#especially when it comes to a favorite skellie man

[imlostontheinternet]

Please for the love of everything holy go and read @aka-indulgence 's Moon God Sans AU piece it is so scumdidilyumpcious!!

I humbly offer an interpretation of what the "sunlight" children of the sun may look like. This gal in particular represents more of what the sky looks like at sunset with deeper and richer shades of reds and oranges to her palette, but I imagine the other rays would reflect what the sky looks like at different times of day: one is pink and pastel while another is almost pure white and gold, etc.

Lineart and no background under the cut ✂️

[petra-creat0r]

Deltarune: Fool's Fate Ch. 7 Secret Boss

We finally get to the Studio Dark World! The only chapter other than Chapter 1 of Fool's Fate to be set not in Hometown!

I think I first started coming up with this guy around the fourth of July, it's just taken me a bit to draw them and flesh out their lore. Anyways, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen I present to your, your host, the one, the only, the darling deer with the charming voice, Ray D. O'Skelly!!

Ray's name should be obvious. It's a pun on radio. They're a radio host. Not a lot to explain there. Though when first coming up with their name and concept, I did look into 30s and 40s era radio hosts to try and pull inspiration from their names. Red Skelton was one I landed on since Skelton is similar to "skeleton" and I already knew I wanted this boss to have a skeletal face to resemble 30s era radios. Eventually I shorted it to Skelly to flow better with the O to go with the radio pun.

I don't really have a text quirk for Ray yet? Best I can think off is their voice sounds staticy or they get interrupted by ads/song lyrics similar to Spamton and Bitsy. I do know that they can't actually speak because of the well... whole thing that happened to their face. Their voice comes through their microphone. If anyone has any ideas let me know. Maybe a sound board situation?

Since I imagine the studio world being similar to what I think Chapter 3 will be like, being based off movies and film rather than TV, and Bitsy is already animation theory and I've got Casper to cover Woody theory, Ray is radio theory. Video killed the radio star. The theory I forgot to include in my original poll when I was first coming up with Bitsy despite being one of my favorite ideas. Aside from being based on an old-timey radio host, I also vaguely pulled some subtle inspiration from Alastor from Hazbin Hotel. Mostly just in the fact that Ray is a deer along with their color palette, radio theming, and some of their demeanor.

Backstory under the cut

Ray O'Skelly used to be the talk of the town, the bees knees, the cats pajamas! The voice heard across the globe and broadcast to nearly every station. MTTWood's very own home town darling and host of the most tuned into radio channel in all of the studio world. Ray's radio show had it all! Music, news, even radio plays performed by the deer themself! It was the age of radio and Ray was monarch, surely there was no way their popularity would falter any time soon.

At least... that's what Ray thought before the leader of the studio world signed a deal with some folk from this up and coming "Television" Dark World.

At first, the TV World didn't pose much of a threat to Ray, or at the very least it couldn't yet compete with the popularity of their radio show. But over time, the alternative form of entertainment started to gain more attention and views than Ray's show gained listeners. Especially after the appearance of a supposed Knight in the other Dark World and the merge of most of the channels into TennaVision. According to the public, Ray's show was getting old and bland. The music they played went out of style who knows how long ago, and people would prefer to watch the news and Ray's "radio plays" rather than simply listening. Ray either had to adapt, or fade away in obscurity.

That was when Ray met a man. A man offering aid, offering salvation to the deer down on their luck. The man offered to help Ray "get with the times" as they say, and rise back to fame. Help get their radio show back in the public zeitgeist and to surpass the competition. Almost without thinking, Ray took the man's offer, desperate to stay relevant through whatever means necessary.

The man made good on his deal, helping Ray by suggesting a few changes to their format here and there. New music, updated segments, notes on Ray's tone and how to better appeal to masses and be "hip with the kids", the works. Ray wasn't particularly for all the new changes, but they were desperate. Desperate for attention, desperate for fame and adoration. And fame and attention they got. It was almost as if, whoever tuned into the station would HAVE to listen. Ray's listenership was through the roof, all thanks to the man...

Perhaps it could be said that fame and power corrupts, because at some point, listeners noticed a shift in Ray's demeanor. Once the soft-spoken and well mannered host with the most, they got more prideful, vein, sadistic. Either from all the attention going to their head, or perhaps from a great Truth revealed to them about the nature of their existence breaking their mind. Whatever it was, it twisted the once charming radio host. Twisted them into an arrogant yet still devilishly charismatic individual with an ever captive audience.

