Monthly Archives: June 2006

(From Copper. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

I’ll be the first to admit I tend to read mostly story comics. While I’ll occasionally read Penny Arcade or VG Cats, for the most part I tend to avoid comics that lack some sort of storyline. I suppose it’s part of my nature. I’m a writer, and an avid reader. Good stories attract me. Jokes, on the other hand, aren’t as important to me. Indeed, the first comic I started reading regularly, Clan of the Cats, is a dramatic comic that often has moments of humor, but isn’t specifically a joke comic.

There aren’t many in-between strips for me. I mean, sure, there’s Ozy and Millie, which has numerous short stories that obey an internal continuity, and there was Alice which likewise had multiple shorter stories without needing a long-reaching storyline, but for the most part I read ongoing comics in lieu of shorter works.

Copper is the story of a boy and his dog, living in a world partly of imagination and dream, and partly of reality. The thing is, sometimes it is difficult making out what is the fantasy and what is the reality.

Copper and Fred are the central characters of these vignettes, with Copper being the voice of enthusiasm and curiosity, while his dog Fred is more cautious and indeed cynical. It’s not that they’re two sides of the same person, as often seems to be the case in cartoon twosomes. Instead, Copper truly loves Fred, and Fred does love Copper in return. Copper tries to look out for Fred and keep his spirits up, while Fred tries to keep Copper safe by warning him that things aren’t as rosy as Copper might think.

The world is bigger than just Copper and Fred. There are three recurring secondary characters for the comic. The first is the little red-haired girl (reminiscent of Peanuts) whom Copper has seen in a couple of dreams. She is likely the same girl with the P-shirt (which echoes back to Copper with his sweatshirt with the C on it). Unfortunately, P hasn’t had anything to say. We’ve seen her on the subway, on the other end of a radio listening… but while she might represent Copper’s female counterpart, there’s been little else to go on.

The second recurring character is P’s dog. Much like P, we’ve seen little exposition about her. Initially, we saw her with P (when she wasn’t wearing the P-shirt) when Fred felt the first tug of love. It scared poor Fred, and I don’t blame him. Love is a rather heady emotion, and to feel it when you’ve felt nothing else but cynicism and disdain for the world can be a rather frightful situation. P’s dog is Fred’s counterpart just as P is Copper’s counterpart. And much like P, we have little to go on, other than the fact that P’s dog is loyal like Fred.

Finally there is the Note Girl, who first “introduced” herself by throwing a wad of paper at Copper’s head with the note “nice to meet ya!” on it. She next appeared in the second dream-bubble strip, with what I believe is P’s second appearance as well. While Note Girl seems interested in Copper, she’s too shy to actually talk to him face-to-face, and runs away rather than confront him.

Most of the Copper comics are short bits, told in one update. However, Copper has also appeared in the Flight Comic print compilations, with a couple of stories involving Copper, Fred, and various flying machines. The second of these stories, Maiden Voyage, is where Copper truly shines. We get more of a glimpse into Copper’s character here, as well as a good look at Fred’s insecurities.

Still, even the short vignettes let these characters shine. The world of Copper is often deceptive. You never can tell exactly what’s going on. We can have an incomplete sailboat which Copper is building, amidst an orchard of coconut trees, and then learn that the boat is for recreation rather than escape.

Rather telling is this quick tale in which Copper and Fred and skydiving from platform to platform (each platform kept aloft by humungous feathers). Fred starts off with his typical gloom-and-doom, worrying about not having something to land on. Copper admits they might not, but that they’d been lucky the last hundred times. Still, this is more than just about risking one’s life with each jump. It’s also about Fred’s fears of growing old, and of his own mortality. Copper’s response is significant. He asks Fred to stop griping, because he’s also scared, and could use some encouragement. And with that, Fred realizes that it’s not just about him. It’s about them. So he encourages Copper to the next leap, and that’s where it ends, mid-leap, not knowing if there’s something below for them to land on.

While Copper might lack the continuity of some of the strips I read, and an ongoing storyline to keep me interested, each short vignette does manage to hold my attention. Copper is a story of growing up, and of friendship. It’s exploring one’s world, whether it is disturbing or surreal. It holds considerable imagination and whimsy, and each story has many layers that can be revealed with each new glimpse.

