He so smart, he stupid. (Web of Arachnos spoilers)

Read Web of Arachnos today, and I have to say that the preview chapter for Freedom Phalanx certainly makes me look forward to that book. Unfortunately, it's not due until April.. bah.

semi-random comments on 'Web' itself:

States started out a criminal? Huh. Guess the Praetorian's history must not be too far from the baseline.

About the Dark Watcher's outfit - what exactly is a 'slouch hat'? ..and his long-distance call reminded me an awful lot of the Third Rock from the Sun TV series.

Given how Recluse's eyesight changed I'd kinda expect a Peacebringer to have an advantage on him. Heck, Luminary may be able to solo him.

I'm kinda surprised that Sister Psyche wasn't in the book - I had figured she was a co-founder of the Phalanx.

Trying to follow the family tree here - the current Liberty would be Statesman's great-grandkid, right? The fourth in the line to have the Girdle of Hera?

Fairly certain the Regulators will show up in the next book (it's set mid-80s), and hoping Blue Steel gets some time.. that guy's not used enough.

Sister Psyche the current one is not the Original Sister Psyche. Heroes can reuse the names after all of their predecessors. Sometimes it is the son or daughter or close relative of the hero that dons the name and a variant of the costume. Othertimes it was someone selected by the hero to carry on the name.

Grandchild actually if I recall. Maiden Justice is the grandmother of Miss Liberty and adventured with States when he began as a hero.

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Sister Psyche the current one is not the Original Sister Psyche. Heroes can reuse the names after all of their predecessors. Sometimes it is the son or daughter or close relative of the hero that dons the name and a variant of the costume. Othertimes it was someone selected by the hero to carry on the name.

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..not sure what that has to do with this topic, but the Psyche in-game's the original. When she's mindriding her body goes into a form of suspended animation and doesn't age.

The book covered the formation of the Phalanx. I thought Psyche'd be involved, but she's not, hence my comment.

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Grandchild actually if I recall. Maiden Justice is the grandmother of Miss Liberty and adventured with States when he began as a hero.

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Maiden Justice and Statesman married in August of '32, and they're certainly setting up for a birth fairly soon after the book ends - so I'd think that Maria was probably born by the time the thirties ended. So either she waited until she was fifty to have the current Liberty (not too likely, in my opinion), or there's four generations to use the girdle.

Maria Jenkins aka Maiden Justice's own bio says she aged slowly. So yeah she could have waited till her 50s. Heck it says she is over 100 years but isn't biologicaly much older then her fifties. Paraphrasing here. Look at her ask about contact next time you are in PI. Some of her missions about Hero's Hero arc due clue in her near immoralitity.

Also their was a Sister Psyche from the 1950s. Guess what the current Sister Psyche hasn't been mentioned as living during that time. And the comic book cleary mentioned she was mortal.

Odd...I went to my local bookstore and they said the book wasn't coming out for another 3 weeks!

Tropic
www.cohwritersguild.com

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Maria Jenkins aka Maiden Justice's own bio says she aged slowly. So yeah she could have waited till her 50s. Heck it says she is over 100 years but isn't biologically much older then her fifties. Paraphrasing here. Look at her ask about contact next time you are in PI. Some of her missions about Hero's Hero arc due clue in her near immoralitity.

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Maybe there's a retcon coming in and Maria's getting renamed, then, if the game actually says somewhere that Maria was the first MJ. 'Web' has the first Maiden Justice, the one that marries Statesman, as Monica Richter, Recluse's sister. As Manticore had been promoting it so heavily and he's credited with giving a lot of the background info, the book's probably accurate.

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Also their was a Sister Psyche from the 1950s. Guess what the current Sister Psyche hasn't been mentioned as living during that time. And the comic book cleary mentioned she was mortal.

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The current Sister Psyche is the only Sister Psyche. Ask Manticore about it sometime.

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Odd...I went to my local bookstore and they said the book wasn't coming out for another 3 weeks!

Tropic
www.cohwritersguild.com

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Don't trust them.

I went to Books-A-Million, and they said they didn't have, and weren't expecting, any copies. I was looking in the fantasy/science fiction section for something else to read, and I saw it.

It's all so confusing!! Anyone else happen to notice that in Issue 3 of the Top Cow comic, Recluse says "My sister sends her regards" but how the heck would he know? And wouldn't States know anyway, if technically they're still married? Argh..

