Our Songs Are Better: Part 2
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| “Our Songs Are Better: Part 2” | |||||||||||||
| First published | February 1, 2017 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Kelly Thompson | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Jenn St-Onge | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | M. Victoria Robado | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Shawn Lee | ||||||||||||
| Edits by | Sarah Gaydos | ||||||||||||
As filming on The Misfits reality show begins, an issue Stormer has dealt with her entire life threatens to derail the entire project.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Stormer arrives at Pizzazz’s home on the day that filming is set to begin for The Misfits’ new reality TV show, all five women in the band having to temporarily move into their frontwoman’s home for ease of access and to ensure maximum drama. As she enters the house, she finds Pizzazz and Roxy arguing over where the latter is going to hang her punching bag, Pizzazz refusing to let her keep it until Jetta comes to Roxy’s defense. As Pizzazz grumbles off into the kitchen, Stormer approaches her wanting to talk in private but are interrupted by the film crew sticking cameras in their faces. Though Pizzazz tries to reason with them into giving them some space, the contracts they’ve signed basically prevent them from ever really having any private time for the next few months. Stormer, however, informs the crew that she hasn’t signed any contracts yet and angrily tells them to go away and scrap the footage they’ve just recorded.
Pulling her into her bedroom, Pizzazz asks why Stormer hasn’t signed yet, believing that she’d gotten past her reservations over doing the show. Stormer tells Pizzazz that the reservations she’d been talking about weren’t the same as the ones she had and hands her a magazine. Disturbed by what it contains, Pizzazz apologizes but is also surprised the Stormer is still hung up on this particular issue as she hasn’t seen her get upset over it in a while now. Stormer merely tells her that just because she doesn’t show it, it doesn’t mean she still isn’t bothered by it and that this has been an issue her entire life.
As a little girl, Stormer sits up in her room writing and singing her own songs. One day at school, a poster advertising auditions for the school band catches her eye, but another girl notices this and tells her those auditions aren’t for fat girls like her before making fun of and ripping the fishnets she wears on her arms. As she and her friends walk away, singing an insulting song, Stormer takes another look at the poster and decides she’s not going to let the other girls stop her from chasing her dream.
Nine years later, Stormer is on stage with Glow Slap singing a song she’d written about her experiences being bullied for her weight as a child, her performance catching the eye of a certain green haired woman in the crowd. After the show, her two bandmates have an argument about her song, excluding her from the conversation, and both of them storm off in opposite directions. Now alone, Stormer is approached by Pizzazz, who offers her a place in the new band she’s putting together.
A few months later, The Misfits are now fully assembled and are in the middle of playing a show when suddenly a man in the front row yells out for them to get "the whale” off stage. Not taking kindly to this, Pizzazz dives into the audience and begins beating on him to the shock of both the audience and her band. After getting arrested for her violent outburst, Stormer posts Pizzazz’s bail and thanks her for standing up for her, though she also tells her she can’t just go around attacking anyone who’s mean to her. As they get ready to leave the police station, Stormer notices her phone suddenly blowing up with notifications of people on social media making fun of her for her weight, silently blocking them as she and Pizzazz make their exit.
At a production meeting for the TV show, Stormer is presented with some story concepts the producers have come up with for her "character”. Though they note that the “lesbian thing” she has going on with Kimber polled well, especially taken with the angle of the Misfit/Hologram rivalry, what they’re really interested in doing is a storyline focusing on her desire to lose some weight. As the producers go on about all the different sponsorships and such they have lined up to tie in with the story about her “getting to where she wants to be”, Stormer puts her foot down and angrily refuses to be a part of this, stomping out of the meeting.
Though she understands that Stormer feels like the TV show is just going to put a magnifying glass on her body, Pizzazz still feels that if her bandmate could get through publicly coming out, she should be able to get through this. Stormer tells her that she wants her life to be more than just "getting through things” and tells her that she still hears about being gay on a daily basis too and that unlike that, she doesn’t exactly have the option to be fat in private. Just then, something clicks in Stormer’s head, realizing that if she doesn’t have a choice over whether or not she’s fat, all there is is what she does with that fact. Standing up, Stormer grabs and signs her contracts, deciding that “narrative” she’s going to give the TV show is the one she’s always lived, one about a woman who’s unashamed of her weight! Later, as they record a confessional for the show, Paige asks what made Stormer change her mind about doing the show, leading the keytarist to launch into an impassioned speech about what it’s like to live life as a woman who doesn’t fit in with society, being an overweight woman and a lesbian, but how she refuses to let other people’s reaction to her get in the way of living the life she wants to live. As she concludes, Pizzazz watches from around the corner, cheering her bandmate on.
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| The Misfits | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"Thank you, but also, you can't do that again. We're gonna be really famous... you can't just attack everyone who's cruel to me."
"Yes, I can."
- -Stormer and Pizzazz
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- This issue expands on Stormer and Pizzazz’s first meeting which was first seen the first issue. We also learn the name of Stormer’s old band: Glow Slap.
Jem references[edit | edit source]
- The song Stormer writes and practices up in her room as a little girl is Makin' Mischeif, a Misfits song from the original cartoon.
Other trivia[edit | edit source]
- Digital versions of this issue contain a “Digital Ashcan” for the My Little Pony: Guardians of Harmony 2017 Annual, which was released the same day as this book.
- This issue was originally slated for release in January of 2017 but slipped a bit, instead releasing in the first week of February.
Covers (3)[edit | edit source]
- “'Regular cover”’: Stormer and Madmartigan, by M. Victoria Robado
- “'Subscription cover”’: Stormer hounded by paparazzi, by Jenn St-Onge
- “'Retailer incentive cover”’: Stormer, by Derek Charm