Eventually, Ray's pride got the better of them. Even after the man left, Ray still maintained their popularity and fame, yet their ego wouldn't settle for just that. Ray had a captive audience at their disposal who would have to listen to anything they said. Any idea they suggested could be implanted in as little as a whisper and the right frequency. Ray could control this town. Could bend it to their every whim and will. Which is just what they tried to do. Before their operation got shut down of course.

Turns out, an old acquaintance had played stool pigeon and cried wolf to the authorities. Even if Ray tried to charm the guards, it was no use. Their studio was taken from them and shut down and they were cast out onto the rainy street. Yet even stripped of everything, Ray wouldn't let anything stop them from reaching the top. In a makeshift studio down in the darkest corners of MTTWood, Ray continued to broadcast their signal to who ever would listen.

That is until the children of a star and their friends found themselves in the studio world...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hehehe. It might've taken me a bit to come up with but this was fun. When I designed Ray, I knew they were a little charmer, but I also wanted to have them be twisted. I imagine after the studio Dark World is sealed and Ray ends up staying at the Blook house with Spamton and Poly, they act like the sweetest little darling. Only to still be manipulating people through subliminal messaging in their radio broadcasts. I'll have to play that out some time.

Anyways, only 3 left to go! And one of those I already have so it's really just designing the secret boss for the Town Hall world and then the Festival world. The later of which I already have a vague idea for.

[crazyforbarbatos]

Ranking the Obey Me Bedrooms (Part 1): House Lamentation

Note: This is all for fun and this is just what I think of the rooms.

Lucifer's Room

Rank: 7/10

Room's flooring and walls seem nice

A vampire like me would love the darkness

And the lights would have such a lovely glow at night

It's almost like one of those old oil candles

I LOVE the fireplace and the chair near it

A great place for reading and/or listening to music

The skeleton in the corner is that of my nightmares

I could not sleep in this room (or with someone in this room) while that skelly is there

no fucking way

Nightmare fuel

And with my luck, it would get cursed or something and come alive or move

Bangability Rank: 7/10

Is it just me but does the bed look like it's just cement with a blanket and a few pillows on it?

I might want my back broken but not this way

However the chair by the fire might be nice

Mammon's Room

Rank: 8/10

Very spacious

It looks very lived in

and frankly, this room is very clean

It looks like the ideal man-cave tho

Bangability: 9/10

Do you want to hear echoes when you fuck?

This room is not soundproof

chances are, it's like a school guy and everyone's gonna hear the echoes of your activities

But at the same time, I imagine he blasts loud music so that no one hears

However, you can get pretty inventive with ideas of where to do it

bent over the pool table?

In the car steaming up the windows a la Jack & Rose?

Yeah, he loves his car and would not want to ruin it but if he is greedy enough, and chances are he is, he can just clean it afterwards

Levi's Room

Rank: 8/10

Probably one of the cooler rooms

The fact that it is a room for a gamer/anime fan is cool

and the aquarium is so lovely

but I have to worry

what if the room floods

that room is an electrical hazard

And you know what, if you slept with Levi in his bathtub, it wouldn't be so bad if you were laying on top of him

It might be bad news bears if he is laying on top of you because there's no way you'd be comfortable laying with you back in the hard tub

The man may have to pull out a cot or something if you're going to sleep in his room for sleepovers (or other things)

Also I'd imagine the room would be cold

Bangability: 7/10

The only suitable place to do it would be is in the bathtub

and you know, that's not so bad

some find that really romantic

especially if he runs a nice warm bath for both of you

and he could have you pressed up against the tub while taking you from behind

Honestly another good place to be intimate with him would be his gaming chair, specifically when he's busy gaming

it won't take him long to get flustered and put up his mic while you sit on his lap

There's no way he's going to take you anywhere else in his room

Satan's Room

Rank: 5/10

The book aesthetic is nice

the bed by the window is lovely

however, this room is a danger zone

you could trip anywhere you step

and if some of the books are enchanted to fly, who's to say one isn't going to fly at you and catch you in the face or head

Not to mention there are candles

bump one and the whole room is gonna be set ablaze

I love this boy to death but I can't give him a pass for his room

babe, it's dangerous in there

Bangability: 4/10

Satan doesn't want his books messed up

Not to mention if you accidentally touch a book while in the moment, it could be bad news bears for you

He would have to carry you in there if you wanted to do anything in there

I mean, that's cute and all but really that's the only way you're gonna survive in that room

