Superhuman World

or, Marvelled

or, Me in the Marvel Universe

(see also Powernaut Comics)

1. Foreword. Is it really about me, me, me?
2. Introduction. As you may have noticed, the world is different in comic books. Here are the (at least) ten reasons why. Plus, when does this story start, anyway?
3. Startup: The Adventures of Me in the Marvel Universe, 1988-1995. The original pile of comic book plots. For starters... Superheroes put on costumes and fight to neutralize other people's use of their super-technology - so I have to do that too. And I've worked on the MX Missile!
4. Escalation, 1995-1997. Increasing confrontations with deadly villains, leading up to nothing less than the Judgment Day.
   • Once I started putting my dreams in a diary, I got the most intense wave of dreams I've ever known. They all became stories.
   • The stories were so cool, they made it into a superhero campaign in a roleplaying universe of my own design.
   • The results of the campaign were so cool, I put them back into the narrative. That's how other universes made it into the story.
5. The Yearbooks. After the Escalation was done, I kept compiling the stories.
   • My Family in Comic Books. You can meet my fantasy relatives! They're somewhat like my real relatives, but with plot devices thrown in. For instance, Dad's effectively immortal and Mom's a ghost.
   • Me 1999. My world ends! Fortunately, it gets better. Featuring Escalation 2!
   • Me 2000. Strange pop culture from my world, plus the Jehovahpower come down to earth.
   • Me 2001. Uh oh, it's Luciferpower this year. Plus, the Marvel heroes are back in force. And some DC heroes too. And, unfortunately, real life terrorists. I have a plan to deal with them at the source... but the source isn't what you'd expect.
   • Me 2002. 2002 has a new-fangled Injun war, a visit to the end of the world (this time for real), silly parades, and alien invaders. Plus, just finding a job is an adventure. Go figure.
   • Me 2003. 2003 starts out with Odin doing my laundry during a massive war of mages. And so many other factions have their own plots, it's coming in waves again... just like the Escalation. Featuring The End of Me in the Marvel Universe!
   • Me 2004. Now I'm stuck in another universe, with my own supporting cast. And it's no picnic. It has superhuman United Nations peacekeepers, war criminals, and international intrigue. Now it's all about to explode, starting with the Aleutian Islands and Tierra del Fuego. There's a prediction that the Earth will be a nasty place by 2011, and I kind of believe it.
   • Me 2005. My supporting cast has damn near caused a civil war - across the universes. I help break a stalemate - but not without cost. And there are terrorists with hyper-tech, reality shifts, and even the end of the world. Again.
   • Me 2006. After last year's reality shifts, things changed. For starters, my world's superhumans are weaker than ever. And we have to deal with a new U.S. President: George W. Bush! But he's dealing with superhumans for the first time. Hijinks ensue... starting at an internment camp in Iowa.
   • Superhuman World 2007. It's not just about me me me any more! For one thing, all Earth's superhumans are once again strong enough for the saucer aliens to attack Earth, tabloid style. To make things even more fun, today's super-tech is powerful enough to give Osama bin Laden a time machine and let the Russians try to take over Earth orbit. Uh oh.
   • Superhuman World 2008. It's another U.S. presidential election year. New superhumans are rising. Practically all women have superhuman powers, since the Panlucida Incident. And I have to go into hiding. What happens next?
   • Superhuman World 2009. Millions of aliens are coming to Earth now - as the first wave of trillions. Even if Earth survives, dystopia is still on track for 2011.
   • Superhuman World 2010. Earth's been put into a new orbit. In Ghana they're trying to save the chocolate crop, but in Cuba they're invading Haiti. Dystopia is still on track for 2011. This is confirmed when the crops start failing.
   • Earth 2011 Is Here! Dystopia came on schedule. Sensible people are either boarding alien suspended-animation ships, or voluntarily getting turned into zombies. What about everyone else? See here for follow-ups from 2012 to 2015!
6. The Other Stories. Eventually the time had to come. I've started writing stories where I'm not the hero.
   • Powernaut! Timeless heroes for a changing world. Enjoy their adventures from 1912 to 2013, plus the resolution of Earth 2011! And there's more coming.
   • Clueless Lad Team-Up. Discover the world of the Legion of Net.Heroes.

Foreword

Once upon a time (okay, it was 1988) I came up with a set of unpublished comic-book stories based on a theme that has since become cliche: the Marvel Universe as seen through the eyes of a "common man". Or through my own eyes, anyway. Not knowing the term "Mary Sue fanfic" back then, I plowed blindly ahead.

Since then, of course, I've learned that "Mary Sue fanfic" refers to self-indulgent fan fiction which places a proxy for the author in heroic or romantic situations, and is usually considered bad writing. But also since then, my proxy acquired his own life, to the point where any resemblance to me is largely coincidental. And his adventures would largely suck for a real person to undergo, because this guy goes through layoffs and all the same real-world crap I do, only with more super-villain attacks.

If I had to get it professionally published somewhere, I'd let the character keep his name change, and call the whole series "Marvelled" or "Superhuman World". But lucky me, I'm not a pro, I'm an amateur. These stories were intended for amateur publishing, in the days when this required major expenditure on photocopies. Since I am fundamentally lazy, I decided to save publishing the stories for a later day. But I had so much fun with these stories that I kept writing them. I even started having dreams which wound up as perfectly good stories.

Now that any lazy amateur bum (particularly myself) can publish on the World Wide Web, nothing can save the world from these stories. I've started with summaries, and added links to the actual stories as I write them (or retrieve them off my crappy old Apple ][e computer). And you can treat yourself to the exquisite pleasure of watching some of these stories get written.

Besides, since I first self-published this stuff, Web logs have come into style. As far as I can tell, a Web log is like having your own message board where the topic is you. (And people call Mary Sue fan fiction self-indulgent...) So don't think of this as Mary Sue fan fiction, think of it as a Web log with superpowers.

So try it out, maybe it won't be all that bad for Mary Sue fanfics.

(signed) Scott Eiler