History Main / JAck

* GeniusBonus: Plato [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1263 saw his master killed]] [[{{Republic}} for his views on civilization]].

* DeathTakesAHoliday
** Start [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1506 here]] for one example.

* {{Squick}}: Too many examples to list here, but [[http://pholph.com/index_a.php?Strip=1317 this]] recent strip is a good one.
** Musical Holes.

* VerySpecialEpisode: [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1183 By Guest Artist Mat Sherer of]] [[http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/ Badly Drawn Kitties]]

* {{Anvilicious}}: [[http://www.pholph.com/whole_arc_viewer.php?id=5&sid=676 "It's Like Cancer"]].
** ...and a significant number of the other story arcs.
** and of course Hopkins lampshades his own "preachy" nature in [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=566 "Suffer"]].
*** Often double as SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped. {{YMMV}}.

* CompleteMonster: Drip, Ordin, the Vorshes.

* ContinuityPorn

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Drip, and to a lesser degree most of the other Sins, breathe this stuff. The ending to "Dinner at Arloest's" is likewise particularly bad, especially when it's revealed that Arloest's sacrifice seems to have stuck at least one pair of people into WhoWantsToLiveForever. "Been Reading Job" and "All Work And No Play" get bonus points for the casual life right before horror hits, and while the viewpoint character of "Hell Is That Noise" deserves what he gets, it's still very, very dark.
** Two words: Musical holes. [[{{Squick}} * shudder* ]]
** This troper admits to jumping and turning around several times during "The Mark Has Been Made".
** The valley of lust...god, it's just...ew...
** And the three-part comic "Twist, Twist, Twist" is also incredibly unnerving.

* MagnificentBastard: Edmond Vade, and how. Also, Kane.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Susan in the Megan's Run arc probably has some disorder that makes her hear one of these every other sentence. Either that or Hopkins thinks that children are actually like this.

* TearJerker: Some arcs, but specially the [[http://www.pholph.com/whole_arc_viewer.php?id=5&sid=1193 Arc XXIV]]--given the number because the title is [[spoiler:Fnar Reborn]].
** Two For Skoodge is a big one.
** The Side Arc "Lullaby" is an especially strong case.
** Preemptively adding "Megan's Run", because you just know it's going to end with empty kleenex boxes.
*** Not so much--Dave let it end on a Cliffhanger.
** Another Side Arc, Pikri Alitheia.
* TheWoobie: Point at any character, there is a 70% probability that he or she ''is''.
** Except Drip, the Gluttonies and Kane, of course.
*** Though Drip as a child may be one, based on what his [[spoiler: grandmother]] put him through. had that not happened, Drip MIGHT have turned out differently.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Subverted. [[spoiler: When we first see Jack in his mortal life he's a sweet, goofy, cute-looking teen who had a terrible tragic early life, and it soon [[ItGotWorse gets worse]]: He was [[ThereAreNoTherapists seriously psychologically messed around]] with by [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Kane]] and the other scientists, lost the love of his life in a horrific way whilst able to hear what was happening but unable to help, and basically has the mother of all [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]] for what he tried to do, as well as a sincere belief that it's right and necessary. Perfect setup for a classic WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, except it's later revealed (in addition to becoming the CompleteMonster we knew he would one day become to earn his place in Hell) he's an unlikable whiny, aloof, stubborn, cold, callous, borderline-{{Necromantic}} GodAmI KnightTemplar and NietzscheWannabe who crosses his MoralEventHorizon not with the wiping out of humanity and breaking of history, but before that, [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=3080 when it's implied he betrayed his friends and loved ones in the process.]] ]]

* FanNickname: God is known as "Cottonmouth" on the ''Jack'' forums. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation It's not because of]] [[JerkassGods her white coat, either.]]

** It's no better exemplified than with Fnar, the Innocent in Hell. An unborn baby who died with his mother, Fnar was given the form of a small child and basically told that he's to stay in Hell for the time being but that Hell will not affect him since he did not do anything to be damned personally. His role in the comic is to wander through people's personal tortures not quite grasping what's going on, and acting as Jack's MoralityPet. Fnar even manages to acquire a girlfriend (a deformed demoness introduced in a previous arc as the aborted child of that arc's protagonist) and a pet (A Rework, which is a [=~28 Days Later~=] style feral zombie)(Fnar fails to notice anything off about either and they both become very much fond of him in turn). Everyone likes Fnar and wants to be nice to him (And those that don't stay uninvolved in his dealings) until Fnar is told he is finally going to leave Hell. This event is treated with a lot of build up and celebration, [[spoiler: until Fnar's father Drip, serial rapist in life and the Sin of Lust personified in death figures out his connection to Fnar and molests him right before he was to leave, spoiling his innocence at the last minute. This causes Jack to have a HeroicBSOD where he lashes out at an angel who had been one of Jacks few true friends, spoiling their friendship.]]

