I apologize for the overabundance of profanity in Snuka’s language in this strip, but anything less just wouldn’t have sounded plausible for her in this particular situation. She’s really been trying to cut back on swearing, but you don’t find yourself strapped to an uncontrollable jetpack every day. Which is fortunate, by the way, because it’s not good for your health. I might be out on a limb here, but looking at that impact in panel six, I’m almost tempted to imagine that it would actually have been healthier for Snuka to smoke a cigarette than do that. Unfortunately, nobody offered her one.
I do admire her mental discipline, though – trying to control her fear, concentrate, and approach the problem at hand in a methodical manner. If she just had had enough time for it. That’s the thing they never tell you about mental discipline, they act like you’d always have the time. Headless panic wouldn’t have worked better in this situation, at least not necessarily, but it probably wouldn’t have worked worse, either.
What would have worked is a helmet. Too bad that would have conflicted with ninja tradition. She waswearing a head protector* under her outfit, but I think it might have been just a little bit overmatched by that sort of impact. Oh well.
*with the crest of her ninja village, of course. Crossed out, of courser.
More on Thursday.