I remember being a tiny baby artist and loved watching Vivziepop. Her work inspired me, especially her music video for Kesha's "Die Young." The fact she did it by herself at a young age made me want to pursue writing and art as more than just a hobby. I read Zoophobia (or the few fragment available in 2016) and hardly understood any of it because the plot was all over the place.
I was elated and proud of her when I found out she was making a show. And the fact it was based on supernatural elements made me even more intrigued. When the original Hazbin Hotel released, my YouTube algorithm pushed it to me within an hour of its release.
I sat down and pressed play, excited for what was to come. I was severely disappointed. Within the first five minutes, I was bombarded by f-bombs, immature humor, and the most ridiculously written cast of characters I'd ever seen. It was 2019, and yet characters felt like a mix between Disney Channel and the YA fiction section. (What's worse is that this was before the show had an 18+ stamp on it.) I was 15 and yet found this embarrassing.
Hazbin Hotel, to me, was a desperate attempt to look mature. It was meant to be "for adults" but instead reeked of the Tumblr/Wattpad/AO3/Webtoon representation of maturity--that is, moral deviancy with lots of crass humor. I didn't even care to watch Helluva Boss when it came out, because I knew it would be the same thing.
Personally, I dislike who Vivzie has become and what her work is. I dislike that Prime chose her show, because it's basically proving people right when they say Hollywood is degenerate. I think it's great Vivzie was able to have her own successful studio, but I wish she used her talents for better things.
I haven't yet sat down to watch Hazbin Hotel yet, but I have been watching Helluva Boss, since it's free. You're right on the money in your summation. The sad part is that there is true promise to it, but it's overshadowed by an extreme over-reliance on profanity and boorish jokes. It has a pretty severe identity crisis between wanting to be a zany comedy and a character drama and the whole thing just feels... confused. Unfortunately, I feel like I have to see if Hazbin as a finished product is different; everything I've seen of it so far points to no, but at the same time, I'm really curious to see if A24 studios - who produced the series in tandem with Medrano's studio - as an outside influence was able to reign her in some, or if she was allowed to go hog-wild. As much as I praise Medrano's originality, I think that even the best artists need to have some sort of tempering to keep them in check. Some more than others.
I'm honestly surprised that Lackadaisy Cats still has a story to tell. Up until this moment I was unaware they were doing anything with the series, I was under the impression it was on hiatus since, like, 2020. If they're also planning on doing a show, I hope it does well. I remember really liking that comic back in the day.
It's very telling that the two characters who were largely regarded as the best in the pilot - and I stress the pilot, I've made no effort to watch the series on Prime yet so I can't judge that - were the character that never swears once, and the one that only swears twice. Those characters, naturally, were Alastor and Charlie.
It's telling in Alastor's case because he's the only character that really feels like he brings something genuinely unique to the pilot. As soon as he comes into the story in the later half of the episode, he absolutely steals the show by being charismatic, well spoken, and leaning into the kind of menace one would expect of a mortal soul who was apparently so horrible in life that he was able to make himself a Lord of Hell. He's both the most creative and villainous character in the show, but the fact he approaches these things with an element of class makes him stand completely out from the rest of the pack.
Charlie, on the other hand, is the most well realized character. Of everyone else there, she's the one who's goals and motivations are by far the most completely realized. Sure she curses a couple times, but it's not like how Vaggie, Angeldust, or Sir Pentious just throw out F-bombs or terms like shitlord to a degree that feels ridiculous. Unlike the others, she does it in moments where it feels appropriate for her to do so, like when she's trying to look tough in the face of the news anchor's mockery or when she's attempting to put her foot down with Alastor. Ultimately, this helps Charlie stand out from the crowd in a similar manner to Alastor. Where the rest of them are some mix of thoroughly debauched, completely bitter, or over the top insane, she's given a greater level of depth and is allowed to present a broader range of emotions.