** Preemptively adding "Megan's Run", because you just know it's going to end with empty kleenex boxes.

* YourMileageMayVary: LoveItOrHateIt -- very few people exposed to it are ambivalent to ''Jack''. You either find it a horribly done, {{Anvilicious}} AuthorTract, or you think Hopkins ably juggles {{Squick}}, {{TearJerker}}s, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Crowning Moments of Heartwarming]][=/=][[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Awesome]], and HighOctaneNightmareFuel to [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped drop some much needed anvils]]. Interestingly, this divide is NOT cleanly along the lines of Furry/Non-Furry or between those who have faith/those who don't. Mentioning the strip in some online places can get you banned purely by way of poking a hornet's nest.

* CharacterAlignment
** LawfulGood: Reckonin and Central.
** NeutralGood: Farrago.
** ChaoticGood: Fnar, Silverblue.
** TrueNeutral: Jack. He's similar to Death from {{Discworld}} in the sense that while he does not favor or judge, he will often bend the rules if it can help spirits, as shown in several arcs. Surprisingly Satan fits this alignment in a not-caring-about-anything way despite knowing everything [[spoiler:being an AuthorAvatar and all]].
** LawfulEvil: Dr. Kane.
*** Kane is also a bit hard to place, [[TheChessmaster given that he stays in the shadows]] He could be NeutralEvil or LawfulEvil but its hard to tell.
*** Kane fits LawfulEvil better since he, unlike Vince, is very methodical in carrying out his plans and is willing to help other sins if they get him closer to his goal.
** NeutralEvil: Vince AKA the sin of Greed is a tough call between this and LawfulEvil, but considering he only cares about power, he fits this alignment better.
** ChaoticEvil: The Vorshes and Drip.

* CompleteMonster: Drip.

* ContinuityPorn: Have a good memory, because there's a metric fuckton of it.

*** Not just astonish him. In Richek's words, it scares the shit out of him that not only does The Devil know his name, Richek is somehow costing him money.

* BloodyBowelsOfhell: one punishment for those who are guilty of the sin of Lust is being fused into a huge, writhing gob of meat, similar in form to a Gibbering Wad from D&D.

* EvenTheDogIsAshamed: In the ([[BLAMEpisode Non-main-story-cannon]]) ”Frigid Mc Thunderbones” most of the cast of Jack turn on Hopkins in disgust when they see he's written a killer snowman filler arch. When ''[[BeyondTheImpossible Drip]]'' is asking you "[[EvenEvilHasStandards At least spare us a carrot rape scene.]]" you know [[IncrediblyLamePun Even The Rat's]] [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt Won't Touch It.]]

** Breeze as well.

** Breeze in "Megan's Run", thus far.

** Breeze all throughout "Megan's Run".

* CompleteMonster: Drip. [[spoiler: Also, Jack when he was still alive.]]
** [[spoiler: YourMileageMayVary. There have been dozens of hints dropped that he's seeking redemption. And he's genuinely terrified of what he was, and what he did, in life.]]
** [[spoiler: This all has more to do with the fact that the CompleteMonster trope wasn't intended to cope with Bangsian fantasy/multiple lifetimes than his behaviour. If anyone had encountered him in his later life they would have had no doubt he was a Complete Monster, and he died such. After that, things got better.]]

** It's no better exemplified than with Fnar, the Innocent in Hell. An unborn baby who died with his mother, Fnar was given the form of a small child and basically told that he's to stay in Hell for the time being but that Hell will not affect him since he did not do anything to be damned personally. His role in the comic is to wander through people's personal tortures not quite grasping what's going on, and acting as Jack's MoralityPet. Fnar even manages to acquire a girlfriend (a deformed demoness introduced in a previous arc as the aborted child of that arc's protagonist) and a pet (A Rework, which is a [=~28 Days Later~=] style feral zombie)(Fnar fails to notice anything off about either and they both become very much fond of him in turn). Everyone likes Fnar and wants to be nice to him (And those that don't stay uninvolved in his dealings) until Fnar is told he is finally going to leave Hell. This event is treated with alot of build up and celebration, [[spoiler: until Fnar's father Drip, serial rapist in life and the Sin of Lust personified in death figures out his connection to Fnar and molests him right before he was to leave, spoiling his innocence at the last minute. This causes Jack to have a HeroicBSOD where he lashes out at an angel who had been one of Jacks few true friends, spoiling their friendship.]]