26-09-17 Your luck just changed - end of book 9

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/your ... of-book-9/

[X3N0-Life-Form]

And there is the kiss !
Excellent move, Sonya. *tips hat*

[Spidrift]

Okay, so I was completely wrong about this, in more than one way. Never underestimate this comic's capacity for wild-ass coincidence in service to plot. I'd say that it didn't help in one respect that this strip doesn't repeat any of the characters from 150 strips ago, but meh, excuses excuses. And I guess that Giz likes Angel too much to leave the character out in the cold, even with all the stuff hanging in SDB. And one maybe does need to know SDB a bit for this strip to work properly, which is technically weak writing, but whatever; I for one do know SDB.

Meanwhile, the sad Sonya fanboy in me is happy to see Sonya bouncing back well enough to handle this in properly Sonya-esque fashion. I mean, one has to reckon that she's hurting inside and that things will get worse before they get better, but she's moving forward like a sexy express train, and she may well come to conclude that she really, really doesn't need Zii, after which she'll have a chance to fulfill her full potential.

And, of course, this will leave Zii stuck for a bass player (to Sonya's deep sorrow). I really can't see Izz handling that job, but if we can swallow this twist, we could maybe swallow that one too.

[uzivatel]

Sonya is going to be a ... Pretty Boy?

[OllieOrOlly]

Well, Zii is ultimately her own worst enemy, I suppose. It is fairly evident by now that she makes her own monsters.

I guess I could look it up myself, but for the heck of it: could someone refresh my memory about Angel? I thought she/he was biologically female, while being gender fluid, but was just attracted to men? Was it established she found Sonya physically attractive? Granted, perhaps there was a statement in either this or the Dillon spin-off that answers my questions...

It is somewhat of a relief that Sonya didn't go off to *groom* Izz, but rather decided upon a quite cunning and simpler plan by simply finding another who has been wounded by Zii (in one way or another), with whom is a way to destroy(?) or at least undermine Zii's dreams of musical success by joining their rival band.
Since Sonya's attempts to gain Zii's love, then force her to empathise, then finally trying to get back at her, were all *romantically* based (thus, personal), and all failed, it makes sense that Sonya would seek a way to "hurt" Zii professionally instead.

This can go without saying, but still: awesome art! While not the most subtle change, Sonya wearing a black shirt helps emphasise her decision to follow the proverbial Dark Side by aiming for revenge; her confident stance is also exceptional, and it is easy to see how Angel would be taken aback by her presence. Also, the devilish smile and subtle scowl in the last panel helps display she will probably enjoy vengeance or at least find it strangely cathartic - it could also be showing her embracing her "evil" side.
A tangent art note: the derpy expressions of the untalented audition fellow were pretty funny.

[Fluffy]

ANGEL!!! SQUEE!

Now there's a great way to get back at Zii - join the rival band. Good job, Sonya!

[Don Alexander]

Nuuu, I was two threads away from catching up with le forum!

Anyway. AWESOME! This was entirely unpredicted (right?)!

This seems to point to there being another battle of the bands. It's even possibe it will be the Final Battle that the likely last year of the comic will move toward. Zii will have to fight and kill each of DiDi's seven exes... No, wait, wrong comic.

[Fluffy]

I guess I could look it up myself, but for the heck of it: could someone refresh my memory about Angel? I thought she/he was biologically female, while being gender fluid, but was just attracted to men? Was it established she found Sonya physically attractive? Granted, perhaps there was a statement in either this or the Dillon spin-off that answers my questions...

Angel is a former friend/bandmate of Zii's; they're non binary/gender fluid.

As it seems to be her modus operandi; Zii sabotaged her band's budding music career by sleeping with Angel's boyfriend, Jerzy. Angel walked in on the thryst and broke up the band on the spot. Zii and Angel (moreso Angel) has held a grudge against each other ever since.