Asmo's Room

Rank: 9/10

Asmo's room is so pretty

THE COLORS~

Seriously, the aesthetic is on point

His bed just screams Sleeping Beauty to me

Probably my favorite bed ever out of all the Obey Me characters beds

His pillow on the bed looks so soft

My allergies are gonna flare up so bad cause there's no way this man uses fake flowers

Bangability: 10/10

That vanity isn't placed randomly

it has a mirror pointing towards the bed

so expect both of you to be watching yourselves in the mirror

and I imagine that the bed is perfect for not just sleeping, but for intimacy

and Asmo being the Avatar of Lust, he knows how to make sure that the bed doesn't hit against the way

unless he wants other people to hear the bed hitting against the wall

Beel & Belphie's Room

Rank: 10/10

Probably my favorite of the brothers' room

it's homey

not to mention there's just something really cute about the twins sharing a room

and how they match despite being different

and the sun and moon?

I love that

especially considering Belphie loves constellations

Bangability: 6/10

Well

Despite loving this room, I find it very hard to find this room good for intimacy

There's not really any privacy

the most privacy you'll get is when the lights go out

but then you both would have to stay really quiet or else the other twin would hear

The only positive would be if you were with both of them

and the only issue then would be which bed would you do it in

I think the beds would be comfortable at least

MC's Room

Rank: 9/10

First of all, I love MC's bed

It just looks so soft and inviting

and the pillows seem so fluff

and there's so many!

That is ideal

I think the mattress would be at least comfortable

and I love that there's like a little wall (even if it is just a wall of plants) separating the head of the bed and the rest of the room

that gives a little bit more privacy

I would be worried about my allergies with all of the plants

but then again, it's very pleasing to the eye

now the rest of the room, I love it

the coffin bookshelf is a goth/emo dreams

but I have to ask why there's a whole table and chairs in the room?

Bangability: 10/10

Honestly with how comfy the bed looks

and how the characters seem to want to stay in MC's room with MC, I think it's an ideal place for intimacy

and let's not mention that the table is also an option

and who knows, maybe up against the bookshelf too

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

I hope this is not a weird question. But what is the favorite body part of partner for each skelly? Like nothing of a sexual nature, just something they enjoy looking at/touching.

God, that's so long since I didn't revisitated my body English vocabulary xD I'll have to work on this.

Undertale Sans - Eyes. Eyes tell a lot of things about someone and he could just spend several hours looking S/O in the eyes.

Undertale Papyrus - Hair! Papyrus loves playing with his S/O's hair, it's calming him when he's too agitated.

Underswap Sans - The neck. It's where his head is most of the time when he's hanging out with you.

Underswap Papyrus - No preference as long as he can touch and pet you. He's happy with just a little bit of skin.

Underfell Sans - Without a surprise, your butt. Randomly slap it several time in the day to have attention or a reaction from you.

Underfell Papyrus - Your hands. He can stop playing with them whenever he's sitting with you doing nothing. It comforts him when you're walking in the street too.

Horrortale Sans - Your neck too. That's the part he sees the most since he's always keeping you close, safe in his hoodie.

Horrortale Papyrus - Your back in general. He loves rubs it when he's anxious.

Horrorswap Sans - Your legs. He loves legs in general, and long legs even more.

Horrorswap Papyrus - Your belly, that's where he loves to sleep most of the time because the rest of your body has too many bones.

Horrorfell Sans - Still your butt. Famine changed a lot of things but not that.

Horrorfell Papyrus - He's just happy someone wants him, he loves you as a all.

Swapfell Sans - Your hips. For no reason in particular, he's just obsessed with them.

Swapfell Papyrus - Your beauty spots??? Like he's poking them all the time and he's counting them for some reason.

Fellswap Gold Sans - Your arms. He can't resist biting then when he's happy or excited. It's weird and you think he should talk about it to someone but he's not listening.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - Your face because touching anything under it makes him flush to death. He's terribly shy when it comes to touch people.

Outertale Sans - Your ribs. Bonus point if you're ticklish. It's like a declaration of war.

Outertale Papyrus - He likes the fact your body is hot because he is cold at night. Doesn't care which part.

Dancetale Sans - Legs, obviously. He wishes he had the same as yours.

Dancetale Papyrus - Most of your proeminent muscles. It's so weird when he randomly pokes them but ok.

Dancefell Sans - As all Fell Sans, butt. He's the tiniest Fell Sans and he's always bumping against it somehow, most of the time on purpose.