I expect Sister Psyche to pop up next book, as she needs to be a member of the Freedom Phanax so she can survive the Rikti War in the third book

And isn't Jimmy St. John-Smithe (or whatever his name is) the lowbie Science contact in Atlas Park? How's he able to be out of the wheelchair, and what part did he even play in the hero duo in the book (besides the suit creation and the occasional science advice)

Erm.. scratch that. I suppose he's the brains behind the suit...

And what about Nemesis? Does he get out? Was it an imposter? My head hurts from trying to figure all this out, and I'm an obsessive CoH fanboy without a life. I need to go dig around the history pages more.

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It's all so confusing!! Anyone else happen to notice that in Issue 3 of the Top Cow comic, Recluse says "My sister sends her regards" but how the heck would he know?

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Maybe she turned evil, died and became Ghost Widow?

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It's all so confusing!! Anyone else happen to notice that in Issue 3 of the Top Cow comic, Recluse says "My sister sends her regards" but how the heck would he know?

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Maybe she turned evil, died and became Ghost Widow?

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Nope.

Ghost Widow's origin is explained in a level 15 arc in CoV.

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It's all so confusing!! Anyone else happen to notice that in Issue 3 of the Top Cow comic, Recluse says "My sister sends her regards" but how the heck would he know?

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Maybe she turned evil, died and became Ghost Widow?

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Nope.

Ghost Widow's origin is explained in a level 15 arc in CoV.

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Ghost Widow was posting how much she hated her life on her Liverjournal one night and the computer got struck by lightning and gave her superpowers.

However, she was so depressed about it she killed herself and the electirc enegry in her body from the lightning brought her back as the current Ghost Widow.

really?

that's a pretty good origin if you ask me

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It's all so confusing!! Anyone else happen to notice that in Issue 3 of the Top Cow comic, Recluse says "My sister sends her regards" but how the heck would he know?

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Maybe she turned evil, died and became Ghost Widow?

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Nope.

Ghost Widow's origin is explained in a level 15 arc in CoV.

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Ghost Widow was posting how much she hated her life on her Liverjournal one night and the computer got struck by lightning and gave her superpowers.

However, she was so depressed about it she killed herself and the electirc enegry in her body from the lightning brought her back as the current Ghost Widow.

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Naw, if that was her origin then she'd only be able to haunt the internet...

Not that the thought of some Livejournal user haunting the net isn't frightening enough.

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Maria Jenkins aka Maiden Justice's own bio says she aged slowly. So yeah she could have waited till her 50s. Heck it says she is over 100 years but isn't biologicaly much older then her fifties. Paraphrasing here. Look at her ask about contact next time you are in PI. Some of her missions about Hero's Hero arc due clue in her near immoralitity....


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Yea, Maria Jenkins is a total [censored]!

I caught that too but decided not to be a [censored] about it

My Web of Arachnos Review:

I decided I wanted to read Web of Arachnos today, so I hopped into the MOOMachine and teleported over to my local Barnes and Noble book seller shop.

(I also picked up 'Where is My Cow', a children's book by Terry Pratchett. It's worth the 16.95 just for the art.)

The book was nowhere to be be found on the shelves. I couldn't instantly remember Robert Weinberg's name, so I had the counter girl look up the book. She did indeed have the book, as well as a cardboard display tower for the book, but they were all in the back of the store.

"Excuse me? Miss? I'm looking for a book. I don't happen to know the author's name, but I know the title. Can you help me?"

"I can try to look it up for you."

"It's 'Web of Arachnos'"

"City of Heroes Web of Arachnos?"

She looked at me with a little fear, like she had suddenly discovered I was a gamer.

"That's right."

"By Robert Weinberg? Only, it says there's a Prima guide--"

"I'm certain that's the right one. I thought it would be in the Sci-Fi, but it may also be in with the video game books."

If you can keep a straight face while walking out of a book store carrying "Tokyo Mew Mew", "Magical Sensei Negi Magi", "Girls Bravo", and "Hot Gimmick" in one bag, you can do anything.

Anyway, on to the book. I've never read anything of Weinberg's before, so I wasn't certain what I was in for. If nothing else, I figured I'd get a little of the game back story, even if it was crouched in uncomfortable prose.

