Revenge of Ask T Questions

[sun tzu]

Is the spin-off going to be about Cyndi?

Don't tell us yet, please! I want to be surprised! (No offence, Val. ♥)

I just miss Cyndi SO MUCH. D: She is like the most interesting character in this comic. I WANT A COMIC FOLLOWING HER.
Maybe she breaks out of the mental institution and runs away to a new town, starts messing with the people there. >_>
T, if the spin-off is not about Cyndi, can you make another one that is? <3

*shudders at the idea*

[rebochan]

A spin-off about Cyndi sounds like a version of The Bad Seed for adults

[Valerie]

Oh. My. God. T. Please end this consent war we're having about Karen before I explode. D:
I'm really sorry if I've seemed rude to anyone over it, by the way, I just get really worked up over this sort of thing and there are like a hundred other things going on, too, 'cause that's how life works, but I shouldn't be using that to excuse my behavior if I have been rude, I'm sorry.

In the scene with Karen and Omar, what happened in the blank panel?

[Freemage]

Oh. My. God. T. Please end this consent war we're having about Karen before I explode. D:
I'm really sorry if I've seemed rude to anyone over it, by the way, I just get really worked up over this sort of thing and there are like a hundred other things going on, too, 'cause that's how life works, but I shouldn't be using that to excuse my behavior if I have been rude, I'm sorry.

In the scene with Karen and Omar, what happened in the blank panel?

And as further clarification, just how... aggressive was whatever Omar is doing in the panel right before that?

[istatalnara]

Is the spin-off going to be about Cyndi?

Don't tell us yet, please! I want to be surprised! (No offence, Val. ♥)

I just miss Cyndi SO MUCH. D: She is like the most interesting character in this comic. I WANT A COMIC FOLLOWING HER.
Maybe she breaks out of the mental institution and runs away to a new town, starts messing with the people there. >_>
T, if the spin-off is not about Cyndi, can you make another one that is? <3

So that's why everyone in my town is so much more depressed and the suicide rate is up.

[TCampbell]

Are we going to hear anything about Cyndi or Charlotte? If not, can you tell us how they're doing now? Is the spin-off going to be about Cyndi? Please please please? Does Duane still talk to Charlotte after all this time? Do you like raspberries or blueberries more?

This update should satisfy most of your curiosity about Charlotte.

As for Cyndi, you're not the only one fascinated by her. One reader came to me with a very detailed plan for reintroducing Cyndi in the spinoff. At present, I'm torn. I do think she's one of my best characters, but I definitely got a sense that "Cyndi and Charlotte" was taking things as far as they could possibly go in a certain direction. I'll bring her back in something if I can think of a story that would live up to that precedent. But I'm definitely not doing a series primarily about her. The Hannibal books have taught me that sort of thing tends to bring diminishing returns.

[Alice Macher]

I do think she's one of my best characters, but I definitely got a sense that "Cyndi and Charlotte" was taking things as far as they could possibly go in a certain direction. I'll bring her back in something if I can think of a story that would live up to that precedent. But I'm definitely not doing a series primarily about her. The Hannibal books have taught me that sort of thing tends to bring diminishing returns.

*nods in complete agreement, even though she too finds Cyndi intriguing*


It's like with the Batman villain Bane. DC did bring him back in the comics once or twice after Knightfall, and he appeared in Batman: The Animated Series.* But really, once he'd succeeded at crippling Batman physically and emotionally, putting him out of commission for quite some time, there was nowhere for him to go but down. I suspect it'd be the same with Cyndi. Once she'd gotten that good at manipulating people into ending themselves (or attempting to), it'd be either have her go on an (unrealistic, and probably after a while monotonous) "pool-pushing" rampage, or find some other way for her to be evil.


*What's that? Bane was in the Batman and Robin film? Lies, all lies! Didn't happen! La la la I can't hear you...

[TCampbell]

Oh. My. God. T. Please end this consent war we're having about Karen before I explode. D:
I'm really sorry if I've seemed rude to anyone over it, by the way, I just get really worked up over this sort of thing and there are like a hundred other things going on, too, 'cause that's how life works, but I shouldn't be using that to excuse my behavior if I have been rude, I'm sorry.

In the scene with Karen and Omar, what happened in the blank panel?

And as further clarification, just how... aggressive was whatever Omar is doing in the panel right before that?

