don’t really touch. That sexual tension between them for one thing. At some point they need to have a good talk 😉
I get Amanda’s slight distance. While not hating, or mostly not using it against them, it must be so hard to get flashes of people thoughts if she let her walls down. The closer she is to someone, the bigger risk of this happening (what I’m sure is a part of the unsaid things between her and Spooky).

Yes, their background, powers and support from their surroundings (or lack of) can be seen so well in them.

MORE KISSING! *waves hands around* My birthday’s on a Sunday this year (January 31!) or I’d be like, “Dude, kissing on my birthday please?” *giggles* Cory & Mitch are utterly adorable.

I think both Kyle and Mitch tie in the derrier department. Hair? Hair? Oh man, don’t make me choose the best hair. Kyle’s red pseudo-undercut or Mitch’s floppy hair. *dies*

That kiss! 🙂 So sweet. Let’s just hope Flyboy is all okay since he wasn’t in the greatest position in the main story. He needs to come home to Cory.

Ain’t that moon romantic?
Loving the scene like SERIOUSLY! Such a cute yet passionate kiss 😀
Totally a trope ^^ “sending-off-pls-take-.care-I’ll-be-back” just awesome! Especially as we DO know it won’t go that smoothly T__T
I really loved this special A LOT!!
But now I can’t wait to see our main story continue either 🙂

aaaa, this page is so good and a good way to end this little adorable story
that last panel says it all, he just knows at this point things are going to change for the better for him now and he has Mitch to thank for it
dfkjgdnjks
sad to see this story end, but it had a happy ending, and now back to the present with everyone 😀
yay (mostly)

What a great ending to the Flyboy interlude! Cory kept the card while wearing a little smile. Flyboy is off to help his buddy Kyle and fly a car and annoy Paul by asking questions Paul stingily doesn’t want to answer. (I’m wondering if Paul’s treatment of Flyboy is more than just Flyboy asking a billion questions, but maybe has something to do with Flyboy’s wealth and privilege. Obviously FB’s parents are 100% supportive of their son in all his endeavors etc.)

Now!

Okay, I’m with basically everyone one else. I’m so excited for Ch4 to start, but OMG!! I’m so nervous. What happened to our heroes? Are they now part of the sacrifice? Will the military show up in time? Does Cory have a premonition and come rushing to Mitch’s aid? (I know I know we have no idea where everyone is and unless Cory can use his ability to fly how will he get there at all) What is going to happen? Whatwhatwhat? Iwannaknownow!

Is it Friday/Saturday yet?

well remember there is time interlapse between when they save naked kyle, and when they go to meet Anni and PP to stop them, right? they had to tell the entire team what was going on, and decide what to do about it. there was that whole scene where Tsunami made a big deal about Kyle’s villainous heritage – before they ever got on the plane and started talking about his decision-making ability. Mitch may have been able to tell Cory what was going on in that in-between time. Just to feed that little theory. o-o

Yes. Somewhere in that short lag he called to check on Cory and let him know. 🙂

managed to stow Cory on the jet.

You’re asking good questions all around, AJ.

And you’re about to get some answers soon! 🙂

Woohoo!!!

Even though Mitch had to run–well, fly off–you can’t help but envy Corey.

Getting a wonderful goodbye kiss and then getting a sight of that gorgeous tush.

What can I say? It’s great to see a hot guy walking towards you, but I don’t have any problems watching a hot guy walking or jogging away from me. (Running away in horror? That’s another matter entirely. 😉 )

Haha, his outfit is like that on purpose, no doubt.

My V #69 in here is now officially the only 69 I like this week. *clings to V for comfort*

69 can officially suck it this week (and NOT in any good way, know there’s a double meaning to find here)
RIP David Bowie, and now also Alan Rickman. Both dying of cancer, a couple days between, at age 69.

I know. Alan Rickman. He was hilarious. I always loved watching his interviews as he had no trouble making fun of himself.

Both Starfighter & Demon of the Underground has just updated.

Katie has JOINED THE BUILDING!

I feel kind of nervous for the next page. The last pages have been lovey dovey and so full of fluff (well, mostly.) And now we continue on with the meat of our story and Cory is clueless about Mitch’s perilous condition.

I kind of just want to stay on this page and stick with the lovey-dovey-ness a little bit longer.

Who are they going to kill first?

[Saxon raises eyebrow in a mischievous manner] Are you opening betting, Klaus? Well, I guess that is one of the big questions that we’ve been worrying about since mid April last year.