I'd take it a step further and say that, even what I have seen from the show and not having seen it myself yet, Charlie and Alastor are the only characters who actually matter or do anything, which in turn is why they're the most unique, fleshed-out, and impactful characters. There's a pretty sprawling cast (much like Zoophobia) that feel less like characters and more like cool toys that Medrano got her hands on, wants to show off, and then got bored with and wasn't sure what else to do with, so they're just kind of left standing there with nothing to do while Alastor and Charlie move the plot along. Vaggie occupies a liminal space between them but she's not terribly interesting and feels like she's just there to give Charlie a significant other, but I feel like most of the extraneous cast could have been cut and their various parts and pieces rolled into her to give her something to do. Angeldust is the worst offender in my opinion. His character feels shoe-horned in to be crass comic relief on top of being that one character that Medrano just REALLY likes, for whatever reason, and can't let go of, and I've found pretty much nothing about him to be either funny or endearing, just annoying and distracting. Medrano has a serious problem with focus and, even from just watching disparate clips, it's pretty obvious that she establishes one plot thread just to abandon in favor of chasing another. Maybe she intends to follow through on them later, since a second season is already in the works, or, like Helluva Boss, she intends to establish another spin-off (she's already expressed interest in doing so for some other characters), but at the same time it feels like she needed someone to keep her in line. I also don't think that, if the series was more episodic, and it focused on rehabilitating one demon at the Hotel per episode, the larger cast of characters could work better, but from what I've seen there's a very grand, overarching plot which most of the cast really has nothing to do with. I feel like I might be misrepresenting what actually happens, since, again, I haven't watched all of it, but literally everything I've seen about the show centers around Alastor and Charlie and almost nothing of any real substance about the other characters aside from little snippets of sight gags that take place in the background.
I've noticed the exact same issue from the clips that I've seen, and I could say pretty safely that it is quite clear which of the characters it is that Medrano is most invested in and which are there to be set dressing and plot devices. Husker, for example, may as well just be called "our excuse to get Keith David in the show." Don't get me wrong, I love me some Keith David voice work, I grew up watching Goliath lead the gargoyles and love how fun Dr. Facilier is as a Disney villain, and Keith David's performance with both characters is a huge reason why I like them as much as I do. But from what I've seen, Husker basically exists to provide a shoulder for Angeldust to cry on once they smack the audience in the face with the whole abuse angle they allegedly rushed through with him. (Something that was supposedly meant to be a huge part of his character from the outset, but which we naturally never saw a hint of in the pilot and wouldn't be touched on for the wider audience until the first official music video was released some time later.)
Apart from clips, the other thing I mainly see coming out revolving around the show are heaps upon heaps of hypothesizing and theory crafting videos. Is Vaggie a fallen angel?! What's Lilith's secret plan?! Is Alastor trying to replace Lucifer's role as Charlie's father figure?! Of those that I've watched, and I will admit it has been very few because I do intend to give the show a chance and I don't want to spoil too much for myself, all had this air of apologism to them as if to say, "Trust me guys, the show's amazing you just don't get how deep it actually is!" Well, if Helluva Boss is any indicator and from the clips I've seen it seems like it is, it seems to me like the lake is wide but shallow, and a lot of the "depth" is being added by people attempting to dig their own furrows in the silt.
I have heard absolutely nothing about Husker since the show came out. I consistently forget he's even part of the core cast. Honestly, they can keep him instead of Angeldust since Keith David is a welcome addition to any project. Unfortunately, it seems like the only reason they keep him around is for the exact purpose of giving something Angeldust to do, which is like... why bother having him at all, then? Oh, right - shipteasing.
As for that kind of content farm theory stuff, I don't think that's really Vivziepop's fault at all so much as just the nature of content creation - especially indie games and animation - and the vicious cycle of YouTube content farms. It's hard to articulate succinctly but if you've been on YouTube for like five seconds you know exactly what I'm talking about. Anything that isn't attached to a big studio project that breaks big is going to attract attention from content farm style channels that just baselessly speculate on nothing and feed the whole "reaction video" sphere. The Amazing Digital Circus must have broken a record for how quickly it was co-opted because it had one episode release a few months ago and it has an entire genre of "cringe" mass produced content farm content and drama surrounding it. There's dozens of channels devoted to covering "news" and making "did you know" or "theory" videos about it, despite, again, only having one episode. At least Hazbin Hotel has eight. But, ultimately, though I doubt Medrano is terribly upset with the show taking on a viral nature and attracting more attention, at the same time that's just the media landscape we live in, and it's ugly as sin.
