8FOLD/ACRA: Jolt City # 23, "...Their Last Adventure!", NOTES

[Tom Russell]

   EIGHTFOLD PROUDLY PRESENTS
////////////// TOM RUSSELL'S
    ////  //////  /// //////  ////// /// ////// \  //
// ////  //  //  ///   //    ///    ///   //     \//# 23
//////  //////  ///// //    ////// ///   //      //NOTES

Part 1.

[1] This immediately follows the climax of number twenty-two. Derek
had chosen Bethany to be his insurance policy should the miniature
time machine in his brain malfunctioned and FEVER take control of his
body; she would put him down if needed. Thus, she was with Derek when
he was thrown back in time. Beforehand, they shared their secret
identities, and Bethany told Derek the truth about her "powers".

[2] This is a pseudo-flashback to the first time we met Bethany, back
in number twenty, in which she fought the Fiddleback, a villain with a
necrotic death-touch. Her victory was a major part of her elevation
from the C-List to the A-List. During the fight, he touched her cheek,
giving her a distinctive and painful necrotic scar that she obscures
with her new Veronica Lake style peek-a-boo hairstyle.

[3] "The black mouse": Bethany is African-American, and her codename
is Knockout Mouse. "That comes from the hill": She hails from Calumet
Heights, which is sometimes called Pill Hill. "Touched by death": see
note # 2. "Wields the stuff of stars": Her Singularity Gauntlet was
found in a crashed spaceship, as we'll soon see in the next scene.

[4] The fact that Pharos originally inhabited what became Martin's own
Knight's Den was first mentioned in the GREEN KNIGHT ANNUAL. At that
point, Riddle told Martin that he wasn't sure if it was Pharos or not.
He was being a little cagey, since he had just met Martin.

[5] Pretty much everyone, yes; Derek's identity is known to Martin
Rock, Roy Riddle, Dani Handler, Pam Bierce, Fay Tarif, Trinity Tran,
Becky Glass, the Department of Homeland Security, and Caracalla/FEVER.

[6] Kate is Kate Morgan, the second Dr. Metronome, a character I
co-created with Jamie Rosen back in JOURNEY INTO # 1, which takes
place in early 2005. She first became friendly with Bethany in JOURNEY
INTO # 19, which took place in September 2008. Kate has two good
friends named Bethany: police detective Bethany Proust is Bethany One,
and our Bethany is Bethany Two. This naming system was first applied
to the Bethanys in JOURNEY INTO # 20, though that story takes place in
June 2013, so this is "chronologically" the first time we're seeing
it.
   I'm going to have to do an Eightfold Timeline one of these days...

[7] Kate's being chased around by fellow four-colours due to the
Fitzwalter Rule, enforced in Chicago and select other localities,
which generally requires that costumed heroes have "natural"
super-powers. Heroes with tech, like Kate, must turn that tech over to
the government, who will give it to an approved operative. Heroes that
refuse to comply are outlaws. This is why Bethany pretends that her
powers are the result of a renegade mad scientist's genetic
manipulation rather than her Singularity Gauntlet. Kate doesn't have
the luxury of pretending, as she's using a well-known piece of
pre-existing supervillain tech.
   Bethany's friendship, and the events of this issue, will afford
Kate a certain degree of protection from overt persecution by the time
we get to 2013 and 2014.

[8] Lacey Trimmer is the no-nonsense and fond-of-drinking Four Colour
Liaison for Jolt City, who replaced Dani Handler in the summer of 2008
(between issues nineteen and twenty). Dani's mishandling of the
disaster in issue nineteen has the shadow of Fitzwalter hanging over
Jolt City, which would outlaw Derek and Martin. To try to prevent such
a mandate, Trimmer is trying to attract new and popular talent to Jolt
City. One of her targets is Bethany, and in issue twenty-two, we
discovered that Trimmer had figured out both Bethany's secret identity
and the true source of her powers-- much to Bethany's chagrin.

[9] Rosenberg is the powerful head of the Chicagoland FCL, set to
retire by the end of 2008. Whaley is Phil Whaley, the original
Darkhorse, who was appointed Secretary for the Department of
Super-Human Affairs by George W. Bush sometime in 2006.

