While I’ve not exactly enjoyed Penny and Aggie of late, I have to give credit where credit is due: this latest P&A rocked. Literally. We’ve had multiple comics where Karen would behave quite suggestively toward her boyfriend Marshall. This latest strip seemed to set up another of the same-old same-old (especially in light of her latest anti-Penny plots, though we did see that Karen might flirt with other guys, she refuses to be unfaithful… which is one positive aspect to a character who’s been in a downward spin for several years now). Fortunately, T Campbell and Gisele Lagace chose to buck the usual trend and end with our two teen lovebirds playing Guitar Hero with each other… and with Karen getting quite into it.

With all the Machavellian machinations going on of late, I’ve grown to rather dislike Karen’s appearances into the comic. The core of the comic is Penny and Aggie, and their interactions with each other both privately and in public settings. In this, Karen and her cronies have disrupted a dynamic that was what truly made P&A enjoyable for me. In shifting to a ensemble cast, the sense of rivalry between Penny and Aggie was shunted aside. Literally, Karen has been threatening to seize control of the comic and knock both titular stars from the limelight… and she doesn’t have what it takes to carry the show on her own. Aggie possesses a level of mania (which may be part of what drew Lisa into her coterie) which helps drive the comic (and makes her in many ways the heart of P&A), while Penny possesses a sense of self and unexpected intellect that can result in Penny appearing the more mature of the two… and the Superego to Aggie’s Id.

Karen lacks this quality. Her presence is destructive (in many ways), and oddly is aimed at both of the stars of the comic. She tries time and time again to destroy her Master (Penny, who pulled Karen out of her self-hatred and helped shape her into a physically more attractive person… while spiritually she remained stunted and angry) like some fashion-conscious Sith Apprentice. Yet in one strip she suddenly gained some depth. All this time, we’ve caught bare glimpses of who and what Karen is, and most of it has been spiritually ugly. Competing with her boyfriend, we suddenly get a sense of passion to her… not sexual, but emotional. And if only Campbell focused more on these small moments… perhaps Karen could shift from being an element disruptive to the comic, to an element constructive to the storyline and to the characters as a whole.