Dancefell Papyrus - Hair. He loves testing things on them and cut them himself. The results are random.

Farmtale Sans - He's a simple man who values the personnality more than the body, so he's not difficult. Everything is fine.

Farmtale Papyrus - Anywhere but your boobs which he is avoiding at all costs. When he does eye contact, he screams.

Mafiatale Sans - Legs. He feels happy only when they're on his laps in the couch so he can rub them.

Mafiatale Papyrus - He's a man of standarts and will compliment your butt every five minutes just to see how flustered he can get you.

Mafiafell Sans - Your hands. To pet his head. PET PET PET PAT PET PAT PET PET PET.

Mafiafell Papyrus - He doesn't care as long as you're smaller than him and he can pokes your nose saying "smol".

Disbelief Papyrus - Like Classic Papyrus, your hair. He's even coming with you to have a haircut sometimes.

Ink - Your feet. He loves to randomly fall on the ground to analyze them. In public spaces. Help.

Error - HIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSS. He doesn't want to touch shit thank you very much.

Dustale Sans - ... Your toes. Especially when you are wiggling them like little worms. Can't... Resist... MUST ATTACK.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #478

“i get pretty just to fuck my face up”

If you were dying who would you say goodbye to first out of everyone? My mom. Are you someone who actually likes to babysit children? NO. Do you find any of your friends’ parents creepy or really mean? No. Do you have things on your mind right now? My weight is very, very much on my mind. I dared to weigh myself yesterday and I'm the heaviest I've ever been. So that's comforting. Are you at all stressed right now? ^^^^^^^ hunny I wanna pull all my hair out What was the last stuffed animal you bought? I don't know. What’s the last new good song that you discovered? "The Devil's Rejects" by Rob Zombie. I've been really into him lately. Felicity, Fiona, or Flavia? (with the “v” pronounced like a “w”–it’s Latin) "Felicity" is beautiful. I love the word in general. Which biblical name do you prefer: Naomi, Esther, Rachel, or Joanna? I love the name Naomi. Do you own a cowboy hat? No. Have you ever unfriended a sibling on social media? No; she unfriended me. Has someone let you down recently? My goddamn self. What are you looking forward to? Mom to get better so we can force ourselves back into the gym. Also Girt's mom to get better so we can see each other. For the weather to actually feel fall-ish. What’s your favorite Lady Gaga song? "Bad Romance." Skeletons or scarecrows? Skelly boiz What type of tree is the most common where you live? Oh, absolutely pine trees. Where did your last kiss take place? My living room. Name of your pet? Venus and Roman. How was your summer? Shitty. I hate summer. Do you miss anyone right now? I really miss Girt. Covid's gotta go. What size is your shirt? *feral hissing noises* Who was the last person you held hands with? Girt. Do you get out of bed on the left side or right side? Left, because I sleep mostly to the left. Do you like to be closer or farther back to the wheel when driving? Neither, I think? I haven't driven in so long that I'm not sure, but I'm quite sure I position myself pretty ideally. When eating dinner, do you eat foods in order or just inhale it? It's usually kind of in order, but occasionally I'll mix it up. When you lose your phone, where is the first general place you look? My bed. Do you fall asleep with your mouth open or closed? Usually closed. I tend to breathe through my nose unless I'm stuffy. What was the last bug you killed? An ant. Do you keep items in your front or back pants’ pocket? Front. What was the last item or location you cleaned? My glasses. Do you own a pet spider? No, but I REALLY want a number of tarantulas. :( The more time that passes, the more I want some, ha ha. I'd also love a jumping spider or two, but Mom won't allow even that. Have you ever gone on a cruise? No. Is there a rocking chair in your house? No. Have you ever been stood up? No. Do you like elevators or escalators? I'm scared of both. I'm afraid of getting stuck in an elevator, or falling down an escalator/tripping on one. Which do you prefer: M&M’s, Skittles, or Reese’s Pieces? Reese's Pieces, yum. If you could be the sidekick of a superhero which superhero would you pick? Uhhhh maybe Spider-Man, if I could web-sling too? lol Where on your body would you never get a tattoo? ... Can/do people get genitalia tattoos? Because I would fuckin never- Do you think that you could ever win a food eating contest? Hell no. I would puke. Honestly, have you ever thrown garbage out of the window of a car? Absolutely not. Never. What is the first song that comes to mind when I say: Michael Jackson? "Billie Jean." Which would you find more menacing: dinosaurs or dragons? Dragons are just dinos that can fly and breathe fire, so... you tell me which is more dangerous. I'd still try to befriend one tho lmao. Can you say “hello” in another language? Yeah; German is easy. It's just "hallo." Do you like licorice? NO omg Did anybody ever read bedtime stories to you when you were younger? Mom did. Do you have a favorite Johnny Depp movie? What is it? I really like his roles in Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Were you ever force-fed as a child? My parents tried to enforce always finishing our plates. My mom is very against that now, considering the issues it can cause. Should kidneys or other organs be able to be bought and sold? No????? That's some black market bullshit for a