A character-driven, long format online comic that updates three times a week. Comedy! Drama! Revolutionary Communists, runaways, creative taxidermy and more.
Chapter 5: Lit, page 133.
Rub some dirt on it.
64 thoughts on “Chapter 5: Lit, page 133.”
Oh, Spike, you fantastic fucking person…this page is gonna drive me CRAZY while I wait for the next one.
Man, I will be super pissed if that shout is not in reference to EJ. Or if that little shit somehow manages to dodge justice.
Keep wallowing EJ, right up until you take a Jake knife in something vital. Then maybe you can wonder at some other bodily elements suddenly revealed. I guess that’s only if the Jakes really hack you up though.
Let’s not forget that he’s holding the Jake gun openly in one hand. If there was any doubt that he’d be recognized, that would’ve shot it out of the water.
oh no ej
oh no
:c
i am quietly preparing myself for the emotional fallout of his death
poor kid’s been fucked over for his entire short and brutal life. he really doesn’t deserve this kind of retribution. :’c
Don’t give me that. He wouldn’t deserve this if he wasn’t free and didn’t wantonly conspire in the crimes that have brought him to this. He may be pitiable, but the guilty are still pitiable.
…Yeah he does. He’s had a shitty life, sure, but lots of people have shitty lives who DON’T grow up to be completely brutal to everyone around them. Or at least have some sort of conscience about it.
I think being an addict is the definition of having a crappy life. Most addicts aren’t addicted to drugs because they want to be, it is an affliction. Maybe EJ will get his shit fucked up and turn his life around, or maybe he’ll die, who knows.
I’m…. I’m not going to expect a happy ending for EJ. I never did, and I definately don’t now. And never will if he somehow manages to be alive in 5 pages.
I don’t think he deserves to die, either. I am of the opinion that no one deserves to die. But there needs to be some kind of consequence for what he did. I wouldn’t mind if he got the shit kicked out of him by the Jakes.
We can agree to disagree, here, because I think he does deserve to die. There are many people that deserve to die, the sooner the better. But unfortunately many of them keep surviving and doing better in this world than their victims.
That is probably a bit of your eye ball. Good bye EJ. You’re a really interesting a broken character but regardless of how life has treated you you made some really monumentally bad choices. Others may have hurt you but that does not give you the right to hurt others, and you’re about to reap what you’ve sown.
Oh and will someone please get Ben some medical attention because I really have this protective crush on the guy and he’s probably bleeding into his own skull.
It happens. There are a lot of blood vessels in your eyes — I get injections of a medicine into my own eyes once every two months and there’s always a bit of blood dabbed away afterwards. And that’s just from tiny little hypodermic needle holes.
Oh gosh, he sees his eyeball rolling around on the floor…
…doesn’t he?
I’ve been watching too much Twilight Zone. Damn you, Science Channel marathon! (shakes fist at sun, at which the Earth is getting closer to at an alarming rate)
Hmm, let’s see, he just got his eye gouged out and he is holding the gun that was “stolen” from the Jakes. Yikes. Yeah, this is going to be “awfully good”.
There’s nothing pleasurable or pitiable about this. He’s been sliding to a violent ending all his life, never did a damn thing to earn a minutes delay. When you live like a dog, you die like one. So long Ej.
We wish. I’ve no doubt he’s going to be around for a long while, despite our whishes and Marcus’s (or even rest of the Jakeskins’) efforts. I wish he died, too. Although at this point I almost wish he died quickly and without suffering.
And now for the inevitable hillbilly-cultist beatdown. I feel bad for EJ, as nobody really deserves what’s about to happen to you, but we all knew this was coming.
I’ve got this feeling that Spike’s gonna pull a bait-and-switch with this one, though. As much as I want to see EJ suffer (moderately, at least), when have any of her plot twists been easily predicted?
Split between wanting to see him just killed and done with and wanting to see the shit absolutely, mercilessly kicked out of him and have him live to see another day, so we can see more of his dumbfuckery. Really, at this point, I’m leaning toward kill him. As entertaining as he can be, it’s more just…wretched and awful and almost sad.
