Comics Heads Up! [2024-06-10] [NewBeeTSF]

[Elaine.]

Now that the initial unrealistic way that the hero has become Diane Collins is out of the way, the story is becoming a lot more interesting as we see the struggle that he has to endure to maintain who he once was. Clearly if he maintains that he's really a young man they'll lock him up in the mental institution. Given that a head transplant is currently medically impossible its hard to see how he can ever change back. I like the artwork and would love to collaborate with someone using one of my stories.

 

[irish3211]

Thanks for the update. Cheers!

 

[LadyBoyJay]

New update! Use the MEGA folder or the MEGA link (pages 260-271).

 

[misseva88]

So, Olivia is totally in on the ruse isn't she?

 

[LadyBoyJay]

So, Olivia is totally in on the ruse isn't she?

Page #269 seems to be hinting towards that. She is certainly very suspicious! Page #197 also seems very relevant now.

 

[misseva88]

Page #269 seems to be hinting towards that. She is certainly very suspicious! Page #197 also seems very relevant now.

Are you saying you think Olivia works at the private clinic where Jason got his head switched with that of her mother? Or are you merely saying it's interesting Olivia wants to take the initiative about Jasons healing process without other prying eyes?

 

[LadyBoyJay]

Are you saying you think Olivia works at the private clinic where Jason got his head switched with that of her mother? Or are you merely saying it's interesting Olivia wants to take the initiative about Jasons healing process without other prying eyes?

I do suspect that Olivia works at the private clinic. Just a theory without any proof yet. I've always been suspicious about her. She doesn't seem evil to me though. More like she is just stuck in a bad situation. What do you think?

 

[Thalantyr]

Are you saying you think Olivia works at the private clinic where Jason got his head switched with that of her mother?

That's how I'm reading it. There are numerous strong hints that Olivia knows what happened to Jason, and her just mentioning that she works in a private clinic is a conspicuous detail that seems superfluous to the narrative unless it's important.

 

[Thalantyr]

She doesn't seem evil to me though. More like she is just stuck in a bad situation. What do you think?

Hard to say. She certainly doesn't seem like a good person, exactly, if she knows what happened to Jason and is gaslighting him. If she knows who is responsible, or if it was a mistake on her part, then she should do the right thing and explain it to him and help him fix it.

By the way... who do you think it was who entered Diane's house to steal Jason's bag with his wallet/ID/clothes? Before Olivia was introduced I assumed it was Diane, and then I was leaning more toward Olivia, but there are some things that don't make sense for either of them. The burglar appeared to be a woman (long hair, breasts) wearing oversized male clothing, but not the same clothing that Jason was wearing when he was kidnapped. The burglar says they paid $200k that went to waste, which I'm assuming was paid to the mad scientist who decided to carry out his own "grand work" rather than doing exactly what the buyer paid for. The burglar also knew to expect Jason sleeping in that bed, and even referred to him as "he" despite the fact that it was clearly a woman's body in the bed. If it was Olivia, why was she wearing those clothes? If it was Diane, why did she have a feminine-looking body?

 

[LadyBoyJay]

Hard to say. She certainly doesn't seem like a good person, exactly, if she knows what happened to Jason and is gaslighting him. If she knows who is responsible, or if it was a mistake on her part, then she should do the right thing and explain it to him and help him fix it.

By the way... who do you think it was who entered Diane's house to steal Jason's bag with his wallet/ID/clothes? Before Olivia was introduced I assumed it was Diane, and then I was leaning more toward Olivia, but there are some things that don't make sense for either of them. The burglar appeared to be a woman (long hair, breasts) wearing oversized male clothing, but not the same clothing that Jason was wearing when he was kidnapped. The burglar says they paid $200k that went to waste, which I'm assuming was paid to the mad scientist who decided to carry out his own "grand work" rather than doing exactly what the buyer paid for. The burglar also knew to expect Jason sleeping in that bed, and even referred to him as "he" despite the fact that it was clearly a woman's body in the bed. If it was Olivia, why was she wearing those clothes? If it was Diane, why did she have a feminine-looking body?

I'm currently viewing Olivia as a "tweener". A pro wrestling term for someone between good and evil. She seems to me like she has been reluctantly forced into dealing with this situation. She doesn't look like she is enjoying any of this. Just my speculation for now. I'm missing too many puzzle pieces to theorize further.

What was said kind of hints towards the real Diane. The long hair and female face would be because of the head swap. The breasts might be a lighting illusion. I assume you are talking about page #155. Those might be breasts or they might be pecs that look like breasts due to a combination of the lighting and the way the shirt fits. Could be breasts though.

