I always assumed there was some kind of cosmic effect in place, to the tune of "the more superheroes there are, the more bad things happen." I mean, it would be more scientific than that, but I just assumed it was a cause and effect thing, rather than just the luck of the superheroes.

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The Hellmouth Effect.

[nods sagely]

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There's actually a name for it? XD

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Ever watch Buffy?

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No, when it was on TV I was in an anti-vampire phase (surprisingly, I've actually never been a big fan of vampires, but attempting to struggle through Anne Rice was what did me in during that particular period), and I've just never gotten around to it since. I probably would like it just fine now, but even if I add it to my Netflix it will be months before I get to watch it.

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You probably would like it.

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seconded

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A broken damn?

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My immediate response to this was a bitter "Count your blessings." My childhood and youth were full of incidents that a superhero could have saved. As an adult I've had two cars totaled out from under me (once with my children, at the time ages 5 and 9, in the car) plus 3 or 4 smaller collisions, none of them my fault. I've watched a person jump from a parking structure to their death (I was blocks away in a high-rise, and there were emergency personnel on scene).

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This situation is dealt with in the latest Wild Cards book - where the "heroes" head to the Egypt, to deal with a situation there. Or in Watchmen, where The Comedian deals with things for the government.

Depending on your superpower, there just may not be a lot for you to do.

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A lot of superheroes actively seek out these situations in various ways (not just happen upon them), or operate in a really bad neighborhood. But, in order to generate plots, there are still a lot of handy coincidental incidents.

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The trick is to get, or find/make, a job in which you can deal with this. Become not only a police officer, but a NYPD or LAPD SWAT team breacher. Or an Air Force Combat Controller.

Or, like the kid in Stephen Not J Gould's novel JUMPER, recently made into a movie with little to nothing to do with the book, set up your life such that you can track incidents around the entire world, and be there.

Or to just live your life normally. The thing is -- if I had superpowers, depending on what they were, I'd be using them all the time. Like, if my car was stuck in a snowdrift -- if I had heat powers, strong telekenisis, or super-strength, I'd be using THAT to get out of the parking space.

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As a mom, I envied Elastigirl while watching The Incredibles. Though telekinesis would be even more useful. :) Alas, super-speed doesn't power minivans, and you can only carry one other person at a time. But to be able to read a book on the couch while cleaning the living room? Priceless!

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I was a volunteer EMT for a while. Not quite superhero, but I did have a costume (jumpsuit), and we got to drive through red lights with sirens blaring (pretty lame as superpowers go, but better than nothing), and it was sort of a pain in the ass... the pager would go off at the most inconvenient times, like sitting down to dinner (especially on holidays), or at 3am.

Like cops, a lot of our work was either not really critical, or already beyond help. But every once in a while we'd get an honest to God save, where we could be pretty sure the person would have died without us (ask me about the sucking chest wound!). Every now and then I made a difference, about the most profound difference once person can make in another's life.

And that's pretty cool.

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please tell us about the sucking chest wound.

I had a co-worker who used to be an EMT in the Bronx, until a fall down stairs (broke under the weight of a obese patient) destroyed his spine. They thought he'd never walk again. It took 7 years of out work, surgery and PT, but he walks again. That to me was pretty heroic. He had some stories.

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There was a late-night fight, one guy got stabbed, his "friends" dumped him on the ramp (driveway) in front of the firehouse and hit the alarm button by the door. This was an all-volunteer fire/EMS system in a relatively quiet suburban town, so no one was home; the button just set off the sirens and sent a signal to police headquarters.

When we got to the firehouse a few minutes later, the guy was unconscious and bleeding from three stab wounds in his chest. Upon closer examination, he had an honest-to-god sucking chest wound -- every time he took a breath (or tried to, anyway), we could hear air slurping in through one of the stab wounds. We slapped a piece of plastic over it, which seemed to help, got him on some oxygen, and got the rest of his bleeding under control, then loaded him in the ambulance and got him down to the hospital.

The guy lived, and we found out later that one of the stabs just nicked his aorta... guess it was his lucky day, another fraction of an inch and he would have been dead before we ever got to him.

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Wow. That's quite a story. Thanks for sharing it.

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You're reading Ex Machina, right?

Because seriously, you'd like that comic. A lot.

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I always found it ironic.
Always had this paranoid theory that the "heroes" instigate the crimes, then solve them.

I'm still not seeing that will smith movie to find out.

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Man, I hope Hancock doesn't suck.

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must...resist...hand-cock joke...

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I propose that this may very well be something to be termed the Unbreakable Law, that the supervillain must by necessity predate the superhero, because otherwise the hero has little or nothing to do.

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m. night did this already.

I think I'm the only person I know who actually liked that movie.

