So, the history of Halcyon city in the gold and silver ages is pretty different in the final text than it was in the playtest materials.
Both address the idea that older comics lacked diversity and upheld a problematic status quo, but they do so in very different ways. In the playtest version, we’re presented with the world as it was perhaps remembered. The text describes a city bereft of diverse heroes and complicated motivations, and then it criticizes the city for that lack. In the new version, the text focuses instead on the world that was partly forgotten. Heroes that faced barriers based on race, gender, or sexuality, or defied ideological status quos.
I think the first approach is stronger in terms of broad theme of generational change, while the second is stronger in terms of verisimilitude in a superheroic setting. I’m not entirely sure which I like better, but am glad I had the opportunity to read both. What do other people think?
I liked the first approach better personally, but the second allows for more older generation members who characters can get along with. I know in my game (using the first approach) there is some tension between PCs and older heroes cause of it.
Sub (and I have to re-read the first, and read the second).
I’m not sure about the first version because I never read it. I like the most recent version because it’s truthful. “Diversity” exists in all times and places. It’s just that people who are on the fringes of society’s majority face barriers that made their impact seem less to their contemporaries. But in the rearview mirror their impact is substantial.
Jackie Robinson is widely considered a hero today. Almost exclusively. In his day, however, he was viewed with contempt, seen as an interloper, and given begrudging respect by the most progressive of folks.
That’s sort of how I looked at the books description of the generations.
Also, another realization I cam to when thinking about this: There is a difference between describing the media of the this time period and the world of this time period. I think that’s the difference between the two versions.