10/27/2013
So you may have remembered that at the beginning of this storyline there was a note that said it begins “ABOUT A WEEK AGO”. This means that the events of the FLIGHT INTO HORROR storyline took place during the events of the BLESSED BE THE DAMNED story (so Scapula was attacking Burning Man the same night as Jemini was flying with the Miscreants). The bottom line is that Scap has just gotten done with his ‘things are going to change’ inner monologue when that plane comes plopping down.
A lot of people feel like extraordinary coincidences that appear in fiction are often lazy shortcuts or hack writing, and to that I say…well, yeah, sometimes. This is a pretty improbable, even ridiculous, coincidence that has happened. One-in-a-million odds have occurred here, all just to reunite Scapula with his enemies. But does it bother me?
NOPE!
Uh none of these people are his friends.
That is true! Scapula could have taken one look at them, thought, “Oh…it’s these A-holes”, and let them sink.
What does he have on his mind?
Yeah, well, just a few universes over, the plane crashed at Burning Man.
Another universe over, Scap was actually in Sausalito at the time.
A few more universes over and the plane crashed in Alabama.
In another one? Ed O’Fitler had actually won, and hew as on the plane.
And of course there’s the universe… where the plane… did land right on top of Scapula.
Really, theories involving multiple universes make explaining coincidences in fiction easy. It happened this way because the story being told is the one of the universe where the most convenient things for the story that is meant to be told happened.
Anyway I have to wonder what Scap’s looking at in that last panel. Unless he’s in the middle of a double-take because he can’t believe the extraordinary coincidence.
Oh geez….multi-verses…too many confusing memories of DC/Marvel comic continuities exploding in my face and shattering into hundreds of thousands of mini-verses!
Although I have to admit, a series of “What If?” stories based on the SCAPULA characters would be pretty funny. ‘What if Scapula died in the first panel of the first comic?’
If he died then… …we could have a Jemini-centered comic?
That would be interesting, although it would take a helluva lot of work. Of all the central characters, Jemini is the single hardest to both write for and illustrate, so a Jemini series might be pretty taxing.
What if…
…Scapula was a SUCCESSFUL villain?
Could it happen?!
I’m just take a minute to look at the art here……..
Plus, one can always blame this kind of plot devices to some kind of supernatural and/or metaphysical entity who arranged it so (A.K.A. the writer).
Waitaminnit, I have supernatural powers? Hey, maybe I do! YEEEAAAH! Time to inflict some wrath, Old Testament-style!
I’ll have to work in a plague and a deluge of blood into the next story (maybe Jemini gets turned into a pillar of salt).
Write, write, write, SMITE!
Well, one stroke of bad luck leads to another…
Once these guys recognize Scap, they’re more like to beat him to death than show any form of gratitude. Time for another disguise, I’m guessing.
Hmm, love the background in the last panel. Great art as always, Aidan!
Glad you enjoyed! I’ve laid off a lot of excessive digital painting recently, but every now and again I’ll indulge in a little nice scenery.
What will the Miscreants and Jemini do once they awaken to Scap’s happy mug? Find out this Tuesday.
Love panel three. Gives me hope for our poor boy Scap. Pretty badass looking despite what we know of him. Aidan? Stop being so awesome. STAHP*
*Yes I sound like a bootlicker but I’m being honest. Plus I’m about to go to a haunted house with a multitude of evil clowns so I fear nothing!
Aww, such nice words! Nothing wrong with being a boot-lick; at this very moment there’s a stupid cat eating my bootlaces.
Haunted house full of clowns…yikes. So many of my friends would crap their pants with fear at just the utter thought of that. Oddly enough, the idea of a haunted house doesn’t scare them as much as clowns. Coulrophobia rules the world, methinks (I could add a clownish supervillain to SCAPULA, but there’s already a very popular one in another batty comic series).
And if people don’t like the coincidences or convenient plot devices in fiction, they can just go read the news instead. 😛
Honestly, if they’re going to nit-pick the coincidence of it crashing into the same lake that Scap was just tossed out of the helicopter into, they’re also going to nit-pick the fact that a jet crashing into water is going to experience an impact pretty darned close to the same as if it crashed into concrete, with the likelihood that everyone aboard would have been killed instantly anyway.
It’s *fiction*, doggoneit, and one of the points of fiction is to be able to just sit back and enjoy it. I don’t know about anyone else, but the fact that I enjoy reading Scapula is the reason I come back over for each update.
The plane should have vaporized upon impact, and then Scapula could have scooped up the dust particle-sized remains of the bad guys on board. I don’t know what he would do after that, other than try to re-enact the ending to the 60’s Batman movie.
Where was I? Oh, yes, fictional coinky-dinks. They happen, and I think most of us can live with them!
It’s STILL an extraordinary coincidence, but a planned one. Which is something that happens frequently in comics. Without coincidence, heroes lives wouldn’t be any more interesting a read than the life and times of John Everyman.
I’m more confused as to why Scap’s saving the lives of people he hates. He had the hots for Jem for a bit, but he hated the Miscreants.
There are a lot of cartoonists who do ‘reality-based’ John Everyman comics, apparently as a rebellious stand against the Big Two. The end result is usually a boring comic, but maybe that’s what they’re aiming for.
As for me, I’m going to keep making ludicrous plot points and hope that it keeps you fine readers interested!
For the record, when I remarked on the extraordinary coincidence, I wasn’t complaining.
Maybe ribbing a bit, but not complaining. 🙂
Hey, no worries! I’ve gotten more than a few complaints over the years about this-and-that, so it’s nice to know some people care.
And the ones that don’t care can go poo in their hats!
Psh, extraordinary coincidences have shaped humanity since the beginning. That’s what makes things interesting! What are the odds the spy happens across the super secret code book rifling through a desk long abandoned by the bad guy? It’s happened so often in reality it hurts.
I’m just curious how this turns out…… I imagine violently. Really, if I were Scapula I’d have tried to save them too….. it gets lonely trekking through the woods for days on end, trust me.
Coincidences in fiction mainly serve one very important purpose: they cut out a lot of wasted time. Getting from point A to point B is should be done in as few steps needed in order to get the story moving, and time is best spent by taking the occasional shortcut. It’s not a device that should be used too often, but every now and again is fine for just getting to where the meat of the story lies.
Respect for Scap there. Swimming in full garment is no easy task.
Storywise: Scap minus a Gang. In need of support. Wanting a girl to be really cruel to. Check.
Maybe he schould enslave all of them voodoo style. I can’t see another way any of them will be cooperative.
Wet clothes sucks, especially when you have nothing else to wear. Then again, Scapula might have been pretty filthy from his night at Burning Man, so maybe he needed a good soak!
Voodoo enslavement, eh? What the heck! Worked for Bela Lugosi in White Zombie!
Scaps such a good guy at heart
And at that moment, the Hos in Hoville say, the Scap’s heart grew three sizes that day!
Aw yeah!!! It looks like it’s time to fill the dungeon up and spread a lil’ Stockholm Syndrome through the crowd. Don’t miss this up, Scap!
A little torture, ehhh? Who knows, the Miscreants might even get off on that! They are perverts of the highest caliber.
I have a suspicion the Scap Isn’t rescuing these guys out of the “kindness of his heart”!
…and he’s not getting a commission on pulling people out of sinking airplanes!