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Eric: Hey, pal! No one gets away from Moe Sczyslak! No one!

(From PvP. Click on the thumbnail for full sized consequences of a wacky plot!)

I'm not usually one for Meta in my comics. I just don't think it's generally handled well. But every so often, someone... well, handles it well, because they bring the meta for a reason that connects dramatically. That someone is usually damned good at what he does.

Scott Kurtz is damned good at what he does. I've said it before, and now I'll say it again. We have ourselves character evolution here, and I'm liking how it was done.

First off, Kurtz is right about one thing. We're a different person under the influence of drugs than we are off it. And caffeine alters mood, stimulates mind and body, and in general makes us... well, different. If I have too much coffee in the morning, I become a miserable bastard in the afternoon. At the same time, when I want to drive creativity into a spiral of orgiastic writing, I reach for the double lattes. I know what they'll do to me, pro and con. I know the bits that make me a better writer in the short term. I know the bits that make me a worse person in the short term. And I know my limits.

Brent has been a coffee abuser for the run of the strip. He's the latest scion of a long line of coffee abusers in comic strips. See, coffee is considered 'safe.' Yeah, it's a drug, but it's one of the 'okay' drugs, like tobacco and alcohol used to be. I don't see that changing any time soon, either. It's not coffee's job to change that any time soon, and the rest of the world isn't interested. It's not like alcohol, which impairs our ability to drive in small quantities or otherwise hurt people demonstratively. It's not like cigarettes, which give us cancer and give other people in the room cancer. Caffeine is just there, and if it causes health problems, they're not as obvious as the problems the other formerly safe drugs give us.

Besides -- give up coffee, and tea, and many if not most sodas? I don't see it happening.

But individuals give it up, at least for a while. I have. I've gone through the mind numbing 'pleasure' of a caffeine headache many times. And, back when I was a serious abuser (I used to drink most of a push-pot of coffee in one shift, back in the days I was working for Kinko's -- the New Way to Office) any time I gave caffeine up entirely I was a zombie for days on end. And when I came out of it, I was a different person.

Now, here's Brent. Brent was a major caffeine consumer. And he was generally on edge, he was a compulsive night owl, no kind of morning person, and a punk ass bitch to everyone he met.

Now Brent's given up caffeine, by the urgings of Cole, who really ought to know by now that whenever he wants to do something for someone's own good, it screws everyone over. Cole -- he's a right bastard! They push him into kicking caffeine. He goes through the withdrawal. He even sees 'himself' in a mirror -- the self he's used to being. And he gives it up.

And now, Skull's sad because Brent isn't Brent any more. In yesterday's strip, we see Cole doing something Cole always does in these situations -- going to the others to get their affirmation that what he did was a good thing. And like always, they make Cole realize that no, it's not. Cole has taken Brent away. I suspect we'll see ripple effects from here. Brent won't be as sarcastic and mean, but he also won't be as willing to do crazy things. Brent will go to bed early most nights and become a morning person (somehow, I suspect Jade won't like her boyfriend's habits changing that much).

And Brent is, in fact, sad. Which isn't all that unbelievable. Caffeine is a drug, and a stimulant, and more than one person uses it to edge out of depression.

You're a whole different person when you're off your drugs than when you're on, and when you discover you liked the old person better, you're caught between a rock and a hard place. I remember when someone I knew was quitting smoking, right at a crunch time at their work. After three weeks of it, their boss ended up suggesting they hold off on the attempt until things calmed down, because right now they needed that person at the top of their game.

I remember thinking what a screwed up world we live in, when I heard that. Jesus, they're giving up smoking. Don't screw with them because 'it's busy at work.' But having been a supervisor for smokers while they quit, since, I understand the impulse. I didn't give into it -- damn it, I'd rather they not smoke -- but I understand it.

But Brent? Brent wasn't smoking. He gave up coffee. Naturally, Cole feels justified in bringing him back into it.

Which brings us to today's strip. Cole shows up with a cuppa joe. (A "cafe something," the infinite sign of the inexperienced tyro in the ways of coffee drinks.) He wants Brent back.

And, of course, Brent quite rationally says "well, no. This is healthier for me, so forget it." And Cole can't handle it -- to the point where he says that the storyline is over, and things are supposed to reset, damn it! What kind of comic are we running here?

I think it worked, because it sends a message to the reader that in fact we are moving away from Brent off coffee now, that Cole in fact has screwed things up, and that he's just got to live with the consequences... that we're seeing the evolution of character and strip, that we're seeing a change in the dynamic that all of the characters will have to deal with for at least a while. I don't know if this will last a long time or a short time (or if, in fact, Brent is off Starbucks for good), but with that bit of metahumor, Kurtz has put us on notice that there's no simple "and then one day he cracked and had nine shots of espresso straight from the machine" at the end of the day, here.

There's also the chance for wacky humor here, as the gang starts trying to spike Brent's beverage selection to get 'the real Brent back.'

I admit, this all caught my attention. I'm looking forward to see where it goes next.

Scott Kurtz gets a biscuit. A tasty, tasty, ready to be dunked in coffee biscuit.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I haven't had any caffeine today, and I'm jonesing like a heroin addict.

Posted by Eric Burns at February 27, 2005 11:34 AM

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