Jonathan M. Sweet (character)



Jonathan Sweet is an eponymous character who first appeared in the debut issue of The Belch Dimension Comics. He is the de facto leader of a group of teens and preteens called The Treehouse Warriors, all either relatives or friends of his since early childhood. He is 16, and a student at Carbuncle High School in Jigaboo Junction. Jon is known for a love of books (esp. the work of Arthur Conan Doyle, but also comic books) and a passion for his studies in school, particularly zoology and psychology). These skills serve him well in his detective work, often enabling him (like his idol Sherlock Holmes) to determine a villain's identity or motive from even slight clues, like a few bits of errant dirt or something odd in a person's speech or demeanor. Jon is a Dylan fan, which is noted throughout the series; he keeps a poster of the singer on his bedroom door and occasionally quotes lyrics from his songs in conversation. As a young boy he frequently wore a baseball cap and a red bath towel about his neck that served as a cape, fancying himself a superhero. In his politics Jon (much like his creator) is a rock-ribbed Republican, and frequently the comic serves as a platform for Sweet's own conservative viewpoints.

Jon, as are the other Warriors, is rendered in the in-house stick-figure style. The few times Jon is actually seen with a realistic body, he appears to have a fairly impressive, muscular physique (though on a few occassions a large pot belly, if a joke requires it, is seen). On several occassions he sports a mustache and bushy sideburns, which is modeled after series creator Jonathan M. Sweet's own full beard.

Fictional character biography
When he was eleven Jon was exposed to gamma radiation from an explosion of chemicals. After several days in a coma he awoke to discover the radiation had given him a battery of super abilities. He changed from the ratty red towel and hat into a brighter, gold-colored cloak and button-decorated cap, deciding to use his love of comics to good advantage to become a bona fide superhero.

His greatest enemy is Hiss Hole, a gruesomely-mutated scientist whose schemes he has been forced to thwart on numerous occassions over the years. Jon first mentions his enemy's real name and onetime occupation--Dr. James Allen, herpetologist--in "A Girl And Her Chair" (#9). Other enemies include Tony Moneran, Captain Maggot, Dung Tung Wu, Dr. Ichabod P. Freely, Demi-Jon, Jiggawatt, Feminazi, Lord Merdre, and a host of other minor foes.

The Early Years
Allen first met Jon a few months after his terrrible lab accident. The boy, only nine years old at the time, never saw his future enemy's face (it was bandaged). Allen--or as Jon called him, "the mummy-man"--had just pursued and shot a young girl who had robbed his hotel room. In the ensuing struggle, Jon grabbed the object she'd stolen--a magic glass ball--and broke it on the sidewalk. He then stabbed the mummy-man in the chest with a piece of glass (perhaps only in self-defense or terror, but Allen took it as a gesture of truculence) and fled. Hiss Hole bore a J-shaped scar under his left collarbone to the day he died, as well as a deep grudge.

Jon repressed the memory, although during his coma he spoke of it to his oldest friend and teammate Joshua (whose formula had exposed his ailing friend to the gamma rays to begin with). He was unaware of doing so upon awakening. He also was unaware of why he chose to don a yellow cape, although it seems to have been inspired by something the girl said as she was dying (calling him nino del oro, or "golden child").

Snakeman (as he now called himself) "officially" met Jon when he was twelve and had just gotten his powers from a chemical explosion the previous year. The Warriors and the Cobra Clan continued to fight on and off, bitterly, for four years, frequently to vicious but unsatisfying stalemates.

