I dare you, Tom.

I’ve been reading Gunnerkrigg Court for several years now. Unless caught in an unseemly mood, I will usually answer with confidence that it’s my favorite comic. It has, however, over several plodding story arcs, grown a bit stale. Don’t get me wrong, I feel like I could follow these characters forever, even if the plot were to keep chasing its tail. But that is what the plot’s doing, in a manner of speaking.

This past week, however, Tom Siddell presented us with an interesting proposition:

I found this to be delightful for a few reasons.

First, we’re finally getting around to how malicious Coyote can be. Up to now he’s been a whimsical prankster who was quickly becoming something of a mentor to Annie as she explored the boundaries of magic and the world outside the Court. Most of the adult characters in the Court treat Coyote with distant apprehension, but he’s never presented himself as a danger to Annie… until now. Suddenly, his mischievous grin looks downright evil.

Second, the comic as a whole has a fairly strong “magic vs. technology” theme. I’ve always understood the two as being separate-but-equal in this world, but most of the stories so far have leaned heavily on the “magic good, technology bad!” crutch. Now we’re seeing the flip-side of that, and I don’t think many readers were expecting the sudden shift. The shocked look on Annie’s face tells me she sure wasn’t.

And third, I find the prospect that Annie might actually be mutilated to be tantalizing. Gunnerkrigg fans often talk about how dark the comic can be at times, but I’ve never really agreed. Some of the stories have had dark elements to them — betrayal, murder, tortue, and so forth — but we’ve never actually veered head-on into that direction.

Nothing grabs my attention quite like a sudden, unexpected shift in tone. There’s nothing quite like something terrible and irreversible happening to the main character in service to the story. It forces the reader to re-evaluate everything he thinks he knows about the world, the characters, and the events transpiring. A shake-up like that would be just about perfect in Gunnerkrigg Court right now.

Make no mistake, some readers like their comics to be nice and safe. If Siddell’s cute preteen protagonist suddenly loses a hand, I’m sure he can expect to lose some readers (and, subsequently, some book sales). What he gains, in my opinion, is a blank slate. With the pre-conceptions of what is and isn’t “allowed” in the world wiped away, the next step can be whatever he wants.

It needn’t be gory or violent or drawn out… but what a wild curveball it will be if it actually happens.

So, I dare you, Tom. Snip snip!