I've really been digging your deep dives into media I have had zero exposure to these last several posts, so well done, sir!
A couple of quick recommendations related more to the top bit of the post than the actual Hazbin stuff:
1. I think one of the best depictions of demons and those who truck with them in fiction is C.S. Lewis's *Space Trilogy,* especially in the second book, *Perelandra.* Overall, *That Hideous Strength* is far and away the best in the trilogy, but the demon in *Perelandra* is super creepy, and not at *all* in an endearing or attractive way. You might also respect the protagonist's eventual theological solution to the it.
2. "Catholic" covers a whole lot of ground, I've found hanging out in the comments sections for John Michael Greer's blogs - Tradcaths that reject Vatican II (or sometimes pick an even earlier departure), groups that still do mass in Latin, occultists, polytheists who worship the Trinity, and more. So, I guess I'm sayin' you got options if you feel called in that direction, even if mainstream Catholic isn't right for you. I'm not even Christian, but I have found sections of the Catechism of the Council of Trent (the Church's consolidated statement of "here's what we're about in the face of all the heresy protestants are getting up to" from 1566), especially those on prayer, to be very helpful. Some of the early church fathers were also apparently pretty far out from what would end up the mainstream.
Thank you, Jeff, your support is appreciated and I'm glad you're enjoying the reads. I've been having a good time writing them.
I've actually heard of the Space Trilogy before, but I've yet to sit down and read them. The first time I was introduced to them was here by Marc Bisone, on his articles on the nature of evil, where he mentioned the macrobes - fascinating stuff, the whole sounds like a characteristically unique and mythopoetic take on Sci-Fi by Lewis. But, I still need to read them for myself.
As for the Catholic thing, I've actually been going to a Tradcath church at the moment, since that's where most of my friends attend. They've explained some of the various nuances between themselves and the Novus Ordo churches; it's all over my head at the moment. I was surprised to find out there were so many inter-faith divisions, since I was always under the impression they were more unified than that. There's even different divisions within the tradcath sphere, since there's another church in town that's also tradcath but of a different stripe... I've got friends who go there as well, so I keep meaning to check it out, as well. All in all, there's certainly a lot to learn.
I'm going to a trad church now, and very happily, but I am glad to have been catechized in a good Novus Ordo church. Older trads... severly emphasize the distinction. They had to. But it does have the effect of making the Catholic Church look much less of a Body than it really is.
I was actually talking to my friends about that last night. Two in particular are best friends even though one goes to an SSPX church and the other a Fraternity church, and they both said, "Don't worry about it for now, just get your feet under you first". Even though most everyone I know from both churches are very friendly with each other and will often go to the other church from time to time, they've all said there are some in their respective churches who do not at all approve of the other. Again, I've yet to get into the meat of the division, but I think it's good advice just to get the basics before getting into the weeds.
Yeah, Marc's got some really interesting thoughts on that whole end of things, obviously, since it's a bit of a focus of his. As for the Space Trilogy, again, strongly recommended - by far my favorite fiction of Lewis's that I've read. If you're pressed for time, That Hideous Strength could be considered a standalone novel that has two optional prequels about as easily as it can be seen as the final volume in a trilogy. Dunno if there are audio book versions, but I would be a bit surprised if not.
And yeah, I've only had the vaguest hints of divisions with the "Catholic" church/community/world from outside (given the nature of their disagreements, even picking the right name is contentious!), but it sounds like you've got a good base to explore from - friends and churches. Good luck!
I'm going to be honest, her visual style is tough on my eyes. There's too much going on, the character silhouettes are too similar. It all registers as having too much noise to easily parse.
Like any heavily stylized art, it's not for everyone, but I do agree that most of the characters do feel... over-designed. Some more than others, certainly. She also does have one body type and that is "tall and thin". If you can believe it, she's actually diversified some over the years, because all of the human characters in her webcomic have almost indistinguishable builds.
