Recently, a friend and I were talking about the different types of superheroes operating in Spire City, and I realized that there is a pretty wide spectrum. As a group, we call them meta-humans, but this isn’t all inclusive. I imagine I’ll return to this subject and flesh it out many time in the future. Here is the short list:

• Android: A robot that appears sufficiently human to easily pass for a human. Tara 5.0 is a prime example of an android.

• Cyborg: A human surgically augmented with scientific implants. Many of Dr. Wissenschaft’s mercenary soldiers are cyborgs.

• Gadgeteer: A human who invents or adopts gadgets of some sort to work as a vigilante. Tilt counts as a gadgeteer, as does Staff of Life, Captain Barometer, and Hyperspace.

• Mad Scientist: While technically norms, superhuman brilliance is arguably the most potent meta power. Combine this with mental illness (Dr. Synn) or amorality (Dr. Wissenschaft), and you have a foe not to be taken lightly.

• Mecha: A robot with an onboard human driver or pilot. The difference between a mechanaut and a mecha is often one of size; if the driver can wear it, he’s a mechanaut; if the device is large enough to be a vehicle, it is a mecha.

• Exonaut: These are normal humans who wear powered exoskeletons, wearable robots, or other similar costumes that scientifically augment their wearer. Examples would be Tactical and Deco. Mechanauts are sometimes also called human tanks and power armors. Non-powered armor, such as a bullet-proof vest, does not make someone a exonaut.

• Meta-human: Any person who is “more than human,” whatever the source of that power. Most of the superheroes and super villains in Spire City fall into this category. There are subgroups of meta-humans, such as Speedsters (Hotfoot, Celerity), Brutes (Alaric, Skorn), and Winged Wonders (Peregrine, Free Ranger).

• Mystery Man: Non-powered, themed vigilantes more common in the 1930’s through the 1950’s. Johnny Saturn I would be a good example of a classic mystery man.

• Norms: Within the meta community, standard humans are usually called Norms. Martial artists are still usually norms; if they adopt a theme and become vigilantes, they graduate to mystery men.

• Paranormal: This covers all humans (and other creatures/entities) that are magically based. A standard human adept in magic would be a paranormal, as would angels and demons and elementals. Examples include Persephone Synn Underhall, Norgiel the demon, and Turiel the angel. Many characters who are living avatars/embodiments of certain principles belong to this group, as do mythological humans (such as the late Musclebound, son of Hercules).

• Robot: Artificial scientific constructs. These often have humanoid shape, but they cannot pass for humans as can androids. A robot with a human pilot is a mecha. A good example of a robot would be the self-aware Oppression Wave.

• Zomborg: A clinically dead human that is surgically augmented and turned into a mindless cyborg. Dr. Wissenschaft regularly recycles his slain mercenaries and cyborgs into zomborgs.

Recently, I requested a critique for “Johnny Saturn” on a certain forum, and several of my webcartooning peers were kind enough to offer their opinions.  One such critique set me to thinking, though: It stated that many of our “Johnny Saturn” villains were evil for evil’s sake, and that we didn’t offer good reasons for them to be this way.  This criticism centered on Tactical and Dr. Wissenschaft.

As much as I welcomed the critique, I have to respectfully disagree with this assessment.  There is that old Stan Lee adage, that “there are no villains, just fallen heroes.”  That same line of reasoning goes on the express that everyone is the hero in their own story, and every villain believes he’s on the side of the angels no matter how awful their deeds.

I don’t buy it.

Josef Mengele, the so called Angel of Death, is a loose inspiration for Dr. Wissenschaft.  This should be pretty obvious to those of you who know anything about 20^th century history.  Did Mengele feel he was walking a moral high ground in doing the things he did?  I doubt it.  My guess is that he was all about the science, and that he was a total sociopath, devoid of any empathy for his victims.

Tactical, in his origin as a Balkan war criminal, is loosely based on any number of similar war criminals, both those that have been brought to trial in the Hague, and those that have yet to be apprehended.  Did these men relish the slaughter they ordered and oversaw?  Did they feel terrible about the massacres and rape camps?  I doubt it.  I think they performed their deeds in a misguided sense of nationalism.

Does every villain have some defining moment in their life when they become evil?  An “origin,” you might say.  Or, are they all sociopaths and psychopaths?  This is the standard comic book way, but I don’t think it’s the real way.  I think many of these people grow up in hell holes, and they grow up with cruelty.  It’s what they know.  They become inured to the suffering of others by their environment, and they learned cruelty as a second nature.

To put a point on it, many of the “Johnny Saturn” villains are simply those who put the ends before the means.  If they want something, they will do anything to make it happen.

In the real world, we know some people are bad, and we neither know (nor usually care) what made them bad.  The same rule applies to the “Johnny Saturn” villains.

Scott.<-->