As for Angel being attracted to Sonya - I'm not sure; and it's difficult to look it up, since the chapter lists have been removed. The whole heart skip could be due to seeing Zii's bassist arrival at a rehearsal; giving Angel the correct assumption that Sonya wants to join her band.

[OllieOrOlly]

I guess I could look it up myself, but for the heck of it: could someone refresh my memory about Angel? I thought she/he was biologically female, while being gender fluid, but was just attracted to men? Was it established she found Sonya physically attractive? Granted, perhaps there was a statement in either this or the Dillon spin-off that answers my questions...

Angel is a former friend/bandmate of Zii's; they're non binary/gender fluid.

As it seems to be her modus operandi; Zii sabotaged her band's budding music career by sleeping with Angel's boyfriend, Jerzy. Angel walked in on the thryst and broke up the band on the spot. Zii and Angel (moreso Angel) has held a grudge against each other ever since.

Thanks!

I did remember most of the backstory, but did forget the specific "whom" that Zii had stolen. Also, since I don't quite understand non-binary/gender fluid (I'm trying, please bear with me), I'm not sure what Angel's romantic preferences would be or not.

[christopheftw]

I did not see this coming.

Damn it.

[LegendaryKroc]

Oh, darn, and here I was preparing to finally respond to the other thread, having procrastinated around it for days on end with nary a thought given to it. Ah well, at least I can respond here.

I love how this strip plays out, and that it sets up a very interesting future conflict between Zii and Angel over whether either deserves Sonya's loyalty. Should make for some fun reading. And nice of Giz to let us know that everyone over at SDB is not dead yet.

My only criticism is that we've left behind Peggy's confrontation of Zii about her culpability in Sonya's backlash, and we never got to her calling out DiDi for her role in all this. Now, either we'll have to pick that thread up after the start of the next volume and the setup for the next bookend, which could mean waiting around for a while on a cliffhanger, or we cut back to the confrontation at the start of Volume 10, at which point it will probably be more or less over and the writers will have to cheap out of a genuine Jerkass Realization in order for the strip's punchline to set up the next volume. Not sure I'd like either of those.

Sonya is going to be a ... Pretty Boy?

Hey, I'm sure she could pull it off. And if not, Angel could just change xir band's theme around to accommodate her presence somehow. After all, it very much looks like xe is desperate for a good bassist, desperate enough to accept Sonya no questions asked. What is a mere redesign compared to a good bassist?

I guess I could look it up myself, but for the heck of it: could someone refresh my memory about Angel? I thought she/he was biologically female, while being gender fluid, but was just attracted to men? Was it established she found Sonya physically attractive? Granted, perhaps there was a statement in either this or the Dillon spin-off that answers my questions...

I don't have an official statement, but it has seemed in the past like xe has an attraction to Jerzy that goes beyond gender, enough to convince him to get back with xer because childhood friends blah blah, and more recently has started a thing with that Richie guy, which Zii has seen and which, come to think of it, sounds like a possible plot hook to pull on in Volume 10. I guess you could mention that big hug xe gave Yuki after seeing her again, but that could easily be construed as old friendship and nothing more. On the flipside, xe doesn't seem to enjoy Sonya's kiss, but that could just be surprise and/or shock.

Other than that we haven't seen xir interact with many female characters apart from Zii (whom xe hates with a burning passion), Ramona (xir sister) and Ruby (near as I can tell, they're just friends). I think we would need to put xir in a room with someone like DiDi and see how xe reacted to get a definitive answer, although what plot contrivance would have to take place for that to happen I'm sure I don't know.

[Storm-forge mystique]

...wait, when did they even meet?

[LegendaryKroc]

That concert both Zii and Angel's bands played at in Chapter 6.

[MoonshadowDark]

Sonya is going to be a ... Pretty Boy?

Crash and the Boys had a girl.

[Don Alexander]

Well, now that I have advanced yet another thread, I see Spidrift first suggested Sonya joining Angel's band two strips ago, which was then fleshed out by Cortez! Congratulations to both!

@Moonshadowdark: Sonya's going to be the Electric Toy.