What, Wildebees tried to hotwire the truck, as in steal it??
If she had succeded, that hijack ride would ironically have been more pleasant for Bettina than Tona, due to the former being the only one to be properly "seat belted" right now... :-D
Also, now that Tona knows the truth, it's probably time to apologize to Bettina...
That feeling when you've been terrorizing interrogating the wrong sibling...
And dang, she really does love Felicia (though she would never admit it).
Of course, the love of Tona Zehm is a double-edged sword at best...
One Selene Wildebees, badass as she may be (and she is) really stood no chance against the hardcore, nasty mofos Major Zehm has gathered. But she had to try (we would be disappointed otherwise).
And yeah, Tim Timmy really just needs to die already...
(Man, I am seriously gonna miss Tona - again - when this is all said and done, even if she is pure evil and against almost everything I believe in...)
Is he, or is he not, named Timmy Timmy Junior? Maybe he needs to die for the good of everyone else, but can you really hold the guy responsible when fate and circumstances did *that* to him?
He is not Timmy Timmy Junior. He is Timmy Timmy III... :P
(Even worse, I know...)
I do seem to remember hearing a long while ago that Juniors and IIIs have more of a history of some sort of mental problem. I wish I could remember the specifics (and it may be hearsay anyway).
Bettina, though seemingly a bit childish at times, appears to be a little more... well adjusted. And far less likely to order her employees to use each other as human shields.
@Prof: When people with a "III" or higher number in their name (usually members of monarchical dynasties) are somehow not right in their head, it tends to be assumed that this is due to multiple generations of inbreeding.
The funny thing is, in the thing coming soon that I have hinted at multiple times now, we will also see Bettina's and Timmy III's mother. When I designed her, it wasn't my intention to imply the above, bit she did end up looking a bit too much like she could be blood-related to her husband, simply because I wanted her to fit visually within this family...
@ AC: He is Timmy III, because he is the Timmy of the third generation, with the founder of the company being his grandfather.
(Thus his father, Timmy II, would technically be Timmy Junior.)
All three generations can be seen in the penultimate panel here. And soon in my own comic, I will showcase a bit of their family's history, which naturally will involve all of them.
@Prof and MR:
I have a different take on 'dynastic decline.' The quickest way to explain it is to ask how many children of Elvis impersonators do you think manage equal or better interest, talent, and skill as Elvis impersonators to their parents? Probably some, but I doubt it's more than a very small minority. More generally, human heredity and development of characteristics like talents, skills and interests has always been more random than fully justifies dynasties, feudal class divisions, and most other forms of inheritance institutions.
Accordingly, I'm seeing Timmy Timmy the third being pressed into expectations that he'll uphold traditions and demonstrate abilities like his father and grandfather. That kind of pressure can harm even people that are suited to it, much less anyone who lacks either the interest or the talents to fill the defined role being pushed on them.
I would disagree that succession planning amongst ones heirs is an inherently futile exercise, especially when accounting for the ability to bring in "outside talent" via strategic marriages.
(Neither Bettina or Timmy III is married, which I would argue is a problem... cough Prof)
However, I agree with your larger point--family businesses either break or figure shit out by the third generation... this is a demonstrable trend.
Succession planning is a good thing, because significant changes like death will happen whether we are prepared for them or not. The popularity of basing it on who--officially--fucked whom is what I take a dim view of. That way lies racism, inheritance classism of the kind that made Donald Trump a rich man despite his many failings, and other stupid ills.
The durability of enterprises continuing through centuries usually comes from culture and interrelationships with other institutions. In terms of such culture in family businesses that often includes childhood exposure and apprenticeship into the organization. That training and recruitment stream is the value added part of the inheritance, and not so much the heredity.
"Oops, I tortured the wrong person." That's a mistake Chuck would make, Tona! Cue link to one of the appropriate strips from Maximum Speed and Violence.
I swear, all of these people are doing evil so incompetently that it's reminding me of my job. Now I need a pair of double black russians so I can keep dealing with it.
I call bullshit on that, the expected minimum standard of competence goes up when you get a budget and a staff to delegate to. When you are running a damn thug department in the US Federal government--with a fair bit of staff and budget--it's rank amateur incompetence to target the wrong person because you followed an 'anonymous tip' without due diligence investigation to confirm. What's the point in having press managers, investigators, and researchers if you don't use them?
If the problem was that she's only got goons and nobody to check up on her anonymous tips, that's another kind of incompetence.
Tona's lead investigator Wendell is suffering a wee bit of LOGAS, since she's taking time out of her busy schedule to publicly berate him.
And I think we already established via the other comic that "rank amateur incompetence" has little bearing on one's tenure in this Administration.
Oh wait, that's not me making shit up. Have you met Matthew Whittaker yet? Or Betsy DeVos? Or Ben Carson? God help America if we ever stumble into an actual crisis that requires leadership.
Yes, I firmly agree with you on the staggering incompetence of Trump's regime, and add that he was only rich because of who his daddy was. The world would've probably been better off if that silver spoon jackass had gagged on it while he was still in the crib.
I expect a little better from Tona because she hasn't been carefully insulated from responsibility and the negative consequences of her actions all her life. Maybe that's an unfair expectation since her political training started really late and probably isn't too extensive or deep.