Assuming that the Priestess was being serious and tactically minded rather than flippant, I’m still saying Fluke. I wouldn’t trust a superpower that runs on auto-fire without conscious control, and is characterised by making unexpected things happening, not to try and find a way to do an end-run around the effects of the power dampener. And if there’s even half a chance that the defeat of the Young Protectors team has recharged Fluke’s luck power, then he has to be removed from the equation immediately.

On a darker and more meta level: I’ve been assuming that even if the Priestess was serious, that Team Silver would not get the opportunity to carry out their murderous intentions, for whatever reason. But as I examine that assumption I start to get worried. It was based mainly on the ‘Take Back The Night’ poster that shows the full team fighting their way through urban wreakage – but that might be a generic and symbolic fight in the middle of urban wreakage rather than being specifically a preview of them fighting demons who have created the urban wreakage. Also, Alex may have Word Of Godded that Red Hot would survive this story to become a great hero, but that doesn’t preclude someone else on the team being killed.

So, bearing all that in mind – and remembering the Woolfpack mantra: Alex is tricky – is there anyone else that’s also got worries that early in chapter 4 there might be a team member death?

Maybe Kyle becomes very powerful ghost?

The tactically optimal choice would be to waste no time on who to kill first. Just kill them all as fast as possible. Kyle is closest.

Well, if we assume Duncan has any real feelings that aren’t staged, because when you re-read the pre-Kyle date section he was working pretty hard on his oscar material. Why, then Sircea will probably want to get Kyle out of the way first, to remove any temptation (read:weakness).

OTH, Spooky is the dude who can incapacitate Duncan so there is that.

Oh the possibilities for carnage are endless. It would be simply awful if that was Mitch’s last kiss with Cory… simply awful.

WHAT?

Spooky or Kyle is my guesses too, for the reasons you gave. Also, if Spooky then because he is the biggest personal threat to herself. Not that her arrogance will see him as superior, or any way in her league, but still.

On the first point: yes, absolutely. There is supposedly a tradition among nastier occult groups of an initiate proving his or her commitment to the cause by killing a close friend or family member, in order to prove that they will not be swayed by emotion. (On a practical level I imagine its also like doing your first crime for a criminal group so that they now have blackmail material against you.) I was reminded of that against when watching SW: The Force Awakens when (oblique spoilers) that-character-who-looks-like-a-younger-and-skinnier-version-of-Severus-Snape-as-played-by-the-late-Alan-Rickman killed another character and got a lot of SW fans very upset. Obvious that-character was trying to cut all emotional ties and prove his loyalty to his cause without any outside prompting. It will be interesting to see if Annihilator is in a similar position, and if so whether he needs outside prompting from the Priestess or comes to the decision by himself just like that-character.

Intellectually I agree. And I’m a bit concerned with myself that I never considered that tactical option during the last nine-and-a-half months. Like I said above, I’ve been kind of cruising of the assumption that Team Silver would stick to superhero story genre conventions, which means… tying up the heroes up in death traps and monologing at them, I suppose.
Of course, this is the problem. Villains are always making that mistake. The notion that you keep your heroic opponent around to show off your plan because they’re the only one with the intelligence to understand and appreciate its malignant beauty even as they act to thwart it is bogus. So, hypothetically, Team Silver kill Fluke and Spooky as both potentially dangerous because both of them have abilities that can, at least in theory, ignore the dampener. But then they simply tie everyone else up and throw them into the box with the other sacrifices? Forget that. Commander would slip her bonds Houdini-like before the PP and A had even had time to admire a job evilly done, reached up to pull the wires out of the timer, and then set out to throw as many other monkey-wrenches in Team Silver’s scheme as possible. And goodness only knows what an eager-beaver like Flyboy would be able to get up to.

Given that Alex stated during Artifice that he doesn’t like stupid villains (which, once again, is why Dr Maven is so great), this is why I’m worried about a death among the Young Protectors.

Even with the comic at the current point in time placing Spooky in mortal danger, my vote is that Tsunami is the most likely to die.

I say Tsunami because gruff-but-caring older mentor figures usually have big red targets on them in this kind of thing. In addition, Spooky, Kyle, and Duncan all have way too much story potential, and the Commander is the only woman on the team…not to mention, she’d eat anything that came her way alive.

Mitch seems like a likely prospect, until one reads Alex’s comment about gays in other media being punished for being gay, and him wanting nothing to do with that. Granted he was talking about Kyle, but it COULD also reasonably apply to Mitch as well.

Of course, Fluke is an option as well, but the way his luck powers work seems like it just lends itself to too many good potential twists. Even when his luck’s at its worst, it never seems to harm him specifically…just people around him. Makes me wonder if he even CAN die, to be honest.

