Striptease

 

******BEWARE!******

there are some major spoilers to the storylines in these character descriptions! This is mainly to keep people who have read the archives up to date, and for readers to reference how characters are connected to one another. Proceed to read with caution!

MAX - Max is a penciller of the independent comic book NEATO-PEOPLE. He also helps come up with the plots along with the writer and long time friend, Emily. Max is extremely paranoid and tends to jump to a lot of conclusions that more often than not, tend to be wrong. He usually assumes the worst and wants things to be his way. His weakness stems from the women in his life, as he tries to please them, but sometimes doesn't see the big picture. and tends to worry about a lot of small things. Max is currently back in a relationship with his ex-girlfriend Alli, after having been "just friends" for an extended period. We know he dated Rachael in college; a relationship that ended badly. They briefly hooked up when Max was single again, but Rachael broke things off for her own reasons. While in London visiting Alli, Max slept with Naomi, Alli's demented twin sister, posing as Alli. Max also had a fling with a girl named Sabrina when he studied art abroad in Italy. Max has been sharing an apartment with Chip for several years. He also has a younger sister, Mia, whom he is extremely protective over. He has become good friends with Tommy, the inker on Neato-People. Max decided to cancel Neato-People to financially save the studio, and stopped production on the book. He worked for several months at Amazing World as a caricature artist. He has recently started working at Comix Kaboom, his favorite comic book store.

first appearance

ALLI - Alli is a comic book penciller, currently working on the book Risky Chix. She can be very sarcastic, but has a kind heart. She and Max met briefly in life drawing class in college, but never really had a chance to talk until they both started working in comics. She was working for a rival comic book company, drawing the very popular CAPTAIN DYNAMITE! Max approached her after seeing the book at Comix Kaboom! They started dating, and all was fine until Alli was then hired by Tiny Rhino Studios, located in England. Upon her return, she and Max decided to just be friends. Emily approached her to pencil a new comic, Risky Chix, which she quickly accepted. After being kidnapped and forced to draw comics for Trenton Dubilasco, and having Naomi manipulate most of her friends, Alli developed a lot of trust issues. Dealing with her twin sister's death only proved harder for Alli, as she became more insecure and confused about the people in her life. After trying to date Forrest, she realized she still had strong feeling for Max that she was only repressing. She finally approached him, and they are currently dating.

first appearance

EMILY - Emily is Max's best friend since high school, and after college, joined forces with him to work on NEATO-PEOPLE. Emily is by far the more responsible of the two, and has to work hard to keep Max on his deadlines. She's a strict, no nonsense kinda gal, and usually gets right to the point. She writes Neato-People, as well as Risky Chix, another comic book she started with Alli. For a time, Em handled the business aspects of promotion and distribution. Recently, she handed over the production and editing role over to Bryan, so she could concentrate on writing. Emily is now in a steady relationship with Tommy, who also works with her. She recently proposed to him, and they are currently engaged to be married.

first appearance

RACHAEL - Rachael is a talented singer and actress, and is the lead singer in Willy's band Bohica Mouse. Rachael is quite naive, and her innocent nature causes her to learn lessons with harsh, often painful results. In college, she dated Max for about two years, until she apparently "cheated" on him. She had an "experimental time" with Alli in college. Until recently, Rachael was confused about her sexual orientation. After an un-stimulating period with Max again, and being seduced by Naomi, she came to realize that she was gay. Even though she has been slowly embracing the lesbian lifestyle, her track record with other women has so far been embarrassing and painful. She's hoping that things will go better with a new girl, Haven, who she met at a women's sexuality workshop.

first appearance

TOMMY - When Max and Emily needed help finishing issue 2 of NEATO-PEOPLE, Tommy was hired at the last minute, during an inker search. He's had five years inking experience on small press comics, and NEATO-PEOPLE is his first superhero book. Tommy also took inking duties on Emily and Alli's new book, Risky Chix. He apparently used to be a bit of a player, but he's extremely devoted to his girlfriend Emily, who he also works with. After an incident with Kim, Tommy left for home, fearing he would further hurt Emily. We found out Tommy had childhood issues with his father, who was often drunk and abusive. Tommy also has an older brother, Theo. After dating for several years, Tommy and Emily are currently engaged to be married.

first appearance

CHIP - Chip is Max's often annoying and perverted apartment-mate. Chip works at the local theme park, Amazing World, dressed up as popular cartoon star, Octagon Jon. His high paycheck for limited work hours allows him to sleep a lot, play video games, and generally be lazy around the apartment. Chip is seldom around when he's needed, and always around when he's not wanted. He is currently in a relationship with Kim, but they are not having sex, which Chip is none to pleased about.

