And there’s the other shoe dropping. Now the question becomes what comes next? Great story btw looking forward to whatever’s in your bag of tricks sir.
Jeannie would be well served to imitate her boyfriend less and try diplomacy if she somehow manages to end up in the King of Seasons’ throne room. Being a bitchy bad lady isn’t a form of magic and “quick-tempered mortal” is not even remotely the same weight class as “ancient lord of the magic that binds the universe.”
(Brian totally edited “Bad Lady” with the posters permission. Thanks for being cool, guys – Brian)
I’m not going to be a total hypocrite here (as I throw my share of profanity around) but I do not use that one and it really is one of the worst, in my opinion. I’m going to email HeavyP and say as much and we’ll go from there. I hate to edit anyones comments as I think you have the right to speak your mind but I will ask for a little bit of discretion in the future. Don’t take this as me being angry or dropping the hammer on anyone. I just like to hit these things head on.
I unfortunately don’t see a way to edit my post and remove it, so I’ll have to make do with an apology. I’ll keep the profanity, especially the more offensive terms, out of my posts in the future. Again, my apologies.
I’d also like to insert that it’s not that I don’t like Jeannie, she’s a great character. I like Brett too, he’s well-written and believable. But he’s kind of a dick and from the last strips involving her, it looks like he’s rubbing off on her, unfortunately. Hopefully they’ll both mature a bit through this.
Actually, he’s being MORE than fair here. He IS the boss, and I imagine that winter’s a hard time for him; Brett’s lucky that he just got a light clobbering for the mouthing-off he was starting to launch into. In ages past, I’m sure His Majesty would have stomped Brett to jelly and sent the mantle on to another bearer.
@Yelnick McWawa as botha female and a minority I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on equating one bad word with another. They are both very bad for very different reasons. Please do reconsider how you phrase your language in the future because to me it sounds like you are disregarding over 200 years of cultural genocide and oppression not to mention it was a word of ownership.
Thank you for your well meaning intentions though.
I hope Brett considers asking Jeannie to marry him. Even if she says no, then she would at least had the chance to stay with him. Best case scenario: Jeannie and Brett marry. They go to The Pole and we don’t have to hear about them until Christmas ’14. It also means less Higgins, but I can take it.
I may catch hell for this…but the King of Seasons isn’t in the wrong and I can’t blame him for his position. I bet it’s draining keeping all those guys in line.
And Brett tends to never make things easy…
I’m just saying…KoS has a job to do. And he’s doing it.
As much as I still think KoS is kind of a bastard for jumping straight to violence to make his point, this at least explains his thinking a lot further.
He’s a burly, barbaric brute, but it doesn’t seem like 100% intentional douchebaggery.. it seems more like this is the only way he knows how to interact with people, and he’s got a bit of the Superman thing going on where he’s just so damn strong it’s difficult to be gentler about it.
One way or another, this is just a completely terrible situation for Brett to be in. Interested to see where that goes.
It’s winter at present. Winter doesn’t care your reasons, Winter doesn’t care if you need a couple weeks to prepare, winter is blunt, cold, and deadly.
As brutal as that was, there’s this itty bitty piece of me that wants to buy the King of Seasons a drink for being the one to give Brett’s damn fool mouth a slap. He could’ve gone about it without breaking his jaw and slamming him through a wall and two silos, but given that he’s strong enough to do that I’m betting he could put a guy in traction by waving at him too hard.
I love the KOS as an all serious badass. Makes for a great idea.
And really, the Mantle brett wears is something that has existed for a while.
He should of realized that it may of came with some responsibilities that he’d have to man up for. Not just all perks. Frankly, Jeannie and brett can either accept it and deal, or he can give up the mantle.
good job, i now care about this story.
namely how bret is going to ROFLSTOMP the KoS before shattering all holiday magic everywhere. after all brett has been said to be evil with only his gf to keep his mental state in check. 🙂
with that in mind…
*text MSG to Bret*
yo im with you on bro, he had no right. hit me up when you want to go at him again i’ve got your back on this one.
