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matt_zimmerLet's see. I started this nonsense when I was 7, I'm 49 now so this final issue was literally 42 years in the making.
UnComix Tales: The Terran Wars Aftermath #2: Part Two "This World Or Another" (Un-Iverse #90)
This is the last years-earlier freebie for the Dreamwidth Faithful. Gotta make it good.
It's a long issue. Probably not the longest ever, but I'm guessing it will wind up the THIRD longest after "The One With The Spaceship Battles" and "Planet Meek!".
My favorite issues usually have a moment in them that makes me weep.
This issue has three. The ending gets me every freaking time. It's sad, beautiful, and perfect.
What do I expect the reaction to the issue to be? What do I think of it?
It's one of my favorite issues of all time. And I suspect if Gilda And Meek gained a fandom similar to other genre fandoms they would hate it.
I ended it wrong. I focused on the wrong characters and things. You didn't want a sad ending. The last scene is confusing rather than satisfying (Hello Twin Peaks tribute! You were decades in getting here!).
But I can tell you this. Not only has this been the planned ending for at least two decades. I can confidently say it's the right ending. Whether typical genre fans would agree or not.
But I think I might be wrong about readers' reactions. What I am projecting is how most fans would react to most other genre projects with that exact ending. I truly think Gilda And Meek fans, although VERY small in number, are built differently, and appreciate completely different things than other fans. Which makes sense because that's true of ME too. I think it seems quite possible to me the type of person who stuck through all 90 issues of this mess, as difficult and thick as it was as points, will appreciate it. As much WORK as the reader had to put in, they'll find the sad ending correct, and utterly satisfying. It is the Textbook example of The Good Hurt I crave and chase, and honestly, it is the single best example of it in the entire saga. It's the right ending, and sad or not, for the type of fans Gilda And Meek fans are, they'll appreciate how good their tears feel instead of resenting them for existing in the first place.
I could be wrong. A big blind spot from most creators is overestimating their fans. That sounds cruel, but it's true. But I dunno, this whole massive, messy, unwieldy, and WEIRD project probably attracts an entirely different breed of obsessive fan than anything else could. Not that other stuff wouldn't have other fans obsessing over it. But both Gilda And Meek fans AND myself are both probably different because we almost certainly obsess about different things than other fandoms. That's my hunch.
The first part of the issue was far more action-packed than I predicted it would be. I didn't predict that because it didn't need it. I actually figured the final issue would be pure wrap-up and melodrama, and the action sequences at the beginning would be perfunctory before we got down to business. But I was In The Zone last night and wrote an exciting action scene from scratch. Effective From Scratch writing is hard for me, and I relish whenever I come up with good stuff off the top of my head when writing a script, instead of putting it in the outline months ahead of time.
I famously say I hate unneeded complications in fictions. But EXCITING complications? That I and the Reader will enjoy? Those can actually be fun, and I don't feel like I'm dicking people around. I once famously claimed if an "unneeded" complication isn't as exciting or effective as Doc Brown at the Clock Tower in Back To The Future, drop it. Not gonna say I outdid Doc Brown. But I didn't drop it either, did I?
Watch out for the line "You're so vain, you think this Apocalypse is about you." Not gonna spoil who says it, but somebody does.
Last observation, and really, it's the reason I love the issue. I envisioned the issue being nothing but pure pay-off the entire way through. For series finales, that's a pretty tall freaking order, but as I was going, not only did the conclusions I reach feel right, they feel like the answers could never have been anything else, even before I thought them up. The thick continuity and answers given feed into each other (and itself) and explains EVERYTHING, while feeling natural, planned, and right, even if the second thing wasn't true for all of it. One of the pleasures of writing The Un-Iverse is that despite it being a mess, despite there being several portions of it that embarrass me, I never seem to make actual mistakes. Even the smallest unrelated loose thread is firmly connected to something huge, and the thread doesn't just explain the huge thing, it does so convincingly, and in THIS issue, it's as likely as not the thread didn't even EXIST until I sat down to write out the script last night. The Un-Iverse is far from perfect. But it feels like I've TOLD it perfectly, which trust me, as a consumer of fiction, is a pretty rare fucking thing. It's why I love the issue, and why I hope my lovable readers (who as messed up as I am) will love it too.
