F.O.R.C.E. Files 8: Chase Hayes

Doc Tesla again takes the lead in the latest chapter of F.O.R.C.E, as she leads Bob Cat and Pirata Magico to Denver to investigate a familiar energy pattern.

But the new story is equally about Chase Hayes, a young millennial facing an uncertain future made far more uncertain by his sudden bonding with an alien intelligence and the source of the energy pattern. Even as the young hero meets the team and seeks to understand his new abilities, he faces his first super powered foe.

But the mystery of The Aviator's death also resurfaces as Chase's new power signature matches the hero killed in the very first F.O.R.C.E. story. This connection reveals a secret dating back to the earliest days of Doc Tesla's continuation of her family legacy.

These plot points also set up the next two chapters that will round out the year and the first series of F.O.R.C.E. But don't worry, even after F.O.R.C.E. 10 (no Alistair MacLean jokes intended), there's still a whole lot more F.O.R.C.E. planned for the months and years ahead!

The announcement of the major change for the future of the series comes on November 8th. Stay tuned for the news on that important day!

Pick up F.O.R.C.E. 8: Doc Tesla at Amazon today!

F.O.R.C.E. Files 7: Zenith

Like much of her team, Zenith is a character with a long history before and after the one chapter of the ongoing series she leads. Her history ties closely to that of Powerhouse and Legend, but she has her own unique path, the secrets of which will become apparent as her tale is told in F.O.R.C.E. 7.

She's also somewhat unique in my first round of characters as she doesn't have an obvious analog to a superhero stereotype. I can't say I did that with any particular purpose though: Zenith is a character that's floated around my skull since I was thirteen. The concept of living light is fascinating to me, as it opens a ton of unique features and abilities. I have distinct memories of the early 90s iteration of Living Laser as he became a literal living laser and the use of his abilities under the writing of John Byrne, Len Kaminski and Mark Gruenwald are really the only outside influences I can muster when it comes to Zenith and her power set.

The main tale of F.O.R.C.E. 7: Zenith takes Zenith, Doc Tesla and the other female members of the team into Pashtunistan, a Middle Eastern dictatorship. As revealed in the final pages of the last chapter, a group of militant extremists named the Femazons attacked the oppressive regime and literally incapacitated every male in a society where all women are treated as second class citizens. This creates an interesting conundrum for our heroines: who is the lesser evil between the standing government and the Femazon conquerors?

As the first full year of F.O.R.C.E. races to a close in the next month and a half, this chapter also reveals a major plot point that comes to play starting with the next chapter. While an excellent standalone tale, it is also a key plot point in the ongoing saga of the team.

F.O.R.C.E. 7: Zenith is now available for 99 cents at Amazon.

F.O.R.C.E. Files: Doc Tesla

When I created F.O.R.C.E., my goal was to play with the various archetypes that appear in super powered fiction. Legend combines a pair of tropes as I covered before, but the focus of the second chapter takes a look at the concept of the legacy hero. Doc Tesla is the great-granddaughter of the legendary inventor and the third generation of hero to use Nikola Tesla's technology to fight crime and serve those around her.

The legacy hero as a concept dates back to Lee Falk's The Phantom, but DC has numerous heroes that fit the category as well. Though many were written out of continuity by the New 52, they all appear to slowly be making their return now as part of DC Rebirth.

I'm not quite sure where I came up with the idea for a legacy hero framed around the legend of Tesla, but it dates back to the mid-2000s when I first started to embellish my old super-team into F.O.R.C.E. She was one of my earliest additions to the team after the core duo of Legend and Iron, characters that long predated the idea.

Despite her origins being much later than most of her teammates, Doc Tesla became one of my favorite characters on the team. She has a rather different origin than the rest of the team and remains new at using her equipment.

Her tale also adds some poignancy to the ongoing saga of F.O.R.C.E. I don't want to spoil anything, but both in the flashback and modern sections, our heroes face terrifying decisions.

Check out F.O.R.C.E.: Doc Tesla for only 99 cents at Amazon and Smashwords.

CityNewsNet 125: The new Doc Tesla

F.O.R.C.E. readers already know about the new Doc Tesla as introduced in the pages of that series, but CityNewsNet’s coverage of her home region finally gets to her in the latest installment! For those who haven’t picked up the series, get your first introduction to the new super-steam powered heroine in a bite-size news broadcast!

Find out more details about the episode at the official page or listen to it here.