2. UnComix Tales: The Dark Child Saga: The Fall Of F.I.S.H.: Part Two "The Beginning Of The End" (Un-Iverse #70)
Rating: PG-13. Sex, Bloody Violence, Language. All that good stuff.
Author's Note for UnComix Tales: The Dark Child Saga: The Fall Of F.I.S.H.: Part Two "The Beginning Of The End" (Un-Iverse #70)
Let me be brutally honest with you about Lance's origin story in both F.I.S.H. and Piranhala. You were never supposed to get it. Or at least not that much of it. I wanted to keep a bit of mystery and ambiguity about both his and the Piranha's relationship to Piranhala and the types of people who currently live there. If it had been up to me, even though this is all stuff I already knew, you never would have learned it. However Lance Lockjaw told me he needed to come entirely clean with his friends before both the actual Fall of F.I.S.H. and The Terran Wars, and for the first time since Lance has ever told me something about him that I disagreed with, I listened to him. That happens ALL the time with Gilda and Bernadette. The difference is very little of the way those two always surprise me involve me fundamentally changing the arc and presentation of the entire franchise. I wouldn't be surprised if I went back over the entire saga and was able to pinpoint one or two examples of that, but there are none off the top of my head. Lance's insistence on how his redemption needed to go was at odds with the mystery I planned to keep for his character and the Piranha. But damn it, I listened, and he probably knew best about this the entire time. But this is all information you were never supposed to get, was never in the official outline, and was only written out when the actual script was.
Lance pointed out if he's gonna go through this crucible, and if we are gonna even TRY to redeem this cad, he needs to tell this story, and his friends need to be the witnesses to the telling.
I said to him, "No, that's revealing Leland, and killing the Golden Goose. That destroyed Twin Peaks." But Lance insisted to me I needed to focus on what was best for HIM and his friends, instead of the long-term appeal of everything else. I don't like or trust Lance Lockjaw. Whenever he gives me notes, I usually feel comfortable ignoring them.
This time? I did what the character told me. I always do that for Gilda and Bernadette, and they NEVER steer me wrong. Lance's insistence to me about this (if only in my imagination) was so clear-cut and out-of-character earnest I HAD to do things his way and tell the story the way IT wanted to be told, not the way I wanted it to be told. The story writes itself, and when it's on, I need to let it. So you are going to get facts about Lance and his history you were never supposed to get. I think you will be pleased by these answers, but I hope you are even more pleased with the character development this grows.
The Sydney Bristow line might need further explanation here. But one of the most annoying things about “Alias” is that on literally EVERY single spy mission Syd does her cover is ALWAYS blown. I'm not exaggerating either. Literally ALL of them. The show did that to make the episodes exciting and show off Jennifer Garner kicking bad guy ass. But a spy's cover being blown means the spy is bad at their job. A good spy NEVER has their cover blown EVER. It being blown for Syd literally over a hundred times means she is absolutely shitty at her job.
There will be comic book and genre fans who believe I did VERY wrong by Lance Lockjaw's masculinity and ability to be a hero. He's portrayed as useless in the fight against his most notable enemy on the series, and it's strongly suggested that Stark could have easily killed Fishspace in that moment, Piranha teeth or not.
Aside from the fact that I will give Lance the proper hero moment and slugfest with Vulgaris in the next issue, I think my decision there while only making ME happy, is good. Me being happy is worth it. Why am I happy and why did I undercut the dramatic tension there for a laughline? It's not even that funny of a joke because Indiana Jones beat us to the punch 40 years ago. Why do it?
I wanted to make Stark's final life and death threat against Lance feel pointless. And it is. And the problem with both sci-fi TV and superhero comics is that even though Lance completely has the high ground with Stark morally and ethically, genre would have you believe the true nature of righteousness can only be determined by the good guy winning the fight. I'm undercutting the expected slugfest to point out it changes absolutely nothing about the righteousness of Lance's current mission, or Stark's current evil and depravity. Making the morality there questionable and only for sure depending on Lance cathartically kicking Stark's ass is bullshit of the highest order. And you know which franchise this is. Grall undercuts the final "determining" battle because it actually determines and means nothing. Just because reader and viewers are conditioned to expect big fights in this moment doesn't mean that fight is actually necessary, or even helpful, to the story. Grall kills Stark as an embarrassing afterthought because that is what Stark's failed plans actually are. Busting these kinds of narrative taboos is hardly new ground for this franchise. It's more normal and expected than actual fights at this point.
If you have never heard of the Futurama Alphabet, I suggest you
familiarize yourself with it (it can easily be found online). I believe
translating the Secretary’s sign in the gladiator stadium crowd should be of
particular interest to long-term Un-Iverse readers. There are also plenty of
signs and messages earlier in the saga done in that language that can be
translated as well.
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