"What If…" Sonya took "The Serum"? (UPDATED w/ Page 7!)

One of the reasons I don't post new pages to Tetsuko and Satin Steele is that I'm so easily distracted by side projects…

Ever since I began posting Tetsuko comics online, I've gotten anumber of e-mails and postings on message boards like this, all making the same request: they want to see Sonya take the serum and grow big and muscular like Tetsuko!

I've resisted that idea for reasons that make sense to me: if Sonya becomes muscular just like Tetsuko, what's the point of Tetsuko? Her size, strength and muscualrity is what sets off Tetsuko from the rest of the denizens of this strip's "universe", and the focus of its stories. (Sometimes I regret giving Tet-chan as large a bosom as I have; because Sonya's extraordinary bustline is part, along with her advanced expertise in science, of what sets her apart. So if, as one reader suggested, I posit that the serum made Tetsuko as smart as she is strong, then what's the point of Sonya?) So I can still say with certainty that you'll never see Sonya grow Tetsuko's size and strength in the official storyline.

However, there can be "unofficial" storylines, right?…

Just as DC had their "Imaginary stories" and Marvel their What If…? series, I can do the same thing… so I have. I have concocted an "alternate storyline" wherein Sonya does take the serum and… well, you can guess what the result is.

The main reason I haven't done such "alternate storylines" before is because, once I've established a character and how she behaves, I don't like changing it without a good reason. So it is with Dr. Sonya Gannon: even in a "what if?" scenario, I want the character acting in a way consistent with how she'd act and react in her own "real world". And that was the big stumbling block with any plot that had Sonya taking the serum: why would she take it, seeing what it had done to her friend? Keeping in mind that unlike Tetsuko, Sonya had no real desire to become stronger and more muscular; she does work out to keep fit but doesn't want to carry the bulk of a bodybuilder. And the idea of trying the serum on herself she rejects outright in the official storyline. So the "unofficial" storyline keys on that decision: instead of rejecting the idea of serving as her own guinea pig, Sonya considers it a viable option.

What I like about this story is that it keys on situations and concepts I either have revealed or will reveal in the canonical story. Among these is the fact that Sonya will be unable, even after running exhaustive tests on Tetsuko, to discover exactly why the formula had such extreme effects on its recipient. Part of this is because Sonya was unable to run a complete physical examination on her subject before the injection, to compile a baseline with which to compare the changes the serum wrought on Tetsuko. So the first six pages of this unofficial story open just as Sonya (with the indispensible help of Tetsuko) is completing just such a examination on herself…

(yes, I know the story stops before Sonya actually starts growing; I seem to be congenitally unable to finish a story before I post it. The rest is coming soon.)

UPDATE, 1/31/06: Just added Page 7. But I think I'll wait until the rest of the pages are finished before I post any more.