SW10/WWW: Powernaut 1995 #21: Then My Work Here is Done! (tm)

[Scott Eiler]

On 2024-01-03 21:21, candycanearter07 wrote:
> On 1/3/24 19:56, Scott Eiler wrote:
>
>> http://eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/1995b.htm#21
>>
>> Bonus Section: 2005 Reprint Commentary from Wyatt Ferguson! Panel by 
>> Panel!
>>
>> People often critique later-period Powernaut Comics as being difficult 
>> to understand because they're so dense with artistic clues instead of 
>> explanatory dialogue. So as the episode finally nears its end, let's 
>> try a strip's worth of commentary - panel by panel!
> 
> I have to agree with it being confusing, but that could just be from not 
> following from the beginning.

No, it's not just you.  My sister was following Powernaut Comics near 
the beginning, but she now finds them bewildering.  (In fairness, she 
found the Barbie movie bewildering also. 8{D> )  Among the general 
public, comic book fans tend to get Powernaut Comics; normal people, not 
so much.

>> 2.    Sorting things out.
>>          Upper: Crusher Joe escorts Megaphone away, almost tenderly. 
>> Megaphone literally has no place to go except back to Total Conversion 
>> HQ in the Bahamas.
>>          Lower: The Powernaut is thinking, "I don't let people get 
>> hurt - especially not myself!" He's shown a healing touch before, in 
>> 1987. And Leo reveals the existence of a Time Police force, from whose 
>> far future Megaphone came from, in search of 1990s adventure. 
>> Megaphone never admitted *how* far his future is, but it's at least 
>> well beyond 2005.
> 
> So wait, was this drawn in 95 or 24? Did the characters travel back to 95?

It's even more complicated than you think...  In-universe, it was drawn 
in and characters come from '95 (and reprinted in '05, hence the reprint 
commentary).  In the real world, drawn in '23 (hence the copyright 
notice) and published in '24.

>> 4.    "Then My Work Here is Done!" TM - It seems Powernaut Comics is 
>> trying to trademark that phrase from the 1988 comic! Total Conversion 
>> (the superhero team on premises) is saying Yeesh. But Leo is such a 
>> fanboy as he starts his career, that he's impressed.
> 
> I don't think that you can trademark a phrase like that lol

You can always try!  Mickey Mouse may be public domain now, but he's 
still under trademark.  And I've seen old Star Wars ads with "May the 
Force Be With You. (tm)"  8{D>

>> 5.    Racer Girl is impatient that the Powernaut has been interfering 
>> with our mission to rescue the Powernaut. Go figure. The Mad Axeman 
>> from Shenandoah and I were still waiting there to watch. (Racer Girl 
>> is from 4-dimensional Hypergaard and has actual color to her skin.)
>>
>> 6.    The Powernaut had been recreated from fragments of himself. He 
>> has sensed that his ladyfriend Paula Page will have to be recreated 
>> likewise.
>>
>> 7.    As the Hypernaut comes back from the flooding platform, Racer 
>> Girl tells the Powernaut that recreating Paula will not be that easy.
> 
> Interesting!

Thanks!

-- 
-- (signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> ------ http://www.eilertech.com/ -------

"Your Royal Highness, instead of devoting yourself exclusively
to Minerva, should, instead, rather offer sacrifice at the altars
of Bacchus, Orpheus, Venus, and Morpheus."

- Advice to Prince Duarte of Portugal.  From "The golden age of
Prince Henry the Navigator", by Joaquim Pedro Oliveira Martins.
Coming soon to Project Gutenberg.