Something Positive
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Something Positive or S*P is a webcomic by R. K. Milholland, which debuted on December 19, 2001. The comic is defined by its cynical tone and off-beat humor. It is also one of a few webcomics that are drawn full-time by their artists, with Milholland achieving financial independence, via reader donations, on June 10 2004.
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Setting and storyline
The main cast lives in some unspecified location in Boston, while the MacIntire family and Monette live in Bedford, Texas. The comic will often switch between these two locations, with related story lines, as well as go back in time. This most often occurs with the MacIntires and the earlier life of Davan, but has happened to explain the circumstances that brought the main three characters together. S*P has done multiple crossovers with Queen of Wands, the first of which involved a baby-sitting mishap with Choo-Choo Bear, and one with Scandal Sheet!. Milholland has been known to use his comic as a forum for responding to irritating email, and has more than once satirized his own comic in the process of making a point.
S*P is largely based on the personal experiences of the cartoonist. All of the main cast has some real life basis: many of them are directly based on real people, while others combine qualities from multiple specific people. According to the FAQ, around 65-70% of the comic is based on real life experiences, although toward the beginning it was closer to 90%.
Unlike many webcomics featuring players of role-playing games, it is not a gaming comic. The gamers that do appear are usually stereotypical AD&D nerds (ironically, when Milholland does publish a gag D&D monster, it is in the 3rd edition format), who cannot function socially — but others do appear who do the genre justice.
Storylines revolving around low-budget or no-budget theater are also common, some drawing on Milholland's experiences in the Boston theater scene. Most notorious among these was the storyline about "Nailed!" a musical about the Crucifixion. Many of the secondary Boston characters are loosely based on people in Boston's improvisational theater and sketch comedy community.
S*P, unlike many comic strips with their episodic "gag-a-day" format, takes a linear, storyline-based approach. Subject matter ranges the main characters' adventures (both present and past) to contemporary commentary to political statements, and often makes its points in scathing and offensive fashion: for instance, in the debut strip (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12192001.shtml), the strip's main character offers his opinion of an ex-girlfriend by giving her a coat hanger as a baby shower present. However, the strong friendships shared by the main characters inject occasional bouts of hope (and certainly have greater dramatic impact through their rarity).
Cast
The comic's main characters are Davan MacIntire, Aubrey Chorde and PeeJee Shou, with a sub-cast stemming off of that, to include Jason Pratchett (who is still technically part of the main cast), Davan's immediate family (Faye, Fred, and Dahlia MacIntire), as well as Monette Donnelly, who also lives with the MacIntire Family. There is an array of supporting cast members that range from Davan's boneless cat, Choo-Choo Bear, or the enigmatic Spanish-speaking love-midget, Pepito, to PeeJee's gay friend Jhim. These lesser cast members appeared more frequently in the first two years of the comic, but in recent years have diminished in their prominence to the story line.
Primary characters (Boston)
- Davan MacIntire, born November 24, 1975, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a failed art student. He moved to Boston in 1999. He works for a company that bills families for medical debts they can't afford, and despises it. He takes joy in bringing people pain and misery, but only when they deserve it. He has a rather unhidden interest in Hello Kitty paraphernalia. His closest friends are Aubrey and Pee-Jee. After many grotesquely bad relationships, he eventually met a girl named Branwen, who as of the strips of September 2004 left Boston to pursue her dream job in Vancouver. He is perhaps less cynical and uncaring than he seems to be, but he hides it well, and with good reason, since he is invariably taken advantage of when he does let it show. Strangely, despite his average looks, many women seem to find him inexplicably ugly.
- Aubrey Chorde, born December 31, 1977, is a native of Fort Worth, and later followed Davan to Boston. She was an actress during her childhood, as well as an accomplished ballet dancer. She takes sadistic glee in violence and offending others, and she's the brains behind most of the more twisted schemes in the comic, though rarely do the consequences catch up with her. Her best friends are PeeJee and Davan. She's currently dating Jason Pratchett. She knows Davan perhaps better than anyone else in the comic, and to this day they continue to refer to each other by the childhood nicknames of "Woogie" and "Monkeybutter". One strip (http://somethingpositive.net/sp03092004.shtml) implies that she was the original owner of Bun-Bun of Sluggy Freelance. Milholland recently "outed" American anime voice actress Clarine Harp as the "real-life" Aubrey (with her permission).
