master class in appearing and disappearing mysteriously, if no one knows how you get to and from places they are left with their own assumptions and if you are the leader of an all F.I.S.S. team then of course they will assume you can fly and have super speed.
It shouldn’t be the Revenant. As good as he is at hiding his identity, he would know that it would eventually come out that he isn’t a FISS, and that could fracture the trust that is going to be vital in getting the Vanguard really established.
“Hey boss, why’d you crumple into a weeping pile of broken bones when all I did was clap you on the back?”
I think of the ‘new character’ promise of Aaron (is that right? The twitter feed statement was ‘new character’ – it wasn’t ‘new costume’ or anything silly).
I know that Julie (84) and Tyler (Moonshadow) would not have had time to find, vet and approve of a new FISS but isn’t this what is implied by Zero appearing and Zero being the new promised character? It seems silly, can it be anything else? P’haps a FISS that never manifested their FISS powers and just watched from afar, like the original Mr Extraordinary did once his persecution complex had reached an intolerable level.
One deep archive dive later.
Nope, on reflection, while I want this ‘Zero’ to be a new, moral compass enabled, historically consistent based FISS character linked to Mister Extraordinary but I think it’s likely The Revenant – and that is the least satisfactory but most likely outcome. Pleased but still hopeful for an Aaron twist of some kind.
Persecution complex is a term used to describe people who think they’re being unfairly persecuted when they’re not. That is absolutely not the case with Mr. Extraordinary.
Agreed, he was being persecuted, and went into hiding so they could publicly disavow him. Having enemies is not a persecution complex, even if we’d prefer that he hadn’t been.
How’s this for the twist – Zero is in fact Mr Extraordinary, time traveled back from the past by young Dr Who while he was still in good shape so that he could have the super hero career Mr Green denied him. ‘Zero’ has the right build to be Thaddeus ‘Mr Extraordinary’ Booker. He’d still have to be financially backed by the Revenant to pull of the space ship and costume deals, though.
And ‘Zero’ did say that he doesn’t claim to pre-date Mr Extraordinary. Which would be true if he was Mr Extraordinary.
That strikes me as a dangerous scam to pull off. I mean in a room full of FISS folks someone’s likely to just pick up a car and ask you to “hold this for a second” without looking 🙂
I agree and like the way you said that – lack of FISS powers might come up awfully fast, even in mundane situations. The one that comes to mind for me is I have trained myself (after a couple of accidents) to never try to catch knives or really hot stuff when I am clumsy while cooking. A FISS wouldn’t care, or at worst they would be worried about accidentally crushing the knife they caught.
Well, we know that Mr. Extraordinary used to give speeches. He may still be the one behind the mask, with the Revenant having covered all bases beforehand. But the Revenant needs his utility belt or at least something besides that skintight suit if he’s going to be any help on active duty. Of course, if he’s their leader, it may just be a desk job he’s after.
One archive binge later—
No, not speeches, though he was a performer. The build doesn’t quite fit the costume though. Maybe it is Revenant looking for a desk job. He has quite the desk to do it from.
Serious questions: Panel 2- Why the added extra layer of secret identity? What purpose does it hold for leading and managing the Infinite Vanguard? Zero says it’s for security purposes but isn’t your basic/immediate alter ego enough? And can’t a baddie have an easier time of pretending to be Zero because of this?
Hence the capacity for a ‘no confidence’ vote – and for individuals after ‘Zero’, the members of the Infinite Vanguard _will_ know who he or she is, because they’ll have voted the person into office. Please also note that Zero said _publicly reveal_ themselves – which means that they could (even on-demand) reveal themselves to any member of the IV.
I think part of why they need someone like Zero is to give the Infinite Vanguard an element of mystery, to make the seem cooler. After the original Zero steps down, they will know who (s)he is. So if they are really unsure if a later Zero is who (s)he was (s)he is, they could just ask him or her their FISS number in a private setting.
Having a Doubting Thomas around questioning if things are really what they seem to be can be extremely useful at keeping people out of stupid trouble (I wonder if his old team realized that he filled that role for them?).
