For those who haven’t read episode 34 of book eleven, “Sploot” is apparently the sound made when someone’s head explodes.  For reasons unknown, many people around me find “Sploot” humorous, and it became the favored word at a party Benita and I attended Friday night.  Sploot!

For those keeping track, here is the death and injury list so far in the current, ongoing scene:

• Captain Barometer: Concussed, maybe dead, or heavily injured.
• Dr. Somnambulism: Dead.  Sploot!
• Hyperspace: Most likely dead or in a coma.
• Hypodermic Man: Unconscious
• Iron Claw: Stabbed through the abdomen, dead or critically injured.
• Johnny Saturn: Arm, hip, ribs, or spine broken, not yet apparent which.
• Lacerator: Face badly disfigured, knocked unconscious.
• Quadrophonic: Dead.
• Titanium Tom: Massive concussion, potential death or brain damage.
• Ultrasonic: Dead. Sploot!

For the Iron Brigade, Skorn and Alaric are still standing.
For the Squadron Premiere, Utopian, Torch Song, Gauge, and Triops are still standing.

At the moment I would say the battle has fallen in favor of the heroes, since they have four members still standing, while the Iron Brigade has two.

There are a lot of factor that can play into how this ends, not the least of which is a ship full of B-Level villains that could reenter the fray, or, perhaps even Tactical.  (Tactical is very weak, but remember, he wears a powered exoskeleton!  Such a suit might well be able to offer him mobility.)

Scott.

PS: To my knowledge, no one has noticed that Skorn’s tatoos have apparantly vanished in episode 34–OOOPS!  Benita and I both missed it until after it was published.

My first conception for Lacerator was as a Hispanic tough guy.  When he appeared in issue six, though, Benita gave him surfer-dude language, and for me the character came together.  So, he’s a southern California surfer dude, complete with the lingo.  He’s also one of Tactical’s original four supporters, which includes Alaric, Skorn, and Warmonger, and this makes him very high in the Iron Brigade’s command structure.  As originally conceived, Lacerator’s power blade was a monstrous clawed hand, but luckily I saw the light and updated him.

Skorn had almost assumed her final form at this point, although her hair wasn’t white yet, and her tattoos only covered part of her body.  Most of our female characters don’t show a lot of skin in their costumes, but Skorn is different because her powers derive from her tattoos!  Note the animated style drawing of her next the main illustration.