"I see my neighbor
And I wave
Don't know how t' behave
And I know I'm into somethin' good
Paradin' 'round the neighborhood, woah-oh!"
— Wegg, doing what he does best
The year: 1973. The place: Baths, a small midwestern town with small-town charm - that is, if you ignore the mysterious murders by a Serial Killer dubbed "The Baths Heartbreaker," so-called because of their penchant for removing their victims' hearts after dismembering them.
A wandering musician and songwriter named Wegg rolls into town, expecting to roll right back out once he's done busking for traveling money. After a chance encounter with a man named Mr. Neighbor, he gets swept up into the mysteries and terrors unfolding in the town of Baths - not to mention a whirlwind romance.
Mr. Neighbor is sweet, charming, and soft (literally - he's made of cloth), and he seems like just what Wegg needs. But he disappears at the same time every month and is definitely hiding some sort of secret. And Wegg, on the run from something and suffering from a mysterious illness, just may harbor some dark secrets of his own.
Be Kind My Neighbor is a 2022 horror/romance graphic novel written and illustrated by Yugo Limbo, best known for the 2019 video game Smile for Me. It was published by Silver Sprocket and released in both digital and print form on August 10th, 2022.
This graphic novel provides provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Tillman lashes out against Rarold to protect himself - forgetting that he now has sizeable claws since his transformation into a Wolf Man.
- Aerith and Bob: We have names like Wegg, Porla, and Rarold in the mix with names like Glenn and George.
- Affably Evil: The Baths Heartbreaker comes off this way. Makes sense, as his true identity is the genuinely affable Mr. Neighbor.
- Alone with the Psycho: Tillman is confronted by the Baths Heartbreaker and is convinced that he'll be the next victim. Subverted in that Mr. Neighbor just wants to help him by taking him to meet Lady Trudy's cult.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Difficult to tell with the art style, but Mr. Neighbor at least is made using purple thread and Glenn is described as having tangerine hair.
- Animal Motifs: Wegg is frequently associated with birds, especially songbirds and swans. The first is due to his career as a musician, and the latter... has a lot to do with him being a vessel for the swan god Lord Calum, having been tricked into becoming one by His followers, the Swans.
- Anti-Hero: Mr. Neighbor. He kills people as the Baths Heartbreaker, but he makes a rule of only targeting Asshole Victims, is helpful and kind to very nearly everyone in Baths, and truly loves Wegg.
- Arc Words: "What do you desire?"
- Armored Closet Gay: Glenn, for Mr. Neighbor. He ends up giving a rather humorous Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? speech to himself.Glenn: Glenn, J-C! Get a hold of yourself, man. You're not like that. We've been over this already. You had a wife. You're just uhh... lonely. And stressed. Confused.
- Armor-Piercing Question: During Wegg's Battle in the Center of the Mind in the climax, he gets asked one by a phantom version of himself (actually implied to be Lady Trudy taking on A Form You Are Comfortable With, as he introduces himself with the aforementioned Arc Words).Wegg?: What did they do to you?Wegg: They loved me.Wegg?: ... did they, Wegg?
- Artificial Human: It's a little unclear whether this applies to Mr. Neighbor, as his whole body is made of cloth.
- Awesome Music: In-universe example. Wegg's performances usually draw him a decent crowd and fund his wandering ways, and he even ends up with a popular posthumous album by the end.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Wegg has one with himself in the climax, having given up on living altogether after being kidnapped and temporarily killed by the Swans has convinced him that there isn't anywhere he can truly exist and be loved for himself. Lady Trudy (or at least, what is heavily implied to be her) is fortunately able to persuade him otherwise.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Tillman fervently wishes to no longer be bald. He gets more hair, but it comes in the form of becoming a Wolf Man. Subverted in that it only appears to be a bad thing - for the most part, it betters his life and even ends up being instrumental in saving the day.
- Behemoth Battle: Running parallel to Wegg's Battle in the Center of the Mind in the climax is one between Lady Trudy and Lord Calum.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Mr. Neighbor is a total sweetheart, helping out around town and generally being a ray of sunshine. Hurt his boyfriend, however... Being the Baths Heartbreaker is something to beware of, too.
- Big Eater: Wegg, mostly because he doesn't get to eat much as a perpetually poor traveling musician. When Mr. Neighbor cooks for him, he inhales everything in record time.