I be thinking Prairie Son meant – Multiplied by Zero. Darn it, that don’t work. ):\
Added by? Exponential? Fractal? Nope! Nope! And maybe? :\
Wait, it is Multiplied by Zero – For all cases of Zero > 0. ;}
I think he knew exactly what reference he was making. 🙂
(WTF? Since when does a SINGLE link make for an auto-spam denial? That’s bullshit. I answered the stupid math question AND have a long term gravatar history! Most sites use TWO links as possible spam, not ONE. Even then, it just goes to moderation, not refusal to post at all.)
(was trying to link to youtube for The Fixx – Saved By Zero)
I believe the rule is that words ending in “s” just get an apostrophe, although it always looks weird to me. Although, with a snake that’s eating it’s own tail… he/she/it can make it’s own rules. 🙂
To do so would be silly, because 84 already said that he was one. That only raises the question: Would she lie to her fellow FISSes? I don’t think so, which is why I doubt he’s the Revenant. Revenant could be financially backing whoever is Zero though…
While I also think its the Revenant, it occurs to me we haven’t been taking in to account his other hobby (teaching Moonshadow the business being the more obvious one): he reforms villains. If it isn’t him in the mask, it’s really likely to be his latest project. Sadly, both explanations work equally well for all details revealed so far, so we cannot determine which is true till Aaron reveals it in story (or doesn’t)!
p.s. For some reason, attempting to post as a reply removes the capcha and Post Comment button…
I don’t think it is the Revenant. In the last panel on November 5th comic 84 says she met another FISS and then continues “Tell you what, I’ll let him speak for himself” indicating Zero. I do not think Aaron would have 84 lying in that kind of situation…
I think you mean Atlas. Atlas is the other Argosian (the planet is called Argos if I remember correctly). Ajax is the Praetorian FISS who was unaffiliated with Atlas or Argos other than the similar powerset.
Aside from the fact that Atlas stayed on Argos to be King (thus making the trip to Earth to be a leader for a FISS band a heck of a commute), Zero is TINY compared to Atlas. Dude was huge in all the most Super Hero ways. Zero looks more like all the other guys’ body structure.
What do you think the chances are that Revenant will step down and hand the reins to Tyler after everything is over? He’ll have Julie and the previous Zero’s endorsement at least, if not others by then.
This is a little late due to the submit button being broken.
Some say he’s just the Revenant in another suite, some say he’s an entirely new character, all we know is HE’S CALLED THE STIG!
I just don’t think they should be so accepting of someone who is quite so completely anonymous, even if they do trust 84 herself. While Julie is both intelligent and honest, that doesn’t rule out her being possibly deceived or manipulated by someone with charisma (or psychic or magic powers, for that matter).
We know that she’s the one who initiated this, and probably did go with someone actually trustworthy, but the rest of her teammates don’t. If Zero were playing a long game, the initial goodies offered could be completely valid, and so could the additional carrots (gov’t level 2 financing), but there could still be a hidden sting at the end.
While that’s technically true, given the way the Vanguard formed around 84 I wouldn’t have expected them to maintain skepticism after she gave her endorsement and made a personal request for them to give Zero a chance. The skeptical Slamhawk signing on (even if it was just because “it can’t be worse than what I deal with back home”) likely erased any lingering reservations; how do you justify hanging on to an “I don’t know…” attitude when the resident doubting Thomas says “OK”?.
Another thought: Zero could actually be demonstrating the . . . lack of utility, I guess, of the official registration changes he’s handing out:
Is he actually registered as Zero? if so, how can the leader of the Infinite Vanguard always be called Zero; that’s his registered name.
Is he not registered as Zero? Then couldn’t any superhero just change costume and superhero name as easily as he does? Who needs registration?
I suppose the name change would work if it is paid for each time, because they will have the funding to do so, but there’s still something a bit not-quite-thought-out about the whole scenario.
Given the way superhero legacies work, with a younger hero taking on the mantle of an older one, it must be possible for name changes to cover name transfers.
I would guess that, now that the Vanguard has accepted Zero as their leader, he will have the hero name “Zero” registered as belonging to the Infinite Vanguard instead of to himself. That would allow for the next Zero to have two hero names without issue – one belongs to him/her individually, the other he/she assumes as the group’s leader.
