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Eric: This is entirely because we haven't had enough T-Bob. T-Bob makes everything happier!
(From Something Positive. Click on the thumbnail for full sized mercantile compassion!)
Something interesting is happening to Aubrey, over in the land of Something Positive.
I've always liked Aubrey, for the record. Peejee has always been the right hand of righteous vengeance, whether liquored up or not, while Aubrey has always been the daughter of holy chaos, wreaking horror on her friends and loved ones -- much less the people she didn't like -- with all the capriciousness of Murphy after Murphy got drunk and went premenstrual.
Yes, I know George Murphy was a man. However, the essence of Murphy encompasses all sexes, all races, all creeds. It is a universal thing. And as such, it can get pretty damn pissy, thank you.
But we've seen interesting things happen to Aubrey over the past year. Having lost her job, and then her apartment, she found herself living with Jason. (And later, found herself having sex with Jason.) She was close to rock bottom at that point -- no work, Peejee getting to rebuild their beloved bar without her, dependent on others and with no prospects.
And then she discovered the power of pandering to geeks. Nerdrotica was born, and she became successful and happy. And she immediately began to try and share the wealth... only there weren't a lot of takers. She tried to give Davan the money to join Branwen in her new life, but he wouldn't take it. And so on, and so on....
Contrast this with Davan himself. He too has lost his apartment. He too has moved in with a friend -- in this case, Peejee. (And I seriously, deeply doubt Peejee and Davan will end up as a couple. For one thing, I think the planet will explode if they try it.) But Davan is steadily losing what little compassion he had. He's heading for nadir, in a lot of ways -- and is growing darker. (The extremely cool blog The Living Comic noted this trend on Davan's part -- and noted the fact that for the first time, we've actually seen blood on Davan's hands, where before he might crush the souls of those around him, but never their bodies onscreen, unless it involved Mike calling Peejee a bad word and threatening to punch her.)
Aubrey tried to spin up interest and excitement by having her girls and Jason help Davan fake being richer than sin at his high school reunion, but that didn't take either. It never seems to take, does it?
Peejee is also going through her own soulsearching -- as was seen when she went to the convention and discovered there was nothing there for her any more. And Aubrey was on hand there too... and once again tried desperately to spark interest and enjoyment in her friends.
And, hand in hand with that Aubrey was trying to use her Nerdrotica girls to make money by being "girlfriends for the con," complete with breakup... but discovered that she had unaccustomed sympathy for the post-dumped gamers at the end of the LARP (sympathy neither her employees nor the counselors she'd hired for this express purpose had managed to summon, I would add).
And now... she's tried to give tickets to the opening night of Star Wars Episode III to Davan -- to her Woogie -- a nickname based on a Star Wars Action Figure... and Davan isn't interested. He's outgrown it.
He's... outgrown her, perhaps. Or so she's feeling. And she turns back to her employees, and is once again working to make money off of their hotness and the loneliness of geeks... and discovering that the girls just think Star Wars is weird. Her Geek Girls aren't geek girls, in other words. They're just hot chicks out to make money and mock the weird.
Only... Aubrey is a geek girl. A hot one, to be sure, but an honest one. She, Kim, Peejee and Jhim saw Episode II together, after all ("hey you Naboo Foxes! Tits out for the Jedi!") This is more than her being understanding about geeks... this is Aubrey trying to inspire some sense of compassion in these girls for the marks they're fleecing... and some compassion for an event that Aubrey might be the last person to think is an event.
Aubrey has become a success... and grown a soul. Rather than feeling guilty after her pranks destroy those she loves, she's actively trying to make their lives better... only they're growing distant, and growing bitter, and growing numb, and she's all alone. She's making tons of money, but beginning, perhaps, to realize that she's making it off the misery of the geeks she once was a part of.
Do you remember when Peejee went to her first Con and Aubrey was desperately trying to get out of it, because she couldn't stand the thought of it? The same Aubrey who now tries to convince her friends to actually go to cons?
Of course, she'll actually go to Episode III, and some geek will grope her and she'll destroy him with ultraviolence -- I have faith in the violence of Aubrey. But there is some incredibly dark bittersweetness here. Aubrey is coming out of the far side of not-caring, and discovering she's the only one there.
Who would have thought it?
Posted by Eric Burns-White at May 16, 2005 5:04 PM
Comments
Comment from: quiller posted at May 16, 2005 8:24 PM
Aubrey seems to have that happiness bug that people want to spread to their friends, but rarely succeed in doing.
Davan points out the continuing influence of Branwen in this comic. He is still in love with her while recognizing she's gone (particularly with the marriage and all). He is probably not making his ulcer any better, since he rarely externalizes any of this. (It is possible I'm reading too much into it since I feel like I'm describing my own life, but I see it all being there.) He promised Branwen to look out for Mike and he is doing so, and he may represent one of his last links to her.
Basically, if you look at Davan he's in the same position he was at the beginning of the comic, plus 2 cats and minus a place to live. I don't think he sees much progress in his life, his relationships have brought him pain, and he was no optimist to begin with. It is going to be a tall order for his friends to cheer him up. "Making women leave is my art". He has always been self-deprecating (Ok, everybody-deprecating) but that sure seems like a telling comment.
