VisionGirl
Newly Human
There are a few things I want to note before I start the summary. I know it's confusing because there is a Epitaphs One-Shot, and then a 6-issue series entitled "Epitaphs" (way to go on originality Dark Horse! 🙂). Epitaphs #1 was published on July 13, 2011 so there was a 3.5 mos time period in between the two comics. During that time, Dark Horse published some web-only posts on their blogs to promote the upcoming series. There were 6 entries, the final one published on the blog on the same day that the 1st issue was released. These were written from the point of view of Ivy. I'll go ahead and copy them here:
And now on to issue #1:
Dollhouse: Why did the World Go to Hell?
06/08/2011 12:45pm
[Transmission: XXeiojl390093 Terminal: 33dcak28xbb]
We've managed to recover a journal entry from an Ivy. We've been tracking movements. We need to find the them.
[End Transmission]
The world has gone to hell. Simple as that. Rossum Corporation's robocalls have gone viral through phone lines so that anyone who answered is essentially a DOLL. But worse. More than just being mindless, empty shells, civilians have simply gone off the deep end, running around like bloodthirsty killing machines thriving on chaos and destruction. And it sucks.
The Original me is in Tokyo. I think. But wait. I gotta back up. Who am I exactly? I'm Ivy. Or Ivy Two or Three or Five Hundred. The Original me put out a call kind of like Rossum's robocalls, imprinting as many able, unzombified bodies as I could. It's impossible to know how many "me's" are out there, and it doesn't really matter. What's relevant is that I"”this Ivy"”has survived, and I'm with Alpha. We're building an army. An army of Ivies and whomever else we can recruit, which doesn't make for a lot of action-packed . . . action. But I'm smart as hell and I can get inside this tech. We're gonna need help. More survivors. More of me. Fighters. And Echo, the one person that poses a real threat to the Rossum agenda.
So what are we gonna do? What's the solution when a superpowerful corporation has housed itself in the heads of millions and millions of people? And the whole freakin' world is a fiery, apocalyptic mess?
Fight and win. Or something.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/438/dollhouse-why-did-world-go-hell
Dollhouse: Who is Alpha Now?
06/15/2011 11:00am
[Terminal Connection Terminal: 33dcak28xbb -X- Terminal:33dcak56zaa -]
X:Seems Alpha and the Ivies are working together.
Z:I wouldn't be so sure.
X:The entry below isn't clear enough for you?
Z:Alpha's motives are never clear.
X:Something you'd like to share?
Z:They stated high security.
X:Of course they did.
[End Connection]
I've teamed up with Alpha.
Ruminate on that a moment.
Yep, this dramatic realization has finally settled. Great idea, Ivy! This is the same Alpha"”the infamous Active"”with a multiple personality disorder, some psychotic leanings, and insatiable blood lust (and that was before he became a Doll). Who better to partner with in the midst of an apocalypse?!
Okay, okay . . . that was Alpha then. No one knew if he wanted to kill Echo or make sweet love to her, and now . . . ?
Who is he now? A do-gooder bent on saving the world or a brilliant nut job who will ruin us all?
The other Ivies tell me I can trust him. But I don't bite so easily. Trust is earned, and I'll give him that chance, and I'll stick with him as long as our goals align. But if he changes, I will put a bullet in his head and call it a day. I just hope Trevor doesn't get caught in the crossfire. Poor kid doesn't have a friend in the world, and he watched his uncle get slaughtered. All he has now is a temporarily sane man, a few tech nerds named Ivy . . . and the hope that he can help us locate Echo and save whatever might be left of mankind. That is, if Alpha can get us to her in one piece.
Really hoping that the Ivies are right and Alpha is a reformed man. Really hoping we can find Echo too. And I kinda miss Topher.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/449/dollhouse-who-alpha-now
Dollhouse: Where were you when the Call came?
06/22/2011 1:00pm
[Transmission: XXeiojl390385 Terminal: 33dcak28xbb]
Early estimates report that The Call reached around 3 billion people. Accuracy remains unknown.
