Opening Up
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By Gianluca Burdon Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 3:27 am
Yeesh, which administration was that evil?
I’m betting Clinton cause the stuff him and his wife were doing and continue to do are clearly criminal acts (I’m referencing to stuff like Money Laundering, which it has been proven that they’ve done, why they aren’t in prison? I don’t know)
By Zappit Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 4:34 am
Oh, fer…
They aren’t in prison because it’s never been proven they’ve done anything illegal. Investigation after investigation after investigation and they never find anything. Whitewater? Nothing. Uranium One? Nonsense. The Clinton Foundation? It’s been investigated and found to be a highly rated charity. The Clinton Victory Fund? Again – nothing has been proven.
You want to know why there’s so much animosity towards the Clintons? You can largely blame Newt Gingrich. He pioneered the vicious, partisan politics that we see today. He specifically instructed his Republican supporters to refuse to act in a bipartisan manner and turn modern politics into little more than a blood sport. This is all public record. He has freely and proudly admitted to this numerous times, and has no remorse for his actions. He even published a memo on how his party needed to describe Democrats as traitors, radicals, and corrupt. He literally wanted to create hysteria and potentially violent animosity towards the other side. It was about demonizing. So who was the biggest target? Bill Clinton was a Democrat, the president, and, unfortunately for the Republicans at the time, leading the country during one of its most successful stretches.
It was Gingrich that brought the Vince Foster conspiracy theories into the mainstream. It was Gingrich who smeared Jim Wright with false and unsubstantiated rumors about a scandal involving a teenage page. It was Gingrich who brought Washington to a standstill by intentionally blocking every piece of legislation. He turned an effective Congress into a joke, knowingly, willfully sabotaging it to turn public opinion against the Democrats. He weaponized the government shutdown in 1995.
So, when he carried the Republican standard during the efforts to impeach, it backfired spectacularly because people finally started catching on. The Republican Revolution was launched on lies, slander, rumors, and sabotage of the government. Unfortunately, rumors and conspiracy theories don’t always die. They kept getting circulated, built up over the years, and new, even wilder conspiracy theories arise to join them. Most of this started because of one sleazy politician that made it his mission to poison the political process.
The thing is, every investigation into Clinton criminal activity has turned up nothing. Aside from Bill committing perjury about his affair, that’s the only thing that has ever been proven. Rumors don’t mean proven. Online posts don’t mean proven. YouTube videos don’t mean proven. EVIDENCE means it can be proven. Unfortunately to Clinton haters, that’s the one thing they’re missing.
Geez, that got me going…Besides, Supervillainous takes place on a fictional version of Earth. That administration isn’t based on any administration – it’s just a background element to the story. That’s why I never showed any faces or clearly established a time period in that flashback.
Gianluca, you’ve said you didn’t want politics brought into the comic. I totally get where you’re coming from on that, but that’s a two-way street, brother. Don’t try making my comic about politics if you don’t want it to be about politics. It only seems fair, right?
By Gianluca Burdon Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 4:45 am
Yike, sorry Zappit.
Honestly, I just meant for some light-hearted joking around, like a few other guys would post stuff about other administrations that did corrupt and unethical stuff and then we could laugh about how every presidency has done something that could be considered shady
Again, Sorry
By Zappit Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 10:18 pm
Ah, s’alright, Gianluca. No biggie.
By Otaku Tue Jan 15th 2019 at 9:51 pm
Um… Zappit? I want to agree with what you’ve said – even stuff I might have disagreed with right before you helped me catch some doublethink on my part XP – but there one thing I believe is worth pointing out, even at the risk of looking like a total jerk and not just letting it all drop:
Reading up on U.S. history, dubious and even outright immoral tactics can be found even at our founding. I’m not old enough to clearly remember much of President Reagan’s time in office, but what I do remember is that things weren’t “better” than they are today, only “different”. The older I get, the easier it is to see when “my guy” behaved as bad as the “other guy”… technically worse when you factor in claims about being upstanding and what not.
And to emphasize that I’m not just blowing smoke about only disagreeing on this small (but, I believe, important) point, let me thank you for not insisting on painting every past and existing administration as heroes or villains within your setting. For so rarely bringing politics into it. You have the right to do such a thing, but I know I enjoy Supervillainous as an escape from it all. XD
By Towering Barbarian Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 6:14 am
OK, I hate to step on your joke in a different way but as I wrote once before I’m not sure doing this to the supers was necessarily all that evil. Take a moment and think about how even the nicest of the villains such as Claw and Meat act towards normals and then ask yourself if any government that just let supervillains run roughshod over everyone like that without trying to do something about it was really doing anything to earn their taxes. It should also be noted that the villains like Hannah and Meat were being sent into the past or into alternate timelines rather than killed outright.
Going after the heroes in the way Captain Ultimo describes was a bit nastier but if you were running the Defender X Program what would you have done differently to keep them from interfering? o_O
By Nealithi Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 9:39 am
Couple thoughts is that Meat and Claw were very very minor with little true hostility. Claw was a thief not a villainous mastermind initially. But targetted for death. This assault forced the villains to evolve or be wiped out.
Now as to administrations, consider how long it would actually take to learn all the identities of villains and heroes. Make the gun drones, and Defender X itself. This is not a one administration project. And shift parties and a project like that would be found out at minimum and likely dismantled. Now consider what does stick around from administration to administration. Yup the intelligence and military organizations. Borrowed military funding gets you Defender X. NSA and CIA work gets you the identities. And all the politicians are left out of the loop.
