I can hardly believe its been three and half years since the Kidnapped Phillipe story arc: the suspense captured in this strip still holds.

To anyone reading this arc for the first time, I recommend you skip the comments on this strip and come back after finishing the arc, as there are several spoilers below.

Despite all of the tragedy of it, the image of a sad Phillipe in a bee costume is so fucking cute.

I love how Phillipe is so even-keeled about hitting a deer considering how innocently sensitive he is about so many other things... I definitely underestimated the wickedness of his sack.

dark.

Thanks for ruining the suspense!

The problem is, the profile actually changes in the next strip. It doesn't look like Ray here, and it doesn't look like Nice Pete in the next one. A cool trick, though; you don't notice it the first time.

I like to think we're seeing it from Philippe's perspective in this one, and Ray's silhouette looks enough like Nice Pete that Phillipe sees it that way.

The saddest thing.

Sadder than Bill Watterson's dead bird.

The first time I read this strip, I think I read it out of sequence, so I did not fully appreciated the ambiguity of the silhouetted figure firing a gun. The terror on Philippe's face could just as easily be the terror of watching Nice Pete pointing a gun at him as the terror of watching Ray's act of mercy.

Of course, Nice Pete would not stoop to murdering with guns. Not classy.

Please people! Don't ruin the story for people going through the archives!