Chapter 1: Page 8: Line 35

 "It begins with a Hanging."

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Line 35 Vulgarized:
"This story starts with a from of capital punishment that has different connotations in 1997 than in 1786, especially to an audience reading a book named after a line whose main reason of fame became its status as the boundary between free and slave states."

Subtext:
I believe I mentioned the subtext in the "Vulgarized" section so I've got some free time to discuss the dialogue that just happened between Cherrycoke and his niece, Tenebrae. I'm just going to come right out and say it: I totally didn't understand it. Their replies confused me. It was as if I were reading Ann Nocenti dialogue from her run on The New 52 Green Arrow where two characters were seemingly having a dialogue but neither one seemed to be truly responding to the other.
    Tenebrae makes a sarcastic comment about her uncle's age, him playing it up while she remarks how he seemed much younger earlier in the day. Was he telling a story earlier in the day that made him seem younger? Or is he not actually as old and tired as his description of himself indicates?
    I think maybe it's somewhere in-between. His response is to tell Tenebrae that his description of himself as old and exhausted and nearly demented was from a "Secret Relation," which I take to mean a story he has kept to himself up until then (the story about to be told maybe?). And he says he would have described himself differently in front of his current audience. I suspect what he's driving at is that this story has already been written and he's merely reciting it exactly without regard to the audience.
    Tenebrae then asks him, "Then. . . ?" That's it. It seems she's asking, "So how would you have described yourself to this audience?" That all seems like a rational interpretation until I get to this line where Cherrycoke simply answers the "Then . . . ?" with "It begins with a Hanging." What?!
    My best guess is that he's saying, "This story begins darkly and thus I needed to prepare the audience for darkness. So I wanted to preface it with my outlook or my poor memory or . . . or . . . I don't know!
    Speaking of comic books, Keith Giffen writes dialogue quite a bit like this. Where the two characters are saying things that seem almost parallel to what the other person is saying and neither half of the conversation ever intersects. Differently from Nocenti though! Her dialogue is insane. Giffen's usually makes sense after reading it through a few times. But it always makes me think, "How are these people following along with their own conversation?! It's making me dizzy!" And that's what this conversation between Brae and Cherrycoke does to me. I almost feel like I can follow what they're saying but, ultimately, I have to just shrug and think, "Maybe I got it? I guess?" Then I just have to move on like the Twins are about to, simply happy to hear an exciting story about a hanging.

A New Interpretation (due to a conversation with Doom Bunny):
Tenebrae ran into her uncle in the morning. He was acting lively and upbeat. Tenebrae was all, "Oh my. Look how youthful you looked this morning!" And Cherrycoke was all, "There's this lady I've been fucking. I mean, I should say it in a PG-13 way due to the Twins: I'm having a secret relation!" And Tenebrae Greased, "Oh? Tell me more, tell me more!" And Cherrycoke was all, "It begins with a Hanging," which means he's telling a story beginning forty years ago simply to reveal who he's now sleeping with.