I like Jake. I mean, he isn't perfect and he doesn't have the "troubled badass" thing going on that so many people seem to require in a character. But he's charming, AND he's well-written. He's just this gentle, friendly and slightly oblivious guy who isn't great at standing up for himself. Most of his problems come from idealised versions of him: the sexy dreamboat his friends (and the screaming crowds of Earth C) believe he is, and the gung-ho adventurer he believed himself to be until actually having an adventure rudely shattered that dream. I don't think he ever really recovered from that.

I've never taken the Epilogues stuff as hard as most fans seem to, maybe 'cos I'm a bit older and have plenty of experience with broken dreams. I really feel for Candy Jake, trapped in this hideous situation he just doesn't have the srength to do anything about. When Brain Ghost Dirk finaly spurs him to act, it's to do a thoroughly un-Jake-like thing which fails miserably. Like, it was already doomed because of how hard it went against his basic nature. I don't think it's an acccident that his powers are triggered when he sees my namesake's barrel roll during "8r8k". Caring and hoping are Jake's strong point, not hating and destroying.