Max Riffner

The Parlor

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Revenge Stories

I’ve had “revenge” on the brain for the last week after watching Oldboy – a movie which you must rush out and watch [see the trailer on Apple.com]. I’m thinking of doing a revenge story myself; I’ve been researching ideas for comics. The one that I’ve mentioned before, the sci-fi one? That has unexpectedly been put on the back burner, and I’ll explain why in a later post. Suffice to say, I need a new story, and I’ve noticed that several ideas I’ve fleshed out have to do with occupations. Golden Boy is about a boxer, Quick Step is about a dancer, and I have two more about a graphic designer (shocker) and a wrestler. This isn’t a new realization for me; a character’s occupation is one idea that I enjoy exploring.

However, I think I want to try something different. I want to try something clever, and revenge is a good vehicle for clever ideas. One of my favorite revenge stories is The Cask of Amontillado because you never really know why Montresor (the narrator) is willing to cruelly gain revenge against Fortunato, but since they start the story as friendly acquaintances, the reader is eventually forced to assume that Montresor is very much a sociopath. That makes the story all the more chilling.

I’ve also mentioned Payback, which as a movie blows – except for the first five minutes which shows Mel Gibson just being bad. Oldboy touched on this theme as well; revenge makes you a monster.

And let’s not forget Moby Dick...

So I may be working this up a bit further. Stay tuned.

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