It's a very simple calculus - if you want to have a peaceful life while being a creative, even a divisive one like Vivz, you ignore the hate. Even if you feel the compulsion to type up a reply to every piece of hate you get on TwiX, it's genuinely easy to not engage with it. You just don't write those responses on TwiX, but somewhere private instead. It would be better not to waste your time, energy, and mental space on writing them at all, but writing them privately is a Helluva lot better than sending them out to every Stolas, Blitzo, and Moxxie on the internet that happens to share even the most tepid of criticisms about your work.
If she could only do that - and learn to take criticism and probably hire an editor for her scripts - there would be much more quiet in her mind. Well, maybe not with the whole ADHD thing, but at the very least the noise won't be focused on fruitlessly attempting to tear down a peanut gallery of haters (as well as people giving legit critique) who's only goal is to draw out responses in the hopes of making her look bad.
You know, I'm sensing a pattern here between the figures I've written about recently. Medrano, Rowling, Antwiler - they all have something in common, and it is that their lives would all be massively improved if they deleted Twitter. I've never liked Twitter, I've always disliked it actually, but I'm beginning to think now more than ever that it actively facilitates and engenders actual, literal insanity in people. Evil website. Possibly demonic. Best avoided.
I've never thought of it as demonic - big shock coming from the irreligious guy who hangs out with a bunch of Catholics and Protestants on Substack, right? lol - but it does have a corrupting nature, one that I think is born of the mixture of the powers of general anonymity (unless you're using your real name, of course) and long distance communication. There's already a general expectation in society that acting the fool won't get your teeth knocked in because that's looked down on, but the behavior rampant in any corner of TwiX that's even remotely spicy often goes far beyond simply acting a fool. If that Conan quote I love so much is Howard talking about the generalized rudeness of civilized people - "Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." - then their behavior on TwiX is that which would go beyond the general thing the Cimmerian speaks of, if ever acted out face to face.
I remember being a tiny baby artist and loved watching Vivziepop. Her work inspired me, especially her music video for Kesha's "Die Young." The fact she did it by herself at a young age made me want to pursue writing and art as more than just a hobby. I read Zoophobia (or the few fragment available in 2016) and hardly understood any of it because the plot was all over the place.
I was elated and proud of her when I found out she was making a show. And the fact it was based on supernatural elements made me even more intrigued. When the original Hazbin Hotel released, my YouTube algorithm pushed it to me within an hour of its release.
I sat down and pressed play, excited for what was to come. I was severely disappointed. Within the first five minutes, I was bombarded by f-bombs, immature humor, and the most ridiculously written cast of characters I'd ever seen. It was 2019, and yet characters felt like a mix between Disney Channel and the YA fiction section. (What's worse is that this was before the show had an 18+ stamp on it.) I was 15 and yet found this embarrassing.
Hazbin Hotel, to me, was a desperate attempt to look mature. It was meant to be "for adults" but instead reeked of the Tumblr/Wattpad/AO3/Webtoon representation of maturity--that is, moral deviancy with lots of crass humor. I didn't even care to watch Helluva Boss when it came out, because I knew it would be the same thing.
Personally, I dislike who Vivzie has become and what her work is. I dislike that Prime chose her show, because it's basically proving people right when they say Hollywood is degenerate. I think it's great Vivzie was able to have her own successful studio, but I wish she used her talents for better things.
Hopefully Lackadaisy has a better tale...
I haven't yet sat down to watch Hazbin Hotel yet, but I have been watching Helluva Boss, since it's free. You're right on the money in your summation. The sad part is that there is true promise to it, but it's overshadowed by an extreme over-reliance on profanity and boorish jokes. It has a pretty severe identity crisis between wanting to be a zany comedy and a character drama and the whole thing just feels... confused. Unfortunately, I feel like I have to see if Hazbin as a finished product is different; everything I've seen of it so far points to no, but at the same time, I'm really curious to see if A24 studios - who produced the series in tandem with Medrano's studio - as an outside influence was able to reign her in some, or if she was allowed to go hog-wild. As much as I praise Medrano's originality, I think that even the best artists need to have some sort of tempering to keep them in check. Some more than others.