[End Transmission]
When Rossum's viral calls went out, I actually imprinted hundreds of individuals with my personality and unique skill set. It might sound like a cruel tactic to wipe an innocent, especially since I'm trying to stop the tech, but if the Original Me dies in Tokyo, someone has to use the knowledge I have. And who knows, maybe when we find Echo we'll discover a way to restore personalities . . . and then this body I've borrowed can return to whoever I was (it was?). This must be possible, and I know I can help in that discovery. But one thing at a time. I know. First, we gotta stop Rossum's imprints from spreading.
When I found myself in this body I had mere moments to pull my thoughts together, snag a recruit for Alpha's makeshift army, and haul it to the predetermined rendezvous. Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles. Luckily, the Original Ivy's randomly destined phone call landed me in Camp Pendleton"”a freakin' Marine Corps base"”where there was easy access to defensive weapons"”i.e., firearms. What are the odds? The unlucky bit quickly followed. I had a lot of trigger-happy, weapon-carrying crazies to march through before I could work my way north to Alpha. As one might imagine, not an easy journey. You experience something as gruesome as that, and you know that only more bloodshed awaits you, and it has to change you . . . Right? I'm Ivy, but after that do I become something or someone different? Or if all the Ivies experience this same sense of chaos, are we changing together? Maybe there's comfort in that . . .
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/463/dollhouse-where-were-you-when-call-came
Dollhouse: Who are the Butchers?
06/29/2011 12:19pm
[Transmission: XXeiojl390423 Terminal: 33dcak28xbb]
It seems that the colloquial name used by survivors for most everyone that got the Call is The Butchers. Charming.
[End Transmission]
When the call from Rossum went viral, almost anyone who answered became a Butcher or a Wielder, while others' minds were just wiped and left as hollow shells. Those transformed by this event are our neighbors, friends, families, and lovers.
They are the people we're closest to, as well as the strangers we ignore.
But I wanna focus on the Butchers: what they are and what they mean. They're no one and anyone"”Butchers are bloodthirsty, raging, mindless killing machines. If you aren't one of them, they'll slaughter you (actually, they'll slaughter you either way). It's sort of a path of least resistance methodology. We're trying to avoid them at all costs. Why hurt or kill any more people than we have to? Why threaten to become like them without Rossum's voodoo tricks to hold accountable?
Alpha, the other Ivies, and Trevor have"”like me"”been in direct contact with these Butchers. We've used any means possible to defend ourselves. While I didn't pick up the phone and become a Butcher like so many other people, that doesn't mean Rossum hasn't changed me too. Sometimes I almost forget that the people I'm fighting used to be my allies, and regular people living their lives . . .
God . . . since the Butchers . . . that my former employees created, btw . . . I've had to commandeer this body and learned to use a shotgun. A shotgun?
Do you know what the kickback is like from a gun like that? I have a shiner on my shoulder to show for it, my arm feels like it's going to fall off, and my trigger finger is in serious danger of not working. Yet, it's this weapon that saves my friends and me. Who'd have thought I'd be a gun person? (I still feel icky admitting it.) The other Ivies, while less gun savvy, helped Alpha attach a tech interface to a little boy's head so he can acquire special skills to fight tangible human monsters, as well as the monsters housed in Rossum's computers. We're kinda badass in the worst of circumstances, and as a result I recognize that us Ivies are collectively becoming other than what we've always been as a single, unique Ivy. Let's just hope that "other" isn't "a mindless killing machine."
The moral quandaries are endless and exhausting, and physically I am quite tired of the bloodshed. I much prefer the behind-the-scenes computer-smart me, and I definitely miss my biggest problem being insecure about whether the newest cute lab assistant has noticed me . . .
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/474/dollhouse-who-are-butchers
Dollhouse: What is the Cipher?
07/06/2011 11:54am
[Terminal Connection Terminal: 33dcak28xbb -X- Terminal:33dcak56zaa -]
X:What is the Cipher?
Z:We have a team on it.
X:Anything?
Z😀etails are in transit.
X:You're stalling. You don't know, do you?
