Poetry Comics Month, Day 3: Story

WOWIE It’s been over three years almost since the last time this fic updated - but as we all know, life finds a way…to get in the way of things, BUT! My collaboration with PercyByssheShelley from the @do-it-with-style-events 2021 Reverse Bang finally has its third and final chapter posted!

Go send Bysshe some love, as they were the one who had to go back through the written draft and zhuzh it up to get the chapter ready for posting (all I had to do was embed the illustration). And an especial shout-out to @chernozemm for commenting a very nice comment that ultimately compelled me to reach back out to Bysshe. I am so happy that this story finally got the conclusion as planned!

Remember when I used to do events? Me neither.

BUT I'M DOING ONE NOW!

I'll be at Bart's Books in Ojai, CA next Thursday, March 21st at 6pm to interview my genius bike-touring, adventure-having, genre-bending cartoonist friend Tessa Hulls about her new graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts. The book explores three generations of her family's tumultuous history from Maoist China to America and beyond. It's rich and cathartic and unbelievably gorgeous. Tessa's spent the last nine years bringing it to life. You can read more about it in the San Francisco Chronicle or the New York Times.

Given the lengthy isolation and emotional toll required to craft a book like this, I'm very keen to have a packed house to help celebrate its emergence into the world. If you've never been, Bart's has a gorgeous outdoor courtyard and an absolutely amazing selection of used titles. Well worth the visit.

If you're not in Southern California and still want to get your hands on the book, you can do that! It's out! Order from Bookshop.org or request it at your local library.

Thinking about Terry Pratchett's scene in which Angua, the werewolf, explains that wolves don't have names. They know who each other are. They're right there. They don't need names.

Why do humans need names?

Because we tell stories.

a comic about different types of storytellers

AZIRAPHALE’S NARRATION, UNRESOLVED TRAUMA, AND THE NOTION OF CONTROL

Yesterday, I was scrolling on tumblr and I read a few posts that made me think about something. Both posts were related to Aziraphale’s narrator status in season 2 - the fact that he seems to be in another reality than Crowley, trapped into a narration he’s created for himself - the romantic tale of how he made two humans fall in love and how he solved a mysterious case. They both underlined the harmful nature of that behavior. The posts are from @sing-you-fools (here) - note that this post was liked by Neil Gaiman himself (that’s how I got to read it, and it was really good) - and @microclown (here) - I hope its okay to identify you. Since these posts are very interesting, given Neil Gaiman’s attention of one of these posts, and the fact that some other (very good) metas talk about how Aziraphale’s point of view is the center of this season’s narration (if I find them I will link them), I thought, damn, it must say something about him. 

The main ideas I take from these posts are that:

Below the cut, I will start to explore some reflexive tracks around the notion of narration, and see how it seems to be relevant with Aziraphale’s psychology and character arc. 

thinking about Good Omens 2. and stories, and the shape of them, and Terry Pratchett and his themes. and something clicked.

Aziraphale is cackling.

it's not just the ball. he spends the entire season trying to force the story into a shape it's not, and everyone suffers for it.

i've seen some less than charitable takes on Crowley's actions and they all ignore how much Crowley did try to talk to Aziraphale, did try to ask Aziraphale questions, did try to help, only to be ignored or brushed off. because his questions, his offers, they didn’t fit with the story Aziraphale was telling himself.

quiet, gentle, and romantic. it was, if you're our favorite Angel - right up until the end, at least. because he decided that's the story he was in. from the very beginning, he's off in la-la land, living out this romcom with a cute little mystery wrapped up in it, completely ignoring what's actually going on around him. i'll set Nina and Maggie up! (completely ignoring that Nina tells him she has a partner, and at that point, he has no reason to think she's anything less than happy.) i'll take ~our~ car to go do investigate this silly little mystery (he's not taking it even a little bit seriously!) while you stay here and run the bookshop and it will be so quaint and domestic! soon we'll dance and confess our feelings that we obviously share because we're already so clearly a couple we just need to finally say it!

