Webcomic / What Happens Next

Milo, our main protagonist.

“And it’s gonna get easier and easier, and more and more convenient, and more and more pleasurable, to be alone with images on a screen, given to us by people who do not love us but want our money. Which is all right. In low doses, right? But if that’s the basic main staple of your diet, you’re gonna die. In a meaningful way, you’re going to die.”

- David Foster Wallace, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself

“I used to be trolled but I found out a way to stop it. I do all kinds of stupid and gay shit.”

- lazerbot, Tails Gets Trolled

What Happens Next is a Psychological Horror webcomic series by @maximumgraves that originated in 2021, revolving around the murder of 16-year-old Haylie Gorski, which took place eight years before most of the comic is set. The storyline follows Milo Holliday (who was an accomplice to the murder as a young teen), who struggles to face the guilt he feels from his involvement in the crime.

WHN features an Ensemble Cast, and delves into themes such as internet culture (particularly among young queer people), victimization, and true crime.

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This Webcomic provides examples of:

• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Gage mentions this after he kisses Milo: dating a guy in prison is hard.
• Abusive Parents: Milo's father misgenders him, treats him terribly, blames him for not knowing things he was never taught, decides with his grandmother to evict him from said grandmother's house without Milo having anywhere else to go, and tells Milo that he can move back home, but his parents will be even worse to him as an incitement for him to find somewhere else to go.
• The Alcoholic: Claire has a really bad drinking problem.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Gage is... morally ambiguous at best, but despite frequently manipulating and guilt-tripping Milo, he is nowhere on the level of horrible as Griffin was.
• All There in the Manual: Max's Retrospring has a huge amount of supplementary information about the comic.
• All Take and No Give: Claire is the taker to Audrey's giver, and she doesn't even seem to appreciate how much Audrey does for her.
• Alternate Universe: According to Word of God, the comic takes place in one that's almost identical to the world as we know it, but with some differences.
• Anachronism Stew: Intentionally so. What Happens Next contains deliberate anachronistic references to pop culture, as it aims to conjure the feeling of modern internet spaces rather than be technically accurate with regards to time.
• An Arm and a Leg: Milo sawed Haylie's arms off after her death so Griffin could try to incinerate the body.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Victim Impact Statement abruptly switches to the viewpoint of Haylie's sister Claire, who'd only appeared in one panel and hadn't been named before then.
• Anti-Hero: Milo. He's the main character and does try to do the right thing (in most scenarios), but has committed horrible actions in his past which he refuses to accept any sort of responsibility for.
• Armor-Piercing Question: During their argument, Aaron asks if Claire really thinks that Haylie would want 'Haylie's Law' to be passed. Claire says that Aaron has no idea what Haylie would have wanted, to which Aaron replies, "You're right. I don't. Does anyone?"
• Art-Style Dissonance: Tying into the comic's themes of trying to mask horrible acts with soft aesthetics, the art style for this Psychological Thriller about murder and trauma is round, pastel, and bouncy, like doodles out of a teenager's fanart blog.
• Asshole Victim: Whether Milo is a good person or not is up for debate. Nonetheless, it's hard to argue that he deserves everything that happens to him during the story.
  • Despite Gage being frequently manipulative and cruel, his stories of being hurt by his mother and ex-boyfriend are deeply upsetting.
• The Atoner: Despite claiming innocence, Milo feels intense guilt regarding his involvement in Haylie's murder (and his continued presence in Griffin's life).
• Beneath the Mask: At first, Claire and Audrey seem to be in a happy, healthy relationship. Under the surface, Claire drinks, lashes out, has become very transphobic and is slowly sliding to the conservative side of politics, and either hasn't realised or doesn't care that the law she's trying to get passed will make things worse for people like Audrey and her family. Meanwhile, Audrey clings to Claire because their relationship got Audrey away from her abusive father and because she's romanticising her first real relationship, while in the process just accepting Claire's drinking and toxicity without a fight.
• Big Bad: Griffin, who is unambiguously the worst person in the cast.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Claire, who is thirteen at the time of her first appearance in Victim Impact Statement.
• Black-and-White Morality: In Claire's book, if you don't support the legal changes she's trying to make, you want rapists and murderers to get off scot-free.
• Blade Enthusiast: Griffin. According to Word of God, the reason he murders both his victims with bladed weapons is because it fits into his aestheticized view of a serial killer.
• Both Sides Have a Point: When Milo and Vikki have their argument. Vikki points out that Milo never apologized or took responsibility for what he did; he constantly makes excuses and paints himself as the victim; whether he wants to admit it or not, he got off comparatively lightly in court and had a lot of privilege, mainly from coming from a rich family; and, y'know, he sawed his dead friend's arms off. Milo rebuts that he didn't kill Haylie or know about the murder beforehand; he was fifteen and made a stupid decision because his friend asked him to; attacking him won't bring Haylie back or fix anything; and people use his actions against him like a club whenever they don't want to admit that he has a point or is being treated badly.
