SR 1 PAGE ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN

Okay! So this is fun… See all those witches mentioned toward the bottom of the page there? Who are they? Totally random nobodies I dashed off without a thought, or a tiny glimpse of a deeper lore never explored in the rest of the series?

Thankfully for this newsletter, it’s the second one! Let’s go one by one.

RAMONA MORAGA: Ramona is from somewhere in Central America. (The world-building never progressed far enough to pick a specific country.) If you recall, in issue #1 there’s a news article about “The Curse,” an extremely dangerous drug derived from vampire blood. That is Ramona’s domain. The world’s most feared criminal mastermind, Ramona Moraga controls the flow of The Curse worldwide, often with the help of deeply corrupt government agencies like the United States’ SSI. (Theoretically fun fact: The witch burns on Agent Merrick’s face in book two are are the work of Ramona herself.)

“Latin American drug kingpin” is a pretty creaky cliche now, so if I were to pick up this thread again I might base Ramona somewhere else. But then again, tying the cartels to crooked US interests gets at some truths worth talking about, so I dunno. It’s all in how you handle it.

We see Ramona one more time in the Serenity Rose series: She’s Valentine’s silent apprentice in the flashback that begins book two.

MR. DOMINO: Mr. Domino is one of the most famous witches on earth, a beloved Japanese artist modeled after Hayao Miyazaki and Jim Henson, with just a soupçon of Walt Disney. (Yes: soupçon.) Over the past 50 years, Mr. Domino has conjured a whole kaleidoscope of delightful ectoplasmic characters and put them in hundreds of movies, TV shows, and live theater performances. He even has multiple theme parks devoted to his stuff, just like Uncle Walt.

I never had any specific stories in mind for Mr. Domino, but in the back of my mind I always wanted Serenity Rose to take a trip to Japan. Who knows what she and Mr. Domino would’ve gotten into.

?: This is Valentine, the nefarious Big Bad we meet in book two. Not sure why he’s just a question mark here… Maybe V is having trouble remembering his face? That’s pretty spooky. Yeah, let’s go with that… Valentine is so powerful he can cloud your mind and turn any memories of him into the thinnest tatters. Chilling stuff!

DR. VOTT: Did you know cancer has been cured in the world of Serenity Rose? It has! Pretty good, right? Unfortunately, to have your cancer removed you’ll need an appointment with Dr. Vott, the witch physician, and he is VERY in demand. Like Mr. Domino, I didn’t have any specific storylines in mind for Dr. Vott, but his whole deal brings up a lot of thorny philosophical questions that might’ve been interesting to explore down the line. Maybe someday I will.

SR 1 PAGE ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN

While I was at St. Patrick’s HS for Boys (GO SHAMROCKS!), I would occasionally write articles for the school newspaper. I remember exactly zero of those articles now, but I do remember one of the pitches: “Why I LOVE the commercialization of Christmas!”

The editor shot it down before I could even finish the sentence, so who knows how I would’ve argued that point. But I wasn’t just being an edgelord, I was serious about it. For me, Christmas was about twinkling lights at my mall, Santa on my Coke cans, and Steve Urkel dressed as an elf on TV. The holiday can’t just be a somber reflection on a baby destined to be crucified. That’s a gross bummer. My theoretical article would make an impassioned case for commercialized Yuletide cheese.

“Why Hate Is Good, Actually” has some of that same contrarian energy.

I think I have Vicious make a pretty decent case for the narrow application of hatred over the next couple of pages, but reading it also reminds me of my annoying lifelong tendency toward contrarianism. “Oh, that’s what everyone else thinks, is it? Well NOT ME, BUD. I’m a freethinker.” People like that can be a monumental drag to be around sometimes, so I apologize to anyone I’ve ever dragged.

On the other hand, maybe you need to be a bit of a contrarian to think you’ll ever make living in comics. Where would this art form be without contrarians? Where would ANY art form be?

Anyway, V’s list of hateable things still feels pretty complete to me today. Probably add “transphobia” these days, though. Back in 2004 that would’ve been included under “homophobia,” but here in the dismal light of 2024 it seems necessary to underline the T in LGBT.

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Not much going on this week but work work work. Which is good! I like a nice quiet work week. Got an absolutely terrifying number of comic pages to ink and color before my deadline in spring. Can’t be doing presentations at middle schools every week.

Although I probably should? Promo-wise, it’d be great to be able to do public events every week. If anyone wants to sign up to be a second me, please get in touch and we’ll fit you for a full-body suit ASAP.

NEXT WEEK: CUSS!