Chapter 5: Lit, page 125.

We were born in the desert
We were reared in a cave
We conquered in the sun
but we lived in the shade
Yeah baby we were savage
we existed to kill
Our history is damaged
at least it was a thrill!

But now we can see!
Now that our vision is strong
we don’t need to admit we were wrong!
Now we can see!
but the images don’t stick
Our enemies lie dead on the ground
and still we kick, HEY!

Ahem.

Anyway, put up some fun behind-the-scenes stuff for this page on Google+.

72 thoughts on “Chapter 5: Lit, page 125.”

  1. Does anybody remember what Ben had in that sack? Gold bullion? 100 dollar bills? What does douchbag-boy think might be in there?

    1. The game controller for what was it, Unagi? MAYBE his meds and perhaps a little cash. But EJ is EJ. He sees someone “coming home” with a bag – has to be something worth for causing brain damage over. >_>

      1. ACTUALLY snagging even an empty bag in which to carry subsequent loot is the very first thing remotely-clever thieves consistently do, b/c cops will get *real* curious about anyone they see cruising around like they’re “casing” targets with a backpack or similar, especially after dark. After my house’s midday break-in a few years ago, I was missing almost $1k worth of hand tools and one crappy vinyl vintage shoulder bag…

    1. This was my assumption as well. He’s a writer, and his primary computer is known to be a laptop; it only makes sense he’d carry it with him.

    2. I hate laptop thieves, there are few objects more personal or critical that a person can take from you. The only two that I can come up with off the top of my head are my dignity and my life.

      1. Truth. I’m neurotic about my laptop and I don’t even use it that much. But the thought of someone having it is *shivers*.

  2. The look on EJ’s face suggests neither indifference nor malevolence, but rather desperation and a mild but meaningless disgust. Somehow, that’s even worse. You make good monsters, Spike. EJ makes me look over my shoulder in real life. Literally.

  3. As a writer that uses a laptop, this is equivalent to cold-blooded murder of children.

    Elliots, do your thing–and this time, do it right.

    1. I was originally going to compare laptop thieves to rapists and murderers, but then I decided that might be a bit harsh. I’m glad you didn’t.

      1. Having had been raped by my best friend and then sexually abused by another friend fifteen years later, I couldn’t quite call him a rapist. After having my aunt mugged and killed when I was 5 by women looking for pot money, I can’t say he’s a murderer.

        My artist-side wants to, though.

      1. Why not both? The Jakes would likely have to leave the city and the Elliots would likely be dead/in ICU. Win-win, really.

    1. Thank you. I was wondering what song that was. And the lyrics (all of them, not just the ones Spike quoted) are so appropriate to the Eliots.

  4. I’m thinking EJ thinks Ben is the rich person in the building they’re planning to rob (see Mesmer’s comments earlier) and think’s he’s doing a favor for poor, suffering Biggs.

    What if Ben’s medication is in his satchel?

    1. I think the pilfering of his medication is the least of Ben’s worries. Maybe put it on the back burner for a bit because EJ just might have just brained his damage.

      1. Pretty sure Ben takes his meds only once a day and thus keeps them hidden somewhere in his apartment, which isn’t much help since without a locking door that’s the first place inside EJ is about to toss… If he doesn’t lose a wandering-monster roll to trigger the Jakes we may well get to see Ben unmedicated soon. I suppose running into Scipio would do, but be much less satisfying.

    1. I think he stole the bag for the same reason a lot of people like him would: It was there and not nailed down or on fire.

    1. I hope a truck hits EJ so hard, they’ll need to get DNA evidence, but not to identify WHO he was…but to identify WHAT he was.

  5. I was half-expecting EJ to pilfer through Ben’s belongings, find nothing of value, and then start taking his self-directed anger out on Ben’s lifeless body. After all, he seems like the kind of prick that would beat an innocent bystander like Ben to death because of his own (EJ’s) mix-up of rich-looking folk.

  6. A fine point perhaps that I didn’t notice: The door opens inwards, so EJ is headed (further) INTO the building. I couldn’t tell from other details (ok, the nice floor). And Ben is laying inside the building.

  7. Ugh…..will someone please just kill E.J. (Biggs too, for that matter) he gets on my nerves, and is easily my least favorite character, hell, i like Pippi better than i like this idiot.