Robert A. Howard

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(From El Goonish Shive. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

I remember once (if my memory can be trusted) when Dan Shive admitted to his fans that when he first came up with Melissa’s character, she was just supposed to be an annoying girl who wouldn’t leave him alone. In time she ended up evolving into someone more complex, but early Melissa was fairly two-dimensional. She was more of an annoyance than a character. When Justin first talked about her, Melissa was just a girl he went out with once and who “helped” him realize that he was gay.

Later sequences with Melissa helped flesh her out a little, but didn’t do much to really change her. She had a problem with accepting that Justin is gay, and an inability to leave him alone, but we never really knew why.

It would not be until Justin’s transformation sequence that we actually caught a glimpse of the story behind Justin and Melissa, a story that suddenly transformed Melissa from a spooky obsessed girl to a fairly tragic figure in her own right. The fourth panel was the bullet to the skull of Melissa-as-brat. We had an image of two children playing together, Melissa and Justin (and of course what’s not seen in that image was the swarm of kittens descending upon them on each side because the Kitten Collective wanted that yarn ball).

The next panel showed an older (yet still young, probably two years back) Melissa, blushing as Justin showed up with flowers. In all likelihood, this was her dream. This was her fantasy. And it all fell apart with a simple kiss. Because while Justin cared for Melissa and was her friend, he realized there was no passion there. He felt nothing when he kissed her. It was obviously something he did a bit of soul-searching about before telling her. I suspect Melissa meant a lot to him, and he did love her as a friend. He didn’t want to hurt Melissa. But he had realized that the reason he felt nothing for Melissa that way was that he was gay. So he told her the truth.

She didn’t take it well. And by that, I don’t mean she got angry or anything, but that it was a blow to her. This was her fairy tale. She and Justin grew up together. They were going to get married. They were going to have a nice house and have a couple of children and everything was going to be perfect and how could he be gay no he couldn’t be gay that isn’t right damn it it’s not right… and not knowing what to do, not knowing who to turn to… she talked to someone about Justin and that person blabbed it to the entire school.

Justin had been outed. The school turned against him. His remaining friends didn’t want anything to do with him. And something happened. He confronted Melissa on this, he turned on his best friend and yelled at her… and something happened between them that left him unable to forgive her.

I don’t know if it’s the fact she told someone else what he’d said in confidence with her, or if words were said between them, that she said something, denying him being gay, begging him to be straight that maybe she’d do better, that she’d do anything if he’d just not be gay… but something happened that resulted in Justin casting Melissa away. He’d lost the best friend, the oldest friend of his life. His parents were reeling; having learned their son was gay through scuttlebutt in a grocery store. He was alone.

And so was she.

Melissa lost more than a potential boyfriend that day. She too lost a best friend. Every time she looked at the old pictures, thought of the times she’d had with him… it must have been a stab to the heart. Sure, it might have been two years since their friendship ended, but it can take a long time for a lovelorn heart to heal. And when you consider the fact Melissa has undoubtedly been in love with Justin for years before that date… it’s going to take a long time, even with her dating other guys.

One of the most delightful things for a writer is when a character suddenly blossoms and becomes something greater than what they’d been. This can be completely unexpected. I doubt Dan Shive had any idea how convoluted Melissa’s history would become, or how far back her bond with Justin would grow when he first came up with her. Instead, inspiration struck one day

The question thus becomes: can Melissa grow beyond her blind obsession with Justin? I would hope so. However, part of the reason Melissa is unable to let go is that there’s unfinished business between these two. There’s no resolution. No forgiveness. As a part of the Requiem, we watched as Elliot arrived on the scene, an avenging angel to protect Justin. In a sad twist, Justin is in love with Elliot. Subconsciously Justin may have wondered if he were a girl if he would attract Elliot. Ironically enough, Elliot did find “Justine” cute. But as a result, Justin may very well understand a little of what Melissa is going through with him.

