Brian Michael Bendis, �Powers: Roleplay�
[Ed. note: This is part four of an experiment to see if drinking while writing will make me more charming, funnier, and the best dancer in the world. The experiment begins here.]
I tend to date outside my little circle of friends, probably because as long as I�ve been in this fucking town, I�ve either dated everybody I could, or I dated their friend, and they know about what a horrible person I am.
Of course, when I do get dates, this means I have to then meet all of their friends. Of course, despite how large San Jose actually is, there is a lot of interconnectivity. For instance, I was always fond of going over to Hawg�s Seafood restaurant after class for their happy hour for $1.50 pints and 75 cent oysters. Since I didn�t really know anybody from campus, I tended to go alone, using the time to get a small buzz and read.
As it turns out, one of my girlfriend�s buddies works at that place, and when she found out who I was, she promptly informed me that the staff of Hawg�s thought I was gay.
Apparently, I�m much better then I thought I was at furtive glances toward the women�s butts who worked on the staff at Hawg�s, as I looked at a lot of their butts.
Her other friend, who worked at a comic book shop, had a different idea about me. She was told that I had been in that place, and although she didn�t recognize me (which is proper, as I�ve been in there all of five times in my life), she had her own picture of what I looked like.
So, not that long ago, I got to meet this friend, who promptly said, �My god! You�re not at all what I pictured! I expected you to be 300 pounds with a scruffy patchy beard wearing thick glasses who said things like �Huzzah!� while talking about Seafarers of Catan!�
If I haven�t said it already, I don�t like my girlfriend�s friends.
I�m just kidding. Actually, both of those people turned out to be great, and the comic book girl gave me great insight into the dork mind, being as she was a girl with a big rack and worked at a comic/gaming center, which is the only place some of these nerds went to when they actually went out and saw the sun.
But she clued me into an area of geekdom I hadn�t even heard about, namely the live action roleplaying game genre. Apparently, there are quite a number of people who love to run around like Nicolas Cage in Vampire�s Kiss screaming, �I�m a vampire! I�m a vampire! I�m a vampire! I�m a vampire!!!�
I�m never going outside again. I like to keep my dorkness in the dark. Hell, when I read the graphic novels, I make sure I�m at home where nobody can see me.
Even with my dork points, and I have a few, It�s nice to know how out of the geek loop I am. Hell, when one girl I was sort-of dating a while back asked me if I liked roleplay, I thought she was talking about sex.
That�s what this graphic novel is about. In a world where having superpowers is possible, but illegal, a number of college students have set up a live action roleplaying game to pretend to save the world. Things go wrong when they encounter a super villain who actually has superpowers and starts killing off all these geeks.
Frankly, I don�t see the problem.
But this is set up like a detective novel, so the cops are out to find the killer, and the twist is they both have superhero powers, which they�ve renounced. Will they break the law to avenge the killed college students? Will the kids still in the game be saved? Do people who play Seafarers of Catan really weigh 300 lbs.? And will the average person care?
The answer, surprisingly, is yes. This is the second Powers title I�ve read by Bendis, and he�s fast becoming one of my more favorite graphic novel writers. The fact that he�s currently writing for Daredevil makes it all that much better.
And for the record � I�m 165 lbs., and not gay.
- Beer consumed: Three and a half
- Cigarettes smoked: Six
- Trips to the bathroom: One
- Specifics that I actually remember about the book: Most.