- Bittersweet Ending: More "sweet" than "bitter." Mr. Neighbor and Wegg are reunited after Wegg comes back to life, as Mr. Neighbor kept his heart for safekeeping. Wegg's head is also back to normal, no longer being a rotting egg. The bitter part is that they both have to leave Baths, leaving all of their friends to think they've died, and it's unclear whether or not Mr. Neighbor will have to continue killing in order to keep his body, even with Lady Trudy seemingly gone for good.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: A variation - despite Mr. Neighbor as the Baths Heartbreaker having three hearts that have presumably been taken from his victims, they all seem to actually function to keep him alive. This is most likely due to Lady Trudy's influence.
- Black Speech: Lady Trudy speaks in something like this, represented as a pattern of lines and dots. Oddly enough, Mr. Neighbor and the other cultists are able to write in it as well, which the former refers to as "shorthand."
- Blatant Lies: Oh yeah, Wegg. You stubbed your toe and subsequently moaned Mr. Neighbor's name. You definitely weren't rubbing one out while thinking about him.
- Blessed with Suck: Sure, Wegg is technically immortal, but having to die every 35 days to keep your head from rotting off your shoulders really sucks.
- Similarly, Neighbor's gift from Trudy granted him the body he wanted, but he has to kill other people to avoid dying himself.
- Blood Magic: Mr. Neighbor's offerings to Lady Trudy take this form. Lew and the Swans also do a variation to turn Wegg into a vessel for Lord Calum, the Swan god.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Lady Trudy seems to genuinely be looking out for her flock and is willing to grant a wish to anyone who calls upon her, even seemingly inconsequential ones like wanting more hair. However, she requires a monthly payment in return, ranging from a few teeth to entire bodies, and her methods are often laden with heaping helpings of Body Horror.
- Body Horror: The above example, along with a lot more. Prominent examples include The Baths Heartbreaker keeping the hearts of his victims inside of him; Tillman's melty, teeth-spewing transformation into a Wolf Man; and whatever's going on with Kevin the cat.
- Bookends: The story both begins and ends to a local radio broadcast from Mr. Kelvin.
- Bully Hunter: When Mr. Neighbor encounters the two troublemakers that knocked out Wegg and took his tips, he immediately dispatches both of them and takes back Wegg's money. He also does this as the Baths Heartbreaker, judging by his first on-screen victim being a Domestic Abuser.
- Cassandra Truth: Tillman goes to the cops when he discovers the identity of the Baths Heartbreaker, but they dismiss him immediately. Later, when he calls on them again to report a murder in progress, they arrive to find the victim alive and well and mock him for his perceived paranoia. After all, everyone knows Mr. Neighbor wouldn't hurt a fly - and said victim is Wegg, who has Resurrective Immortality.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Thinking that Mr. Neighbor is still asleep, Wegg decides to rub one out in the bathroom while fantasizing about him. Unfortunately for Wegg, Mr. Neighbor wakes up soon afterward and overhears Wegg moaning his name, leading to an awkward conversation.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Wegg, since he is very, very accustomed to being killed, doesn't really bat an eye when Mr. Neighbor offers to off him, and even goes as far as to offer himself up as Mr. Neighbor's monthly sacrifice to Trudy when he finds out about Mr. Neighbor's identity as the Baths Heartbreaker so that he won't have to keep searching for Asshole Victims.
- Closet Key: Mr. Neighbor is this for Glenn. His lust for Mr. Neighbor even contributes to his murder.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Valencita Flaherty collects flamingos and frequently speaks to and through them. Rarold the farmer also has a weird obsession with his corn.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Wegg embarrasses himself by doing this almost immediately after Mr. Neighbor tells him to watch his language.
- Companion Cube: Mr. Neighbor speaks to the dolls he makes, having given them all names and treating them as friends.
- Covert Pervert: Mr. Neighbor seems like a naive and innocent man, but it turns out he has a dominant streak that Wegg is more than happy to take advantage of. He also gets aroused by a (fictional) murder scene, which Wegg is also happy to take advantage of.
- Crapsaccharine World: Baths is a cute little town filled with colorful people who all seem to mostly get along in harmony. However, there is a Serial Killer roaming its streets and the world around it is home to at least two cults that have powerful and unsettling gods.