[10] Brian is Brian Clipper, the second Darkhorse. He retired at the
end of issue twenty. This is the first time, chronologically speaking,
that he's come out of retirement. The most "recent" time, again
chronologically speaking, is in August 2014, during "The Last Story"
(MIGHTY MEDLEY # 16). From references scattered throughout various
stories, such as the Melody Mapp stories, there were numerous
incidents in-between.

[11] I'm not really a huge fan of Care Bear Stares, Everyone Thinks
About the Doctor at the Same Time, Dream of a Thousand Cats kinda
solutions myself. The closest things I've done to that, arguably, are
the similar climaxes of JOLT CITY # 19 and RED HART # 9, but in both
cases it's still a matter of some physical, if slightly wibbly-wobbly
timey-wimey, force.

[12] Dr. Fay invented the device in issue nine to counter the effects
of the Costello Vibra-Jackets that plagued Jolt City in issues eight
through eleven. As the Vibra-Jackets worked on the same "scientific"
principle as speedster vibrations, the device also prevented
speedsters in its radius from vibrating through matter or travelling
to another dimension. Martin Rock had one of these implants in his
neck to protect him against assassination when he spent time in Earbox
Super-Security Prison. When he escaped from Earbox, this implant gave
him the crucial edge in a fight against the second Darkhorse, Brian
Clipper. As a result, Brian spent a long time on the mend, and was
never the same as he was before, factors leading to his decision to
retire.
   Speedster vibrations and extra-dimensional travel disrupt FEVER's
body control signal. FEVER got its hands on Fay's technology in the
spring of 2007, and began adding it to their implants at that time.
This prevented the sorts of vibrations and dimension-hopping that
would disrupt the signal; the presence of the device in Derek's
implant is what led him to the desperate measures of time travel.

[13] A long-established part of the Eightfold canon is that speedster
vibrations and Metronome's vibrations are very different things. See,
for example, issue nine.

[14] "I had a hard enough time with that train." Kate is referring to
her team-up with Bethany in JOURNEY INTO # 19.

[15] The Gorgon tried to "weaponize" the Internet in issue twenty,
when it tried to make the black note-- a frequency that causes the
human brain to explode-- go viral by embedding it in videos and music.
Caracalla used this phrasing explicitly in his villain speech in issue
twenty-two, when he explained that he had succeeded where the Gorgon
failed-- as the "fear meme" resulting from leaked government files on
FEVER brought the Dyzen'thari to our universe.

[16] Bethany is actually thinking of Cato the Younger, who died in
this gruesome, but legitimately hardcore, fashion in 46BC at the
conclusion of Caesar's civil war; Cicero died three years later when
he was proscribed by the Second Triumvirate.

[17] Kate has been raising her brother and sister after the death of
their abusive, psychotic mother in JOURNEY INTO # 1. As a result,
she's put her intended career as a concert pianist on hold. She'll
finally have this more-or-less on track by the time we get to JOURNEY
INTO # 20.

[18] The something that's happening in Nevada are the events alluded
to by the narrator of the original Dyzen'thari story in MIGHTY MEDLEY
# 1. That story was written by the Dyzen'thari's creator, Andrew
Perron, who was kind enough to let me use them in this arc. Thanks,
sir! Hope you dug what I did.

[19] So, now that we're taking a slight breather before we get into
the second half of our finale, this is probably the best time to talk
about these events in the context of the wider Eightfold Universe.
   The biggest repercussion of the Dyzen'thari incursion is a crack
they left in the fabric of space-time. Over the course of the next
five years, this became big enough to burst open the Cosmic Dam
constructed before the birth of the Universe to hold back the god-sea,
a primordial force of pure and irresistible annihilation. This threat
is the prime mover in RED HART, and the thing that gets that whole
crazy ball moving. (It's also the only one of that story's multiplying
universal "dooms" to not yet be resolved.)
   The threat of the god-sea is also the secret casus belli for the
Pulse War. The Pulse Collective needs control of the Earth so that
they can redirect the god-sea through it into another universe. Having
saved the universe, they would then use the remnants of Earth as a
base from which to conquer other universes. The walls between
realities are weakest on Earth due to its proximity to Venus-- though
this hasn't been made explicit yet, the Pulse's weakening of the
lullaby that holds dread Venus at bay is intended to make those walls
more porous in anticipation of their campaigns. This has its own
repercussions.
   Really, everything big and scary that's happening in the Eightfold
Universe in 2014 gets started with this story. And, in fact, as we
shall see, it gets started long before this...

