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Hey! It’s early January and I’ve made some changes in the last day or two.

• I finished Chapter 15. That’s the one where Oliver gets a call. It’s mostly meant to establish the setting. I think it will help readers a lot that had been struggling with this. (My sorry attempts at building suspense by keeping readers in the dark didn’t help, I’m sure).
• I finished another distant chapter. This is probably going to be second act (three acts, each around 20 chapters). I have it labelled as “Chapter 23???” You can read it to see where the story is drifting to. There aren’t any major spoilers but there is a new character.
• I finished a wildly distant chapter. This is labelled as Chapter 41???
• A few months ago, I wrote Chapters 11 and 12 but only posted Chapter 12. I have since lost Chapter 11 and can’t find it. I will try to rewrite it soon.
• I really REALLY hate Superman. If I had to create a list of superheroes I hated, it would probably be…

1. Superman… this goes far beyond his terrible movies. Read Chapter 41??? for more.
2. Captain America… his villains just get lamer and lamer. If the Red Skull is the best you can beat, it’s time to go home. He’s high on the list for a degree of anti-Americanism that is hard to reconcile with being a hero and unfathomable in an Army captain. I’m actually hoping Red Skull kills him.
3. Wolverine… (very) often imitated, but his patentedly annoying blend of surly and sulking are never quite duplicated. “Bub” gets annoying pretty fast. His fighting style is pretty interesting but he rarely gets equally interesting opponents.
4. The Hulk… “Hulk smash!” That’s even worse than the Human Torch’s “flame on!” Then you throw in dead boring supepowers and his sparkling personality and you’ve got a real winner.
5. Hawkgirl… if you’re going to go for an alien, show us something exotic and dangerous. Superman has the “alien-masquerading-as-human” niche locked up. Her villains are horrible, she has no defining characteristics, and is a diversity hero to boot.
6. The X-Men… I said I would only go for 5, but the X-Men deserve an honorable mention for damaging other Marvel franchises. Case in point (there are many to choose from): Spiderman’s school was abuzz about mutant registration laws backlash in Spectacular Spiderman. Just in case you thought Spiderman was a sanctuary from dystopian, liberal ideas about the tolerance of the average American and the US government. So much of the X-Men franchise is just a bitterly anti-government rant that should have been discontinued after McCarthy retired. Double points for REPEATEDLY comparing Holocaust victims to mutants, most of whom are vicious and determined criminals and/or terrorists. Even the “good” mutants, the X-Men, have a habit of stabbing police officers executing lawful warrants. I hope General Striker gets his act together. The only good point of the series is the mutant dragon guy (Ned Ralston)… I love dragons. Too bad he dies after ONE &*(#@ing page. “Hey, why don’t we get another Wolverine knockoff instead?” Yeah, THAT’s what you need.

I’ve made some changes in the last week. I have completed many new chapters.

• Chapter 1, Capes and Masks, has been written and posted. CAM is not even remotely similar to the chapter that had been listed as Chapter 1, which is now listed as Chapter ???.
• Chapters 11 and 12 have been written. I posted 12, but I don’t actually know where I left Chapter 11. I will post it as soon as I find it.
• Chapter 20 has been written and posted.
• In all, I’ve written three chapters that follow a sort of logical sequence– 11, 12, and 20. You can read 12 and 20 and they should make sense together. 1 is enjoyable by itself, but probably won’t seem like part of the whole yet.

I’ve also made some revisions to the plot. Again.

• The plot revolving around Jay and Catastrophe is proceeding well. But I’m not feeling it for Rahul– he may get the axe. It would disappoint me to toss out two already-written chapters, ??? and ?????, but to save the body I probably must amputate an arm.
• I’ve been thinking about ways I might rework Rahul. I need someone, preferably a non-American, who is given supernatural powers. This character must then attempt to reject what he had been chosen to be, a superhero. I appreciate your input, KevLar, but I don’t feel like Catastrophe will fit the role. This character probably won’t be major, but he will serve as Jay’s foil.
  • The Pemetex investigator might serve this role. Who knows, Pemetex might be a multinational corporation that brings in a Belgian or something.

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