- Penelope-Jennifer "PeeJee" Shou was born October 5, 1976 in Canada, but spent much of her childhood in Singapore. Her best friends are Aubrey and Davan. She met Davan in an undisclosed chat-room setting, and vowed to meet him when she came over to the States. Davan would soon develop a crush on her, though keep it secret for years. She always has colorfully-dyed hair. She usually ends up as Aubrey's accomplice, no matter how bad an idea it is. She has a huge crush on her gay friend Jhim, who remains oblivious to her desires.
- Jason Pratchett, born March 19, 1972. Jason and Davan met at an audition. His official backstory indicates that he was a child prodigy who took high-level math classes years in advance, but as of yet, that has not been part of his storyline. He is large and, though generally jovial, can become extremely aggressive when provoked. He is usually known for his not-so-little black book, but since Aubrey is currently dating him, he's stuck to focusing on his other trademark: elaborate schemes. He wrote and directed Nailed!
Secondary characters (Texas)
- Faye MacIntire is Davan's mother.
- Fred MacIntire is Davan's father. He and Davan do not always get along, perhaps due to striking similarities in their personalities.
- Dahlia MacIntire is Davan's disabled sister. She is unable to fully use her legs due to an accident, and Davan has gotten her running shoes for Christmas ever since.
- Monette Donnelly is one of the earliest and longest running secondary characters in S*P. In her first appearance she was battling a case of unintentional nymphomania with men. Convinced that, deep down, she was a lesbian, she enlisted Davan's help to fully make the transition. But after long bouts of sex with men... and a koala... she now is in Texas and lives with the MacIntire family, and is currently in a shaky relationship with her girlfriend, Lisa. She became pregnant when sleeping with a guy during a "break" from Lisa, which was a serious controversy in their relationship. (A young Lisa is a character in one of Milholland's other comics, Midnight Macabre.) The baby was "lost" (how we still don't know) and Lisa proposed to Monette shortly thereafter. She refused, saying she wanted to make sure they would have a relationship like Fred and Faye MacIntire, and to ensure that Lisa was not just marrying her out of pity. She has also been adopted by the MacIntire family, a process that was evidently started before Monette lost her baby. First introduced as a sweet but dim-witted character, life in Texas and living with the MacIntyres seems to have taught her some sharp, if basic, wit.
Supporting cast
- Choo-Choo Bear, a boneless and hairless cat (due to an unexplained "rare bone disease" and chemotherapy), is the most surreal of all the characters. Jhim allowed PeeJee to talk him into adopting him, but he later blackmailed Davan into taking in the "chemo-kitty". Davan quickly warmed to Choo-Choo Bear, and he may be the only character whom Davan cares for without reservation or fear of violent retribution. Choo-Choo precipitated the Queen of Wands crossover by vanishing down Davan's drain and returning some time later with Kestrel's panties. Davan, seeing an opportunity, sold the panties on eBay. Choo-Choo, due to his rather amorphous qualities, has been seen posing as such items as a washrag, a drink, and toilet paper, to comedic and/or violent effect.
- Pepito is an enigmatic Mexican love-midget. He was brought into the comic through Avagadro, a master director employed to produce one of the strip's many crackpot public theater shows. He was taken from Avagadro when it was found that he was being used for ill purposes (see quote below) and was soon adopted by the group of friends. After many weeks of putting up with Pepito, Davan and the crew prepared him for a trek to find a better home; upon beginning his quest, he was promptly eaten by a trap-door alligator. Pepito returned to the strip many weeks later, living in dresser drawers and stealing organs, but he now appears only rarely. On November 25 2004 Pepito revealed his ability to speak English, which he hid in order to continue mooching off of the S*P gang. He has not appeared since.