Part 2.

[1] Rebecca "Becky" Glass is the Homeland Security agent that was
working on the FEVER case when Derek and Bethany discovered its
existence.

[2] The "Extras" are the Extra-Special Agents, apparently a team of
government operatives led by Extra-Special Agent Steve Shooter. They
were first (and last) seen in that hallmark of modern literature, "Doc
in Space: An Untold Story of Docrates, the Mighty Supra Gato starring
Docrates, the Mighty Supra Gato and Extra-Special Agent Steve Shooter"
(MIGHTY MEDLEY # 17), which also took place on the moon.

[3] "Most Preferred Hero": the "main" hero for a municipality. As
Batman is to Gotham, as Superman to Metropolis. The Green Knights were
MPHs for Jolt City since the seventies. It was widely expected that
Blue Boxer would succeed to the post, something Trimmer was intent on
changing.

[4] Gallery and Chemist were two of the three villains (the other was
Whistler) that helped Martin break out of Earbox prison in number ten.
They had promised to go straight, but only Gallery and Chemist kept
that promise. Chemist needed medical treatment, and a desperate
Gallery agreed to help Whistler and Cockatrice break back into Earbox
in number twenty. Cockatrice was in fact the Gorgon, and the break-in
was step one of its plan to get the Black Note. In the aftermath,
Gallery and Chemist were set to go back to prison (Whistler was killed
by the Gorgon). In an effort to get his sentence commuted, Gallery
gave ADA Tad Dmowski vital information: Pocket Vito, who was assumed
dead, had in fact escaped prison, smuggled out by Whistler and
unbeknownst to Martin. In his guise as the Green Knight, Martin was
asked by Dmowski to bring proof that Vito was alive and running Jolt
City's mob. This led to the October Surprise Mob War (issues
twenty-one and twenty-two) and the death of Pocket Vito, which
confirmed Gallery's information. As a result, Gallery and Chemist have
been released from prison. The latter assists the Daylighters during
the Last Story in MIGHTY MEDLEY # 16.

[5] There was a strong push, led by Canton, to adopt Fitzwalter in the
wake of the events of number nineteen as a means of building popular
support. White Ant is a reformed villain who saved Martin's life in
number twenty. Both Martin and Derek spoke in favor of his release as
a "token" powered hero. His powers-- the ability to "eat" wood with
his fingers-- aren't particularly useful in a steel-and-brick
environment.

[6] In November 2007, Canton used Derek, whose father Moses had
recently been murdered, as a sort of poster-child in order to gain
overwhelming popular support for Proposal A, a ballot measure that
mandated higher police staffing levels. On the outside, it looked like
it would put more people on patrol, but in actuality, it required that
administrative positions, previously held by non-police officers at a
lower rate of pay, be held by police. The bill effectively crippled
Jolt City's budget, exacerbating the city's financial troubles.
   What Derek doesn't know about Canton is that he had formed a
"Triumvirate" with mobster Pocket Vito and businessman J. Donald
Proctor. Proctor Industries drove out their chief business rival,
Cradle Industries, using the super-powered Little League of Doom to
terrorize Cradle's operations and threaten the life of its CEO, Anders
Cradle (son of the original Green Knight). It might be that at least
some of the frequent attempts to kidnap and kill Anders Cradle were
orchestrated by the Triumvirate, but that's unconfirmed at this time.
In any event, Anders and his company shut down in Jolt City, causing
mass unemployment. This, along with the destruction caused by the
Little League of Doom, seriously diminished the political capital of
Bernie Bates, who has been Mayor of Jolt City for over twenty years.
In an attempt to distance himself from the responsibility for all that
death and destruction, Bates forced Dani Handler to resign as FCL,
using her as a scapegoat, and brought in Lacey Trimmer.
   The Triumvirate appears to have been successful: Proctor is now the
major tech company and employer for Jolt City, and Canton is now its
mayor. Its "silent" partner, Pocket Vito, died as explained in note 4,
and has been replaced by the demonic-looking mobster Ronove. What they
will do with this power is anyone's guess.

