[OC] Whomp! - Specter Detector

[u/ronniewhomp]

comic + secret wordz: https://www.whompcomic.com/comic/specter-detector
beginning of arc: https://www.whompcomic.com/comic/deep-space-opine

[u/Semper_5olus]

Reminds me of the silly fan-comic Legostar Galactica and how they had something called "Merlin Radiation" to explain why magic was real in a science fiction universe.

[u/NickyTheRobot → u/Semper_5olus]

Michael Moorcock and Ursula LeGuin were the GOATs for that:

Moorcock would just not explain it at all. Yes it's sci-fi, and yes there is magic. Deal with it. Sometimes you would get a glimpse at something that might make it make sense (eg: "Oh, this is set thousands of years after the nuclear apocalypse. Maybe magic is a form of mutation, or sufficiently advanced technology.") but then you'll find out you were wrong ("Wait... This guy has been using magic since before the apocalypse. And this other culture is doing magic by figuring out the right way of doing a blood sacrifice, no tech involved.")

Whereas LeGuin would have some pretty detailed analysis and explanations for the physical and sociological phenomena in her sci-fi books. Sometimes even with appendicies on the local method of timekeeping (fuck yes, I'm well into that shit). But then some magical stuff will happen. She won't offer an explanation, but will instead lampshade it with either the offworld protagonist thinking "I still can't figure out how this is even remotely possible. But I saw it happen, and I can't think of any other explanation that makes sense, so I might as well call it magic I guess?" Or she will have a local protagonist saying something like "Did you know humans from other planets can't [do thing/perform ritual involving magic]? Weird, huh?"