Concluding thoughts... https://docandraider.com/comic/broke-34/ Well... At 51 episodes, BROKE is the longest storyline I've done. In case no one realized it, it turned out very different from what I originally intended. It was going to be a silly little parody of those live broadcast musicals and finish out in two weeks tops. Then things... changed... Suddenly, with everything going on around us — even before Vegas — it felt important somehow to talk about how mindless destruction can happen at any moment and threaten those we love the most and how do we deal with that when it seems so overwhelming at times, especially when those we love are direct victims of this stuff. Suddenly, seeing how this silly little show could incite someone to this level of violence to stop it from happening seemed something worth looking at... and so the story took a sharp left turn and a lot of my readers were more than a little bewildered by just what the hell was Sean doing now? ... which was, in its way, kind of the point. Someone asked if I was going to reveal who did it. I considered it, briefly, then decided that it's better to leave it a mystery, adding to that theme that these things can be thrust upon us in a heartbeat by people we will never know. I dont want to suggest that we all adopt a paranoid approach to life and view every passing stranger as some kind of threat... but having this come out of nowhere by an unknown perpetrator... Yeah, it can indeed happen. But more importantly, what can happen after such a tragedy is equally worth looking at. Sometimes, disaster brings out the best in... well, most of us anyway. Suddenly, we want to band together and help in any way we can. For some of us, it's being able to donate money to help. For others, it's helping the victims get their lives back on track. For still others, just the simple act of cheering everyone else on can be... amazing. As I said at one point in the story, love can be a force of nature. So much of what's going on today in the world just comes from the simple fact that we are all so scared right now. We're scared of people on the other side of the planet as well as people on the other side of the street. And I hate to say it, but it aint accomplishing a whole lot in the process. Now I"m the last one to sing kumbaya around a campfire, but let's face it — just by showing some kindess and respect to everyone you meet. regardless of who or what they are, can have a huge cascading effect. Maybe instead of rattling guns and missiles at each other, we should just be saying "Have a nice day, eh?" and go about our lives.... I dunno. Maybe that's the Canadian optimist in me. Still, worth a shot, I suppose. (Excuse that rather tasteless pun, okay?) OK, so what happens from here? I'm sending Doc and Ray on a brief leave of absence. After this, they really need some quality alone time. Instead, we're gonna shift the spotlight to other members of our rowdy little crew and see what those boys are up to. Thanks for staying with me during this thing. I appreciate it.