Seriously. Dangerous When Awesome.

So, let's see how Joe and Monkey has progressed since the last time I mentioned them. I saw that a dark phase was in process, thinking at the time of the eleborate and possibly terrible revenge that Kleptobot was preparing to take on Megan. Then she was kidnapped.

The next strip upped the ante considerably by refering to a newspaper headline 'Another Missing Child Found Dead' but I didn't like this prop. I thought it seemed kind of clumsy to have a child dissappear and then 'discover/remember/etc' that there had been child killings going on. I would have liked to have been aware of the problem already, so I was worried about Megan. Although having her snatched so suddenly was effective.

From there we have seen a sequence of action that was perfectly timed. Despite having to wait between each update, just the right amount of movement was captured each time to feel like a discrete comic but also without losing the impetus that makes such a sequence interesting. Excellent work.

Then, today, Monkey gets aggro.

I was going to say that this violent promise was really pushing the comic down some odd avenues but then I noticed a discussion on the livejournal feed (from the man behind Theater Hopper too). Apparantly Monkey comes from Hell, something that was discovered in a different comic that is no longer online, hence the title 'Lost Continuity.'

I'm not sure how quickly we'll be able to get back to the bucket gags, the kidnapping of a young girl and the thought of her murder can't help but have huge influences on characters behavior (unless they are cardboard characters, which I merely mention as a possibility). But I get the impression that even those gag fuelled days might be different now that we've been introduced to demon monkey in this continuity.

I also wanted to say that the sudden switch seen in Kleptobot has been a great character touch. He's had some strange mentions while I've been watching the strip, he always appears to be going for the violent reaction, great for comedy. But I thought the build up of his revenge was dangerous and then it was turned against the kidnapper. One could be confused by this, wondering why he would care about Megan enough to save her but go to such lengths for revenge against her? There's a few answers but I like this one (probably because it's mine?): He's protective of his revenge.

He may not like Megan, but dammit, she's his enemy to get revenge on, not for anyone else to mess with. That strange attraction that we see in the movies so often, where the two who don't get along end up together. A dislike that becomes possession, a sort of caring.

I've been really enjoying this, I can't wait to see what comes next.