America's Got Power #1

[superfangirl1]

Seventeen years ago, a crystal magically appeared in San Francisco and every pregnant woman within a five mile radius immediately gave birth to a super powered baby, regardless of the period of her pregnancy.

Reality television has been cranked up to an extreme level, as super powered teenagers participate in a televised battle, which may or may not result in death, to win a coveted membership spot on the only government super team in the world, The Power Generation.


Last year’s season finale resulted in both the final two competitors dying… and a spike in the ratings. Thus, this year, the producers of the show have lifted certain restraints, allowing the young heroes to go all out in combat and they have allowed the robotic enforcers in the ring, Paladins, to also use maximum force against the kids.

Comments

[majingojira]

I read this one. By itself,it almost killed the modern day gladiator/reality TV show goes lethal genre for me.

And I grew up in the days when "Bloodspot" was being rerun constantly on TV.

Because I keep thinking of the logistics of it and the reasoning behind it and it almost always falls flat on its face due to sheer stupidity. Everyone's apparently bought the Hollywood version of what Rome did and ignored the truth of the matter (IE: Survival Rates), their reasons behind it, how it developed over a long period of time and social structure needed to support such a system and so on.

I also think about the society they think is around them and making such biting commentary on with the classic "We're just a few steps away from Gladiator contests!"

Without realizing that people have been killed in combat sports in the past and the cultural collective reaction was the exact OPPOSITE of what they are supposedly commenting on. It takes a LOT to build up people's appetites for Gladiatorial Games. One Syrian ruler fell in love with the games, but when he held his own the people were HORRIFIED. He had to wean them onto the idea over time, deliberately.

But this is not just gratuitous, it's mind numbingly STUPID.

This is almost as bad as the Manwha "Freezing" where the people give girl and boys super powers, tell them to work as a team to fight an alien threat and then install a ranking system based on a multi-person free for all melee held ONCE.

Oh, wait, that's exactly what they're doing here, except they make it an annual showing of stupidity, running the same generation through the ringer again and again to see who comes out on top, without a new supply to refresh it!

At least Freezing pretty much exists to give excuses for interesting fights, hints at sinister behind the scenes reasoning (to the point of further stupidity) and glorious amounts of fan service (as well as a lead character whose default modes of dealing with other characters are (in order of general use) "Ice Queen" and "Stabbity" -- going into moe-moe nervous paralysis when neither of those works/is an option that I find hilarious.)

But this? I just see "Hero rises above corrupt system, showing he's better than average society while fighting impossible odds."

Which might work if his villains had more to grasp on than hollow cliche that falls apart under scrutiny.

Edit: cleared up a sentence, changed icon.

[majingojira]

Oh, and throw in the classic "Even though you're a fan of the sport, you still make a rookie mistake that's so obvious that readers who are totally unfamiliar with the concept of the sport can see it coming a mile away" bit pictured and we have a Cliche' storm unworthy of Roger Corman.

If not even "The Legend of Korra" could get away with it without me rolling my eyes, what makes ya think that a comic that already has a premise mired in outdated concepts and no thought into the world building could?

Ugh.

And I say all that as a person who actually, under normal circumstances, LIKES the genre. I just wish they'd think about it for 5 minutes. Or 2 seconds.

Or just more than this one was given.

[suzene]

*slow clap*

[glprime]

*clap clap clap*

[espanolbot]

To be fair in regards to the Legend of Korra example, she'd only ever heard if played over the radio before, and the announcers weren't exactly the kind of people to explain the rules as they wouldn't be that interesting.

[mishalak]

Thank you so much. I was thinking I was going to have post a rant about how very bad this comic is, but you did it for me, thanks!

So what Majingojira said with an extra side of, "Where the hell are the parents? Parents from anywhere allow their kids, superpowere or not, to be sent somewhere call 'the camps'? Especially parents from San Francisco of all places???"

Bah.

[majingojira]

That's definitely a good addition to this rant!

Everyone forgets the parents.

[feyandstrange]

Knowing my town like I do, there are plenty of non-parents who'd step up as well. We're a safe haven for illegal immigrants under age eighteen; stands to reason we wouldn't put up with this crap for superkids. But logic clearly doesn't apply here.

[gamerguy]

That may be true where you're from. Here, they get put in a Youth Services holding facility until they can be deported. You might be amazed what people will put up with when it's not in their backyard.

[gamerguy]

The parents have no say-so in this at all; the government runs the show and it seems to have taken the kids into custody because of their abilities before it got the idea of distracting them (and everyone else) by holding the contest.

SF or not, the feds come to your door after declaring your kid a non-person, they'll be taking him; 'not allowing' them is not an option.

In issue 3, we get to meet some of the kids who are not part of the games, who are perpetually on the run from the government.

[majingojira]

At first that makes a good defense, but it only cements the stupidity off the adversaries even further.

Of all the plans to keep this kids under control and make them useful, THIS is what they came up with?

This is Underpants Gnome level planning.

[majingojira]

Okay, one last thing:

It also hurts that Superboy is pulling the exact same bullshit at the same time as this is out.

Yeah, this plotline needs to rest for a little bit or at least get someone who THINKS to tackle it.

[darkknightjrk]

To be fair, at least the Superboy example has a secret society thing to cover up what's going on. With this series...I'd like to think that while our society tends to watch some awful, fucked-up shit, we've at least advanced as a species to the point where if someone DIED, they'd at least try to make it so that it wouldn't happen again instead of making it MORE likely.

[majingojira]

I don't think making it done by a secret society makes it better, in fact, I think it just makes it worse. This isn't like Gail Simone's Gen 13 Reboot, where the point was to make people and other things for exploitative purposes including watching them die in unique and interesting ways. Unless that is their final goal, I'm not seeing their actions as anything logical or well thought out.

[icon_uk]

It takes a LOT to build up people's appetites for Gladiatorial Games.

WWF and Mortal Kombat have a lot to answer for between them!

That might be the way to look at that aspect of it. This could be being pitched as "video games come to life". All the violence of a video game, but an arena show as well!

[majingojira]

That still has its problems, but that would be an improvement.

[silverzeo]

I kinda feel the way with some of the eco films, the ones that keep on saying that all the programs, money, and research to help the earth is still never enough, and because of that, the earth instantly freezes over or aliens come by with a giant robot made out of robotic flies that will eat everything and person off the earth, only to all end on the message "we can still save the earth"

[majingojira]

I know that pain well. It's a sad day when Captain Planet can be seen as "Subtle" compared to other works.

[majingojira]

I lied: one more thing, the sickest thing.

It's getting largely positive reviews from what I've seen in a quick google search.