Crowley knows the entire time that they're in a horror story but Aziraphale ignores every attempt he makes to point that out because it doesn't fit the story he decided he's in the middle of.

he brushes off Crowley's concerns and questions - his QUESTIONS! - like they're nothing. he doesn't want to see it, so he doesn't. and Crowley should have told him more?

why would he?

when you are CLEARLY in distress and it's being BLATANTLY AND WILLFULLY IGNORED, what the fuck are you supposed to do? "Crowley didn't comminicate" well okay if I were having a panic attack about something and my husband completely ignored it, chattering on about our dinner plans or whatever, that wouldn’t exactly make me want to open up about what was wrong! that would send the very fucking clear signal that he didn't want to know!

words aren't the only way we communicate and Crowley's body language, the entire season, is that of someone who is living in a horror story, knows he's living in a horror story, and is fucking terrified. if Aziraphale were paying any attention to Crowley instead of focusing all his energy trying to set things up just so for the big climax of his love story, he would know something major was wrong.

why would Crowley have told him how cruel Gabriel was about the execution when Aziraphale's already so thoroughly convinced that heaven is pure and good and has shown over and over through the millennia that he's not really open to considering that it can be cruel!

just look at them at the dance. Crowley freaking out because there's a horde of demons out there and Aziraphale giggling as they go to dance. that's the whole season!

you know who Crowley reminds me of this season?

he's watching helplessly and with increasing levels of distress as Aziraphale shoves every plot point into the romcom hole even though it's obviously not remotely romcom shaped! and i'm sick of people saying he was abusive because he raises his voice about it a few times!

Yes, I noticed this, too. From the moment when Aziraphale asks Crowley to help him with Gabriel, he doesn't really consider what Crowley is saying. Crowley tells him why he doesn't want to help and brings up reasonable points, but Aziraphale's already made up his mind and stubbornly ignores what Crowley is trying to say, and tells him he can go if he doesn't want to help*. He sees Crowley's first reaction to Gabriel and in their conversation, Crowley tells him that helping Gabriel could be dangerous. Crowley is scared but Aziraphale doesn't (want to?) see it. I guess, in part, it's because Aziraphale is quite used to getting what he wants from Crowley, he's used to Crowley helping him. To Aziraphale, Crowley is his knight in shining armor, someone who bravely sweeps in to save the day (and Aziraphale) even if it poses a danger to him [Crowley]. So naturally, Aziraphale thinks that Crowley would help him, right? He usually does. He agrees eventually but Aziraphale expected to get a 'yes' right away). And there's also Aziraphale's optimism, his idealism, etc. that makes him want to help even his worst enemy. But he doesn't realise that, in doing so, he is hurting Crowley, the one person who cares for him like no other, and whom he also loves so very dearly. Crowley is trying, like so many other times, to save Aziraphale (and himself and their lives together), a gesture that Aziraphle usually enjoys and cherishes, but this time, he doesn't see it. *This first fight is also why the apology dance doesn't sit right with me, here. At first glance, it might be funny, but Aziraphale definitely needs to apologise, too. Yes, Crowley yelled and stormed off but Aziraphale refused to listen to him when Crowley brought up reasonable points of concern. Aziraphale told him he could go if he refused to help, and then got miffed and demanded an apology when Crowley did just that. I love Aziraphale and Crowley equally but this was very not okay on Aziraphale's part...

ooh okay time for more on the apology dance! fun!

i think before i can decide how it sits with me i need to see the other times it's happened. it's a very silly dance, you know? Aziraphale calls it a "proper apology" but i wouldn't be surprised if it's what they do when they're fighting and realize it’s a little silly. either way, i agree that Crowley doesn't owe Aziraphale the apology in the first place - but if it's a "yes we realize this is silly" thing, it's another instance of Aziraphale not taking things seriously and not noticing that Crowley very much is. (i mean, look at his reaction to the dance - it's not "thank you for the sincere apology," it's straight-up thirst. it's more of his romcom plot.) it bothers me much more if it's intended to be serious.

i think when Crowley came back and said "okay yeah let's hide Gabriel from everyone" Aziraphale took that as Crowley saying he was wrong before. but i'm not sure he was! if they'd shoved "Jim" in the Bentley and dropped him off on the other side of the country, they wouldn't have been as involved. they could've kept their role there secret, or even say "yeah he showed up we got rid of him fast no idea where he is now sorry" and there may have been some punishment but probably not book of life level stuff. they were in danger because they were sheltering Gabriel, but if Aziraphale had listened to Crowley they wouldn't be. it all worked out but it very much almost didn't.

