SW10/WWW: Powernaut 1962 #7: Here Come the Reds!

[Scott Eiler]

On 3/17/2013 10:20 PM, mrnelson007 at gmail.com wrote:

> Dear Mister Powernaut,
>
> I have performed a thorough check of the entire USMRA database, and
> Iregret to inform you that I cannot locate any registrant with the alias
> "Powernaut". You have 30 days to comply with USMRA code 3-A and register
> at the nearest USMRA office and apply for a Metahuman Activities Permit
> or terminate all such activities immediately.
>
> Thank you for your cooperation.
>
> Sincerely, Elliot Parker, Clerk, United States Metahuman Relations
> Agency

...

Queezl,

I got this message from Earth in your daily radio packet.  Is this a 
joke?  Because this is not how America treats its heroes in 1962!  It's 
more like one of those dystopian stories about the far-flung future of 2006.

(signed) Powernaut

...

Powernaut,

You ask the wrong being about Earth jokes.  But this is an actual letter 
the Power Patrol office received this week.  Its attitude matches what I 
know of your species.  In other species, either the individuals have all 
responsibility and power, or the group does.  Only humans argue over 
which.  I could take Elliot Parker to my laboratory on Venus and train 
him in the way my species does it...

(signed) Queezl

...

Queezl,

No!  Just tell the temporary office manager to send Agent Parker's 
letter to our lawyer.  He'll take care of it.

(signed) Powernaut

...

Dear Mr. Parker:

I represent Power Patrol, Inc., a limited liability company based in 
Power City.  You have our apologies for the lack of paperwork filed with 
your department.  It was and remains our understanding that the 
activities of the Powernaut and the Power Patrol are covered by a 
technological license and disclosure agreement signed between Power 
Patrol, Inc. and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (hereafter 
referred to as NASA).  I understand there may be alternative 
interpretations of this agreement relative to the Metahuman Relations 
Act of 1955 (hereafter referred to as the Act).  However, even under 
strict interpretation the Powernaut is in compliance with the Act; he 
was inactive from 1955 to 1960, and has engaged in costumed metahuman 
activities *only off planet* from 1961 to the present.

I look forward to further discussions with a view toward resolving these 
differences.  My client is presently away from the office, but I'm 
hopeful we can arrange a solution to present to him upon his return. 
Please submit and sign the attachments, then I'll arrange for a meeting.

Sincerely,
George Lang, Esq., Attorney at Law.

(attached:  NASA Non-Disclosure Agreement)

(attached:  NASA Security Clearance Application)

---

> In all seriousness, though, I am enjoying this! I really like the
> little random things that remind me of that time period. It's a nice
> touch, and I'm seconding the amusing stereotype names. Well played.

Why, thank you.  There aren't many who can speak to that time period; 
it's before even my time, except in reprints and adaptations.  So thanks 
for the review.

I'm not exactly sure how to address the United States Metahuman 
Registration Act in-story.  I know it must have existed from 1955 
onward, but it's the kind of thing that never would have been mentioned 
in a comic book before at least 1968.  I'll probably stick it all in the 
Powernaut 1962 letters page anyway, though, because we all know the 
Powernaut's stories are for *all* time.

-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.