Although I wrote the Lithium plot a few years back, the very end has been a little flexible and has gone through a few changes. (This isn’t it, don’t worry – we’ve got a few more comics to go yet.) The path Karen’s on needs some careful weaving.
I think authors too often write the ‘baddie’ as the baddie who needs defeating (which they do, sure), but it seems authors are seldom aware that we are all bad sometimes, that we all have these trauma-response features of ourselves.
And if we damn the baddie (or the ‘other’, or ‘them’), we are in fact damning ourselves. Oh dear. Woopsy daisy Mary Poppins.
I realise I may come across as a wild Lefty to some people, but for the record although I think it’s important to be woke enough to understand and support inclusivity, I also think we shouldn’t be so stupidly woke that we cancel or dismiss the humans who get things ‘wrong’. Hate simply begets hate, after all. Wokeism isn’t really a political thing, but it does seem to have been politicised by media douchebags for control. As with most things, there is a delicate balance to grasp in life. And sure, I’m not always great at finding it.
We (humans) need to be able to prevent the damners from damning, but not actually damn them. It’s a fine line, and we could certainly all benefit from some humility in how we deal with each other.
Anyway, what sort of holistic, human-condition-encompassing story of Love and Hope just trashes the baddie right? All too easy. Revenge and destruction isn’t particularly clever, though it might be atavistic / releasing.
This is where The Punisher, and those who live their lives by those philosophical foundations of revenge and ‘justice’ (selfish justice) start to have problems; if we only seek revenge, we opt out of our own freedom and generally seed a path with more hatred, more discontent, and more turmoil. Try it. There’s a reason that skull’s The Punisher’s logo.
A lifeless path devoid of joy, that one. A sense of humour based on the suffering of others is no sense of humour at all, that’s just one-upmanship and perhaps a sign of an ego desperately clawing for control. Really it’s unresolved trauma, or similarly deep-seated shame. But not to fear, we all need help to get free from that stuff really. Pip-pip, chin-up Mary Poppins! 🙂
As far as a comic series is concerned, it’d be much more fun, much more wise, and far more advanced to explore what a path to actual peace might look like for our despicable baddie! Even in the most unlikely of situations.
Real peace without the need of death. It is possible.
A story like that would be worth something, because then when we recognise that we’ve become the baddie in whatever real life situation, we can see that there are these paths that hold hope for us. Which there are. And they do.
Aaanyway, I think it’s a bit like …
(Comic update: All the renders … are done. Hrrrrnngggggg … so … not this weekend but not looonngggggg … hrrrnrgngngngggngngggggg … gyuggg …. gygggg … maybe like Thursday 18th or Friday 19th … nearly … there)
(PS. it’s pretty good)
(And ridiculously long)
(That’s what SHE said etc etc etc)