(Have you written something about the apology dance before? I'd be interested to read it. I came here straight from Twitter because this post was shared there.) I'm also very curious about the other instances where the dance happened and what brought it on in the first place. Yes, the dance itself is very silly, and that is also why I find it a bit unfitting for, what is at least from the viewer and Crowley's POV, a serious problem and fight. Initially, Aziraphale seems quite worked up about it when he says he wants Crowley to do the dance because he himself had to do it many times before. If it were something they did over silly stuff, I wonder if his tone wouldn't be different here? And when he says "Very nice" at the end, it sounds smug to me. Almost like, "See, I knew you would come around to seeing it my way." Which, I think, ties into what you said about Aziraphle thinking he was right all along and Crowley came back because he came to his senses, and not because Crowley's giving in and trying to do damage control while Aziraphale gets his way. I guess it comes down to them not properly talking to each other, or when they do, not understanding what the other one is actually saying. So they are on different pages (or in different movies). Talking is not how they usually communicate because openly talking was dangerous before, and they aren't quite used to it, yet. They are a team, but not fully because there are times when they don't share information or their plans with each other, or don't listen/cut each other off. For the most part, they rely on actions rather than words, like Crowley with his rescues, or with the apology dance that Aziraphale presumably did more often than Crowley. It's like Crowley says to Maggie and Nina, they do talk but it's 'blablablablabla', nothing too serious or too personal, and certainly not about their feelings. So, Crowley isn't able to pull Aziraphale out of his romcom movie and into reality (because he doesn't want to be pulled out). And Aziraphale doesn't realise Crowley's stuck in a horror movie and needs Aziraphale's help to get out and defeat/face the monster. (Sorry, I did a few edits because of typos and added a few more thoughts... It's late where I am, and I need to go to bed XD'')

i don't think so, at least not in an analytical way - i meant "more on the apology dance" in a "ooh yay now i get to expand on what you said" rather than "time to expand on what i said before."

and i also think there's so much to say about their communication difficulties, but i disagree with the "they never talk" analysis that seems to be dominating the discourse. as Crowley says, they do nothing but talk. and yeah, Nina says they don't talk about the important stuff, but Nina runs the shop across the street and she doesn't know what the important stuff is.

in the current day events of this season, yeah, they're failing at communicating about the important stuff. because the important stuff for the current day events of s2 is "there's a horde of demons," not "i'm in love with you."

i agree with the person who said that it doesn't matter how well they communicate - the issue is that they fundamentally disagree. and the issue with this whole "not communicating" line of thinking, as it relates specifically to their romantic plotline, is that any attempt to communicate about their feelings for each other is going to take them back to that fundamental disagreement.

and that's a conversation they've been having since before time. over and over and over.

and once again, over and over and over, Aziraphale doesn't really listen to Crowley. he listens enough to recognize that, okay, sure, in this particular instance, the things heaven tells me don't apply, but Crowley's trying to point out the forest while Aziraphale can't move past this one tree.

once again, Aziraphale is wrapped up in a story he's telling himself.

this time, though, it's a bigger story. about the goodness of heaven and the badness of hell. in this case, the story is playing out on a scale Aziraphale can't personally manipulate, but it still keeps him oblivious to what Crowley's been telling and showing him since the beginning. and they don’t necessarily need to see eye-to-eye to make a relationship work, but they do need to listen and hear each other and take each other seriously. i don't think Crowley needs or even wants Aziraphale to say "heaven is terrible" or whatever, but he does need him to open his mind to more shades of gray than the very, very light ones.

thinking about Good Omens 2. and stories, and the shape of them, and Terry Pratchett and his themes. and something clicked.

