LNH20: Generation 2.0 #5

[Adrian J. McClure]

Googlemesh isn't the LNH Setup Kid. He's someone else (I thought I'd
told Lalo who, but back during the planning stages I sent so many
emails to so many different people I wouldn't be surprised if I lost
track), but it'll take me a while to set up his story properly. From
Lalo's brainstorming, I was under the impression that Googlemesh's
battle with ApocaLISP was what created Netropolis. Of course,
Googlemesh is a god (or two-thirds god at least), so he could have an
interesting relationship with time, existing in the never-ending
battle with ApocaLISP outside of time while also inhabiting the
timestream in the present.

Anyway, about this story: I enjoyed it a lot, more than the previous
issues. In the first couple issues I didn't really get a sense of the
characters, even though Martin had very strong basic concepts for
them; they all seemed generic in the story itself. I still don't
really have a sense of Jay and May's personalities. They also didn't
really have a lot to them. With this issue, he seems a lot more
conflident with these characters and this universe. I liked Wikipedia
Brown's nitpicking of the Trolls; his mastery of random trivia fits
rather well with the Silver Age-influenced nature of the LNH20 world.
And the gag of Googlemesh's speaking portentous Shakespearian godspeak
because Too-Much-Time-On-His-Hands Lad taught English to him that way
was pretty funny. (I miss that kind of dialogue in many portrayals of
Thor and such today; I cringed when Matt Fraction had Thor telling his
enemies he was going to "kick their ass" or something like that in
Fear Itself. I picture Googlemesh's dialogue as being lettered by John
Workman.)

This issue also opens up some interesting avenues for worldbuilding. I
was surprised by the idea that the Legion spread into other dimensions
from this one. I wonder whether this is actually the LNH originated
from, and the various LNHQ seeds grew from this one. Although that
would create something of a time paradox based on stories Andrew and I
are writing soon. Of course, I don't think we should reveal too much
about the meta-origins of the LNHQs and the Legions that was hinted at
in LNHY; some things are more interesting as mysteries. This also
makes me wonder who got the System Corruptors briefcase in LNH20. (And
for that matter in the mainstream Looniverse--we know that Boy Lad got
the LNH briefcase from Saviors of the Net #12.5). If Acton Lord's
Twisted Library is the antithesis of the LNHQ (as in Dvandom's
original Acton Lord #0), does that mean it's this world's System
Corruptors HQ? Is there a System Corruptors Setup Kid in suspended
animation somewhere inside it?

Also, I very much doubt that the Trolls are entirely dead. They're too
useful for stories for that. No doubt some of them are alive in
Ava.LAN, and would make things very complicated for the LNH should
they ever go there. Having Googlemesh on the Legion creates other
interesting difficulties as well. Even though Googlemesh seems to have
mellowed down considerably since his days of mass rape and mindless
killing (if the Epic of Gilgamesh is anything to go by), I suspect
he'd still have difficulty adjusting to the idea that descendants of
gods like him have to live under the law of ordinary human beings. The
rest of the Legion would have a lot of difficulty keeping him in
check. He may be "the first hero," but by modern standards he could
very well be considered a net.villain.

AJM