- Jhim Midgett, born March 19, 1973, met Davan MacIntire playing AD&D. Jhim is also involved in theater, and is an accomplished dancer. Jhim is good friends with PeeJee, but is decidedly gay, and ignorant of her infatuation with him. He was an on-again, off-again accomplice in the artistic endeavors of the S*P gang, until his recent move to the Washington, DC area. He was most recently seen in the Marine Corps Marathon on September 6, 2003, admiring the posterior of a runner who turned out to be a woman.
- Mike Dowden is an acquaintance of Davan's who was brought to further prominence when Davan began dating his cousin Branwen. Mike was, to put it mildly, annoying, and, again to put it mildly, was not well-received by the strip's cast. PeeJee eventually took pity on him and helped him out in several embarrassing situations, to which Mike responded with characteristic vitriol. However, one incident changed his mind and he developed a crush on her, precipitating a slow change in his nature. When PeeJee took a "break" from her then-boyfriend Kyle, Mike tried to catch her on the rebound, angering all and sundry, but Mike's redemption came when he publicly revealed Kyle's infidelity, which led directly to Kyle's hospitalization (an event lauded by both characters and fans of the strip). PeeJee and Mike have decided to "start over" as friends, and he is becoming gradually more accepted among the S*P gang. His transition from self-absorption to self-awareness has been the strip's longest-running, and arguably most significant, plot-line to date.
- T-Bob is a casual friend of Davan and company. A short, perky blond bisexual man, T-Bob was first introduced at the auditions for Nailed!, where he won the part of Jesus by giving the menstruating Aubrey and PeeJee Canadian chocolates. He appears to have been closest to Kim, with whom he would "tag-team date". His most recent appearance was on February 18, 2005, where PeeJee "persuaded" Cab to hire him as a waiter at the bar.
- Kim Anansie was a frequent member of the supporting cast, until 2004, by which time she had relocated to Illinois for graduate studies. She was an object of casual lust for Davan, a situation she dealt with with generally amused grace, except for the one time when she semi-raped a painkiller-dosed Davan (http://somethingpositive.net/sp01282003.shtml). An attractive woman, Kim was also a Wiccan, and was nearly kicked out of her Boston coven once by an overzealous high priestess. Like Aubrey and PeeJee, Kim also had an affinity for dealing with annoyances in a violent manner. Her most recent appearance was on December 22, 2004, at her job at a local Wiccan bookstore.
- Kharisma Valetti is, perhaps, the least sympathetic member of the cast. One of the self-proclaimed "beautiful" people, she tends to look upon those who are "ugly" with ill-disguised disdain, and holds physical attractiveness as the most reliable indicator of a person's worth. She is even a member of a LiveJournal community which claims to be "deep" while holding the same beliefs. Her first appearance was on February 11, 2002, where she was set up with Davan as a blind date but balked at his "incredible ugliness". (Naturally, this earned the undying enmity of Davan's friends.) Since, she has proven herself to be incapable of personal growth - her boyfriend dumped her, she was fired from the job she had underneath him, and her rich father cut her off, yet she holds to her belief of personal superiority because of her beauty. She has been working with Davan since 2003, and remains a mild thorn in his side. Her most recent appearance was on June 11, 2005, when she quit her billing job to begin work with Aubrey's Nerdrotica company. On her way out, she unexpectedly sympathized with Davan, asking him to find a less soul-crushing job.
- Anna Morgan is the youngest member of the supporting cast, and is regarded by Davan and company, particularly Jason, as a "little sister". First introduced on August 28, 2002, she is a perky, precocious blonde teenager with an affinity for fairies. She has also been influenced by Aubrey and PeeJee's taste for applied violence. Her most recent appearance was on January 24-28, 2005, where Davan and Jason accompany her on a visit to an out-of-state college, which she decided on because of its geographical remoteness from her parents.
- Cab is a retired doctor who runs the St. James' Pub, the bar that Davan and company frequent. Originally running it as a medical-themed bar, when that proved unsuccessful, he turned to PeeJee for help making it profitable, a decision that has thus far borne fruit. In return, PeeJee has the run of the bar. Cab is known for hiring attractive waitresses for the purpose of hitting on them. His first appearance was on June 24, 2002, and his most recent one was on February 18, 2005, when PeeJee was "persuading" him to hire T-Bob.
