Elijah and Azuu

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#1189 Dagiel and the Fish: Last Journal Entry

Inkmonkey

on Feb. 4, 2007

I hope you've all enjoyed the Dagiel and the Fish story arc.

I had recently read mostof Fables, and I really enjoyed the whimsical yet epic nature of the storytelling. I was intrigued by the way writer Bill Willingham could take what was often a minor footnote in the grand scheme of things, and build a real adventure on it. So it was put in my head to create something small and seemingly harmless that would reshape the world in a believable way.

Then came the decision to have it somehow involve Dagiel. This basically came from the fact that I wanted to do something separate from the main cast, and the fact that Dagiel, despite essentially being written as a one-shot gag character, had gained an odd sort of popularity, even a few comments asking me to make sure to not just drop him as a gag.

So, I had a goal and a protagonist for this little tale, and all I needed was a Maguffin. Obviously, with Dagiel as our hero I realized it had to be something relating to fish, when I remembered a story idea I had been discussing once with my English teacher way back in High School. Now, his idea, believe it or not, was set in the Spawn reality. His idea basically followed a group of anthropomorphic animals (in an "Animal Farm" sort of way) who all end up in Therapy together. He had a lot of ideas for this, but the ultimate outcome was that the animals, who now found themselves with so many "human" traits, began to wonder if this meant they had souls as well. I think Spawn eventually shows up, but I don't remember it all too well.

Once I got all the elements together, I just ran with it. I have to admit, when I first started I hadn't settled on an ending yet, and was seriously leaning toward an at-sea battle between Dag and a demon who looked suspiciously like the Gorton's Fisherman. I also added in the Spring Breakers because I didn't want this to just be a fight story arc like I occasionally do. I did have a different ending than what I ultimately ended up doing through most of the run, but a few people guessed it, and as some of you are aware I hate doing things the fans have already guessed, so I sat down one night and did some serious rewriting.

I doubt this is the last we'll see of Dagiel and Fish, but for now the two can at least take a break while the rest of the cast comes back.