InsaneJournal

Penny Dreadful and the Shilling Shockers outline:
How someone with my narrow view of religion got into writing a story like this, I don't know...but there you have it:

Penny Dreadful (née Penny Dixon) is a goth rock superstar, always looking for her next big thrill. Sex, drugs, rock. That's her life. She thinks she's the end all be all princess of darkness, going so far as to try and enhance her image by taking up demonology, occult practices and other things that make middle America shudder. She's a dark Madonna, who thinks she's the genuine article, when really she's the product of really good marketing. She's lost herself as a result of her fame; she'll be the first to tell you she's the hardest of the hardcore, but she can't tell you why. She's the first to tell you that she knows the scene like the back of her hand, but she doesn't know to which 'scene' she refers. She's a pastiche of cyberpunk, gothic and loligoth style, made that way because the image sells well and that's all. Though she honestly believes her own good press.

Also: It should be noted that she wears a rosary at all times, with an inverted cross. This comes into play later.

On tour with her band, Penny plays her biggest sold-out stadium ever and, still flying high after the show, decides that the afterparty will be so much more fun if there's drugs involved. Things get wild, Penny shoots some heroin and overdoses.
She awakes to find herself in the afterlife, standing before a judge, reading off each of the ten commandments that she has violated in her lifetime, with corresponding illustrations for each. Even as this is occurring, she's being rushed to the hospital as medics try and keep her from dying. Her body makes it to the hospital, just as she's about to be judged and sentenced to an eternity in hell for her misdeeds on another plane, and a priest, taking pity on a young girl who--for all he knows (she doesn't exactly look like her stage persona at this point and her rosary has been removed, lying next to her in such a manner that the inverted cross could be taken as an upright one)--is a good Catholic, he administers the last rites, cushioning the blow of her sins.

(I realize I am taking liberties with Catholic dogma, but it works in context, I swear it does)

This sucks for Penny. She was looking forward to going to hell--meeting her patron God and all like that--and suddenly she finds herself yanked out of hell and suddenly in purgatory, which is simply a barren wasteland of lost souls, waiting for their penance to be paid. Not quite all the feiry excitement she's read about.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the media is all over her death--it's an absolute feeding frenzy--and her body is in the morgue waiting for a hearse to come and pick her up to take her to the nearest funeral home. Time passes for the real world just as it always has, but for Penny, every second in the real world is about a month in purgatory. Therefore, by the time the hearse arrives, she's lived what feels like an eternity to her in the wasteland.

There are a series of panels that paralell what's happening in the real world and in purgatory. As Penny's body is transported to the funeral home and the undertaker begins preparing to embalm her, in purgatory, an angel appears to her. Apparently, the blessing of the priest has washed away the majority of Penny's more serious sins and oh, would she like to go to heaven?

(Again, taking liberties that work in context.)

Penny winds up in heaven, which is even duller than Purgatory, until she's shown the hall of lifetimes. Within the hall of lifetimes there are millions and millions of small hourglasses, each one representing a lifetime in progress. When the sand runs out, buh-bye mortal realm, helloooo afterlife! The only exceptions to the sand-running-out rule are those mortals who have a purpose that must be fulfilled. Those hourglasses are never allowed to run out. Penny gets the bright idea that if she happens to snatch one of those hourglasses meant for someone with a divine purpose, she can return to earth.

Okay, so the scene is a lot more complicated in my head, but the point is, Penny's plan works. Her body jerks awake just as she's about to be embalmed and the poor undertaker has a heart attack from the shock. The ethereal hourglass is now strung around her neck and can't be removed.

Penny stumbles out of the funeral home, wearing the undertaker's jacket and a cheap party dress that was obviously meant to be what some other corpse was to be buried in, into the light of a hundred news crews.

Extra, Extra! Hallelujah, Penny Dreadful is alive!

Cut to Penny's New York penthouse where she's being allowed to recuperate from her near-miss. Recuperation for Penny is an apartment full of people. She's not nearly as shook up as she should be, having mostly forgotten what happened while she was on the other side, but a party girl approaches Penny and -gasp- it's the angel in disguise. The memories come flooding back, "Oh, shit, I'm in trouble."

But, not necessarily. Penny didn't just take any divine hourglass, she took one meant for a Warden. Wardens are charged with remaining in the mortal realm to catch any demons that escape the confines of hell and return to earth. Penny is now obligated to fulfill her duty as a Warden, or else her mortality will be revoked and she'll be sent back to purgatory permanently.

Penny certainly doesn't want to go back to purgatory, but she doesn't want to have to spend eternity as a Warden, either. The angel makes an offer: catch thirteen demons on the 'most wanted' list and she'll be released of her contract. Her mortal life will be restored to just how it was before she died of an overdose.

Penny takes the deal and the hunt is on!

She spends the next few issues (although, this is rapidly turning into prose in my head and not a comic--so maybe it'd be fairer to say chapters) capturing these demons. Along the way, she'll get a couple of allies, though I have yet to decide what sort, and once she has the thirteen demons in tow, the angel appears.

This is the big twist: the angel who's been Penny's handler? Not an angel. She's actually Lucifer. Those thirteen demons (which will be taken from the Lesser Key of Solomon and have proper correspondences) are the key to overthrowing the earth and finally bringing about the apocalypse. Purgatory, heaven, everything that Penny experienced after death was a ruse presented by Lucifer to lull her into doing his dirty work.

Blah, blah, blah, climactic battle, blah, blah, blah--

I have no idea how it ends. On the one hand, I could have Pen overthrow the devil himself and take his place; on the other, I could have her overthrow him by destroying the thirteen demons and making armageddon as a concept null and void.

On yet another hand, the legions of heaven could come to her aid and she could fight off armageddon even as it's happening and then get her reward in the form of being returned to earth like in the original deal.

Bleh, I don't like that ending. That invites the assumption that she cleans up and lives a moral life because of her brush with God. Too...after school special.

I'll figure something out.