After Hiss Hole kidnapped Jon's sister Marcie and attempted to inject her with mutagen to turn her into a reptilian humanoid like himself, Jon fought and banished him to another world through a portal the reptilian wizard had himself conjured up, and thought him gone for good. However, Hiss Hole reentered our dimension in a bolt of lightning--the scene which kicked off the series--and the old emnity began anew. However, the origin of the yellow cape may precede that first meeting with Snakeman and the girl. When he was five he was nearly kidnapped by a strange-looking man with a split photograph head. However, a teenager in a golden cape and his friends saved the child. The bizarre man was actually a disguised Hiss Hole, and the teen was the present Jon, who had gone back in time to protect himself from Hiss Hole. Later little Jon recounts his adventure that day with "Gold Cape Man" and the "pretty lady" and the "dog-boy" to his stuffed bear, saying he wants to "fight bad men" and wear a gold cape someday. This would suggest Jon, by interacting with himself in the past, sparked a curious "grandfather paradox".

The Status Quo Changes
Their long years of fighting came to a head in the pivotal "The Cobra's Last Strike" arc, which spanned from May to Sep 2008 (#37-41). Hiss Hole's Nefarious Four kidnapped Marcie, and Jon and the Warriors were forced to navigate a maze called The Black Labyrinth, fight the team, and solve a riddle (based on a series of numbers), under penalty of death if they guess wrong to get her back. During the mission Jon acquired a ring that Hiss Hole had given Demi-Jon to counteract the magic-dampening field he had placed over the maze. The ring healed Jon's grevious wounds and restored his super-powers, but had the unfortunate side-effect of driving him temporarily insane, forcing him to remove it quickly. Meanwhile, Marcie was being held in a secret underground bunker back in this dimension. Hiss Hole, tired of her sass, pulled a Derringer pistol and prepared to kill her. The Warriors--having solved the riddle and defeated the Four--burst into the lair. Hiss Hole whirled around and shot Buddy, Jon's dog, in the head. Jon became enraged and, seizing him by the throat full force, slowly applied pressure. Hiss Hole's last words were "No. Not this way. You aren't a kil--" before his neck snapped. The realization that he unthinkingly has taken a life sent Jon into hysterics.

Jon sought to assauge his guilt by performing charity work in addition to his normal crimefighting duties. However, Demi-Jon returned seeking revenge, having Jon jailed as retaliation for the slaying of his father. Jon acknowledged that while the Ring of Essarhaddon did remove his inhibitions, the subconscious urge to kill was very much his. He seemed almost relieved to be placed behind bars, wondering if maybe he had become worse than what he had spent half his life fighting against. The charges were dropped after the true criminal was brought to justice. It was also revealed he had been seeing a psychiatrist to treat his feelings of guilt.

This experience, as well as the taking on the stress of a heavier crimefighting schedule, soon took its toll on Jon, and he became overcome by fatigue, as well as having strange nightmares. In "Son of the Return of the Serpent II" Jon told his doctor that he feared he had been losing his grip on reality for the better part of the last five months; however, this session is itself to be revealed to be part of a dream. The dreams soon became more severe and debilitating, leaving him an emotional wreck. He also kept seeing a strange child--in reality, his repressed memory of the girl he couldn't save--who repeated in Spanish, "El vato momio" and "los suenos son matarle" (the mummy man and the dreams will kill you). Molina, however, believed they were more than just guilt; they were Hiss Hole himself attacking him from the world beyond. Her supposition proves correct; Jon went into convulsions and nearly died while under a hypnotic trance. Buddy, however--inadvertently hypnotized as well--enters the dream and gives his master the courage to fight back against Hiss Hole, destroying the monster.

