Talk:Shockwave Ryder
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Take the Doctor, especially his more recent incarnations; add a touch of Warren Ellis (Planetary, Global Frequency, et al), with a nod to Alvin Toffler (Future Shock, The Third Wave) and John Brunner (The Shockwave Rider); and you might get something like Gabriel Ryder. Or not - the future is always in motion, in a state of flux, defying our best attempts to predict or understand it.
(Credit should also go to Gardner Fox, John Broome and Robert Kanigher, who (along with artists Harry Lampert and Carmine Infantino) created the original and Silver Age versions of the Flash, and all the other writers who helped infuse comics with a healthy dose of science fiction... however silly some of their ideas may seem to us now.)
A shaman has one foot in two worlds, the mundane and the fantastic; he uses his special knowledge and power over the latter to help and protect his people. This unique status sets him apart, however, and if he's not careful he can lose touch with the real world and become lost to that of the spirits. Ryder is a modern interpretation of this ancient idea. Just as other superheroes protect the people of Paragon City and Primal Earth from extraordinary dangers, Ryder faces threats that even most superheroes aren't prepared to handle. He has the specialized tools and know-how to deal with stuff that's "way out there" at the limits of our imagination, on the cusp of the technological Singularity.
I came up with this concept a while back, and knew I wanted to make him a Gravity controller (even though everyone told me how weak they were), but it wasn't until Time Manipulation came out that I found a good secondary. The two synergize well - Time is a general set, almost a grab-bag of buffs, debuffs and holds, while Grav is all about the latter; while there's some redundancy, it also means that Ryder can really lock stuff down if he takes the time and effort.
Ryder dinged 50 shortly after 6 pm on the evening of May 12, 2012.
-- Megajoule
