When I was in grade school, I used to draw superheroes all the time. Your typical, muscle-bound oafs. One day, a friend suggested I "draw a chick." It was different, but I liked the process, and since then, I've always preferred drawing women.

That's a big reason why The Misadventures of Ally Danes is the way it is - I don't really like drawing guys. A beautiful woman and a beautiful work of art are no different. Smooth, soft, curvy, eye catching.

But I digress.

This is a brief explanation of the idea behind The Misadventures of Ally Danes, followed by a brief discussion of the influences:

Ally Danes ... a normal, fashion-conscious, leather-clad, shoe-obsessed, 27-year-old single woman living in a Houston, Texas, that exists in the same time and at the same place as the one we currently know - with one minor exception ...

There are no men.

Ally Danes inhabits a Houston in an alternate reality ruled by women, that has always been ruled by women and will always be ruled by women. Women create and enforce the laws, fight the wars, do the heavy lifting and chase, seduce and conquer their fellow woman - members of the only gender this particular universe has ever known.

High on that list of women to conquer seems to be a normal, fashion-conscious, leather-clad, shoe-obsessed, 27-year-old single one. Particularly a normal, fashion-conscious, leather-clad, shoe-obsessed, 27-year-old single one that’s, by nature, a little too trusting, a little too submissive and a little too easy to seduce.

It makes Ally Danes the perfect object of desire for her friend, neighbor and perhaps biggest admirer - the normal, intelligent, artistic, more conservative, slightly above-average looking 31-year-old Greta Haas.

Ally Danes ...

Greta Haas ...

One works to maintain the perfect tan. One works to capture the perfect photographic shot.

One works to maintain a body, appearance and style designed to drive other women insane. One works to obtain and enslave her.

One is an object. One is a collector.

Both are locked in a neverending game, one where the rules and even players may occasionally change, but one where the end result is always the same.

The Misadventures of Ally Danes.


Where some of the concepts come from:

The idea of men not existing: One of my favorite movies is Roger Dodger, and one of my favorite scenes is the opening one, where Roger is entertaining friends with this monologue on how men as a gender will one day no longer exist. Scientists have already begun finding ways to fertilize eggs without sperm, essentially replacing man's greatest function - to blow a load. Once women find a way to lift couches on their own, we're basically doomed. Our ranks will thin until a remaining few are nothing more than slaves. But even that will only be for a short while.

I always thought that was an interesting concept. To adequately represent this for Ally, however, I'd have to move her into a way more futuristic environment. But thanks to the multiverse theory, I can place her setting in the present day.

Aeon Flux: I always enjoyed the early Aeon Flux shorts on Liquid Television because I was always intrigued by the storytelling - the main character always is left is an inescapable predicament at the end, but her life essentially "resets" at the beginning of each additional story. Kind of like dying in a video game, and then reloading and going back to the part where you fucked up.

At first, I was writing an endless story about Greta pining for Ally, but never really making any headway - because once she did, the story is basically done. And that way, you really give her one shot to catch Ally. This way, it happens all the time.

Strength of character: Ally's not necessarily the kind of "heroine" who can elicit the necessary reader emotion to drive the story. People tend to relate more to Greta, since we're always trying to obtain something that's seemingly out of our reach (whether it's someone we're interested in, or an inanimate object we can't afford. By having Greta find new ways to get Ally, we're always experiencing those feelings of pursuit with her.

So that's a very brief synopsis of Ally's world and where some of the themes come from.