reason. What is one of your most important rules when going on a date? Especially if it's your first date with a person, watch for red flags. Will children today have better or worse lives than their parents, and why? Well, it'll probably go in both ways depending on the topic. The environment is dying, the economy is horrific, but I'm sure there will be things like medical advancements. What's the most ironic thing you've seen happen? I dunno. Would you rather go ice skating or roller skating? Roller skating. The blades on ice skates scare me. How many different types of guns have you shot? (water, Nerf, real, etc) Uhhh just water and Nerf, I think? Which of the three meals a day are you most likely to skip? It's very unlikely you'll see me miss a meal... I don't handle the feeling of hunger well. What's something lots of people are afraid of, but you aren't? Snakes, some spiders, I don't THINK I'm scared of deep water, the dark... Do you know anyone who is tolerant of some on the LGBT spectrum but not all? Yes. Do open casket wakes freak you out? I've only been to one, as a child, when I didn't have a full grasp on death, so it was... oddly more fascinating to me, as weird as that sounds? I think going to one now, especially if it was someone close to me, it would make the wake more upsetting. When's the last time you slept in your parents' bed? No clue. What's something that will always be in fashion? Skinny jeans, checkered Vans... What "old person things" do you do? I regularly say "back in the day," lol. And I can go to sleep very early, like 7, but that's uncommon. I complain about soreness in my back and stuff. Do you live in the same hometown as where you were born? No. Did you dorm at college or commute from home? I commuted from home. Do you prefer the thin blue and white masks, or decorative ones? Well, who wouldn't prefer decorative ones? They're more personal to your interests and stuff and I feel is more encouraging to make people wear them. I however don't want to spend money on a mask, so I'm chill with just the blue surgical ones. Have you ever witnessed someone have a seizure before? My dog, yes. Have you ever rode on the back of a shopping cart, or a Home Depot dolly? Yeah, as a kid. Does everything you buy have to be organic? No. I don't buy the groceries, but I also don't care much about that. Do you support more small businesses or chain restaurants/stores? Habitually, chain ones. I wish I paid more attention to small businesses. Have you ever been crowned king or queen at a school dance? No. How old were you when you first started wearing a bra? Am I supposed to remember that? Are you more invested in computer games or video games? I don't care what the game is on; I can be equally invested in either. I prefer to play console games, though. Are you a fan of pumpkin spice everything? Noooo. I'm not a massive fan of it, actually. Is there any holiday that you don't decorate your house for? We only really decorate for occasionally Halloween and always Christmas. Mom may put up some Thanksgiving stuff. Tell me something your parents don't know about. They don't know certain places I've done sexual things at/on. What's the last table food you fed your pet? Roman doesn't get human food. He learned at a young age that's a no-no. Have you ever peed in the water at the beach? Ew, no. Even if it's incredibly vast, people still swim in that. Have you ever scored a winning goal for a team you played for? I doubt it. Have you ever participated in LARPing? No. Have you ever gotten a divorce? Never been married. Do you prefer "regular kissing" or French kissing? I mean that depends on the place and the mood. Are you more likely to give a hickey to someone else or get one? I haven't done that in many years, and when it happened, I don't think one of us did it more than the other. Do you like sprinkles on your ice cream? I HATE sprinkles. Have you been in more car accidents as a passenger or a driver? I've only ever been in an accident as a passenger. Have you ever been wrongfully convicted of a crime? No. Was any of the cafeteria food at your school actually any good? I actually didn't mind a good number of things. Have you ever wanted to become a lifeguard? No. What's the highest fever you've ever had? I'm unsure, but over 100. Have you ever kissed a dog on the mouth? Well, dogs have kissed ME on the mouth. al;sdkfjalksdjkf so gross When you were born was the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck? Uh, I don't believe so. I feel like I would know that if I was. Would you enter a burning building to save a kitten? I feel like I would, I think. My intense love of animals would probably force me to kick into action. Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John? Haaaa, I have a bias for "Mark," of course... but if we're talking which name I find most appealing, it's probably John. Or Luke. Have you ever been told that you talk too much? As a child, yes. Do you like to clean? Does ANYBODY enjoy it? Do you know of anyone who went into labor at the baby shower? Uh yikes. No. When's the last time you did a hand game with someone? (ie: Mary Mack) Probably not since I was little. Do you know anyone who was not born in a hospital, unexpectedly? No. Does anyone you know have dual citizenship to live in multiple countries? Possibly? Do you still have a landline phone/phone number? No. Name a fad that was popular when you were growing up, that you miss. Oh, I KNOW there's some things, but I don't recall right now. Have you ever gotten to milk a cow or a goat? No. I'm not sure I'd want to.

