Just one more question: what was with the “great gamer” in issue #8? Was he supposed to be a parody of something? Was the great game his religion, or was it an actual system? Why is he playing the game? The book seems to imply that the stars in the sky are each a life, and when someone dies, the “scorekeeper” snuffs out one of the stars, but really i just don’t know.
Edited by Loopytires55 Hide / Show RepliesThe stuff about the Great Game is a homage to stories like New Gods where all of creation is a battleground between two cosmic forces — Order Versus Chaos or Light Versus Dark or similar. In this case, the Great Black and the Great White, which is a bit light-versus-dark and also a bit of a chess motif.
I don't think we're meant to be able to find definite answers to the questions you ask: it's a Cryptic Background Reference, to give some color and depth to the story, not something where the details are important to the plot. For what it's worth, though, I didn't get the implication about stars being snuffed out when someone dies: Kapela says that the night sky is a scoreboard showing the state of play, but he also says explicitly that the amount of white on the board is increasing over time.
So is it ever explained why everybody in Neopolis has super powers and a secret identity?
Hide / Show RepliesFrom what's stated in the 49ers book and the foreword to Top 10, it looks like all (American?) "science" characters were relocated to Neopolis after World War 2. I guess powers are partly genetic in this 'verse, and anyone can at least pick up a gadget or four. As for secret identities, I guess that's mostly a cultural thing by this point since it's listed on IDs and all.
Because of the generic name, it's hard to find information on this comic online. Does anyone know what happened with Season 2? Everything I have found, including on TV Tropes, treats Season 2 like it was a four/five issue mini-series, but that's not at all how it reads. Almost none of the plot threads are wrapped up by the end of issue 4, and while there's some continuation in the Season 2 Special issue, it really feels like the series was just cancelled. Anyone have any information on that?