- Wednesday, June 20, 2001

Little background for Joe is offered in the story thus far. We know him to be from Earth, obviously, and more than likely American, but from exactly where is yet to be mentioned. As the first comic suggests he was asleep when the alien race known as The Kojo abducted him. Rather than be subjected to an anal probing, due likely to Joe's homophobic refusal, the Kojo inserted an experimental microchip in Joe's brain, giving him the ability to comprehend any verbal language. They also injected tiny robots into his bloodstream, but the results of that, if any, have yet to be seen. His new found ability came in handy when a feline-esque alien girl, imprisoned by the Kojo, warned Joe of their intentions to keep him as a lab rat... likely with fatal results. Opening the voice activated lock by speaking Kojo(Ironically, Joe can also SPEAK any language as long as he knows which to use, or has already heard it.) Joe freed the girl and the two fled the ship using an escape shuttle, heading into parts unknown to either of them. The girl was revealed to be Koni, a kidnapped princess of the powerful race known as the Felixians. Currently, Joe and Koni are still running from the Kojo, hoping their combined efforts will get the both of them to their homes. Joe isn't the brightest bulb by any stretch, but is often impulsive and short tempered. His heart, however, is in the right place, all he really wants is to get home. Fat chance.

When Koni met Joe Haplesson she had been imprisoned by the Kojo for a few weeks, kidnapped for reasons her captors wouldn't divulge. She'd already seen many humans experimented to death by the Kojo during her imprisonment, and she knew his fate wouldn't be preventable. Yet she warned him anyway, even though no human would understand her "alien" speach. But Joe did, due to the microchip the Kojo had placed in his brain. After hastily explaining his predicament, Koni convinced Joe to help her escape from the ship. The deal was simply: she knew where an emergency shuttle they could get off the ship with was and they both needed to escape. Joe agreed and soon the two were strapped into the shuttle, ready to go. Only one problem, Koni only had three hours of flight training, and had never even entered a planet's atmosphere before. Oops. What's worse, she barely understood the Kojoan control system. Through nothing more than their combined dumb luck, Koni and Joe did escape the Kojo just barely, only to for her to crash the ship on the first planet they reached. Oops again. Princess Koni isn't exactly the Princess Lea stereotype, and if she comes off as helpless it really isn't her fault. After a lifteime of being attended to by servants, just about anyone would be a bit soft. Koni more than makes up for it with her keen mind, which has gotten she and Joe out of many tight situations. But when it comes to physical action she is utterly dependent on her human companion, which has lead to her becoming rather infatuated with him. In a sense, the two complete one another by making up for whatever the other lacks. Koni's goal is to make it home to Panron, where her race of oriental likened feline-esque beings, the Felix, reside. But with the Kojo hot on her trail, Koni is going to have enough trouble watching her and Joe's back.

Ron... Ron, Ron, Ron... what was I on when I made YOU? Captain of a group of space pirates, Ron has a number of combat skills, both hand to hand and with weaponry. However, he's a complete nut. Absolutely off his rocker. A few dubloons short of a treasure chest. Ron captured Joe and Koni when they landed on his home planet. He intended to sell them both off as slaves, that is until the Kojo arrived looking for Koni. Despite being absolutely outclassed, Ron started a battle with an enitire fleet of a dozen Kojo vessels... with his one pirate ship. Needless to say the battle was over pretty damn quick. Just as Ron was about to escape in his personal cruiser, Joe and Koni threatened him at gun point to take them along as a means of evading the Kojo again. Ron did, but only for the heck of it. He could've taken the gun away from Joe at any time, but actually liked him because he was "gutsy." Ron continues to aid Joe and Koni in their quest to get home, because one: his pirate crew is gone and he's got nothing better to do. Two: he's a freaking psycho and loves to toy with them. Kind of an inadvertant case of "keep your enemies closer."

The Kojo at first glance appear to be your standard alien stereotypes. Green and lanky with black eyes. But from what's been seen, they are obviously highly advanced and very powerful, boasting large fleets of warships. However, the Kojo themselves are quite inept. Those we have seen are Makro, the Kojo Joe hit in the nuts. Mopjaw, the obvious "Moe" style leader of the fleet that kidnapped Princess Koni. And the Kojo that does nothing but drink coffe and make snide comments. I think for the hell of it I'll call him Bubba. Or Stan. The Kojo all look alike, from their outfits to even thier height. The only one who is unique is their leader, the dictator Kojo Prime, who is about ten times larger than any of them, has sunken, wrinkled eyes, and doesn't wear a goofy helmet. All the Kojo rightly fear and loathe Kojo Prime, since he'll kill off any of them like thier red uniformed Star Trek officers. The Kojo obviously want Princess Koni very badly, for reasons yet unknown. Joe, on the other hand, is just another human. They abduct about twenty of them everyday. He's just an obstacle thiey'll gladly run over to get to Koni.

service for webcomics.