7. Gilda And Meek "Skeletons" (Un-Iverse #7)
Rating: R. (Bloody violence and gore, partial nudity, disturbing images, women in jeopardy, adult themes, occult themes, and some language.)
Author's Note for Gilda And Meek #7 "Skeletons" (Un-Iverse #7)
Something to pay attention to: The Conduit being Vic Puff was hinted at back in the fourth issue. As we see in this issue, the thing that marks Vic as The Conduit is a giant x-shaped red birthmark across his back. Guess what? We saw that birthmark at the end of issue four as Vic woke up shirtless and bloody from his wedding night. Because of the rest of his injuries, the reader mistakes it for another sign of rough sex. In reality, Vic ALWAYS had that giant red mark on his back and we just didn't know it.
2020 Postscript
It's been about five years since I put "Skeletons" to paper, and when I reread it and its Linear Notes (posted elsewhere) I very much regret the story and my initial attitude towards it. I understand why I found the notion of the Antichrist being a Trumpian-style Zero amusing back when I wrote it. But even if it's satiric, because of the subject matter, it's not actually funny, and I was kidding myself for years that it was.
My biggest concern and regret is that it was put to paper before The Un-Iverse entirely found its voice. I had had all of the major beats planned out down to the letter by the time Skeletons was drawn (and as of the 49 issues I've scripted, none of them have changed). What has changed are the MINOR beats. The character moments and female empowerment between Gilda and Bernadette. I hadn't conceived The Un-Iverse as female leaning as it turned out to be until after I drew Skeletons. And it's dark and scary, and the upsetting violence to women could drive away perhaps the only real friend this type of comic book story could ever hope to make.
What especially upsets me in hindsight is that even if given a chance to rewrite the story, I probably wouldn't change it much, if at all. The story is absolutely 100% necessary, and while it was conceived of as a black comedy because of the twist ending, it's played straight, and only has one joke during the entire thing. The Mother is entirely sympathetic and I find myself feeling great empathy for her and the compassion Charlie shows her and Vic through his sacrifice. And even if that weren't true, I would be loathe to change anything because there is no question in my mind that as of Issue 7, this is the BEST issue. By far. It's before The Un-Iverse found its voice. But it's an instrumental step TO that voice, that I don't necessarily think should be skipped because it's distasteful and upsetting. On this blog, the Linear Notes are entirely absent, and I put a reader discretion warning ahead of it for sensitive or easily triggered readers. I suspect I've lost online female friends over this issue, who no longer keep in touch with me, and that depresses me, especially because I imagine they would dig the stuff that came afterwards.
But honestly, the shock of the issue coming when it did informed every issue past it. It is the issue most unlike the other first 8 issues. But it's the 1 of the first 8 issues most like the subsequent Gilda And Meek issues that followed until the end of the saga. It is the first issue where Gilda And Meek is no longer a funny animal book. And with the exception of perhaps The One-Shots and the related back-up comedy stories featuring those characters, that mindset pretty much stuck, and Gilda And Meek was no longer a comedy with drama attached. It's a straight up drama that has comedic bits in it. And it's "Skeletons" that did that. Maybe I was cavalier in creating some of the more disturbing scenes. But the issue has resonance to me and I hope the readers who stuck past it because it literally changed everything. Not as much as Gilda and Bernadette's touching relationship. But I never could have gotten to ANY touching relationships between the characters without the compassion Charlie shows the Mother here. I no longer am proud of the story, but I'm proud of what the story turned the saga into. And I don't think I can change that. I can apologize for it after the fact. But I think that's about as far as I'm willing to go. I won't dismiss it or disown it. It is THAT important to the canon, and my learning process as a writer. But I do regret a great deal of it in hindsight.
Honestly, there IS one thing I'd change if I redid the issue. I wouldn't give the Mother visible nipples through her gown. The story is horrible on every level. For some reason that specific unwanted salacious thing raises the horror level to beyond any level I should be raising it. I did it to upset the reader. But it's too upsetting. It's the one thing I'd definitely change.
Next Issue: Gilda And Meek #8 "Enter Tork" (Un-Iverse #8)
If you like Gilda And Meek Buy Me A Coffee!
Copyright Matt Zimmer and UnComix 2017-2020. All Rights Reserved.
Comments