• Break the Cutie: In Victim Impact Statement, Milo is shown as a sweet, innocent fifteen-year-old, with no obvious emotional distress aside from an anxiety disorder. Of course, this chapter takes place mere moments before the murder of Haylie Gorski...
• Bungled Suicide: Claire tried to kill herself when she was seventeen.
• Cheerful Child: Downplayed, as Milo was fifteen (and thus a lot older than most examples of this trope), but Milo was significantly happier and more at-ease as a teenager.
• Domestic Abuse: Haylie and Griffin did not have a good relationship. It's not yet known if Griffin hit her, but they had loud arguments and he intentionally broke some of her belongings.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Five years after Haylie's death, Claire is shown stealing vodka and putting it in her Slurpees. Several years after that, she's a full-blown alcoholic.
• Dysfunction Junction: There's hardly a character in the comic that doesn't have some major trauma that's haunting them.
• Everyone Has Lots of Sex: Averted. Milo is a virgin at twenty-three according to Word of God.
• Faux Affably Evil: Milo describes Griffin to be very charming, though of course he uses this as a front to manipulate others.
• Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Invoked. When Gage tries to cheat on Griffin with Milo (and Milo rejects them), they defend themself by claiming to be the "good adultery" part of this trope, saying that Milo is misunderstanding the situation due to his lack of relationship experience.
• Good Is Not Soft: What Happens Next depicts the real-life issue of bad people using soft aesthetics, "traumacore" and victim complexes in order to portray themselves as the survivor instead of the perpetrator. Milo often incorporates childish themes and pastels into his clothing and Tumblr blog, and desperately wants to be seen as innocent and blameless. Vikki, on the other hand, is mostly a good person, although she presents herself as more alternative and is sometimes harsh with her wording.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Griffin's murder of Haylie is never shown. Instead, we see Haylie's sister react to the sound of their argument, and then Claire walking outside and staring at a pool of blood (it's later revealed that she walked in on Milo hacking off Haylie's arms). In Milo's flashback, he only saw the body after the murder.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Played with. Milo is blonde but not innocent, and the plot partially revolves around his refusal to take responsibility for his own actions in aiding a violent murder. He does, however, try to present himself as this trope, through childish dress and his Tumblr blog, and repeatedly defending his lack of guilt regarding the Haylie Gorski murder (despite not believing it).
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Milo desperately clings on to anyone who knows who he is and what he's done and is still civil to him, because nearly everyone else rejected him.
• Innocence Lost: Claire overhears her sister's murder, and finds the newly-lifeless body, at the age of thirteen.
• It's All About Me: Milo tends to center himself in discussions about Haylie, although it's most likely unintentional. Lampshaded by several characters (notably Vikki), who wish Milo wouldn't have such a victim complex regarding the murder.
• Manchild: Milo is called one by Vikki and Xandra.
• Meaningful Name: "Milo" and "Griffin". A LolCow user takes issue with the characters, both of whom are trans, naming themselves this, saying that all trans men choose "dog names". Dog Names is the title of the first chapter.
  • Milo's tumblr handle is 'autisticstarlightglimmer'. It's not particularly surprising that he strongly identifies with a character who did bad things for friendship-related reasons, but was ultimately redeemed.
• Murderers Are Rapists: Griffin attempted to sexually assault 11-year-old Savannah Plunkett before he murdered her. It's not shown whether he did anything in that vein to Haylie, but the possibility exists.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Milo has this reaction after aiding in covering up Haylie's murder, feeling rightly horrified by his own (and Griffin's) actions, and still feels paralyzing shame over what he did eight years afterwards. Griffin, on the other hand, doesn't appear to feel the same guilt.
• No Social Skills: Milo is emotionally repressed, and is confirmed to not have any friends other than Vikki, Gage and Griffin. This could be in part due to his autism (as many autistic people struggle with socialization), or the fact that he spent five years in a mental hospital.
• Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Implied. Gage attempts to make out with Milo, and when Milo rejects them, their only worry appears to be keeping it a secret from Griffin.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In an argument with Milo, Gage claims that Griffin and Milo are more alike than the two think, clearly aiming to insult the latter.
• N-Word Privileges: Discussed. Milo tells Gage not to say the "g-slur" for Romani people when the two are discussing a My Little Pony fan song that contains it.
• Older Than They Look: Milo is twenty-three, but he has rounded, childish features, and often dresses in the manner of someone in their early teens.
• Posthumous Character: Haylie is dead by the time most of the series take place, and we only see her (alive) in the first part of Victim Impact Statement, which takes place eight years before the rest of the comic.
