Magical Girl Redux

Magical Girl Redux
Published	October 15, 2016 (2016-10-15)
Page count	17
Major characters	Lucy, Paulo
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Magical Girl Redux is a non-canon Bittersweet Club International-exclusive comic that redraws the most dramatic scene of Veronica’s unpublished, pre-BCB Magical Girl Lucy series. Lucy wakes up roped to a cavern wall, and an evil copy of Paulo wants her dead.

Partial synopsis

Lucy comes to in her magical “Aqua” disguise, pinned high against a cavern wall by a web of ropes. Below her, an evil copy of Paulo gloats that he can sense her anywhere and see through any magical disguise. He says Mike is unharmed and asleep. “I only want you,” he tells her. Lucy gives him a gentle smile, relieved that Mike is safe, and the response confuses him.

Lucy asks whether he misses his fallen comrades, whom she has absorbed. He answers, “Idiots shouldn’t have got themselves killed.” He says none of them matter as long as he defeats her in the end.

He was created with exactly one purpose, and no one ever told him what comes after it. Lucy, roped to a wall with nothing but her voice, has all the time in the world to keep asking...

Character dynamics

Aqua wakes up on the wrong end of an ambush.

• Paulo and Lucy: This “Paulo” is not the genuine article. He is a magical impostor who intends to destroy Lucy and says defeating her is all that matters. He smiles and flirts while threatening her. Lucy answers from the ropes without showing fear and smiles when he says Mike is safe.

Trivia & observations

The cryptic golden lions that turned out to be advertising this comic.

• Veronica has said the comic retells “the most dramatic scene” from her old Magical Girl Lucy comics, made “before BCB was a thing and before Paulo and Daisy were real characters”. The Paulo and “Daisy” in this comic are evil impostor copies rather than their main-comic counterparts.
• Veronica said the original series ran for about 300 pages plus prequel material. At the time, nobody else had read it. Redrawing the entire series would take “absurdly long.”
• Veronica wrote the original when she was 13 or 14. After rereading it, she called it “much edgier than I thought.” She also said she had “half-lied about the events” in a summary posted on the old website.

Related chapters

• Out of the Frame: This fourth-wall-breaking 2007 chapter contains Aqua’s only other appearance. She tearfully protests, “It’s just not fair! We don’t want to be ignored!” Nine years later, she takes a central role in this comic.