History Webcomic / JoeVsElanSchool

* KnightTemplarParent: Subverted by Joe's parents. While he's actually in Elan, he thinks that they think Elan will actually help him, and are simply ignorant about what Elan is actually like. He also thinks that part of the reason he's in Elan is to avoid the criminal charges over the marijuana possession. Once he gets out, though, he learns that the charges were dropped only ''three months'' after he was enrolled in Elan, and his parents chose to keep him there for three extra years to punish him further. He contrasts his friend P's parents' reaction to the weed charge -- amused disinterest, i.e. "We smoked weed at your age too!" -- with his own parents, who berate him, throw away his music, complain about what the neighbors will think, call him a disgrace, and say "IHaveNoSon". Then, after all that sturm-und-drang, they have him kidnapped and sent to Elan, and get talked into forcing him to stay at Elan past his 18th birthday lest he be formally abandoned and disowned. Once he's finally out of Elan and it turns out he ''isn't'' a completely well-adjusted young adult ready to go to college and chase a respectable career, his parents begin emotionally mistreating him, and insist that he's lying every time he tries to talk about what Elan was actually like. It also turns out that Joe's father is worse than his mother; at one point his father threatens to drop him off at a military recruiter and disown him, leading to a terrible fight between his parents.[[note]]In a post on Patreon, Joe comments that as of March/April 2020, his mother finally apologized, implicitly for sending him to Elan and for not believing him when he told them what happened. However, this comes after 20+ years of disbelieving him and the mountains of evidence and testimony, during which Joe made several failed attempts to cut his parents out of his life entirely, and it's unclear even to Joe how much she believes of what everyone is saying. No mention is made of Joe's father apologizing or regretting anything, either.[[/note]]

** For Joe's parents in particular, it's almost as if they ''want'' to remain ignorant of the abuse, even as everyone else sees how badly messed up Joe is, since they shut down any talk of Joe's time at the school. Joe mentions that his mother's reaction to a staph infection he brought home isn't a reasonable, "What kind of hellhole would leave my child's staph infection untreated?", but rather, "Joe, you need to get out of the house and go to a neighborhood get-together." It's so bad that he mentioned in his Reddit AMA that his parents ''still'' think he's exaggerating.

** Ron does this before Joe's first time in The Ring, saying that his own experiences in Elan were much more unstable and cruel than how it was when Joe joined up.
** Refreshingly defied. Some time after Joe tells the truck driver who let him hitchhike about his initial nightmare of a stay at Elan, the truck driver shares a story of his own--one about his manic and chaotic days in the Vietnam War. Joe feels a little guilty for even talking about his own experiences, but the driver shuts that down immediately and tells him not to be just because someone had a worse (or better) time at one point.

** Joe mentions that he's never been able to definitively figure out how Elan was able to recapture him in New York City so quickly, how Peter was able to track him down after graduating, how Gino always knew exactly where he was living at any point in time.

* RiddleForTheAges: Joe mentions that he's never been able to definitively figure out how Elan was able to recapture him in New York City so quickly, how Peter was able to track him down after graduating, or how Gino always knew exactly where he was living at any point in time.

--->'''Christy:''' Listen girls, I only want the best for you. Dirty boys grow up to become drug addicts but they can sometimes find a way to beat that, they can be whole again. Afterwards, they can be clean again. It's forgiven. Do you get that? But you know what dirty girls become? ''PROSTITUTES!'' And you think there's any coming back from THAT? Huh?

* WorldTour: Joe discovers the joys of international travel in Chapter 76, as he and Rick go to Amsterdam and Berlin. Later in the chapter, Joe begins a study abroad program in a city called Vrátskajeki.

* EvilIsSexy: InUniverse, in [[https://elan.school/49-paradigm/ Chapter 49]], Joe can't help but notice that the female staff member yelling abuse at him -- who he's never seen before -- is really sexy. But he notes that it's only because he's a hormonal teenager without any access to magazines or television.

** In addition, the "Epilogue" chapter set after the end of the story will reveals more about the characters:

*** Not long after starting ''Joe Vs. Elan School'', [[spoiler:Joe gets a new job that he works at until about Chapter 86, and Sofi gets pregnant with a son. The webcomic's Patreon supporters allow him and Sofi to eventually buy a home.]]

*** Ron dies in 2022 just shy of his 71st birthday, and Joe mentions that Chapter 85 would've been the last thing he'd read if he'd been keeping up with the comic.
*** Sara Tarron dies in 2021 after years of struggling with Alzheimer's disease.
*** Joe has long since forgiven his parents for everything they went through. He says that his mother read the comic, tearfully apologized for everything she'd put him through, and commended him for saving Katie and Sandra. Joe's father is ailing and not long for the world, and Joe has decided not to show him the comic.
*** Joe mentions Maria, reiterating that he's never seen her again, but talks about his guilt concerning their divorce, and a dream he had about her.
*** Apollo was rehomed with the parents of one of Joe's college roommates, enjoyed a happy life with two other dogs, and died at age 88 (in dog years) happy and beloved.
*** Not long after starting ''Joe Vs. Elan School'', Joe gets a new job that he works at until about Chapter 86, and Sofi gets pregnant with a son. The webcomic's Patreon supporters allow him and Sofi to eventually buy a home.

** In addition, a forthcoming "Epilogue" chapter set after the end of the story will reveal more about where all the characters are today.

''Joe vs. Elan School: A True Cult Classic'' is a {{Webcomic}} based on the RealLife experiences of its author, who wrote and drew it under the pen name Joe Nobody. The webcomic ran from November 5, 2018 to September 15, 2023.

Following the official completion of the comic with Chapter 100, Joe has stated that he plans to publish a physical copy of the comic, as well as adding a "Epilogue" chapter, which was posted on November 6th, 2023, chronicling his final thoughts on the project, describing some major events that took place while he was working on the comic, and what happened to some of the people described in the story.

Following the official completion of the comic with Chapter 100, Joe has stated that he plans to publish a physical copy of the comic, as well as adding a "Epilogue" chapter, chronicling his final thoughts on the project, describing some major events that took place while he was working on the comic, and what happened to some of the people described in the story.

* SadisticChoice: Every day in Elan. Typically the choice is between "help brutalize your peers" or "get severely dehumanized."

* PrivateProfitPrison: Elan is Jay Cirri's cash cow. Since the school requires a yearly tuition of tens of thousands of dollars for an inmate, each soul being tortured there amounts to millions of dollars of profit.

** Jay Cirri is also this; he's seen as a pillar of the state for his "good work" with Elan School, and he's well-known enough to warrant a run for Maine state governor, although he loses the primary.

* WardensAreEvil: Ron and Christy stand out as the most abusive to Joe during his time at Elan 8. There's also Jay Cirri, who runs the school but is more TheManBehindTheMan. Joe also talks about senior staff members named Meredith, Caesar, and Larry, all of whom he admits he's still terrified of to this day.

** Billy and Joe are also this, partially because of Elan, and partially because of their experiences in Denver. Joe notes that he and Billy are still friends today, and Billy even helped him remember some details about the Denver trip when it came time to write those chapters.
** {{Averted|Trope}} for Joe and Ron. On Joe's graduation day, one of Ron's parting thoughts is that he believes that he and Joe will remain lifelong friends, ostensibly because Ron himself had gone through the "therapy" some years before. Joe ultimately wants nothing to do with Ron.