This must be what gladiator fights were like, with people clamoring for blood and carnage, the wait as the Emperor stands in sight to signal whether and how the defeated should die; now we just need to see if Spike gives EJ a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
Actually some suprisingly detailed descriptions of the fights have surprised, and they varied from almost cinematic blood and sandals type events to men with clubs bludgeoning chained slaves to death for the amusement of the crowd. No hand to hand though. That was done in either wrestling or boxing and it was considered gravely shaming to kill your opponent. You could do anything short, pull out the tongue, gouge eyes, go to work on the fingers, but to directly kill with a provable blow was ground for disqualification and the posthumous award of the victory to the fallen in most contests.
That style of essentially no holds bar, zero rules, anything but outright murder combat actually passed to the United States and was a favorite pass time during the 1800’s especially in East, South and Great Lakes. One famous champ grew out his thumb nails for better eye leverage as I recall.
Yes! If he lives he gets to look like a pirate (somehow I don’t think he’d ike having a glass eye). And frankly I think he should and will live. Yeah, he’s pretty flawed and has done some horrible things, but that doesn’t mean he can’t change. And frankly, with the experiences he’s had, he’d still make an interesting character if he got his shit together and got off the smack.
Fuckin’ A, you people are a bloodthirsty lot. EJ may be a vicious little prick, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to get mauled to death by a bunch of insane, knife-wielding cultists.
No, he doesn’t deserve it at all. But this is where his life has been heading, in large part by his own choice. He is a deeply screwed up person who has been handed a crappy deal, no question, but he’s also standing in a building inhabited by Jakes, being loud enough for the Jakes to hear. Which would not be a problem except for the gun and having previously chosen the option that would leave a witness that could identify him to the Jakes, who are known to react to such things like a swarm of Africanized bees.
So I predict that he’s going to gibber exactly the right thing by the luck that protects fools and leave the impression that he’s trying to make amends by bringing back the gun and also an Unagi controller. While poor Ben quietly bleeds out on the floor.
Hey, have any cops appeared in this comic? Like, ever?
The eye heals faster than just about any part of the body. As long as he can keep the rest of himself intact over the next 12 hours, he MIGHT not have permanent damage.
Unfortunately, there are dangerous psychotics on every floor of this building: Jakes on the top floor, Bash in the basement, Pippi somewhere in the middle… Hell, look what Ben just did to him, and that was MEDICATED Ben.
Nothing confirmed yet; last we heard he at least told his therapist he had a stockpile and was planning to stay on the pills, and we know there’s still a bottle knocking around somewhere in his apartment, but prior to the whole eye-popping incident he’d been acting pretty stable.
Having mental issues you need to take meds for doesn’t mean you go off the deep end the moment their effect leaves your body. Generally the meds are there to prevent an uncommon occurence from happening at all. If you go off them, it can take a long time before that uncommon occurence hits, so you appear to be stable.
.
I don’t know if Ben’s on meds right now, but for some reason I was under the impression that he wasn’t.
One thing that’s really impressive is the way you convey the genuine ugly and often clumsy viciousness of a real fight – something not often seen in comics or film. (DEADWOOD did have a similar fight sequence that was just about as appalling and convincing as this.)
Oh, Spike, you fantastic fucking person…this page is gonna drive me CRAZY while I wait for the next one.
That, Elliot, is vitreous humor mixed with blood.
Ooo.
Been waiting for this.
This is going to be good.
And awful.
Awful good.
Oh, your icon is some bizarre combination of megusta and derp. And I think it’s an appropriate reaction to today.
I’m with you.
Man, I will be super pissed if that shout is not in reference to EJ. Or if that little shit somehow manages to dodge justice.
Keep wallowing EJ, right up until you take a Jake knife in something vital. Then maybe you can wonder at some other bodily elements suddenly revealed. I guess that’s only if the Jakes really hack you up though.
Fingers crossed!
Oh please oh please oh please let it be the Jakeskin.
I want the look on his face to be the same one showing on his severed head 5 minutes from now. :D
Let’s not forget that he’s holding the Jake gun openly in one hand. If there was any doubt that he’d be recognized, that would’ve shot it out of the water.
I would say “out of the frying pan, into the fire”, but I think the situation is more of a pool of molten plutonium at this point.
oh no ej
oh no
:c
i am quietly preparing myself for the emotional fallout of his death
poor kid’s been fucked over for his entire short and brutal life. he really doesn’t deserve this kind of retribution. :’c
Don’t give me that. He wouldn’t deserve this if he wasn’t free and didn’t wantonly conspire in the crimes that have brought him to this. He may be pitiable, but the guilty are still pitiable.
