Of all the issues we've published over the years, I'm probably the most proud of this one. If I didn't have a shitload more stories to tell in this universe, I probably would've just ended the series right here. In my not so humble and obviously biased opinion, this is how you end a story arc (damn you, Bioware!!).
You have all of the following components:
Helpless agent who sacrificed herself to save a friend
Sadistic torturer (in Yin) that has proven to be a ruthless and vile kind of tickler
Boss protecting said helpless agent is out of town
Cruel torturer finds out twin sister falls for the agent in the same manner her own boss and father figure did
And natural cause and effect says this is going to be a recipe for disaster. And it is.
I hemmed and hawed for days trying to decide how to end this. My rational side was telling me how to end it, conflicted with an emotional attachment to the character and feelings for how fans were going to deal with the decision. I spoke with Dave at length about this issue and I feel like it was the right decision to make. The story ends how it's supposed to end, given the volatile components above.
Yin kills Agent Succubus.
It wasn't a decision made lightly. Tickling is fun, right? We poke, scratch, titillate, and people laugh. It's enjoyable. Tickling is some of the first communication made between parent and baby. It's the stuff of giggles and squeals as children. But this story isn't about children. It's about adults. And adults can sometimes laugh and frolic and giggle, there is plenty of room in life for that. But adults also, lie, cheat, steal, betray, go on for years feeling neglected, hurt, abused, and weak. And adults don't always handle these emotions very well. In fact, a very large percentage of humanity is fundamentally broken in some profound manner. And that's what this particular story arc illustrates and explores. This is the not the stuff of fun, it's the stuff of horror, of despair, of pain, of angst, ennui, and other states of being that don't really go well with tickle literature. At least, not naturally. So to produce something so...unnatural, did feel odd. I've never heard of another tickling comic series kill off a main character, so it's a rather bold move (feel free to replace bold with stupid if you like). In the end, I did receive a number of communications about the ending of this book, but nothing over the top. They were perfectly reasonable reactions to a character dying off.
The reason I like this issue so much is that it is very dense. In this issue, we have (yay for lists?) the following happen and resolve (massive spoiler alert):
Yang is supposed to torture Succubus, but is lulled by Succubus's charms and the two end up making love in the shower together. Yang is quite smitten with the blonde and wants to run off and hide Succubus from her sister Yin.
Yin finds Yang's private journal and learns about the affair. She aims to put an end to it and show her twin once and for all which one of them is the master.
Even after the intimate shower scene, Yang proceeds to torture Succubus in a very intimate and tortorous manner, as only she knows how. She proceeds to explain to Succubus how she chooses a feather based on how much she wants to punish a woman through her genitals. Yang wants Succubus to enjoy the torment as something she hopes the two will enjoy together for many years.
Yin interrupts the two having fun. Things go dark.
We find out Yin and Yang have had rivalries for years.
Yin murdered their father's killer before through tickle torture, hiding the grisly tickle-lust from her twin all these years.
This scene with their father's killer sets up tension as Succubus is now in the same position.
Succubus is nude and Yin enjoys mixing ice and tickling to create a truly unpleasant experience for Succubus.
Yang tries to ease Succubus's suffering by using her powers to give Succubus endless orgasms to drown out the pain. This was a central theme I talked with Dave about wanting to see come to life in this book. Namely I wanted a situation where two ticklers with very different styles (cruel and sensual) were trying to one-up each other with their victim. And the harder one pushed, the harder the other pushed, which sends the victim into hysteria. The harder the orgasms, the more she's ticklish, so she laughs which makes her orgasm more, and it loops endlessly until something terrible happens. I love this concept and I think the art team did an amazing job of depicting this.
Yin, fed up with Yang's interference, attacks her twin and encases her in a block of ice, forcing her to watch as she executes Succubus through tickling.
Agent Succubus is shown completely broken here by Yin, having suffered the worst tickle torture imaginable. She starts spouting off about Mister Nathan knowing about Starlight's power (foreshadowing) and Project Ruthless (major foreshadowing). Yin says nothing of this, not really caring about Agent Starlight and thinking Project Ruthless is just an urban legend).
Yang, distraught that her own sister would murder her lover, finally grows a pair (in a manner of speaking) and attacks Yin by surrounding her in a field of orgasmic fire, rending Yin helpless.
Yang frees Succubus, only to hold the agent's lifeless body in her arms.
It's a lot to pack into one issue. The art studio did an incredible job here, and I can't thank them enough to executing flawlessly on this script. The issue set a new mark of darkness for the series, ended a long story arc, provided a great, unpredictable climax, and really set the stage for the next evolution of the series. Two major revelations at Agent Succubus's breaking (mentioned above) really foreshadow where the series is going next.
