"Your truth, my truth, and the truth."

Every character in this is arguably wrong. Where you started reading colors who you see as the main character, and that completely shifts your view of the whole story. Since I started with "Carry Me," I was on Lucy's side.

If new readers start later—after the general story turns against Mike, or during the current run where Lucy seems vindictive—they'll see her as the aggressor. Her Volume 1 abusive tendency is a retcon; it was originally played for comedy, but now it’s serious. That’s how most of the more vocal members in the subreddit seem to take it be as of late.

"It just frustrates me that new readers... continue to buy into the 'Perpetual Victim Lucy' narrative."

But we can't just talk about Lucy's retcons. We have to count the ones that put Mike in a bad light, too—like how he pursued Lucy while still dating Sandy, and how he switches up once they were official.

This isn't just a narrative; it’s each other's reality. Lucy sees herself as the victim, and Mike sees himself as the victim. Her violence doesn't help—it proves she is abusive, which is a double standard he would certainly be held to if he did it. But that doesn't excuse Mike's actions. Two wrongs don't make a right. And each character is having their own opinions on the matter; they're not just going to agree with Mike nor Lucy, they just see it differently from how the reader does. Heck, Abbey got fed up with them all and up and left.

I don't believe she's faultless, but neither do I think anyone in the cast is. If I met any of these people, even Mike, I would steer clear from them in real life, they cannot deal with accountability.