They're Not Like Us #1

[history79]

Written by Eric Stephenson, Art by Simon Gane

Comments

[icon_uk]

Hmmm, there's certainly an interesting notion to be had in "Entitled metahumans acting like complete smug assholes because they can, and without even the sense of respsonibility that the Authorty have", though I suspect Syd would be less than keen.

Since I doubt that everyone they approached is a complete sociopath, I wonder what the refusal rate is like, and how they are dealt with.

[reveen]

I wonder whether they're all sociopaths, or whether this is a cult like environment and scraggly beard guy is manipulating people into becoming like him. That'd be a lot more interesting to me than them just being evil.

[halloweenjack]

I'm getting a very strong whiff of Wanted, without the Secret Society of Supervillains stuff.

[halloweenjack]

Another option is that the future reader has claimed that the Us vs. Them/"Government captures them and forces them into black ops" trope is inevitable if there's even the slightest hint that they exist, so they have no choice if they want to survive.

[sanctaphrax]

Maybe they use telepathy to know how people will respond ahead of time, or to "persuade" the reluctant.

[shadur]

I suspect the lead sociopath there answers that question in his final panel.

[protogarrett]

Hmm. I am intrigued.

[bruinsfan]

I don't think developing mental powers and finding out there are others with similar out there would make me suddenly OK with killing my family. It probably would, however, move Mr. Scraggly Beard to #1 on my hit list if he made it seem like refusing isn't an option.

[cainofdreaming]

Needs more "More Than Human" and less "Tomorrow People."

[icon_uk]

Though as one of the major recurring points of The Tomorrow People was that they can't kill any sentient being, not seeing that much of a link.

Also depends on whether you mean the original UK series (Where they Government were aware they exist and had a workable, but slightly tense, relationship)

Or the US one where it was all very "Kill the X-Men Tomorrow People!"

[cainofdreaming]

I must admit I only have the faintest recollections of the series, but I seem to recall at least one character thinking that they had killed to protect their little coven. And it was more the general feeling - uninspired secret societies and conspiracies - rather than trying to do something new about it.

[icon_uk]

In the original series it was sacrosanct, no Tomorrow Person could deliberately kill, and it came as something of a surprise to them when one of their newer members, a Romani kid named Tyso, pointed out that he'd been trapping animals for years and had had no problems with killing rabits or the like, so it was only sentient beings they had issues with killing.

In the US series also had the no kill rule with, I think, three expections; their Founder, their leader John and one other. The Founder was a unique case in every aspect of him, and the other two could only do it after the bad guy group Ultra had basically tortured them past the point of a breakdown and frying their minds... or something.

[informationgeek]

Besides the ending and opening, this was a rather boring issue I found overall. It's just so... forgettable. It's like X-Men but if the characters were bigger jerks than usual.

[q99]

I thought it was interesting til the last bit.

[silverhammerman]

For the record, leader guy's power seems to be forcing people to obey his commands, ala Purple Man, which would explain how he could have someone kill their own family, if that is indeed what he's doing and it's not some sort of test.

I liked this issue quite a bit, and I kind of want to call it the X-Men to Nowhere Men's slick, modern Fantastic Four, but it stands on its own merits as well. It's a bit surprising that it's being written by an industry veteran like Eric Stephenson, because I think there's a real vibrancy and newness to the whole thing that I'd expect to be coming from some starry eyed newcomer.

[sagrada]

Oh come on! ANOTHER "Evil Professor Ex-Xavier-X" story? In a whole new world where you can do anything, Mr. Stephenson does that?

I'm not disputing the quality on display, here. This is well-done. The character designs are both evocative of real people and cartoony enough to be expressive without tons of painstaking detail, the backgrounds are very well done, the dialogue and character tone is much more than decent, and as far as this kind of thing goes this is at least a novelly, refreshingly blunt twist on The Perils of the Super-Man. I just dislike what it's all in service too.

[laughing_tree]

Well, to be fair, *good* Professor X-types are even more overplayed in fiction.

[erikred]

Interesting. Am I the only one getting a Freakangels vibe off this?