Meanwhile, On Earth (comic story)
Meanwhile, On Earth was a backup comic in “Issue 3” of the Tales To Behold subseries of the webcomic The Cosmic Beholder. Written and drawn by Paul Hoppe, it was released both in webcomic form and in a limited print run.
It continued to feature “Jenny Everywhere” (really Jenny Nowhere posing as her) as part of Captain Evening's team of superheroes, the Odds, as well as her alternative personal of “Evil Cloak”.
Contents
Plot
Drinking at a “dingy” bar after hours, stranded demon Red Vicious is accosted by Evil Cloak, who talks him into joining her scheme for world domination. The ambitions itself are neither here nor there to the demon, but he does perk up at the mention of “stuff to break”.
Elsewhere, Jesse Brain observes another aspect of Evil Cloak's great conspiracy as Doctor Brain's minions rebuild his dimensional portal “exactly as it was”. Her internal monologue evidences that she is not particularly thrilled about the scheme, viewing it as yet another meaningless counter-revenge plot between grown people in tights, devoid of true significance. Walking to a different area of the building, however, she stumbles upon Doctor Brain in bed with someone very familiar to the Odds, much to her surprise; despite the embarrassment of the situation, she also begins to think this scheme may hold more surprises and interesting twists than she gave it credit for.
As the morning comes, Captain Perfect, recently named Time's “Dude of the Year”, is set to receive the key to the city from Mayor Wilson, as broadcast live in a special edition of Hero Hour. Meanwhile, the Odds return to the Fortress of Evening, shifted in by Jenny. Professor Madison wastes no time in running tests on the Blue Knight, whose dominant personality is the original male Knight's despite also taking elements of Chief Inspector Dennis's mind, much to the merged being's discomfort given their very much female body. While the rest of the team relax, Rodney watches the televised ceremony of Mayor Wilson giving Captain Perfect the key to the city, which is interrupted by the appearance of a huge mechanical villain calling itself Ultimatron.
The Captain begins to “fight” the robot, but is distracted when the Odds, alerted to the situation by Rodney, arrive to help. He is knocked out by the robot, whose human operators seem strangely dismayed at the thought of having taken out their apparent foe. The Odds keep fighting “Ultimatron”, despite finding themselves largely outmatched, until it is destroyed by a late-arriving Centennia. Threatened by the immortal heroine, the cowering operators confess that the entire attack was staged by Captain Perfect as a publicity stunt. Perfect tries to deny it to Centennia's face, and, unimpressed, she punches him into the distance. As the Odds pick themselves up from the rubble, Captain Evening warmly thanks Centennia for the rescue, and asks her if she would like to join his team.
A short time later, Evening organises a rooftop barbecue at the Fortress for all his “hero-friends” — and ends up sleeping with Jenny, although both of them agree it's just a bit of fun between friends. However, while the Odds and other heroes are enjoying themselves, Captain Perfect is ruminating on the failure of his come-back. When Evil Cloak drops in to check on him, he takes her to task for the plan's failure, given that it was her own suggestion in the first place, but the villainess is quick to put him back in his place with a demonstration of how much more powerful than him she really is, rapidly shifting him through nightmarish realms without even pausing her sentence.
Elsewhere still, Jesse is starting to have enough of her dad's “project” and the ways in which it has made the Brain home extremely crowded, despite Alicia and Babs attempting to cheer her up with the latest gossip from the university.
Worldbuilding
Universes
- This story takes place entirely in Reality Z-25 31-H.
Other
- Watching Doctor Brain's Portal being rebuilt “exactly as it was” makes Jesse “feel like [she's] in Return of the Jedi”.
- Captain Evening's home base is named in-story as the Fortress of Evening for the first time.
Continuity
- The story opens with the villains working on rebuilding Doctor Brain's Portal from the original COMIC: Tales To Behold.
- Hero Hour and Captain Perfect were previously the focus of the short comic COMIC: Interview With A Superhero, which also confirmed the continued presence of Red Vicious on the mortal plane following the events of COMIC: Enter–the Legion of Light!.
- The Odds return to New York City from their adventure in COMIC: Battle of Britain and Encore, with the Blue Knight's “resurrection” by Merlin still a recent event.
- This story takes place prior to COMIC: Journey Out Of Misery, and explains why Centennia was part of the Odds in that story.
- COMIC: Symbiote Surprise included a flashback to the party at the end of this story, revealing that Kate Five was also present at the party, encountering the Odds and Centennia for the first time.
Behind the scenes
Read online
Meanwhile, On Earth is available online on the Cosmic Beholder blog.