first appearance

KIM - Kim is a tough talking Japanese American, very blunt, and highly sexual. We're not sure why she uses sex as a tool to manipulate those around her, including her friends, but she's quite adept. In college, she was a punk rock chick hailing from New York, and had a very wide assortment of spiked attire. She roomed with Rachael for several years during that time. She seduced a guy named Steven away from Alli, which caused some bad vibes between those two. Now a lawyer, she recently came into town to help with a court case, and has set up a private legal practice. She is currently in therapy for sexual addiction and is dating Chip.

first appearance

WILLY - Willy means well, even if he doesn't really go about things in a normal fashion. We know he's originally from a more rural area of the country, due to his redneck accent. Because he was afraid of being labeled as a "gay guitarist" in his small town, he decided to come to the city to start up his own band, BOHICA MOUSE. Despite his best efforts, it's hard for him to keep his band mates focused sometimes. He is currently in a relationship with Forrest.

first appearance

DAMION - Yup, he's a goth. Damion works at the local coffee bar, Hypno Coffee, but is not very happy about it. He requires at least six cups of java a day to keep him from going into violent fits. He plays drums in Willy's band, Bohica Mouse. His quirky behavior and serious demeanor led him to be the subject of Rob's documentary that won awards at the college film festival. He has a pet rat named Control group, who apparently, he can communicate with. He is currently dating Lydia.

first appearance

PU YAI- Pu Yai Bahn was the last and key ingredient to Willy's band, Bohica Mouse. Even though they were looking for a bass player, this Thai "keyboard master" became the surprise final addition to the band. The only English he knows is through 80's song lyrics, which he is constantly listening to. No one is sure if Pu Yai is straight or gay, as he seems to fancy everyone just the same.

first appearance

MIA- Mia is Max's perky younger sister. She seems to be the more level headed of the two siblings. Although she has an innocent appearance, Mia seems to have a lot more "experience" than her friends are aware of. She attends the local college, but because of over crowded dorms, is sharing an apartment with Rachael.

first appearance

LYDIA- Lydia is the floor manager of the local music store, Fast Trax. She works with Rachael, Sasha, and some other employees to keep the struggling CD sales alive. Lydia was also recently asked to be the manager of Bohica Mouse, to help plan gigs and handle some of the business side of the band's future. She is currently dating Damion.

first appearance

ROB - Rob is a film student, with big hopes of turning his small films into big movies. He also lives with Tommy. He is a film buff, keeps his room amazingly organized, and can defeat anyone in a game of Trivial Pursuit. Rob doesn't really care much for comic books, but is supportive of Tommy and his work. He filmed a documentary project on Damion, that won the grand prize at the college film festival. He's currently sharing and apartment with Willy, and is helping to teach a college film class.

first appearance

FORREST- Forrest is a financial debt counselor that Kim contacted to assist Alli after Naomi had all but erased her identity. Forrest became more of a sounding board for Alli's issues, causing them to become close and Alli asking out Forrest. After Alli learned Forrest was gay, she tried to get him involved in a revenge scheme against Max, but Forrest would have nothing to do with it. Forrest was recently revealed to be dating Willy.

first appearance

BRYAN- Bryan was a replacement inker for Tommy after his temporary departure from the studio. As an inker, he was extremely hard to tolerate, critiquing Max and Alli's work, but also Emily's writing. Recently, Bryan took on the position of editor, which better suits his nitpicking talents. During the rescue of Damion from the fetish club, he and Willy were locked in a pitch black room for some time, but no one is sure if anything happened.

first appearance

BETH- owner and manager of Comix Kaboom, a store that Max and Emily have been purchasing their secret geek stash from for years, and where Max recently was hired to work. She reads many novelizations, fan fiction, and has an impressive DVD collection that would make most geeks explode. We recently found out that she's pregnant, and she wants Max to take over running the store while she's gone.

first appearance

JD- a bitter, disgruntled, and highly opinionated employee at Comix Kaboom. He has trouble getting work done in a timely manner because he's often arguing with customers about comic book continuity

first appearance

TRIGGER- another employee at Comix Kaboom. Trevor or "Trigger" is more into the lighter side of Comics. He maintains the Manga section, as well as the card collection supply and the tabletop gaming supplies.

first appearance

COLLEEN- a precocious caricature artist and former co-worker of Max's at Amazing World Max thought the high schooler was hitting on him, but she was really interested in Gary.

