54 that stuck out when I read it for the first time: “I started out as an idea, but I ended up something more.” It feels like it’s fitting for the series, itself, as much as about Hazel. There’s a line in Hazel’s narration in No. There’s probably a lot of me wrestling with that divide in this final showdown. In fiction, I think violence can be beautiful, hilarious and cathartic, while in the real world, I’ve found it’s pretty universally ugly, immoral and counterproductive. I never try to write any kind of “lesson” into anything I write, but I’ve always been fascinated by violence. With the understanding that, of course, the story isn’t over, was there a reticence in the “lesson” learned here, in relationship to the character who chose peace over war? It feels surprisingly pessimistic, and at odds with the optimism central to Hazel’s very existence, for want of a better way to put it. There’s an obvious symbolism in the end of the fight between Marko and the Will. With what happens in the latest issue - again, being vague - it’s tempting to see this as something that will forever change her and the way she approaches everything and everyone around her.ĭefinitely, this is the most significant change to the narrative yet, and I think it’s fair to say that our story will look and feel entirely different when it returns. Hazel’s importance to the series was arguably obscured in the earliest issues, when she was a baby and almost as much an abstract concept - or a Macguffin, even - as she was an actual character. I always hoped that readers would become attached to everyone in our cast, regardless of whether or not those characters were “heroes” or “villains,” but as Hazel’s narration suggested way back in our first issue, she’s the real protagonist of this story, so everyone else is, if not expendable, definitely at risk, especially in our war-torn universe.

This was all part of the plan from the very beginning. We’ll get more into the intermission shortly, but what made this feel like the right point in the series to make such a dramatic change to the series? 54 ends with what might be the most shocking last page of a series that’s made shocking last pages a tradition is putting it mildly. Heat Vision talked to Vaughan about what went into the decisions behind both the story’s big moment and the “intermission,” as he calls the series’ temporary hiatus.

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