SW10, HCC10: The Waitress From Beyond

[Andrew Perron]

On Mon, 9 Aug 2010 20:13:55 +0000 (UTC), Scott Eiler wrote:

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

>> 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.

Well, except that it *wasn't* usually deadly force - not until the '80s,
anyway.  Which coincides with the rise in this plot device.  Honestly, I
think it has more to do with general cynicism in Western culture than
anything (and, of course, the popularity of the X-Men).

>> 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.

Fair enough.  I got that you only had so much space for it, but a
witch-hunt specifically agains fire powers is odd enough that it needs a
bit of exposition.  Honestly, I would've just gone with one for powers that
qualify as "deadly force" in general.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, foo.