YMMV / Strangers in Paradise

• Fridge Horror: Rusty's little boy was within one panel of being kidnapped by her stalker at the start of the "Rust Killer" storyline, but is saved because Casey just happened to choose that exact moment to come out to him and take him inside. Neither she nor anyone else ever even knew the boy was in danger.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Katchoo is not a nice person. In fact, of all the characters in the series she probably crosses the line towards Unintentionally Unsympathetic the most. But her Dark and Troubled Past is really Dark and Troubled, and she goes through so much crap that it 's hard not to feel for her.
  • Though his Jerkassery is a lot more blatant and his sympathetic moments fewer and farther between, Freddie goes through so much crap that, even though most of it is entirely his own fault, it's hard not to feel for him either. Especially after his A Day in the Limelight issue "You're A Loser, Freddie Femur" reveals he grew up with an alcoholic and abusive father who bullied him when he didn't ignore him and a mother who smothered him with affection in a feeble attempt to counteract the father's abuse, and that this has left him an emotional mess who's unable to meaningfully connect with people, and whose life is completely empty because other people can't handle his personality. He's somewhat aware that the problem lies with him, and is hinted to have some serious self-loathing going on, but since he has absolutely no clue how to fix it or how to become a person he actually likes, he copes by holding onto a Never My Fault attitude and blaming everyone else.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Several characters in the comic, on several occasions, are clearly meant to come across as more sympathetic than they actually do.
  • Katchoo is the prime example; while she has Freudian Excuses galore and is very clearly a Sour Outside, Sad Inside Broken Bird, her angry Tsundere act and penchant for Disproportionate Retributions can get way out of hand, to the point where she just comes across as an abusive bully — with her anger issues she often ends up emotionally abusing both David and (to a lesser degree) Francine, plus David gets heaps of physical abuse on top of this. While she does get better, it takes quite some time before that happens, and (barring a couple of The Reason You Suck speeches from characters we may or may not be meant to agree with) her toxic attitude isn't really called out to any big degree.
  • Francine's nowhere near as bad as Katchoo, but her many insecurities and blatant trust issues often have the unfortunate side-effect of making her come across as insensitive, self-obsessed, petty and judgmental.