CONTENT WARNINGS: murder, violence, existentialism surrounding death and its permanence (or lack thereof in this setting), blood 'n' guts, abuse, sexually-charged violence against women, the horrors of capitalism, dehumanization, sex, cannibalism, etc...
IT TAKES GUTS! (formerly titled Just Desserts) is a project that I began seriously developing in December 2024 that I envision will be either a webcomic or a book with visual elements. The genre is, what I call, "crapsack horror satire" for an adult-only audience. Despite the incredibly grim setting, this is ultimately a story about how a group of traumatized strangers find eachother and fight for their humanity in a world that sees them as acceptable targets for violence.
But it's also kind of a mindless bloody romp that says "revenge is cool, actually.".
The setting of IT TAKES GUTS! is normal, modern-day America with a VERY important timeline diversion that occured in the 1980's during the Reagan administration. This being an event in which grim reapers revealed themselves to the mortal populus and struck a deal with the United States government. In exchange for a chance to partake in the many delights of the material world, the grim reapers would effectively end death as we understand it. As long as the soul hasn't been reaped and one's insurance covers the medical costs of patching the body back together, any deceased person can be resurrected.
Medical technology also experienced exponential advancement to make resurrections easier.
The grim reapers also struck similar deals with other countries, but other nations' policies surrounding "deathlessness" vary greatly from eachother. However, the focus of ITG! is USA-centric.
Grim reapers possess the ability to guide and reap souls with the help of Scythes, mystical weapons that they're soulbound to. Scythes are very important as they're the only thing that can irrerversibly, permanently kill a human. Any other kind of death is reversible, but scythes send a human soul DIRECTLY to the "other side"; there's no getting it back at that point.
Before joining the mortal plane, reapers had a more collectivist culture. They weren't a hivemind, but it was understood they had the same goals and there wasn't much reason to stray from their purpose. After their deal with the US government, reapers became a lot more individualistic, fully adopting the culture of capitalist Americana and enjoying the many delights of the material world. There are still some reapers who think this new way of life is blasphemous, but they're steamrolled by the powerful few who have benefitted most from the system. Despite the dissatisfaction expressed by some, they cannot quit. Their powers are still needed to keep the resurrection business going and service the rare few humans who still want a natural death.
Demi (she/her)
A young woman whose life was uprooted after she was unlucky enough to be targeted by a so-called "murderfluencer" hoping to make it big by filming and uploading his kills online. Demi managed to turn the tables on her attacker, killing him instead. For a while, that seemed like the end of the ordeal until someone uploaded the footage recorded on the murderfluencer's camera to the internet. What followed was an endless wave of online harassment and more attempts on Demi's life. To thousands, Demi wasn't a victim, but a woman who needed to be humbled and "put in her place". For her own safety, Demi had to drop out of college and move across the country.
That was around seven years ago. Demi has since done the best she can to pick up the pieces by working a steady job and attending a support group for women who've had similar harrowing experiences. Despite this stability, Demi still found it difficult to move on. Everything would change when Demi got her hands on a scythe, prompting her to begin a rip-roarin rampage of revenge roadtrip across the country.
Heidi (she/her)
Heidi grew up in a good old fashioned god-fearing household that got in on the family vlogger craze with the rise of the internet. While that was bad enough, Heidi's parents decided to add a sick gimmick to their channel to rake in more views. The family would go on "manhunts", kidnapping, killing, prepping, and eating hapless people. Unfortunately for Heidi and her brothers, this gambit worked and the family became incredibly popular- so much so in fact that sometimes viewers would volunteer to be the family's next meal featured on the channel.
Nowadays Heidi is an adult in her early 30s with no college education or prospects. Her one respite is that she can at least hide behind a mask as the family butcher. She never did well in front of a camera anyway. Despite her fears of setting out into the world on her own, Heidi finally takes the opportunity to leave her family behind when she meets Demi.
Buster (he/it)
Once upon a time, the infamous "killer hobo clown" was once known as a small-time comedian named Mateo. He struggled to make a break outside of small venue gigs until a friend in the TV business convinced him to audition for a new reality show. The show's gimmick involved contestants who would have to survive being terrorized by a stock cast of slashers. Mateo landed the role as one of these slashers- a killer clown called Buster. While Mateo enjoyed playing the character, he didn't enjoy the act of hurting contestants (even knowing their deaths weren't permanent), so the showrunners decided one of their running "bits" would involve Buster getting killed in various slapstick ways. While all of the slashers in the show's cast had their share of deaths and resurrections, Buster was killed and brought back more than any of them.
As the years went on, this process seemed to have an effect on Mateo as he behaved less like himself and appeared to take on a more "method" approach- acting as Buster even when the cameras weren't rolling. It became clear, however, that what was going on was more than just method acting when, after a particularly stressful shooting day, Buster brutally attacked one of the showrunners following what witnesses claimed to be a heated verbal altercation. Buster has since been let go by the studio and lives as an aimless drifter, no longer able to go back to living as the man he once was. For some reason, he takes a liking to Demi and joins her on her revenge quest.
Redd Rhapsody (she/her)
In the 1980s when death became reversible and murder was decriminalized, trailblazers jumped at the opportunity to carve out a brave new genre of legal snuff films. Redd was one of the first to get in on the highly controversial "erotic" snuff craze, hailed as the first true "guts goddess". Of course, that was many years ago.Redd has lost track of how many times she's been taken apart and put back together. Even in the modern day where the public is largely desensitized to snuff entertainment, Redd is still a highly divisive figure. Some see her as an icon, feminist even. Some see her a demon, simultaneously too stupid to know what she's done to set culture back, but too malicious to let off the hook or allow any grace.
Redd puts on a brave face for the public, but she's exhausted by it all. She's long since lost the ability to differentiate between pain and pleasure. She supposes she no longer gets the right to be called human anymore. After all, humans were never meant to die and be brought back so many times. She wonders how much of the girl she once was remains, her soul a Ship of Thesues. To anyone who bothered to pay attention, it shouldn't have been a surprise she'd take an interest in someone like Demi.
Virgil (he/they)
A disaffected grim reaper who befriended Demi following a chance late night encounter on a bridge. Despite knowing it would be a terrible idea, Virgil gave the young woman his scythe. He's not sure why he did it, but he figures whatever she winds up doing with it will at least be entertaining.
Name (pr/ns)
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Name (pr/ns)
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Name (pr/ns)
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Name (pr/ns)
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Name (pr/ns)
[character bio] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