Since there is a fair chance Mr. Weinberg will be reading this, I'll be as honest and straightforward as I can manage about the book without being pointlessly critical and harsh. No author likes criticism, but most authors accept that they need it.

There will be some spoilers in the following. You've been warned.

First of all, Weinberg's style is easy to read. This was a great relief to me. It's often a toss up with commissioned fiction. Sometimes an author writing into someone else's story continuity will come off as forced and out of place. Weinberg avoids this. His prose is comfortable and has a sense of 'completion' to it. It doesn't leave you squinting at odd grammar or wondering what you're missing very often. There are a few grammar errors and typos in places, but they're sparse enough that it appears they're either editing artifacts or the inevitable first edition printing errors.

Weinberg's dialogue is easy and natural, although he does make the mistake of having his characters use language that's not reasonable for conversation. This gets especially noticeable when he's handling exposition with his dialogue. For example, when Monica is researching Nemesis' involvement in the Civil War, she speaks to an older librarian who goes from fairly folksey dialogue to very detailed discussion in one or two sentances. That's jarring. It made me reach for my blue copy pencil.

Characterization in the story is handled in a fairly comfortable fashion. We see Marcus Cole transform from a gentleman theif into a super-hero for believable, if somewhat fantastic reasons. By the same token, we see Stefan Richter descend into Lord Recluse's megolomania, if anything, more beleiveably than Marcus becomes Statesman. It's not presented as 'then he went insane' like so many villains have attached to their resumes. Instead, Stefan is established as a natural, quick-tempered brute who makes the emotional leap from good-natured ambition to betraying his friends and relatives as he gains power.

In all, the story is enjoyable and fun. I'd recommend it for most readers, even if they weren't gamers.

That's not to say that there aren't problems with the story. There are, and they are somewhat distracting.

Aside from the minor quibbles I have with dialogue, there are a few places where the story made me wince and wish that Weinberg had taken a different track.

First of all, Recluse's characterization comes at the cost of Statesman's. Like I mentioned, Marcus Cole begins the story as a fairly self-centered, self-absorbed character. He's a theif and somewhat of a thug. He makes the leap to justice and fairness-minded superhero with surprisingly little text. Worse, he has surprisingly little reflection. Rather than lament his past life as a theif, he passes it off as a 'wild youth' and lives comfortably by merit of his spoils. He only begins to realize the difference in his character once he meets members of his old gang later in the story. There was quite a bit of missed opportunity here. Weinberg could have done more with the character to more fully flesh him out and didn't.

Monica Richter is *amazingly* accepting and forgiving. The members of Marcus post-WWI gang are *amazingly* loyal and devoted for professional theives and mercenaries. Nemesis is given great backstory and then absolutely *no* characterization as an atagonist. We're given a few cookies of his trademark scheming... like leaving an imposter behind for Maiden Justice to arrest after his plan fails... but ultimately, no real feel for him.

This is somewhat painful since the book devotes more time to Statesman's struggle against Nemesis than his conflict with Recluse. The climax of the conflict between Statesman and Recluse is almost anti-climatic compared to the battle between the Freedom Phalanx and Nemesis' forces.

Weinberg does a relatively good job of establishing characterization for the members of the Freedom Phalanx, but the story dealing with the feels very rushed. Yes, we know that Dark Watcher's parents are fairly used to the abnormal. Why word it so mundanely when his Tibetan monk teacher appears in a spectral image to them? It could have been handled better. There many places where the secondary characters fit uncomfortably in the story... such as when Monica suggests that the FPh members all introduce themselves. The FPh members also deal amazingly well with 1930's era problems such as racial differences, handicaps, and legal issues. For example, many of the 'good' characters openly flaunt Prohibition. Yes we know Prohibition was an amazingly bad idea, but imagining Statesman staggering around Indepance Port, drunk off his [censored] with illegal tequila, is just a little hard to deal with.

Also, a MAJOR problem in the story is the 'Elephant in the Corner'. Everything in the story is very carefully dated as occuring between 1929 and 1932... conveniently before Adolph Hitler's rise to power as Chancellor of Germany 1933. Of course Hitler was a major player in German and world politics well before that. Despite numerous references to and discussion of Italian Fascism and Mousolini's fascist government, neither Hitler, the Nazi party, nor the Fifth Column are ever mentioned. They are as absent from the book as the Fifth Column is from the game. Despite the fact that much is made in the story about Arachnos drawing its power from the fascist government in Italy immediately before WWII, the politics and turmoil in the rest of Europe are blithely ignored. Even Imperial Japan is mentioned in passing.