UnComix Tales: The Terran Wars Aftermath #2: Part Two "This World Or Another" (Un-Iverse #90)
This is the last years-earlier freebie for the Dreamwidth Faithful. Gotta make it good.
It's a long issue. Probably not the longest ever, but I'm guessing it will wind up the THIRD longest after "The One With The Spaceship Battles" and "Planet Meek!".
My favorite issues usually have a moment in them that makes me weep.
This issue has three. The ending gets me every freaking time. It's sad, beautiful, and perfect.
What do I expect the reaction to the issue to be? What do I think of it?
It's one of my favorite issues of all time. And I suspect if Gilda And Meek gained a fandom similar to other genre fandoms they would hate it.
I ended it wrong. I focused on the wrong characters and things. You didn't want a sad ending. The last scene is confusing rather than satisfying (Hello Twin Peaks tribute! You were decades in getting here!).
But I can tell you this. Not only has this been the planned ending for at least two decades. I can confidently say it's the right ending. Whether typical genre fans would agree or not.
But I think I might be wrong about readers' reactions. What I am projecting is how most fans would react to most other genre projects with that exact ending. I truly think Gilda And Meek fans, although VERY small in number, are built differently, and appreciate completely different things than other fans. Which makes sense because that's true of ME too. I think it seems quite possible to me the type of person who stuck through all 90 issues of this mess, as difficult and thick as it was as points, will appreciate it. As much WORK as the reader had to put in, they'll find the sad ending correct, and utterly satisfying. It is the Textbook example of The Good Hurt I crave and chase, and honestly, it is the single best example of it in the entire saga. It's the right ending, and sad or not, for the type of fans Gilda And Meek fans are, they'll appreciate how good their tears feel instead of resenting them for existing in the first place.
I could be wrong. A big blind spot from most creators is overestimating their fans. That sounds cruel, but it's true. But I dunno, this whole massive, messy, unwieldy, and WEIRD project probably attracts an entirely different breed of obsessive fan than anything else could. Not that other stuff wouldn't have other fans obsessing over it. But both Gilda And Meek fans AND myself are both probably different because we almost certainly obsess about different things than other fandoms. That's my hunch.
The first part of the issue was far more action-packed than I predicted it would be. I didn't predict that because it didn't need it. I actually figured the final issue would be pure wrap-up and melodrama, and the action sequences at the beginning would be perfunctory before we got down to business. But I was In The Zone last night and wrote an exciting action scene from scratch. Effective From Scratch writing is hard for me, and I relish whenever I come up with good stuff off the top of my head when writing a script, instead of putting it in the outline months ahead of time.
I famously say I hate unneeded complications in fictions. But EXCITING complications? That I and the Reader will enjoy? Those can actually be fun, and I don't feel like I'm dicking people around. I once famously claimed if an "unneeded" complication isn't as exciting or effective as Doc Brown at the Clock Tower in Back To The Future, drop it. Not gonna say I outdid Doc Brown. But I didn't drop it either, did I?
Watch out for the line "You're so vain, you think this Apocalypse is about you." Not gonna spoil who says it, but somebody does.
Last observation, and really, it's the reason I love the issue. I envisioned the issue being nothing but pure pay-off the entire way through. For series finales, that's a pretty tall freaking order, but as I was going, not only did the conclusions I reach feel right, they feel like the answers could never have been anything else, even before I thought them up. The thick continuity and answers given feed into each other (and itself) and explains EVERYTHING, while feeling natural, planned, and right, even if the second thing wasn't true for all of it. One of the pleasures of writing The Un-Iverse is that despite it being a mess, despite there being several portions of it that embarrass me, I never seem to make actual mistakes. Even the smallest unrelated loose thread is firmly connected to something huge, and the thread doesn't just explain the huge thing, it does so convincingly, and in THIS issue, it's as likely as not the thread didn't even EXIST until I sat down to write out the script last night. The Un-Iverse is far from perfect. But it feels like I've TOLD it perfectly, which trust me, as a consumer of fiction, is a pretty rare fucking thing. It's why I love the issue, and why I hope my lovable readers (who as messed up as I am) will love it too.
