Double Cross Scene Compilation - CH3 Pgs 34-42

Howdy, everyone!

Time for another scene compilation with "DVD-style" commentary, which I'll be posting weekly until I start getting the completed pages from Gabriel and Vero for Fallen Chapter Two soon.

On the personal front, I've been focusing a bit more on my health lately. I worked hard to get a regular cardio routine going this year (we have a Concept2 Rower at home), and I've lost a bunch of weight I didn't need. Now I'm finally adding a strength training component, which I'm really looking forward to. Here's a fun fact: I did powerlifting fairly seriously for 4 years, right up to the pandemic. As someone who hated gym as a kid, it was super satisfying to make progress and lift heavy (for me) weights. This time I'm more focused on building muscle than strength, but I will enjoy being a bit stronger than I am now. It makes everything easier. :)

Also, on the urban fantasy novel front, I've finished the first draft, and I've decided to work with a developmental editor. Dev editors focus on the big picture—plot structure, pacing, characterization, world-building. I do feel fairly confident in those areas, but since this is my first prose novel and in a different genre than I usually write in, I figured it couldn't hurt to see what a professional, outside perspective might add. But finding the right one is key, so it's a good idea to get a sample of their work first where they edit a short section of your novel. Well, I've just gone through that with my first chapter—scary since no one has seen any of my novel until this editor—but she really liked it and had lots of lovely things to say! She's known for being direct when something isn't working, so this has been a huge moral boost for me. I can't wait until I can begin sharing it with y'all!

Anyway, in this scene comp, things get a lot more intimate between Flyboy and Spooky when they turn off the lights.

Check out what happens under the fold!

These pages were first published way back in August 2020 - September 2020. If you want to read the previous scene compilations (and, even better, read the whole first two chapters all at once), you can find them on the TYP:DC Scene Compilation Collection page. 

My DVD-style commentary is below the comic pages. And the pages themselves are full-resolution here on Patreon, so feel free to zoom-in!

Let's have a superhero sleepover!

True confessions.

There's a lot to unpack in this scene, so I've decided to divide this compilation into two posts. Let's get to it!

Classic Trope Alert! Forced Proximity: Shared Bed

So, this set-up where your two main characters have to share a bed is a classic in romantic storylines, and I decided to follow it fairly closely for this romantic bonding scene. (There's even the awkward negotiation about one character taking the couch, which reveals things about both of their selfless natures.)

It's a fun situation to write since, like all forced proximity setups, it forces your characters to interact, confront their feelings, and in general have an opportunity to be more vulnerable.

It's also classic for a reason. Unlike some fiction tropes, this one is fairly realistic. I can remember having sleepovers like this when I was a teenager, and there was just something about it being night, being in the dark, being able to hear each other talk softly without needing to look at each other—all of that contributed to the most intimate and personal conversations I had at the time. And while, yes, some of that got romantic, a lot of times it was just an opportunity to deepen the friendship. So, Spooky is in many way speaking for me when he talks about how special this is for him.

Poor Spooky gets cold at night

This was also an opportunity to reincorporate something I had already set up in an earlier story arc. (Although I can't find where exactly! I thought it was in Legendary, but I just re-read that arc, and it's not mentioned.) (It was fun to revisit my only 18+ comic, though—haven't looked at it for years.)

This is another way to bump up the intimacy, because it turns out that Flyboy is cool with holding hands (and apparently he knew this about Spooky going into this situation.)

The shirt comes off...

Just like with Scene and Sequel, another "tick tock" I try to keep in mind when writing these stories is balancing the action with some romance. I enjoy writing both, but it's worth mentioning that I found it more difficult in this arc because the characters are so young.

Ultimately, anything I write is going to focus on emotions and relationship. If the characters get physical, then it's for a strong story reason. And I do want to show that love between guys, including physical love, is something beautiful. I'm not going to create anything exploitative no matter who I'm writing about.

But both Adam and I are very mindful of the ages of those in our pages—and we both have hard limits about what we are comfortable showing. My general rule is that if it's something you'd see heterosexual teens do on cable (or, now, mainstream streaming, I suppose), then it doesn't cross the line. But there were certainly times in this chapter when Adam would send me art, and I'd request a reframing so we saw less. Just for my own comfort level.

And I did have a little concern about how I'd feel re-reading this scene, especially in the pages that follow these. I'm happy to say that I think we threaded that needle just fine, but it's not a situation I'm likely to put myself in again in a future story arc. I like all kinds of love stories, but when it comes to showing anything physical, especially in a visual medium like comics, after the current story arcs, I plan to keep my romantic leads adults.

All that said, this scene did give me a chance to continue to show different body types being attractive—which is important to me—and I do think there's a lot of sweetness. I love how well Adam and Vero showed the moment when Spooky recognizes that Flyboy might like him. Flyboy blushes while trying to justify that "most guys sleep in their underwear" and Spooky's reaction to that is just perfect.

Also, I'm not sure how many folks picked up on this, but Flyboy comes this close to saying "You're just being cute" before quickly changing the subject to the necklace that Spooky is wearing.

...and reveals a necklace with a chalice filled to the brim with red

That necklace might just be important later. And that might be why I chose to hang a lamp on it here.

We get more of no-filter Spooky

He just flat out asks Flyboy if he likes guys and then if he's had sex yet. Showing this is important to keep the through-line between who Spooky is now and who he'll become, but it's also in line with the kind of experiences I used to have as a teen. (There is a non-trivial chance that I did not have much of a filter myself at that age.) And the fact that Flyboy is game to answer these questions (and to ask personal questions of his own) makes this very special for Spooky. He's had to grow up so fast, and there's a part of him that would love to finally have some normal teen experiences—and, as we discover later, Flyboy feels the same way.

Flyboy might have commitment issues

This is something that I might have been too subtle about, but part of the reason that Flyboy goes into that long account about why he's not with Cory is to show that he does overthink things. He gets into his own head about where the line is between what he wants and what his responsibilities are as a "good guy." This was another thing that I struggled with as a teen (and even older)—where's the line between protecting people vs. overstepping and taking that decision away from them. And how much of that is really about keeping others from getting hurt vs. keeping control?

Reading this now, I'm not sure how much of that actually wound up on the page. But it was part of my intention here. (I also wanted to give Flyboy's side of how things ended up with Cory, since I knew Cory was going to be giving his side in Fallen.)

And Spooky might be more innocent than we thought

In the other story arcs where Spooky is an adult, a lot is made about Spooky's romantic affairs, and it's suggested more than once that he started having them when quite young. But part of the challenge of being Adult Spooky is that his fame has meant that his reputation doesn't always track with real life. This scene was an opportunity to address that directly. To say that, at this point anyway, Spooky hasn't really had any real romances since he got back from Hell.

Originally, I went into more detail about this when I first wrote the scene (and I talk about that in my note under this page), but even though I needed to cut most of that out, I still felt it was important enough to spend at least a couple pages on it. In part because it helps us understand Spooky better—but more than that, it's meant to help us understand the dynamic that is playing out between the two of them here. In this situation, Flyboy is actually the more experienced one, and that will matter for what comes next.

Let me know what you think!

Anyway, those are the things I was thinking when I was creating these pages with Adam and Vero. Please let me know your own thoughts below. It's your feedback that makes it fun for me to create these, so please jump in and share!

And thank you, as always, for making this comic possible. Sharing these scenes with you helps remind me of how much I love creating this story. And it's only possible because of your support.

Y'all totally rock. I'll post the next set of pages next week!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope it's really special and fun for each and every one of you! (At least in the U.S.!)