[whitelippedviper]

Andrea Pazienza's "Mardi Gras Night": Can't Say Shit If You Aren't About Shit

I think in western comics the images are trapped in echo.  On facebook I belong to a comic fan group that posts a lot of Marvel, Image, and DC stuff, mostly geared toward people excited about superhero comics.  Which...I just like that there are people excitedly talking about SOME kind of comic.  Anyways, the other day someone posted a pinup that Amy Reeder had done, and Reeder is a good artist, I like her work fine, I was a really big fan of that Madame Xanadu work she did ages ago--but it was this pin up she did of Swamp Thing.  And it’s just Swamp Thing walking through water in black and white pen and ink.  It’s very by the book both in terms of a pinup and in terms of what you would expect from a Swamp Thing drawing.  It’s this character people like, positioned centrally, doing something vaguely like what they would do--and someone liked it enough to save it, and then share it to the group.  And I thought--what if this image wasn’t of Swamp Thing? What if it was just some guy Reeder made up, in the same pose, drawn the same sort of way--would people still care?  Would as many people still care? I think that’s the edge of something that really strikes me about artists right now in the west.  It’s why there’s usually this huge drop off when an artist goes from drawing superhero stuff for DC and Marvel to doing their own thing.  It’s why you see a lot of artists at cons kind of chained to their table having to draw more DC and Marvel stuff for scratch.  When I tabled with Katie Skelly a few years back in Seattle, that was something that really struck me, because she does commissions--and a lot of the people who would buy her commissions wouldn’t pick up her books as well--or ask her to just draw whatever, or even draw her own characters.  They wanted to leave the con with an icon of their favorite character in a style they thought was nice enough at a fair price.  They don’t really want Amy Reeder’s Rocket Girl, at least not as much as they want her Supergirl.  Which is a thing larger than fan culture.  It’s like you just want that poster of Christ to hang on your wall, and you don’t care if it looks like dumb as fuck.  The image isn’t really there, just its placeholder.  And that’s inside of comics too.  I read a lot of comics where people are doing images in certain spots because that’s the spot they are supposed to be in, if that makes sense. Like for example, a last page shocking reveal has a formula that the audience reacts to and artists play to, especially in event books. This emptiness becomes especially problematic given the homogeneous nature of the demographics of the people most visibly making comics, particularly when married to their newfound predilection toward branding themselves as allies to the marginalized.  It’s like, I need a black body in this space, and it doesn’t matter how or why or in service of what--just so long as I put it in there, then job done.  The  recent(note: originally wrote this when it was recent) ignorant bliss podcast on the Dilraj Mann Island cover gets into this quite a bit.   A society built on vacuous imagery will BE vacuous.  If our images lose value, then we lose voice, art loses meaning, and you end up fucking with people for no reason to no end, just because you have nothing to say.  And I’m not even saying this as like a social justice position.  Take that iconic page Ditko did of Spider-man trying to push up this huge machine while water floods in around him--a page so iconic that if you’ve seen it at all you automatically know exactly what image I’m referring to.  You don’t have to know Spider-man to get that page.  To feel the heroic effort, and weight of pushing against that machinery.  That image isn’t just an echo or placeholder.  It is the thing it’s depicting.

So I’ve been reading the Andrea Pazienza Zanardi collection that Fantagraphics put out this year.  And this question of value to the image comes up in my reading.  Because to me, Paz is this unrestrained expressionism in comics--his devotion to the image is so total that style cannot contain it.  There’s almost a mania to his work trying to exorcise these images from his soul.  “Mardi Gras Night” isn’t the work that’s the absolute best example of this because the linework is mostly taking a backseat to the painting--but I think of all of the comics in the Zanardi collection, it’s the most interesting to me because even though it is a very base, mean, nihilistic story about some cute italian boys pillaging a religious all-girls boarding school it is also a comic of completely holy images.  Stuff that you can only explain with the image itself.  Stuff that sticks with you for days on end, rolling around in your brain.  These aren’t empty placeholder images, even though they are in the service of a story that is so debauched.