During an investigation into the late-night disappearances of prostitutes, which Jon suspected was the work of aliens, Marcie was abducted in the park. As in all the other cases, burn marks were seared into the ground. Jon became so upset over his obsessive search for truth blinding him to his duty that he threw away his cape and renounced his responsibilities. However, after learning that Flunger's people were the ones abducting the women, he journeyed with his friends to the planet New Flung--using Cobra Clan technology--and found a dytopian, stagnant socialist hell ruled by the despotic Amabo Merdre. Worse, Jon was rendered powerless, owing to an anti-radioactivity shield over the alien capital. Imprisoned and separated from his friends for many months, Jon was kept caged like an animal and treated brutally; slowly, due to the loss of his powers and the never-ceasing torture, he begins to lose his mind. But for a brief moment of lucidity caused by an accidental electrical shock while breaking into a lab to rescue Marcie, Jon spent most of his time on New Flung in a feral state. He was later forced for his arrogance to fight fellow prisoners in a grand arena for the amusement of audiences. After sending him several combatants, which he handlily beat, Merdre arranged for Flunger to be sent into the gladiator's circle. Jon, so mad with rage by now he didn't even recognize Flunger, attacked him. If not for Josh's intervention, Jon would certainly have slain his old friend. However, Pan-Li Smintheus--who had adapted Marcie's form to revitalize herself--made her presence known. She used her vast powers to banish Merdre to a hellworld and to rewrite events so that Jon and his friends never came to New Flung. Only Jon retains the memories of the original time stream. It remains to be seen what far-reaching repercussions this act will yet have on the future.

This experience gave Jon a purpose and a new lease on life. He fought back a student uprising at Carbuncle High, led by Demi-Jon, a bare month later, as well as facing foes like Dr. I.P. Freely and Clinton Hollings. He also began his search for "The Boss", an elusive underworld figure reputed to control much of the local crime and who was warring with rival gangs for Clan technology reputedly scattered throughout the city.

The Status Quo Changes: Postscript (The Feminazi arc)
This was a flashback story in CABF09 (#51-53), told by Jon. Though it followed the "Shanghaied Streetwalkers" issue, chronologically this is set between "Double Trouble" and "Son of the Return of the Serpent II". Feminazi's ill-timed attack is described as taking place ten weeks after "the ugliness", and Jon had just recently begun seeing his therapist, Dr. Murray Rouseford. Hiss Hole's disappearance had opened up a power vaccuum in the underworld, and a number of minor villains were jockeying for position, looking to become major figures in Jigaboo Junction's criminal community by getting their hands on forgotten Cobra Clan "tech dumps" scattered about. Jon and Josh were terribly overworked putting out numerous small fires all over the city; Jon, in particular, was so fatigued he had trouble staying awake, and every time he dozed off, he sees terrible nightmare visions (setting up the events of issue #41). Though not directly connected to the events of the other stories in the arc, Feminazi was revealed to be created by Prof. Fruitcake, who had since retired from crime and wishes to distance himself from the Clan's long shadow.

Angela
Angela has known Jon since the two were five, and though he cares for and respects her deeply, he is completely oblivious to her feelings for him. Creator Jonathan M. Sweet says that "There's something there, all right, bubbling just below the surface...we all know this couple, flirting around for years but never actually sealing the deal--it's so annoyingly cute, practically a cliche. If these two could just stop playing around and get their shit together, they might be pleasantly surprised."

Johanna
Jon's first girlfriend was Johanna Ralston, a student at Sonny Tufts Jr. High. She was upper-class, which caused friction because dating someone below her social station seemed to be an issue with her. Johanna's job, a reporter for the STJH Harbinger, was a also a bone of contention between the two. During the course of an investigation on misappropriated school funds, Johanna's life was threatened. She fearfully phoned Jon late one night looking for help, but he hung up on her. The following morning Jon learned that she had been killed in the driveway of her Apex Courts home by a bomb wired to her car's ignition system. He felt bad that he hadn't paid attention to her cry for help, a guilt he would carry with him for some time afterward.

Two years after Johanna's death Jon finally confronted | her killer, knocking her out and leaving her tied up for the police. He visited Johanna's final resting place for the first time and was able to pay his respects with a clear conscience. Jon still sometimes goes to Johanna's grave and talks to her when feeling troubled. This seems to ease his mind, though Josh finds the whole thing somewhat silly.