• Precision F-Strike: When Aaron reveals that they are not supportive of Hailey's Law, Claire responds by asking, "Is that what all your tranny friends are telling you?"
• Pyrrhic Victory: Claire gets Haylie's Law passed, but it doesn't magically make Haylie's death meaningful and it doesn't fix Claire's life. Instead, her friendship with Aaron is crumbling as they finally admit just how bad the effects of the law are.
• Rejected Apology: After he got out of inpatient, Milo showed up at Claire's place and tried to apologise. She responded by punching him in the nose.
• Revenge Myopia: Claire's speech about Haylie's Law makes it clear that she considers Milo to be an equal and willing participant in Haylie's murder, even though it was shown in court that Milo didn't kill Haylie and was an accomplice after the fact, not before. She also deliberately deadnames Milo and Griffin both, even though she knew Griffin as Griffin when he was dating Haylie, and Milo had changed his name several years ago.
• Shout-Out: A huge number, mainly because the majority of the main characters are/were terminally online:
  • Milo loves My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Dear Evan Hansen. He's also shown wearing a They Might Be Giants hoodie.
  • Griffin liked Panic! at the Disco, My Chemical Romance and I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, and cosplayed as L from Death Note.
  • Haylie loved Mitski, played "Game Shows Touch Our Lives" by the Mountain Goats at an open mic night, cosplayed as GUMI from the "Matryoshka" video, and Paper Towns was one of her favourite books.
  • Savannah really liked Undertale.
  • Claire likes Portal, has a poster of Rei from NeonGenesisEvangelion in her room,cosplayed as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, is shown introducing Aaron to the concept of Fridge Horror, and plays Halo with them.
  • Xandra is a superfan of David Lynch and his works.
• The Stoner: Gage smokes weed, and owns a dirty bong.
• Teens Are Monsters: At the ripe old age of fifteen, Griffin lured an 11 year old out to a forest away from her friends and family, tried to sexually assault her, and then murdered her when she resisted him. A few months later, he murdered Haylie and convinced their mutual friend to hack up the corpse in a failed attempt to hide it.
• Tempting Fate: One of Vikki's past videos was debating whether necrophilia could ever be ethical. A few videos later, there's one called 'Stop Telling People I Fuck Corpses'.
• There Are No Therapists: Downplayed.
  • Milo has a therapist, but said therapist is court-appointed. As a result, Milo by definition cannot be honest with her, because admitting how he really feels would get him sent back to the mental hospital, which he doesn't want.
  • Claire wound up in a mental hospital after she tried to kill herself, and presumably got therapy as part of that, but in the present day, she's not seeing a therapist and her time in the hospital doesn't seem to have helped her.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Gage tells Milo that his initial attraction to Griffin was seeing photos of him in court, a 'tall, skinny kid with hair in his face'.
• Tough Love: Deconstructed. Milo's dad insists that Milo has been "coddled" up til now and that he'll treat Milo terribly to encourage him to get on his own two feet. However, his idea of "coddling" Milo is actually a pretty low level of support—while, to be fair, he has been giving Milo money, there's no indication he's done anything else, such as actually teach Milo how to do the things he keeps demanding he do, when it should be pretty obvious Milo doesn't know. Not to mention the fact he won't even call Milo by his actual name puts paid to the "love" part. Ultimately, rather than encouraging independence on Milo's part, it just pushes Milo into a pretty shady living situation.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Griffin, who convinces Milo to aid him in covering up Haylie's murder.
• Trans Tribulations: While many of the trans characters are in a reasonably good place, others are demonstrably not. Milo's father and grandmother call him by his deadname and misgender him. Clare is openly transphobic around Aaron, who is at the start of their transition. Plus the comic repeatedly cuts to message boards dedicated to transphobic (and all around gross and bigoted) harassment, calling all the characters involved various slurs, viciously mocking their appearances, and plotting to doxx Milo.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Milo started out as a happy, quirky teenager, and is now a depressed, traumatised adult.
  • Claire was a normal, if maybe a little cynical and sarcastic, teenager. Now she's depressed, traumatised and a possible alcoholic who lashes out at people.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Despite being a repeat murderer, Griffin has plenty of fans and admirers on Tumblr's true crime community. He's dating Gage, who is one of them.
• Weight Woe: Gage is implied to have an eating disorder, as he is shown to eat very sparingly, drinks zero-calorie energy drinks, and has his fridge stocked with carrots, exclusively. The author confirmed it on Retrospring.
• Wham Shot: The last page of Victim Impact Statement: Claire has gone missing.
• With Friends Like These...: Claire is a really nasty friend to Aaron, and that's without her noticing the increasing signs that Aaron seems to be either non-binary or a trans woman.
• Would Hurt a Child: Griffin, the most morally reprehensible character in the comic, doesn't only murder his girlfriend (who is a year older than him), but also 11-year-old Savannah Plunkett.
• Younger Than They Look: Claire is thirteen years old in Victim Impact Statement, but looks around the same age as Haylie, leading many readers to assume she's Haylie's older sister, or that the two are twins.