POWER SCHOOL 2013!

Lois N.

If Paula and Principal Powernaut are the astronauts from that Mars mission in 1962, why aren't they the ones going on *this* space mission?

Paulie Poderr

Hi, Lois! Mom and Dad would be great assets for any space mission, but the school needs them as leaders too. I guess they decided the mission needed the smartest Powernaut plus the strongest Powernaut! But they still borrowed the spaceship (and its pilots) from DuoPolarity of Boston; they have the best spaceships. They've been around since the 1990s, and they've done a lot of upgrades since then.

Lewis F.

Where in the world is Net.ropolis?

Paulie Poderr

Hi again, Louis! I remember last year you asked where Power City is, if the map says New Jersey but there's a buffalo ranch nearby. Well, Power City may have been somewhere else on a different world once (thanks to fractal time), but now it's settled down in Oregon.

The city of Net.ropolis is the same way, only it's still moving. I think it's at the head of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland now, but don't quote me.

If you're wondering how their team and their fans make it across a continent for our Homecoming... If they have even one guy like a Powernaut, he can fly them across, or even open a portal there. That's what we did, the last time. Maybe they can do it even better.

David the Jellyfish

I thought I knew of what your world considers celebrities, but I am not familiar with all of these you mention.

Paulie Poderr

Hello, David and the Space Jellyfish! We have people of Net.ropolis and people of Power City in this strip.

• Ultimate Ninja. He started leading people of Net.ropolis during crises in the 1990s. And he stayed around. When the city decided to have a special class for its younger heroes, he was the obvious leader - and the obvious principal.
• Galatea. She is ancient, but has resurfaced in the modern age (ref: 1944). Maybe she wants to see if modern superhero games are anything like the original Olympics. So she helps lead the Net.ropolis High School.
• Bandoliers. The first Bandolier was a human vigilante, albeit with impressive armor. He faced the first wave of superhumans on our world - as an equal. He's been wounded and wearied since, but his daughter carries on with him and for him. He adopted her. She's the daughter of superhumans, and she inherited their powers - plus her adoptive father's armor. In her debut she hunted... Psychovant, in *his* debut!
• Lucianus Autonomus. He was Fidel Castro's favorite boxer once. He's also the nearest thing this world has, to a "Sorcerer Supreme".
• Vara Hosea. She was a famous pianist, but she got channeled by mystic death-force. So she became a superhuman, alongside superheroes. She's stepped back from that, but she can still guide the others of her community in times of crisis (ref: 2006). She has long worked closely with Lucianus Autonomus. In this world, they are married - and the parents of Vicki, our Candy Coach!

Carlos Tyler

Hey, Paulie, that picture of Power City looks pretty simplistic. I see a few houses, but no shopping centers. Where do people live, in a city in that many skyscrapers? And, wasn't your high school in among the skyscrapers last year?

Paulie Poderr

Hello, Carlos! People mostly live and shop in the skyscrapers! Buildings like that are called, arcologies. In between, there's a pedestrian mall. People can also move around town in subways - actually conveyor belts. Freight mostly gets delivered that way too, from delivery trucks out by the highway, downriver from town. Robotic lift-arms deploy it all on our end!

As for Power School... We built the stadium this year, for our Homecoming game. We put it outside town, because you know how superhumans get. The Powernauts *moved* our Power School out by it! People from town rode the new subway extension out to the game.