Greg Rucka's Lazarus: Transhumans playing poker

[q99]

I've been digging Greg Rucka's current comic, Lazarus.

In part due to scenes like this: A room full of people, each packed full of their Family's technology (their families being the ultimate 'Haves' to everyone else's 'Have Nots') to make them as unkillable and deadly as possible... playing a few hands of poker at a political summit.

Bit of warning, one of 'em is an ableist jerk.











Pages from Lazarus #13, by Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, and Santi Arcas

Comments

[jlbarnett]

who's the bigger badass/asshole's never really done much for me

[q99]

The part of the scene that really interests me isn't so much the staredown, as Sir Thomas's speech at the end, and the reactions of the other more experienced Lazari present and their casual chatting earlier.

'Yea, we may all be unspeakably badass, but that's why we're sitting down and paying poker,' in short.

[raspberryrain]

I don't want to play poker with someone who has his scanning tech.

[q99]

Well, it helps if you're from a family of nigh-unlimited wealth :)

Some of the more experienced ones may be able to bluff him...

[halloweenjack]

I'd like to think that this is what the Midnighter would be like if he were in a room of people with the same upgrades.

[q99]

Like Li, or like Mueller?

Depending on who's writing, I could see him played either way.



Personally, I like all the others hanging back who know the score. Sonja being the eager newbie with one of her 'enemies,' and Mueller's ally Zeferino kinda chuckling at it.

[captainbellman]

Ah, Transhumanism...forever the creepiest and most off-putting of fictional social identities.

[icon_uk]

Is it a social identity if you have had your basic, physical humanity actually augmented/altered in some form?

[captainbellman]

Welllll thus far it's only imaginary, and I've yet to hear of anyone with an actual prosthetic limb or other prostheses use the descriptor about themselves, so for now it's just a small movement championed by a few eccentrics such as Aaron Diaz.

(He's made it an even bigger part of his "Dresden Codak" comic lately, trying to turn it into a metaphor for transitioning, which...I don't know. I don't find it a convincing analogy, since it happens as an instantaneous transferral of the lead character's brain into a synthetic body - nothing like the actual gradual process which people transitioning in real life undergo. Also, the fact that she just disposes of her old carcass off-panel with nary a thought is nothing short of disturbing.)

[q99]

-Welllll thus far it's only imaginary, and I've yet to hear of anyone with an actual prosthetic limb or other prostheses use the descriptor about themselves,-

I have. Though part of it is, we've yet to really get much in the way of 'this alteration will actually enhance you' that pro-transhumanism people want.

-Also, the fact that she just disposes of her old carcass off-panel with nary a thought is nothing short of disturbing.)-

I'll comment I don't find this disturbing- the mind is what I consider to be the important part, the part that makes you-you.

[lb_lee]

Ennnnh, yeah, I don't really buy the whole "transhumanist as trans" thing. I've KNOWN trans transhumanists, and disabled transhumanists, and I can totally understand why--when your body is constantly in pain, or falling apart, or treated like shit, it's a nice idea to have something that actually WORKS.

However, my experience with synthetic enhancement (in my case, a prosthetic stapes bone) ended up going horribly wrong, being extremely unpleasant, and that along with a lot of the creepy class issues a lot of people bind into transhumanism... well, there's a reason I don't really identify much with it.

I call myself a malfunctioning cyborg instead! :D

[q99]

I find it interesting we're discussing this in response to a scene that *does* have a disabled transhuman.

What would Li think on the matter, and are his disability and enhancements linked?

[lb_lee]

I unfortunately have very little context for this comic, and didn't fully understand what was going on. (My attention has been suffering lately.) But in my mind, disabled tech and enhancements would totally be linked! Both are intended to accommodate or adapt a person to do things that they normally wouldn't be able to, and become a part of their lives. To me, at least, the only difference between, say, Charles Xavier's original manual wheelchair and his later fancy hoverchair is how much the chair could do.