Perhaps if he could forgive Melissa for what happened… it might help her to let go. Melissa and Justin will never be lovers. Even if Melissa were to be zapped by Tedd’s TF gun and transformed into a guy (and if Melissa were that desperate to try and be a part of Justin’s life by becoming a man for Justin), there’s too much water under that bridge.

But that doesn’t preclude friendship. Friends are good. And the Kittens want to play with Justin and Melissa and that ball of yarn again….

Robert A. Howard

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(From Zap!. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

I’ve been reading Zap! for almost 10 months now. To be honest, I could have sworn I’d reviewed the comic before, but it’s not in my archives anywhere. No doubt I started writing up a review and then suffered a case of writer’s block and moved on to another comic instead. I do that on occasion; I really need to start up that Excel spreadsheet again to keep track of which comics I’ve reviewed and how many times I’ve reviewed them.

Part of what attracted me to Zap! (outside of the cool-looking Newsbox which I clicked on) had to do with it being a science fiction comic. I’m a bit of a sci-fi fanatic at times, though my interests lie more in space-based science fiction rather than cyberpunk and other more esoteric sci-fi stories.

Zap! is the story of a man who doesn’t remember who he is. All he knows is that he’s being pursued by the government after being falsely accused of being a member of the Resistance (which he doesn’t know anything about; he doesn’t even know anything about the current galactic government), and finds himself with the very Resistance that he was accused of being at the story’s start.

It sounds like a dramatic start to an epic storyline, but it’s actually played for laughs. Zap Vexler is an idiot, who is initially despised by the crew of the Excelsior. Indeed, the only reason they don’t dump him into outer space without a spacesuit is the starship chose him to be captain. Part of the reason for this is the ship relies on psychic controls, and Zap is psychic (though he doesn’t know how to use his abilities).

The funny thing is, Zap can be competent at times. He quickly falls for the first mate of the ship, an attractive redheaded human named Reona, and if she’s in danger or even gives him encouragement then his abilities come to the forefront. At one point he single-handedly fights off a giant space squid which no one else believes is there (though afterward he shows a revulsion toward squid).

The rest of the primary cast consists of the four-armed mechanic, Grontar Grott (who acts a bit like an order brother to Reona), the robotic ship’s translator XR-74380-Q (whom Zap renamed “Robot” and which catches on much to it’s dismay), and Reona, the second in command. In many ways, there’s another member of the crew that affects everyone on the ship, and that’s the former ship’s captain, Efrem. Early on we hear about him and that he died. Both Grontar and Reona miss him. In fact, Reona was in love with him, and seems to have some sort of link to him. But Efrem did not die. He may be a prisoner under the control of the Galactic Earth Federation (or some element of it at least). Worse, there is the possibility that he betrayed them instead.

Zap is initially attracted to Reona, and that attraction doesn’t diminish. Instead, within a fairly short time Zap starts having stronger feelings for her. Indeed, his protectiveness of her manifests after she’s hurt fighting GEF forces, and his own psychic abilities manifest strongly at that point. Eventually, he admits to Reona that he loves her. Unfortunately for Zap, she’s hung up on Efrem and despite several prodding from friends of hers, Reona can’t quite bring herself to admitting that she’s falling in love with Zap as well.

Zap’s past hasn’t returned, but he has had some flashes of insight. One rather interesting one warned of a serpent attacking Reona, and had a falcon helping protect Zap. But the falcon ends up falling, and Zap wakes before he can get to Reona. What’s especially interesting of this is that he realizes that he’s got a tattoo on his arm of a falcon. He also runs across an “old friend” who claims to know Zap from his past, and who helps retrain Zap in the use of his powers. Gunner is a powerful and dangerous man, however, involved in a plot against the GEF and against Zap.

Further, Zunner’s associate, the assassin Naveed, may be behind Zap’s loss of memories. Zunner suspects Naveed is behind Zap’s initial escape, though we’ve had no further comments on what her role was, or indeed why Zap is so important.

But things are moving, in multiple circles. The military is planning a coup against President Billings. Billings himself is trying to take over the galaxy. Gunner is brainwashing psychics to be an army for him, and there are those watching this come about who know this isn’t good… but have no idea how to stop it. The Resistance is fighting back against the GEF. And Zap is stuck in the middle of it all, important though he doesn’t know why, with a crew that is often at odds and that doesn’t think highly of him.