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I fail at reading. Missed the part where you said "Unbreakable Law"

The second part of my comment still stands tho.

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I'd imagine you as more of a superman of the psyche, talking down window jumpers and stuff. It's not a genre heavily explored in comics, I dont' think!

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Dude, been there, done that, its super-overrated. The Aegis team used to have, like #@%$& clockwork, not kidding, like get your car packed with kit, we're due, a Situation every spring and fall for something like ten years running. I once took my goddaughter to the downtown Ann Arbor Fire station for a middle of the night tour, because I know the guys get bored, and kids love fire trucks: they recognized me from some of the scenes that they responded to after me. Local cops near my house know that when they get the call for the drunk off of the road, he will be treated, disarmed, and if its cold, therre will be soup ready when the scene is closed while we do the incident report in the living room, typically over role-playing. I don't recommend it. You have to drop all of your medical certs because they often bind you to a treatment level and a liability, whereas a skilled non-cert is covered by Good Samaritan, which pros are not, and you have to pay for all of your own equipment, including your own hemo checks if you didn't use proper barriers, which in some cases can be expensive. Also, you never take anyone else's car anywhere during those seasons. Why? where's your kit, right?
We've dealt with everything from black tag ice on the road and cars (plural) in the air to downed plane search on the square mile of mixed woods that we lived on. Took a casualty on that one too; guy got bit by mosquitoes like 600 times, I am not exxagerating...
Shit is so common we now include Scene Managment in the Basic Sword class...
Just glad it was seasonal, by Murphy. If it was full time random,..!

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Driving along I-95 one day, heading to my first appointment with my new psychologist, a goy in a black sports car decides to zoom around everyone to the right, doesn't see me in the right lane, and smashes into the side of my car.

We pull over into the breakdown lane. He comes roaring out of his car and asks me, "Lady, can we settle this with cash?" Something about the way he's acting makes me dimply worried. I'm in shock from being hit, because being hit violated my inner sense of justice and innocence. I was doing nothing wrong, yet here I am now sorting out the mess of an accident caused by the carelessness of somebody else. Something broke open inside of me and let all the "me" out. I switched to auto-pilot and called the police.

This guy went all apeshit on me. "Lady, don't call the police." "Lady, I don't have a license." "Lady, I'll go to jail." "Lady, I've got kids!" "Lady..." Meanwhile, I'm assuring him that all I want to know is how to handle the insurance details. I'm new to this state. I don't know what to write down. I remain on the line with the police.

Granted, a guy with a suspended license probably doesn't have any insurance, either. Being the civil human being I am, I wrote down my license and insurance info on a pad of paper. As I'm on the phone, the guy comes and gestures for the paper, as if to write something on it. I hand it to him. Then, to be nice, I also hand him my pen.

He gets into his car and starts it. I jog over and ask into his window, "Where are you going?" He says, "I'll be right back." As he drives off, I know he won't be.

I was still on the phone with the police, so I said in shock, "He just drove off!" They ask me if I got the license number. I tried as he drove away, but it was obscured by dirt. I have always wondered if that was on purpose.

I still have flashbacks about this accident whenever I hear an engine rev nearby. I can no longer drive on highways. I have an interminable inner monologue: How much danger was I in? How much danger did I mitigate because Auto Pilot insisted on calling the police? Why didn't Auto Pilot also get his license plate number? Did he plan to crash into me?

I wish Ferrettman had been there to save the day. Ferrettman would have caught the perp and prevented him from harming anyone else with his reckless, licenseless driving. Ferrettman would have made sure that a young woman, driving alone, was in no danger from a creepy man who might have had bad intentions.

Ferrettman also would have gotten me back my pen and paper. They were souvenirs, beloved objects, and that criminal stole them. For some reason, that bothers me more than the fact that I got into a car accident.

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You got this one all wrong, Ferrett.

The superheroes have mostly mundane lives, just like the rest of us. Those lives happen IN BETWEEN the issues of the comics. After all, you don't get a good story until you have a conflict.

I envision a superhero's life as kinda similar to that of a sailor in the Navy of your choice: six months' solid boredom, punctuated by six minutes' screaming terror. (Remember Bob Parr in his little cubicle at the insurance company.)

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On an unrelated note, I just read "Can't stop rocking when I'm here" Part 14, and that is by far the best online comic strip I've ever seen. At the risk of spoilers for people who haven't read it, I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

Keep up the awesome work!

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I hate to say this, Ferrett, but you may live a less interesting life than I do. I haven't witness very many car accidents that I wasn't involved in and/or involved someone needing saving, but I've witnessed, or been close to and avoided, several assaults and other crimes. I've also been less than a city block away from burning buildings and the like several times, too...

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