Molly

From Candypedia
Molly
GenderFemale
Age12
BirthdayMay 5, 1996 (Taurus)
GradeSeventh
SpeciesCat
BreedAbyssinian
Family
OccupationStudent
ResidenceAbbey’s house
DebutRising Temperature, page 9
May 27, 2007 (2007-05-27)

Molly is Abbey’s younger sister, a twelve-year-old Girl Scout who lives with him and their foster parents Kevin and Janet.[1] Confident, bossy and fiercely attached to her family, she is as likely to order Abbey around on a cookie drive as she is to tell him off for trying to protect her the wrong way. Her age is stated directly when Paulo guesses that she is six and Molly furiously corrects him.[2]

Personality

Molly likes being in charge. Abbey is her scouting “assistant”, and when he considers a week away she reminds him that he is meant to drag the cookie cart and asks, “What kind of assistant are you?!”[3] She bets Kevin that she can stay awake until midnight on New Year’s Eve, only to fall asleep on the kitchen table before the countdown.[4][5] When Cassidy calls her too old for Bob the Builder, Molly shoots back that Cassidy is too old for trick-or-treating and admits she picked the costume so she could swing a wrench around without being yelled at.[6] Veronica’s description of her as a “tomboyish girl scout” fits the finished character much better than her early, girlier design.[7]

Kevin underestimates Molly’s commitment to seeing midnight.

The confidence has a hard boundary around violence. Molly’s first appearance has her step between Abbey and Mike, arms spread, and beg Mike not to send her brother to the hospital because he might not come back.[8] When Abbey later slams a schoolyard bully into a fence for picking on her, Molly is furious with Abbey too: she was going to report the boy herself, and she does not want her brother becoming another bully.[9] In the book-exclusive Good Egg, after the group runs from a house that Mina has egged, Molly is the one who asks whether they should go back and apologize.[10]

Molly is quick to wonder whether Abbey is giving something up because of her.

That sensitivity is rooted in the family she and Abbey came from. On their first car ride with Kevin and Janet, Kevin playfully bops Janet on the shoulder and Molly immediately screams at him not to hurt her.[11] As a small child she found Charlotte collapsed on the floor and had to carry Abbey’s note to a neighbor before she could read it herself.[12][13] Years later she can still run all the way to Abbey’s school in tears for a reason the comic never reveals.[14] Abbey, despite his protectiveness, tells Paulo that Molly sometimes seems more mature than he is: “She keeps me in line, she understands me.”[15]

Appearance

Molly is a young cat who was small enough for Paulo to mistake her for a six-year-old at age twelve.[2] As a little girl she wore ribbons in her hair; a schoolyard bully once pulled them out while mocking her ears.[16]

Veronica’s early, “much girlier” sketches of Molly, before the girl scout took over.[7]

Her more familiar designs are practical or costume-like. On cookie duty she wears a Girl Scout sash and hat,[17] while her Halloweens have included a striped reaper outfit with a scythe[18] and a full Bob the Builder costume with hard hat, overalls and tool belt.[19] Veronica has said Molly started with a much girlier design before becoming the tomboyish Girl Scout seen in the comic.[7]

Significant events

Molly debuts near the end of the main cast’s freshman year in Rising Temperature, interrupting Abbey and Mike’s fight and getting Mike to back down.[8] When Tess later invites the group overseas in Invitation, Molly worries that Abbey is staying home because of the earlier confrontation; once he reassures her, she immediately returns to the more pressing question of who will pull her cookie cart.[20][3]

Molly finds Abbey’s sleeping guest far too easy to rob.

Most of her early appearances keep her at the comic edge of Abbey’s life. On Mischief Night she steals a handful of candy from a sleeping Mike, announces that she loves candy corn, and is next seen green and twitching on top of him.[21] At Loose Ends gives her a larger role. Molly has spent years making presents for the mother she expects to see again; Abbey finally learns that Charlotte died after choosing to disappear from the children’s lives, comes home, and answers Molly’s hopeful “Didya find her?” with a simple “Yes.” Molly understands enough to hug him without another question.[22] The chapter ends on Charlotte’s grave, with Molly’s basket of presents beside the headstone.[23]

Later stories let her be a kid again. In the canonical book chapter Good Egg, she goes trick-or-treating as Bob the Builder and insists the group apologize after Mina eggs Carol’s house.[10] New Year’s Resolution brings her long-running crush on Paulo into the main comic, to Abbey’s delight and Molly’s horror.[2] By Made Fresh, Abbey is comfortable enough with Paulo to arrange a long car ride for Molly and look forward to teasing her about it, while Daisy mentions that Abbey sometimes takes Molly to Burger-Tron as a treat.[24][25]

Major relationships

Abbey

Abbey sees his frightened mother in Molly during At Loose Ends.

