>>93819498Mike is seriously underserved in this comic. His character of a seemingly perfect boy who has actually become alienated by and resentful of people's expectations and so clings to his elementary school crush as something that truly belongs to him is kind of interesting, but he outright doesn't have enough face-time in this comic and less of it actually fleshes him out.
A theme of the whole series could be appearances vs. realities, a decent motif for a story that includes themes of growing up
(the obvious one) Lucy seems tough and rude but is actually deeply needy and weak
Mike seems like a perfect cheerful boy but is actually bitter and self-isolating.
Paulo seems like a arrogant prick but is actually sensitive and worried about doing right by others
Daisy seems like a genteel sweetheart but is actually selfish and bratty
Abbey seems like a mature, conscientious boy but is actually an angry white knight
Molly seems like an innocent naive child but she's actually more resilient than her brother and does more to protect him than the other way around.
David seems like a big idiot but is actually just a jester
Sue seems smart but is actually mostly hot air
Augustus seems like a smug thug but he's actually hooked on gallows humor for a life he sees going nowhere
Rachel seems like a "mean girl" cheerleader and a slut but she's actually very kind and constantly doing thing to help people she cares about (she hates Tess so much for hurting her brother and Jess)
Jasmine seems like a sweet girl (informed by her Christianity) but actually gets really salty when her back's against the wall.
Sandy seems like a poor sweet girl being robbed of her childhood by her mother but actually she grows to like modeling and tired of Mike as a memento of a life she no longer wants
(the
>>93819617 version of) Zachery seems like an overeager and ineffectual loser but he's actually deeply compassionate and has a hot fiance