*received from gromire*
Sure the KoS is being abrupt in his manner of handling things here but consider how he made mention of the fact it is Winter and his levels of compassion are low. Perhaps his moods are largely tied with the seasons as his name implies. Brett would be smart to leave things be for now.
Yeah, I don’t see why anyone is knocking the King of Seasons here. Putting aside his seasonal attributes, the fact remains that Brett came in acting like being Santa means that *he’s* the king, and he refused to consider any sort of diplomacy, shooting off his mouth as soon as he walked in the door.
Objectively look at Brett. He’s held the mantle for three years and has made little to no effort to understand its power or potential. He’s made no effort to discover what powers the mantle, or to see what other magical beings exist and what their hierarchy is (and he’s a D&D geek for God’s sake – that line of thinking should be second nature). He solves every problem by screaming obscenities at it and hitting it. His love for Christmas is his only redeeming factor in his role as Santa.
The King of Seasons has been watching all of this since he picked up the mantle. He knows exactly what kind of “man” (and I use the term loosely) Brett is. He got his attention the only way Brett would listen to – superior force (and he used a minimal amount, all things considered).
Brett needs to do his job on Christmas Eve, settle in at the North Pole, and check back in with the King of Seasons in Spring to see if Jeannie can move up as a permanent addition to his family. After a year, if he’s proven himself as Santa, he may be able to talk the King into letting him have more contact with his old friends – pop back in for a gaming session with Sam and co. or still keep in contact through email. It sucks, but it’s really no different than someone who needs to move overseas temporarily for a job.
I went a reread the archives to make sure I hadn’t missed anything…. So.
I think your argument is lacking for a number of reasons;
1. This isn’t “The Adventures of Santa Clause” Focusing the entire comic on Brett doing things with the mantle would be tedious and boring. While I agree that as a gamer he could and should have done more with the mantle what would the point be? More fight scenes? Spawn like powers? Also, So much time “passes” in the comic that he’s likely done some of that “off scene”, along with list checking, management and the like he talked about previously in the comic.
2. The only two things that have been covered by the Christmas events has been fights with thematic villains, Klaus, Krampus, and now this “King of Seasons”, and how Brett is willing to throw himself into the line of fire in the name of the holiday.
3. The “trial” was off scene, Brett did not get to defend himself as a person or bearer of the mantle. At NO time was he told “hey, you need to work harder on your Santa gig” or “You need to ‘Shape up.’ or The King of Seasons may take the mantle away.” So I don’t believe your Diplomacy option was ever really an option when the judgement of “You’re fired, you get no chance to defend yourself and we’re taking something away from you that is a very part of your being.” was thrown in his face.
4. Ultimatums. Ultimatums are frankly stupid. I would never expect anyone to calmly take an ultimatum, specially of that caliber.
5. It’s been pretty clear since he returned what he chose. He chose his mortal life. Friends, family, gaming. He lost his beard, and if he had the mantle still the injury would have been healed by magic like all the others.
1. I agree; I think Jeannie needs to become Mrs. Claus. She already expressed a willingness to go to the Pole with Brett.
2. I’d be perfectly thrilled with a one-day-a-week spin-off comic following Brett and Jeannie Claus at the North Pole, with the King of Seasons always dropping in, meetings with the Mantlebearers of Easter and Halloween (Jack Skellington cameos? YES PLEASE)
Seems pretty straight forward choice, what exactly does the mantle bring to the table other than a big bag of BS?
sure he gets some superficial super powers and that was cool when he was checking in to do his once a year duty and bringing the smack down on some fools…
but you add this jerk into the mix and put in a choice between the mortal life he’s just now getting into shape and permanent north pole imprisonment doing what exactly the rest of the year?
seems pretty clear that the mantle needs him more than he needs the mantle and if Bret had any sense he’d tell the KoS to find some other sucker.
Brett’s had a smack-down coming for a while; His Majesty was actually pretty lenient about it, though if this happens again, I don’t think he’ll be as nice.