- Creepy Doll: Mr. Neighbor has several all over his apartment, presumably made by his own hands. Wegg doesn't seem to find them all that creepy - but then again, it's Wegg.
- Creepy Good: Lady Trudy. She's even shown to be affectionate to her worshipers, giving Mr. Neighbor a little kiss after he offers up his monthly penance of blood, and helps save Wegg in the climax.
- Mr. Neighbor himself, with his serial killings and Dissonant Serenity, also counts since he is more Anti-Hero than villain.
- Cult: Both Mr. Neighbor and Wegg are involved with one, although Wegg is a Cult Defector. Lady Trudy's at least seems to be the more benevolent of the two.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Mr. Neighbor's fight with the Lew and the Swans at the climax is this. Lady Trudy's power lets him kill most of the cultists at once, and Lew doesn't even seem to resist, letting himself get picked up by the neck and killed with no trouble.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Wegg goes from town to town to avoid his own. He's running from a cult that have turned him into a vessel for their god and want to finish the job.
- Deal with the Devil: Played with. Lady Trudy requires making an exchange for granted wishes (teeth and blood being two examples), but is never shown to be duplicitous or malicious in those dealings.
- Dissonant Serenity: Mr. Neighbor doesn't even raise his voice when he takes down the two thugs that attacked Wegg.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Oh, yeah. Wegg has to endure repeatedly dying, being stalked and kidnapped by his old cult buddies, and having his head burst to give birth to a god before he can live Happily Ever After with Mr. Neighbor.
- Eldritch Abomination: Lady Trudy and Lord Calum, though the former is more benevolent than most examples.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Mr. Neighbor manifests the strength of Lady Trudy in the form of her sharp black tendrils bursting out of him to stab all of the cultists threatening Wegg at once.
- Erotic Eating: Wegg can't help but think of his crush on Mr. Neighbor when he grabs a corndog as a snack.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Rarold may be a sadistic murderer, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love his cat Kevin dearly and is worried sick when he goes missing.
- Exorcist Head: Mr. Neighbor can do this - Justified in that he's made entirely of cloth.
- First-Episode Spoiler: It's revealed in the first few pages that Mr. Neighbor is the Baths Heartbreaker.
- Foil: Mr. Neighbor has one in Lew, the leader of the Swans. Both are murderous cultists that are in love with Wegg, but Mr. Neighbor has a clear code of ethics when it comes to killing, and he falls for Wegg in part because of how upfront he is about himself, meanwhile it seems like there's nothing Lew won't do in order to resurrect his god, even if it means first emotionally scarring and then killing Wegg in the process.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Wegg first falls for Mr. Neighbor when the latter patches him up after two thugs knock him out and take his busking money.
- Friend to All Children: One of the many neighborly activities that Mr. Neighbor takes part in is making toys for the local children, who are all delighted by him.
- Tillman also becomes one after his transformation into a Wolf Man.
Kid: I bet he can punch REAL GOOD!Other Kid: He's gonna protect us from the Heartbreaker!Third Kid: I wanna hug him!! - Glowing Eyes of Doom: The art style gives Mr. Neighbor these during scenes of murder or the leadup thereto. They also occur when someone presses his Berserk Button by threatening or hurting Wegg.
- Gorn: Plenty. Expect a lot of blood amid the cutesy scenes and character designs.
- Handy Man: Tall and in good shape? Check. Does a little bit of everything? Check. A Mellow Fellow, beloved by the townspeople? Check. Mr. Neighbor fits this trope to a T.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Mr. Neighbor dons leather shorts before he and Wegg have sex.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: An example where both are male - Mr. Neighbor towers over Wegg.
- Human Sacrifice: Lady Trudy's pact with Mr. Neighbor requires "the blood of a life lost."
- I Call It "Vera": Wegg has nicknamed his guitar "Jack."
- Imagine Spot: Wegg has quite a few daydreams, mostly romantic and involving Mr. Neighbor.
- Immortality Hurts: Wegg has to die every thirty-five days to preserve his immortality, and he mentions that it's exhausting and painful suffering through death after death in order to meet that requirement. Fortunately, he finds a much more pleasant way to go about it.
