"Would you like to be a Hero?"


The Property of Hate is a webcomic started in 2012 by Sarah Jolley (who goes by the name ModMad on tumblr. I mention this because she has a lot of good art there, as well) and updates every Sunday.

The story opens with a child waking up in her bedroom to find a dapper man with the personality of a snake-oil salesman and a Television for a head crouching at her window, asking her a very important question: would she like to be a Hero? She says yes, and it's all downhill from there.

The comic follows little Hero and the TV-headed RGB as they make their way through a surreal, wonderland-esque place where psychological things manifests into physical forms, the trees dream (unless they're sick), and things like dreams and color can be bartered and sold. Fears are skinny, black blade creatures that stab their prey through the chest and either kill them outright, or kill them in the manner that they are most afraid of. Ideas are like jumbled-up, Picasso-esque dogs that will run away with a person and consume their life. Little White Lies seem cute at first, but they grow, and Doubts are leech-like creatures that will suck the hope right out of you. You get the idea.

Plot-wise, this comic plays it close to the chest. RGB intends to save the world. We don't know from what. We don't know what's in RGB's past, but we do know that it's made all but a select few people in this world hate him. He's angered some as-of-yet unidentified but very powerful "She," and whatever plans he has to set things right involves the presence of a Hero. Not just one Hero, either. It becomes increasingly clear as the story goes on that the Hero we are following is not the first Hero RGB has been through, and, should she fail, will not be the last.

What did RGB do? What has happened to the other Heroes? No idea yet, though the fans have their theories. Whatever has happened to the other Heroes, one thing is blindingly clear: it wasn't good.

Among the people Hero and RGB encounter are:

A puppet named Toby (that's TO-by, not that RGB cares) who is strongly hinted to have been involved with one of RGB's previous schemes and suffered badly for it.

A one-eyed woman named Madras who runs the House of Paint, where she sells things like dreams and nightmares. Like everyone else in this world, she and RGB have a history together. Unlike nearly everyone else, she doesn't want to kill him.

A sock named Assock, who is a living sock who can only repeat (imperfectly) the words spoken around him. He is adorable.

Like I said, this comic has been going on for nearly three years, and it's currently on page 149. The artist seems like she's in this for the long haul, so there's no need to worry that this one will be dropped.


"You're really trying to do this, aren't you?"
"Well of course," [said RGB]. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"She tore me into twenty pieces and stitched me back together by my nerves. I wonder what she'll do to you?"

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