#jack slash

The average conversation with my mom (someone who graduated college with a degree in womens studies and literature) about Worm is like: "The slaughterhouse nine fundamentally sells the fantasy to its recruits of being inhuman; the idea that they are monsters and even if they have physical vulnerabilities, by becoming heartless they remove their ability to be emotionally wounded. This is how Taylor first sees them; completely inhuman threats. But that's fundamentally not what they are, they're broken damaged people left behind by society and abused by Jack Slash. The reason why Jack considers Siberian and Bonesaw to be the purest members of the team is because they're the best as being inhuman, Siberian being a projection of someone else, and Bonesaw being a child that Jack is entirely able to shape without resistance (which is why she ultimately betrays him as she ages)."

My brain is filled with worms.

My read-through of Worm is crawling by at a steady pace. Can you tell which arc I'm currently obsessed with?

Here, have these sketches I made of the deranged lunatics of the Slaughterhouse 9. It's been a while since I've posted some art.

So Jack Slash is obviously and purposely a Joker reference, meant to play into the fact that despite just being a homicidal clown, Joker is treated as a big bad player in the cape game (I personally find that incredibly dumb moment of him being so “crazy” that he is immune to Martian Manhunter mind powers to be the most memorable).

In Jack’s case, despite having a generally mid power (can project the edge of his blades as far as he can see), the fact that his Shard can boss other Shards around means that he’s always on top and cannot be defeated by Parahumans in a fight, so they need to use normal humans to defeat him.

The Joker and Jack Slash stuff is all well and good… until you remember there are 2 Jack Slashes.

Some of you might know what I mean, but for those who don’t, Eden’s/Contessa’s Interlude gave us an alternate timeline that shows us a heroic Jack Slash:

- Interlude 29 Worm

The Black Knight is Jack Slash, a member of the Wardens.

Jack Slash is a Dark Knight. A caped crusader with peak human skills that lets him hang with the big leagues.

Anyway they figure out soon enough that Broadcast is a thing, and Jack is now a secondary 'fixer' for Cauldron. He's less of a fine edge, more like a shotgun they can fire when they need a certain parahuman dead, and it's not worth wasting Contessa. Toss up if you're getting Boogeyman (scary hat lady) or boogeyman (guy who won't shut the fuck up and has a knife).

He keeps monologuing about the true nature of Cauldron to people, but then just kills them. Because like. Lol. Guy who cannot help himself with leaving breadcrumbs. But also it doesn't matter too much because again. He'll just stab you.