[6] For more on the Architect, the Gorgon, and Derek's plan, see number 20.

[7] Derek usually doesn't do very well in a fight, and is frequently
knocked unconscious early on. Number 21 has two particularly good
examples; Bethany was present at one of those.

[8] The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act halts foreclosure proceedings
for military personnel on active duty. Glass likely would have
enrolled Derek in some arm of the military.

[9] This was from when Fix shot Martin in number 22.

[10] Erika is the Clockwork Contessa. She had kidnapped and raped
Martin in the now-infamous number 8, and coincidentally befriended
Derek-- who didn't know about her past-- in issues 12-17. Derek saw
her as needing serious psychological help, and with his encouragement
she had herself admitted to a mental hospital.

[11] AATS = Advanced Alien Technology Studies. Dr. Fay's class for
hand-picked super-geniuses that lets them muck around with mad
scientist stuff.

Part 3.

[1] This is Melody Mapp, the future Darkhorse III.

[2] Dani will be describing the events of issue number eleven.

[3] Glass may have been one of the CIA agents who played "World of
Warcraft" and other MMOs in 2008. The theory was that terror groups
were using MMO chat functions to exchange information in secret,
recruit like-minded individuals, and plot terror attacks. This theory
was problematic for a number of reasons, and according to the NSA, did
not result in any successful counter-terrorism operations, nor any
actionable intelligence.

[4] Gates is Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. As
mentioned in note 9, Whaley of course is our old friend Phil Whaley,
the first Darkhorse, and Secretary for the Department of Super-Human
Affairs from 2006 until 2010. Since the DSHA is linked with the
Department of Homeland Security, Glass may have been privy to early
rumors about President-Elect Obama's cabinet. As established in
several later stories, Lacey Trimmer does take his place in 2010.

[5] For more on the Wonders, their funding, and their eventual
dissolution, see NONFICTION # 5.

[6] From JOLT CITY # 5.

[7] From JOLT CITY # 17.

[8] It is easy and convenient to break the entire JOLT CITY story into
four arcs, each of which had their own particular features,
approaches, and goals.

To begin with, of course, there was the GREEN KNIGHT miniseries,
collected as the "Bread and Lentils" section of the deadtree book, and
the GREEN KNIGHT ANNUAL. This was about the death of Ray Cradle, and
his damaged relationships with his two "sons", Anders and Martin, and
to what degree those relationships were repairable. Some particular
emphasis was given to the question of how much the past informed who
we are now, with both Anders and Martin being haunted, perhaps even
ruined, by the traumas of their upbringing/childhood.

The first eleven issues of JOLT CITY form a second arc, in which
Martin steps into his mentor's role as the Green Knight. It was very
much concerned with Martin's inner psychology: his past demons, his
self-destructive tendencies, the dichotomies and extremes of his
personality. Everything in the story was from Martin's point of view,
and no one else's, so we only saw people as he saw them.

The next six issues, twelve through seventeen, form the third and
shortest arc, "The Sensational Character-Find of 2007", and concerns
the training (and coming of age) of Derek Mason. Derek is a very
impulsive, self-destructive, and angry young man, and the story is in
many ways about anger, about forgiveness, about moving on from and
letting go of the past-- to the degree that people can. We see this
from Martin's point of view, and from Derek's. There was much less
superhero stuff in this arc than in the one previous, and certainly
less than in the last stretch.

The final six issues, eighteen through twenty-three, form the final
arc, chronicling the adventures of the Green Knight and Blue Boxer.
While still focused on character psychology and interpersonal
relationships, it's definitely more action-oriented, and that comes
out of a concerted effort on my part to write honest-to-gosh superhero
stories complete with action sequences, puzzles to solve, villains to
defeat, cool ideas, world-building, and plot twists.

