Undead Chippendales

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

Quoted from this article which is quoting an interview:

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In discussing the series Hamilton refers to the biggest selling point of the comic-book version of her novel - getting to see the Vampire wet-dream character visually for the first time:

"Jean Claude is about 200 years old, and is incredibly gorgeous," Hamilton said. "He's a walking, talking fantasy, and has a couple hundred years to practice being really good at that. He's the manager of Guilty Pleasures, which is a vampire strip club where you can also see werewolves and were-leopards and other creatures take off their clothes."

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I remember when JC was a manipulative undead SOB who'd spent a couple hundred years being toyed with and manipulated and learning to manipulate others. I remember when I liked him because he was moving beyond the horrors of his own past and his own mistakes and what others had done to him and was cooly carving out his life and standing firmly on it. I could like him but not approve of him or how he was manipulating the situation for Anita(who was my pov protagonist as a reader).

And now he's that guy with his shirt ripped off on the cover of a romance novel. He's become an object.

Comments

[terratheelf.livejournal.com]

Isn't it mentioned in the books somewhere that JC is over 400? And clues kept popping up that point him as being older.

Granted, when you keep character outlines on sticky notes, pesky details like age are bound to go missing.

[alex-lebeau.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure Anita did indeed peg him for the 400 club in Bloody Bones or thereabouts, yeah. But by now, are we really even shocked?

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

It(the series) does indeed mention that JC is over 400 and does drop hints that he might be older but he doesn't want other vampires to be aware of it. That he may well keep that hidden for his own protection and underestimation.

But yeah, sticky notes instead of a bible. C'mon. A five subject notebook is like a $1.29.

[adam-adonai.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I recall Jean-CLaude's age as being 200 initially, but then later Anita learned he was much older than that. He chose to hide his powers (which come with age?) in order to be left relatively alone by the Council.

[laney-1974.livejournal.com]

My thoughts too. I daresay that LKH is deliberately saying he's 200 so as to not spoil any people who aren't reading the series but will get into the comics.

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

It'd be more honest and more vague to say "a few hundred" though, or something that doesn't lead people to think that she can't keep track of her own story. Which she can't, but I like to pretend to help people save face sometimes.

[adam-adonai.livejournal.com]

I liked his character better when he was more manipulative and devious, as in the earlier books. It seemed more plausible.

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

JC was always gorgeous, but you're right in that LKH has emasculated the hell out of him lately. I miss the manipulator I was attracted to but couldn't trust.

[jeannette.livejournal.com]

I NEVER remember Jean Claude being 200. NEVER. Wasn't it 400 from the beginning? And then a vague hint that it was actually 600, which totally frags the "my mother was dying" excuse?

...He ages negatively, it's the only solution.

(...Although I can totally see my Asher-muse getting in a fight with Jean over it and being like, "Your mother had been dead for 175 years!! How stupid do you think I am?")

[mariakatarina.livejournal.com]

Asher-muse? Is he wearing a toga and playing a harp? Jean and Sierra are cracking up now.

Seriously though, I think the discrepencies in the age thing were part of JC's 'charm' or myseriousness anyway. Now it's just.. LKH can't fucking remember how older characters are.

My mother was dying is still a shitty excuse to let your romantic partners get taken in by witch hunters.

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

Mother, dying, witchhunters?

[mariakatarina.livejournal.com]

mother dying was the excuse JC gave way back when to explain why he didn't show up to save Asher and Julianna when they were nabbed by the church.

Julianna was burned at the stake as a witch (I think. sorry if I have this wrong). Asher got the holy water treatment (which acted like boiling oil).

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

Ok. This makes sense now. I was thinking it was LKH's mother, which sent her into a funk, which had her do something weird to the characters. And I was very much, 'but her mother's already been dead - what was this the anniversary?'

[mariakatarina.livejournal.com]

haha. I gotcha. The deadmommy concept is so replayed over and over again with LKH's books.

I'm sorry for her losing her mom and all.. but damn. Stop putting your baggage into your published work. That's what you pay a therapist for.

[catskin.livejournal.com]

I remember him being around 300 to start, then getting bumped up to 400. Weren't there hints in Circus of the Damned that his "original century" was when the musketeers were about?

[mariakatarina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember those hints too. And there was some description of clothing in a painting he had of Asher and Julianna. It was that old-French, musketeer style (I know it's gotta have a better name than that, but I'm not a historical clothing expert)

[catskin.livejournal.com]

Lol, me either, but I'm pretty sure we'd be talking seventeenth century if JC really was around in the time of the muskeers. By my calculations, that puts him as at least 300 years old. Possibly older, but definitely no younger.

Of course, it's possible LKH will reveal in the next book he was a twenty-year-old virgin when he became a vampire and just has a fetish for musketeer outfits.

[ellenel13.livejournal.com]

I'm in complete agreement. JC used to be a good foil and oponent for the main character. Now he's just her head harem boy.

Icon

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

Love yours! Love it!

[nightangel486.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, we're already seeing LKH's wet dreams come to life in her books, and now we're being subjected to full-color illustrations! What's next, "LKH's Illustrated Guide To Sex, Marriage, and The Universe"?

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

Chapt 1: Vage pounding.

Chapt 2: When You Do Him By Mouth

Chapt 3: Dirt Talk; 1001 Ways To Scream 'Fuck Me Now!'

Chapt 4: Never Let A Man Think For Himself.

Chapt 5: Never Let an 'ex' Man Think for Himself.

Chapt 6: Teaching Your Men How To Constantly Adore You

Chapt 7: Using Men To Rule The World!

Chapt 8: Dimensional Crossings (This is my world bitches. Find your own)