  8. EJ isn’t evil. He’s just a messed up kid. He doesn’t see Ben as a person and violence comes naturally to him. He just see’s Ben as a way into the building and maybe a way to get what he wants. Which is to help out Biggs.

    ‘Course none of that matters and I’d have shot him dead. Your right to be a f*ck up ends when you f*ck up another. Upbringing doesn’t figure into it.

    In hindsight, yeah it’s sad he turned out this way. It’s a pity he’s going to die under a dozen Jakeskin knives. I can already hear the whistling.

    1. To quote Will Graham from the movie MANHUNTER, who was talking about the serial killer he was hunting:
      “As a child, my heart goes out to him. As the adult, I want to blow his brains out.”

  9. This is the kind of strip that reminds me that Ben is only a kiddo.
    That was really dumb, EJ. You are trapped like a rat.
    Of course, if he was smart, he would have spied the building for several days to know when to enter and exit. But i doubt it. All his decisions are desperate.
    The agression describes EJ very well. If he does not value his life, why worry about the lives of others?

    1. It makes perfect sense to call EJ a sociopath. Inflated sense of importance, compartmentalizing, the concept of others as things and not people, not very intelligent but with a high degree of animal cunning. His willingness to sell out Biggs to save his own hide is a clear example, showing no concern for Biggs but freaking out when he realizes he himself is in danger.

  10. WELP Ben’s dead, kinda psyched to see the rest of the comic play out from the perspective of Curio

    1. EJ *totally* scored a sweet controller. AWESOME

      Surprised he didn’t check for a wallet, but maybe that’s the idea. Or Ben’s stupid and has his money in his bag, and EJ knows that.

      OR SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY OOOH

  11. EJ you git — also what was on that lappy that is going to eplode in someone’s face — mostly EJ you horrible little git.

      1. Happy lappy, sez I, if the first one to use it wrong has it explode. Ya mean, in this world, that the laptops work that way? Hmm…bit of a stretch, maybe?

  12. Remember, EJ knows this is the building where Doctor Bash lives…who he was talking about ripping off umpty-dozen panels ago…

  13. Ben’s not gonna die. Worse case scenario, concussed, maybe a little loopy from blood loss. Head wounds bleed like crazy.
    Or maybe he will! The rest of Templar AZ: the Adventures of Reagan Manicuzo and victims.

    1. Would it matter if he left the gun? I don’t recall Templar having any serious form of centralized law enforcement to bother checking for prints/DNA, so I’m not sure how EJ is going to be punished unless someone saw him brain Ben.

    2. On the off-chance that EJ knows how to fire half a gun with a round already inserted, he probably kept it, if not just to club his next victim, which might end up being Dr. Bash.

    3. head wounds always look worse than they are. Probably a concussion, possibly a skull fracture but I’m willing to bet he’s not in immediate danger. Possible long term brain damage though.

  14. You know everyone’s going on about the Wrath of reagan but i gotta wonder how much of her is poaturing and bluster. The one I’m willing to bet EJ really has to worry about is Scipio. Yes, he comes on like a pussycat but the thing about gentle giants is that that if you ever give them a real reason to get pissed off, you’re toast.

    1. Meh. Maybe. Undoubtedly Scipio holds a huge edge in physique and training, such that he’d Handily subdue and secure EJ for the authorities unharmed and make it look easy in the process, but he acts too altruistic and philosophical to take any of the vengefully gratifying liberties that we could count on Reagan’s unabashed malevolence for…

      UNLESS Scip’s fruity Zen posture is Just That: A facade he creates and a habit he desperately maintains in order to conceal and suppress the bloodthirsty mulatto viking roaring behind his eyes, waiting for an overwhelming excuse to erupt…

      HMM: Maybe this (panel 1) is why Scip and Reagan are so close, even though they agree on nothing? http://templaraz.com/2006/03/05/010×039/
      Nah. Too much to hope.

  15. Just how many people that would go ape-shit over a friend’s death are friends with Ben? Anybody else think that a good civil war could start just from Ben getting killed, or have I lost track of all of the characters?

    1. Well, there’s Reagan and Scipio, the Jakes have connections to him through Zoe and her dad and a member of the Cook family is crushing on him.

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