Dark Ages #2

[lordultimus]

When the continuous EMP from last issue destroyed all electronic technology on Earth in the last issue, the Earth fell into chaos as humanity warred against itself.





"...came something better."

Comments

[cricharddavies]

Okay, I don't buy the idea of Doom cooperating like this for one second, but other than that, this is different enough from the last apocalypse narrative that Taylor wrote that I'm enjoying it all the same.

[broblawsky]

I can buy that he would cooperate just long enough to either try to take over or for someone to make him feel small and provoke a tantrum.

[mazway_75]

I like to imagine that he's at a bit of a disadvantage with tech ravaged so much. His armor may not work as well, his Doombots are gone so he knows, as much as he hates it, he has to swallow the ego long enough to understand the new world.

[mazway_75]

I'm not shocked Doom managed to find a way to keep his armor working with no tech. But it's on brand that he sees fighting now is short-sighted so better to work with them, see how the world now is, then make his plans to take over.

Besides, they all know they can't trust him but do need his smarts.

[super_fly]

Magic?

[cainofdreaming]

Valeria could get him to cooperate. For a time.

[cricharddavies]

All these are good points; I suppose we'll see what happens when he appears for more than a single panel in subsequent issues. Doom vs. Apocalypse will be something to see, if nothing else ...

[super_fly]

"Look, do you really want to go to all the trouble of taking over the world and reinstating basic infrastructure on your own at the same time?"

[silverhammerman]

I'm not too hot on Tom Taylor's writing, but I do like the subversion of usual tropes here, even if this society does seem to rest entirely on the benevolence of a bunch of superhumans who could be one copy of Atlas Shrugged away from letting society collapse.

One thing that does spring to mind for me is the parallel between this and Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme limited series, which saw the Squadron forced to take over as world leaders after a near-apocalyptic event, and much of the tension of that series is watching as their best intentions slide toward tyranny. There's no telling whether this story is going in the same direction, but there's a strong similarity to the setup there.

[mazway_75]

Yeah, I give props for him openly addressing "Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting the same old 'the world tears itself apart' story? Nope, I'm playing this one different."

[tinygaylaura]

I really like that

I know I can come across as a cynical cow but at heart I like stories that are optimistic and show people living up to their best. I much prefer this to something like the Walking Dead where as soon as things go wrong people skip straight to "Well time to become a warlord and start hunting people for sport"

[scorntx]

Well, two issues in, and no-one seems to have arbitrarily decided "my coworkers are trying to fix the world's problems. THEY MUST DIE!"
So that's a good sign.

[deh_tommy]

Wait, Tony survived? I thought he died when his suit crashed?

So, like, does this affect *all* technology or just electronics? I see people using guns and cars and Spidey’s still got his web-shooters.

[cricharddavies]

Wait, Tony survived? I thought he died when his suit crashed?

I think that's something that changed between the preview and the 2nd issue; we see him crashing in the 1st, but his death isn't explicitly shown.

So, like, does this affect *all* technology or just electronics? I see people using guns and cars and Spidey’s still got his web-shooters.

Peter's web-shooters explicitly do stop working in the 1st issue; I don't know why he's still wearing them. As for guns ... dunno what to tell you. I'm having a hard time envisioning any situation where the chemicals that make up the web fluid become inert but gunpowder continues to be functional.

[beyondthefringe]

Tony survived, but lost a leg as a result of the crash.
The effects of the E.M.P. explicitly mention that all electrical systems stop working.
Guns, relying on chemical processes, clearly still work. And since Peter's web-shooters have a mechanical component, he was probably able to rig up new versions that didn't rely on electricity. His new ones are bigger and bulkier, after all.
Also, the years since the event allowed for people to develop other ways to get around the EMP... including, I assume, magic, mutant powers, radical new technologies, etc.

[onsokumaru]

I'm tired of writers ignoring Blue Marvel when they do those super scientists panels.

[numeronone]

Maybe he's just sitting this one out.

[cainofdreaming]

They mention that these are the greatest non-powered thinkers. Maybe they have another lab for the powered thinkers somewhere else, for some reason.

[zachbeacon]

That group includes the runner-up to the Sorcerer Supreme position, a shrinking teen, and a child who is mind-linked to a dinosaur. How are they any less powered than Blue Marvel?

[cainofdreaming]

Dunno. I question the need to separate the two to begin with.

[donnblake]

I'm not sure they did- I read that as "Here's a bunch of super-scientists, and also on the Council of Great Theorists are a bunch of non-powered folk who we're not going to bother to name because they've never had their own book anyways."

I mean, Tony might not count as powered, (or, well, did what's the deal with Extremis these days?) but the rest of them are more or less all superfolk (Valeria's an edge case, but I'm pretty sure it's at least been suggested that her superintelligence is at least partially a result of being born to two Cosmically Irradiated parents).

Or, well, I don't know that much about Shuri, but she was Black Panther for a while, and so presumably got some Heart Shaped Herb somewhere along the way?

[mindsweeper]

Yeah, I don’t read it as the heroes/villains there are unpowered. The way I read the quote is that those folks listed joined the non-powered (ie., not famous) scientists.

Blue Marvel obviously gets forgotten a lot. There are other geniuses missing, too, but I think he’s just not on anyone’s radar (except for someone like Al Ewing).

[cainofdreaming]

Shuri got "vague magic powers" -tm and is in contact with the dead Wakandan ancestors. Or maybe that's changed too by now.

[zachbeacon]

I assume the "powered" ones were off doing superhero stuff.


...which honestly doesn't seem like a very smart allocation of resources when you're trying to rebuild society.

[deh_tommy]

Isn’t Moon Girl a NuHuman? Shouldn’t that count as powered?

[zachbeacon]

Pretty sure the heart-shaped herb makes Black Panther more than human too

[bradygirl_12]

I like this! :)

[tinygaylaura]

I will say I think there needs to be more leather even if this isn't a dystopia

Because I always want to see more hot bodies in leather in general

[donnblake]

And what's wrong with skulls as a tasteful accessory, anyways?

[zachbeacon]

I don't know, without AC I feel like it could get real gross real fast.

[deepspaceartist]

Wait, Spider-Gwen? Does this world somehow have bother Peter and Gwen get spider powers, or was she visiting from another Earth and is now stranded away from her friends and family permanently?

[cricharddavies]

Your latter guess would seem to be the case; she appears in the first issue, too, though no details have been given. It's only the second issue of six.

[arilou_skiff]

I know this is a basic thing, but they know EMP doesen't work like that, right? It will fry electronics, but there is nothing preventing you from making new ones. (it's hard to redo that from scratch, but mr. BOX OF SCRAPS could probably do it, given some time)

[cricharddavies]

It seems to be a recurring phenomenon.

[akodo_rokku]

As I understand it, Strange opened a portal to a dimension that is just constantly spitting out EMPs.

[arilou_skiff]

Also, they know that an EMP would do basically nothing to fossil fuels, right? I mean existing cars that rely on electronics might stop working, but cars don't need electronics at all to work.

[cainofdreaming]

But the radio wouldn't work. So better just leave them.

[blues32]

Can't Thor or someone fix this?