Young Liars #6 Discussion and Spoilers

[HouseSolo]

It opens with Danny walking out of the hospital after having his "Mr. Johnson" cut off. He proceeds to argue with this British guy, who is hard to understand for the reader throughout the entire book.

It flashes back, again, to the time when Danny shot Sadie. They seem to be doing that a lot.

Runco, Annie X, and Sadie have taken a helicopter to Spain to steal the painting, only Annie X has called the Pinkertons to collect the reward on Sadie instead. Little does she know it's the same people who were trying to kill them earlier.

Enter Danny and crew who have found Runco's hotel room along with Annie (Sadie is off trying to steal that painting) he enters only to find it filled with Pinkertons, and Runco and Annie on their knees. They ask where Sadie is, Danny doesn't know, they cut off Runco's head.

Sadie then flies through the window on a motorcycle like Evil Knievel and proceeds to kill all the pinkertons. The bullet then shifts and she begins to have a stroke of some sort. Danny breaks and prepares to kill himself, but the British guy punches him out first.

Is anyone else starting to become a little confused? I really enjoyed this for the first few issues, but as the plot progresses I'm finding it to be a little hard to follow. Don't get me wrong, it's not up to get dropped yet, but I'm certainly hoping things clear up.

Maybe I just missed something, or I forgot something since the last issue, I don't know. Thoughts, anyone?

[NathanBethell]

What, specifically, are you having trouble following?

[HouseSolo]

Mostly the back story. It seems to be getting a little bit murky. I've pieced together that they met back in Texas (which she apparently doesn't remember) and they seemed to get along fine.

Then all of a sudden apparently her dad raped her, and now she hates him for it. So he shot her in the head, and now he feels he has to cure her or something?

I guess that's about it, so I suppose I'm understanding it, it just feels a little bit off to me for some reason.

[NathanBethell]

I think Danny changes his backstory occasionally to suit his needs, so I'd read any murkiness as intentional -- I think the 'Liars' in the title is significant.

But to address your specific points: their meeting in Texas was shown in #2. As you say, Sadie now has introduced the possibility that we can't take that story entirely seriously. I'm pretty sure the incest was introduced in that issue as well, although I think it was her brother back then. I'm at a coffee house, so I can't check, but will tomorrow.

And, as for whether or not he shot her in the head, I will point out that we haven't seen that happen on panel. The new issue suggests that the first time we saw "Danny shoot Sadie" he really fired a shot just above her head, and when the new, second shot is fired this issue, all we see is the darkened alley.

In my view, Danny's not entirely trustworthy, even when he's speaking to us, the readers.

[HouseSolo]

That would certainly make sense. I'll have to take a look back through the issues to check for inconsistencies. If there are quite a few like you said than it's certainly possible.

I do wonder why Danny would say he shot her if he didn't though? I can't think of any reason for him to take that burden upon himself if it wasn't. Especially considering that as far as we know, no one else was in that alley, and if they were they weren't someone integral to the story.

Though that would certainly be something easy for the Lapham to change if he wanted to.

[NathanBethell]

Danny does have a flair for the dramatic and tragic, doesn't he? It creates a special connection between him and Sadie, which seems to always be the goal he had in mind.

Edit: I should add that I could be completely crazy here. But I do think the title of the comic is probably significant, and Danny definitely lies to his friends (he blames the Pinkertons for burning his stomach, but tells us that he did it -- maybe one is true, maybe neither.)

[NathanBethell]

I'm pretty sure the incest was introduced in that issue as well, although I think it was her brother back then. I'm at a coffee house, so I can't check, but will tomorrow.

I checked and Sadie does imply that her brother molested her in issue #2. Recounting to Danny, how she considered cutting up her face as a child, she says something like, "my brother's Mr. Johnson would have gone spastic..."

My trip back through the series also reminded me that from the first issue on. Sadie has been concerned that her father wants to lay spider-eggs in her, so maybe that's the incest to which Danny refers in #6.

[matt levin]

Yeah, I have a feeling that nothing is what we might feel we've been led to believe. Just along for the ride, that's us, where-ever it takes us, eh?

Matt

[Ilash]

What a strange book this is. I really hate all the characters, most especially Danny and it strikes me as being something of an incoherent mess and yet there is something about the damn thing that keeps me coming back for more.

[Ben Akers]

Yep, sometimes I can't explain why I like the series so much any more than saying I just do.