[UA] Kevin Matchstick

[Timothy Toner]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Liam Astley" <Dogzilla at btinternet.com>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: [UA] Kevin Matchstick


> From: "Nick Wedig" <mrteapot at disinfo.net>
> Subject: Re: [UA] Kevin Matchstick
>
>
> > I think the opposite makes a more interesting
plot.  Someone trying to be
> a Hero can't find a proper >Villain.  Sure, he
can find street thugs to stop
> and such, but what he needs is a Nemesis, an
equal and >opposite power.  So
> he finds someone he thinks may be close to
channeling it, and starts
> >manipulating the guy's actions.
>
> m only problem with this is that creating a
supervillain isn't a very heroic
> act. the Hero guy would definitely be acting
against his archetype. though i
> guess he might put up with losing some channels
for a while in the hope that
> in the long run he'd benefit

Well, two things.  First, no one intends to create
their Nemesis.  It usually comes about as some
aspect of the tragic flaw that seperates heroes
from superheroes.  This is a collorary to the idea
that no villain perceives himself as a evil.
Usually, there's some method to the madness.  In
JMStracynski's current run on Spiderman (God, I'm
sorry for bringing up all these frickin' comic
book refs, but this is a golden era for graphic
storytelling), a character points out that Peter
Parker never once considered the order of events
that led to his becoming Spider-Man.  Did the
radiation allow the spider to transmit his
abilities, or did the radiation kill the spider
before it had a chance to give those powers?  When
I first read that, I said, "Huh?" and rightly so.
Didn't seem to make much sense.  However, in the
latest issue, we see a little more.  Spider-Man is
actually totemic, and his Nemeses share his
'slant' on things.  We have an Octopus, a Vulture,
a Scorpion, a Rhino, a Jackal, etc., all totemic.
They're summoned to him by his very nature; just
the sort of weirdness magnet that typifies most
RPG campaigns.  So Spider-Man ends up being an
Avatar.  Go figure.

Second, since this is a post-modern game, you're
going to have post-modern heroes.  Marvel touched
on this in the 1960s, with their Heroes With Feet
of Clay.  Maybe there's a weird sort of hero out
there who goes out and creates villains to oppose
him.  Stranger things have happened, I'm sure.


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