SR 1 PAGE SEVENTY-THREE

Have you ever met anybody with a split tongue? 

I’ve never encountered a body modification that really freaked me out, but I have to admit there’s something unsettling about forked tongues. Maybe it’s because a lot of people can move both chunks individually? It makes it seem very alien, like “WHAT ARE YOU??” A fearsome invasion hiding in plain sight!

My partner Ami worked in a tattoo/piercing shop in her late teens. She never split her tongue, but she did pierce it once. Herself. On the night before Easter Sunday. When she was supposed to go to church with grandma.

No malfeasance on Ami’s part, she just forgot the day. But man, what an awkward morning that must have been. Imagine the fury on the Easter Bunny’s face. I bet many a chocolate egg was withheld that day!

I still like the mechanical pencil texture on the troll’s fur on these pages. That’s the kind of cool texture you could only get in those days by pretending time is infinite, sleep isn’t real, and the landlord requires no money.

SR 1 PAGE SEVENTY-FOUR

Every time I see this page I think about how it was originally published with Sera’s thumb on backward in the bottom panel. 

I think SLG editor-in-chief Jennifer de Guzman was the first to notice the unintentional body horror, but unfortunately it was too late to adjust it for the floppy version. Which means physical copies of Serenity Rose #3 are extremely valuable, fetching up to $300,000 on the collector’s market. (Even in “fine” condition.) Hope you still have yours! I’ve personally purchased seven houses just by selling a few author’s copies!

Slave Labor Graphics (increasingly known as just “SLG” during my time there) had a fairly hands-off approach to editing. It probably varied from author to author, and I’m sure I could’ve requested more assistance if I wanted, but generally they left me alone. If head honcho Dan Vado liked your work enough to print it, then that was it; he’d print it. No fuss. Dan did warn me about the basic printability of some of my dumber drawing methods, but there were never any discussions about the story itself. 

That kind of freedom was wild to me. Especially coming from animation, where every little twist of your pencil is subject to approval by 83 different people. For the first time in my life, I was being treated like a grown-up!

What a breathtaking mistake Dan had made!

Years later, Dan told me at first he wasn’t too sure about my motivations for making the comic. I guess he’d had some weird interactions with comic dudes who exclusively write female characters, and thought maybe this was just some kind of fetish deal for me. It had honestly never occurred to me that anyone could think that about Serenity Rose. I know there are loads of artists who indulge their kinks through their work, but it’s usually pretty obvious. (Like, Lady Death obvious.) Nothing wrong with it, necessarily, but it’s never been my intention, that’s for sure.

So why IS Serenity a woman? It’s still a valid question, I guess. I think it boils down to this: As a fairly androgynous person who’s lived their entire life one foot on the “male” side of the gender divide, the idea of planting my alter ego one foot on the other side was incredibly compelling. Walk the border long enough, you’ll eventually want to hop it, even for just a little while.

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Experiencing some kind of art-related tunnel vision and cannot believe an entire week has passed already. Have I moved from this desk? Did I eat? Did I sleep? ARE THE CATS STILL ALIVE?*

(*Just checked and yes they are fine! Someone’s been scooping their box and everything!)

I also seem to have received a package from Random House with advance copies of SHOCK CITY. Too scared to open it right now. Will I have opened it by next week? Come back to find out!

NEXT WEEK: GID-YAP!