- I'm Not a Hero, I'm...: Tillman turns down an offer to join the police force after catching the copycat Heartbreaker because, as he says, he's just a mailman.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: Mr. Neighbor and Wegg have a very sexy tryst together that, by design, turns into Mr. Neighbor strangling Wegg and snapping his neck. It Makes Sense in Context. It also gets a nod during their movie date, where Mr. Neighbor is aroused by a scene of a killer murdering his victim, which leads to Making Love in All the Wrong Places.
- Jackass Genie: Lady Trudy is a downplayed example, more confusing than malicious. Unhappy with your body? Take a new one made of cloth! Insecure about being bald? Here's more hair all over your body, because you're now a werewolf!
- Jack the Ripoff: The Baths Heartbreaker gains a copycat killer in Rarold after Neighbor hangs up the mantle. The real Baths Heartbreaker even mentions Jack the Ripper when learning about the copycat.
- Jerkass God: Totally Subverted. Lady Trudy requires blood penance for her gifts, and seems to have an odd idea of what constitutes as granting a wish, but she never directly harms her devotees and in fact plays a large part in saving Wegg in the climax. Even Lord Calum, for all the manipulativeness his worshippers display towards Wegg and the grisly circumstances of his birth, doesn't get enough screentime to confirm whether or not he would have filled this role instead.
- Karma Houdini: Thanks to Rarold's copycat killings and subsequent death, making the town think that he was the Baths Heartbreaker all along, Mr. Neighbor never ends up in any trouble for all of the murders he's committed.
- Last-Name Basis: Mr. Neighbor and Tillman, the mailman. We do learn both of their given names during the story, though Mr. Neighbor's is one of his closely guarded secrets. It's Adie.
- Laughing Mad: Swan Cultist Leader Lew laughs uncontrollably in the climax after Mr. Neighbor kills all of his cultist friends and Lady Trudy kills Lord Calum, completely ruining his plans. He keeps laughing right up until the moment of his death.
- Lonely Doll Boy: It's implied that constantly looking for new victims that will allow him to meet his monthly quota without breaking his code of ethics doesn't leave Mr. Neighbor with many close friendships, leaving him to dote on his dolls instead - at least until Wegg shows up.
- Lost in the Maize: Tillman ends up running through a cornfield to escape Rarold, who's chasing him with a scythe for discovering one of his killings in progress.
- Meaningful Name: Wegg has a notably egg-shaped head. Which becomes a literal egg for a birdlike god to hatch from in the climax.
- Mr. Neighbor is indeed very neighborly. It's implied that it's a Meaningful Rename, as he is a trans man.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Tillman's boss at one point refers to the new stamps as "bitchin'," something Tillman finds exasperating.
- Mushroom Samba: Wegg has a seriously strange one after taking acid that he bought from the Glenn, the town pharmacist - acid that's later revealed to be dangerously defective.
- Naughty Tentacles: Mr. Neighbor has one for a penis. And it has tiny hands coming out of it. Wegg is delighted.
- Nightmare Face: Wegg gets a hell of one late in the story when his former cult gets close to tracking him down and his egg head rots until there's nothing but a swirling black hole and Lord Calum's eyes in the middle of it. Fortunately, it's All Just a Dream.
- Nightmare Sequence: Wegg has plenty of these throughout the story, most of which serve as Foreshadowing.
- No Body Left Behind: Downplayed. Wegg is consumed by Lord Calum's fiery birth and leaves behind only his heart.
- Not Me This Time: Mr. Neighbor has to reassure Wegg and Tillman that the body tied to the movie theatre marquee wasn't his doing as the Heartbreaker.
- Not What It Looks Like: A very strange, zig-zagged example. Tillman thinks he's witnessed a murder through a lit apartment window. What he saw was definitely a killing - but what he doesn't know is that Wegg has Resurrective Immortality and has asked Mr. Neighbor to strangle him to death to satisfy his need to die every thirty-five days. And for sexy reasons.
- Another example occurs when Wegg follows Mr. Neighbor and witnesses him apparently cheating on him with Glenn. Mr. Neighbor is actually just getting Glenn to drop his guard so he can kill him.
- Obviously Evil: Tillman dismisses Rarold as the Heartbreaker because he's too obviously mean and creepy looking. He's half right - Rarold isn't the Heartbreaker, but he's still a serial killer in his own right.