This image in particular is the one that haunts me.  It’s this silent panel of Petrilli and Zanardi pouring alcohol on the floor of this boarding school, that they plan to ignite.  I think in general when “Mardi Gras Night” pivots from boys sneaking into an all-girls school to see naked women, to like...arson is generally the point in the story, where you are kind of stop like “wait? What the fuck?  Surely not” and right before they set the fire it’s this panel.  It’s like the way that the alcohol matches the leotards, but also sits on top of the floor like blood, and that it’s pissing out of Zanardi in the foreground...and the way that Zanardi and Petrilli are leaned like they are performing some kind of ritualistic dance.  This pagan thing in the middle of all of these crosses.

It’s this moment where the story turns from “boys peeping on girls” to a story of ecstatic religious terrorism.  There’s a pit here that you fall into.  And the pages after this are panel after panel of the boys grabbing panicked women by the hips and breasts and running around like sexual mass shooters against the backdrop of crosses and screaming nuns while the fire they’ve started grows proportionally like a bright purifying jizz.

And you’re like “what the fuck am I reading?”.  It’s beautiful and insane, and then as the boys get away from the fire, the colors cool for a minute, and the weight of the human repercussions of their actions hits Petrilli so hard he folds himself over at the crotch in anxiety before running back in to save the trapped Roberta.

  And even as he is carrying her through the flames like some great hero, he’s still grabbing at her naked breast and butt--and it’s such an insane space to be in, because Petrilli CAUSED the fire.  It was him and his friend’s raging boners that started the whole thing.  Petrilli manages with one last grope of Roberta’s ass to push her to safety, as he is now himself closed off within the burning building.  And the comic warps into this hell.  Petrilli’s leotard and hair melt off.  His skin boils and pops.  His eyes become orange and red pools of pain, and when he finally gets out of the main part of the fire, it’s to these steaming tiles which scald him further--he’s become this grotesque impotent goblin man, screaming to God to give him mercy and end his pain, and then Paz draws him in this blasphemous Pieta pose of tiny dicked broiled Petrilli before the building collapses in on him.  Grace, Paz style.

Even without Cola’s deeply ironic “moral” of the story where Petrilli becomes a lionized hero of the community the fucking like...old school profanity of the thing hits like a wall of bricks.  It’s such a vicious repudiation of heroism, of religious morality, and even of masculinity(here masculinity manages to encompass both rapist and heroism very comfortably!).  And it’s for sure incredibly base, with panels of Zanardi sniffing women’s underwear--but it scales so quickly to these holy images.  I don’t think I’ve read anything like it before.  I mean there are other great Zanardi stories that I’m going to write about eventually, but “Mardi Gras” is a really special comic. I keep coming back to this, which I spoke about in my Ranx article, when we talk about transgression in comics, for a lot of people, that just means they get to say “faggot” or draw a lynching of a person of color, or like draw muslims in horribly hateful ways.  But their shit is so stupid.  They don’t really care about any of this shit.  They might as well write their scripts in tongues for how articulate they are--for how much value there is behind what they’re doing.  It’s empty and passionless iconography done simply to continue an echo.  

But Paz says shit.  I mean like it’s literal shit, but it’s the truth of the shit.  The shit has weight and stench.  You can hold it in your hands and you won’t forget the day you held this shit.  The man has seen a good painting in his life.  He’s read a book or two.  He’s not saying shit just because he has nothing to say, but somehow since he can draw, he has to fill up the page and do the job--there’s so much force behind his work.  Even when it is ridiculous, style can’t contain him.  That’s what the page says to me. There’s meaning here, even if it was just “I felt the conviction of this line, this story, this thing and so I made it”--it’s not cynical, it’s pure.  And not only that, it’s pure AND the man is a master artist.  Which I think is something of a theme for the work I’ve focused on this year in my comics criticism.  And I do it because that’s what I see as lacking for the most part.  Like a lot of comics day to day I feel like is asking me to read books that are both compromised AND look and read like shit.  And there’s things like this that come out and you don’t hear a single peep about them.  A quick glance at google only turned up one review, a negative one on Paste that complained about how the book was too mean with a closing paragraph about the art being “somehow compelling”--which someday I need to write an essay about how for as supposedly progressive as people in comics position themselves as, their POV on a lot of things just sounds like your parents.  I swear comics these days is a lot of adults wanting themselves to be raised by comics they can aspire to, rather than art they can think about.  I mean imagine being an adult unable to process art because it is too violent, or has sex in it.  I had parents growing up, I don’t need a comic critic parent as an adult, thank you very much.  But I mean that goes back to it.  When the shit that is being put out are these empty echoes bereft of anything but their iconic placeholders it’s hard to really say there is much there to consider as an adult.  But then when there is stuff like this put out, it’s not shared around, no one reads it or talks about it, they’re too busy swapping icons of their childhood--and I’m just like...wtf are you here for?  You know you don’t get to actually be a kid again, and that time is ticking, death is coming--demand something so great that you sound like an idiot trying to explain it to anyone!