…Yeah he does. He’s had a shitty life, sure, but lots of people have shitty lives who DON’T grow up to be completely brutal to everyone around them. Or at least have some sort of conscience about it.
Having a crappy life doesn’t entitle you into making other people’s lives crap as well. He’s well-deserving of anything that’s coming his way.
I had a crappy life. Still do. I’m not a drug addict or violent criminal.
I think being an addict is the definition of having a crappy life. Most addicts aren’t addicted to drugs because they want to be, it is an affliction. Maybe EJ will get his shit fucked up and turn his life around, or maybe he’ll die, who knows.
I’m…. I’m not going to expect a happy ending for EJ. I never did, and I definately don’t now. And never will if he somehow manages to be alive in 5 pages.
I don’t think he deserves to die, either. I am of the opinion that no one deserves to die. But there needs to be some kind of consequence for what he did. I wouldn’t mind if he got the shit kicked out of him by the Jakes.
We can agree to disagree, here, because I think he does deserve to die. There are many people that deserve to die, the sooner the better. But unfortunately many of them keep surviving and doing better in this world than their victims.
Oh shit son.
Th’ fuck is thaaat?
That is probably a bit of your eye ball. Good bye EJ. You’re a really interesting a broken character but regardless of how life has treated you you made some really monumentally bad choices. Others may have hurt you but that does not give you the right to hurt others, and you’re about to reap what you’ve sown.
Oh and will someone please get Ben some medical attention because I really have this protective crush on the guy and he’s probably bleeding into his own skull.
That is vitreous humor, which would normally be transparent, but in this case is mixed with quite a bit of blood.
Sounds brutal.
It happens. There are a lot of blood vessels in your eyes — I get injections of a medicine into my own eyes once every two months and there’s always a bit of blood dabbed away afterwards. And that’s just from tiny little hypodermic needle holes.
Oh, man. Is that a piece of tooth? Of eye? And who is shouting in the last panel? Can’t wait to see what will happen.
Oh gosh, he sees his eyeball rolling around on the floor…
…doesn’t he?
I’ve been watching too much Twilight Zone. Damn you, Science Channel marathon! (shakes fist at sun, at which the Earth is getting closer to at an alarming rate)
I think we’re about to have a one-eyed villain on our hands.
Yep! You’re fucked!
I had to touch my own eyeball to see if it was still there. o_o
You could have probably, y’know, closed your other eye…
>.> The other one’s a glass eye.
… then the test should have been logically easy.
Logic. Feh!
Hmm, let’s see, he just got his eye gouged out and he is holding the gun that was “stolen” from the Jakes. Yikes. Yeah, this is going to be “awfully good”.
Oh, EJ. You made your bed, now you must sleep underneath the sheets.
Sleep hard. Maybe sleep forever.
There’s nothing pleasurable or pitiable about this. He’s been sliding to a violent ending all his life, never did a damn thing to earn a minutes delay. When you live like a dog, you die like one. So long Ej.
We wish. I’ve no doubt he’s going to be around for a long while, despite our whishes and Marcus’s (or even rest of the Jakeskins’) efforts. I wish he died, too. Although at this point I almost wish he died quickly and without suffering.
[INSERT “JAWS” THEME HERE]
I saw the ‘There!’ and heard the Dramatic Chipmunk music
Well, here goes my favorite character. *waves goodbye*
And now for the inevitable hillbilly-cultist beatdown. I feel bad for EJ, as nobody really deserves what’s about to happen to you, but we all knew this was coming.
I’ve got this feeling that Spike’s gonna pull a bait-and-switch with this one, though. As much as I want to see EJ suffer (moderately, at least), when have any of her plot twists been easily predicted?
Split between wanting to see him just killed and done with and wanting to see the shit absolutely, mercilessly kicked out of him and have him live to see another day, so we can see more of his dumbfuckery. Really, at this point, I’m leaning toward kill him. As entertaining as he can be, it’s more just…wretched and awful and almost sad.
In any case, seeya, EJ.
He might get both! The Jakes could beat and torture his friend’s location out of him and then kill him!
He might even be held captive for a bit! Then we’ll get to see him break down as the inevitable fate approaches!
