5. Lace Doilies "Open Season" (Un-Iverse #57)
Rating: Hard PG-13. It's not graphic, but some of the material IS upsetting, so I'm advising reader discretion for this one. There is a mass shooting portrayed, and sexual assault is discussed. Also present is some strong language, bloody violence, sexual innuendo and humor, drug references, and adult themes.
The truth is the wild variations in tone in The Un-Iverse are the franchise's toughest sell. I believe most of the following issue is lighthearted, empowering, and yes, hopeful. And yet a mass shooting is still portrayed, as well as a discussion of rape, and both things are played horrifically rather than for laughs. I think steady readers of this franchise have become accustomed to wild tone shifts from not just issue to issue, but scene to scene. But I DO believe somebody coming to this issue fresh wouldn't tolerate it and I'd actually understand their disgust entirely.
Crap like this is why I suggest you need to read the entire saga in order. Not just simply to keep all the disparate plot points straight, but to sort of get used to the erratic tone.
Finally, as of the night I posted this, there hasn't been a mass shooting currently in the news. But if there HAD been I'd post the issue anyways. TV always pulls episodes dealing with tough topics currently in the news if they feel especially raw. I personally believe a recent shooting or terrorist attack happening gives fiction MORE license to talk about it and take a stand, not less. I think networks stepping back when a topic becomes unintentionally relevant aren't actually helping the discussion of that subject matter. The time to address painful topics is as they are occurring, not after hoping everybody has forgotten all about them. It's an upsetting scene. I WANT people to be upset by it. Holding it back so it would make the reader less upset is working against the moral I am actually trying to take a stand about.
Let me be blunt though. I am SO freaking sick of Vic Puff and Donna Demented. I hate what 2023 has made me turn them both into for a sense of contrast, and to make the allegory land, and I'm sick to death of them too. I wish I didn't have to use them, and I wish society wasn't so currently messed up that they have to do the things they currently do to make the political allegory relevant at all. It makes me deeply unhappy.
Author's Note for Lace Doilies #5 "Open Season" (Un-Iverse #57)
Some people might feel a bit disappointed in the way Bernadette comes out to Hank. I have done subtle hints throughout Gilda And Meek that Bernadette was developing an unhealthy crush on Gilda as a kid (which of course being the adult and surrogate parent she didn't share) so maybe people who picked up on that sort of wish Bernadette's coming out to Hank was as amazing and funny as every other time Bernadette is real with people. The thing is, I don't really think Bernadette is ever REALLY real with people. Every thing she says and does, she probably had planned and gamed out in her back pocket for emergencies. And people will be disappointed her admission here feels like a lousy first draft I put zero effort into instead of her usual magnificence and wit. That's because it IS the lousy first draft. Bernadette is being unusually raw and honest because she didn't expect Hank's insights to hit her the way he did. And therefore her sharing that with him was NOT planned. So I resisted every urge to go in and punch up the scene. It sounds tentative and awkward because for the first time in her life, Bernadette is too. She never planned to share this with ANYONE, much less Hank, much less today. For the first time in her entire life she says something before she considers it. And that's why it's the lousy first draft. I'm being true to that.
"I was told there would be monkey butlers," is one of my favorite random jokes in the saga ever. Classic Bernadette.
Ladies and gentlemen, as of this issue, all of the typos and spelling errors are now canon! I love The Un-Iverse.
Anytime your inner grammar teacher awakens to tell me the level of typos and spelling errors (as well as drawing mistakes) takes you out of the reality of the story, remember that the Author being a crappy speller and sloppy artist is part of the damn story, and me telling it incorrectly IS its damn reality! Neat idea, right?
I am sincerely second-guessing trying to sell the saga to a publisher and teaming up with a more polished artist to make things looks more "professional" when this is all over. None of this fun stuff could occur if that happened. Maybe The Un-Iverse will never make me rich. But it will be cooler and funnier if it's entirely down to me and there's no-one else to blame for this mess.
Next Issue: F.I.S.H. #6 "Druth Hunt" (Un-Iverse #58)
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