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Webcomic / Exploitation Now

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Exploitation Now was the first Webcomic from Michael Poe (Creator of Errant Story and Does Not Play Well With Others) that ran from 2000 to 2002 on Keenspot. Initially the comic followed in namesake in the form of two characters: Ralph Givememore (definitely not a Moogle) and Bimbo Moneymaker. Two roommates who pretty much messed around with each other while making as many sexual jokes as possible. Soon, another character, Jordan Kennedy, a very sarcastic self proclaimed "Evil Genius" joins them and not long after Bimbo's sister, Bush Moneymaker, is brought into the cast. However the latter two characters soon started to become the focus of the comic as more of Jordan's backstory was known. And the series quickly took a dark turn.

Still floating around the net since its end, you can read it here.


Tropes seen in Exploitation Now include:

  • Aborted Arc: Babylon Jones was likely intended to get a spin-off comic, given the amount of hint dropping that she's Bimbo and Bush's sister Barbara Ann who ran away from home after shooting up her school in retaliation for being raped and that the magical girl parody Bunny is her younger sister Usagi either aged up or from the future having been trained to kill her by some unknown parties. However, Act Four rolled through with only a few cameos by Jones and the idea hasn't been touched since.
  • Accidental Misnaming: Ralph gets this a lot on the nature of his species.
  • Animated Actors: Strips with a weaker fourth wall tend to show the cast treating it as a day job, doing things like complaining about scripts and such. This ultimately seals Bimbo and Ralph's final fate as they attempt to go on strike for better conditions, only to be fired and replaced by scab workers.
  • Arm Cannon/Artificial Limbs: Jordan's left arm.
  • Bilingual Backfire: One comic had Jordan and Bush hitching a ride on a bus full of Asian girls from an anime con. One of the girls in front of them notices the two and, seeing Bush, and thinking her a fellow Asian (since Bush is half Asian) starts to mock Jordan in her native tongue, thinking Jordan can't understand her. However it turns out Bush can't understand the language, but Jordan can - and quickly lets the girl know she is not amused.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Jordan confronts the agency that ruined her life and manages to destroy their headquarters. But Bush is unfortunately killed in the process.
  • Breaking In Old Habits: Among other improvements, Jordan fitted her prosthetic hand with a vibrator mode...
  • Broken Bird: Jordan once you learn of her past.
  • Cast Pages Always Lie: Jordan's provided cast page during the original run said that she was the only one smart enough to have a no-nudity clause in her contract. While this got her out of a NSFW tentacle scene (the in-story reason being the monster had a fetish for Asian girls), she was eventually shown topless.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Started off as an off color comedy. But once Jordan became the focus...
  • Demoted to Extra: Ralph and Bimbo. It was Lampshaded.
  • Disappointed by the Motive: Both Jordan and Bush were aggravated to find out the real reason why the government agency came back for her. One of the other test subjects used his newfound power in the agency to hunt her down for sex purposes.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Jordan once used a hologram of Jet Li to distract an assassin.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • Bimbo, the porn star, finds some of Ralph's more excessive sexual activities, like his excessive nightly masturbation and watching porn with breakfast, to be disturbing.
    • Another porn star felt that having a real name like Bimbo Moneymaker was a sign that Bimbo's parents disliked her.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: The first time Babylon Jones appears in the comic, Jordan is initially friendly and comments how she heard Jones was going back into assassinations before realizing that meant she was Jones' current target.
  • Expy: Yeah Ralph is totally not a Moogle. Where would you get that idea?
  • Freudian Slip: The first sign of Jordan's bi status is when she was engaging with Bush in a discussion as to who the best Archie Comics character would be best to have sex with. She started off rooting for Jughead, but let slip a mention of Betty.
  • Groin Attack: Poor Ralph.
  • Incompatible Orientation: Bush is straight while Jordan is bi.
  • Killed Off for Real: Bush.
  • Kill Sat: Mere child's play for Jordan to hack one and becomes a major plot point later on.
  • Life-or-Limb Decision: Though it's pretty easy to decide since it's the prosthetic one.
  • Mad Scientist: Jordan.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Gee no points for guessing why she's named Bimbo.
    • It's sort of a Non-Indicative Name though since most people (and dictionaries) use 'bimbo' as a term for a Brainless Beauty and Bimbo is relatively smart. Further, it's mentioned that the sisters were named by their Japanese mother while she was still high on painkillers, and their father hadn't the heart to tell her what the names meant. Compared to Bitch, Brat, and Bush, Bimbo almost got off lightly.
  • No Ending: Well sort of, the comic does bring a conclusion to Jordan's struggle against the agency that ruined her life. But it just sorta...stops after that with no follow up.
  • No Fourth Wall: The characters are quite aware they're in a comic and often hang lampshades about it. Mostly this is reserved for Bimbo and Ralph though.
  • Offscreen Villain Dark Matter
    • Averted with Jordan. She ends up having to rent out apartments to keep up her cash flow.
    • Justified with the government agency Jordan was experimented upon by, due to them having multiple dummy corporations in a variety of fields.
  • Refuge in Audacity
  • Road Trip Plot: Most of the focus on Jordan and Bush during the comic's latter half is them traveling.
  • Shout-Out: Plenty, have fun finding them. Mostly in hallway pictures and the shirts the cast wears.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Became pretty obvious halfway through the strip's run that Poe preferred messing with Jordan.
  • Tempting Fate: After getting fired at the end of Act 3, Bimbo and Ralph try taking it in stride, figuring they'd get hired back eventually since they didn't believe the comic would be ending anytime soon. Act 4 turned out to be the end.
  • The Unfavorite: Bush. She believes it to at least partially be due to her getting her looks from her dad's side of the family.
  • Unfortunate Names: Yes, Bimbo Moneymaker's name really is that. Even the porn star she told the truth to thought her parents didn't like her very much for that name.
  • Webcomic Time: Jordan takes the time to divulge her backstory during a shootout which took two months to get through.
  • White Sheep: Bimbo's older sister Bambi, who became a nun.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Bush puts this question to a tentacle monster when it's waiting for a female swordswoman to finish her transformation. He thinks about then tells her not to mention it again.
  • You Bastard!: Poe constantly grumbles about what perverts his readers are. In fact, the title of the comic can in itself be seen as this.
    • Which can be Hypocritical Humor considering, you know, nothing's stopping Poe from drawing said art.

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