:D So exciting!
I support Bellar’s prediction and hope (against probabilities) that it’ll come to pass. XD
Goodbye EJ. (Cringe.)
This must be what gladiator fights were like, with people clamoring for blood and carnage, the wait as the Emperor stands in sight to signal whether and how the defeated should die; now we just need to see if Spike gives EJ a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
I actually wonder if Ben will be the one to give him the thumbs-up-or-down.
Actually some suprisingly detailed descriptions of the fights have surprised, and they varied from almost cinematic blood and sandals type events to men with clubs bludgeoning chained slaves to death for the amusement of the crowd. No hand to hand though. That was done in either wrestling or boxing and it was considered gravely shaming to kill your opponent. You could do anything short, pull out the tongue, gouge eyes, go to work on the fingers, but to directly kill with a provable blow was ground for disqualification and the posthumous award of the victory to the fallen in most contests.
That style of essentially no holds bar, zero rules, anything but outright murder combat actually passed to the United States and was a favorite pass time during the 1800’s especially in East, South and Great Lakes. One famous champ grew out his thumb nails for better eye leverage as I recall.
i hope he doesnt get away. i hope he loses the other eye too. and his hands. and lives.
Yes! If he lives he gets to look like a pirate (somehow I don’t think he’d ike having a glass eye). And frankly I think he should and will live. Yeah, he’s pretty flawed and has done some horrible things, but that doesn’t mean he can’t change. And frankly, with the experiences he’s had, he’d still make an interesting character if he got his shit together and got off the smack.
That’s the inside of your eye, Dude. Kiss it goodbye, and kiss your butt goodbye, too, as it appears the Jakes are going to beat your ass.
Fuckin’ A, you people are a bloodthirsty lot. EJ may be a vicious little prick, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to get mauled to death by a bunch of insane, knife-wielding cultists.
No, he doesn’t deserve it at all. But this is where his life has been heading, in large part by his own choice. He is a deeply screwed up person who has been handed a crappy deal, no question, but he’s also standing in a building inhabited by Jakes, being loud enough for the Jakes to hear. Which would not be a problem except for the gun and having previously chosen the option that would leave a witness that could identify him to the Jakes, who are known to react to such things like a swarm of Africanized bees.
So I predict that he’s going to gibber exactly the right thing by the luck that protects fools and leave the impression that he’s trying to make amends by bringing back the gun and also an Unagi controller. While poor Ben quietly bleeds out on the floor.
Hey, have any cops appeared in this comic? Like, ever?
I agree with you.
But i think that he won’t die because he’s violent; he’ll die because he’s very stupid.
Woohoo!
Somebody cue the Yakety Sax!
The eye heals faster than just about any part of the body. As long as he can keep the rest of himself intact over the next 12 hours, he MIGHT not have permanent damage.
Unfortunately, there are dangerous psychotics on every floor of this building: Jakes on the top floor, Bash in the basement, Pippi somewhere in the middle… Hell, look what Ben just did to him, and that was MEDICATED Ben.
I thought that’s un-medicated Ben? He’s been off his pills for a long time, hasn’t he?
Nothing confirmed yet; last we heard he at least told his therapist he had a stockpile and was planning to stay on the pills, and we know there’s still a bottle knocking around somewhere in his apartment, but prior to the whole eye-popping incident he’d been acting pretty stable.
Having mental issues you need to take meds for doesn’t mean you go off the deep end the moment their effect leaves your body. Generally the meds are there to prevent an uncommon occurence from happening at all. If you go off them, it can take a long time before that uncommon occurence hits, so you appear to be stable.
.
I don’t know if Ben’s on meds right now, but for some reason I was under the impression that he wasn’t.
Oooo, update. Been waiting for this. Please update again soon, Spike, I am on the edge of my seat here!
Best sit back and get comfy. Ben got pistol whipped in September.
I retract my earlier statement, and instead exclaim NOOO!!! BOOURNS To intermissions!!!
One thing that’s really impressive is the way you convey the genuine ugly and often clumsy viciousness of a real fight – something not often seen in comics or film. (DEADWOOD did have a similar fight sequence that was just about as appalling and convincing as this.)
OH dear. I bet that THERE is from one of the Jakes. Who sees a severe ass beating on its way?