A crossover between Animorphs and Dexter? Or: what if Dexter was in the same Universe as Animorphs?
These are two WILDLY different takes on the broad category of dark camp, even though I'd put both under that heading. Like, Dexter the show tones it down a little, but Jeff Lindsay is all about finding ridiculous and hilarious ways to describe gruesome murder and stuff like that. It leans way into the shock comedy, suggesting that all humans are fundamentally terrible and that serial killers are ordinary folks who just have slightly fewer manners than average. Camp elements are like "Suuure there are 40-odd serial killers who all live in Miami, why not?" and "I guess you could, in theory, chop off 100% of someone's appendages non-fatally."
Whereas Animorphs is also dark camp, but the horror and the screwball comedy rarely mix. It's far more likely to suggest that people are well-meaning and decent, but that societies are ridiculous. It'll shift rapid-fire between the extremes of body horror and teen comedy, but it will shift rather than being both at once. Our narrators get serious when things are dangerous, goofy when things are weird. Camp elements are like "Of course you stab all your leaders to death so they can't make mistakes," and "No, no, only the maple-and-ginger flavor oatmeal addicts aliens! All other flavors are harmless!"
Which is a long-winded way of saying: I have no idea how to square this circle. Anyone else have thoughts?
