Minecraft (Dark Horse Comics)/HoCPlot

Volume 1

Cobb wakes up one morning to see a woman picking carrots from his garden, swiping them away from her. The woman explains to Cobb that Douglas said that it was OK for her to do so, with Cobb asking as to what the "nitwit" has to do with this, and the woman finds him eating a melon in Cobb’s melon farm, making Cobb furious, asking the woman if people think that its fine to come onto his farm and take whatever they want. The woman then asks Cobb as to how much food he will eat from the food that he is growing, but he says that is besides the point, adding that he likes where everything is, even going as far as to put up fences to keep the other villagers from replacing the plants with potatoes. Cobb then asks the woman to start planting her own food, and she passively-aggressively agrees. Just then, the woman points out that Douglas had left the gate to the beetroot farm open, noticing a villager walking in it, and Cobb shouts at the villager to leave. The woman then introduces herself as Rochelle, and Cobb reiterates that he doesn’t want anyone to come onto his farms and mess things up. Rochelle understands, but also says that she loves having visitors, not caring if they move around a lot, noting that Cobb’s house is across a path from a small wooden building. Cobb reluctantly agrees with Rochelle, but reiterates that he likes things a certain way and doesn’t like people messing with his things. He then once again shouts at the villager to leave, and Douglas and Rochelle leave soon after.

Douglas begins to question as to why Cobb is so moody, and Rochelle says that he doesn’t like sharing with others. Someone then asks the two if Cobb is bothering them again, and the person is revealed to be Flint, wearing diamond armor and having just come back from an adventure. Flint starts to say to Douglas and Rochelle that he had been to the Nether the other day in a bastion remnant, with Rochelle exclaiming in delight that he had been there. Flint then leaves to go mine out ores and trade with villagers at a villager, as well as empty his inventory before heading there. As he leaves, Douglas explains to Rochelle that Flint is Cobb’s brother, much to her surprise. The two then leave, not before Douglas shouts out that Cobb is a "crotchety old geezer". This causes Cobb to snap, taking out cobblestone from a chest in his house, and starts building a cobblestone wall around his house and farms throughout the night. He is almost finished by daybreak when an enderman appears holding a grass block. The enderman locks eyes with Cobb and tries to attack him, but it teleports away thanks to an arrow shot by Flint. The enderman then teleports back, but Flint easily kills it with his diamond sword, making it drop an ender pearl. Cobb then complains that he almost got killed because of the enderman, but Flint suggests that he toughen up a bit by going on an adventure with him. He then leaves, reminding Cobb to finish up the wall, but Cobb mutters to himself that Flint should get lost in the next mineshaft he finds.

Just then, Cobb picks up the grass block that the enderman had dropped, only to be startled by a parrot. The parrot then flies away, which gives Cobb an idea. He chops down the bamboo he is growing with an axe and uses string with them to craft scaffolding. Rochelle, eating cookies in her house, then notices Cobb digging out a huge pit of dirt. She offers to help, but he refuses. Later, Cobb goes over his completed list of items, consisting of 256 blocks of dirt, two lava buckets, two water buckets, twelve dripstone blocks, 64 string, a spyglass, 64 eggs, 64 saplings, a block of grass, 64 carrots, 128 iron ingots, 64 coal, and 64 blocks of wool. He breathes a sigh of relief, knowing that his problems will be over first thing tomorrow morning. The next morning, Rochelle wakes up and sips from her bucket of milk, but spits it out upon noticing the scaffolding outside her house. Cobb is now way up in the clouds, building a platform of cobblestone and using the lava and water buckets to build a cobblestone generator to expand the platform. He then starts building a farm and throws an egg into a fenced area, hatching a chicken. Cobb then places down the grass block, letting the grass spread to the dirt blocks that were placed down earlier. He gradually adds more to the platform throughout the day, capping it off at night with a sign reading "Home Sweet Home". While fishing in a small lake just beneath the platform, Cobb feels like there is something off in the distance, soon noticing a figure waving at him through his spyglass. He feels like he is hallucinating and decides to sleep it off, but the figure greets him through the bedroom window the next morning.

The figure introduces himself as Ned, who asks Cobb about the contraptions he has. Cobb then explains to him about the cobblestone generator and lava farm that he has, before asking Ned as to where he is from. Ned then says that he’d never seen something spring up as fast as Cobb’s before, adding that he has a lot to show him. Ned then says to Cobb that he’d be surprised with how many people are up here besides themselves, and then asks Cobb as to how he got up here. Cobb says that he used a grass block from an enderman that "he" had killed, making Ned say that he’d have to be careful around him. The two then head toward a village, which is a few hundred blocks away from here. Back on the ground, Rochelle feels worried about Cobb, imagining a situation where he gets attacked by a creeper. Douglas shrugs it off, asking for her to let him be, but Rochelle stands her ground, adding that she doesn’t like what is going on with Cobb. Douglas then turns to leave, wanting to head toward the village to trade with a wandering trader for some cherry saplings, asking for Rochelle to come along. She says that she’ll catch up, still wondering what Cobb is up to. Meanwhile, Ned and Cobb arrive at the village, and the former asks the latter as to why he decided to move far up here. Cobb says that it was because his neighbors had no respect for his property by trespassing on his land and eating his crops, as well as the villagers swapping out wheat for potatoes. Ned agrees, saying that every single person that is up here has run into the same problem as him. He then offers Cobb a plot of land to help him set up here, and Cobb agrees. Ned then asks Cobb if he could set up the cobblestone contraptions in the village as well, wanting to smelt the cobblestone into regular stone, and he agrees to that as well. Cobb offers to place down more dirt blocks to spread the grass, but Ned shrugs it off, not wanting to have animals spawning around the village. He also suggests for Cobb to place the cobblestone generators "out of the way" so it doesn’t interfere with the "aesthetic" of the village, and Cobb doesn’t seem to mind.