[q99]

Oh, in this case, we really *don't* know much more about Li than what we see. He's a Lazarus, thus he's obviously really hard to kill. He's got some advanced scanning tech. But, like, Lazari are soldiers (Captain Mueller, Commander Carlyle, etc.) and assassins, the spearpoint of their families' will, so him being in a wheelchair is odd.

I don't know if his enhancements were put in to compensate, or a cause of, his disability. Or something that happened to him after he'd been Lazarus. He really does stand out among this crowd, especially when it seems he's considered quite formidable by his experienced fellows. I am *so curious* about what else he can do ^^

[lb_lee]

Does being a Lazarus protect from genetic disorders? Or he could have possibly been disabled in an accident? It seems that soliders/assassins would have a high risk of getting badly injured on a job.

I don't know if his enhancements were put in to compensate, or a cause of, his disability.

Maybe a bit of both! Maybe the enhancements didn't work out in his body so well, just as mine didn't in mine. (Mine was supposed to compensate for hearing loss, ended up only making it much, much worse.)

Man, now you're getting me INTERESTED in this comic, or at least this character.

[q99]

-Does being a Lazarus protect from genetic disorders? Or he could have possibly been disabled in an accident? It seems that soliders/assassins would have a high risk of getting badly injured on a job.-

Well, Lazarus are made in different ways, as different families have different technology and specialties. Forever was genetically designed, so she wouldn't have any genetic disorders (she was born to be a Lazarus, many weren't). Mueller and Sonja (and perhaps a few more) are chemically augmented- it wouldn't technically prevent it, but Mueller wouldn't have gotten the job if he had a physical impairment. The cyborgs, possibly. Li having a previously undetected disorder that interacted with his implants isn't out of the question, I'd think- though that's speculation on my part.

And while being disabled in an accident *may* be possible, part of their 'unkillable' thing is they can heal from all kinds of stuff (though some treatments may be better at doing so than others- just because one Lazarus can handle a specific injury doesn't mean they all could), so it'd have to be an unusual accident.

-Maybe a bit of both! Maybe the enhancements didn't work out in his body so well, just as mine didn't in mine. (Mine was supposed to compensate for hearing loss, ended up only making it much, much worse.)-

Yes, exactly what I wonder. Yet at the same time, in *some* ways, they worked well enough for him to remain their Lazarus/become their Lazarus. So, there's got to be quite a story there.

-Man, now you're getting me INTERESTED in this comic, or at least this character.-

There's a lot of world building here. And as Forever is a Lazarus, their role and such is fairly heavily examined. If, unfortunately, only a snippet of many of the individual Lazari so far.

[captainbellman]

I mean, I don't know if you're reading Dresden Codak right now but the current storyline has expended a whole lot of plot real estate to turn Kimiko, the hero, into what is essentially a sexy Dalek.

Not even the funny Jonathan Pryce kind, either.

[q99]

One of the people in that room (and possibly more than one, but one that I know of) has only moderately less bionic enhancements than Kimiko.

[kerithwyn]

I love this book a ridiculous amount, and this was my favorite issue yet. Seeing all the Lazari interacting socially, with all the undercurrents between them: total narrative catnip.

[q99]

Yes :) I was surprised we didn't have any prior posts, so I had to do at least one (considering doing another).

Like, one little touch- I'm pretty sure the infil-exfil sim Alimah is talking about while gushing over Forever, is the one we saw Forever do as a kid, the 'take on ever increasing numbers of enemies on your way to your target and die,' sim she did on her birthday. Only here, instead of creepy, it's Lazari talking shop.

[kerithwyn]

Oh, good catch! I've been rereading the series (possibly for nefarious fanfic reasons), I'll need to take a closer look at that scene.

Greg Rucka, still my favorite. *fangirl sigh*

[q99]

It's one that benefits a lot from re-reading, there's plenty of detail in there ^^

And fanfic certainly sounds interesting!