I'm Back!

When Randy first introduced the little blue... thing... during some of the holiday filler at Something*Positive, I was officially horrified. Despite the desensitization of the modern age, I finally had found something in a webcomic that seriously made my skin crawl.

But it was just filler, right? I can live with that.

When he mentioned he had a way to work it in as a ongoing cast member, I again felt that feeling of absolute dread sinking into my stomach. S*P has some odd characters, but Choo-Choo Bear and Pepito - even Twitchy-Hug - managed to work within the confines of the strip. And I couldn't for the life of me think of any possible way the blue thing could be worked in without entirely disrupting the strip. I pondered, with no avail, what possible bribe I could offer to keep this monstrosity from appearing.

I should have known better than to doubt. It's in the strip... and it works perfectly.

Nothing Special

Starting off the new year sick has not been the best experience to me, and refreshed me on exactly why I dislike the common cold. Despite thinking I was just about over it, it decided to hit me for one last day of 'fun'.

So no rants or insights today, I'm afraid. Instead, I'll just share that my day was fortunately improved by the unexpected (at least by me) return of CRFH, along with noticing the eerie similarities between today's Sam and Fuzzy and Something Positive strips. How about that, eh? Coincidence or conspiracy, the world may never know.

Happy Birthday, Something Positive.

In the Comixpedia End of 2006 Roundtable, Something Positive's Death of Faye storyline was mentioned as one of the top webcomic storylines this past year.

Mike had a kid.

Jason and Aubrey got married.

And we saw the Fall of Kharisma which I discussed on a handful of occasions.

All those things right there - that's enough to make a good year. That's a ton of change. That's a ton of development - some development's more meaningful than others.

But Randy, apparently, isn't so easily satisfied.

He traditionally ends each year of Something Positive with a significant moment. The first three years ended with darkness and depression. Year four ended with a ray of hope.

Year five is ending with a very intense moment, yes - but it isn't like all the other endings. It's not actually outright good or bad. Once you get past the sheer shock of it, ask yourself - what exactly does this mean for Davan?

Remember, we're talking about Davan, who has been drifting through life since the strip began. He has gone from one relationship to another, most ending badly - and even the ones that didn't end badly still ended. His latest relationship has been casual sex with Kim (which seems pretty clearly to be nothing more than that). He is moving back home to Texas out of a sense of familial obligation.

And now he has a kid.

More than that - he now has had a kid for the past three years, one that has been growing up without him. That's a bit to take in, yeah? I'm sure Donna had her reasons (whether good ones or not), and I'm sure that Davan is likely to not hold the lapse against her - and feel that sense of familial obligation weighing down on him once again.

Still, speculation about Donna's situation and how much Davan will interact in his son's life... well, we'll see where that goes. I'm not going to hazard too many guesses without knowing enough about Donna (though it seems likely she will need Davan's help, though seems unlikely to demand - or possibly even ask - for it.)

But you know who this really leaves me wondering about?

PeeJee.

A year ago, PeeJee was alone and filled with despair. We've all been there - though she was lucky enough to have a friend to show up and remind her that she was loved.

A year later, and she's alone again.

Well, not alone. She's got Choo-Choo Bear. She's not confined to a hospital, and has friends she can visit nearby.

But she doesn't have Davan.

Does she love Davan? Well, duh - they've been friends for years. The two of them, and Aubrey, are bound by ties as close as they get.

But does she love Davan?

That's a hard question. He's been there for her through thick and thin, more than any other. He moved to Boston for her sake, and now she's moving back to Texas for him.

And look at how many of their friends have paired off or left the picture in the last few years... Aubrey and Jason, Monette... even Mike has found a family.

Family. Back to that word again. A general perusal of S*P would indicate that Davan would probably be the last man to want kids, to have to deal with children, to be a 'father figure.'

But... Davan's a decent guy, at heart. Angry, bitter, and fed up with the stupidity of the world? Sure, more often than not. But you can't forget that he was raised by the best. You think that with the example of his parents, there's even the slightest chance that Davan wouldn't make a good father?

Now he has a son... and we still haven't determined just how fully PeeJee cares for him. Her own family... oh, it's a good one, but while Davan's family in many ways was a haven against the bitterness the world instilled in him, her own presented it's own share of turmoil. And let's not forget that her track record with relationships seems even worse than Davan's. He at least had Branwen. I don't know if PeeJee's ever had someone get truly close to her.

Except for Aubrey, who has now gotten married.

And except for Davan, who is off in Texas, and suddenly has a son.

Regardless of how she loves him or not, PeeJee suddenly is very much in danger of being alone. Well and truly alone. She isn't at her darkest moment, like she was a year ago. She is simply sitting there, in the middle of her life... and she's still alone.

You know how earlier I said that the ending of Year Five of S*P was different from the others, because it wasn't actually outright good or bad, just momentous? Yeah, not quite true.

I've got the sneaking suspicion it will be good for some people... and potentially very bad for certain others. We'll find out next year.

I know that I'll be watching.

Something Wicked this Way Comes

R.K. Milholland likes to append a message at the bottom of every comic he posts. Sometimes these are in-jokes, sometimes they are random quotes, sometimes they are a commentary on the comic itself.

One such comment, placed at a turning-point in the most recent storyline, was as follows:

"'You're supposed to redeem Kharisma.' Funny. I don't remember making that promise."

It seems self-explanatory from the quote that there were quite a few people who expected Kharisma to overcome her own inherently hateful nature. The seeds were there, sure - Something Positive is about people, and no one person is no more than an icon of evil or hate.

(Well, not entirely true - many side characters, from e-bay scammers to perverse gamers, are presented as two-dimensional objects to be mocked and pitied and hated. But all the recurring characters in S*P have at least some measure of depth.)

I've touched on this topic before, when Kharisma's fate was still up in the air. Would she end up like Mike, and find some measure of acceptance... and personal redemption? Or another Eva, whose view of the world would only grow darker as it fed upon itself?

I use Eva as an example here, but it is an imperfect one. We saw Mike's redemption and development throughout the first years of the strip. Eva's downfall happened in pieces here and there, often off-screen. She was more scenery than character, and while her flaws certainly grew and grew, it was more as an obstacle in Davan's life, not as fully a story all her own.

So I suppose I can understand why some people expected Kharisma to find her better side. Randy invested time in her. She's shown up more and more the last few years - and even had quite a few storylines focusing around her. Like Mike she was an outcast, slowly becoming more and more attached to the main cast.

And for a time, she actually was a sympathetic figure. While working alongside Davan in his hellish job... well, let's say she was the lesser evil in those environs. And when she left... well, those were the moments when she seemed to genuinely have the capacity to interact with the rest of the cast on an equal level. And when she even seemed to have a heart.

And then she embarked on the path to becoming a homicidal murderess.

Kharisma is the counterpart to Mike. Eva wasn't - Eva started off good, and then her duplicity was revealed. That's a different story entirely - and one that, for the most part, happened out of sight.

We've watched Kharisma. Like with Mike, we saw her fail at being a human being from the very start, but she stayed in sight despite it. And we saw that the possibility for redemption was there.

But it was never promised. It was never guaranteed.

And in the end, she fell, and she fell hard.

I'm not surprised, and I'm not disappointed. I liked Mike's path to humanity, but if every character was destined to overcome their petty flaws? Then doing so would be absolutely meaningless.

Would I have enjoyed a storyline where Kharisma did manage to overcome her failings? Probably. But this is the story Milholland is telling... and he's telling it damn well.