I don't know if I can give answers that will completely satisfy the debate here, because I consider this sort of a gray area. Karen, for what it is worth, would say... well, she'd never admit to the incident at all at the end of "Popsicle War." But if I imagine her three years on, telling the story to her college friends in a game of "Have You Ever," she'd say she was seduced.

She never said "no," or struggled at all. She gave a couple of reasons why they should stop, but Omar read that as a token resistance, just to justify what she was doing to her own conscience, or to sweeten it by emphasizing how forbidden it was. You know, "Oh, we shouldn't be doing this! (mmm) (smak) We're so bad! Irredeemable (giggle)!" And he may have been right. He was certainly partly right. And yet Karen did have a genuine desire to be faithful, a desire to be what she considered a "good girl," at least in that one respect. And Omar had spent enough time with her to know that. He was choosing to take her from another man, which sweetened things for him, making him feel irresistible.

As for the second question, Omar's hand was pretty fearless. He guessed-- correctly-- that part of his appeal to Karen was his raw, assertive masculinity, a direct contrast to Marshall's quiet loyalty and general uncertainty. (Sure, Marshall got assertive in "When She Was Good," but only after LOTS of encouragement from Karen, and before and after that he was... conflicted, at best.)

I don't think Omar qualifies as a rapist. But he's... oily, you know?

[TCampbell]

I do think she's one of my best characters, but I definitely got a sense that "Cyndi and Charlotte" was taking things as far as they could possibly go in a certain direction. I'll bring her back in something if I can think of a story that would live up to that precedent. But I'm definitely not doing a series primarily about her. The Hannibal books have taught me that sort of thing tends to bring diminishing returns.

*nods in complete agreement, even though she too finds Cyndi intriguing*


It's like with the Batman villain Bane. DC did bring him back in the comics once or twice after Knightfall, and he appeared in Batman: The Animated Series.* But really, once he'd succeeded at crippling Batman physically and emotionally, putting him out of commission for quite some time, there was nowhere for him to go but down. I suspect it'd be the same with Cyndi. Once she'd gotten that good at manipulating people into ending themselves (or attempting to), it'd be either have her go on an (unrealistic, and probably after a while monotonous) "pool-pushing" rampage, or find some other way for her to be evil.


*What's that? Bane was in the Batman and Robin film? Lies, all lies! Didn't happen! La la la I can't hear you...

I'd be remiss if I didn't bring Gail Simone into this-- her version of Bane in the just-concluded Secret Six was a well-realized and intriguing take. But it worked mostly because Secret Six is not quite a superhero series: the characters are not quite the villains they think they are, but they're not heroes either: they're some third category. That meant Simone felt free to cast Bane in completely new roles throughout the series-- mercenary, father figure, lover, fellow-traveler-- before touching on his old role of Batman foe just long enough to engineer the series' conclusion. (Also because Simone isn't afraid to make her characters look silly now and again.)

Likewise, if I were to do something with Cyndi, the circumstances surrounding her would have to be different enough that she has a chance to surprise you and doesn't just seem to be repeating herself. I mean, there are few things sadder than people who spend their lives trying to recapture the glory days of high school.

[maritza]

Dude I could TOTALLY write a Cyndi spinoff

[Zanosuke Kurosaki]

*What's that? Bane was in the Batman and Robin film? Lies, all lies! Didn't happen! La la la I can't hear you...

I suppose I shouldn't mention that Bane is going to be the villain in the Batman movie coming out next summer, then? And that it's looking like they're going "Genius Bruiser" route with his character?

[retrophrenologist]

*What's that? Bane was in the Batman and Robin film? Lies, all lies! Didn't happen! La la la I can't hear you...

I suppose I shouldn't mention that Bane is going to be the villain in the Batman movie coming out next summer, then? And that it's looking like they're going "Genius Bruiser" route with his character?

Which is fair enough- Bane was anything but a dumb thug in his initial appearance in Knightfall,and as T said, Simone's use of the character in Secret Six continued that characterisation.

[IS_Wolf]

Dude I could TOTALLY write a Cyndi spinoff

Heh, but you've had years of practice at keeping folks like her as continually evolving.
See The Dragon, Mike, Blue and Jay and possibly Damascus.

[Valerie]

Dude I could TOTALLY write a Cyndi spinoff

DO IT. Please. I will love you forever.

[sun tzu]

Dude I could TOTALLY write a Cyndi spinoff

DO IT. Please. I will love you forever.

I'll admit I don't get the appeal - to me, the perfect conclusion for that kind of character is to be taken out (as she was when she got hauled off to the insane asylum).