by A. G. Hopkins
Equal Opportunists
R. K. Milholland has created one of the most entertaining web comics online right now. He has done this through excellent character development, precise comedic timing, a cynical attitude and a craftsman's attention to detail in his art.
The strip is not for everyone. It can be offensive, cynical, and textually graphic. Language is not filtered at all, and so the strip is not suitable for children.
If you enjoy cynicism, dislike stupidity or self-righteousness, or if you simply wish you could express yourself with a baseball bat rather than a snarky letter to the editor, you'll enjoy this.
Milholland's creations are the epitome of equal opportunists as they prick those who give a bad name to every conceivable group from goths to gays, Wiccans to Christians, conservatives to liberals, and without sparing themselves or their families.
His characters are unforgiving of the same things that irritate so many of us; bigotry, stereotyping, ignorance, unfaithfulness, shallowness, rudeness, inconsideration and just plain being an asshole. They just express themselves better than we are likely to, frequently with implied violence as well.
Starting with an autobiographical base, Milholland has caricatured his cast to comic extremes. The main characters, Davan, PeeJee and Aubrey, are at first so
lacking in empathy, pity or tolerance that they simply belie any attempt at believability, freeing them to punish the worst social offenses with wild abandonment.
In the very first strip, Davan is invited to his ex-girlfriend's baby shower, and he responds with the gift of a wire coat hanger. Soon afterwards we have PeeJee and Aubrey dealing with a noisy, spoiled child at a restaurant by offering to smother the little brat with a pillow. The psychic and physical mayhem dealt out by these three is so casual, and so attuned with what we would love to be able to do that it instantly reverberates with us.
It isn't long though, before Milholland begins fleshing his characters out more fully, and giving them the humanity that makes them both vulnerable and understandable.
An example of this is displayed in a flashback to 1989 involving PeeJee in a discussion with her father. He has come to get his daughter due to some trouble at school;
"...and so she asked me if I knew this girl named Christie because Christie was Chinese too, and I pointed out there's a lot of Chinese people in the world. But the girl says "But Christie has long black hair" so I say, "Oh yeah, her. I've got her in my address book right next to I.M. Pei." And the girl's all like "Who's I.M. Pei?" Now I'm sorry, but if you can't respect 20th century architecture, how can I respect you? So you can see, Daddy, why I had no choice but to break her fingers."
PeeJee may be violent because she is upset at being taken away from her home in Singapore, but this type of violence and sarcasm is classic behavior for the character right up to the present time.
Later, when her father is trying to re-connect with his no-longer-little girl, he notices she is drinking coffee now, and writing in her diary. When he asks her what she's writing, she reads, " Sometimes I Hear My Parents Having Sex, by PeeJee Shou. Through the heating vents I hear the sounds of their carnal struggle. I hold my pillow over my head and pray to God it will be over, but I can feel years of therapy bearing down on me..."
Later still, they sit together and she has him read a section from her diary.
"He's sitting across from me now. We've been fighting again. I miss how it was like before we got here. I miss my father holding my hand when we walk down the street. He talks about us being on sides. I remember when my family was a circle. No sides, just all of us flowing into each other."
"And I don't know how to get that back."
It is glimpses into their souls such as this one that really make you care about them.
It also allows you to see how they can make people examine themselves and face their shortcomings. They are merciless about making people face their failings.
When a man in a bar tries a cheesy pickup line on them, PeeJee and Aubrey verbally crush him like an insect, insulting his manhood and his ego, leaving him with zero self-esteem, after which they say to each other;
PeeJee: "Do you think men have nightmares about us?"
Aubrey: "If not, we aren't doing our job right, my friend."
While the strip is full of one-off jokes, there are also several continuous storylines providing fodder for more serious episodes. Each of the characters gets involved in relationships, or special projects. This provides the background for serious character development, at which Milholland excels.
He has treated his characters consistently, and because of this, they have become fully formed, with feelings, depth, morals, and heart.
Davan has endured a horrible childhood at the hands of a dysfunctional father who refuses to provide any nurturing to his son. He all but disowns him, and frequently makes disparaging remarks about him. This same man has taken in and virtually adopted a moronic sexpot who wants to be a lesbian but keeps sleeping with men.
It's little wonder that Davan is dysfunctional himself, and is unforgiving of poor behavior in others.
However, as evil as Davan appears, and as heartless and cruel as he usually acts, we still find sympathy for him when he finally finds a relationship that appears as if it will last, only to have the woman leave him for her abusive ex-boyfriend.
PeeJee is smitten with Jhim, a gay member of the circle of friends. This long running sub-plot shows a softer side to PeeJee. At one point, Jhim says he wants to move to another city to start a new life. When PeeJee finds out that he can't afford this, she foregoes her own happiness and gives him the money, so that he has a chance at gaining his happiness. She never tells him of her feelings, knowing how hopeless her love is, and only the most jaded reader would not be touched deeply by her selfless sacrifice.