By Lord Steel Thu Jan 17th 2019 at 12:22 am
well there is a Web Novel called Worm that had heroes and villains (at least in the US) play by the Unwritten Rules which basically read as (try not to escalate because open warfare is really bad for all of us.) And this Comic Proved THAT, all the villains got together to take down Defender X and then went on to THREATEN a sitting president (and the city he was in and about 30 miles of suburbs) and if they had gun bots trained on the heroes loved ones I am not sure that the heroes would have stepped in until after the screaming stopped for like a hour. So while action is required to keep baddies in check try not to give them reason to form into a army and DISLIKE you.
By Hinoron Thu Oct 24th 2019 at 2:11 am
“Yeesh, which administration was that evil?”
That would be ALL of them, regardless of which actor is playing the roll of king-for-term this year.
By Hinoron Thu Oct 24th 2019 at 2:11 am
“Yeesh, which administration was that evil?”
That would be ALL of them, regardless of which actor is playing the role of king-for-term this year.
By The Ausie Bloke Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 4:20 am
How did he throw up through the mask?
By Zappit Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 4:36 am
If you’re wearing a mask and are about to vomit, you’re gonna pull up that mask.
By macho gomez Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 4:29 am
oh god not in the mask
By Brother Parvus Tue Jan 15th 2019 at 12:58 am
in a Dom “Buddy Bizarre” Deluise voice from Blazing Saddles, natch.
By Kat Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 5:30 am
or it could just be a reference to how the government is always evil in comics. See the X-men comics or Marvel’s Civil War storylines for references. I’m sure DC has an example too, but I never read DC that much. Superhero tropes generally seem to be in full effect in the Supervillainous universe. Well, except for right now, with Ultimo’s face. Cause rule of funny.
By Smythe Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 6:01 am
Superhero realities usually have multiple secret unnamed branches that go renegade and try to kill heroes. Marvel had the TESS Project and Weapon X, DC had multiple projects specifically designed to find a way to kill Superman (at least one – the Conduit – becoming a mercenary outfit).
The Defender X Project was most likely a think-tank that got too much budgeting, too much Cold-War paranoia, and too many mad scientists. SHIELD and Checkmate did that, too.
By Jdorr Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 3:19 pm
Well some examples from dc could be suicide squad, the varies Justice League contingency groups, oh or when Lex Luthor (Superman’s archrival) became president. And out of main continuity you have the injustice timeline with dictator superman
By ukezi Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 11:16 pm
I really liked the Red Son limited series. What if superman landed not in Kansas but in Russia?
By Ladon Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 7:03 pm
Amanda Waller is your DC government bad guy. She’s also kinda a complete idiot sometimes. “We need a plan for if Superman goes rogue! Get me Harley Quinn!”
By Otaku Wed Jan 16th 2019 at 4:35 am
To be fair, it that version of Amanda Waller is an idiot because DC seems to have a split personality when it comes to their “shared cinematic universe”. One moment, they’re afraid they’ll copy Marvel too much, while the next they take something that ought to have a less “Marvel formula” feel and force it to conform anyway. @_@
The really sad part is DC’s animated offerings often give a rough idea of how they could have pulled it all off. For example, imagine smoosh the Suicide Squad film with the episodes of Young Justice that took place in Bialya. Send them against C-Listers working for a better villain… preferably someone in a position of political power, hence needing a group that could plausibly just be there to rob the place or kidnap someone, and that all conveniently have bombs in their heads so they can be killed in case they are captured. If you want to introduce DC’s take on magic and mysticism… just tease it at the end.
By Blatherskite Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 5:57 am
Since Supervillainous is coming to a close, I thought I’d make an account and post something.
I’ve been a reader since the very beginning – I read “Meet Meat” the day it came out. When I started reading Supervillainous, I was in middle school. Now I’m an adult. Waiting for your comic to update has been a part of my life since my earliest days on the internet. So . . . thanks for that. It’s been loads of fun.
Any plans for what you’ll do after Supervillainous?
By Zappit Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 10:19 pm
I do have a new comic in development, one that should hopefully launch not too long after SV wraps up.
By Renadt Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 8:10 am
The relevant comic is Abandonment issues.
By Eoraptor Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 7:23 pm
hope he remembered to lift up the mask first… O.o
By Klorix Mon Jan 14th 2019 at 8:02 pm
I like the idea that it just went through, like superpowered puke. He’s probably wearing his power belt after all.
By Iron Ed Thu Jan 17th 2019 at 2:56 am
Step-Dad was a fighter pilot. He said it was considered “good form” to throw up -inside- your flightsuit. It’s not good to make your plane’s crewchief clean puke out of the cockpit when he’s also the one keeping the plane working properly for you to fight with. 😉
By RazorD9 Tue Jan 15th 2019 at 1:01 am
Dear lord that is a lot to process. Claw technically saved the world twice.
Plus side, at least now it makes more sense how in the alternate future Claw and Ultimo were good friends.
By Acetheal Tue Jan 15th 2019 at 12:44 pm
They’ve been dating for more than 20 years? And are just now engaged? I think there might be some commitment issues there.
By Marscaleb Wed Jan 16th 2019 at 9:22 pm
Henchman?! Oh for the love of… He has a name, you know!
By Iron Ed Thu Jan 17th 2019 at 2:52 am
But, there’s no real reason Mark should know what that name is.
…and “Henchman” is certainly better than “Hey, You!” 😉
By EV Wed Jan 16th 2019 at 9:29 pm
Looking back, Ultimo was always uncommonly nice to Claw considering he was a nemesis… At the time I thought it was weird, but didn’t think too much of it. Even for a hero it was above and beyond friendly mode and now it all makes sense.
By Ashley P. Thu Jan 17th 2019 at 9:30 pm
When your existential crisis ends up all over you future brother in law’s shirt.