What with the current sluggishness of the world economy, it isn’t much of a surprise to see webcomics touch upon topics such as unemployment that could hit home for some readers. Indeed, unemployment is a theme in several comics (Ginger’s Bread, for instance, used the protagonist’s unemployment as a catalyst behind her starting her own business). Still, I must admit I’ve found Sequential Art’s take on this to be rather enjoyable seeing that rather than having one of the main characters let go from their job, cartoonist Phillip M. Jackson used it as a means of bringing back Kat’s old antagonist, the bunny-girl Hilary, back into the series.
Oh, and Pip also was forced to get a job after his internet auctioning was cut off, but seeing that it doesn’t do anything to expand on his character or make him more interesting, I pretty much discounted him from the story. To be honest, I’ve actually felt some sympathy for Hilary here; while she’s still a snobby and unpleasant person, can you imagine going from a high-paying executive job to working as a store manager for a charity shop? I suspect that the pay as a manager of that shop would be a pay reduction from the already reduced unemployment compensation she was receiving. And she was in no position to turn down the interview… though at least Pip’s her subordinate, rather than her supervisor. That would have been insult added to injury.
Amusingly enough, Pip’s E-Buy account was suspended after a claim his goods were responsible for two memorabilia collectors having been stranded in the Mongolian Desert. I’ve always been a sucker for continuity, but with the glacial update schedule, it took a trip to TV Tropes to find the relevant data. Fortunately, there are fans out there far more fanatical than myself who’ll record these details. Still, I must admit it would be nice for Kat to have another opportunity to grow (as we all know Pip’s sure not going to learn anything from his experiences in retail), and perhaps bury the hatchet she bears for Hilary. Maybe we’ll even learn more of the shared antagonism between the two, and what it was that first led Hilary to target Kat. Though given the update schedule, it might be the start of winter before that plot possibility gets off the ground.