Comic! Don’t forget to come back Friday for the bonus page!
And for those who may be wondering, yes, every single thing that Shiver has said to excuse his behavior was taken directly from real people’s opinions on why other real people, typically unarmed, deserved to be killed. The hard part wasn’t remembering the different things that I’ve seen in news article comments sections every time this comes up. The hard part was narrowing it all down enough to fit in the comic.
The Wyrm Ouroboros on July 6, 2016 at 3:36 AM
Andorxor on July 6, 2016 at 5:16 AM
Now she just needs a heat based weapon or ally
xero on July 6, 2016 at 5:14 PM
Speed =friction friction =heat
Eric on July 13, 2016 at 6:45 AM
If only she were dating someone whose abilities included heat and fire……
Oh, wait. 😛
Kaian on July 6, 2016 at 6:03 AM
First, glad to hear she is not under the bus.
Second. Unless damage control is kick the crap out of this guy when he goes over board. It sounds like her job is to free anyone he ices up so they don’t die.
Kheldarson on July 6, 2016 at 6:48 AM
It’s probably both. She stops him if possible and frees them as necessary.
Nightmask on July 6, 2016 at 7:02 AM
Damage control would be not continuing to protect what’s really a super-villain and see him over to the authorities, because shuffling your criminal members around didn’t do the Catholic Church the least bit of good when the truth was finally outed and it certainly won’t do the hero agency any good when the truth about Shiver finally comes out. If nothing else they should ‘accidentally’ drop a building on him, preferably one that’s on fire.
T'Renn on July 6, 2016 at 2:47 PM
I suspect that Agent Gray would love to do just that, if I’m reading his expression in the final panel correctly. His problem right now would be proving it, since I’m certain his source in the LA Agency spoke “off the record.”
Right now, Shiver’s only seriously endangered one life. All the rest of his uses of “excessive force” were more comedic than actually dangerous. I’m afraid that if they want to deal with him properly, they’re going to have to give him enough rope to hang himself, while hoping no one gets seriously injured or killed in the meantime.
Ragingagnostic on July 7, 2016 at 2:24 PM
You’re right, Nightmask. This is intolerable. This isn’t the job Sidekick Girl signed up for and she shouldn’t be put in this role. Why would they allow this maniac to go free and not simply throw him in jail?
Unless…is this possible that keeping an eye on Shiver is meant to be some kind of test? Maybe the agency is considering raising Val to superhero status and taking down a villain posing as a superhero would be the perfect way to do it? This would be a classic example of a controlled test (well, as controlled as you can be with innocent civilians in the vicinity). Instead of pitting her against an out-and-out supervillain, she fights a rogue superhero just like Max did.
No. That doesn’t make sense. I’m sure Val fought against supervillains before now when Max was basically useless or helpless and it didn’t seem to matter to the agency. Why would they test her by teaming her up with a sociopath? It’s only a matter of time before someone decides to sue the agency for Shiver’s misdemeanours. Would they really risk that just for a test?
That guy on July 10, 2016 at 8:01 AM
Because, (and I’m just spitballing here). A highly publicized case of a rogue hero getting taken down, without a hero to take the credit, is the exact kind of publicity that would work as a springboard. There’s no “hero” (The hero IS the villain), so the “hero” of the piece is the sidekick.
RandomSpectator on July 6, 2016 at 7:45 AM
I think that the only reason Shiver hasn’t thought to switch his card to red is that he’s lazy. It would be more work for him to change his ways or change his agency than it would be to change cities, so he stays with the Hero agency. If he has the idea and gets the right incentive, he’ll switch over to villain SO fast.
Badger on July 6, 2016 at 12:39 PM
That increase in duties dang well better come with a pay increase for Val!
Maxilu on July 6, 2016 at 2:24 PM
Well, damn.
Nightmask on July 6, 2016 at 5:14 PM
@RandomSpectator the reason he doesn’t change cards to be a villain is because as far as he’s concerned what he’s doing is being a hero, except his idea of being a hero is what’s actually being a villain. He seems the sort that became a hero for the same reason some become cops: it gives him legal sanction for his cruel and sadistic behavior. If he were on a villain card he’d have heroes and law-enforcement against him but on a hero card he can literally get away with murder and instigating assaults on people and unless you’re a hero who doesn’t care about the legal or political consequences or a cop who’s the same then by the rules you have to tolerate his behavior too much ‘for the good of everyone else’ even though it’s not for the good of everyone else. Unfortunately Sidekick Girl’s powers won’t give her what she needs to put the beat-down on Shiver as he can easily freeze her as well. Hmmmm, although it WOULD make for a nice twist to climax the storyarc with her old partner showing up in a Big Damn Heroes moment to take Shiver down while announcing she’s finished her training.
Tilly the Hun on July 6, 2016 at 6:57 PM
Huh. Something similar is going on at my job right now…
Maybe I can learn from this
Dark Matter on July 6, 2016 at 8:46 PM
You know we’ve never seen him thaw someone, it’s possible he can’t (although she’s certainly acting like he can).
David Johnston on July 7, 2016 at 1:14 AM
It doesn’t really matter whether he can thaw people or not. Clearly he wouldn’t. Just as he doesn’t bother to aim a little lower so his target can breathe.
C-c-c-c-cold-hearted!
Val may actually know for a fact that he can thaw (or rather sublime) ice just from reading his Hero Agency file. She’s had time. Shiver’s closest comic book counterpart, Iceman can sublime ice because his powers are actually dependent on environmental water. If he couldn’t re-use the water in his ice, he’d run dry in the Danger Room or any other enclosed space PDQ.
LeapYean on July 6, 2016 at 9:14 PM
Called it! Back a few comics I said that the ice king is a heartless bastard and that he was not thawing out the ‘bad guys’ because he either could not or did not care to do so, turns out he has been this heartlrss for a while now.
Jordan on July 7, 2016 at 12:02 AM
Oh. This is bad.
The Wyrm Ouroboros on July 7, 2016 at 2:04 AM
Y’know, kind of wondering whether or not Val is getting moved over to a more … significant position. It would make a certain amount of sense if the Agency had ‘non-traditional’ hero-level powers (like Val) who didn’t fit ‘the Image’ and yet acted as watchmen inside the system – essentially just like this.
Ned on July 7, 2016 at 8:13 AM
Is the next comic Shiver meeting Mr Bat? Because that’s my idea of damage control.
Badger on July 7, 2016 at 9:33 AM
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Perhaps now we know, as Ouroboros suggests!
JasonAW3 on July 7, 2016 at 3:30 PM
I’ve always considered Shiver to be a real icehole…
DarkB0lt on July 7, 2016 at 8:49 PM
(twitch)
RemoWilliams on July 8, 2016 at 12:24 AM
The fact that he does it against low or no powered individuals says that he’s a bully.
They should set him up against a real, high-powered bad guy. At the very least, a solid ass-kicking will take some of the arrogance out of him.
“Okay, tough guy. Go ahead and show us small-town types how it’s done.”
MattoMatteo on July 11, 2016 at 8:11 AM
Why this don’t surpise me? -_-‘
Eric on July 13, 2016 at 6:48 AM
Just thought I should point out the “not longer” instead of “no longer” in the last panel.
Yaaaay!! Val gets to beat the ever-living crap out of him!!