8FOLD: Daylighters # 2 (Annotations)

[Drew Perron]

On 11/24/2018 9:27 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
<snip>
> Melody gives us the "short version" two paragraphs hence, but you can
> read the long version of this in MIGHTY MEDLEY # 16. As alluded to
> briefly in Melody's recap, this indicated that FEVER was, and possibly
> is, working in cahoots with the Pulse Collective.

Cahoots!

> This isn't precisely true; at the conclusion of JOLT CITY # 23, one
> version of Martin was reunited with Dani, and they presumably were
> together until her death from cancer five years later.
> 
> I've gone on the record that this Martin will not return in any future
> stories, having given him a proper and romantic (if bittersweet)
> ending. The great part about running your own superhero universe is
> that you can actually enforce these sorts of edicts, and send your
> heroes off into the sunset for good.

Yessssss. <3 <3 <3 :D It makes me happy.

> [4] vibrating through solid matter
> 
> This is something which has been mentioned before, but only in the
> context of being underwater (see the Darkhorse MIGHTY MEDLEY stories,
> gathered together in the MIGHTY MELODIES collection). She doesn't seem
> to ever worry about this when she's on the surface and phasing through
> walls and such. I'm not going to say that her concern isn't valid - if
> she does snap back while phased through something, it would indeed
> kill her - but her specific anxiety probably has more to do with being
> underwater than anything to do with the nature of her powers.

Ahhhhhh, that makes sense.

> [5] puppet implants
> 
> Here it might help to remind the reader of two important bits of
> established continuity.
> 
> The first is that in the Eightfold Universe, supervillains are almost
> always subject to mandatory life sentences regardless of the crime of
> which they are convicted. It's meant to deter the emergence of new
> supervillains. This being a superhero universe, it really hasn't done
> that, and as a result there have been folks and organizations pushing
> for something less draconian for a long time.

Yeeeeeah. @-@ Legit. So of course the immediate option offered is Still Deeply 
Horrifying @- at v

> As alluded to in Pam's scene, Derek's career as a costumed adventurer
> was spectacularly accident-prone, and he was something of a
> laughingstock in the superhero community. He's much better regarded in
> his capacity as an administrator, organizer, and manager - but not
> universally so. There are still heroes, even within the Daylighters
> (and this probably includes Melody), who don't respect Derek because
> he's not capable of, or competent when, doing the actual field work.

Aha. >:/


> Melody's general dislike of Derek probably also stems from personal
> factors. As much as his move away from active field work has been
> about realizing he's better at working behind the scenes, and helping
> others be at their best, as we've seen in other stories, he still
> badly craves acknowledgement and applause for his accomplishments,
> which rubs someone like Melody very much the wrong way.

Awwwww. ^^; Must hug.

> Derek
> historically has also sometimes had trouble with boundaries in his
> interactions with women - a function I think both of unquestioned
> toxic cultural norms and the poor example of his mentor - to the point
> where one of the Darkhorse MIGHTY MEDLEY stories mentioned that Derek
> was a bit of a creep. (I do think he's started to question his
> behavior and to improve on it.)

Yeah that's extremely necessary. @- at v As we've all seen.

> More than that, however, I think the biggest reason why Melody doesn't
> particularly like Derek is the loved one they have in common - her
> aunt Dani. Partially this is grief and partially it's because there's
> this weird guy she doesn't know who is inserting himself into her
> aunt's life as she's dying of cancer - his presence felt intrusive,
> like a violation.

Awwwwww. :< I see.

Drew "so many hugs" Perron