Buck Godot

"Buck Godot" is the title character in a science fiction/comedy comic book series collected in two volumes ("Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire" and "Buck Godot: PSmIth") and assorted comic books, including the eight-issue "Gallimaufry" series, all written and drawn by their creator, Phil Foglio.

Overview

Buck's adventures take place in a future where a post-apocalyptic humanity has joined an interstellar coalition known as the Gallimaufry. Human colonization and exploitation has resulted in the development of various human and mutagenic sub-species, as well as methods such as terraforming (altering marginally habitable worlds into environments where humans can thrive) and pantropy (genetically altering humans to thrive on marginally habitable worlds).

However, the chaotic nature of human expansion into space has resulted in two Great Checks: a powerful alien intelligence known as Lord Thezmothete, and the emergence of the Law Machines, robotic enforcers of what most beings considered civilized behaviour. The extent to which the Law Machines enforce the law was noticed when the governments of several planets were forced to change due to the Law arresting their officials. Since someone arrested by the Law is never seen again, colonizing humans are wary about accepting the presence of a Law Machine in their society.

The Law's presence and methods have led to a noticeable decline in "real governments" (because they tend not to be able to function in the harsh scrutiny of The Law) and the rise of guilds like X-Tel, which specialize in moving disgruntled colonists who feel that The Law has gotten too repressive on their current planet to another one where The Law hasn't been enforced as much yet.

The sole exception to the Law's jurisprudence is the colony of New Hong Kong, where an enterprising hacker broke into the Law Machines computers and introduced a simple Law banning the Law Machines' operation. This Law passed overwhelmingly immediately, but although the Law machines arrested the hacker, they did not rescind this Law. They then left, en masse, save a single Law Machine to monitor the planet. New Hong Kong is thus the home of the most anti-social and illicit-trading humans and aliens to be found in the Gallimaufry.

This is the home base of the series' eponymous protagonist, Buckminster "Buck" Godot: a quick-witted futuristic mercenary whose motto is "Always available, but never free." A former security chief of the corrupt X-Tel Corporation, he "retired" from their service after an ethical dispute, damaging their headquarters and stealing a starship as he left, in what Godot later cheekily described as "taking his pension in a lump sum."

Buck mostly hangs around Asteroid Al's bar on New Hong Kong, waiting for work to come to him. His normal fee is in the five- to six-figure range, with expenses -- and sometimes, given the amount of property damage he causes, those expenses can be pretty high. He has ethical standards on the way he handles his contracts, something that few people believe.

Powers, Abilities and Weapons

Buck Godot is a Hoffmanite -- a variant human race from a world with a heavy gravity environment. His rotund appearance conceals high muscular density, giving him incredible (but not quite superhuman) strength, stamina and metabolic endurance (he can drink high amounts of alcohol with little effect). He can also move deceptively quickly and efficiently, given his bulk.

Buck is also a fast thinker, able to set up and execute elaborate schemes to complete his assignment. His skills were valuable enough to be worthy of respect by no less than Lord Thezmothete, the highest technological being in the galaxy, himself, who once loaned him incredibly advanced equipment for an assignment.

Buck is an expert marksman, able to shoot his way out of almost any situation. His normal "zap gun" is "Junior," a white or chromed laser pistol which fires cartridge-loaded energy blasts (a much larger gun, "Senior", was glimpsed on his wall.) He is also an expert pilot, operating small personal craft around New Hong Kong as well as interstellar spacecraft.

Known Associates

Buck's best friend is Louisa "Lou" Dem Five, the asteroid-born madam of the Velvet Fist bordello. A former agent of the Planetary Temperance League, Lou has found her current profession more to her liking, and has successfully tempted several of her fellow agents to work for her. Lou has employed Buck on several occasions, usually surprised that he prefers payment in cash instead of "trade."

Buck's other friend is Asteroid Al, a Thuxian (an eyeless alien species), who is known for being stingy about money and contracts. The drinks served at his bar can intoxicate the unwary almost immediately. Buck's drink of choice is the "ion sucker", whose containers also make useful weapons (as well as components for flower arranging). Other cronies at Al's Bar include Spug, a frog-faced alien who has trouble keeping secrets.

Buck's notable antagonists have included the aforementioned X-Tel Corporation, the human collective mind PSmIth, the high-grade thief and assassin named Der Rock the Destroyer and the notorious space pirate known as the Pistol Packin' Polaris Packrat with his two talking laser pistols, Smith and Wesson.

Origin of Buck Godot's Name

Phil Foglio originally named this character "Buck Lee" because he had modeled Buck's visual appearance and some of his personality on his Chicago friend John Buckley. When Phil showed the original uninked pencil pages to Connor Freff Cochran, a Brooklyn neighbor with whom he was collaborating on stories, Connor pointed out that "Buck Lee" would only be funny to the people that knew Phil's friend. Phil asked for suggestions. Connor said the character needed a wilder, stranger last name, and offered "Godot" -- an allusion to "Waiting for Godot", the famous existential play by Samuel Beckett. Phil initially rejected the idea, but eventually came around and altered the pages accordingly.Fact|date=September 2007

Webcomic

On September 13, 2006, after successfully moving "Girl Genius" from a printed comic book series to a webcomic, Studio Foglio announced it would serialize the existing Buck Godot stories as a webcomic. ["Buck Godot Coming to the Web", http://studiofoglio.livejournal.com/6084.html] The webcomic started running January 9, 2007, and updates Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

In December 2007, due to the need for more bandwidth and a better comic serving engine, Buck Godot (as well as the rest of the comics) moved to a new server. The new URL is http://www.zapgunforhire.com, which redirects to Airship Entertainment (another company of Studio Foglio).

References

External links

* [http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buck.html "Buck Godot" comics] at Studio Foglio
* [http://www.thugdome.com/slagblah.html The Slag-Blah Church of the Winslow]