The Impostor
(The
image above is the work of artist Jamie Stubkjaer.)
Creator:
Richard Lee Byers
Characters
Matt
Brown
Sally Hollingsworth
Solomon
Gwen Porter
The WMBs:
Death
Metal
Freakmaker
Svergr
Zhang
Sanfeng
Sweet
Lady Q
Matt Brown lived
in a world of superheroes and supervillains, of monsters and sentient
computers, but none of that had anything to do with him...until the wasp-like
aliens called the Shenn invaded Earth, killed the heroes, and set about
colonizing the planet.
By chance, Matt
fell heir to the devices that gave two of the fallen heroes their amazing
abilities. The costume of the ghostly vigilante known as Dr. Umbra allows the
wearer to become invisible and intangible and fire blasts of dark energy. The
magical armbands of the towering Red Bear grant superhuman strength.
Though plagued by
the feeling he’s woefully out of his depth, Matt impersonates each of the
heroes as necessary to protect the surviving citizens of Jackson City. He
conceals the fact that the originals are dead for fear of depriving the
survivors of their last remaining hope.
Fortunately, Matt has found allies to help him in his ongoing war against
the invaders. Solomon is an artificial intelligence based in the computers of
the Castle, the original heroes’ underground headquarters. Gwen Porter is a
former journalism major who gathers vital information and disseminates it to
the scattered groups of survivors hiding in the ruins of the city. Sally
Hollingsworth, a nurse, is the leader of one of those groups and provides
medical care to those who need it.
But Matt’s most important allies are arguably the
supervillian gang the WMD’s, which he joined in the guise of Dr. Umbra. The
gang’s leader is Death Metal, a Neo-Nazi who can control metal telekinetically
and encase his body in armor. His lieutenants are Freakmaker, whose power
deforms his targets’ bodies in crippling and sometimes fatal ways, Svergr, a
maker of high-tech weaponry, Zhang Sanfeng, a teenage kung fu master, and Sweet
Lady Q, who hurls lightning from her fingers.
Matt made common cause with the WMD’s on the
assumption that all human beings, especially those with superpowers, should
stand together against the Shenn. Still, it’s an uneasy alliance. Death Metal
and Freakmaker still hate Dr. Umbra for jailing them in the years before the
invasion, while Matt is often dismayed at how the WMD’s exploit ordinary,
non-powered survivors. In fact, in the guise of Red Bear, he sometimes fights
to halt the worst abuse.
Thus, Matt’s partnership with the supercriminals
seems destined to end in betrayal and violence...but only if the invaders don’t
slaughter them all first. And with alien soldiers and gunships hunting them
through the devastated city, and the Shenn’s hive-like fortress of a mother
ship floating in the sky, the latter is all too likely.
The Impostor series is the creation of Richard Lee
Byers, a veteran fantasy and horror writer and lifelong pulp and comics
enthusiast. There are two volumes to date, with more to come. Interested
parties can find them here:
No comments:
Post a Comment