I'm honestly surprised that Lackadaisy Cats still has a story to tell. Up until this moment I was unaware they were doing anything with the series, I was under the impression it was on hiatus since, like, 2020. If they're also planning on doing a show, I hope it does well. I remember really liking that comic back in the day.
It's very telling that the two characters who were largely regarded as the best in the pilot - and I stress the pilot, I've made no effort to watch the series on Prime yet so I can't judge that - were the character that never swears once, and the one that only swears twice. Those characters, naturally, were Alastor and Charlie.
It's telling in Alastor's case because he's the only character that really feels like he brings something genuinely unique to the pilot. As soon as he comes into the story in the later half of the episode, he absolutely steals the show by being charismatic, well spoken, and leaning into the kind of menace one would expect of a mortal soul who was apparently so horrible in life that he was able to make himself a Lord of Hell. He's both the most creative and villainous character in the show, but the fact he approaches these things with an element of class makes him stand completely out from the rest of the pack.
Charlie, on the other hand, is the most well realized character. Of everyone else there, she's the one who's goals and motivations are by far the most completely realized. Sure she curses a couple times, but it's not like how Vaggie, Angeldust, or Sir Pentious just throw out F-bombs or terms like shitlord to a degree that feels ridiculous. Unlike the others, she does it in moments where it feels appropriate for her to do so, like when she's trying to look tough in the face of the news anchor's mockery or when she's attempting to put her foot down with Alastor. Ultimately, this helps Charlie stand out from the crowd in a similar manner to Alastor. Where the rest of them are some mix of thoroughly debauched, completely bitter, or over the top insane, she's given a greater level of depth and is allowed to present a broader range of emotions.
Everyone else is just a tropey meme.
I'd take it a step further and say that, even what I have seen from the show and not having seen it myself yet, Charlie and Alastor are the only characters who actually matter or do anything, which in turn is why they're the most unique, fleshed-out, and impactful characters. There's a pretty sprawling cast (much like Zoophobia) that feel less like characters and more like cool toys that Medrano got her hands on, wants to show off, and then got bored with and wasn't sure what else to do with, so they're just kind of left standing there with nothing to do while Alastor and Charlie move the plot along. Vaggie occupies a liminal space between them but she's not terribly interesting and feels like she's just there to give Charlie a significant other, but I feel like most of the extraneous cast could have been cut and their various parts and pieces rolled into her to give her something to do. Angeldust is the worst offender in my opinion. His character feels shoe-horned in to be crass comic relief on top of being that one character that Medrano just REALLY likes, for whatever reason, and can't let go of, and I've found pretty much nothing about him to be either funny or endearing, just annoying and distracting. Medrano has a serious problem with focus and, even from just watching disparate clips, it's pretty obvious that she establishes one plot thread just to abandon in favor of chasing another. Maybe she intends to follow through on them later, since a second season is already in the works, or, like Helluva Boss, she intends to establish another spin-off (she's already expressed interest in doing so for some other characters), but at the same time it feels like she needed someone to keep her in line. I also don't think that, if the series was more episodic, and it focused on rehabilitating one demon at the Hotel per episode, the larger cast of characters could work better, but from what I've seen there's a very grand, overarching plot which most of the cast really has nothing to do with. I feel like I might be misrepresenting what actually happens, since, again, I haven't watched all of it, but literally everything I've seen about the show centers around Alastor and Charlie and almost nothing of any real substance about the other characters aside from little snippets of sight gags that take place in the background.
I've noticed the exact same issue from the clips that I've seen, and I could say pretty safely that it is quite clear which of the characters it is that Medrano is most invested in and which are there to be set dressing and plot devices. Husker, for example, may as well just be called "our excuse to get Keith David in the show." Don't get me wrong, I love me some Keith David voice work, I grew up watching Goliath lead the gargoyles and love how fun Dr. Facilier is as a Disney villain, and Keith David's performance with both characters is a huge reason why I like them as much as I do. But from what I've seen, Husker basically exists to provide a shoulder for Angeldust to cry on once they smack the audience in the face with the whole abuse angle they allegedly rushed through with him. (Something that was supposedly meant to be a huge part of his character from the outset, but which we naturally never saw a hint of in the pilot and wouldn't be touched on for the wider audience until the first official music video was released some time later.)