 

[MyraTSF]

Hard to say. She certainly doesn't seem like a good person, exactly, if she knows what happened to Jason and is gaslighting him. If she knows who is responsible, or if it was a mistake on her part, then she should do the right thing and explain it to him and help him fix it.

By the way... who do you think it was who entered Diane's house to steal Jason's bag with his wallet/ID/clothes? Before Olivia was introduced I assumed it was Diane, and then I was leaning more toward Olivia, but there are some things that don't make sense for either of them. The burglar appeared to be a woman (long hair, breasts) wearing oversized male clothing, but not the same clothing that Jason was wearing when he was kidnapped. The burglar says they paid $200k that went to waste, which I'm assuming was paid to the mad scientist who decided to carry out his own "grand work" rather than doing exactly what the buyer paid for. The burglar also knew to expect Jason sleeping in that bed, and even referred to him as "he" despite the fact that it was clearly a woman's body in the bed. If it was Olivia, why was she wearing those clothes? If it was Diane, why did she have a feminine-looking body?

Might be pecs and shoulders look a bit too muscular for a woman. But thats just my impression.

 

[Thalantyr]

The breasts might be a lighting illusion. I assume you are talking about page #155. Those might be breasts or they might be pecs that look like breasts due to a combination of the lighting and the way the shirt fits. Could be breasts though.

Might be pecs and shoulders look a bit too muscular for a woman. But thats just my impression.

Yes, #155. It's not definite by any means, but compare how the burglar's clothes fit to the original Jason in #4 and #5. His pecs aren't that big. And the burglar's clothes are noticeably more baggy and misshapen. In #154 the shirt is bunched up in the back around what appears to be a pretty narrow waist, and in #155 the top of the pants appear to be flaring out at the hips. And especially in #157 it has the characteristics of male clothing trying to adapt to a 3D model it wasn't designed for.

 

[LadyBoyJay]

Yes, #155. It's not definite by any means, but compare how the burglar's clothes fit to the original Jason in #4 and #5. His pecs aren't that big. And the burglar's clothes are noticeably more baggy and misshapen. In #154 the shirt is bunched up in the back around what appears to be a pretty narrow waist, and in #155 the top of the pants appear to be flaring out at the hips. And especially in #157 it has the characteristics of male clothing trying to adapt to a 3D model it wasn't designed for.

I see what you are saying about the clothes being baggier. If we are to assume this is the real Diane, those are probably new clothes that she bought so that might be the reason for any bagginess. She wouldn't have been able to have gone to Jason's home to get more clothes. Other than the outfit that Jason was originally wearing, it would make sense that she would have needed some more outfits with the amount of time that has passed. Also, she might have wanted to ditch the original outfit and disguise herself a bit more since there is a missing person report out on Jason.

Might be pecs and shoulders look a bit too muscular for a woman. But thats just my impression.

I agree! The shoulders and the arms look like Jason's original body.

 

[misseva88]

I do suspect that Olivia works at the private clinic. Just a theory without any proof yet. I've always been suspicious about her. She doesn't seem evil to me though. More like she is just stuck in a bad situation. What do you think?

I'm not sure. I wonder how big the private facility is that did the head surgery. It was the surgeon himself who scouted Jason in the Park and Jason didn't need any recovery time as he simply woke up in his own bed without needing any further medication or aid to adjust to his new body.
If a surgery like a head transfer doesn't need any medical aid post-surgery, do they really need nurses? If they don't, why would she be employed there?

Logically of course a private clinic needs nurses, but with how involved the surgeon is in picking a target, I don't think the story sets up other employees involved. But that may just be sloppy writing of course.

As for her not being evil: she isn't trying to make a bad situation better, she's treating the new Diane as if she's crazy. That's a bad thing to do, so I wouldn't call her a good person. But the plan was never for a man to be picked for Dianes new body, so she may not be aware of the true events of things.
But we live in a world where people think Darth Vader got redeemed after he threw Palpatine in a big hole (that he 'somehow returned from', but whatever. Screw JJ Abrams) despite murdering millions of people. So who knows, Olivia may be a bad person but may redeem herself later on.