- Claire Shenstead, like most of the central cast, dabbles in acting. An attractive woman, Claire also seems to attract men with stalkerish, or at least possessive, tendencies. Her first appearance was on January 22, 2002, where she met Davan at a children's theater rehearsal. Over the next several strips, he deliberately freaked her out with a knife to help her overcome her stagefright. Since then, she has been an on-and-off member of the central group, although she did suffer from their enmity for a time when she reneged on her promise to give Davan post-breakup sex after Eva left him. Her most recent appearance was on December 30, 2004, during Aubrey's birthday party.
- Scotty Harris was one of Davan and Aubrey's best friends while they were growing up. Not especially notable for his wisdom, Scotty's shining qualities were his loyalty to his friends and his willingness to go along with the half-cocked scheme of the hour. Despite his close relationship with Davan, Scotty was not above hitting on his girlfriends. In the aftermath of a failed relationship, Scotty attempted suicide, an action that Davan accidentally completed for him by shouting at him in the hospital room. Davan occasionally visits his grave and has one-sided conversations with it.
Former relationships
Failed relationships, both presented in the comic and prior in the timeline, have played large roles in shaping Something Positive's characters, especially Davan. Some of the more notable ex-significant others include:
- Branwen Maher was Davan's girlfriend from July 6, 2003 to September 23, 2004. She is the daughter of a fundamentalist Catholic and a gay man--her mother married him because she couldn't deal with her husband wanting sex all the time, and he married her to "keep up appearances" in his professional life. Her first appearance was when Davan met her at a bar back in December of 2002 when he asked her for a one-night stand and she assented, but circumstances at the time prevented this from coming about. They were reunited by Aubrey, who chanced upon Branwen and convinced her to go on a date with Davan. She proved to be perhaps Davan's best relationship thus far, balancing love and affection with sharp wit and a morbid sense of humor matching his. They were separated when Branwen was offered a job up in Vancouver and moved away. On February 23 2005 her cousin Mike let slip that she had found and married her dream guy; she and Davan remain friends, corresponding by e-mail on a regular basis.
- Eva Olsen was Davan's girlfriend from May 15 to September 6, 2002. Employed in a stem-cell research lab, she hooked up with Davan after reading a dating resume he distributed during a night of barhopping. While they were compatible in many ways, their relationship was often strained by her constant comparisons of Davan to her prior boyfriend, Marcus, who was abusive and isolated her from others. Also contributing to the strain was her strong jealousy of Aubrey's closeness to Davan. The relationship collapsed badly when Davan caught her cheating on him with Marcus. Since then, she has cut ties completely with Marcus and married Gray, a man who seems to be nice enough but is often away on business trips. She maintains a friendship with Jason, which is an occasional bone of contention in his relationship with Aubrey. Like PeeJee, she enjoys dying her hair, although she sticks to a specific color. Her most recent appearance was on December 29, 2004, during Aubrey's birthday party.
- Kyle Cheng was PeeJee's neighbor and boyfriend from June 16, 2003 to October 29, 2004, although he had expressed an interest in her for some time before their first date. Of Asian descent like PeeJee and Aubrey, he was a child actor, and played a character in a foreign-market children's show that PeeJee had a crush on. Unfortunately, the rest of their relationship was not so fortuitous. While he may have had genuine feelings for her, he was often possessive of her time, and jealous of her male friends, especially Davan and Jason. Unsurprisingly, while suspicious of her fidelity, he was unfaithful himself, seeing one of PeeJee's coworkers at the bar. Mike, lovelorn and making no headway with PeeJee, wandered in on one of these dalliances, and Kyle gave him a rather cynical pep talk, claiming that a boyfriend is merely an obstacle. Neither realized that Kyle himself was that obstacle. He has been removed, however: during the 2004 Halloween party, Mike revealed and Kyle admitted his infidelity to PeeJee; soon after he was carted out by paramedics. His most recent appearance was November 21, 2004, when PeeJee mentioned that he was moving out of her building. It was later revealed in dialog that Kyle came out of the closet, cementing PeeJee's reputation for always going after gay men instead of straight ones.