Apart from clips, the other thing I mainly see coming out revolving around the show are heaps upon heaps of hypothesizing and theory crafting videos. Is Vaggie a fallen angel?! What's Lilith's secret plan?! Is Alastor trying to replace Lucifer's role as Charlie's father figure?! Of those that I've watched, and I will admit it has been very few because I do intend to give the show a chance and I don't want to spoil too much for myself, all had this air of apologism to them as if to say, "Trust me guys, the show's amazing you just don't get how deep it actually is!" Well, if Helluva Boss is any indicator and from the clips I've seen it seems like it is, it seems to me like the lake is wide but shallow, and a lot of the "depth" is being added by people attempting to dig their own furrows in the silt.
I have heard absolutely nothing about Husker since the show came out. I consistently forget he's even part of the core cast. Honestly, they can keep him instead of Angeldust since Keith David is a welcome addition to any project. Unfortunately, it seems like the only reason they keep him around is for the exact purpose of giving something Angeldust to do, which is like... why bother having him at all, then? Oh, right - shipteasing.
As for that kind of content farm theory stuff, I don't think that's really Vivziepop's fault at all so much as just the nature of content creation - especially indie games and animation - and the vicious cycle of YouTube content farms. It's hard to articulate succinctly but if you've been on YouTube for like five seconds you know exactly what I'm talking about. Anything that isn't attached to a big studio project that breaks big is going to attract attention from content farm style channels that just baselessly speculate on nothing and feed the whole "reaction video" sphere. The Amazing Digital Circus must have broken a record for how quickly it was co-opted because it had one episode release a few months ago and it has an entire genre of "cringe" mass produced content farm content and drama surrounding it. There's dozens of channels devoted to covering "news" and making "did you know" or "theory" videos about it, despite, again, only having one episode. At least Hazbin Hotel has eight. But, ultimately, though I doubt Medrano is terribly upset with the show taking on a viral nature and attracting more attention, at the same time that's just the media landscape we live in, and it's ugly as sin.
According to what I've learned, queer has nothing to do with being lgbt+
Queer mean socialist. The socialists coopted it, just like they've done with every other organzation.
I've really been digging your deep dives into media I have had zero exposure to these last several posts, so well done, sir!
A couple of quick recommendations related more to the top bit of the post than the actual Hazbin stuff:
1. I think one of the best depictions of demons and those who truck with them in fiction is C.S. Lewis's *Space Trilogy,* especially in the second book, *Perelandra.* Overall, *That Hideous Strength* is far and away the best in the trilogy, but the demon in *Perelandra* is super creepy, and not at *all* in an endearing or attractive way. You might also respect the protagonist's eventual theological solution to the it.
2. "Catholic" covers a whole lot of ground, I've found hanging out in the comments sections for John Michael Greer's blogs - Tradcaths that reject Vatican II (or sometimes pick an even earlier departure), groups that still do mass in Latin, occultists, polytheists who worship the Trinity, and more. So, I guess I'm sayin' you got options if you feel called in that direction, even if mainstream Catholic isn't right for you. I'm not even Christian, but I have found sections of the Catechism of the Council of Trent (the Church's consolidated statement of "here's what we're about in the face of all the heresy protestants are getting up to" from 1566), especially those on prayer, to be very helpful. Some of the early church fathers were also apparently pretty far out from what would end up the mainstream.
Looking forward to seeing where this leads!
Thank you, Jeff, your support is appreciated and I'm glad you're enjoying the reads. I've been having a good time writing them.
I've actually heard of the Space Trilogy before, but I've yet to sit down and read them. The first time I was introduced to them was here by Marc Bisone, on his articles on the nature of evil, where he mentioned the macrobes - fascinating stuff, the whole sounds like a characteristically unique and mythopoetic take on Sci-Fi by Lewis. But, I still need to read them for myself.
