I rather liked this storyline. It was always important to me to present Max as being more complex and multifaceted than "the overly-promiscuous wacky neighbour".

I think we all have a responsibility to manage our time and our money ethically. I'll be the first to admit, I don't give to charities as often as I'd like, but I like to imagine I make up for it by not taking any deductions when I do my taxes. I might not always agree with everything my government does, but I like to think that money's going to veteran's groups, climate change research, Syrian refugees, et cetera.

Speaking of politics and money and so forth, I'd always said that Leftover Soup is set in a floating-point perpetual-now, much like most mainstream comics. I specified that if some major world-changing event happens, it would lock everything into the past - Leftover Soup would either become a period piece, or would be taking place in some alternate dimension where the event in question didn't happen.

As such, I'm going to go ahead and declare that the comic takes place in or before 2016. I'm not going to get too political here (because I don't enjoy the inevitable flood of dipshits yelling that they've been "fans for many years" but are now leaving forever because I've "suddenly become" progressive), but I will say that there is no member of the main cast of Leftover Soup who I can imagine remaining silent in the face of a rising tide of kleptocratic authoritarianism.

It's important to be ethical with our time and money, after all.