Damn it why does this comic have to be so good. Every update makes me want the next update so bad. It is like I am addicted to the web comic, and after I finish a page I want another fix.
Canin Christell
Wow, the terminator line really has seen an upgrade!
safyrejet
Erm, Zap? You might want to finish up with being stalled by Naveed. Like now.
I love the flow of the lines between the panels. I know they’re not strictly connected, but somehow everything here really flows well together as your eye is reading down the page.
J S
There’s a human right here! *armcannon fires*
Sirithil nos Fëanor
There’s gotta be some kinda catch here. I can’t imagine Zap’s so horribly bad at securing his ship that his single greatest nemesis — and one whose actions he supposedly anticipated to boot — can simply teleport aboard and suborn the AI with less fuss than asking someone to pass you the salt at the dinner table. If I was Zap building an AI, “Never obey Gunner under any circumstances whatsoever” would have been hardcoded in.
Speedy Marsh
Well, it would be pretty cool if Zap programmed Excelsior to pretend to go along, if Gunner ever boarded the ship.
“Searching for humans… Searching for humans… found one active volcano. Bye, now!”
hkmaly
I suspect that filtering the telepatic input line is harder that filtering other inputs.
Astralfury
I half expected some shift in her appearance or manner to reflect the hatred inside gunner’s heart you know.
Canin Christell
It could be that by the nature of the system it’s easier to bypass than it is to secure; it’s more prone to accept new inputs and override old.
Also I imagine her workings are something between a computer system (hard logic, but that can be bypassed) and a human mind (which can be overpowered, persuaded, etc.) So simply thinking it in terms of one or the other, ie “hard code never to obey Gunner”, wouldn’t be accurate.
My two cents, anyways.
Jorge L. Carreras Jr.
Well. There’s the evil glowing yellow eyes, the yellow aura, and the complete loss of anything resembling fun, joy, or play.
DarkCore
I told you so! I told you Exy would be put under control by gunner! I just hope she some how resist like Zap did to Gunners brainwashing…XC argh…. PLz..dont tell me…I have a very bad feeling!
That was my thought last strip. I’m hoping Zap had the forethought to put in some kind of fail-safe like that. If not.. well then he’s a lousy psychic XD
safyrejet
Also keep in mind, Gunner tends to be pretty good at that whole cold blank slate look. He’s a raving evil lunatic inside, but he’s very good at keeping a calm and collected exterior. Just glance a few pages back when he and Reona were locked in gun stances at each other.
Grifter Timber Wolf
Be careful what you ask for Gunner…
Lady Courage
*lures Excelsior back to the Light with cookies and milk*
safyrejet
But but, the dark side has cookies….
Speedy Marsh
Well, if you really loved us, you would create Wilde Life and Zap!: The Next Generation at the same time…
But, we don’t want you to pull your hair out, and go stumbling down the street, mumbling about pixels eating your brain. So, we’ll just have to get by with one series at a time.
I do still hope you’ll occasionally draw a Zap! – Where Are They Now? page, so we’ll know that they all haven’t faded into the ether, like Efrem.
the ending and epilogue kind of addresses what happens to everyone.
Speedy Marsh
Skynet, thy name is Excelsior.
Speedy Marsh
Yeah, but if you and Chris put your heads together every year or so, and came up with a 3 or 4 page story about something in the Zap! universe, it would keep your fans from feeling totally starved for new content. Kinda like the way J. K. Rowling puts out Harry Potter short stories from time to time.
Being the creators of a universe comes with responsibilities, you know. ;)
One thing I’m afraid I’ll never know, is why the “Oh, poop!” guy is always so worried, and if, for him, everything comes out alright in the end.
Do you read Looking For Group? http://www.lfgcomic.com They have a side comic called NPC Tales, that tells the stories of minor characters.
Speedy Marsh
Milk short circuits Excelsior. The End. ;)
Speedy Marsh
Zap’s First Law of Intelligent Holograms:
Don’t be evil!
Lady Courage
*watches everything s’plode* D8 Well that didn’t work.
Lady Courage
Not THESE cookies!
Speedy Marsh
I’m sorry, Captain. No humans were found, due to the fact that the human race has long been extinct. I have, however, located hundreds of trillions of their descendants, the psychic race.
Would you like for me to send them a message? Doing so would require me to activate their psychic abilities.
Captain? … Captain? Are you ok? Why is your mouth hanging open like that, allowing saliva to run down your chin and drip on your shoes?
Speedy Marsh
Just be careful when you bake your cookies in the cosmic kitchen.
If your light batter touches anti-batter, it’ll set off an anti-batter explosion of epic proportions!
Owen Kelly
shouldn’t there be like, a password?
Lady Courage
O_O Cookie baking is a lot more dangerous than I thought.
Crestlinger
Gunner’s Happy look, panel four.
safyrejet
I for one, am content to see a story end well and stay ended. The world did not need many of the sequels and continuing tales that it already has. (ie, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, nearly every direct to video Disney sequel/prequel) Keep going with a story and new character conflict for too long and you run into repetitive, stupid, lame, crazy in a bad way, overly explanatory plot lines. For examples, I’d reference every episodic series on TV that went on for too many seasons.
Besides, I’m excited to see what new stories Pascalle has in store.
safyrejet
I think you’re confusing happy with sadistic.
Ori Klein
Gunner is such an ENTJ. “Seek the humans”. Oh, okay. “several humans located in your immediate vicinity”. Maybe you meant “Locate humans in the entire universe”.
This is why Zap is going to win, Gunner, because you aren’t an INTP.
don’t know…maybe it was someone else, but somewhere about the time that Reona and Zap : casino : bit-
There was a link to Kill The Messenger and I really liked.
Ben
I may like to point out that “seeking” humans, does not necessarily mean that Excelsior has to DO anything. They are kinda already on Earth, right? As with Excelsior seeking the “chosen ones”, she just rap a number off, not necessarily their location. Unless asked to. Excelsior is an over sized “search engine”, the “killing” bit is ALL Gunner. And that’s going to suck, for I believe it was implied that his acquiring Excelsior would make killing human “easy”. Mind you ‘hide and seek’ against a psychic controlled AI would be difficult, but there are “odd and statistics” that it is possible.
Keep it up, great work Pascalle!
Speedy Marsh
I think Gunner is too.
Andrew W
So … will Excelsior identify Reona as human … or not?
See you at Wizard World! - 2014-11-05 Chris and I will be at Wizard World Tulsa this weekend (Novemeber 7-9!) at the Cox Business Center in Downtown Tulsa. Come see us if [...]
Volume 3! - 2014-07-22 Hey! If you’ve been waiting to get Volume 3, wait no more!
Vol 3 from Brainstorm Limited on Square Market
TGT Media Interview - 2014-06-28 Sarah from TGT Media asked us some questions recently. Read her piece about Zap! here.
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