first appearance

GARY- crass, bigoted, and obnoxious former co-worker of Max's at Amazing World. Gary's caricatures mostly all looked the same, and he loves drawing big boobs on the female customers he gets.

first appearance

SASHA- one of Rachael and Lydia's co-workers at Fast Trax. Perhaps more naive than Rachael can be, she took advantage of Rae's drunkenness to sleep with her, only to test out if she would be good for a three-way with herself and her boyfriend.

first appearance

THEO- Tommy's older, and slightly larger brother. We know he was named after Malcolm Jamal Warner's character on the Cosby show.

first appearance

SABRINA- A gorgeous, and quite tall, Italian native that Max had a brief but steamy fling with when he studied abroad. Even though they left their relationship open, she briefly reacquainted with Max, and had to turn down his sexual advances.

first appearance

HAVEN- Rachael recently met Haven at the Women's self exploration workshop at Sensations. Rae didn't bring a vibrator to "practice" with, so Haven lent her one of her own for the night. They hit it off from there, and just recently hooked up.

first appearance

PAIGE- one of Mia's college friends. A bit aloof and bookish, Paige was a strange addition to the girls that came to one of Rachael and Mia's sleep over movie nights.

first appearance

JAELEN- a friend of Mia's that attends college with her and Paige. She was at one of the sleep over movie nights at Rachael and Mia's apartment.

first appearance

KAT- employee at the local sex co-op, Sensations. Despite her young appearance, Kat is quite knowledgeable in all things pleasurable. She also runs a weekly sex workshop, which Rachael started attending

first appearance

STEVEN- in college, Alli was friends with, and went on one date with Steven. For some reason, Kim seduced Steven and stole him away from Alli. Steven and Alli recently got reconnected through MyPlace, an online community

first appearance

College Years: supporting cast

SERGEI- Sergei was the chill Russian exchange student who decided not to leave college. He was Nate's fencing partner, and they were usually always together. Sergei got his advice from strange communist philosophies... as such no one is really sure what he was talking about. He and Nate were roommates in college. His current whereabouts are unknown.

first appearance

NATE - Nate was Sergei's best friend and nemesis. They were fencing partners, and they were usually always fencing. Nate was a bit more gung ho than Sergei, which tended to get him into trouble sometimes. Nate later shared a house with Max in college. We also know that Nate tried answering some personals in the college paper, which Max helped him with. He ultimately ended up finding another date, but we're not sure who it was. His current whereabouts are not known.

first appearance

MARIE - was a director in the college theatre department. More notably, she is the first gay woman that Rachael met. Their friendship undoubtedly led to Rachael opening her mind to new experiences.

first appearance

KAREN - Karen was Max's newspaper editor at the college paper. She was very strict on deadlines, causing Max to choose between his comics, and his girlfriend.

first appearance

Villains, bad guys, and questionables

NAOMI - Naomi is Alli's identical twin sister. The physical resemblance is uncanny, but their personalities couldn't be more different. She has posed as Alli several times, causing not only painful repercussions for Max, but also a sexual awakening for Rachael. After disappearing from London, Naomi returned to Alli with news that she was dying. For a time, she seemed to be on the straight and narrow, earning the trust of most of the gang and starting to date Chip. But her true intentions were revealed and things went badly from there. She had a chance to redeem herself slightly, before dying. She is currently very dead.

first appearance...????

TRENTON DUBILASCO - Trenton is, according to Max, "one creepy British dude." He is the creator of the cult hit and dark themed comic book, Bloody Onions. Trenton and Max met at Super-Con 2001 in a panel on comic book villains. He believes that the type of comics that Max creates are merely fluff, and is out to get rid of them. Trenton has been the cause of several problems for Max and the gang. Because he lost his hand, he relies on taking artists hostage, forcing them to draw his comic for him. Trenton is currently in prison, serving a ten year sentence for kidnapping, extortion, and attempted murder.

first appearance

VARGAS- Mr. Vargas is Alli's old boss, and former publisher of the successful comic book, Captain Dynamite. Vargas's greed led him to steal Max and Emily's second issue of NP before it went to press. He was ultimately blackmailed and forced to retire by Alli, his own employee. Even then, Vargas retained a lot of wealth, which he used it to bankroll Trenton Dubilasco's operation for a short time. During the raid, Vargas chickened out and got a reduced sentence for assisting in Trenton's court case. He is currently in prison for assisting in kidnapping, and tax fraud.

first appearance