Ned then introduces Harold to Cobb, adding that he wants to set Cobb up in Roger’s old plot. As Harold and Cobb walk to the plot of land, Cobb asks Harold as to what happened to Roger, and he says that Roger left due to a disagreement with Ned: that disagreement being that Roger wanted to use oak planks in his house instead of acacia planks. Harold reiterates that Ned wants everything to fit together and to not deviate from the aesthetic of the village. Cobb then leaves, promising to return the following morning with parts for the cobblestone generators, as Roger shouts at him to look after himself. Back on Cobb’s platform, he is searching through a chest for the dripstone as Rochelle comes up to visit, saying that she was worried about him as she hadn’t seen him in weeks. The two get into a brief argument before Ned introduces himself to Rochelle whilst also asking Cobb about the cobblestone generators. Rochelle says that Cobb stole her design, but Cobb says that it is very useful up here. She then gives Cobb a cherry sapling before leaving, and Ned says that he isn’t a fan of them, adding that they look "tacky". He then asks Cobb if he is expecting more visitors, and Cobb is sure that he isn’t expecting anyone. Ned then heads back to the village, saying to Cobb that he’d fit in just fine up here, just as Cobb reads a note saying that the cherry sapling was a gift from his friends despite thinking he doesn’t have any. The next morning, Cobb heads back to his plot of land in the village, with Harold saying to him that Ned is fuming over Rochelle coming up here, adding that he doesn’t like things changing too quickly. Cobb is hopeful that he and Ned can get along as he takes out a block of dirt from a chest, wanting to plant a tree, but Harold immediately objects, saying that the farms are all in the center of the village and that there is also a section of land for planting trees. As Cobb takes out bonemeal and plants it on the cherry sapling, Harold attempts to get him to stop, but the sapling grows instantly, making Harold very worried.

Ned and the other people in the village soon arrive, with him saying that the cherry tree doesn’t belong here. Cobb attempts to shrug it off, saying that it was a gift from a friend, but Ned ends up chopping down the tree and tosses it over the edge, warning Cobb that he too would also be tossed if it happens again. The other villagers then warn Cobb to do what Ned says or that he’d end up like Roger, with Harold adding that Ned tossed him over the edge as well. Cobb feels like the story is made up, but Harold adds that Ned also takes away any item in their inventory that is deemed as "useful". Cobb then asks the others as to why they are still here, and one of them says that the don’t think they would survive the first night at ground level as no one has seen a hostile mob in a long time. Cobb then decides to leave, saying that this information is too much for him, taking a new cherry sapling with him. Back on his platform, Rochelle tries to speak to Cobb again, with him mentioning about how Ned wants things done a certain way, adding the tidbit about him throwing people over the edge if they use the wrong kind of wood, much to Rochelle’s shock. Cobb then says that he is better off on his own, but Rochelle says that the other people he met are his neighbors and decides to head over to help them. Cobb reluctantly comes along after she says that Flint would help them too if he could, but Rochelle gives him the option not to, adding that she was on her own for the longest time, afraid to leave her small house, until she built up the courage to head out slightly further than she usually does, finding a village just over a hilltop. Rochelle explains that this made her go out of her comfort zone to find something deemed to be really special. Cobb apologizes and the two reconcile, with Rochelle adding that she has a plan to help the others in the village. She ends up meeting Harold, insisting that she’ll help them handle Ned, explaining to the others that the village they are in is boring, as in not seeing a single colorful block. Harold insists they have nowhere to go, but Rochelle suggests that they stay with her and Cobb, and Cobb reluctantly agrees. One of the people in the village is worried about Ned coming after them, but Rochelle says that she has a plan so that they would never see him again.

Rochelle then asks the people in the village to find out how big the village is, and one of them says that Harold knows every block as he was the first one to live here. Rochelle then tasks someone with keeping Ned distracted, and one of them will tell him to look over their chests to remove any unnecessary items. Rochelle then gives Cobb a list of items she needs, and he leaves to go get the items back on his platform. Just then, Ned appears on the path connecting his village and Cobb’s platform, causing Cobb to trip and nearly fall off the path, but is saved by Ned. He then asks Cobb to see him when he can to discuss moving his inventory to the village, and then heads back to the village. The next morning, Ned wakes up to the sound of trees growing from bonemeal, and is enraged when he sees that they are cherry trees. As he leaves his house to inspect the village, the other people in the village carefully leave it via the path to Cobb’s island. Ned eventually finds a small house nestled in with cherry trees, along with a sign telling Ned to make himself at home. He still thinks that Cobb is in the house, so he heads in, only to find a sign pointing him downstairs to another door which leads to a small platform with a bed, a chest, and a cherry tree. Ned charges toward the tree to chop it down, but triggers a pressure plate along the way, activating numerous blocks of TNT, destroying the village. Cobb, Rochelle, and the other people of the village head down the path to Cobb’s platform and then descend the scaffolding back to ground level. Rochelle sheepishly apologizes, but Cobb shrugs it off, adding that he is better off back home amongst his friends. Ned wakes up on the small platform with a sign encouraging him to like his new home, and he vows to take revenge on Cobb and his friends. Meanwhile, Cobb chops down the scaffolding, adding that he would like a bit of peace and quiet after the excitement of helping people leave the village. Rochelle then says that she looked through some of Ned’s chests before blowing up the village, showing Cobb a treasure map. She offers for him to come along, but he refuses as an enderman watches on peacefully.