The storm is about to break. Efrem is piloting a ship with Naveed to the Casino where Zap and Reona currently are. Soon we’ll learn if Efrem did betray the woman who loves him (even if that betrayal is because of brainwashing). This could be the thing that breaks her heart and lets her let go of her old love and accept Zap alone.

But the betrayals might not end there. Zap has been trying to regain his memories for some time. The Zap we’ve known and grown to enjoy watching is a bumbling fool and idiot who means well. But what happens if and when he regains his memories? What if it changes who he is? The old Zap had full command of his mental facilities. He may not be noble. Or he could in fact be noble and just… and yet be so changed that Reona finds no attraction there.

With the “new” Zap, there was a sense of innocence and fun. It’s part of what makes the comic so enjoyable and carefree. What’s more, he belongs, now. But should his past return to him… then that may very well change. He may find himself once again the outsider, with his former friends on the Excelsior not knowing if they can trust this changed man who is not the bumbling fool they grew to accept into their midst.

Robert A. Howard

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(From Naught Framed!. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

I’ve long been a fan of Damonk’s crazy little creation, Framed!!!. While I wasn’t there for the beginning, within a few months of its creation I apparently started to read and pester Damonk about it. (Unfortunately, the forum records are a bit vague; the earliest post of mine I was able to find on the Keenspace forum was in July of 2001, and I know I was reading before that point.)

In that time, Damonk has shown a sense of whimsy and fun that are hard to match. He loves to pull the unexpected on his fans, and has managed to do this on numerous occasions. But I also remember the undercurrent of discussion on his forums after a couple of years wondering how he could keep it up. The concept of people trapped in a webcomic seemed limited to them, and they weren’t sure how Damonk could keep it up and have it still be funny.

Sometimes I wonder if Naught Framed! was an answer to his naysayers or just a direction he saw himself going in after a bit. The comic has definitely taken a major turn since going into a fantasy world; indeed, there were 120 updates to the NF story before Damonk was assaulted and kidnapped by that dread creature known as “real life”.

To be honest, I never expected this storyline to last this long. Damonk is a master of episodic stories. Naught Framed moves into epic storytelling. It’s not something I’d expect with the cast of Framed!!!. It’s also not something I’d expect with the same general theme of Framed!!!. If you consider Damonk has a history of doing the unexpected and stretching not only his skills but what can be done in webcomics, it probably shouldn’t be such a surprise.

Throughout this storyline, we’ve had the characters remaining true to themselves and the behaviors established for them in the original comic. Frank often says or thinks bizarre little bits that help lighten any moment. Mike is the intellectual who thinks his way through many situations, even when thought isn’t the best approach. Allison is outwardly assertive and aggressive but tends to use that as a shield to hide her fears and doubts.

Interestingly, Naught Framed brings about the return of an old character who’d left the comic a while ago; Derek the pizza delivery guy and JoBeth, who with Derek escaped the webcomic world during The Great Framed Escape, an event spanning dozens of comics that has never been duplicated since.

The story is still building. Naught Framed promises to be the future of Frank and the gang for probably another year at least. We’re only now getting into the fourth chapter of the epic story, and it has followed certain forms traditional to epic storytelling. We’ve had the background exposition (actually we’ve had more than one of these expositions). We’ve a threat to the land. We even have a dark mystery hinted at.

A more telling hint can be found in the URL of the site. www.notdamonk.com, where the original url was www.damonk.com. In Framed!!!, Not Damonk was the “evil(er) twin” of the cartoonist, responsible for such things as the Not Avalon guest week (as well as the joke “Tangentalon” strip). He’s also an alternative persona of Damonk’s on the Keenspot forums (and has been for years now). The gang was thrown into this alternative world when the Framed!!! universe collapsed in on itself. Likewise, Derek and JoBeth came to this world after they escaped from Damonk’s little comic.

This epic world encompasses Damonk’s little cartoon prison. It is a place of dark twists and strangeness. Perhaps it embodies that aspect of the cartoonist’s imagination, his Id. The dark master that the Strawmen inhabit recognized Frank because their leader was Not Damonk… Frank’s doppelganger. The cast of Framed!!! now have the onus of discovering this and defeating him while uniting this world against Not Damonk’s minions.