Z:We're working on it.
[End Connection]
Cipher Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
I E O P K B U F A L
We're embarking on a quest across the great American landscape in a last-ditch effort to find a cure for all this chaos. This will not be an easy feat. The highways are littered with abandoned cars and trucks, and it feels like a Butcher could come at you from any corner. I find myself more and more in a constant state of paranoia, which may increase or decrease once we get on the road. What's gonna happen next? What's the next stage for the Tech? How will Rossum reach more people? Because I know that Rossum is not done with the world, and everything that we've already experienced is just the start of something bigger.
In the meantime we've set ourselves up with a massive semi truck and loaded the trailer with a number of goodies to help us in our quest. Right now I'm taking lead on the computer, monitoring Trevor's progress and attempting to track survivors. Leggy Ivy (she's really tall!) is going to take the first shift driving while the rest of us continue to organize efforts in the back.
Alpha believes that wherever Echo is, she's using a cipher to connect with survivors. It's some sort of visual code that'll lead people to her, or to a rumored safe haven"”we're not sure which. But if the rumors are true, it may be the break we need to locate Echo once we reach Washington, DC. (If she's even still there.)
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/482/dollhouse-what-cipher
Dollhouse: Do you know who you are?
07/13/2011 2:07pm
[Terminal Connection Terminal: 33dcak28xbb -X- Terminal:33dcak56zaa -]
X:Where is Echo?
Y:We believe we've found her.
[End Connection]
Do you know who you are?
Alpha, Dude Ivy, and I have been partaking in lively debates on identity. Oooh, intriguing, right? Not so much. Not when you're essentially arguing with yourself (but not!) and a guy with super-aggro multiple-personality disorder meshed with psycho genes. But it keeps things interesting, especially now that Leggy Ivy is gone and Man-Parts Ivy is sullen, and Trevor is just moral and sweet as apple pie!
Before one of us got wiped, the three of us Ivies would have these talks about who or what we are. We did this in part to stave off boredom and keep our neurons firing when we had to hide in the stadium from the potential threat of roaming Butchers and Wielders. We mostly do it to remind ourselves that we're alive even if I'm not truly me in this body. Us Ivies know that we're essentially one and the same, but we wonder at what point we diverge and become someone else. Is there a turning point marked by different unique experiences? If we shared all our experiences, would we continue to be the same person several years down the road? Does that even matter? "˜Cause Ivy and I think the same. Our logic is the same. Our desires and fears are the same. Are humans capable of changing those parts of themselves that are ten"”twenty"”thirty years in the making? And even then"”does it matter? We all like to think of ourselves as unique, and I am. At the very least, I've got this body that no one else has. So I feel certain things differently than, say, a man version of me does.
I can say all of that and then feel with conviction that I'm having an identity crisis. That perhaps we all are because the world is nothing like we could have imagined. We didn't get wiped out by some tectonic plates bumping up against one another . . . I think we're all crisising and it's just the nature of the game. Wow. Who knew that that comment would feel so literal . . . This does feel like a game, and we're chess pieces moving ever closer to our enemy, Rossum, and ultimately ourselves"”at least those of us who let (even helped) Rossum get as far as they did.
So do I know who I am? Yes, I'm Ivy. Programmer. Cutie. Badass. And it doesn't matter how many of me are out there. I'm Ivy. They're Ivy. We're all Ivies.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/497/dollhouse-do-you-know-who-you-are
And now on to issue #1:
SourceThe fight for free will starts now!
Alpha was the perfect product of Rossum Corporation's mind-altering technology, until he snapped, burdened by the dozens of personalities they'd downloaded into his brain. Now the technology has gone viral, turning the entire population into murderous automatons, and it's up to the psychotic Alpha and a small group of survivors to save mankind.
* Straight from the Dollhouse one-shot written by show writers Tancharoen and Whedon, this new series continues the tale of survivors taking up arms against Rossum.
* Fellow Dollhouse show writer Andrew Chambliss (CW's The Vampire Diaries) makes his comics debut, joining Tancharoen and Whedon