The Capcha expiration wouldn’t be quite as annoying if you didn’t lose everything you typed when you click the “back” button. I’ve got to learn to hit refresh on the Capcha before answering and clicking “Post Comment”…
Yup. Definitely the Revenant.
While the personality fits, it’d be odd if the leader of a FISS group couldn’t fly. The rest you can fake with good gear, but that one’s a tad harder.
master class in appearing and disappearing mysteriously, if no one knows how you get to and from places they are left with their own assumptions and if you are the leader of an all F.I.S.S. team then of course they will assume you can fly and have super speed.
Actually, he was sub-zero, but after a fight with Arnold he became plain zero.
It shouldn’t be the Revenant. As good as he is at hiding his identity, he would know that it would eventually come out that he isn’t a FISS, and that could fracture the trust that is going to be vital in getting the Vanguard really established.
“Hey boss, why’d you crumple into a weeping pile of broken bones when all I did was clap you on the back?”
Now that the biggest doubter is convinced, let’s proceed.
I think of the ‘new character’ promise of Aaron (is that right? The twitter feed statement was ‘new character’ – it wasn’t ‘new costume’ or anything silly).
I know that Julie (84) and Tyler (Moonshadow) would not have had time to find, vet and approve of a new FISS but isn’t this what is implied by Zero appearing and Zero being the new promised character? It seems silly, can it be anything else? P’haps a FISS that never manifested their FISS powers and just watched from afar, like the original Mr Extraordinary did once his persecution complex had reached an intolerable level.
One deep archive dive later.
Nope, on reflection, while I want this ‘Zero’ to be a new, moral compass enabled, historically consistent based FISS character linked to Mister Extraordinary but I think it’s likely The Revenant – and that is the least satisfactory but most likely outcome. Pleased but still hopeful for an Aaron twist of some kind.
Persecution complex is a term used to describe people who think they’re being unfairly persecuted when they’re not. That is absolutely not the case with Mr. Extraordinary.
Agreed, he was being persecuted, and went into hiding so they could publicly disavow him. Having enemies is not a persecution complex, even if we’d prefer that he hadn’t been.
Just to be contrary my vote will be for a grown up Captain Clarinet from the future.
That would be SO COOL!!!
How’s this for the twist – Zero is in fact Mr Extraordinary, time traveled back from the past by young Dr Who while he was still in good shape so that he could have the super hero career Mr Green denied him. ‘Zero’ has the right build to be Thaddeus ‘Mr Extraordinary’ Booker. He’d still have to be financially backed by the Revenant to pull of the space ship and costume deals, though.
And ‘Zero’ did say that he doesn’t claim to pre-date Mr Extraordinary. Which would be true if he was Mr Extraordinary.
The Dread F.I.S.S. Zero?
Zero also gets a free Holocaust Cloak and wheelbarrow
The Dread F.I.S.S. Zero has come for your SOUL!!!
Who wants to win, saved by zero?
Or divided by Zero?
Let’s just face it. Zero’s the Hero!
Dang, you guys are all/I> taking me back! Especially “Zero my Hero” – I haven’t watched “Multiplication Rock”since the 70s.
I liked Julie’s argument; “You keep telling me how much I mean to you, now’s the time to show it.”
Also, didn’t realize who the kid in black was, I forgot about Ajax (who want’s to be “82” which means he older than Julie!)
http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/06232014/
That strikes me as a dangerous scam to pull off. I mean in a room full of FISS folks someone’s likely to just pick up a car and ask you to “hold this for a second” without looking 🙂
I agree and like the way you said that – lack of FISS powers might come up awfully fast, even in mundane situations. The one that comes to mind for me is I have trained myself (after a couple of accidents) to never try to catch knives or really hot stuff when I am clumsy while cooking. A FISS wouldn’t care, or at worst they would be worried about accidentally crushing the knife they caught.
FISS android of the Revenant?
Well, we know that Mr. Extraordinary used to give speeches. He may still be the one behind the mask, with the Revenant having covered all bases beforehand. But the Revenant needs his utility belt or at least something besides that skintight suit if he’s going to be any help on active duty. Of course, if he’s their leader, it may just be a desk job he’s after.
