Annotated 39-15
Of course, when JJ walked in and shot Kaye dead, he didn’t expect to find her in the middle of a call. His timing’s not that deliberate. His plan was to check her computer and phone records until he found evidence of contact from Shanna and/or Xan, then reach them through those channels… and if that failed, he was pretty sure news of Kaye’s death would travel, regardless. But having stumbled into this conversation, he adapts smoothly.
“I didn’t get to congratulate you on your escape! Because, you know…you escaped. Which would mean you weren’t there for me to congratulate. Not sure where I was going with this…oh, right! Not many people have managed that, so I normally get to congratulate their escape attempts. And then I shoot them.”
Can’t fault Chrissie. Those would probably be my reactions too (panel 1 and panel 4).
This seems… a sloppy decision by JJ, sending a message like that with his face and a dead body on a very easily recordable medium.
I think he even mentions at some point that “it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been recorded”. He just thinks of himself as a total badass and since thus far he haven’t been caught, he has enough reason to believe it’s true too.
But everyone’s luck runs out in time…
And you just know her ghost is complaining how “OMG! It’s so clichee to just die to some big random thug who you just complained not to exist. Like duh, it totally had to exist. Effing karma. And why didn’t she pick that absolytely hostile GAMES-BE-BAD-PEEP-PUU lady instead of my, like come on! I’m so kind and understanding. The worlds really gonna miss out on me, guuh. I just can’t .”
Please to speak for yourself.
(Recognizable to me as anything even vaguely similar to the character who was in two strips ago, the character you’re describing is not. But it’s certainly clear that something about Kaye enraged you.)
Today’s JJ Berten is copied from yesterday’s JJ Berten. Not a crime, artwise, but kinda obvious.
This is Chrissie’s apartment; Chrissie collects dinosaurs. Which is cool & also kinda interesting, since dinosaurs have become a transgender symbol due to Jurassic Park. Was this already a meme back then?
I think it gained traction a bit later: https://www.them.us/story/sue-the-t-rex-is-a-nonbinary-icon
And looking at the script, this seems to have been something John came up with.
I’ve noticed a surprising amount of overlap between being trans an being a paleo-nerd. Being both myself, I like it.
Feels odd to me that it should be the dinosaurs rather than the frogs, the story’s supposed catalyst. Or even some form of fish or other animal where
Crud. Didn’t do the link right. That’s a thing with animals we can name and put a picture to, after all.
The alt text is a total lie though.
I still think he should have held Kaye hostage to ensure compliance. Because now he knows that the others know (etc.) that he murdered Kaye, and that means he _will_ try to murder the others, too, independent of what they do next.
So, really, all he is probably trying to achieve at this point is to get them to panic, whereas he would have had a chance of shutting them up otherwise, at least for some time.