Another April Fools’ day has come and gone, and as is the norm hijinks was the norm for a number of strips. Fortunately, after two years of April 1st arriving on a weekend, the day has finally emerged during the week to garner more affection. Interestingly enough, I didn’t come across any “this strip has been shut down” pranks this time around; I suspect the joke has run its course (not that it ever was that amusing to begin with) though from what I hear several non-comic websites did indulge in that “hilarity.” The remaining pranks included garbled images or “new” art styles, joke comics, and one truly inspired April Fools story involving zombies, vampires, werewolves, and a good-natured prank over at the alternative history fiction site The Flying Cloud.
As a brief aside, one problem I do have with the April Fools comics is that often they vanish like mist in the light of day once the 2nd comes about. This is a shame, seeing that not every reader will read the comic daily, especially if a strip normally updates on a day other than whichever day April Fools has fallen upon. Thus when I was compiling my list of April Fools comics and those that might be a prank or might have used the timing to add to the cliffhanger aspect of the strip (I’m looking at you, The Whiteboard), I sadly forgot to check those comics that might have indulged in April Fools hijinks on a day where it normally doesn’t update.
While The Flying Cloud may have been my favorite prank update, others included Jupiter Palladium’s Lemonade strip, DMFA’s “reboot” strip, and CVRPG’s “wrap-up” comic which ended with Alec marrying four women after defeating the Big Bad. An honorable mention also goes out for Galaxion which took advantage of the day to prank readers on a genuine change from black-and-white to color.
Other pranks include:
S.S.D.D. and Magience which had pixilated art updates (which has since been “corrected”;
Misfile which updated in Japanese;
Faux Pas which switched half the cast over to Ponies;
Weapon Brown’s Garfield minus Garfield homage strip;
an imaginary “Night of the Killer Tree Zombies strip for Chirault;
Yosh!’s switching character types with another comic (though I didn’t bother trying to find out which one);
Go Get a Roomie’s “Body Swap” coming attractions
and Sandra and Woo which had a bottle of Heinz for all four panels.





Skin Horse
But first I need to rewind a little to a previous storyline in which Sweetheart was upset that her coworker and subordinate Unity was busy gorging on lab-grown brains… and in doing so, becoming more intelligent. She would become downright dismissive of Unity and do her best to ignore Unity’s perceptions as to what was going on; as a result, the Skin Horse team failed to realize what was going on until it was nearly too late.
Looking forward to the latest update, and I noticed this pattern was unfolding once more. Sweetheart was dismissive of Unity’s perceptions concerning WhimsyCorp (which Unity either hallucinated or was visited by). Further, the moment Unity comes up with a logical and reasonable reason for Skin Horse to try and save WhimsyCorp (in that corporations are persons but not human… and thus under Skin Horse’s jurisdiction), Sweetheart accuses Unity of being on brains.
This is the moment I realized Sweetheart is threatened by other people’s intelligence. Nor is this a recent thing; when Tip first joined Skin Horse, Sweetheart was threatened by his obvious intelligence (and disdainful of Tip’s eccentricities, despite the fact these “non-professional” tendencies have helped the group on multiple occasions). Similarly, when Unity becomes smart, Sweetheart immediately becomes dismissive and brushes off any suggestions Unity may make. This distrust of other people’s intelligence even can be found in her opinion of their boss, the sentient bee swarm Gavotte.
As to why Sweetheart is so distrustful of other intelligences, I have to wonder if part of it lies with the fact Sweetheart is just an intelligent dog. She’s not even necessarily brilliant by human standards; she seems to thrive in a structured environment where there aren’t a lot of surprises. Within that setting, she does quite well. Outside it, however, she becomes defensive and unwilling to consider the opinions of others. And she’s aware of her limitations… and may very well be afraid that if she’s revealed to be just ordinary, she’ll lose everything she’s built.
The question ultimately is, what’s next for Sweetheart? What are her motivations? Is she afraid of being shown up by Tip… and later by Unity? Does her rank as team commander mean so much to her? And if so, why? In time, Garrity and Wells will likely expand on this and on Sweetheart. In the meantime, it’s clear Skin Horse has room to grow, even as the Skin Horse team slowly learn more of the subversive elements operating in the background of their world and why the massive cover-up on the Old War. And perhaps along the way we’ll learn more about Sweetheart… and see if she can overcome her fear and disdain of other intelligences before it’s too late.
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Posted in Webcomic commentary
Tagged Character development, Humor in comics, Mad science