The Ten-Seconders

The Ten-Seconders is a story in 2000 AD written by Rob Williams and drawn by Mark Harrison. The second instalment "Make. Believe." started with art by Dom Reardon.

It is about a group of survivors fighting against Gods that have taken over the planet.

Plot

In the near future, human society has been destroyed by the Gods (beings with superpowers closely resembling those of archetypical comic book superheroes) who came to our planet offering help but instead, seeing that we couldn't look after ourselves, demanded that we accept them as our leaders. Stubbornly, humanity fought back and were defeated by the Gods and their incredible powers, leaving few survivors. The surviving humans are now fighting a seemingly fruitless guerilla war against the Gods. One such group of survivors, The Ten Seconders, have encountered across a man known only as The Scientist who promises to help humanity defeat the Gods, but seems mysteriously linked to the God's existence. Now one of the The Ten Seconders' own people Jenny is being turned into a God by The Scientist in exchange for a way to defeat the Gods...

Characters

There are plenty of characters in The Ten-Seconders but the ones we've been introduced to so far are:

• