[8Fold/Contest] Journal Into... #14 : All Us Zombies (HC13)

[Saxon Brenton]

On Mon 27 Sept 2010 Scott Eiler [seiler at eilertech.com] replied:
> ... It's interesting to see a battle between mad scientists.
>
> If I'm not mistaken, you're starting a multiversal war among three Dr.
> Evil Jrs. while also bringing in Dr. Evil Sr. and Dr. Evil III.
> That's an admirable use of predecessors, but the extradimensionals 
> make it at least two threads to follow up.  Or might I just assume 
> the extradimensional Dr. Evil we saw is just going to say, "Screw it, 
> this world's too much for me"?
 
Technically two Dr Evil Jrs, a Dr Evil Senior and a Dr Evil III.
 
The extradimensional 'counterpart Prof. Longitude' is indeed a problem 
in the long run.  The structure of the story was one of a bunch of 
reveals: in the first instance it looks as though the issue of legacy/
identity is simply one of two dimensional counterparts battling over 
the naming rights between their respective universes, then expanding 
in the second instance when Dr Longitude shows up, *apparently* as a 
hero, and revealing the first instance was a setup, and then expanding 
in the third instance to show the machinations of 'Grandfather Longitude' 
(Tom has since pointed out in email that 'Silver Age' isn't quite the 
proper adjectival label, and I agree).
  
But after all those reveals, the main focus should be on the family of 
Longitudes on the mainstream 8Fold continuity.  The counterpart Longitude 
is a kind of a leftover as far as story elements go.  By rights the 
easiest way to deal with him  would be to have him say, "Screw it," and 
just go home.  But if he's a mad scientist with all the drawbacks of 
bombastic ego, a drive to crush his rivals and avenge insults, and a 
loose grasp on reality (you know, all the character traits that _Girl 
Genius_, _Narbonic_ and even _A Miracle Of Science_ revel in) - then I 
don't see him just wandering away to play in his own sandbox.
  
Darn.  These are things I never thought of when I was just writing a 
simple one-off pulp story between rival generations of villains.
  
---
Saxon Brenton
tV trOpes wiKi  *HUnGeRS*  and wAnts to EaT all yoUr frEe tiMe