What is needed more - criticism, or modeling after something?
A sort of fictionalized take on my parodying the Styx album Pieces of Eight.
The Jack who was not made of Lego and carried a sword rather than a torch had gotten concerned about his counterpart.
My, you are violent,
he said. And you think you would be in danger of being terminated by our powerful employer if you parodied a song that not all the readers had known for years!
Jack Sparrow had made enough of a point to get those Lego pirates dubbed the Comic Five the material they needed from a source newer to the readers. Still, barnacle-encrusted horrors were all they talked about in just about anything. As good as leading them to the songs Queen of Spades and Renegade had been. . .
The decision was made to turn to the rest of the album those songs came from and make a parody album of it.
Well, there’s our fodder,
the Comic Five and their counterparts, the Black Pearl Crew both acknowledged. But only the latter group said it in a warm, welcoming way. The Five could make it sound as if they were being pushed to it by a sword at the chin.
But someone did let it darken after all. The discovery of a pipe organ in I’m O.K. did not exactly interrupt the capable parodist, but it did not go over very well either.
Not caring about such things, the Crew focused on writing Blue Hat Man.
The Crew thought it wise to save the rest of the parodies until the readers had been listening to the album for months. But Jack Spasm would not entirely wait until then. As he was quickly able to memorize I’m O.K., which had that organ disliked by their employer, they saw the song as an abomination.
With the Crew elsewhere, the will the Five had to survive drove them to try to appease their employer. The Crew came back from writing on their parchment to find the song salvaged.
After a wait that might have been a bit long, the Crew gestured at the workplace. Only their employer understood it, as she could be subtle and notice it. The Five never did well at that.
Then the Five were persuaded to say yes to doing Great White Hope. They ran to the wall and tried to hold their counterparts back from it. That was perhaps tense.
The Crew probably helped with The Things Worsen Days,
but the Five rejected the notion that the parodies might one day have viewers they’d not had at the time of writing. As long as they got a ha
or two from their existing audience, that was good enough. That showed in several ways.
They sang about a palm tree disguise, but that is not in anything from Disney. That and other things you had to know personally.
A real pirate drew a sword. They and the Five could end up in a fight if the latter turned their back on their franchise if they dealt with how hard Lords of the Ring was by going to Lego Lord of the Rings.
The Crew would deal with their cargo of flour later. There could be trouble. Squidbeard
could at least be easily corrected, but they had to stay in this franchise.
Despite the pressing temptation of LotR, the employer cried out, Don’t!
She might hear an LotR character, but would not listen to him. Or her. She would not let such an obvious choice be made, and the parody that came around was called Horrible Things.
Perhaps it was Lego Barbossa. He at least obsessed over things he liked.
Oh, but it was still Lego. Still, it was something everyone could have.
Not speak of blights, speak of the treasure, that’s right!
he approved. Even if he spoke with closed doors hiding his identity, he was clearly not Lego.
What was done with Pieces of Eight itself was unusually pleasant for the Five. Seemed sensible, realistic things, like sleeping and having treasure, was not always beyond this bunch. Topical as the parody was, it came forward, safe for publication.
Of course, the Five still warranted caution. Usually, for any fan of the crew of the Flying Dutchman, finding out what was in a Comic Five parody was like like being a bride discovering the wedding cake was moldy.
Jack Spasm went elsewhere while his employer puzzled out what the Crew should do next.
She got another Styx album, Equinox. It would be a while before she had this digital item down, let alone the readers. But Barbossa, Elizabeth, all the canon others - they were happy to go for Styx again.
I will see you at that album,
said Jack Sparrow.
The two versions of Jack will be increasingly divided.