76 thoughts on “Chapter 4: Trouble Every Day, page 92”

    1. I’m actually… beginning to like EJ. He just wants to help!
      He’s totally a bottom.

      Biggs’ face in panel one. Followed by EJ’s look of complete bafflement. Awesome.

    2. Well, he says “they’re the fags, not me.” Combining that with the occasional belief that “only the catcher is gay,” and what I’ve been told about supply and demand, I’d *guess* that EJ’s a top, at least professionally.

      1. Yeah, I thought of that… but I also thought of “they’re doing it because they want to, I’m only doing it for money.” Male prostitutes aren’t all gay, after all. ;-)

          1. Is that not essentially true? I mean, we’re not talking about hiring himself out as a dancing partner or arm candy at the soiree here, we’re talking street prostitution, and my understanding was that the clients for that are almost exclusively male with the very occasional couple mixed in.

          2. Speaking as someone who knows a couple of guys who have been male prostitutes at some point in their lives, the clientele is primarily male. It is VERY rare to have a woman pick up a prostitute from the street and bring her back to her place. However, a woman will mack with the repair man or the pool boy or the delivery guy or the bachelorette party stripper.

      2. If you are paying for sex you can have a man or a woman. So if you are paying and want a man that makes you the gay. Taking the money makes you someone who wants money. Whose butt is involved doesn’t really matter.

  1. … Awww. EJ that’s kinda… Sweet. Fucked up, but sweet.

    …You know there’s going to be yaoi of that now right? I’m just going to be cheerfully browsing porn and BAM. Naked EJ in my face. Like I don’t get enough of that in canon. [/joking]

    I’m kinda rooting for these two. Quietly. Out of Jakeskin’s hearing range.

      1. Don’t even joke about that. I’m still having nightmares, and not just cause of naked Moze, but because of Tuesday or whatever’s her name being naked there too. I mean, seriously. Yikes.

        And EJ’s definitely a bottom. That’s why he’s so angry all the time; he just wants a good humping, but doesn’t want to admit to wanting it. :-P

    1. Given the way the lives intertwine here, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if EJ and Dr. Bash have had at least one encounter.

      1. Oh Jesus, now I’m getting mental images of that you guys, oh my god @_@ Brain bleach, please.

        I just don’t see how someone with EJ’s temperament could even BE a prostitute. How does he stop yelling, raging, and being a maniac long enough to get butt-banged??

          1. Also, I’m still betting EJ’s a top – in which case his perpetual aggression might be an *asset,* for some clients?

          2. the shit Reagan sells… and the guy she guesses whether its fish hooks, razor wire, or some other godforsaken stuff… yeah, suppose some people are into strange things, mind you they were all in his pants, tight pants, with blood and what looked like diarhrea.
            anybody want to play the game “Put It in Muh Pantz’s” anymore?

  2. Wow, you really begin to wonder how these two even met in the first place… and then you regret it immediately.

  3. You know, as EJ gets more fleshed out Im starting to find him allot more interesting. Lots of male addicts do a bit of man-whoring if they’re down and out… but a Non-addict doing it, just to get money for his friend? Goddamn! Talk about loyalty.

      1. I am extremely tired, or falling prey to most of this discussion. Either way, I definitely read “codependence” as “codpiece”.

        The former, agreed. The latter…

        I think Imma go look at some LOLcats for awhile, try to scrub my brain out with innocence and narcissism.

      2. Co-dependency? Bah. Get outta’ here with your pop-psychological buzz words. EJ is scarily loyal to support another person’s Addiction through what is to him non-conventional sex acts. If it was just keeping Biggs alive, that’d be different; but EJ’s keeping him fixed. He doesnt want to see him suffer. Theres compassion in that. Loyalty.
        Not saying your wrong as such, just that people are quick to label. And I think theres some genuine loyalty in here too.

  4. Now I have to wonder if EJ’s actually a licensed prostitute. Or if that’s someone else who will be out for their blood.

    1. If EJ even bothered to get a license, it was probably revoked, like, a day later for excessive amounts of creepy and beating up the customers.

  5. EJ is actually kind of endearing. He grows on you, sorta like a fungus with puppy dog eyes. I’m curious as what Biggs did to earn this kind of loyalty from him. What makes me even more curious is, just how long would the Elliots survive without one another?

    1. I’ll agree with that. The more we learn of how complex these two are, the less I hate EJ. Biggs has honestly somewhat intrigued me from his first appearance, but EJ is getting more and more interesting by the page.

  6. Wow… Both of them are starting to get more fleshed out EJ’s willingness to do anything for Biggs and Biggs having a sort of Paternal tone towards EJ.

          1. I don’t care too much for money- ’cause money can’t buy me love!

            CAN’T BUY ME LOOOOOVE, CAN’T BUY ME LOOooOOOOOooOOVE!

            I need sleep.

