At least they better be or I’d drive myself insane doing this comic. There are bursts of action in Variables (and this story is probably the most action-ish I’ll do until the grand finale of the comic, if/when that ever comes) but most of the stories revolve around exploring situations that might actually occur if people like this existed. The comic isn’t set up for action-heavy sequences, from neither a story nor a character perspective. In Variables, if two Sui Generis (meta-humans) fight, one of them will probably leave the fight dead or critically injured. Batman has had enough rounds shot at him to make World War II look like a local squirmish yet he’s never been shot in the face once. That kind of thing won’t fly in this comic. People die when they fight. All the time. So most of the people aren’t going to be keen on squaring off against another person and going blow-for-blow with a guy that can bench press 600 lbs. or one that can shoot lethal doses of electricity out of his hands. Like real life, fights are generally avoided unless absolutely necessary. Take Karter, for example. He’s pretty strong but he can’t pick up a car (nor can anyone in Variables, the physics just won’t allow it). His real gift is speed and agility. His only defense is to not get hit, ever. He wears armor to prevent blows from inflicting real damage because if he gets shot or hit in the head with a crowbar, he’ll die just like anybody else. It’s part of the reason why he’s in such bad shape after only seven years of fighting crime, a career that is based on getting hit as little as possible.

Enough of that. In future Thursday blogs, I’m going to talk more about my reasons for why the Variables world works the way it does. I don’t really blog much anymore so I thought it would be a good idea to start adding more details like this to the Thursday previews. As for this page, it’s the last Henri/Karter page before we transition to another scene later in the night. The sample image is a little cryptic in that it’s just a photograph being passed between the two. I’m not going to say any more than that so check back on Tuesday for the entire page with words and all that stuff. Cheers!

PS. As always, you can find the entire issue at http://variables.selfcentent.com/comic/variables-2002-1/.

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