Rachael Eyre's Blog - Posts Tagged "animation"
Helluva Boss!
If you spend much time on animation Twitter, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s the Second Coming. Posters with cartoon avatars are counting down, swapping GIFs and using cryptic hashtags such as #Stolitz. What’s going on?
Wonder no more. The second season of Helluva Boss, SpindleHorse’s cult indie animation, drops today. It’s nine months since the first season finale; fans have been living on slashfic and speculation ever since.
Helluva Boss is the tale of Blitzo (the o is silent), a skeezy imp running an assassination start up called I.M.P (Immediate Murder Professionals). His colleagues are Loona, his surly hellhound adoptive daughter; and Moxxie and Millie, the happiest married couple in Hell. The company has a unique selling point: by using a grimoire or spellbook, they can go up to Earth (‘the human world’) and off anyone at their clients’ request.
So far, it sounds like a standard adult animation - but this is where it gets interesting. Blitzo only has the grimoire because he slept with Stolas, an owl prince of Hell, and stole it from him. Stolas has become infatuated with the imp, so they’ve forged a Faustian pact with a difference: he will allow I.M.P to keep using the book if, every month on the full moon, they have a night of “passionate fornication.”
In any other show, this would be played for black comedy, with Stolas as an old school queer villain and Blitzo as a straight hustler - and indeed that’s how some viewers interpreted the pilot. But the situation is far more complex, with Blitzo gradually returning his feelings. Their will they, won’t they relationship is the central arc of the series - #Stolitz, to use their ship name.
It doesn’t help that Stolas has a wife, Stella, who is livid she’s been betrayed with a lowly imp. Or that he loves his daughter Octavia dearly, no matter how toxic his marriage is. The writers have managed to make Stolas a sympathetic, relatable character despite his infidelity - a deeply repressed, closeted gay man, recognisable to anyone who grew up in less tolerant times.
The LGBT rep doesn’t stop there. Blitzo is pan, with lovers of all genders. Moxxie and Millie, who are essentially the infernal Gomez and Morticia, are bi and perfectly open with one another. Fizzarolli, Blitzo’s enemy and implied ex, is in his own secret relationship with a prince of Hell, Asmodeus. Sallie May, Millie’s sister, is trans but it’s treated as completely unremarkable; she’s her parent’s favourite and loves winding her sibling up. Unlike other cartoons, the representation is part of who the characters are, not the subject of constant commentary or debate.
Should anyone think this is a ‘worthy’ show: it’s billed as an adult animation for a reason. It’s foul mouthed, filthy and hilarious, with buckets of gore and pitch black satire. It’s also a musical, with one fabulously choreographed and performed number per episode. The animation is gorgeous: quite aside from the vivid character designs and intricate backdrops, there are so many Easter eggs and fine details, you’ll find yourself pausing to take screenshots. Which you can, this being on YouTube rather than Netflix (thank God).
Being a Helluva Boss fan has been an experience like no other. The creator, Vivienne Medrano, aka Vivzie, is bi; her co-writer (and Blitzo’s VA) Brandon Rogers is gay. They love and engage with their fans, responding positively to fan art and fics. This is so refreshing after years of queer fans being treated like freaks, only allowed under sufferance. It shows what fandoms could and should be like, if there were more queer creators and showrunners.
If Season 2 is better than Season 1, it’s going to be phenomenal. I can’t wait to watch and review it #HelluvaBoss
Wonder no more. The second season of Helluva Boss, SpindleHorse’s cult indie animation, drops today. It’s nine months since the first season finale; fans have been living on slashfic and speculation ever since.
Helluva Boss is the tale of Blitzo (the o is silent), a skeezy imp running an assassination start up called I.M.P (Immediate Murder Professionals). His colleagues are Loona, his surly hellhound adoptive daughter; and Moxxie and Millie, the happiest married couple in Hell. The company has a unique selling point: by using a grimoire or spellbook, they can go up to Earth (‘the human world’) and off anyone at their clients’ request.
So far, it sounds like a standard adult animation - but this is where it gets interesting. Blitzo only has the grimoire because he slept with Stolas, an owl prince of Hell, and stole it from him. Stolas has become infatuated with the imp, so they’ve forged a Faustian pact with a difference: he will allow I.M.P to keep using the book if, every month on the full moon, they have a night of “passionate fornication.”
In any other show, this would be played for black comedy, with Stolas as an old school queer villain and Blitzo as a straight hustler - and indeed that’s how some viewers interpreted the pilot. But the situation is far more complex, with Blitzo gradually returning his feelings. Their will they, won’t they relationship is the central arc of the series - #Stolitz, to use their ship name.
It doesn’t help that Stolas has a wife, Stella, who is livid she’s been betrayed with a lowly imp. Or that he loves his daughter Octavia dearly, no matter how toxic his marriage is. The writers have managed to make Stolas a sympathetic, relatable character despite his infidelity - a deeply repressed, closeted gay man, recognisable to anyone who grew up in less tolerant times.
The LGBT rep doesn’t stop there. Blitzo is pan, with lovers of all genders. Moxxie and Millie, who are essentially the infernal Gomez and Morticia, are bi and perfectly open with one another. Fizzarolli, Blitzo’s enemy and implied ex, is in his own secret relationship with a prince of Hell, Asmodeus. Sallie May, Millie’s sister, is trans but it’s treated as completely unremarkable; she’s her parent’s favourite and loves winding her sibling up. Unlike other cartoons, the representation is part of who the characters are, not the subject of constant commentary or debate.
Should anyone think this is a ‘worthy’ show: it’s billed as an adult animation for a reason. It’s foul mouthed, filthy and hilarious, with buckets of gore and pitch black satire. It’s also a musical, with one fabulously choreographed and performed number per episode. The animation is gorgeous: quite aside from the vivid character designs and intricate backdrops, there are so many Easter eggs and fine details, you’ll find yourself pausing to take screenshots. Which you can, this being on YouTube rather than Netflix (thank God).
Being a Helluva Boss fan has been an experience like no other. The creator, Vivienne Medrano, aka Vivzie, is bi; her co-writer (and Blitzo’s VA) Brandon Rogers is gay. They love and engage with their fans, responding positively to fan art and fics. This is so refreshing after years of queer fans being treated like freaks, only allowed under sufferance. It shows what fandoms could and should be like, if there were more queer creators and showrunners.
If Season 2 is better than Season 1, it’s going to be phenomenal. I can’t wait to watch and review it #HelluvaBoss