Each sibling tries to shield the other, and Molly is often the one who tells Abbey where protection becomes control. She steps between him and Mike in her debut,[8] and Abbey drops everything when she later arrives at his school crying.[26] But when he assaults the boy who stole her ribbons, Molly calls him a bully, insists she could have handled it herself, and finally says, “Don’t be like Daddy!”[9] Abbey grabs her and shouts that he is nothing like their father, only to see Charlotte’s frightened expression in Molly’s face.[27] Veronica’s commentary makes the point plainly: Molly lived with Abraham too.[9]

Day to day, their relationship is much lighter. Molly assigns Abbey scouting labor,[3] laughs at his Christmas sweater,[28] and pummels him after his friend mistakes her for a six-year-old.[2] Abbey sometimes loses patience with the presents she keeps making for Charlotte,[29] but by New Year’s Resolution he tells Paulo that he loves Molly, that she keeps him in line, and that he cannot imagine life without her.[15] In Made Fresh he is openly plotting how best to tease her about Paulo.[24]

Charlotte

Molly finds her mother at the moment childhood stops feeling safe.

Molly keeps Charlotte close through presents. As small children, she and Abbey waited at the window at Christmas hoping their mother might come back;[30] years later Molly is still filling a basket with gifts for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Charlotte’s birthday and New Year’s.[31][32] “When we see her again, she’ll know I didn’t forget about her,” she explains.[29] Veronica’s commentary calls the gift-making her way of coping.[29]

Charlotte knew before surgery that Abbey and Molly were in foster care and asked that the children not be told if anything happened to her, believing they had a chance to grow up in a normal family.[33] Molly is never shown hearing the truth in words. Abbey comes home from the cemetery, says that he found their mother, and Molly answers with a quiet hug.[22] Her accumulated presents beside Charlotte’s grave close the chapter.[23]

Janet and Kevin

Molly settles into her foster home with a familiarity Abbey has more trouble allowing himself. On their first car ride she calls Janet “Jana”; Abbey corrects her, and Janet happily says Jana is fine.[11] Janet later tells Molly that she is checking whether Mommy is feeling better while secretly searching for Charlotte.[34] She rushes upstairs when Molly innocently reports on “the baby” Abbey and Daisy are supposedly making,[35] and rests a hand on her when Molly loses her bet and falls asleep before midnight.[5] Kevin gets Connect Four, laptop advice, and the alarmed scream when one harmless playful bop looks too much like violence.[4][22][11] Abbey eventually credits Janet and Kevin with giving both siblings the normal life Charlotte wanted for them.[36] In 2026, Veronica said that “Jana” has effectively become Molly’s version of “Mom” even if she still uses Janet’s nickname.[37]

Paulo

Paulo’s age estimate does not endear him to Molly.

Molly has a hopeless crush on Paulo, while Paulo barely realizes it exists. The gag first appeared in BCI material: in Door to Door, Molly is dazzled by the fact that Paulo keeps his cookie money in a pillow and walks away dreamily repeating his name while Abbey shouts “NO”.[38][39] Veronica has explicitly called the crush canonical, while noting that New Year’s Resolution was the first time it was properly established in the main comic rather than hidden in BCI stories.[40]

In that chapter Molly announces a resolution to get buff, spots Paulo, and immediately revises the goal to “dainty and b-beautiful”, like a model.[41] She refuses to wish him a happy new year and, when Abbey says she has a crush, lets go of his twenty dollars’ worth of balloons in spite.[42][43] Paulo then guesses that she is six, prompting the furious correction “I’M TWELVE!!”[2] Veronica says the crush is meant to remain a running gag: Paulo does not reciprocate it, and Molly is too shy around him for the two to become more than acquaintances.[44]

Minor relationships

Daisy

Molly gives Daisy and Abbey’s romance her loudest possible approval.