Aubrey is merely cold and sadistic. One wonders about her mental stability in light of her history. She has been a friend of Davan's since they were children, and she introduced him to the joys of blackmail and pain, and the concept that life simply isn't fair.
Repeatedly, the theme of despair and hopelessness is touched on, counterpointed by implied acts of violence and castigation against those who deserve it.
A Sense of Hope
A webcomic which started out disturbingly negative has become touched by a sense of hope. Davan, for instance, has finally found some measure of happiness with Branwen, in spite of his history of pairing up with unfaithful women.
A really telling scene regarding this development occurs in a recent crossover with Queen of Wands (another emotionally taut webcomic.) Early on in the comic, Milholland began introducing more characters, one of which was the now infamous boneless pink cat called Choo-Choo Bear. This has to be one of the most imaginative characters ever created in what is otherwise a 'reality based' webcomic. He doubles as clothing, or pretty much any other article you can think of. He eats, or perhaps consumes might be a better word choice, almost anything, and has been known to slither through the smallest of cracks and slip down drains. Choo-Choo is what the Blob would be if it were pink and occasionally adorable, or could sprout teeth when needed. Choo-Choo is fiercely loyal to Davan, and not a little jealous of his time. He is one of Milholland's most popular creations.
Choo-Choo Bear has been stealing underwear from Kestrel (from QoW) and Davan has been selling them on eBay to make some needed cash. Eventually Kestrel sees the auctions, and contacts Davan. He spends the evening on the phone with her, helping her sort out her issues and feelings about a variety of things.
While this mini-arc is an especially well done series of strips, the real payoff comes afterwards, when Davan tells his girlfriend what he was doing. He fully expects her to be incensed with him for spending the evening on the phone with a woman whose underwear he is selling, but she accepts his explanation, and tells him that she trusts him implicitly. Davan is surprised by this, but pleased, and snuggles up behind her in bed with a little heart floating over his head. That Davan is in love is obvious, and the fact that he, of all people, should be both happy and involved in what appears to be a healthy relationship shows that Milholland's characters are moving into new, dangerous and rewarding territory.
Milholland not only understands what pathos is, he is a master at evoking it.
Having created the intensely dislikable character Mike, a gamer who seems completely unredeemable and socially inept, Milholland proceeds to make us care about him, and begin to hope for some glimmer of heroic moral fiber. His doomed love of PeeJee, who is more likely to remove his spleen with a butter knife than to ever care for him, is a recent development which is surely surprising and pleasing many of the comic's fans. The recent revelation of PeeJee's current boyfriend's infidelities, and Mike's dilemma of what to do with this knowledge is also an example of how Milholland can pull unlikely plots out of almost thin air, and make them interesting and believable.
Milholland has shown that each of his characters is human, and that they have those human characteristics of complexity and varying morality which makes the world into shades of gray, rather than black and white. No matter how evil someone is, there is always someone worse. No matter how good, there is always someone better.
The Line Between Comedy and Tragedy
The comic appeals on several levels. The first and easiest is the vicarious cynicism. Who hasn't wanted to be as brutal as PeeJee and Aubrey, or as acid tongued as Davan when dealing with ignorance, bigotry, stupidity or simple rudeness in our day to day lives? We laugh because we want there to be a place where justice is served, and these people get the rewards they so richly deserve.
The second level is a bit trickier, and shows Milholland's solid grasp of comedic principles. Comedy often involves misfortune befalling someone. The more we know of that person, the funnier the misfortune can be, as long as the line between comedy and tragedy isn't crossed. Milholland treads very close to this line with skill, abusing his characters and crushing their hearts while making us laugh about it.
Finally, the comic appeals on a visceral level as we become involved with the characters, and hope for happiness for them. They become deserving of this, and with each setback, we want more and more for them to also be justly rewarded. It is amazing that we care about even Davan, who is accurately characterized by his current girlfriend, Branwen, as "a jerk ... callous, cruel, usually self-interested, horribly arrogant and a bit elitist." But she loves him, and so do we.
On a strictly artistic level, Milholland has set out from the very beginning to provide a polished, finished product. The pages he posts are well inked and colored, backgrounds are used effectively and intelligently, and his panel layout has been varied and fluid from day one. Occasionally the comic suffers from time constraints, with panels being laid out in a slapdash manner, and in one case, the strip not getting colored at all. Fortunately, lapses like this are rare, and don't distract from the reading experience. He has also suffered from occasional spelling/grammar issues. These small flaws can easily be forgiven when one considers how well overall the strip has been produced, and the fact that he has done this in his spare time.
Milholland recently challenged the spelling/grammar nitpickers in his fanbase to put their money where their mouths are, and put up enough money to let him draw the comic full time. His fans rose to the challenge, donating a year's salary in just a few short weeks. As of this writing, he has quit his day job and will be devoting himself to the strip on a full time basis.
The results should be spectacular, if past performance is any indication.
