On the topic of surprise gender in Dark Science
Just thought I'd share a little thing about the journey of the character of Asmodea/Lilith/Elith.
So as many know while I script the pages as I go, the overarching story of Dark Science was written way back in 2010, and while there are naturally tweaks that happened, I haven't ever really deviated from that. When I first put it together I had less of a story and more of a premise and location: a city that comically quantifies everything and a cast of characters who are all expressions of different conflicts of identity. Some are born for the role they were assigned (Melchior), some earnestly try to make it work even if it kills them (Vonnie), and some keep getting relabled over and over again (Kim).
So I went through a lot of ideas as I filled out the cast suited for the story I wanted to tell, and I kept coming back to someone whose role was the wrong gender. And unlike with, say, Yeong-Soo whose name and nationality were changed against his will, I wanted someone who unconsciously sought out a role to suppress who they were. And so one of the very first Dark Science characters I ironed out was Elith.
Elith implies they willingly took on "Asmodea," both to appease others but also in an attempt to fight what they felt. I found this extremely compelling a decade ago and WHO KNEW WHY
Anyway that's all, I just find it funny when my writing knows more about me than I do.
Comments (7)
The biggest surprise is that there was a surprise. I've had my share of gender identity insecurity and still split into almost exclusively female online persona and standard male (if nerdy) RL identity, but I didn't catch on to the gender aspect at all. All I saw was a style change to no-emphasis-on-femininity. To interpret it as a gender identity change would have felt like too much of an assumption.
+1 for a Dark Science book with a sketch and thoughts/concepts section. That would be amazing!
I thought Ranma's ability to constantly switch genders was appealing when I was a teenager. There were no signs.
Oh wow do I feel this one. Even now, Ranma is one of my all time favorites and that aspect of them is nearly the entire reason why.
Thanks for sharing. I would love to hear about the "why the story went there" occasionally. Maybe once a year or so would be fine. I, for one , enjoy learning how the sausage is made.
I second this - I suspect the backstory behind this comic would be more interesting than most. Everything on the Dresden Codak site resonates with me on a number of levels and it's great to see it surviving and (hopefully) thriving in 2022! Keep up the great work Arryn!
This is amazing. What a journey!