Debris is... well, bizarre.
WRITTEN BY
John Neary! Also known as somebody other than Ken Armstrong. Well, I admire him for trying to cram much more story into the comic than they usually get.
PLOT
Avon and Vila are hypnotised by the remnants of the computer world Federac, who seeks to take its vengeance on the Scorpio crew for its destruction six months before.
ANALYSIS
My main interest in Debris comes from the insane coincidence (or is it?) that a Federation computer planet named Federac serves as the main plot arc for Big Finish's first season of Blake's 7 audio adventures. And barring one minor change, this comic - despite being made decades before - could easily serve as a sequel to that arc. Federac only affects Avon and Vila, who were both present on the planet in Mirror. It mentions having been previously tricked by Orac, which if I remember correctly also occurred in that audio drama. We learn so little about how it works and why it exists that it's like the writer is taking for granted that we know what he's talking about. And leaving all else aside, it's just plain weird for a comic to try being a sequel to an unseen adventure otherwise. It really is like somebody time-travelled back to write a follow-up to a story that didn't exist yet. The only fly in the ointment is that Federac does mention the previous encounter having taken place six months ago, which seems far too small a time.
I have no evidence of whether someone at Big Finish was inspired by this comic during the creation of Series One, or if it really is the wildest of coincidences, but this connection is so cool that it almost completely overshadows my other feelings about Debris lol. But I think I like it...? Federac is an awesome idea and the fact that he's so powerful despite being literally floating garbage is a great indicator of what an amazing creation it was originally. My main bugbear of this as an isolated story is that it's very vague on what is actually going on. Federac exposits his backstory in a very rambling and borderline incoherent fashion, and his hypnotic abilities and personality seem to contradict his Federation origins. I also felt that the ending was very anticlimactic but given how much work Neary gave himself, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I'll give it this... it's certainly memorable.
CHARACTERS
Dayna and Vila appear to have switched personalities, judging from the former's paranoid fears of the Federation turning up, and the latter's gung-ho attitude about fixing the ship.
I appreciated Avon having a quiet moment to himself after Federac's destruction, out of respect for the brilliant achievement that it was. We get to see his passion for computer science so rarely in the Series D era.
I suppose another issue with the "Big Finish read this" theory is that Federac actually HAS a personality at all (even if it's just a stock evil computer), and talks. But then again, he does mention having been young and naive during his previous encounter with the crew.
NOTES
- This comic was published in the Blake's 7 Marvel Monthly issue 16.
- Despite everyone referring to Federac as "the Computer-Planet", it's made clear that what the crew blew up was a moon. So which is it?
- One final point in the theory's favor: the Scorpio is not known to have "cannons". Neither does the Liberator, but neutron blasters are definitely closer than literally nothing.
- I really hate when characters become possessed or tired and start speaking in monosyllabic for some reason.
- Avon and Vila's grappling with a piece of debris and Vila's subsequent near-crash onto a planet during a spacewalk is remarkably similar to the events of Overboard, only one issue before.
- According to Avon, Federac had a human quality about it, which enabled it to hypnotise and be hypnotised in return. This goes completely unexplained. Did the Federation attempt to mimic Ensor's computer research by utilising a human brain as Federac's core?
- Interestingly, the remnants of Federac survive, leaving the comic open for yet another encounter.
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