Molly follows Daisy and Abbey’s romance with delighted curiosity. She asks Abbey whether they are getting married,[45] coos at their mistletoe kiss,[28] and, after wandering into Daisy’s panicked discussion of sex and pregnancy, tells Janet she only wanted to know about “the baby they’re making”.[35] Daisy knows about Molly’s gift tradition and accompanies Abbey and Janet to Charlotte’s grave.[32][46]

Justin

In the BCI side story Molly’s Adventure, Molly bluffs her way around the need for a cookie-selling partner by dragging Justin along. After she is kidnapped, Justin initially runs away, returns out of guilt, and helps her out through a basement window; only then do the two exchange names.[47] When he marvels that she was not crying, Molly quietly says she has “seen scarier” and might tell him about it one day.[48] By the end she prefers playing with her new friend to finishing the cookie sales.[49]

Quotes

Don’t hurt Abbey! I don’t want him to go to the hospital! Molly, standing between Mike and her brother in Rising Temperature

When we see her again, she’ll know I didn’t forget about her. Molly, wrapping another present for Mom in At Loose Ends

Don’t be like Daddy! Molly, to Abbey after he beats up her bully in At Loose Ends

Did I say buff? I meant.. dainty and b-beautiful. Like a.. like a model. Molly, revising her resolution as soon as Paulo appears in New Year’s Resolution

I’M TWELVE!! Molly, correcting Paulo’s estimate of six in New Year’s Resolution

Trivia

  • Molly’s debut page was redrawn for the Omnibus. Veronica’s commentary says the original version made her too “frail and weepy” for the confident character she became, so the revision has her confront Mike angrily and defiantly even while crying.[8]
  • Veronica has admitted that she still tends to picture Molly as a little eight-year-old and finds it surprising that she is nearly a teenager.[2]
  • Veronica has said Janet is effectively Molly’s “Mom” by this point through the “Jana” nickname, while joking that Molly has no such excuse for not calling Kevin Dad.[37]
  • Until New Year’s Resolution, the hints of Molly’s crush on Paulo lived in members-only BCI comics. Veronica has said she never intended a canonical crush to be paywalled.[40]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 42
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 20
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 3
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 73: Ten Seconds to Midnight, page 2
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 73: Ten Seconds to Midnight, page 27
  6. ↑ Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Seven, “Good Egg”, page 2
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 “Veronica on Molly’s early, girlier design”. 2019-01-20.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Chapter 38: Rising Temperature, page 9
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 37
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Seven, “Good Egg”, page 5
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 18
  12. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 26
  13. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 27
  14. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 18
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 21
  16. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 35
  17. ↑ Door to Door, page 1 🔒 (members only)
  18. ↑ Chapter 57: Mischief Night, page 16
  19. ↑ Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Seven, “Good Egg”, page 1
  20. ↑ Chapter 41: Invitation, page 2
  21. ↑ Chapter 57: Mischief Night, page 17
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 46
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 48
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 1
  25. ↑ Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 21
  26. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 19
  27. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 38
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 10
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 3
  30. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 4
  31. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 2
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 19
  33. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 43
  34. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 11
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 8
  36. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 47
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 “Ask response on whether Abbey or Molly will ever call Kevin and Janet Mom and Dad”. 2026-03-26.
  38. ↑ Door to Door, page 7 🔒 (members only)
  39. ↑ Door to Door, page 8 🔒 (members only)
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 “Ask response on Molly’s crush being hidden in BCI comics”. 2025-12-02.
  41. ↑ Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 15
  42. ↑ Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 18
  43. ↑ Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 19
  44. ↑ “Veronica on whether Molly and Paulo are endgame”. 2026-06-05.
  45. ↑ Chapter 46: New Beginnings, page 13
  46. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 32
  47. ↑ Molly’s Adventure, page 21 🔒 (members only)
  48. ↑ Molly’s Adventure, page 22 🔒 (members only)
  49. ↑ Molly’s Adventure, page 24 🔒 (members only)
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