The Help #2

[Daphne]

Jessica is proving very helpful to her employers friends, too…



Written by: Daphne • Pencils and Inks: RedKnight • Colors and Lettering: PortalComic

[Dixon]

Looking forward to this one!

[lifmcs]

To quote Gretchen’s GF, "Yes, yes! Fuck! Yes! Oh fuck...”

Definitely worth the wait. Really loved everything about this issue, but the crème de la crème was that ‘Klick’ panel. So good...

[madboy7931]

Wow, a fantastic 2nd issue! Hopefully we don't have as long to wait for the next. I always judge a story by what it leads my imagination to think of for the next issue, and this has my mind going wild! That will be some dinner party!!!

[ozymandias]

I jumped directly to the point where the husband comes home. THAT is going to be interesting... what with 10 slaves running around the house.

[grimtidings]

I'll be a downer and say I'm sad to see the serial recruitment popping in already. It's almost like the Godwin's Law of mind control.

"Once a controller resorts to serial recruitment it's the end of a character-driven storyline."

Once you've got 10+ "characters" bouncing around how can anyone get anything done? And who are/were they anyway?

I love how issue 1 was crafted... "anticipated twist but executed perfectly". Along with the double-inverse power reversal (the maid controls the boss and then controls the sweet girl who'd been "controlled" by the boss into being served by the boss and both serving the maid) it made for a nice pretzel.

Do we even learn the blonde's or Gretchen's girlfriend's names in this issue? We've got Lindsey the (former) boss, Jessica the "maid", and Gretchen the vulnerable yoga instructor. A Cynthia is mentioned but I think she's the 3rd in nameless blonde's three-way.

That first issue was tight! After having Gretchen reveal that Lindsey's been bribing her to put out (secret from the girlfriend) - plus Lindsey describing it very differently and then having Jessica drop a bomb into that relationship? Amazing! But far less exciting, is Jessica just dominating the nameless blonde. She's extraneous and one-dimensional (sexually-open socialite). Heck, from what we're presented, she'd probably have been fine with a threesome right there without any "Help". And the threat that we'll be treated to an entire party of "nameless sexually-open socialites" being mass-controlled = Meh.

Ok, downer stuff aside, the art is beautiful and even nameless there's character to both of our newly-introduced characters communicated by both their expressions (art) and words (writing). And it's exciting on a surface level, for sure. The setup for Gretchen to betray her girlfriend has some potential, though, so I'm still looking forward to that developing in issues 3+.

[lifmcs]

Yeah that’s fair and I largely agree despite still very much loving the vast majority of what went down here. Since Marie Kondo’s meme star has risen recently, I’ll just say that the “invite more of your friends over for a dinner party” setup did not quite spark joy. There is no shortage of serial recruitment around here already.

For a story that is seemingly constrainted in part by the artist’s bandwidth, it would be nice to focus smaller, more intimate, and more intricate dynamics that add to the specialness of its rare installments. Being saddled with growing the harem just eats up pages that could be better deployed in pursuit of character development. I mean, Jessica can have all the fancy ladies she wants as far as I’m concerned, but sadly that’s become mildly passé at this point in my erotica consumption career.

[Dixon]

Very good second chapter. Moved the plot forward and introduced new characters while still delivering on the hypno fetish. I for one am not afraid of the dinner party.

Thank you Daphne for reviving this story.

- Dixon

[radouigi]

This issue worked very well for me, and took me from interested in the series to sold on it. My favorite part was Gretchen and her girlfriend, especially luring the girlfriend in by asking her to be Gretchen's chaperone. But the whole idea of the dinner party and serial recruitment make me very happy too. Nothing's more important to me than the characters and story, which are often compromised when the harem gets too big, but for me the best parts are always on the way to that limit.

Though perhaps we're seeing setup for parallel stories? Gretchen had the strongest character moments in this issue, in my opinion, and was off separate from the nameless blonde who especially with the dinner party idea struck me as appealing to the side of mind control that treats its subjects as objects? Perhaps the nameless one will be typical of what amounts to set dressing and props in an increasingly changed household/backdrop while the core named characters will continue having a more character-driven storyline?

Those are my thoughts, anyway. I don't disagree with anyone else's position, just for me personally the first issue was excellent foundation and this one excellent development. The story is in a good place and trending well for me right now.

And of course I love the art. Drawn art will always be special to me.

[Haight]

Just re-read this. We could use more of it, it's got a wonderful premise and feel.