One archive binge later—
No, not speeches, though he was a performer. The build doesn’t quite fit the costume though. Maybe it is Revenant looking for a desk job. He has quite the desk to do it from.
He gave a few speeches/interviews as “the returning Hero from WWI”, IIRC.
With the right gadgetry…
Serious questions: Panel 2- Why the added extra layer of secret identity? What purpose does it hold for leading and managing the Infinite Vanguard? Zero says it’s for security purposes but isn’t your basic/immediate alter ego enough? And can’t a baddie have an easier time of pretending to be Zero because of this?
Hence the capacity for a ‘no confidence’ vote – and for individuals after ‘Zero’, the members of the Infinite Vanguard _will_ know who he or she is, because they’ll have voted the person into office. Please also note that Zero said _publicly reveal_ themselves – which means that they could (even on-demand) reveal themselves to any member of the IV.
Think of it sort of like an elected version of the Stig.
It’s totally the Stig under that suit.
I think part of why they need someone like Zero is to give the Infinite Vanguard an element of mystery, to make the seem cooler. After the original Zero steps down, they will know who (s)he is. So if they are really unsure if a later Zero is who (s)he was (s)he is, they could just ask him or her their FISS number in a private setting.
Ajax is gonna out him, isn’t he?
I wonder how long those vouchers/coupons for the free stuff is good for, especially if the Praetorian Academy won’t let Ajax change his name/look yet.
The more I see of Slamhawk the better I like him.
Having a Doubting Thomas around questioning if things are really what they seem to be can be extremely useful at keeping people out of stupid trouble (I wonder if his old team realized that he filled that role for them?).
At least the Infinite Vanguard seems to be uniting behind the idea – it would be terrible if they were divided by Zero
Actually, they may be Saved by Zero
+1 to rmsgrey for the math joke. -1 to Prairie Son for missing it.
I be thinking Prairie Son meant – Multiplied by Zero. Darn it, that don’t work. ):\
Added by? Exponential? Fractal? Nope! Nope! And maybe? :\
Wait, it is Multiplied by Zero – For all cases of Zero > 0. ;}
I think he knew exactly what reference he was making. 🙂
(WTF? Since when does a SINGLE link make for an auto-spam denial? That’s bullshit. I answered the stupid math question AND have a long term gravatar history! Most sites use TWO links as possible spam, not ONE. Even then, it just goes to moderation, not refusal to post at all.)
(was trying to link to youtube for The Fixx – Saved By Zero)
Thank you – I thought of the song immediately when I saw Prairie Son’s post, but couldn’t remember who performed it.
Twas a song reference, I think.
Yes, Cholma I did get the reference. ;}
My reply was just a bit of fun about The Wyrm Ouroboros’ * statement.
*os’ , o’s or os’s? For the life of me, I can’t ever remember how that goes!
I believe the rule is that words ending in “s” just get an apostrophe, although it always looks weird to me. Although, with a snake that’s eating it’s own tail… he/she/it can make it’s own rules. 🙂
Im just annoyed no one is asking are you a FISS…
To do so would be silly, because 84 already said that he was one. That only raises the question: Would she lie to her fellow FISSes? I don’t think so, which is why I doubt he’s the Revenant. Revenant could be financially backing whoever is Zero though…
While I also think its the Revenant, it occurs to me we haven’t been taking in to account his other hobby (teaching Moonshadow the business being the more obvious one): he reforms villains. If it isn’t him in the mask, it’s really likely to be his latest project. Sadly, both explanations work equally well for all details revealed so far, so we cannot determine which is true till Aaron reveals it in story (or doesn’t)!
p.s. For some reason, attempting to post as a reply removes the capcha and Post Comment button…
I’ve been running into that too, but only the first time. If I hit the back button in my browser and try again, it normally comes up properly.