Jeannne
Jeanne Louise Stonehart was the niece of Eustace Stonehart, principal of Jon's school. Jeanne's father was Dr. Edward Stonehart, a brilliant scientist who had died in an explosion two years before. Jeanne, as she frequently was, had been present that day in the lab. The blast threw her hard against a wall, neatly severing her spine and confining her to a wheelchair. Hiss Hole, who wished to use Dr. Stonehart's work--stored in her memory--to rule the world, abducted her. He hypnotized her and forced her into giving him the secret formula--which, fortunately, was only for a high-strength hair tonic. After this mission Jon and Jeanne remained good friends, even after her visit ended and she returned to Jiggsdale to live with her mom.

Jeanne returned to Carbuncle High some time later when she moved in with her uncle and his wife and became a full-time student. She was instrumental in helping to quell a student uprising led by Demi-Jon, who had enrolled in CHS as "Damian Jones", presumably as part of rehabilitative therapy. Jon told her about his abilities, and the two shared their first kiss, at the end of the battle. They began dating shortly after.

Jon and Jeanne have been together for six months in "Jon's Halfiversary", whereupon he built her a handicapped-accessible bathroom as his gift to her.

Appearances

 * "A Girl and Her Chair"
 * "Booting Out Bobcat" (nonspeaking cameo)
 * "Up the Demi-Jon Staircase"
 * "Mississippi Burping" (mentioned only)
 * "The Case of the Wicked Wax Museum" (mentioned only)
 * "A Flip of the Coin"
 * "Jon's Halfiversary"

Maria
Jon was rescued from drowning in #35 ("Fishy Business"), by a girl named Maria Eisner who revealed herself to be a mutant with a fish's tail. She was seen to be smitten with Jon, even viewing Angela as a rival for his affections; however, Jon never felt more than gratitude towards her for saving his life and being a valuable ally against Captain Maggot.

Personality
Jonathan Sweet is at heart a man of duty. He takes his roles as a protector of the city, a member of the Sweet family, and a founding member of the Treehouse Warriors with the utmost seriousness. At times this has led him into conflict with his comrades who do not appear to share or understand this serious attitude. His sense of responsibility is beyond reproach, as seen while being held in jail for his twin's crimes; Jon believes that beings entrusted with great power must be held accountable for their actions. He is a staunch conservative who believes in the opportunity for redemption yet realizes the real world does not usually offer second chances.

Jon's guilt over killing Hiss Hole and long absence from his homeworld coupled with months of deprivation and abuse during his captivity on New Flung ("The Case of The Shanghaied Streetwalkers", EABF02) has left him with some difficulty coping, but therapy and psychic healing has helped him to deal with this to some degree. He fears losing control greatly and is haunted by the possibility that if it happened once, it could easily again.

Although generally a good-humored sort, Jon has blue periods that often last for weeks at a stretch. A small mistake or loss can trigger memories of past failures and cause self-doubt and depression. On at least one point he has considered giving up superheroing entirely out of frustration, but seeing someone in need (EABFO3) rejuvenates his vow and reminds him of just why he became a crimefighter to begin with.

Beneath Jon's hard-nosed right-wing exterior, there remains a certain (and normally well-hidden) streak of playfulness and sentimentality. On the rare occasions he allows himself to let his guard down, he is not above using his morphing powers to drive home a point with a literal visual (for example, turning into a peanut when saying he is going "nuts", or becoming a dinner plate and smashing himself to show he is "flat broke") or to simply amuse his friends. He is fiercely protective of his loved ones, often willing to sacrifice his very life for theirs.

Talents
Jon's powers came to him by exposure to radiation. In the Secrets of a Teenage Superhero trade paperback it is revealed that after accdentally knocking one of Josh's experimental formulas off the edge of a table, causing the unstable chemical soup to detonate, the massive explosion caused his body to go through amazing changes. He gained a number of abilities including imperviousness to blows and bullets, the ability to fly and shape-shift, increased physical strength, heat vision, invisibility, and a 30% increase in IQ. His endurance has also been enhanced, allowing him to run at top speeds, hold his breath for sustained periods, and, if injured while depowered or exposed to a lead or magic-based weapon, to heal even grevious wounds quickly.