Because I had, mechanically-speaking, a lot more story to tell, and
because I felt it was important to my writing process that each issue
tell a complete story, this necessitated a switch to a "multi-post"
format. Number eighteen was twice as long as any previous issue, while
nineteen through twenty-three comprised three story posts each. As the
plotting and references became somewhat dense starting with number
twenty, a fourth footnotes post, like the one you're reading now, was
added into the mix.

It seemed like the right move at the time, though now I wonder if I
shouldn't have posted each part as an individual installment. The
story posts for these six issues alone add up to seventeen fairly
large chunks of story; that is, the last six issues are as long as the
previous seventeen put together. These days I'm leaning more heavily
towards serialization, and shorter installments, so if I had to do
them all over again, I probably would be writing these words after
finishing #34 rather than #23. As it is, #21-23 form a serial in and
of itself, the FEVER story, so the whole "one complete story" thing
kinda went out the window. But having committed to this path when I
started the arc in 2009, I figured it was best to just stick with it.
And so, not for the first time, I end a series on #23, just two shy of
the big two-five.

Going bigger also meant I had more room for other characters and other
points of view. Nineteen experimented with this a little by following
poor Fish and the other members of the Little League of Doom, as well
as their fates in the flash-forward. But it really came into its own
with number twenty onwards, as we had scenes seen from the points of
view of several different characters. This allowed me to play up the
"Derek is bad at secret identities" running gag, and allowed me to
introduce Knockout Mouse, who is pretty much my favorite superhero
right now, as well as the first female superhero in the series. I
don't really have an excuse for the delay-- no editorial edict
preventing her introduction. It's more that it was just a function of
the previous three arcs, which concentrated on very specific
characters who didn't tie in much with the wider Eightfold Universe.
The bigger stories and world-ending threats let me play with a much
wider pool of characters.

That's one of two big reasons why JOLT CITY is coming to a close--
besides the fact that I always intended it to end when 2008 did--
there's been a pretty significant shift toward "widescreen"-style
storytelling in my writing, and JOLT CITY has always been more
intimate, more restricted. This shift in my writing has also resulted
in an equally significant tonal shift toward things that are more
upbeat.

JOLT CITY has always been more downbeat than my other writing. I
wasn't going for depressing-- more "optimism tempered by
disappointment". I succeeded at some times better than others. This
was a function of the setting, both geographically and temporally.
Jolt City is a crumbling, nearly-bankrupt Midwestern metropolis,
formerly glorious but now endemic with crime, corruption, and
municipal short-sightedness. It wasn't exactly Detroit, but close
enough to count. Temporally, the whole thing took place in 2005-2008:
that is, George Bush's second term. It was a very downbeat period of
time. I'm not just talking from the point of view of my own liberal
political outlook. Governmental failures and distrust, the long war,
the economic crisis that broke out in the summer of 2008; all of this
informed the series and its tone, sometimes explicitly and sometimes
implicitly.

The series was set in the period that it was very deliberately. (I try
to do this with most of my fiction.) And while I wished I had wrapped
it up a little closer to 2008, each passing year gave me the benefit
of additional hindsight and historical irony. That said, 2008 is a
hard year to live in and write about for six years, so I'm more than a
little glad to at last have put it behind me.

I joked with Mary that this final issue was "classic" JOLT CITY, in
that it had a bunch of action up front, then a disproportionate amount
of denouement. In this case, it was because I wanted to give all the
important characters some kind of closure and, for the most part,
happy endings. (For what it's worth, I liked Pam, too, and have felt
bad about sending her to Las Vegas ever since I did it back in #22.)

I wanted to say good-bye to them, and send them off on their way. I
won't write another story about Roy Riddle, or Dani Handler, or
Martin. Derek has a future ahead of him, as does Bethany-- though not,
sadly, a future together-- but when we see them next, it will be six
years down the road, in 2014, in the thick of the Pulse War. And by
the time I'm done with that whole mess, it'll be 2020.

It's been great fun; thanks for coming along on the ride!

==Tom