The most recent twist, with the topless bandit, is a continuation of this epic theme. For one thing, she speaks English, rather than the stylized language of the Little Folk. (Interestingly, the Strawmen also spoke English.) For another, she was anticipated. Still, I have to wonder who she is. It’s not Meaghan. Her facial structure is different from the bandit. Unfortunately, I don’t know if there are any other characters from the Great Framed Escape that might fit the bill here.

But the gang have to deliver a message from the only other survivor of recent “Skyfire” attacks (the gang themselves being the other survivors) to the town of Five Bridges. What’s more, the leader of the Strawmen is said to be the caster of the Skyfire that already has slain one of their own, as well as numerous bunnies. The bandit threatens that mission. But the fact she speaks English, and refers to the others as “two-legs” (suggesting she was raised by creatures with more than two legs) leaves everyone but Frank (who is too dense to think straight at the moment) and Allison (who’s too frustrated and over-compensating for her fear to think straight) realizing she’s important for their quest.

Well, okay. I guess what with the bare breasts, Mike also can’t think at the moment. This leaves the airhead JoBeth to be the brains of the outfit. I guess they’re screwed. Unless Allison can hit something other than the broad side of a tree, that is….

Robert A. Howard

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(From Anywhere But Here. Click on image to see it full-sized. Note – additional images do not have html links, as all additional images are on the same page. Also note: this may take a looooong time to load for dial-up users. Drooling, fanboy worship, awe, and dumbfoundedness may occur as a result of reading this comic, as well as silly and wordy warnings.)

Dreams can be a lot of fun to write into a comic. If you think of it, dreams are a safe out for the cartoonist. Anything can happen in it, and when the character wakes up at the end, everything has reset. No matter how outlandish and bizarre things get, at the end when the character wakes up things can be returned to normal. It was just a dream. It wasn’t real.

This gives the cartoonist considerable freedom, and also allows for psychological pieces. Really, when you get down to it, a dream-story is more introspective than anything else. It allows for a glimpse into the soul of the character. When it’s done, the character is older, wiser, and hopefully has learned something from the ordeal.

We start with Chris having a dream, with glimpses of her face, nestled against the Dude’s chest and a Stranger walking into something out of the old west, with saloons and stores lining the street, a hotel down the end of the street. Outside of the characters, the images are pictures taken from reality instead of drawn art. Chris is there, in the little red dress. Echoed in the real world, Chris’s face twists, becomes more callous. She hits on the stranger, and is ignored. Interestingly, I think the real-world Chris is talking in her sleep at this point, though if her words mimic her dreamself or if she’s just muttering nonsense is unclear.

The Stranger is uninterested in her advances. In some ways it parallels the relationship between Chris and the Dude up until the current storyline (and even so, he refuses to have sex with Chris in the bathtub because he promised Beth they wouldn’t). But there is something odd about the Stranger. His eyes are full of black stars seen on a white background. Indeed, his face is shadowed, blackened.

The dream Chris goes from clad to nude in the blink of an eye, and at first it’s to continue the seduction attempt. But when the Stranger heads toward a pair of saloon doors, drawn doors leading to blackness with no building or backdrop behind them, Chris’s nudity goes from erotic to vulnerable. She begs him not to go in. She insists, she pulls the Stranger back… and the skin and coat rip away from the Stranger, revealing the Dude underneath. And a vulnerable exposed Chris is left behind, crying, shouting that she doesn’t want him in there.

Likewise, the real Chris starts to whimper, to beg. Her words are heard in the real world. For once they’re attributed directly to her. Please. Please. Pookie. No. Don’t. Please. And we fade to black. Dream becomes nightmare. Chris’s visage fades, we no longer see her in the real world. We’re left with blackness and the Dude… and a sign reminiscent of Framed!!! saying “No Spelunking” and then “I mean it!” as the Dude looks down. And he leaps.