Curiously, the extent of his invulnerability varies according to the needs of the story. He is shown to be able to withstand conventional weapons or being struck by flying debris on many occassions, yet seems to feel discomfort from crashing into pavement in "Driving Miss Crazy" (AABF05) or the blows from a group of blacks' weapons in "Guidance System" (BABF04) (though perhaps it was only the four-against-one nature of the fight that made him feel overwhelmed). Indeed, many other Belch Dimension characters with no supertalents, such as Monty or Billy, frequently exhibit a cartoonish tolerance for pain if a gag calls for it. Jon is also able to use tactile transfer of certain abilities, such as pafing or morphing, with others by touching, holding, or grasping some part of another person's body, usually a hand.

He posses a form of low-grade telepathy which can read simple surface thoughts and emotions and allows him to sense approaching danger, which Josh once dubbed "Sweetchuck sense". However, this ability has limititations; while it may recognize the presence of an enemy, the precise location, nature, or immediacy of the threat is still vague, and may be easily misread. For example, he may misjudge an innocent person as a danger if he or they are in close proximity to someone who means him harm.

In "Demi-Jon" (BABF05) it is noted that Jon's ancestors were minor nobles and powerful maguses in 11th-century Scotland. It is this, Josh, believes, that allowed Jon to survive the blast, the radiation acting upon the residual magicks in his blood and allowing him to fully tap into a store of long-dormant power.

In addition to his super-abilities, Jon possesses a well-honed scientific mind with a knack for the applied sciences (esp. psychology). He is also an expert mimic and possesses some fluency in Spanish. Weaknesses Jon is weak against electricity, dark magic, and toxic lead. As Demi-Jon has all the same powers and vulnerabilities, and both twins know full well each's limitations, they frequently use these weaknesses on each other.

If placed in a room with even a small amount of lead present, symptoms range from a mild headache and nausea to a blackout and total powerlessness.

The risk of electrical contact was a huge problem in fighting Jiggawatt, as even a small shock would cause his powers to disappear temporarily (similar to the principle of a home circuit breaker).

Trivia

 * Jon was the only character in the series to appear at least once in every episode in some capacity. This streak was broken, however, when none of the three stories in the June 2010 ish featured him.
 * He also does not appear in "Soup to Mutts","All's Farrakhanine in Love and War", "Football Follies", "The I.P. Freely Inhumane Society", "Home Alien", "Dog Training", "Gort's Guide to Managerial Economics", "Ear-Phonies", "Misadventures in Babysitting" , "Home Alien 2", "All That Jazz", "Desperate Housecats", "The Belch Dimension's Stupidest Home Videos","Spring Forward, Fall Back", "Hecklin' Jekyll", "Gort's Guide to Getting A Good Night's Sleep", "Botany" , "The Superhero Roundtable" , "It's A Cat's Life",, "A Comedy of Terriers" , "Ketchum's Couch Trip" , "Gort's Guide to Running for Political Office", "The Crazy Casowary Caper!", "Tiger in His Tank", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Naphtali Nonsense", "Dusty Rhodes' Wild Side", "Dognet", "Stuporboy", "Kitty-Cat Cassanova", "7 Pages of Bad Luck" , "New and Revised Rules for the Open Road", "Bungee Bungle" , "The Fool Monty" , "Timmy's Good Deed", "Wild Thing", "Don't Beat the Yellow Snow, Man!", "An Ice- Cold Bud", and ""The Just-Us League Meets The Silly-Ass Mariner!".
 * Jon does not appear but is mentioned in: "Up in the Air", "The Foul Stench of Doom!", "What A Drag!", "Silent Partner", and "Drive-In Me Crazy".
 * An image of Jon was used on a chart to represent aeronautic pioneer Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (BABF07-b)
 * Jon's age has only been mentioned twice in the series ( "Drift of the Magi", "Jon's Halfiversary").