I live in the middle of new york I think the king was toying with Brett as it was Winter, spring, Winter, summer, winter, late fall, winter, spring, winter, spring and winter again. TODAY we finally got spring. We pray the King of Seasons doesn’t alter the weather further. {Lobot start evacuating the earth}
The short answer? It’s Brett/Santa’s problem. The KoS watches over the seasons and all of the holiday mantlebearers so his time is stretched pretty thin. Brett got it done and the King gave him a chance to work out a resolution to the Klaus problem. If Klaus ran wild, odds are good he would finally get involved.
KoS is not a leader by any stretch of the imagination. Just a Bully with power enough to do what he wants, how he wants, when he wants. All that power and no accountability. There is a reason mortal kings and their aristocracy only lasted as long as they did. The common man did not have access to the resources necessary to get rid of them. When the masses got the resources then heads did roll, quite literally and often. In a realm of magic where might makes right there is no justice. Good only happens if the guy in charge feels like it, not because it is the right thing to do. Just the whims of whomever is in power for wheal or woe and everyone else has to deal with it. The only options for those on the receiving end is the nature and amount of their suffering.
Yeah – I can’t stand the ass or the situation as written so far.
/>
Hover-Text: Apparently this is how you get through to Brett: Break his Jaw.
… I… I… I… I… I…
Error 404, brain not found.
And there’s the other shoe dropping. Now the question becomes what comes next? Great story btw looking forward to whatever’s in your bag of tricks sir.
Well, it’s kind of obvious that the decision has already been made. Bret left her a Christmas gift in order to explain. He chose the mantle.
But he didn’t have a beard. The Beard is as important to santa as the reindeer! Or krampus.
Man, screw the King of Seasons, and the magical horse he rode in on. That man is a grade A bastard.
I look forward to Jeannie stomping a mud hole in the king and walking it dry
Jeannie would be well served to imitate her boyfriend less and try diplomacy if she somehow manages to end up in the King of Seasons’ throne room. Being a bitchy bad lady isn’t a form of magic and “quick-tempered mortal” is not even remotely the same weight class as “ancient lord of the magic that binds the universe.”
(Brian totally edited “Bad Lady” with the posters permission. Thanks for being cool, guys – Brian)
“C***” is on par with spelling “negro” with two “g”s. That’s a shitty thing to call anyone, much less a character who some of us actually like.
I’m not going to be a total hypocrite here (as I throw my share of profanity around) but I do not use that one and it really is one of the worst, in my opinion. I’m going to email HeavyP and say as much and we’ll go from there. I hate to edit anyones comments as I think you have the right to speak your mind but I will ask for a little bit of discretion in the future. Don’t take this as me being angry or dropping the hammer on anyone. I just like to hit these things head on.
I unfortunately don’t see a way to edit my post and remove it, so I’ll have to make do with an apology. I’ll keep the profanity, especially the more offensive terms, out of my posts in the future. Again, my apologies.
No sweat, Heavy. Thanks for being cool and reinforcing why I consider myself so lucky to have awesome folks here.
I’d also like to insert that it’s not that I don’t like Jeannie, she’s a great character. I like Brett too, he’s well-written and believable. But he’s kind of a dick and from the last strips involving her, it looks like he’s rubbing off on her, unfortunately. Hopefully they’ll both mature a bit through this.
Actually, he’s being MORE than fair here. He IS the boss, and I imagine that winter’s a hard time for him; Brett’s lucky that he just got a light clobbering for the mouthing-off he was starting to launch into. In ages past, I’m sure His Majesty would have stomped Brett to jelly and sent the mantle on to another bearer.
@Yelnick McWawa as botha female and a minority I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on equating one bad word with another. They are both very bad for very different reasons. Please do reconsider how you phrase your language in the future because to me it sounds like you are disregarding over 200 years of cultural genocide and oppression not to mention it was a word of ownership.
Thank you for your well meaning intentions though.
I hope Brett considers asking Jeannie to marry him. Even if she says no, then she would at least had the chance to stay with him. Best case scenario: Jeannie and Brett marry. They go to The Pole and we don’t have to hear about them until Christmas ’14. It also means less Higgins, but I can take it.