By the way... who do you think it was who entered Diane's house to steal Jason's bag with his wallet/ID/clothes? Before Olivia was introduced I assumed it was Diane, and then I was leaning more toward Olivia, but there are some things that don't make sense for either of them. The burglar appeared to be a woman (long hair, breasts) wearing oversized male clothing, but not the same clothing that Jason was wearing when he was kidnapped. The burglar says they paid $200k that went to waste, which I'm assuming was paid to the mad scientist who decided to carry out his own "grand work" rather than doing exactly what the buyer paid for. The burglar also knew to expect Jason sleeping in that bed, and even referred to him as "he" despite the fact that it was clearly a woman's body in the bed. If it was Olivia, why was she wearing those clothes? If it was Diane, why did she have a feminine-looking body?

There isn't much in the story to definitely say one thing or an other, but this is how I'd like the story to progress:

Dianes head was placed on a male body against her wishes. I think she'll transition Jasons body to womanhood. She just needed a young body and instead was given a male body. That's got to make her dysphoric. She clearly has access to the best surgeons, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Jason is still reported as a missing person and the police were looking for him. So for Diane to get away with the bodyswap she'll have to make some changes to the Jason body. At 18 the body is young enough for a natural (synthetic hormones) and slight surgical improvement to her transgendered body.

If Diane does indeed transition Jasons body he's truly trapped as a woman. Even if he ultimately finds his old body back and if he does get the surgeon to operate on them again... he'll be a woman, albeit a much younger one.

So I think it was Diane who entered the house to steal Jason's bag. Why she dressed as a man still? I'd argue to blend in better. Commit a crime with your old identity so your new is squeaky clean.
But of course it's also very possible the pecs were just slightly more pronounced and Diane intends to live life as Jason Hoffman without any changes.

 

[Thalantyr]

There isn't much in the story to definitely say one thing or an other, but this is how I'd like the story to progress:

Dianes head was placed on a male body against her wishes. I think she'll transition Jasons body to womanhood. She just needed a young body and instead was given a male body. That's got to make her dysphoric. She clearly has access to the best surgeons, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Jason is still reported as a missing person and the police were looking for him. So for Diane to get away with the bodyswap she'll have to make some changes to the Jason body. At 18 the body is young enough for a natural (synthetic hormones) and slight surgical improvement to her transgendered body.

If Diane does indeed transition Jasons body he's truly trapped as a woman. Even if he ultimately finds his old body back and if he does get the surgeon to operate on them again... he'll be a woman, albeit a much younger one.

This is sort of lines up with another (admittedly crazy and probably not accurate) theory I've had in the back of my head. We know that Jason's head is gradually becoming older and more feminine to adapt to Diane's body, so one would expect Diane's head to become younger and more masculine to adapt to Jason's body. But what if it doesn't work like that? Maybe feminine traits in this type of surgery are dominant, and Jason's body is becoming more feminine to adapt to Diane's head. What if Olivia is Diane?

Although I think the more likely explanation for why Olivia was missing for 2 days while Jason was in the hospital and why she's so tired all the time is because she's been going back and forth taking care of both Diane and Jason and also trying to fix whatever went wrong.

 

[LadyBoyJay]

I'm not sure. I wonder how big the private facility is that did the head surgery. It was the surgeon himself who scouted Jason in the Park and Jason didn't need any recovery time as he simply woke up in his own bed without needing any further medication or aid to adjust to his new body.
If a surgery like a head transfer doesn't need any medical aid post-surgery, do they really need nurses? If they don't, why would she be employed there?

Logically of course a private clinic needs nurses, but with how involved the surgeon is in picking a target, I don't think the story sets up other employees involved. But that may just be sloppy writing of course.

Usually a surgeon would need at least one assistant (preferably an anesthesiologist) if not multiple assistants to perform an actual surgery. I like that the surgery wasn't shown. Very clever! I think more TF stories, especially ones with futuristic transformative methods, would be wise to keep the details vague. It makes it more difficult for critics like us to find fault with it since we have insufficient data. As opposed to being fed easily disprovable faulty science and being told to just shut our brains off to enjoy it.

As for her not being evil: she isn't trying to make a bad situation better, she's treating the new Diane as if she's crazy. That's a bad thing to do, so I wouldn't call her a good person. But the plan was never for a man to be picked for Dianes new body, so she may not be aware of the true events of things.
But we live in a world where people think Darth Vader got redeemed after he threw Palpatine in a big hole (that he 'somehow returned from', but whatever. Screw JJ Abrams) despite murdering millions of people. So who knows, Olivia may be a bad person but may redeem herself later on.

Like I said earlier, based on the current information available, I view Diane as a tweener. So, in the Star Wars universe, I would liken her to an employee of the Empire. From the rebel perspective - a villain, yet from an unbiased perspective, just a civil servant following orders from their government. Most of the personnel onboard the original Death Star were just regular folks working for paychecks. Something to think about...