- Only Sane Man: Tillman certainly thinks of himself as one, especially after he discovers a clue to the Baths Heartbreaker's identity and everyone else dismisses him.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Mr. Neighbor has one, which is very appealing to Wegg.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: The Baths Heartbreaker apparently only chooses Asshole Victims. Mr. Neighbor outright says to his first victim that he "[doesn't] kill good people."
- Police Are Useless: Baths' two officers of the law aren't much help to anyone, and Tillman ends up both finding the real Baths Heartbreaker and also stopping the copycat killer.
- Resurrective Immortality: Wegg can mostly never die, but in exchange he needs to temporarily die every thirty-five days or risk the rot in his head killing him off permanently.
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: A darkly humorous example of playing with the trope: Wegg and Mr. Neighbor engage in BDSM play that not only ends with Wegg's death, but is also intended to end that way due to the requirements for Wegg's Resurrective Immortality. The safe word is "strawberry."
- Sigil Spam: For both cults in the story: Lady Trudy's blank face mask and Wegg's old cult, the Swans, with their pattern of lines and eyes.
- Sinister Scythe: Rarold wields one while chasing Tillman for discovering his killing spree.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Wegg swears like a sailor, to Mr. Neighbor's chagrin.
- Serious Business: For Tillman, going bald is serious enough business to make a deal with spooky deity Lady Trudy. That costs six teeth a month.
- Shipper on Deck: Porla and Moria find it adorable when Mr. Neighbor and Wegg eat at their diner, clearly on a date.
- Shout-Out: One of the thugs who attacked Wegg sarcastically refers to Mr. Neighbor as "Mr. Fuckin' Rogers."
- Slashed Throat: How Mr. Neighbor dispatches Glenn.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Wegg lights up a cigarette after his first time with Mr. Neighbor, who is already asking for a second time.
- Spanner in the Works: Mr. Neighbor ends up being one to Lew and the Swans' plan to resurrect Lord Calum. He not only arrives to rescue Wegg, but also prays to Lady Trudy to kill the newly born Lord Calum.
- Stalker with a Crush: Wegg is running from a lot of them, all members of his former cult that both want to have sex with him and to use him to birth their god.
- Surreal Horror: Cults, Body Horror, and mysterious, terrifying deities - all in a cutesy 70s art style.
- Taking You with Me: Implied. The last we see of Lady Trudy is her dragging Lord Calum to the depths of a lake, and neither of them appear in the epilogue.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Baths has the Heartbreak Killer, whose true identity is the helpful town handyman Mr. Neighbor.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Wegg adores cake.
- Trans Tribulations: Implied in the past for both Wegg and Mr. Neighbor. Mr. Neighbor apparently had such a hard time that he went to Lady Trudy to give him a new body - hence why he's now made of cloth, and it's all but outright stated that part of the reason Wegg left home was because his family refused to accept him.
- Those Two Guys: Moria and Porla form this, commenting on various goings on from their diner. The two police officers Bang and Gliff also serve as a pair.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Wegg. It's why he has no problem turning his near-monthly death into a fun sex game to play with Mr. Neighbor.
- Transformation Horror: Tillman's transformation into a Wolf Man is horrifyingly graphic. And from what little we see of Mr. Neighbor's, with him tied to a flaming cross clearly in agony, it was no picnic either.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Mr. Neighbor is literally made of cloth, something that no one but Tillman notices. According to Officer Gliff, most folks just assume that the thread all over his body is due to surgical scars. Also, the only one who mentions that Wegg's egg-shaped head is unusual is Wegg himself.
- Verbal Tic: Mr. Neighbor has a very slight one, mm.
- Violently Protective Boyfriend: Pro tip: don't hurt Wegg and let Mr. Neighbor find out about it. You'll end up being the Baths Heartbreaker's next victim.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Several times with Wegg, as vomiting is one of the main symptoms of the rot that is consuming his head.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In-universe example. Porla gives Tillman an indignant look when he flees from Rarold without freeing her, leaving her and Moria ostensibly at Rarold's mercy. He comes back later to help them, though.
- Wig, Dress, Accent: Glenn dons a very unconvincing disguise when he sells Wegg a tab of defective acid. Sure enough, Wegg's later description has Mr. Neighbor recognize him immediately.
"I'll sing in my own way, though I ain't got a plan... I'll survive, I'll live, I can~"