Aziraphale is cackling.

it's not just the ball. he spends the entire season trying to force the story into a shape it's not, and everyone suffers for it.

i've seen some less than charitable takes on Crowley's actions and they all ignore how much Crowley did try to talk to Aziraphale, did try to ask Aziraphale questions, did try to help, only to be ignored or brushed off. because his questions, his offers, they didn’t fit with the story Aziraphale was telling himself.

quiet, gentle, and romantic. it was, if you're our favorite Angel - right up until the end, at least. because he decided that's the story he was in. from the very beginning, he's off in la-la land, living out this romcom with a cute little mystery wrapped up in it, completely ignoring what's actually going on around him. i'll set Nina and Maggie up! (completely ignoring that Nina tells him she has a partner, and at that point, he has no reason to think she's anything less than happy.) i'll take ~our~ car to go do investigate this silly little mystery (he's not taking it even a little bit seriously!) while you stay here and run the bookshop and it will be so quaint and domestic! soon we'll dance and confess our feelings that we obviously share because we're already so clearly a couple we just need to finally say it!

Crowley knows the entire time that they're in a horror story but Aziraphale ignores every attempt he makes to point that out because it doesn't fit the story he decided he's in the middle of.

he brushes off Crowley's concerns and questions - his QUESTIONS! - like they're nothing. he doesn't want to see it, so he doesn't. and Crowley should have told him more?

why would he?

when you are CLEARLY in distress and it's being BLATANTLY AND WILLFULLY IGNORED, what the fuck are you supposed to do? "Crowley didn't comminicate" well okay if I were having a panic attack about something and my husband completely ignored it, chattering on about our dinner plans or whatever, that wouldn’t exactly make me want to open up about what was wrong! that would send the very fucking clear signal that he didn't want to know!

words aren't the only way we communicate and Crowley's body language, the entire season, is that of someone who is living in a horror story, knows he's living in a horror story, and is fucking terrified. if Aziraphale were paying any attention to Crowley instead of focusing all his energy trying to set things up just so for the big climax of his love story, he would know something major was wrong.

why would Crowley have told him how cruel Gabriel was about the execution when Aziraphale's already so thoroughly convinced that heaven is pure and good and has shown over and over through the millennia that he's not really open to considering that it can be cruel!

just look at them at the dance. Crowley freaking out because there's a horde of demons out there and Aziraphale giggling as they go to dance. that's the whole season!

you know who Crowley reminds me of this season?

he's watching helplessly and with increasing levels of distress as Aziraphale shoves every plot point into the romcom hole even though it's obviously not remotely romcom shaped! and i'm sick of people saying he was abusive because he raises his voice about it a few times!

The thing about romance is, it makes a good story.

As soon as Neil described season 2 as "quiet, gentle, romantic" I figured we'd be in for it, because as he's the first to point out, writers are liars. And the best way to deceive is with truth.

Season 2 is romantic. The trappings of romance are everywhere. Crowley tries to set up Nina and Maggie by trapping them under an awning during a rainstorm, a classic cinematic bonding technique. Aziraphale's chosen method comes from his beloved books: the ball, the dancing, appearing as a pair in public, hands held as you twirl gracefully with your heart thrilled and racing. If they can set up a sensational kiss that will unlock the happy ever after. They've lived on earth, they've studied the tropes, they know how romance works.

The problem is a story is only a story.

Hey you guys, stories aren't meant to make you feel exclusively good, like, the whole point of a story is to be a safe (ie not real world) space to explore painful and complicated questions and feelings, and think about things in a way you wouldn't be able to if they were happening to you directly, because it would be too much, like, a story that is completely comfortable is not doing its job, okay, like, we're human beings trying to make sense of a senseless world through narrative, yeah?

i think eventually we're all just gonna have to come to terms with the fact that it's impossible to tell a story with any degree of subtlety or nuance without risking a portion of the audience taking the "wrong message", and that's ok. art isn't meant to be strictly a teaching tool, and if you're goal is just to convince people or critique an idea, just write an essay or a polemic

people taking the "wrong message" from a story isn't a failure of that story, it's a function of art itself

ICYMI, here is a very nice interview with me and Neil Gaiman at the Guardian UK. about our work on CHIVALRY from Dark Horse Comics.