- Celie was one of Davan's girlfriends in Boston. Her first appearance was on September 22, 2002, where she appeared on his doorstep asking him to take her to get an abortion. She identifies herself as "the girl who didn't cheat" on him, although that that seems to be one of her few redeeming qualities. She was a roommate of Monette's, but ditched their lease without warning to chase after a man who'd caught her eye. Her next appearance was during Davan's involvement with the Shock Treatment revival, during which she offered him sex during a rough moment in production, and was incredibly offended when he declined.
- Belinda was a girlfriend of Jason's from September 2002 to March 2003. Her first appearance was on August 31, 2000, where they were having one of Jason's patented contractual one-night stands. A relationship of sorts evolved, and lasted through the holidays. Jason even bought her a ring for Valentine's Day. While her last actual appearance was on December 6, 2002, she was referenced in strips through February. Her last reference is on March 2, 2003, where she and Jason are said to have broken up, and that the parting was particularly hostile on her end. The circumstances of the breakup are still unknown.
- Aubrey has had many failed relationships and ex-boyfriends, several of whom are actually seen in the comic, and many more whom are referenced in dialogue. None of them have been actually named, and for a time Jason resorted to a numbering system for them.
Memorable quotes
- Davan: (about Monette) "You know, for a lesbian, you seem to suck a whole mess o' dick."
- Peejee: "Pssst--little girl! I'll give you a buck if you promise to ask Daddy why Mommy's goodnight kisses are so salty!" (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01082002.shtml)
- Aubrey: (when asked the name of the brand of witchcraft that will enable her friends to bypass a large bouncer): "Vaginamancy."
- Aubrey: "Don't dare blame this on my taste-buds. I could menstruate a better cup of coffee than this!"
- Avagadro: "No! Close the door! Leave us in our secret shame and sin!"
- Peejee: (concerning Choo-Choo Bear): "My God, Jhim! Chemo-kitties need extra love!" (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01142002.shtml)
- Goth Kid: "A work shirt? This isn't an emo club, or are you going for the gothabilly look?" (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12102002.shtml)
- Davan: "The way I see it, there's so much love and beauty in the world, and someone has to balance that shit out."
- Lisa: "For future reference, when a woman says she wants your honest opinion, she really doesn't."
- Aubrey: "If a guy tells me I can't possibly stick a crazy straw all the way up his smallest orifice, that's a challenge I'm honor-bound to accept!"
- Davan: "Nothing like a woman's touch to make a man crumple into a fetal ball of humiliated emotion."
- Davan: "I try not to think. It's not really a hallmark of my generation."
- Davan: "I don't really need people anyway. I've got a boneless cat."
- Davan: "I used to think every day I woke up and didn't gargle a few rounds from a revolver was a victory, but little 'golden' moments like this make me wonder, 'A victory for who?'"
- PeeJee: "A war hero doesn't deserve to have his gender changed and then be sold via the online sex trade."
External links
- Somethingpositive.net (http://www.somethingpositive.net/)
- Choo-Choo Bear Sightings (http://choochoobear.net/)
- SomethingPositive Quote Board (http://www.chaosproject.com/somethingpositive/index.asp)
Referenced comics
- This isn't an emo club (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12102002.shtml)
- Bukkake for Justice (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp06062003.shtml)
- Verbal bitch slap for Davan's Aunt (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04052002.shtml)
- Dumb Wiccans http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01072004.shtml and http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04242002.shtml
- Pepito's introduction (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08292002.shtml)
- Rippy the Razor (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08312004.shtml)
- Davan meets a Mormon (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04052003.shtml)
- Discount mail-order bride for Davan (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09092002.shtml)
- Justice-dispensing Aubrey (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07282003.shtml)
- Jason and Aubrey , or "A great disturbance in the Force" (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02132004.shtml)
- Back History:
- 1st Comic (http://www.somethingpositive.net/1stcomic-page1.html)
- Swimsuit Issue (http://www.somethingpositive.net/swst2002-01.html)