SW10, HCC10: The Waitress From Beyond

[Scott Eiler]

On Aug 8, 5:06 pm, Andrew Perron <pwer... at gmail.com> wrote:

> "It's hard to control flame powers" doesn't naturally lead to "They're all
> enemies of the state!"
>
> Actually, this is a recurring annoyance with me.  Governments are set up so
> that they're answerable to the people.  Yes, they can become immensely
> corrupt, but even a corrupt government can't just oppress whoever it wants
> and put random laws into effect, not without at least *some* popular
> support - and both the government and the people are heterogeneous groups
> of individuals.

I think this is mostly the other side of the pendulum.  For all too
many years in comic books, people could use deadly force in public
without government sanction, just because they wore costumes.

> The point of this?  Far too many stories use "governmental oppression/angry
> mobs" as a cheap and easy plot device.  If you're going to use it, set it
> up.

I'll do that if I ever write more about Jimmy Flamer or his own
world.  But as we noted, Jimmy comes from something much like the
Marvel Universe, which *did* have angry mobs.  That's an important
reason why Nell the waitress likes Superhuman World 2010 by
comparison.  I don't know a good way to go into that in a short story,
but I can at least add a paragraph or two.