The purpose of child hero stories is not "this universe is abusive toward children and no one has child age labor laws" it is that they are stories written for children so that they can see themselves overcoming challenges and defeating monsters.

You're right and you should say it

stories like these have probably helped countless kids out there

Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.

C.S. Lewis

“Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”

G.K. Chesterton

Just one last trick - Page 17 - Last!

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16

Read from the first to the last- great graphic comic with text by @justonelasttrick

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

After shoving Hansel in the oven, the witch turns to Gretel - who is currently fending the witch off with a gingerbread chair - and says:

“I can’t believe you thought a trail of breadcrumbs would save you. I mean, honestly, this is a forest! It’s full of animals. Honestly, the very idea that a dumb shit like you thought you could get the better of me is absurd.”

Gretel hits her in the face with said chair. To be fair to the witch, she takes the chairshot like a champ.

“Ow!”

“Did you know,” says Gretel, “that crows are capable of facial recognition?”

“Eh?” Says the witch, clambering to her feet and pulling a candy cane sledgehammer off the wall. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Not only that,” Gretel continues, “but they can remember both friends and enemies. And they’ll often follow people they remember as friends.”

The two fence with their sugared weapons for a moment, before the witch knocks the chair out of Gretel’s hands.

“Enough with the bird facts! Honestly, this whole attempted escape has been utter clownshoes. Get in the fucking oven!”

She seizes Gretel by the collar. Gretel immediately sandbags, letting her whole body go limp. This eminently practical defense forces the witch to try and deadlift her. Which is hard, as the witch often skips leg day.

“For example,” Gretel says, as the witch struggles and grunts, “if you feed crows a lot of breadcrumbs, they’ll probably start to see you as a friend and follow you in the hope of more food.”

The witch stops. Outside, she hears the thunder of wings.

“They’ll even bring you shiny things they find as presents!” Says Gretel, as a corner of the gingerbread ceiling is suddenly cut away by a large crow with a knife in its mouth.

“Oh shitballs.” Says the witch, as the crows descend. “I hope you know this is a great unkindness.”

“Technically,” Says Gretel, “It’s a murder.”

Two identical infants lay in the cradle. “One you bore, the other is a Changeling. Choose wisely,” the Fae’s voice echoed from the shadows. “I’m taking both my children,” the mother said defiantly.

Once upon a time there was a peasant woman who was unhappy because she had no children. She was happy in all other things – her husband was kind and loving, and they owned their farm and had food and money enough. But she longed for children.

She went to church and prayed for a child every Sunday, but no child came. She went to every midwife and wise woman for miles around, and followed all their advice, but no child came.

So at last, though she knew of the dangers, she drew her brown woolen shawl over her head and on Midsummer’s Eve she went out to the forest, to a certain clearing, and dropped a copper penny and a lock of her hair into the old well there, and she wished for a child.

“You know,” a voice said behind her, a low and cunning voice, a voice that had a coax and a wheedle and a sly laugh all mixed up in it together, “that there will be a price to pay later.”

She did not turn to look at the creature. She knew better. “I know it,” she said, still staring into the well. “And I also know that I may set conditions.”

“That is true,” the creature said, after a moment, and there was less laugh in its voice now. It wasn’t pleased that she knew that. “What condition do you set? A boy child? A lucky one?”

“That the child will come to no harm,” she said, lifting her head to stare into the woods. “Whether I succeed in paying your price, or passing your test, or not, the child will not suffer. It will not die, or be hurt, or cursed with ill luck or any other thing. No harm of any kind.”

“Ahhhhh.” The sound was long and low, between a sigh and a hum. “Yes. That is a fair condition. Whatever price there is, whatever test there is, it will be for you and you alone.” A long, slender hand extended into her sight, almost human save for the skin, as pale a green as a new leaf. The hand held a pear, ripe and sweet, though the pears were nowhere ripe yet. “Eat this,” the voice said, and she trembled with the effort of keeping her eyes straight ahead. “All of it, on your way home. Before you enter your own gate, plant the core of it beside the gate, where the ground is soft and rich. You will have what you ask for.”

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