Scary indeed...

wait, is her Torso actually wearing a black shirt, or is her Torso an actual solid black piece. Does that mean he is technically actually walking around with a bare chest?
(not that it's really a first for her)

Y'know, drama is drama, but it's so... empty. It's a rehash of Aylee-clone arc, only worse. Aylee is not only looking... unappealing, but also very unsympathetic.

No, not really. Aylee is new to that sort of feeling and she isn't acting like Torg own her anything. He just want to avoid the hurt. Not the same thing.

Wow, that's rather harsh, unfair, and very surface level. But you read it how you want, sure...

pretty sure you're missing about 20 years of context there.

Well, it's possible she's pushing Torg away because she does not want to be tempted to steal Torg, she doesn't want to break Torg and Zoё's relationship. With combined concerns about unintentionally eating the planet due to human-looking body, like in that dimension. Plus possible PTSD due to participating in a war that gang missed or something.
Or maybe she's eating her own spawn in order to stay alive, and ashamed of it.
And Bun-Bun's "no nickname" thing... I got nothing. Why would he respect anyone?

Not really a matter of respect rather than a matter of accuracy. What's the point of an insult if it doesn't nail it?

Friendship is just as important as love, and she was left behind by her friends, the only people who know who she is so often, yet expected to jump right in after they return.

Bun-Bun has always respected Aylee .... well as far as respect goes for Bun-Bun, that is.

I had always considered Sam's story rather finished. However, today's strip makes me wonder if the title of the chapter is, as severalothers have speculated, about Sam after all.

If so, the prologue was odd.

Aylee fought Bun-Bun to a draw in their first few days (hours? minutes?) of meeting. I'm pretty sure that's pack-animal for "let's not ***REDACTED*** with each other too badly."



Seems to me that the title might either be referring to multiple characters, but the same theme (Puns? here? Never!) OR the threads somehow combine. Maybe The Sam Cirkail Mamajama pulls a hostile takeover of The Cult of Poopypants and Sam absorbs Farahn which doesn't change his inept pawing at Gwynn at all, so makes no difference.

I just want to know, since HC is out of action, who will be monitoring the Alexa-enabled rooms where the gang is discussing vampires. ... and what's up with that daggar-logo?

Edit: Why would anyone redact the word "mess"? I don't get it!

True, I'm now leaning towards the title having multiple readings. I feel like it's happened before, though I can't remember when.

It's definitely consistent with past chapter titles for Pete to apply multiple meanings to the title. However, I'm not convinced that will be the case here. Farahn is obviously the main subject of the title and I'm not so sure Sam, or even vampires at all, is/are involved. That's just what the gang thinks due to the blood draining but do vampires typically "mangle" their victims? And would the news report that exsanguinated victims were "partially eaten"? It's possible that they were killed by vampires and N'aaaw snacked on their remains, but I'm wondering if we've just witnessed a series of misdirections. Two possibilities came into my head. This could be some kind of blood magic done by Gwynn under the control of Farahn. Second, maybe it's Basphomy. She's apparently got something big planned this year, right?

As for whether Sam's story is finished, I believe Pete put Sam's story in a useful position for a writer. Much like the DOP, Sam's arc has come to a sufficient conclusion that if Pete ends the comic without ever using Sam again, it will be fine, but leaving just enough open that he can easily expand Sam's story if the inspiration and opportunity hits.

I wonder if this chapter will reveal the origin of vampirism in the Sluggyverse. I've often wondered if it was connected to K'z'k and the deadels somehow. Like someone had made a knockoff version of the ritual to benefit themselves with great power. The idea of the three types of vampires suggests it could have been done three times with variations on the knock off producing the different resulting powers.

But maybe it also links into the Mohkadun gods/demigods, with them meddling for some reason to show mortals the way.