Puffer and Clarissa

In the story of Puffer and Clarissa, Killer Whale is a lot of things. He’s a source of comic relief, offering a less serious villain than Sharon or Lord Jel. He’s a guy who’s very dedicated to the bit, as his name, outfit, and submarine are all based off of orcas. But most importantly, he’s also a dark foil to Puffer, and represents the potential bad ending she could’ve had if she never went through the character development she experienced in the comic. The loud, dramatic, cruel Killer Whale might not seem like he has much in common with the timid, smart, sensitive Puffer, but both characters share a number of key traits that make them mirror each other.

At the start of the story, both Puffer and Killer Whale are unquestionably loyal to their respective leaders, Sharon and Lord Jel. The two characters may be styled after a puffer fish and an orca, but they might as well be barnacles, given how they latch onto others. They appear to have no personal desires outside of doing what they are told and staying in the good graces of their superiors. It’s hard to imagine what either one of these characters do in private, as their personalities are watered-down extensions of the will of Sharon and Lord Jel.

Puffer and Killer Whale both have no life to speak of. It’s an accurate description to say that they both have no friends and there are no activities they do that aren’t acts of service. When it’s all accounted for, they feel like incomplete people. And that is ultimately due to the fear that dominates both characters’ lives.

Puffer is always being criticized by her mom and thus fears expressing herself at all for fear of inviting even more mockery or criticism. Killer Whale might seem like he has more of a personality, but his outfit with obscured eyes, wide shoulders, ab armor, clawed gauntlets and big boots make it clear that this is more about projecting an image than it is a genuine personality. Lord Jel punishes dissent and those who don’t seem useful, so this persona of a savage, loyal killer helps to continue his existence. Puffer and Killer Whale are both afraid to live and thus have no outlets to appear genuine. Or at least, that’s how it is at the beginning of the story.

Puffer getting away from her mom for a bit allows her to develop some and believe in her own skills. She begins to defy Sharon, and while she’ll probably always be a little bit clingy and nervous, the fact that she can make this change means she can hopefully make more changes when the time comes, leaving her story on a hopeful note. Killer Whale just dies. Well, perhaps that’s unfair; he does save Puffer and Clarissa at the end, but he exists as a cautionary tale about being a person who only exists to serve as a tool for someone else. Tools get discarded when a better model comes along, and that’s exactly what happens when Lord Jel finally has everything he needs to make the Storm Machine work. Killer Whale is discarded, so what does he do when he realizes this? He cries, because while he may be older than our teen heroes, he has not truly lived as long as they have. Some readers may feel sympathy for Killer Whale due to that moment, others may instead feel satisfaction that a man who has spent his whole live killing helpless people is finally feeling a fraction of the fear he inflicted on others. As the writer, it’s not my job to tell the readers how to feel. I don’t necessarily want all my readers to agree. So long as they felt something, I am satisfied.

Why did I write all this? Well, the Puffer and Clarissa Kickstarter just reached its first stretch goal, so a bonus chapter featuring a young Sharon and Killer Whale will be added to the book. It’ll reveal details about their lives being raised as Lord Jel’s servants. The next stretch goal will be for a bonus chapter solely focused on Killer Whale’s strategies for staying alive while working for Lord Jel, so tell your friends all about the Kickstarter so we can make these bonus stories happen!