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[theghostlymuse]

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE BONE MAN

OH MAN HERE COME DEM BONES

1. Before being cursed with undeath, Bagga was on the fast track to becoming a pretty awesome Bard. With his older brother shouldering the responsibility of eventually leading the Lyon family and the House of Redmane, he was allowed to explore his passions in the scholarly and artistic pursuits. Since he died, he’s been reluctant to return to his old passion but some days he’ll admire a well made violin in the window of a shop. He plays the strings like an angel and has one hell of a voice. Total theater nerd.

2. His actual name is Atwell Kastores Lyon. His titles include Lord of the House of Redmane, Second Born of the Lyon, Favored Soul of Tamara, Giant Slayer, and Deputy of Bryn Shander. He took the name Bagga when his older brother started calling him a ‘Bag a’ Bones’ and the nickname stuck. 

3. On the subject of names, the skelly man has a lot of aliases that he uses since being an undead is a big no-no. While he’s disguised he normally goes by Bagga but he’s got a lot of nicknames that he’ll answer to including- Stretch, Slim, Rook, Atlas, Shudder, Poe, and Grin. If he has to sign paperwork of any kind he’ll mix them up for a full name. 

4. Bagga fucking loves horses. Horeback riding was one of his favorite things when he lived back on the family estate. Nowadays most animals can sense the death around him and are pretty averse to letting him get close. This makes him very sad. He just wants to pet the soft horsey noses and give them carrots. 

5. Bagga is actually a huge damn goofball despite how reserved his paranoia of being discovered has made him. If he ever makes a close friend who is comfortable knowing what he is, he’d probably let loose with all of the skeleton weirdness that he can do because honestly though some of it is pretty fun. He’d let you wear his lower jaw like a tiara.

6. He’s basically trained himself to be touch averse since if anyone passed through the illusions he has on himself, they’d easily be able to figure out that he’s not much more than bones and fancy clothes. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t like to be touched, but it’s more instinctual for him to flinch away, even when he’s actively going in for a hug with a friend or to shake a trusted someone’s hand. 

7. Bagga has found that one of his favorite things to do now is to wade into beaches or rivers and spend some time exploring the bottom. He doesn’t need to breathe at all and he’s accustomed to seeing in the dark. It’s like a whole new world down there and he’s always interested in the things he finds.

8. Since undead can’t sleep, Bagga has found himself with a ton of free time. He has a collection of books that he keeps in his bag of holding to keep himself occupied in the midnight hours. He’s also been working on cataloging the things he finds on his travels (and underwater) into a field guide, as well as keeping extensive journal entries. He likes the idea of one day publishing them in hopes that it might help him be accepted as he is. 

9. Bagga operates under the motto that if he can help, then he should. He’s had everything pretty much taken from him since he went from a respected and well off noble family to being regarded as a monster and so he knows what it’s like to struggle. He’ll buy the homeless new clothes and dip into his coinpurse or offer to help a family around their property if he overhears that someone in the family is ill. He realizes that he’s practically immortal and doesn’t need the things to live that most do and he figures that if time is money then he’s the richest man in the world and lending some of it won’t hurt.

10. As much as he loves the idea of just settling down somewhere in peace, he can’t help himself. Gentle a soul as he might be, the pull of adventure is always in the back of his mind. He’s not a stranger to killing, especially when the opponents are wicked, and will fell an evil foe without remorse and sometimes a bit of satisfaction for a job well done. He’ll avoid violence when he can, but he’s a warrior at heart and sometimes that’s just how things work.