There isn't much in the story to definitely say one thing or an other, but this is how I'd like the story to progress:

Dianes head was placed on a male body against her wishes. I think she'll transition Jasons body to womanhood. She just needed a young body and instead was given a male body. That's got to make her dysphoric. She clearly has access to the best surgeons, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Jason is still reported as a missing person and the police were looking for him. So for Diane to get away with the bodyswap she'll have to make some changes to the Jason body. At 18 the body is young enough for a natural (synthetic hormones) and slight surgical improvement to her transgendered body.

If Diane does indeed transition Jasons body he's truly trapped as a woman. Even if he ultimately finds his old body back and if he does get the surgeon to operate on them again... he'll be a woman, albeit a much younger one.

So I think it was Diane who entered the house to steal Jason's bag. Why she dressed as a man still? I'd argue to blend in better. Commit a crime with your old identity so your new is squeaky clean.
But of course it's also very possible the pecs were just slightly more pronounced and Diane intends to live life as Jason Hoffman without any changes.

I could see both routes for Diane as being plausible. She could feminize her male body or she could embrace being a man. I don't really have enough insight into Diane and her motivations to pick which theory sounds more likely. Both she and the doctor are still shrouded in mystery.

This is sort of lines up with another (admittedly crazy and probably not accurate) theory I've had in the back of my head. We know that Jason's head is gradually becoming older and more feminine to adapt to Diane's body, so one would expect Diane's head to become younger and more masculine to adapt to Jason's body. But what if it doesn't work like that? Maybe feminine traits in this type of surgery are dominant, and Jason's body is becoming more feminine to adapt to Diane's head. What if Olivia is Diane?

Although I think the more likely explanation for why Olivia was missing for 2 days while Jason was in the hospital and why she's so tired all the time is because she's been going back and forth taking care of both Diane and Jason and also trying to fix whatever went wrong.

Diane disguised as Olivia would be an interesting twist. The timeline doesn't match up though. Diane would have had to have progressed at a much more rapid rate than Jason did. Of course, we don't know how the science works, since it was cleverly hidden from us, so we can't rule anything out yet.

I personally think that Olivia is not Diane. She is probably telling the truth about being Diane's daughter but maybe not. I don't trust her, I just believe that she isn't malicious. Again, I don't see her as an evil mastermind, she seems more like a reluctant assistant to the evil mastermind(s).

 

[Thalantyr]

Diane disguised as Olivia would be an interesting twist. The timeline doesn't match up though. Diane would have had to have progressed at a much more rapid rate than Jason did. Of course, we don't know how the science works, since it was cleverly hidden from us, so we can't rule anything out yet.

Yeah. Like I said that's just wild speculation with a pretty low chance of being correct. Would be neat though.
Are we all leaning toward Diane being the mystery burglar (regardless of whether or not I'm right about their body looking female)? One other piece of evidence against it being Olivia that I forgot to mention is that the burglar says "If only he followed the plan and did what I paid him for". A nurse in her 20s is unlikely to have $200k lying around, so that makes it less likely that it's Olivia. If Olivia and Diane were in on the plan together and Olivia is the one who handed over her mother's money, I'd expect her to say "what we paid him for". Or perhaps Olivia did this to get her mother out of the way so she can steal/inherit her money.

 

[LadyBoyJay]

Yeah. Like I said that's just wild speculation with a pretty low chance of being correct. Would be neat though.
Are we all leaning toward Diane being the mystery burglar (regardless of whether or not I'm right about their body looking female)? One other piece of evidence against it being Olivia that I forgot to mention is that the burglar says "If only he followed the plan and did what I paid him for". A nurse in her 20s is unlikely to have $200k lying around, so that makes it less likely that it's Olivia. If Olivia and Diane were in on the plan together and Olivia is the one who handed over her mother's money, I'd expect her to say "what we paid him for". Or perhaps Olivia did this to get her mother out of the way so she can steal/inherit her money.

I'm definitely leaning towards Diane being the mystery burglar. That was my first impression and I'm sticking with it.

The "1 month later" time jump that we ended on (#271) looks interesting. I went back and looked at the different colors of the text clouds to try and figure out who the two characters are that are talking. I couldn't find any likely matches so maybe two new characters?

 

[misseva88]

Although I think the more likely explanation for why Olivia was missing for 2 days while Jason was in the hospital and why she's so tired all the time is because she's been going back and forth taking care of both Diane and Jason and also trying to fix whatever went wrong.