On the other hand, Tsunami has this mystery in his past. He has done something that he deeply regrets, something that has scarred him emotionally. That is also story potential.

Whoops. Didn’t think about that.

Guess no one can die yet, then. :p

Now I feel bad for shipping Kyle/Flyboy. How can you do that to me Alex!?!

Why? You can still ship them even if they aren’t cannon.

Because I feel sorry for Cory and not shipping him with Flyboy.

And considering that Cory and Kyle have never met and Cory is underage like Mitch I am just not comfortable shipping Cory/Flyboy/Kyle,

Eh, they are close enough in age that I would not raise an eyebrow if they were dating. It is like a high school senior dating a freshman or sophomore. It happens

This is why the Goddess invented the OT3. 😛

And no one said anything about the relationship having to jump straight into being sexual. I was dating a freshman in high school my senior year and we both kept our heads about us and our pants on through the whole thing.

(at least, I TOLD myself it was because I was being honorable. Later I realized I was just gay and therefore we were incompatible.)

Annnnnd back to the main story of THE YOUNG PROTECTORS, where we happen upon a lovely tea-party, and find Sircea, Duncan and Laampros sipping a nice Darjeeling and having a civilized discussion about the end of the world as we know it. Let’s listen in… shall we?

I know it’s already tomorrow in Australia but it’s today here and today is our Sofia’s birthday.

Happy Birthday, Sofia!!

Birthday gleepings, Sofia.

Happy Birthday Sofia!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Sofia!
Happy Birthday to you!

Happy (late-ish) birthday!!

Happy Birthday Sofia, and many more

I’m so amped! I’m really anxious to see where we pick up with our villains (and hopefully Sircea can be talked down from immediately murdering Team Adorabadass, which would be…bleak.)

I’m so relieved Cory took Mitch’s card and looks hopeful in the last panel — I was worried he’d be more ambivalent after Mitch left, but it seems like he’s going to accept Mitch’s help. When the time comes, I’d really like to see where this relationship goes. It sounds like it barely got off the ground before Cory’s circumstances changed for the worse — trying to date for real now would be a complex but hopefully positive process.

Adorabadass. I love it!

I am officially calling them “Team Adorabadass” forever now. FOREVER.

I made it to camping.

Now how does Chapter 4 start?
With the Platinum Priestess prattling pompously about punishing our young heroes?
Or some military types freaking out at the finding out about the summoning?

a brief overview of our poor boys and Amanda on the ground with a panel or two of PP and Anni gloating/evil laughter?

I don’t necessarily see Sircea as the monologuing sort. I mean if she says she’s going to kill you, I think she just might go right ahead and kill you.

She likes to lecture or is it hector Duncan…
I think she knows that Duncan has a soft spot for Kyle and she will use that to torture him.

Well, Duncan I think is a different situation. Then again, she might take pleasure in explaining just what she will do to whoever, more so than just say telling them of her plans.

I think she wants an empire to herself and she wants Duncan at her feet like a puppy dog.

At her feet where lesser beings should be.

I always thought that she was not in it for anyone but herself.

Oh no doubt. I mentioned to another how I thought she would have Duncan all trussed up like a pony and pulling her royal carriage around.

Duncan? A pony boy …
The image is too deliciously rotten.

>:D

Morning from here 🙂

I made it despite TYP site loading/working pretty slow on my tablet. Have anyone else had that problem in the last 36-ish hours or is my tablet just trolling me? It’s the only site I’ve used in the last two days which have had this issue on/off (mostly on).

And a happy birthday to Sofia.

The slowness was around most of Thursday but went away late last night.

Oki. I still have the slowness sometimes, like when I first checked now, but it has gotten somewhat better since last night, yes. Right now it works just fine, but a few minutes ago it had a slow moment again.

I think that it is an ad.

Yes! I’ve been having some difficulty the last day or so with the page taking forever to load or even not loading.

Good.. well, not good, but it’s was/is a general problem then. Having my computer break with software issues a week ago, I get a little nervous when my tablet misbehave.

Oh I bet. I’m glad to know it wasn’t just me having a bit of trouble.

It was loading slowly for me when I got here just now.

volcanic rumblings

Will tonight’s page just be the title page of chapter 4, or is it that plus the first page?

It’s up:
http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ/ete-ch4-page-1/

Cory and Mitch are so cute. I love it.

Enjoyed it immensely! Takes me back to the days of bonus solo stories in the backs of comics back when I was reading them a lot. (Around a quarter-century ago!