I may catch hell for this…but the King of Seasons isn’t in the wrong and I can’t blame him for his position. I bet it’s draining keeping all those guys in line.
And Brett tends to never make things easy…
I’m just saying…KoS has a job to do. And he’s doing it.
That said…I hate the position Brett’s in. Which I never thought I’d ever hear myself say….
I don’t want him to lose what he’s gained over the past year…
As much as I still think KoS is kind of a bastard for jumping straight to violence to make his point, this at least explains his thinking a lot further.
He’s a burly, barbaric brute, but it doesn’t seem like 100% intentional douchebaggery.. it seems more like this is the only way he knows how to interact with people, and he’s got a bit of the Superman thing going on where he’s just so damn strong it’s difficult to be gentler about it.
One way or another, this is just a completely terrible situation for Brett to be in. Interested to see where that goes.
It’s winter at present. Winter doesn’t care your reasons, Winter doesn’t care if you need a couple weeks to prepare, winter is blunt, cold, and deadly.
… that and it was probably the only way to get Brett to shut up for a minute without outright KILLING the guy.
As brutal as that was, there’s this itty bitty piece of me that wants to buy the King of Seasons a drink for being the one to give Brett’s damn fool mouth a slap. He could’ve gone about it without breaking his jaw and slamming him through a wall and two silos, but given that he’s strong enough to do that I’m betting he could put a guy in traction by waving at him too hard.
Called it.
You did indeed!
HA! Again, loving this.
I love the KOS as an all serious badass. Makes for a great idea.
And really, the Mantle brett wears is something that has existed for a while.
He should of realized that it may of came with some responsibilities that he’d have to man up for. Not just all perks. Frankly, Jeannie and brett can either accept it and deal, or he can give up the mantle.
good job, i now care about this story.
namely how bret is going to ROFLSTOMP the KoS before shattering all holiday magic everywhere. after all brett has been said to be evil with only his gf to keep his mental state in check. 🙂
with that in mind…
*text MSG to Bret*
yo im with you on bro, he had no right. hit me up when you want to go at him again i’ve got your back on this one.
*received from gromire*
Sure the KoS is being abrupt in his manner of handling things here but consider how he made mention of the fact it is Winter and his levels of compassion are low. Perhaps his moods are largely tied with the seasons as his name implies. Brett would be smart to leave things be for now.
Bingo.
Yeah, I don’t see why anyone is knocking the King of Seasons here. Putting aside his seasonal attributes, the fact remains that Brett came in acting like being Santa means that *he’s* the king, and he refused to consider any sort of diplomacy, shooting off his mouth as soon as he walked in the door.
Objectively look at Brett. He’s held the mantle for three years and has made little to no effort to understand its power or potential. He’s made no effort to discover what powers the mantle, or to see what other magical beings exist and what their hierarchy is (and he’s a D&D geek for God’s sake – that line of thinking should be second nature). He solves every problem by screaming obscenities at it and hitting it. His love for Christmas is his only redeeming factor in his role as Santa.
The King of Seasons has been watching all of this since he picked up the mantle. He knows exactly what kind of “man” (and I use the term loosely) Brett is. He got his attention the only way Brett would listen to – superior force (and he used a minimal amount, all things considered).
Brett needs to do his job on Christmas Eve, settle in at the North Pole, and check back in with the King of Seasons in Spring to see if Jeannie can move up as a permanent addition to his family. After a year, if he’s proven himself as Santa, he may be able to talk the King into letting him have more contact with his old friends – pop back in for a gaming session with Sam and co. or still keep in contact through email. It sucks, but it’s really no different than someone who needs to move overseas temporarily for a job.
I went a reread the archives to make sure I hadn’t missed anything…. So.
I think your argument is lacking for a number of reasons;
1. This isn’t “The Adventures of Santa Clause” Focusing the entire comic on Brett doing things with the mantle would be tedious and boring. While I agree that as a gamer he could and should have done more with the mantle what would the point be? More fight scenes? Spawn like powers? Also, So much time “passes” in the comic that he’s likely done some of that “off scene”, along with list checking, management and the like he talked about previously in the comic.
