(As always, I encourage you, if you like my writing but wish an editor would “tone it down,” to indulge in some of my books, in which a sober editor has done just that.)
Excellent writeup. I think you're right on the overall structure: it's the story of Monica's attempts to create some kind of "special" myth for herself. I think the colors tie right in with that: the darker the color, the greater the degree of fabrication being employed by Monica.
Ordering by brightness, we get:
LEVEL 0 (bright white)
Pretty Penny: This is partly a reconstruction by Monica, but there seems to be no self-glorifying embellishment here--no intentional distortion and a portrayal of what may be Monica's original sin of letting her mom read the Opening pamphlet.
LEVEL 1 (white)
The Opening/The Way: True in large part, though containing an idealized fantasy of her mom meeting V. and her own idealization of herself being an Aurora.
Doomsday: True in large part, but distortion in the final scene at the least, and possibly elsewhere.
LEVEL 2 (off-white)
Demonica: obvious fantasy with Monica's grandfather and the radio, and general reality confusion.
Success: seemingly realistic but see below...
LEVEL 3 (off-off-white)
Foxhole: Monica's fantasy about two real people, ennobling Johnny and prophesizing Monica's fate. Maybe not an actual written story.
LEVEL 4 (cream--all stories written during the Doomsday period)
Glow Infernal: story by Monica
Incident: story by Monica
Krugg: story by Monica
(I could be wrong, but I think "The Opening/The Way" is a slightly different shade from "Doomsday," but I couldn't tell you which is lighter. "Success" and "Demonica" also seem slightly different, with "Success" maybe being darker. But they're close enough that I'm going to group them.)
The only one that feels really out of place is Success, which seems far more grounded than Demonica despite being at least roughly the same color. However: Monica's rags-to-riches-to-rags story seems quite convenient, glosses over big chunks of her life, and contains many self-glorifying moments like being interviewed, Aquarias calling her special, and Heather's uncanny prophecies. How much of this actually happened? Or perhaps it reflects her own loss of reality as she adopts her fake "success" persona and finds that it doesn't make her special enough. Aquarias goes from being a con-man to a prophet in two panels, so even if this all actually happened, Monica isn't especially in touch with reality here.
Excellent writeup. I think you're right on the overall structure: it's the story of Monica's attempts to create some kind of "special" myth for herself. I think the colors tie right in with that: the darker the color, the greater the degree of fabrication being employed by Monica.
Ordering by brightness, we get:
LEVEL 0 (bright white)
Pretty Penny: This is partly a reconstruction by Monica, but there seems to be no self-glorifying embellishment here--no intentional distortion and a portrayal of what may be Monica's original sin of letting her mom read the Opening pamphlet.
LEVEL 1 (white)
The Opening/The Way: True in large part, though containing an idealized fantasy of her mom meeting V. and her own idealization of herself being an Aurora.
Doomsday: True in large part, but distortion in the final scene at the least, and possibly elsewhere.
LEVEL 2 (off-white)
Demonica: obvious fantasy with Monica's grandfather and the radio, and general reality confusion.
Success: seemingly realistic but see below...
LEVEL 3 (off-off-white)
Foxhole: Monica's fantasy about two real people, ennobling Johnny and prophesizing Monica's fate. Maybe not an actual written story.
LEVEL 4 (cream--all stories written during the Doomsday period)
Glow Infernal: story by Monica
Incident: story by Monica
Krugg: story by Monica
(I could be wrong, but I think "The Opening/The Way" is a slightly different shade from "Doomsday," but I couldn't tell you which is lighter. "Success" and "Demonica" also seem slightly different, with "Success" maybe being darker. But they're close enough that I'm going to group them.)
The only one that feels really out of place is Success, which seems far more grounded than Demonica despite being at least roughly the same color. However: Monica's rags-to-riches-to-rags story seems quite convenient, glosses over big chunks of her life, and contains many self-glorifying moments like being interviewed, Aquarias calling her special, and Heather's uncanny prophecies. How much of this actually happened? Or perhaps it reflects her own loss of reality as she adopts her fake "success" persona and finds that it doesn't make her special enough. Aquarias goes from being a con-man to a prophet in two panels, so even if this all actually happened, Monica isn't especially in touch with reality here.