He’s the IV to the zeroth power, the one 0/ring to lead (rule) them all. 😀
His IVs are Zero? He would be horrible in a Pokémon Fight.
not if he adopts democracy, then they’ll roll over and on a scale of 1 to 10 he’ll be 255 points of pure atomic rage…
I don’t think it is the Revenant. In the last panel on November 5th comic 84 says she met another FISS and then continues “Tell you what, I’ll let him speak for himself” indicating Zero. I do not think Aaron would have 84 lying in that kind of situation…
Is anyone noticing the tear on his costume and that it seems to be moving?
If you’re referring to what I think you are, that’s the gap between his pectoral muscles. It will move as his muscles flex.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s Ajax (The other Argonian).
Ajax was the name given by The Headmaster to a student, 82, if memory serves.
I think you mean Atlas. Atlas is the other Argosian (the planet is called Argos if I remember correctly). Ajax is the Praetorian FISS who was unaffiliated with Atlas or Argos other than the similar powerset.
Aside from the fact that Atlas stayed on Argos to be King (thus making the trip to Earth to be a leader for a FISS band a heck of a commute), Zero is TINY compared to Atlas. Dude was huge in all the most Super Hero ways. Zero looks more like all the other guys’ body structure.
What do you think the chances are that Revenant will step down and hand the reins to Tyler after everything is over? He’ll have Julie and the previous Zero’s endorsement at least, if not others by then.
This is a little late due to the submit button being broken.
Some say he’s just the Revenant in another suite, some say he’s an entirely new character, all we know is HE’S CALLED THE STIG!
…Zero, sorry.
That’s definitely Mr. Extraordinary. Sloped shoulders, unmuscular for a superhero.
I just don’t think they should be so accepting of someone who is quite so completely anonymous, even if they do trust 84 herself. While Julie is both intelligent and honest, that doesn’t rule out her being possibly deceived or manipulated by someone with charisma (or psychic or magic powers, for that matter).
We know that she’s the one who initiated this, and probably did go with someone actually trustworthy, but the rest of her teammates don’t. If Zero were playing a long game, the initial goodies offered could be completely valid, and so could the additional carrots (gov’t level 2 financing), but there could still be a hidden sting at the end.
While that’s technically true, given the way the Vanguard formed around 84 I wouldn’t have expected them to maintain skepticism after she gave her endorsement and made a personal request for them to give Zero a chance. The skeptical Slamhawk signing on (even if it was just because “it can’t be worse than what I deal with back home”) likely erased any lingering reservations; how do you justify hanging on to an “I don’t know…” attitude when the resident doubting Thomas says “OK”?.
Another thought: Zero could actually be demonstrating the . . . lack of utility, I guess, of the official registration changes he’s handing out:
Is he actually registered as Zero? if so, how can the leader of the Infinite Vanguard always be called Zero; that’s his registered name.
Is he not registered as Zero? Then couldn’t any superhero just change costume and superhero name as easily as he does? Who needs registration?
I suppose the name change would work if it is paid for each time, because they will have the funding to do so, but there’s still something a bit not-quite-thought-out about the whole scenario.
Given the way superhero legacies work, with a younger hero taking on the mantle of an older one, it must be possible for name changes to cover name transfers.
I would guess that, now that the Vanguard has accepted Zero as their leader, he will have the hero name “Zero” registered as belonging to the Infinite Vanguard instead of to himself. That would allow for the next Zero to have two hero names without issue – one belongs to him/her individually, the other he/she assumes as the group’s leader.
I would think there is Bureaucracy in place to allow the transfer of hero identities to someone else.
The Traditional thing in comics is when your kid/protégée takes over your super-hero identity because you die/retire/want some time off to nurse an injury. And presumably the government is like “We don’t care the someone new is in the suit, we just want to KNOW who’s in the suit so we can sue the right person if we have to”.
Also this Capcha expiring thing is hella fast. I type out a reasonable response that covers more than one paragraph and it’s already expired!! Jeez!!
This will likely follow whatever they set up for the replacement Atlas to take the title because he clearly didn’t need to pay for it.
The Capcha expiration wouldn’t be quite as annoying if you didn’t lose everything you typed when you click the “back” button. I’ve got to learn to hit refresh on the Capcha before answering and clicking “Post Comment”…
Um….in the thumbnail for this page, that long pink stripe hanging down from Zero’s crotch looks really questionable….