Interesting. I hadn't considered new-Jason needing taking care of, but this would make a lot of sense.

Usually a surgeon would need at least one assistant (preferably an anesthesiologist) if not multiple assistants to perform an actual surgery. I like that the surgery wasn't shown. Very clever! I think more TF stories, especially ones with futuristic transformative methods, would be wise to keep the details vague. It makes it more difficult for critics like us to find fault with it since we have insufficient data. As opposed to being fed easily disprovable faulty science and being told to just shut our brains off to enjoy it.

View attachment 3309344

But would an surgical assistant call herself a nurse?

I guess she doesn't even have to be a nurse at all. If she's just trying to get Diane away from the hospital and (importantly) she's aware of the things done to her/him, she may just tell the hospital's nurse what she wanted to hear to clear Diane as soon as possible and regain control over her faith.

I do agree on the not oversharing information in sci-fi though. To keep with the Star Wars example: the Force was better before the Midichlorians than it was after.

Like I said earlier, based on the current information available, I view Diane as a tweener. So, in the Star Wars universe, I would liken her to an employee of the Empire. From the rebel perspective - a villain, yet from an unbiased perspective, just a civil servant following orders from their government. Most of the personnel onboard the original Death Star were just regular folks working for paychecks. Something to think about...

I guess a better comparison would be an arm's trader or a smuggler; they're aware of the conflict but they're willing to profit off of someone else's misery. One man's freedom fighter is an other man's terrorist.

In wrestlers tweeners don't really work either. The good old bad vs evil works much better. Stone Cold wasn't a tweener despite being a, shall we say, flawed personality. But he was up against the evil Mr McMahon, so he was the good guy. Rock was a cocky Hollywood guy who talked about himself in the third person and he destroyed careers of promising up-and-comers (I'm looking at you, Billy Gunn), but we liked him so he was a good guy.

Muhammed Hasan was a good guy. Seriously, go and listen to his promo's with some empathy and he was a good guy. All he did was point people to their flaws so he was despised. Much like Jinder did a few weeks ago when he confronted Rock. But they were still despised by most of the audience.

Point is historically tweeners don't work. Someone's always a bad guy in the story, or there wouldn't really be a story. In this story, if Olivia played a part in the unwanted physical change that makes her a bad guy. Is redemption possible? The canteen personnel on the Death Star are good people to their families, but bad people to those who suffer from an operational Death Star. I suppose your point is that whether someone is good depends on the perspective. I guess I just don't really see the redeemable aspect if she did play a role in Jasons forced feminisation.
Being lied to doesn't really work, as she tries to cover things up when she finds out he didn't want any of this. If she realised the wrong of her ways then and there I suppose I could buy into her peddling between good and bad. But right now, based on what we see? Nah.

The "1 month later" time jump that we ended on (#271) looks interesting. I went back and looked at the different colors of the text clouds to try and figure out who the two characters are that are talking. I couldn't find any likely matches so maybe two new characters?

The cyan is used for the internal thought bubble on page 43, but I doubt that guy makes a return to the story. New-Diane using her female voice has a different coloured bubble from her internal (male) voice, so when a character's voice changes they get a new colour. So it may be one or two characters we've already met before; I think it's too vague to really guess about it. It could be two random guys trying to chat up Olivia and Diane when they're having a coffee, it could be Jason, or heck, it could be Jasons parents who are still looking for him meeting with someone.
I do think they're two male voices.

 

[Thalantyr]

I'm definitely leaning towards Diane being the mystery burglar. That was my first impression and I'm sticking with it.

The "1 month later" time jump that we ended on (#271) looks interesting. I went back and looked at the different colors of the text clouds to try and figure out who the two characters are that are talking. I couldn't find any likely matches so maybe two new characters?

Two new characters or just two new voices. The blue is rgb(0,60,150) which seems to be a generic male character color. It was used by both the doctor and the guy in the hospital bathroom. And the sheriff is very similar but slightly darker. Most of the men (sheriff, doctor, guy in hospital bathroom) are some shade of blue and women (Jason's mom, hairdresser, clothing shop girl, mystery burglar, Olivia, nurse, Michelle) are purple/red/pink. Jason started as middle blue and has been getting progressively lighter purple, so one might expect Diane's voice to be turning bluer, and after a month it could look like the bubble in #271. Four characters are various shades of teal: the mad scientist, motel front desk guy, Diane's husband, and the other new bubble on #271. Not sure what differentiates them from the other men, or if the author just considers teal to be a shade of blue.