Rather than give a blow-by-blow description of what happens next, and of the Dude’s adventures, I’m going to speed forward a bit. After falling and searching (and overcoming one last obstacle) there is a second fade-to-black, and then the blackness is broken by butterflies and speech. It’s Chris again. Only it’s Chris as a teenager. A kid, really. And she’s talking on the phone with a friend when her dad walks in. He asks her a couple questions and she blows him off. Her friend on the phone is more important than her father. Her father goes to the attic, despondent, and moves a chair under a noose, while Chris tells her friend she’s lucky her parents are divorced. That Chris wished she could live with her mom alone.

The Dude is there again, telling her it’s not her fault. Her dad was in pain. He wanted that pain to stop. Really, it’s the first time he’s talking in the strip. And child-Chris is ignoring him until he calls her Coo-Coo Bear. Her father’s pet nickname for her. She confronts him on it. She knows this isn’t her boyfriend. This is someone… something else. And the Dude smiles… as she insists he take off his glasses and reveal who he really is… and the light from his gaze is overwhelming. Blinding. She tries to shield her face… and all fades to white.

This is why I labeled this “Looking into the Face of God”. I honestly believe that the Stranger, the dream-Dude… was God. Chris is afraid to open up. She’s very forward with her sexuality and passion. But it’s a shield. Her father’s death was very traumatizing for Chris, especially with the last words she spoke to him. No doubt every day she blames herself. If she’d been a better daughter, a more loving daughter, her father would be alive today. Her mom would be happy with him. Her sister would have a loving father. He didn’t deserve to die. She did. She needs to be punished. She doesn’t deserve to be loved.

The death of Chris’s father was as traumatizing as rape. It is a wound that struck to her very soul. And really, I’m reminded a bit of Questionable Content with Faye, who also lost her father. They’re mirrors of each other. Their reactions are similar even as they’re radically different. Faye closed in on herself. She resists any physicality, any affection. She lashes out when someone gets too close. Chris throws herself physically at the person, using sex as a weapon to keep people from getting close. She gave herself the reputation of being “easy” so that people wouldn’t try to get close to her. They didn’t need to. If they wanted to have sex with her, she would. So why bother getting close? And if someone did start to get close then she’d flirt or sleep with someone else, and drive them away.

But that’s not the end. Jason brings us to a familiar place, one we’ve seen before. The Dude was struck by lightning, and comes across a dark-haired girl wearing a dress reminiscent of the one Chris has been wearing. The dream-girl implores the Dude to find her. That she’s aching for him to find her. And he promises that he will.

For Chris, it’s her father. And he tells her that everyone freaks out the first time they get to this place. And it’s not a dream. She asks him, and he says “No more than the rest of life.” But time is short. He can’t be there for long. His message to Chris isn’t that his death isn’t her fault. He doesn’t comfort her, tell her to move on. His message is that she has to trust him… to trust the Dude.

And that’s the thing. She doesn’t trust the Dude. Sure, she loves him. But she’s sure he’s going to leave her. She’s sure that she’ll be alone as well. The Dude is here to help her. He’s here so Chris can heal and move on. He’s got his own path, his own purpose. He has his own choices to make. The suggestion is that they won’t necessarily be with her.

It’s disheartening to think that with all that these two have gone through, that with the struggles and twists, that at the end Chris and the Dude won’t be together. But if this place is something other than a dream… if it’s a spiritual reality… then the Dude has to find his other girl, the one of his dreams. Chris has her own destiny ahead of her. These destinies very likely diverge.

But they don’t need to. While Jason has plotted out the end of this story and knows where it’s going… he admitted to me that there was a wildcard in the comic. That wildcard is Chris. She might very well change things on her own, as the best of characters tend to. She may refuse to let the Dude go. She might choose him to be her Destiny.

Sometimes a character will take on life and insist on doing their own thing despite your own intentions. When I wrote The Trip, I encountered it with a couple of the characters, both in the original fanfic and in the novel that grew from that earlier work. These characters insisted I write scenes, that I change things, that I let them choose the path they’ll take. When I listened to them, the story took unexpected turns but was better for it.

Jason’s a good enough storyteller that if Chris or the Dude decide they’re not going to walk the path he’s paved for them… he’ll let them go where they want. Things have already changed from the original storyline. They may change further until the comic takes a form no one can anticipate.