Comment from: Eric the .5b posted at May 16, 2005 8:37 PM
That jibes with my previously-unconscious suspicions.
Semi-related: did you notice the announcements? He's resuming New Golden Dream and starting a spinoff comic with a planned 8-year run. Ambitious!
Comment from: Kris@WLP posted at May 16, 2005 8:59 PM
I couldn't possibly disagree with you more here, Eric.
Aubrey is selfishness incarnate. She's so self-centered she probably qualifies as a psychopath. Her demonstrated lesson-learning skills are so close to zero as not to be measurable without a microscope. Anything and everything she does, she does solely for her own pleasure or aggrandizement.
Sex with Jason? Her idea.
Offering Davan tickets to Ep. III? Only so she could have a companion with her when she saw it.
Compassion for geeks? Only to get their money.
In fact, where you see growth and maturity in Aubrey, I see nothing but a character becoming less and less likeable, less and less human... remaining static while all the other major characters grow and change.
To PeeJee, Davan is a friend. To Aubrey, Davan is property.
To PeeJee, pain is how people learn to change their ways. To Aubrey, pain is a source of entertainment.
For PeeJee, actions have consequences. For Aubrey, so long as the consequences happen to someone else, they don't matter.
At one point, the two characters were close to identical. Aubrey has remained the same- in fact, sometimes she looks like she's denying change, trying to avoid it at all costs. PeeJee has changed, and grown, and matured, and calmed down quite a bit, but Aubrey seems determined, if not obsessed, with remaining Ms. Psycho Bitch forever.
I used to like Aubrey's chaotic, quixotic violence and destruction. Now, I look at her, and I'm beginning to see traces of a female human Bun-Bun. And I *HATE* Bun-Bun.
I'm just waiting for the universe to finally smack Aubrey with a colossal clue-by-four and let her know that there is a limit to how much torture one can inflict upon others before it rebounds back.
Comment from: Natural Slave posted at May 16, 2005 10:05 PM
Kris, your reading of Aubrey seems to depend on assuming as narrow a perspective on her actions as possible. While I don't necessarily agree wtih Eric that she's being altruistic about the geeks (though her comments make for a degree of ambiguity) her relationship with Davan is another example of the traumatizing/affectionate dynamic that recurs in the comic, generally with Davan being the one traumatized; the other example of this is Davan's relationship with Pa MacIntire, which I find has always had an undercurrent of sweetness beyond all the inpirations for future panic attacks or counseling sessions. There are a few comics in which this genuine bond between the two characters is apparent in both cases, though I haven't broused the archives recently enough to cite specific examples.
One of things that makes Something Positive truly great is that all the major characters are ultimately sympathetic, even the likes of Kim and Mike. If Millholland had a major character as one-dimensional as Bun-Bun then I wouldn't think it nearly as brilliant as I do.
-Wilhelm
Comment from: Natural Slave posted at May 16, 2005 10:15 PM
Okay, the providence storyline for starters.
Aubrey sees Davan depressed and takes him on a picnic to Lovecraft's grave and even goes so far as to help Davan make a Cthulu snowman.
Now, we have to grant that Aubrey expresses her affection in her own semi-abusive way, but as I said before this is par for the course in this comic.
Comment from: RoboYuji posted at May 17, 2005 12:31 AM
"One of things that makes Something Positive truly great is that all the major characters are ultimately sympathetic, even the likes of Kim and Mike."
Actually, I tend to find Mike MORE sympathetic than most of the main characters in Something Positive, especially as he started being developed past his initial form of "total asshole geek with zero social skills."
Comment from: Julio Dvulture posted at May 17, 2005 12:43 AM
Semif off-topic: Isn't it funny how Nerdrotica was a smashing sucess while the real life inspiration for it(that for the life of me, I can't recall the name) completely flunked? I guess it takes more effort to explore geeks on real life, hehe.
Comment from: Zeus tfc posted at May 17, 2005 10:16 AM
Julio,
One could argue that the SP crew is in a different world than ours, where things are baser, more cynical than we see on a daily basis.
Conversly, one could argue that both worlds are the same, and it is only denial and self-deception in the form of optimism that keeps us from seeing it.
Then again, I don't think Terry Pratchet posts here, so I may be way out of line.
Comment from: Denyer posted at May 17, 2005 3:53 PM
To PeeJee, Davan is a friend. To Aubrey, Davan is property.
No. No, I don't think so.
Funny you should mention Bun-Bun...
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03092004.shtml
And that's another (early) instance of Aubrey looking out for Davan.
Comment from: Kris@WLP posted at May 17, 2005 10:10 PM
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03092004.shtml
"And that's another (early) instance of Aubrey looking out for Davan."
Er? I don't see it.
Comment from: Natural Slave posted at May 18, 2005 5:54 PM
Okay, I think it's funny that Eric writes this snark and gets his point proven even more explicitly by the next comic...
Comment from: RKMilholland posted at May 19, 2005 5:59 AM
NaturalSlave - I show him my scripts ahead of time so he can seem prophetic.
Okay - the secret's out now.
Comment from: Eric Burns posted at May 19, 2005 7:36 AM
But... I just spent all that money on the tuxedo and turban combo. Damn it, Milholland...
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