2. The only two things that have been covered by the Christmas events has been fights with thematic villains, Klaus, Krampus, and now this “King of Seasons”, and how Brett is willing to throw himself into the line of fire in the name of the holiday.
3. The “trial” was off scene, Brett did not get to defend himself as a person or bearer of the mantle. At NO time was he told “hey, you need to work harder on your Santa gig” or “You need to ‘Shape up.’ or The King of Seasons may take the mantle away.” So I don’t believe your Diplomacy option was ever really an option when the judgement of “You’re fired, you get no chance to defend yourself and we’re taking something away from you that is a very part of your being.” was thrown in his face.
4. Ultimatums. Ultimatums are frankly stupid. I would never expect anyone to calmly take an ultimatum, specially of that caliber.
5. It’s been pretty clear since he returned what he chose. He chose his mortal life. Friends, family, gaming. He lost his beard, and if he had the mantle still the injury would have been healed by magic like all the others.
^ this guy is right.
I think Jeannie would make an outstanding “Mrs. Claus”
1. I agree; I think Jeannie needs to become Mrs. Claus. She already expressed a willingness to go to the Pole with Brett.
2. I’d be perfectly thrilled with a one-day-a-week spin-off comic following Brett and Jeannie Claus at the North Pole, with the King of Seasons always dropping in, meetings with the Mantlebearers of Easter and Halloween (Jack Skellington cameos? YES PLEASE)
Wow. I never thought I’d say this but… poor Brett! I’m excited to see where this arc goes. I’m hoping Jeannie becomes Mrs. Claus as well.
Seems pretty straight forward choice, what exactly does the mantle bring to the table other than a big bag of BS?
sure he gets some superficial super powers and that was cool when he was checking in to do his once a year duty and bringing the smack down on some fools…
but you add this jerk into the mix and put in a choice between the mortal life he’s just now getting into shape and permanent north pole imprisonment doing what exactly the rest of the year?
seems pretty clear that the mantle needs him more than he needs the mantle and if Bret had any sense he’d tell the KoS to find some other sucker.
Brett’s had a smack-down coming for a while; His Majesty was actually pretty lenient about it, though if this happens again, I don’t think he’ll be as nice.
Aww hes not santa anymore. But then who would be…?
Klaus.
I live in the middle of new york I think the king was toying with Brett as it was Winter, spring, Winter, summer, winter, late fall, winter, spring, winter, spring and winter again. TODAY we finally got spring. We pray the King of Seasons doesn’t alter the weather further. {Lobot start evacuating the earth}
Quick question… if KoS can beat Brett that badly with one punch… why didn’t (doesn’t) he just kill Klaus?
The short answer? It’s Brett/Santa’s problem. The KoS watches over the seasons and all of the holiday mantlebearers so his time is stretched pretty thin. Brett got it done and the King gave him a chance to work out a resolution to the Klaus problem. If Klaus ran wild, odds are good he would finally get involved.
KoS is not a leader by any stretch of the imagination. Just a Bully with power enough to do what he wants, how he wants, when he wants. All that power and no accountability. There is a reason mortal kings and their aristocracy only lasted as long as they did. The common man did not have access to the resources necessary to get rid of them. When the masses got the resources then heads did roll, quite literally and often. In a realm of magic where might makes right there is no justice. Good only happens if the guy in charge feels like it, not because it is the right thing to do. Just the whims of whomever is in power for wheal or woe and everyone else has to deal with it. The only options for those on the receiving end is the nature and amount of their suffering.
Yeah – I can’t stand the ass or the situation as written so far.
If it makes you feel any better, a part of me hates kicking my own characters when they’re down.
and this is why when people let me play dms with them i make it my mission to play kill the king ( lord wizard or almighty priest)._.;
so the king of seasons has an extreme form of S.A.D. …that is NOT a good thing for a ruler