As for the Catholic thing, I've actually been going to a Tradcath church at the moment, since that's where most of my friends attend. They've explained some of the various nuances between themselves and the Novus Ordo churches; it's all over my head at the moment. I was surprised to find out there were so many inter-faith divisions, since I was always under the impression they were more unified than that. There's even different divisions within the tradcath sphere, since there's another church in town that's also tradcath but of a different stripe... I've got friends who go there as well, so I keep meaning to check it out, as well. All in all, there's certainly a lot to learn.
I also recommend the Space Trilogy.
I'm going to a trad church now, and very happily, but I am glad to have been catechized in a good Novus Ordo church. Older trads... severly emphasize the distinction. They had to. But it does have the effect of making the Catholic Church look much less of a Body than it really is.
I was actually talking to my friends about that last night. Two in particular are best friends even though one goes to an SSPX church and the other a Fraternity church, and they both said, "Don't worry about it for now, just get your feet under you first". Even though most everyone I know from both churches are very friendly with each other and will often go to the other church from time to time, they've all said there are some in their respective churches who do not at all approve of the other. Again, I've yet to get into the meat of the division, but I think it's good advice just to get the basics before getting into the weeds.
Oof. I definitely am among those who think that division is of great importance. But yes: first things first.
Yeah, Marc's got some really interesting thoughts on that whole end of things, obviously, since it's a bit of a focus of his. As for the Space Trilogy, again, strongly recommended - by far my favorite fiction of Lewis's that I've read. If you're pressed for time, That Hideous Strength could be considered a standalone novel that has two optional prequels about as easily as it can be seen as the final volume in a trilogy. Dunno if there are audio book versions, but I would be a bit surprised if not.
And yeah, I've only had the vaguest hints of divisions with the "Catholic" church/community/world from outside (given the nature of their disagreements, even picking the right name is contentious!), but it sounds like you've got a good base to explore from - friends and churches. Good luck!
I'm going to be honest, her visual style is tough on my eyes. There's too much going on, the character silhouettes are too similar. It all registers as having too much noise to easily parse.
Like any heavily stylized art, it's not for everyone, but I do agree that most of the characters do feel... over-designed. Some more than others, certainly. She also does have one body type and that is "tall and thin". If you can believe it, she's actually diversified some over the years, because all of the human characters in her webcomic have almost indistinguishable builds.
It's a very simple calculus - if you want to have a peaceful life while being a creative, even a divisive one like Vivz, you ignore the hate. Even if you feel the compulsion to type up a reply to every piece of hate you get on TwiX, it's genuinely easy to not engage with it. You just don't write those responses on TwiX, but somewhere private instead. It would be better not to waste your time, energy, and mental space on writing them at all, but writing them privately is a Helluva lot better than sending them out to every Stolas, Blitzo, and Moxxie on the internet that happens to share even the most tepid of criticisms about your work.
If she could only do that - and learn to take criticism and probably hire an editor for her scripts - there would be much more quiet in her mind. Well, maybe not with the whole ADHD thing, but at the very least the noise won't be focused on fruitlessly attempting to tear down a peanut gallery of haters (as well as people giving legit critique) who's only goal is to draw out responses in the hopes of making her look bad.
You know, I'm sensing a pattern here between the figures I've written about recently. Medrano, Rowling, Antwiler - they all have something in common, and it is that their lives would all be massively improved if they deleted Twitter. I've never liked Twitter, I've always disliked it actually, but I'm beginning to think now more than ever that it actively facilitates and engenders actual, literal insanity in people. Evil website. Possibly demonic. Best avoided.
I've never thought of it as demonic - big shock coming from the irreligious guy who hangs out with a bunch of Catholics and Protestants on Substack, right? lol - but it does have a corrupting nature, one that I think is born of the mixture of the powers of general anonymity (unless you're using your real name, of course) and long distance communication. There's already a general expectation in society that acting the fool won't get your teeth knocked in because that's looked down on, but the behavior rampant in any corner of TwiX that's even remotely spicy often goes far beyond simply acting a fool. If that Conan quote I love so much is Howard talking about the generalized rudeness of civilized people - "Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." - then their behavior on TwiX is that which would go beyond the general thing the Cimmerian speaks of, if ever acted out face to face.