Mal, aspec icon, and also reasons why I love Widdershins in general
So, as a birthday present to myself I recently bought physical copies of all ten currently available volumes of the webcomic Widdershins, and I’m currently rereading all of them from the beginning, and I’m just. Having emotions about it!! This post is part Widdershins propaganda (go read it) and part rambley thought dump on the parts I'm excited about on my reread. (I’ll try to stay away from major spoilers, but read at your own risk.)
A vague bit of context for anyone who knows nothing about Widdershins: Historical fantasy, set mostly in Victorian* England, centered on the fictional English town of Widdershins, which is the location of a magical “anchor” which is a source/amplifier of magic. Magical practitioners are called wizards (regardless of gender—witches also exist but are a very different thing) and the magic system revolves around summoning “spirits” of various emotions, and using/making deals with said spirits to imbue objects with magical properties. The tone is pretty light and adventure-y, and very fun. Every arc jumps back and forth between a few different sets of characters, but their paths all eventually cross.
(*technically slightly pre-Victorian. The ongoing and final installment is set during/around Victoria’s coronation. There’s also flashbacks, visits to other locales, and a Time Travel Episode)
The character I remember getting most attached to when I first read Widdershins, and the one I’m currently having the most emotions about on my reread, is Mal (aka O’Malley). First of all, I completely forgot that he’s canonically ace (and maybe aro)??** His significant relationships throughout his arcs are all close friends with found family vibes—when we first meet them, he and his longtime friend Wolfe have been traveling around Europe together for years, on what money they can earn from Wolfe’s busking (he plays violin) and Mal’s somewhat cheating at cards. Wolfe is an optimistic, calm and gentle person, and he clearly brings out the best in the very grumpy and abrasive Mal. They rely on each other, make sacrifices for each other, and generally have just such a lovely relationship--one thing I find particularly sweet is that it’s shown multiple times that listening to Wolfe’s violin playing helps Mal relax and makes him happy.
Pictured: Mal suggesting that Wolfe pacify a huge spirit of sadness by playing his violin, because "It works for me" 🥺 (In case my image turns out bad, here's a link to the actual comic page--I'm just excited about my physical copies!)
I’ve rambled before about “love as in significance” and how my favorite fictional relationships are ones where two characters are deeply important to each other, in a non-romantic and/or ambiguous way. To me Wolfe and Mal are a perfect example of that kind of deep friendship, effectively a life partnership, with no romance.
(**Widdershins also has multiple gay/lesbian characters, some of whom get romance arcs, and at least one canonically trans person. In Victorian England. There’s also a fair amount of non-white characters. I cannot stress enough how much this is just Not A Thing within the story. I believe the in-universe justification is that random magic ability evened the scales, and things like oppression and colonialism never got as bad as they did in our world. What it works out to is fun escapist adventures where homophobia and racism aren’t obstacles to the diverse cast, which is exactly my type of story. It’s definitely not trying to be historically accurate, but doesn’t get bogged down in modern labels, either.)
Mal also has a really satisfying character arc going on. He can see magical spirits, including the ones around people, and read their emotions—this is not a normal thing within this magical universe, and he mostly considers it a burden/annoyance, as it makes people (especially crowds) overwhelming. It turns out to be a whole thing, which I won’t spoil, but in my reread I just finished book 7, curtain call, which is the conclusion to the first big arc of Widdershins and includes a really cool flashback scene into Mal’s past. He’s got a whole thing going on where he makes some new friends, and eventually decides to stop running away from things. It’s really hard to talk about without spoiling, so I’ll just say that he’s still my favorite character and his arc is very strong.
Pictured: What it looks like when Mal sees spirits, and also another example of him being comforted by his friend's music. (Here's a link to the actual comic page)
Mal (and Wolfe) star in chapters 2 and 5, and feature prominently among a larger rotation of characters in chapters 7 and 9. The various chapters/books rotate through different sets of characters, but they're all lovable and you'll get attached to new characters quickly. Some other really fun characters from various Widdershins stories include:
Harriet “Harry” Barber, a bounty hunter who tracks down magical artifacts with the help of her magic-sniffing dog Gren (who she may or may not have stolen from the police)
Sidney Malik, who is cursed with accidental kleptomania (other people’s things just appear in his pockets, and he feels very bad about it). He got kicked out of wizard university for said kleptomania and is now pursuing his true passion of being a stage magician
Verity Cunningham, inventor slash bounty hunter slash Harry’s former-partner-turned-rival, and the greatest bounty hunter who ever lived, if she says so herself (which she will, loudly)
Lei Feng, who I can’t actually say anything about because all the coolest things about her are spoilers, but trust me she goes through some fun twists (she’s a magician’s assistant/inventor)
Alexa King, a baker with green hair who is going to Widdershins to win a baking competition in the year 2013, and if you’re wondering what this has to do with Victorian England and if it involves time travel shenanigans, yes, yes it does
Harry and Sid are the stars of the first chapter, and they're very close seconds to Mal in terms of my favorite cast members. If I have made this webcomic sound cool enough that you want to try it, please go check out their super fun story.
(P.S. A note about romance, since this post is partially about aspec things and i'm addressing it to my very aro corner of tumblr. Some of the chapters/characters in Widdershins have romance subplots, which never take up too much space in the story and are very well written in my opinion. I am someone who is super picky about romance in books, and I've rooted for every single romantic relationship in the comic--they're very sweet, and all built around two people who get along and are important to each other, as the friendships are. No forced romance or painful amatonormativity here.)
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wait hold on now I am genuinely curious: Why is D-Sides your favourite Gorillaz album? I never vibed with it myself so I am interested in hearing what you like about it that I'm missing out on.
so, i haven't listened to Gorillaz in a long while, nor do i tend to listen to music that actively these days, but i re-listened to the entire album, side 1 and side 2, to try and come up with a reason why i like it so much. i do want to preface and say, yeah, the album (side 1 atleast) is very "plain", there's not a whole lot going on, nor are there any guest artists on any of the songs.
but in listening to the album again, a few things kinda appear in my brain regarding the album. one is that it brings back a set of memories of taking trips to and from Ohio to live with my mother and step-father during a few breaks between high school, and how a lot of the songs in the album i remember heavily listening to while trying to sleep in the back of their car (i'm 6'2", and sleeping horizontally in the back of a moderately small car was. not great). i had the main 6 albums before Humanz installed to my kindle, since Humanz hadn't come out yet as these trips were between... 2014 and 2016. i mainly remember hearing D-Sides the most i feel on those trips, whether it be intentional, or my sleep patterns would have me looping back around to D-Sides... that or i mostly started with D-Sides at the beginning of those trips.
another thing i'm kinda thinking about after having re-listened to the album is how much side 1 kinda reminds me of Boe, in terms of the vibes; there's a lot of somber vibes i get from some songs that fits well for him (Hong Kong and Spitting Out the Demons both being notable songs that remind me of Boe himself, and also of those long trips). side 2 on the other hand, it's remixes remind me a lot of the Sims 2, specifically the console version, as i associate a lot of Sims 2 with it's console selection of music... which is mostly a more heavy focus on the electronic tracks from the PC version; a lot of the remixes feel like something i could hear playing on the radio while i'm controlling my sim around and doing tasks.
last thing, maybe, is that i never hear folks refer to D-Sides as one of their favourites, so maybe that's why i have it as mine. out of respect perhaps.
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