Sometimes I find it hard to talk about these two together, because postcanon really sank this ship so hard even bringing the topic up in many wider fandom spaces provokes a barrage of opinions on how they’re terrible for each other and how it was always doomed to fail or how them supposedly being terrible for each other is part of the appeal.

So I linger on the moments that highlight the strength of their bond in the original comic.

How Jake seems to have such a grasp on Dirk that his mental image of him is a scarily good approximation (with some of Hal’s character mingled in there too to be sure) that is even capable of manifesting the same godtier powers as the real deal.

How it’s Jake believing in Dirk’s capabilities that convinces him to go through with the successful creation of the Auto Responder aka Hal.

How Dirk is one of only two folks (the other is Calliope) that does not belittle Jake’s intelligence, and indeed even gives him credit for it in the long 35-page flashback pesterlog that is their only direct conversation. [Sadly overshadowed by the fact that in the Epilogues both ultDirk and altCalliope esteem Jake as an empty-headed idiot.]

How in the Masterpiece, it’s Dirk getting the crap beat out of him by Caliborn that provokes Jake to unleash holy fire on the scaly bastard, going full Hopesplosion to come to Dirk’s defense.