Hello and welcome to another Comic Theory, where I overanalyze and come up with some weird out of place nonsense; all just because it makes some sort of sense in a comic book. Now I am a fan of the Luna Brothers: Jonathan and Joshua Luna; a pair of writers/artists who are known for the creation of Girls and The Sword. After that, they eventually went their separate ways with works like Whispers by Joshua and Alex + Ada by Jonathan. Which as the data shows, only Jonathan found some form of critical success; people just love a tragic love story I suppose and apparently are sick of epic fantasies like his Eternal Empire. Joshua in particular has become very bitter about this and has had a falling out with Jonathan. Tough break you two.
Luna Brothers Writing Style and Themes
Now before the Luna Brothers separated, I couldn’t help but notice a few similarities between their two notable series. Introductions to Girls and The Sword sum up their POV characters in just one page; driven by their cinematic actions rather than dialogue like in Ultra. Further separating Ultra from the other two is the horror aspects surrounding them. The Luna Brothers have been influenced by horror series like The Walking Dead and I Am Legend; especially when it comes to the human condition. Which is what makes Girls and The Sword so compelling. Every situation the main characters find themselves in are for reasons driven by human emotion that are never forced.
Now for the setup… (Spoilers Ahead)
Sex and Violence
In Girls, you have a small town that is invaded by a unique breed of aliens. The aliens being attractive humanoid women that lay eggs to make more of themselves every time they have sex with a straight man. They also kill anything they can’t bone with. To increase the danger the entire town is surrounded by an impenetrable barrier. Inside the barrier along with the town is some kind of sperm-like creature that absorbs energy from both the soil and human women. Once all the alien “girls” are killed, the sperm shoots energy up into space. This causes another “girl” to go another planet with life and the barrier on Earth is gone.
I can go on explaining the hows of that situation; the real appeal of Girls is the ugly side of small town life and relationships when pushed to its limit. But I’ll get into that later.
Life by the Sword
In The Sword, a (formerly) paraplegic girl named Dara Brighton is on a path of vengeance. A group of three sibling immortals slaughter her family looking for the titular sword which Dara finds. The sword itself has great power, able to heal Dara from her injuries and even allows her to walk. The sword also grants whoever holds it a few other abilities. Super strength that allows whoever holds it to leap buildings, sustenance to prevent the need to eat, healing to the point of rejuvenating someone back into their prime, and getting rid of excess body fat and illnesses for a fit physique as long as they keep contact with the sword. Most importantly it’s the only weapon that can kill the immortals.
The Sword was actually created by the immortals along with their late brother. Because of their brother’s ego, the sibling planned to kill him by giving Dara’s dad the sword in ancient Crete. Unfortunately, the other immortals are anything but benevolent. The water immortal Zakros is a bonafide psychopath with a god and sister complex. The earth immortal Knossos is a theologian who believes that he and his siblings are meant to rule all. The air immortal Malia is an ambitious manipulator who uses whatever means to achieve her goals.
Death by the Sword
By the end of the series, the immortals are all killed off. But the thought to be dead fire immortal Phaistos reveals to have manipulated Dara to get back at his siblings. But having actually grown sublime from his experiences and respect humanity unlike his family; rather than continue the cycle he commits suicide with his corpse and sword sinking down into the Earth’s core. Moral of the story; work to achieve your goals, not rely on a boon.
Theory Time Luna Brothers
So what’s the theory? I’d say it’s rather obvious; the sperm monster with the egg dome and girls as well as the immortals all came from the same source.
Now this is more of a wild theory as there is no way of directly connecting the two series. However, it would make sense that whoever created these situations would come from the outer who-knows-where. There are a few similarities to these anyway, just different in how they function.
The Science of the Theory
Impenetrable Fields and Energy Consumption
For example, the barrier surrounding the town was shown to be all but impenetrable from the outside and inside. Not even missiles from military helicopters could damage it. The same applies to Malia who shares her brothers’ invulnerability. The only difference being that the ovum-like barrier is sustained with energy gathered from the sperm.
The immortals however don’t require as much energy and are never even shown to have the need to eat. They have essentially just enhanced vital organs that generate enough energy to sustain themselves; with no apparent limits having lived for over millennia. As for the sword, it acts like a battery that affects anything it touches. Unfortunately, all of these circumstances break the laws of thermodynamics as there is no excess heat being radiated.
Barrier Absorption
Back at the ovum barrier, a panel in Girls shows that the barrier was reflective from the outside like a one-way mirror. Because the outside of the barrier is significantly brighter with the sun out; this should be why people outside can’t see what goes on in the town. That light in turn is reflected which is what causes the town’s people to see what goes on outside. But that would mean the town should get no light at all. Yet the days are bright; even when night falls and there are clouds out nothing seems to change viewing wise. The only thing that causes the barrier to fall is a signal from the sperm creature in reaction to all the girls being dead.
Durability
And then there are the immortals. Phaistos actually spends a great amount of time underground to the point of touching Earth’s inner core. Now this is where I tell you the technical stuff. Scientists estimate that the Earth’s inner core is about 6000 degrees C (10,800 Farenheit). Compare this to the surface of the sun only a little less hot at 5505 degrees C. This means Phaistos essentially touched the sun and the fire immortal only lost his hair that eventually grew back.
Now to add the other factors. The gravitational force near that area is zero. The pressure down there is 360 gigapascals. Just this would crush a person into a pulp. Meanwhile, the semi-liquid outer core rotates at such a high rate to the point of creating a magnetic field. A person should go blind from the thermal radiation the core gives off and possibly get cancer. They would also be reduced to a blob from the magnetic field at its strongest; many people should not even be able to move a finger or whatever’s left of them. While it takes a lot of effort and patience the immortal does manage to crawl out with no ill long-term effects.
Now to Let Everyone Think I’m Crazy
In other words’ who ever created the immortals and the fertilizing barrier had to have come from a Type IV or V civilization on the Kardashev Scale. The only explanation for the properties and abilities listed above is the manipulation of dark energy. Because these dark physics deal with something that people don’t have a plausible explanation for; it’s currently the only thing I can think of. Dark matter however doesn’t give off or reflect light. So whatever’s being used for the barrier is likely dark energy based; with the energy being gathered by the sperm and girls is converted to its energy source. The immortals on the other hand seem to have bodies that can use dark energy as an external power source. The sword meanwhile seems to possess a molecular structure that can absorb and retain energy without warping itself.
But Why Luna Brothers?
Well that’s the how, but what about the why? The girls seem to go from planet to planet; with the only criteria being that there is intelligent life with a stable ecosystem. Whatever happens once the process is complete can only be implied with the presence of a sperm and ovum. The immortals on the other hand are created via the insemination of a Crete woman who could somehow hear the signals the “father” was giving off. Given the immortals’ personalities, they were likely made their current selves to study the human mind and condition. Man, I’d feel really sorry for the immortals if that were true. Despite loving and begging for help from their father; it seems they are just test subjects that were tossed aside once everything was done.
Okay So…?
But if they come from the same source, why didn’t this get the attention of their creators? Well to a being of such an advanced civilization; I’d like to think that they’re indifferent to both of those projects and what they cause. After all, they are just projects this civilization had done and let it run. Their sense of time and feelings towards a ‘lower species’ does not even apply to them. Like I said, the Luna Brothers are influenced by existential horror; the idea that these events are caused by an indifferent civilization or even an eldritch being make sense as far as comics go. Ideas like these have no straight answers, only bigger mysteries that will remain unsolved.
But like I said, the ink’s not dry yet; it’s just looking between the panels. Thanks for coming to the end.