(The Council, as an extension of Italian Fascism, is not directly mentioned)

Was this on purpose? Is Mr. Weinberg perhaps having a jab at Cryptic? The omission is so jarring as to be distracting.

All in all, Mr. Weinberg manages to create a very enjoyable, and very comic-book-like story. While it has it's flaws, I don't regret the few hours I spent devouring it, nor the 6.99 I spent on the paperback. I dunno if I would have bought it in hardback had it been offered that way, but it was still a fun read. It made me look forward to the next novel, and has interested me in finding more of Weinberg's work.

Heheh... One of the things I really enjoyed about the story was that Weiberg managed to establish each super-powered character's archetype and origin without saying 'This guy is a storm controller'. He did call Stefan Richter/Lord Recluse a 'Brute' in places, but he did work it into the prose in a comfotable manner. He even managed to give Recluse and Statesman different origin-types from the same source. Statesman revels in the magic of the 'Fountain of Zeus' and displays magical abilities, while Recluse concludes that it contains radioactive substances, and displays mutations.

Statesman: Magic Invulnerability/Super Strength Tank/Incarnate w/ Flight pool
Lord Recluse: Science Invulnerabililty/Super Strength Brute/Incarnate
Dark Watcher: Magic Mind Control/Force Field Controller w/ Stealth and Teleport pools
Maiden Justice: Natural Martial Arts/Super Reflex Scrapper w/ Leaping pool
Elementar: Science Storm/Electric Defender w/ Flight Pool
Vambrace: Technology Electric/Energy Blaster w/ Flight Pool

Hmmm... Vambrace is a two-man team. James John-Smythe would probably count as a Technology Illusion/Kinetics Controller.

The 5th didn't come into the picture in Paragon City until after the war. THey were busy sneaking about and setting things in motion. They popped their heads out of the ground a few years later, after they hadn't heard from Hitler for a while. (Wonder why... )

Hey guys,

I am glad that folks seem to be enjoying the book. I just wanted to clear up a few of your questions.

-Shalice Tilman (Sister Psyche) has been around a long time. She was a teenager when she first appeared on the scene and when she is using her Mindriding ability her aging process is suspended. This has effectively doubled her lifespan.
-Maiden Justice is Monica Richter. Her daughter is Miss Liberty who was born in the late 40's. (Statesman and Maiden Justice waited until later in their careers to have children.) Her granddaughter is Ms. Liberty who was born in the early 80's.
-As far as Maria Jenkins goes, there is a mistake in her bio information. Maria Jenkins was Madame Danger not Maiden Justice. She worked with Statesman in the 30's. Sorry for the confusion.
-James "Jimmy the Smith" St. John Smythe is the father of Jonathan St. John Smythe in Atlas Park.
-The Council was formed from the ashes of Arachnos.

Hope that helps!

~Sean

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-Maiden Justice is Monica Richter. Her daughter is Miss Liberty who was born in the late 40's. (Statesman and Maiden Justice waited until later in their careers to have children.) Her granddaughter is Ms. Liberty who was born in the early 80's.

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So uh... this means that Tyrant is Dominatrix's grandfather too, right?

Ew.

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He did call Stefan Richter/Lord Recluse a 'Brute' in places, but he did work it into the prose in a comfotable manner.

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It's been previously confirmed that Lord Recluse is a Mastermind/Incarnate, not a Brute. The use of the word "Brute" was just a description, not an archetype assignment.

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-The Council was formed from the ashes of Arachnos.

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WHAT??!?!?!? What happened to the 5th Column and that entire story line???? And why am I working for them in the Rogue Isles???

psst.. Manticore.. clarify your clarifications please

From what I've gathered, the 5th Column was entirely separate from Arachnos. Then the Council split off from Arachnos, and subsequently took over the 5th Column.

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From what I've gathered, the 5th Column was entirely separate from Arachnos. Then the Council split off from Arachnos, and subsequently took over the 5th Column.

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Bingo.

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(I also picked up 'Where is My Cow', a children's book by Terry Pratchett. It's worth the 16.95 just for the art.)


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THAT IS NOT MY COW.

(Heh, sorry. Gotta read 'Thud' also by Pratchett to truly appreciate 'Where is my cow?')