In the end, her father fades away, much as the Dude’s dream girl did. And we fade from white to black… and return to reality with Chris crying in the Dude’s arms, begging “Please don’t leave me…” and the Dude comforting her. I have to wonder how much of the dream Chris spoke. Did her boyfriend hear any of her talk with her father? Even if only her side of it? Does he have any inkling of what was going on in her head?

For that matter, who was the Stranger? Was it God? If so, why did he have to fight his way into Chris’s psyche? Why not just have her have the final dream?

The best thing a cartoonist can experience is for one of their strips to encourage thought and discussion, to ask “why” it happened, and what it means. Jason has done this, in one massive tremendous strip. No doubt some of the questions won’t be answered until the final strips, when the comic finally ends.

Robert A. Howard

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(From Dominic Deegan. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

I was talking recently to my roommate Bill about Dominic Deegan and the path it’s taken, and he made a rather interesting point. Of all of the characters in the comic, one has remained fairly static and two-dimensional. This character has shown a decided resistance to growth and maturity. Indeed, while we’ve learned more of this character, we’ve not seen much expansion of that character.

That character is Siegfried Damaske, a Lord of the Royal Knights of Callan and one of the oldest recurring characters in Dominic Deegan. When we first met “Siggy” he’d beaten Dominic for giving him the unpleasant truth in a vision. This starts a long chain of beatings that Siggy would inflict upon Dominic, including when arriving to arrest Dominic for “terrorizing” a nearby village (the villagers were in the wrong). Whenever it appears that Siggy has learned his lesson, the next time Dominic encounters him he’s back to his old tricks. He abuses his power and doesn’t see the harm in it. He’s a prejudiced bastard who once again beats Dominic because he thinks Dominic is “judging” him and his father for their prejudice.

It’s not even like Dominic went out of his way to judge Siggy. Instead, unsatisfied with the answers he was given about a recent death and a vision he himself had, he abuses his power to force Dominic to assist him. Ironically, he got Dominic into the right place at the right time… for all the wrong reasons. And when Dominic proves unable to save Siggy’s father, Siggy goes into a berserker rage and tries to kill Dominic and then anyone who gets in his path. Hell, what’s even worse is the fact that Siggy’s father foolishly tosses an ally aside instead of dealing with the main threat first. If Warlord Damaske had just struck down the Infernomancer immediately, then in all likelihood he would have lived. Instead, he dismissed the Infernomancer as an inferior foe due to the fact it was an Orc.

Indeed, much of the story leading up to the events in Castle Callan have focused on the Orcs, and on a human who was raised by Orcs only to be shunned by them and by his fellow men, a human who sacrificed himself to save the woman he loved… Dominic’s mother. This man would become Karnak, the Demon of Wounds. But there was more to Karnak’s fall than just diving into Hell, driving back a Demon Lord (and indeed slaying it). If Karnak had been pure of heart and intentions, then no doubt he would not have been corrupted. But his rejection, anger, and jealousy warped him in the infernal flames, until man became monster.

Look for a moment at the image of Karnak driving back the Demon of War. Does this visage, seen from afar, not resemble another character? Someone who is also twisted by anger, envy, and hate? Someone who has just lost the person who meant the most to him?

Karnak and Siggy share more than just a physical resemblance. Siegfried Damaske is in love with the priestess Jayden, whom he has traveled with. Jayden, who is deeply in love with the spellwolf Milov. Just as Karnak never gained the love of Miranda Deegan, so too will Siggy never have the love of Jayden.

History has a habit of repeating itself. Further, there have been numerous hints scattered through this storyline that hint that Siegfried may very well end up going to Hell, trying to destroy the Demon Lord that the Royal Seer is linked to and plans on summoning to Castle Callan. There, twisted by his own anger and pain, it seems likely he too will be corrupted and twisted, perhaps to become the Demon Lord of Mindless Rage and Berserker Fury.

And naturally, as the “twist” at the end, a third Demon Lord will arise; Helexa. Each has their own reason to hate the Deegans. Each has had encounters with Dominic himself. I could easily see the three of them forming an uneasy alliance, united in their hatred of Dominic and his family.

