23 May 2013

Subject 13 #20 - Commentary


As always, please read the issue before continuing.

Peregrine gets a quick introduction into maintaining a secret ID.  A common trope in superhero stories, to protect loved ones and be able to have down time, a hero uses cape, costume, and mask to hide what they look like.  Christopher Reeve managed to make Superman and Clark Kent look different beyond the glasses.  Nasty isn't that good an actress.  Issue 19 and its commentary covered her costume.  The other part is having those in the know still address the person and the superhero separately.  In contrast, Nasty has no idea who the American Eagle really is.

The previous issues (#16-19) marked the transition of the series' focus, from living in New York as a student to escaping and becoming an independant young woman in Rochester and Eagle's sidekick.  Issue 20 is setting up the next few issues as a new arc.  Cinder and Ember are twin pyromaniacal altereds who finish each other's sentences.  They contrast Nasty's more sullen personality; the Pyro Twins are perky and happy while Nasty tends to be angry and sullen.  From the writing perspective, Cinder and Ember exist to show off Nasty's approach to crimefighting and Nasty's personality.

Issue 20 was another issue written back in 2001 or 2002.  The heads-up display Nasty has did exist, though wasn't available for civilian use.  Today, the Foundation would have an agreement with Google to field test new tech like self-driving cars and personal HUDs.  Peregrine's helmet has a number of widgets, like a hands-free two-way radio (and would also have a smart phone built in today), HUD, GPS, and a video recorder, on top of the protection it provides to Peregrine.

Friday, Issue 21, Nasty starts her investigation.
Saturday, again, still hoping that part five of my four-part series about adapting games gets done.
Coming, rebooting science fiction, more NaNo 2013 prep work, and more!

2 comments:

  1. That... kinda raises a question. She's musing about her family and friends at the beginning. Is she not worried for their safety? Since the Consortium knows about them, wouldn't they threaten her mother in order to get Nasty back? Or maybe not her mother, but Rennie? Can she not come up with an excuse for why the Foundation shouldn't at least MONITOR them, so that she knows they'll be safe? Also, where is she living at the moment anyway, the garage? (Obviously not with Eagle, if she doesn't know who he is.)

    The dual personality thing was well played there. It makes sense that few people would know - Micki probably doesn't, for one. Hm, would the Foundation trust self-driving cars, or would they worry about hackers?

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    1. She should be. Her reasoning right now is that, since there's no way her friends and family could know where she is, they're safe for now, but probably being watched, so going home is right out. Nasty should tell the Foundation, but she hadn't thought of the idea. As for where, she has a converted office at the Foundation.

      Secret IDs are a pain, really. Anyone you tell you have to be able to trust not just now, but 5, 10, 20 years from now, too. The board knows; they're setting it up. Micki doesn't; she has no reason to know, though she could connect the dots if she wanted. They'd worry about hackers, but hackers can now attack driver-driven cars these days, too.

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