Clonus

To be fair, the last Viper book I saw gave them some very powerful assets as a result of that program.

It can be something less formal than a treaty or a law. It can just be a situation where if one god makes a personal appearance to impose its will another god is likely to counter that move and the resulting brawl will level cities and nothing happens to be going on that is important enough to level cities. Of course really this is just a specific case of the "gods have limits on their power". But the mere existence of divine peers means that limits on their power are inherent.

Most superheroes simply don't pay attention to politics because the company doesn't want to push away audience and because those heros are a bit too busy fighting jet propelled monkeys to express an opinion about health care policy, abortion, marijuana decriminalization, or the separation of church and state. That being said, we can determine that certain superheroes are metaphors for various liberal ideas. Professor Xavier and by extension most of the X-Men are used as metaphors for being racial minority or gay activists so they can usually be classed as liberalish. Captain America has certainly gone through strongly liberal spasms...sometimes to the point that he uncovered Nixon's sideline as a supervillain and then spent a while as the disillusioned Man Without A Country. The original Dove was an unflattering representation of anti-war activists in the Vietnam era. But then Hawk was only slightly better as a representation of the hawk point of view. Brother Power was a hippie superhero. Ms Marvel was a "feminist" superhero. Which doesn't actually mean much since she was actually just doing typical superhero stuff in a costume that was skimpily impractical and never brought up the issue of wage parity or whatever...but just being the only Marvel superheroine to headline her own book and using "Ms" in her supernym sez that she was inspired...loosely by feminism. Wonder Woman on the other hand started out as a mouthpiece for a "women are better and should be in charge" point of view along with the "tying people up is hawt" message that was also very much what she was about.

In a supers universe, supervillains robbing banks is a real world problem.

Or to put it another way, "The laws of nature are really more in the way of guidelines" "Civilians have the attention span of drunk ferrets. Wait 15 minutes and the way you saved the world is ancient history."

Don't just pick a name for yourself. Make sure all the witnesses to your jobs hear it... Otherwise you'll be stuck with whatever that reporter picks.

Time travel is a fine thing for anyone who feels like chasing their own tail.

You know...I don't think you should go there. Sadistic would work far better than with her power set.

The difference between a common supervillain and a criminal mastermind, is that a common supervillain doesn't tell you the beating you are giving him is all part of his "master plan".

Always...expect ninjas. --Sydney Scoville II

When you don't know what to do, smash something. Whatever can explode will.

"Flying Brick" is the most generic superhero concept this side of "He fights with nothing but two trusty fists and a firm conviction in the rightness of his cause" which is why the Superman pastiche in The Authority was named Apollo. The options are to name the character after the only non-generic thing in the description (Apollo, Daystar, Solar Max) or to name him after his very genericness (Superman, Protector, Legend) or add some more elements to the character to work with.

Magic is like the violin. It's an easy instrument to play...badly.

Never bring a gun to a swordfight. Don't fly higher than you can fall. Terminal velocity is your friend. Growth is the amazing power to make yourself an easy target. Never call someone "dead" until you finish the autopsy. Being dead doesn't necessarily stop people from making trouble There is no idea so stupid that it can't be used to hurt people. You can't mass produce awesome. Always make your capes detachable. Always know which walls are load-bearing.

\Superman is almost never in a situation where he has the chance to kill morally and legally. After all, that would require that he be in a situation where the only way to save someone in immediate peril's life is to kill someone. For someone with Superman's power and speed...how often does that happen?

I don't think the Punisher's common sense solutions hold water in a complex world of time travel and jet-powered apes. Or to quote a character of my own: "In a world where life after death is a confirmed reality, murder may not be the most effective problem solving strategy." (Of course she's a supervillain.)

http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/like_an_amateur

Hellfire was inspired by nobody. Her powers were randomly rolled and her personality was the product of her name. Phreak was inspired by Bill the Cat. Ack. And Warlock from the New Mutants. Riptide was inspired by the Flash and Aquaman Tien Lung was inspired by the reptilian character from the Trouble Twisters Gossamer was inspired by the fairies of A Midsommer Nights Dream Helgard is a generic brick monster created to fill a gap.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/08/17/new-yorkers-rally-in-support-of-russian-punk-band-found-guilty-for-stunt-against-putin/

Professionals doing what they do best.

Note that even in the original story, the Halkans were exactly the same. It was only the humans who were psychos.

James Nicoll catches us up on what's new with the Science Fiction Writers of America: A series of articles in the Bulletin, SFWA's magazine. Let's see if I can get the sequence right: An issue of the Bulletin comes out with a chick in chainmail cover more suitable for Sad Lonely Gamer Magazine than a modern professionals' magazine. Some discussion whether this is appropriate ensues. Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg chat about the women of SF in ages past: conversation more suitable for Playboy circa 1965 than a modern professionals' magazine. Some discussion whether this is appropriate ensues. C. J. Henderson writes an article holding up Barbie dolls as a role model for women, in particular Barbie's way of showing "quiet dignity the way a woman should". It turns out many people are somewhat skeptical that a plastic doll is a good role model. Resnick and Malzberg reply to their critics by claiming the complaints were anonymous (which implies they never read what was said) and calling said critics commie nazi totalitarians who want to crush FREEEEEEEDOM*. An internet firestorm ensues. In parallel with the above, Theodore "VD" Beale used the SWFA twitter feed to deliver a racist diatribe about Nora Jemison in particular and about blacks in general. * Shades of Rod Rees thing, where his essay on the Jo Fletcher site about how you can totes establish a character is a woman by having her basically replay a webcam fap scene in front of a mirror - demonstrating in the process that he either never actually saw a boob or if he did didn't pay attention - attracted some constructive criticism. Jo Fletcher decided the angle to play was to claim people were attacking the First Amendment. Because that always works.

Blood Work, A Tale of Medicine and Murder Essentially the story of how the development of blood transfusion was delayed for 150 years by massive freakouts at the idea. The murder part comes with an experiment in using transfusion to treat a violently crazy guy who was then poisoned by his wife who was not thrilled to have her violently insane spouse back

The Last Illusion by Rhys Bowen Spunky girl detective investigates a plot against Harry Houdini even as she deals with her cop boyfriend's demands that she give up her private detective work before they marry. The plot she uncovers is a bit silly.

And an Iron Maiden. A bigger reason why Pepper won't be calling herself Iron Maiden is that she's just not the kind of character who thinks it's cool to name herself after dungeon furniture. She's not likely to call herself Rack or Thumbscrew either. http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/11/117763/2926076-ironm.jpg