    1. I still hate him…. kinda… I want to smack him more. And maybe sew his mouth shut…. with hot nails…. and barbed wire.

  7. I think it is more the fact that he does what he does out of loyalty to his friend. Sure he is fucked in the head, sure he is an insecure immature whiny violent psychotic wanker, but he is also a loyal friend. More loyal than any friend I have had,

    1. Apparently, when you become more likable, the pounds just fade away. Really though, The Elliots are starting to become some of the most complicated characters of the entire series, I’m suprised, though I wanna know how good ole Benny lost his arm.

      1. I’m guessing it had something to do with a complication from a missed shot or some other IV mishap. Perhaps a severe abscess, or if he was shooting cocaine then he could have really damaged his veins if he was good at IVing, or done far worse damage to his arm if he isn’t– cocaine is a very powerful vasoconstrictor.

          1. I know– I think that The Final Warden was wondering about the Reclamation founder guy, ‘Barney’. AFAIK both Elliots have their arms.

            Either that, or I’m just horribly confused :)

  8. EJ has always reminded me of some of the people I worked with when I did Mental Health/Mental Retardation group care. And, frankly, of myself when I’m having seizures and seizure accessories. Perpetually angry, because the world is perpetually confusing, and damn if it doesn’t seem like everyone’s doing it on *purpose* sometimes, and then acting like they don’t understand what you’re doing when they are clearly smarter and should KNOW, you’re sure not being mysterious, and meanwhile they all act like you’re being slow on purpose and should somehow be tuned in to whatever magic telepathic spaceman channel they’re all running, with all its info. It’s very frustrating. Like being in a place where you don’t speak the language, but everyone insists that you must! and then keeps changing the verbs. I like EJ, and feel great sympathy for him, even while I know just how intolerable he surely is.

  9. Holaved, yeah, it does actually. That hyperfocus is part of it– when all the world’s an advanced calculus test, you HAVE TO focus very hard in all but the most routine situations. And threats to the routine are very very upsetting, and anything that interferes with the focus is infuriating.

    I’m not sure that’s what Spike’s after, of course, but man, if it is? Spot on. I’ve seen it, I’ve BEEN it, that’s what the biological stupid can do to a person. It can go other ways, of course, people are highly variable, but the EJ option is not uncommon.

    None of this is to say that EJ isn’t also a jerk. He’s a big jerk. I’d avoid him. But he’s a jerk in ways I recognize, and feel some sympathy for. You wouldn’t like me when I’m stupid.

    1. Probably unintentional Bruce Banner reference there is rather applicable to EJ…

      Spot on, eh? Hmmmm.

      Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of Spike?

    2. I’ve read your posts on EJ, and they are truly insightful. Up until now I saw EJ as just an intolerable brat who wouldn’t go away, but your comments have changed that, and I can and do feel some sympathy for him. I’ll probably have to go back and re-read the some of the parts with him in it now.

      This is probably the best and most well-developed character writing I’ve seen in this series (or any series for that matter), and the fact that these two characters alone (who technically aren’t the main characters) are getting so much discussion is a testament to Spike’s writing.

      On a side note, I wonder about Scip’s apartment…

  10. fyi- every city has 10-100 old men who will go down on you, or jerk you off, or just touch themselves with your bare foot (New Orleans) and pay you for the privilege. The backup plan in a lot of punk communities and maybe in Templar?

  11. Say whatever you want about the Eliots, I like them both better (yes, even EJ) than Ben, who I still believe needs a good kick in the ass or a jab in the face.

    And yes, EJ is totally a bottom. I think.

  12. I love how biggs is desperate for money, but not THAT desperate. there are somethings that you just don’t want to touch.

  13. He probably just gives head to lonely businessmen, guys. Sheesh.

    And EJ is just flawed! Given his circumstances, his age and lower-rung status, I can be way more forgiving. How many teenaged boys do YOU all know that don’t have tempers? Just because he faces a violent world with violent behavior…? (too much character-bashing in the comments, woah) O.o

  14. I’m a bit late to the discussion, but I have trouble seeing EJ as “loyal.” I do have some sympathy for him (no doubt he’s been through some real crap to end up wear he is), but in the end I can’t get past the fact that he’s really, horribly manpulative, in the way a young child can be. He’s willing to do ANYTHING to keep Biggs around, not because he’s loyal to Biggs per say, but because he can’t or is afraid to be by himself. Sure, he’ll defend Biggs against others and prostitute himself to get Biggs drug money, but he doesn’t hesitate to threaten or hurt Biggs to make him stick around, either.
    Both characters are terribly messed up, but I find it alot easier to be sympathetic to Biggs, who IS trying really hard to put up with EJ, despite all the shit he causes.

  15. EJ’s clearly been to the churchyard a few times.

    By the way, anyone know what the “J” stands for? Last name, or middle name? Biggs is clearly Elliott Biggs.

  16. O_O Is EJ his kid??? That totally makes sense. Why they’re both named Elliot, why he lets him stick around, why he didnt want the girl punching him. HA! I discovered the secret!!

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