Jonathan M. Sweet (character)

Hometown= Jigaboo Junction, USA Species= Human (enhanced) Occupation= High-School Student Age= 16 Abilities Limitations/Weaknesses Family= Affiliations= First appearance: The Belch Dimension Comics #1
 * flight
 * heat vision
 * IQ of 181
 * invisibility
 * invulnerability
 * shapeshifting
 * super speed
 * super strength
 * teleportation (colloquially called a "paf" or "paffing")
 * telescopic vision
 * electric shock
 * lead
 * magic
 * Father (unseen character)
 * Mother (unseen character)
 * Adolphus Sweet (great-uncle, mentioned in cutaway, deceased)
 * Siblings =
 * Marcie Sweet, elder sister
 * Benjamin Sweet, younger brother
 * Timothy Sweet, younger brother
 * Demi-Jon, half-brother, clone
 * The Treehouse Warriors
 * The Trio of Trouble

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. 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
According to a flashback in issue #19, Allen first met Jon a few months after he was turned into a humanoid reptile in a 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, in "Once Upon a Time Warp" (#21) it is revealed 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 Cobra's Last Strike
Their long years of fighting came to a head in the pivotal "The Cobra's Last Strike" arc (#37-41). Hiss Hole's Nefarious Four kidnapped Marcie, and Jon and the Warriors are 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.

In issue #39 Demi-Jon returned seeking revenge, having Jon jailed as retaliation for the slaying of his father. Jon 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. It was revealed he had been seeing a psychiatrist to treat the guilt the murder caused him. In "Son of the Return of the Serpent II" (#41) Jon told his doctor that he had been having strange nightmares 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.

Feminazi arc
This was a flashback story in #51-53. Hiss Hole's disappearance has 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. Chronologically this is set between "Double Trouble" and "Son of the Return of the Serpent II", for 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. Jon and Josh are terribly overworked putting out numerous small fires all over the city; Jon, in particular, is so fatigued he has trouble staying awake, and every time he dozes off, he sees terrible nightmare visions.

Relationships
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."

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 was unresponsive. 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, and was able to visit Johanna's grave for the first time and pay his respects with a clear conscience. As revealed in "Double Trouble" Jon still sometimes visits with Johanna and talks to her, which seems to ease his mind, though Josh finds the whole thing somewhat silly.

Jon met Jeanne Stonehart, the principal's niece, in "A Girl and Her Chair". Jeanne was a transfer student who had been confined to a wheelchair after an accident in her father's lab killed him and severed her spine. Jeanne was abducted by Hiss Hole, who wished to use her father's work--stored in her memory--to rule the world. He hypnotized her and forced her into giving him Edwin Stonehart's 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 on a permanent basis during the "Up the Demi-Jon Staircase" arc (#45-49). 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. She and Jon shared a romantic kiss at the end of the story. In "Mississippi Burping" (#57), it is mentioned that Jon is dating Jeanne, and they've been together for five months.

In #35, Jon was rescued from drowning by Maria Eisner, who revealed herself to be a mutant mermaid. She was shown 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 rock-ribbed conservative who believes in redemption yet realizes often the real world does not 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--which thanks to the efforts of Pan-Li Smintheus only he recalls--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 fact he took a life in anger, as well as came close to harming his good friend Flunger in a blind kill rage while forced to fight opponents gladiator-style on New Flung forLord Merdre's amusement.

Beneath John'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 friends and family, often willing to sacrifice his very life for theirs.