This is a collection of stories Greg Hatcher (formerly of CBR's Comics Should be Good blog and the Atomic Junk Shop), wrote for a, I believe, sci-fi/pulp magazine about a character he created called Dr. Fixit (real name Ernie Voskovec). Adams had to finish the fourth and final story after Hatcher died of cancer in 2021.
Ernie's claim to fame was that, from the late '50s through the '60s, he was the go-to guy for lairs and assorted gizmos of the super-villain set. The stories are set years later, when a young NPR reporter has figured out who he was and tracked him in down in an assisted living facility. She convinces him to tell some of his stories, when he's remained tight-lipped about it previously. And so each story is Ernie telling her about one of his adventures.
Each story has its own hook. The job that ended Ernie's career, the one time he worked for a superhero, his actual last job, so on. Hatcher fills in the backstory of the fictional setting as needed, to the extent Ernie would know the information. So there are heroes who received powers from an experimental serum, and others from radiation, and heroes with no powers at all. Most of the super-villains are eccentric goofs, wanting wild things as part of their "conquer the world" schemes, rather than caring much about money.
Hatcher writes Ernie as alternately bemused and frustrated by the villains. One villain just wanted some of those big poles you run electricity up between to sit behind his main chair, because it looked cool. But Ernie also enjoys the challenge. Trying to figure out how to make some sort of ray gun you can carry like a pistol with enough charge to fire more than once, or how to get enough power for some device that's going to blanket the entire city.
But Ernie's also careful enough to take precautions, because some of the villains are nuts, but they're dangerous nuts. So he carries a few gadgets of his own as protection, and he's not above getting violent if necessary, usually when someone close to him is threatened. Ernie's written with as a straight talker, but with enough rough charm it doesn't come off as rude. Ben Grimm if he were a bit older, maybe.
I think you can feel Hatcher's fondness for the things he's building off in these stories, the superhero or super spy stuff of the '60s. So even though things get heavy occasionally - a few character die ugly - it doesn't weigh the stories down. Maybe because we're hearing about them years after the fact, and so Ernie's made his peace with those outcomes.
'Alastair harrumphed. "I have designed it to be the ultimate stealth urban operational vehicle, infinitely maneuverable with multiple defense and offense capabilities." One corner of his mouth pulled up in another thin-lipped smile. "But yes, with your help, Doctor - Ernie - I expect the Ghostmobile shall be a very cool car."'
No comments:
Post a Comment