The Spiralling

Bonus Feature: Writer's Commentary Part 6

Chapter 3: Crimson on Blue: The title 'Crimson on Blue' refers to the blood on Kick-Ass's costume as he lie battered beneath Demoness's steel fan. This chapter is pretty much dedicated to introducing Demoness to the mass. Her character was described in detail here, or rather, at least her physical appearance was. Her looks, weapons, sadism and mannerism were all put down in words. At this point however, it wasn't obvious that she would be the main big bad villain yet though.

This chapter pretty much marks the end of the transition between Kick-Ass and this unofficial sequel as Red Mist was killed, and a new (and likely worse) enemy was introduced. Before this, hints of the end of the transition were already there. Dave had finished upgrading his suit to the next level of utility, the progress of all the major and support characters so far had been filled in- all that was needed was a new villain followed by a new conflict.

'Crimson on Blue' is also the chapter in which the first fight happened, and it was between the Kick Ass 'version 3.0' and Demoness. Other than to gratify fans of explicit violence and explosions, bring in some cool factors and advance the plot and express the characters, the purpose of this first encounter between Dave and the mentally ill Mindy was to show how terribly one sided the battle was- and how hopeless it would be for Dave to kick Demoness's prepubescent ass.

So why show Dave's lack of capability? I did it to express that Dave, despite the lessons learnt from his previous brush with the criminal underworld, had still so much more to learn, and what he went through before was just the tip of the iceberg. This sets the stage for this unofficial sequel, the stage on which Dave matures more. The contrast between this fight and the last is pretty wide.

In his first fight, not only did Dave Lizewski lose, he lose so badly that it was shameful- imagine a decade old young girl dominating you with a fan when you had batons, stunguns and peppersprays at your disposal. While he suffered as much pain and wounds, lost as much blood as in the first fight, Dave prevailed in his last encounter with Demoness- instead, having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, he prevailed with glory won from the same blood he lost in the fight.

The first encounter with the Demoness was also an omen of things to come. She had managed to wrestle Dave easily to the ground, and as Kick-Ass was a symbol of the city, that would mean the city would be falling with her hero. Demoness's speech as she spared Kick-Ass from an early end to his life confirms this- he's the 'last soul to take', and he's 'supper'. This is to advance the plot. Had Kick-Ass died, there would either be no story to tell, or it would take this sequel too far off-course (A new main character would have to be introduced, and Dave would have become a decoy protagonist).

This does not mean Mindy sparing Dave was just an excuse for the story to continue longer, though, I had other, more realistic things, in mind. For one, I could imagine that she would want to prolong his suffering for as long as possible, which is what this she-devil villain does best. By killing him last, Demoness would have made Dave felt plenty of guilt for causing all those people's death (Starting from Damon Macready to her last victim) to last him a few lifetimes- and boy did he felt all of it. Not to mention, by killing him last, she could have beaten him up over and over again, knowing that he was so much weaker.

Chapter 4: Homebound: The caption for this chapter, at first glance, refers to Dave's return home after his first encounter with the unknown, by now made not so unknown but known in a brutal, painful way. However, the original meaning of the chapter's title was referring to both Dave and the Grandmaster's (at this time his name is still unknown) return home. Dave as Kick-Ass returns to his suburban house while Grandmaster was on his way back to New York City.

On Kick-Ass's side of the chapter, what was shown was all blood and bruises- This is to emphasize Demoness's power and skill, her ability to cause pain and cripple, and her no-hold-bars bloodlusty willingness to do it, going so far as to enjoy it as a sport, getting a kick out of it. Dave was half-way from dying, but very far from it- hinting at Demoness's uncanny precision in causing pain and suffering without killing. To emphasize this further, there was no muscle tears, broken bones or destroyed organs- she's farming Dave for the pleasure of inflicting pain on someone she hates (to Demoness, but only to a limited extent, Mindy, there's a difference, don't forget). Talk about death by a thousand cuts...

On Grandmaster's side of the chapter, the intent was to introduce this new quaint old character, but not too much. It wouldn't be exciting if everything was revealed all at once, so I did it over the entire course of the story, and showed only a few things in this chapter. There is a function to this though- by spreading information on Grandmaster throughout the story, I could write more on this old man, and elaborate so much more on every single small detail, ranging from his mindset, to his relations, to his goals and dreams, his needs and wants, his motivations, his skills and talents... Everything. This method allows for more character development as well, and it all starts from this little introduction in this chapter.

Other than this, the rural academy he resides in was also described, along with the people in it. One of them, his apprentice, would serve a bigger purpose here later on. The scene in rural Canada was inspired by the prevalent image of a Buddhist fighting monk's monastery that was seeded all over the place in my culture. I just thought, what reason does other countries have that they have no similar institutions? Except, of course, the swordsmanship academy I conceived was centred on the art of medieval swordsmanship, not Buddhism and Wushu.

In giving a tour of Grandmaster's place of residence, I was also giving him his character and backstory. The academy is intentionally backward, what with bows, hides and leather still in use- this elaborates on his technophobic and hermit-like nature, which was, in the unofficial sequel, justified to a certain extent. It is however, his way of dedicating himself to his chosen art form, and to his deep grievances which was his marriage and career traumas.

His dialogue with one of his best apprentices was another device to reveal more in-depth his character. His various quotes of wisdom shows... well, that he is one guy overfilling with wisdom learnt from life's experiences and pain. He's also religious, though I've made an effort not to let it overshadow his other qualities too much- it's simply not the point of his personality, even if it's a big part of him.

One part of him that was important was how he cares for his apprentice, and everything he built in the name of his swordsmanship art. He wouldn't let the apprentice come with him, and later on his chauffeur, even if it meant he would have an easier time in the city he left more than a decade ago- He wanted them in the academy so that the apprentice would not need to spend his time helping him instead of continuing with his education in the academy. As for the driver, having him in the academy would help the institution immensely, seeing that technology was mostly voided there. He relented afterwards of course, to his student's insistence though, with a price... Showing that no matter how perfect a person is, well, bad things could still befall them whether it was because they can never be totally perfect, or because circumstances can never be perfect.