#nonbinary webcomic

What follows are some ramblings I have about the events of Book 1.  This post contains SPOILERS.  If you haven't read Starhammer yet, go read it and then come back to this post.  Only read on if you have either already read the comic or don't care about spoilers.

======SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT=========

One thing that really struck me, even more than the first time around, is that the people and/or process behind the whole "disciplinary hearing" are both incompetent and corrupt, and that the entire hearing is their desperate attempt to find a scapegoat.  

During the first five chapters, they consistently scold Evey for the horrible act of "getting involved" with superheroics, on the basis that an inexperienced, unlicensed minor shouldn't get involved.  But then in Chapter 6, page 42, the committee abruptly switches to scolding them for the exact opposite: claiming that if only Evey had gotten involved sooner, they would have been able to stop Orson's plan before it even started.  The committee is using two directly contradictory arguments to try to convince us of Evey's "guilt," something a real lawyer would only do if they were wildly incompetent.  Moreover, the second argument of guilt-through-inaction ignores the fact that all of the actual adults who actually had jobs to catch supervillians also failed to do anything about Orson until it was too late.  That potentially includes the members of the disciplinary committee themselves: if Evey is guilty through inaction as the committee claims, then so are the members of the committee.  Which leaves me with the impression that the entire hearing is just an effort by the people in charge to use a scapegoat to distract from their own failings.

The subsequent conclusion that Evey is somehow responsible for Superion's death is equally ridiculous.  It reminds me a lot of what I call the "Charles Guiteau excuse."  After Guiteau shot President Garfield in 1881, Garfield lived another few months before dying of an infection related to the gunshot wound.  During his trial, Guiteau argued that he was guilty of shooting the president, but not killing him.  The real killers, Guiteau claimed, were the doctors who treated Garfield, because if they were better at their jobs then he wouldn't have died.  The difference with Starhammer is that in Guiteau's case, the only person who made this excuse was the desperate defendant.  In Starhammer, it was the supposed authority figures who try to push the blame for Superion's death, not onto Orson (who actually killed him), nor onto the incompetent adult authorities (including themselves), but onto the moderately-competent teenager who actually stopped Orson but didn't quite do it fast enough to save Superion.  

The one point where the council actually mentions how Evey made things worse than if they hadn't been their at all was their failure to install security updates on their goggles, which allows Evan to hack into the system.  But, if your top-secret database has such weak security that a 16-year-old's accessory can get you full access, then the adults who were supposed to be in charge seem far more culpable for negligence.  

In the end, the council says they let Evey off with a "reduced punishment" thanks to their popularity with the general public.  How many other people without the benefits of fame were given far harsher sentences for much less by this corrupt council?

Today is January 25 2021.  Five years ago today was one of the worst times in my life.  People who were supposed to protect me ended up hurting me.  I was unsure if I would every be allowed to live my life or even walk outside ever again.  

I was, and still am, very fortunate to have a family that supports me.  They helped get me out of the bad situations I was dealing with.  

Five years later, none of the people who hurt me have faced any consequences for their actions.  I get angry when I think about other people they hurt, and may still be hurting: people who had struggles like mine but who didn’t have the support network that I have.  

In a lot of other ways, the world has gotten a lot worse in the last five years.  But for me, a lot of things have gotten better.  It may sound selfish to say, but I am in a better place than I have ever been before.