I may be wrong. Perhaps Siggy can redeem himself. But Siggy cut down his most potent ally in a moment of blind rage, striking down an angel sent to aid him and Dominic. He seems quite intent on the path of damnation. It would take a miracle to save him now.

Robert A. Howard

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(From Sluggy Freelance. Click on image to see full-sized Niftiness.)

It’s interesting what a year can bring. One year ago, Sluggy Freelance was struggling. It had been for a bit, after That Which Redeems had ended. I don’t know if Pete had run out of steam after such an involved and potent story or if I had, like Torg, found myself unable to go “home” again to mediocre puns and a story that kept jerking its readers around. It didn’t help that Oceans Unmoving abandoned the cast and brought back Bun-Bun, a character who’d been missing for three years and even now whom I wish had just been dropped entirely. Still, Oceans Unmoving was only three months old, and hadn’t yet found its legs. Further, Pete was on the road to recovery. A few weeks down the line we’d have 28 Geeks Later swarm onto the scene, and revealing the potential return of K’Z'K, the greatest of the Sluggy Freelance villains. Indeed, the second half of Oceans Unmoving would also prove far better than what had come before.

When Bun-Bun returned, he appeared months later from where we’d last seen the cast. ZoÎ was no longer working with Dr. Laura Lorna but instead was on another radio show. Torg had moved out. Indeed, Torg was refusing to have anything to do with ZoÎ, despite the pain it was causing to both of them. In this, perhaps I should be grateful for Bun-Bun, because the bunny doesn’t put up with nonsense. He forced Torg to face his fears about losing ZoÎ. Let’s be honest here. Torg wouldn’t have dealt this on his own. None of his friends could have helped him. For all I hate Bun-Bun for being a nearly unstoppable force of nature in the Sluggy Freelance universe, he was well-suited for this task.

And it’s led us to this. Torg is actually talking to ZoÎ. He’s in the same room as her without fleeing. He can even laugh and joke. In fact, he even told her a little about the other ZoÎ, the one he failed to protect.

Because right now, ZoÎ needs Torg. She angered her friends by using them as fodder for stories on the radio. It probably wasn’t retelling the stories that hurt so badly but how she went about it. She called her best friend a “cross-eyed witch”. I’m not quite sure where Riff fits in. Is he a dumb weirdo? A monkey? But she’s in exile from the house, and Torg’s the only one not pissed at her. (And isn’t it telling that the person she turns to when she’s no longer welcome at home is Torg? Her sister is going to college nearby, and it’s clear that she’s on good terms with her sister, but she turns to Torg instead. I suspect hordes of Torg/ZoÎ shippers cheered when they saw ZoÎ turn to Torg for aid.)

ZoÎ is destined to die. This has been foreshadowed since The Bug, The Witch, and the Robot and Fire and Rain. Even K’Z'K’s demons know she is destined to die. And fire is the motif. I’d actually thought that ZoÎ had dodged that bullet in Fire and Rain, but apparently not. The future isn’t predetermined, however. By drawing her back into events, Chilus may have given ZoÎ a second lease on life.

Part of that future may be because of Torg. Torg’s stay in the Dimension of Lame
has taught him a few tricks. If he could dodge Bun-Bun’s attack, and if he faced off against most of the Dimension of Pain and lived… then what of the demons of his world? Heck, he already knows that a little innocent blood will empower his sword so it can kill anything, even K’Z'K. With such a potent artifact in hand, and his own skill, he could possibly be able to defend ZoÎ from her destiny.

But in the short term, what’s important is that Torg and ZoÎ are living together. For Torg, this will be both familiar and new. He’s so many memories of waking up by a ZoÎ’s side. It will be difficult to avoid falling into old habits. As for ZoÎ, she’s had feelings for Torg for some time. Seeing that Torg is the only of her friends on good terms with her and her own feelings for him, I’m curious as to how long (without outside interference) they can go without finding their friendship blossoming into an actual romantic entanglement.

Then again, this is Sluggy Freelance. Keeping Torg and ZoÎ apart no matter what happens to be tradition. It remains to be seen if Pete has it in him to change the tune this late in the game.

Robert A. Howard

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