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Post by dans on Jan 11, 2024 21:05:41 GMT
In the current day Earth S (I guess it is 1988) do Jim and Susan Barr still work in the forensic chemistry department for the Fawcett City Police Department? My understanding is that Jim and Sue were working with the PD in 1940 and still working there in 1953 when they got caught in the Suspendium Trap, but I don't know what they did after they came back in 1972. But, 40 to 53 and then 72 to 88 is 23 years in the same job... Jim is supposed to have increased intelligence; it seems like he should have found some way to get rich rather than doing the same job for that long.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 11, 2024 21:33:06 GMT
It was never Fawcett City as far as I know. The name wasn't even created until 1985.
But I would check the Bulletman & Bulletgirl stories that have been published on the site. I don't recall if it's ever specified anything current.
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Post by dans on Jan 11, 2024 23:41:27 GMT
Yeah, I get that. Since they are on Earth S in our continuity, there is really no reason that there even has to be a Fawcett City, except that DC introduced that name. So why don't we make a definite decision on the names of cities on Earth S?
I don't see any reason the Marvels can't live in New York, and maybe Mr. Scarlett started out in Gotham City, which is where Newark is on our own Earth, and the Bullets couldn't be in Philly or Baltimore...
... except that once we define where each hero lives and where that city actually exists, someone will have to go back through our existing stories and make some bulk updates to city names.
Or we could start with a suggestion Doc made recently, that Fawcett City is a neighborhood in New York, perhaps named for a famous resident of the neighborhood, or maybe renaming the boroughs of New York to include Fawcett City and Gotham City (perhaps Queens and the Bronx map to Fawcett City and Gotham City?).
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jan 12, 2024 0:05:26 GMT
The Marvels and Ibis definitely lived in New York, pre-crisis
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 12, 2024 1:08:09 GMT
Jim is supposed to have increased intelligence; it seems like he should have found some way to get rich rather than doing the same job for that long. I guess, but is he out to get rich, or is he more interested in using his skills to fight crime? For all we know he might have passed on many such opportunities to make a fortune with his inventions since he didn't think it was practical to do so based on his interests and goals. Or it could be that he's a multi-millionaire thanks to his patents, but nobody knows it since he lives an otherwise ordinary life as Jim Barr and only uses his fortune to upgrade equipment and for charity, etc. I suspect Jim Barr could be on the high-intelligent end of the autistic spectrum and has very specialized interests that has made him very successful in his pursuits as a scientist and crime-fighter. Anyway, I haven't been able to discover if he still works as a forensic scientist for a police lab, so I suppose it's up to the next writer of the character to figure out what he's up to these days. As for Susan Barr, it's even more of a mystery what she might do for a career. |
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Post by dans on Jan 12, 2024 1:14:33 GMT
OK. I am going to have Jim continue as a forensic investigator then, in 1988, and see if I can think of something interesting for Sue.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 13, 2024 17:50:12 GMT
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Post by dans on Jan 13, 2024 23:37:00 GMT
So I'm thinking Sue is self-employed. Perhaps she writes romance novels for Harlequin? She needs a job where she doesn't have to keep a schedule...
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Post by dave on Jan 13, 2024 23:41:42 GMT
I would say she would be better suited writing mystery novels. Maybe she's the big money maker in the family. A novel twist for 1988.
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Post by dans on Jan 14, 2024 0:12:27 GMT
I would say she would be better suited writing mystery novels. Maybe she's the big money maker in the family. A novel twist for 1988. Perhaps. But read the way Libby wrote her in some of his stories - Cruisin or The Castaways. But, she has taken the anti-crime potion and has super speed - maybe she does both. It would be fun if she was a best selling mystery writer, plus, she had 2 or 3 pen names with Harlequinn, and when you add up the sales for all 3 authors, she is their most successful author. |
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 14, 2024 0:30:30 GMT
It seems a waste of Susan's forensic skills. Perhaps she works for a private consultancy firm handling specialised casework in her discipline?
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 14, 2024 0:54:01 GMT
It seems a waste of Susan's forensic skills. Perhaps she works for a private consultancy firm handling specialised casework in her discipline? I don't believe that's her discipline, though. She's never worked as a forensic scientist herself, only Jim Barr. In her first appearance in Nickel Comics #1, for example, she worked as a secretary to the Chief of Police at the police department, but was never a police officer herself. She has never been interested in scientific pursuits, but she brought something to the table as one of the Flying Detectives with her boyfriend and later husband, Jim Barr. I think she complements Jim well, since while Jim might have his nose stuck in a test tube and gets too focused on the details, she is able to see things from a different point of view. I could certainly see her trying her hand as a novelist, since she has never expressed any interest in taking a 9-to-5 job (beyond her original secretarial job). |
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 14, 2024 1:44:58 GMT
Perhaps she changed her mind and retrained as a police detective? It happens.
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Post by dans on Jan 14, 2024 1:55:56 GMT
In Lib's stories, she doesn't really seem to show any interest in detective work... although she is always enthusiastic about opportunities to be Bulletwoman. I suggested in some stories that the anti-crime drug gave her enhanced intuition, which would be good for detective work. But the enthusiasm she shows in Lib's stories for high society and high fashion suggest she might be interested in being in the fashion industry. Maybe she's an editor for Glamour magazine?
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Post by redsycorax on Jan 16, 2024 0:42:05 GMT
Perhaps in her civilian identity, Susan works a specialist role as an undercover art and/or currency and/or antiques and jewelry fraud specialist detective, which would give her opportunities to dress up, socialise with high society and satisfy her sleuthing capabilities? She might have minored in art history if she decided to upskill.
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