POWERNAUT 1912!

Author's Notes:

2014 is still scheduled to be the year of two big stories: Occulator Compuplex 2005, and Hypergaard 1969. But as ever, I take detours.

While I was deciding what to publish after Powernaut 1968, I was issued a High Concept Challenge: take a hero across genre boundaries! That is what the Powernaut was made for. 1912 takes it farther than ever, to a world where superheroes never existed. We'll see if the Powernaut puts his stamp on *this* world like he has on all the others.

When I started the story, I was expecting one more month of free time and figured I'd never get a better chance to tell this story. So I started drawing 1912, which requires double-sized strips. Then the free time disappeared. Oh well. I had to continue, only at a normal pace - hence a two-weekly schedule. And a nice long rest afterward.

The plotline for this series came to me as a snippet, about the Powernaut, a campground, mercenaries, and Ares. It was an intriguing idea, but I felt I should roll dice to decide which year. At the time I got the idea, the Powernaut's plotline went 71 years, from 1941 to 2011. 71 years don't fit on dice. So I asked, why not 100 years, all the way back to 1912?

The more I learned about 1912, the more feasible the idea became. Comic strips not only existed then, they were in their Golden Age. 1912 was notable for one comic strip everyone may recognize: "Little Nemo in Slumberland". The strips were about double the size as the present day, and more verbose. The art was as detailed as any time ever since. I've tried to reflect that in Powernaut 1912. I've "outsourced" some of the forest scenes, but I think that fits the spirit of the times also.

Mexico figures in the plot. It was having a revolution then, with at least four rebel factions that year if you count the counter-revolutionaries. People of the modern age can imagine Afghanistan just across the Rio Grande, with foreign powers openly meeting with rebels in New York City. So the plot's mercenaries turned into revolutionaries, at least in name. I've put in some "current events". Ironically, Pancho Villa's faction had the best U.S. support at the time.

With 1914 coming, Ares works particularly well as a master villain. This series (much like Powernaut 1955) is setting itself up for unexpected sequels! Powernaut 1918 might explore the happy fun Battle of Belleau Wood, for instance.

I am being intentionally wrong about some facets of Mexico. For instance, Mexicans don't really say "Ole", because bullfighting is Spanish. And when I researched what kind of vest a Mexican war god would wear, the answer was "human skin with the hands flapping down". (at least according to the Wikipedia entry on Xipe_Totec) Well, okay, how about a nice feathered snake motif then? Cultural correctness was not a major feature of 1912 comics.

I might incorporate this series into the Powernaut's personal timeline, without any of that fractal history stuff. Well, not a *lot*. It would involve Powernaut 1941 being Paul Poderr *Junior*. Then he would secretly lust after a woman amazingly like the one his father lusted after... Well, maybe. It *would* explain why Paul and Paula 1941-1966 subconsciously never got together. However, I feel this connection works best as a fanboy theory, not as a proclamation. It's a lot like how Powernaut 1968 might be the grown-up PowerTEEN 1955.

Along those lines... I *intend* for this series to raise lots of fanboy questions. Like, if a Powernaut can't punch out a god, can he use some other kind of weapon to win? And was that god maybe faking the fight? Heh.

In a very real sense, this series drives home what the Powernaut is. He may appear anywhere. He is a hero. And, he has power. Any genre in which he appears, will bend before these three rules.

(signed) Scott Eiler, 19 April 2014.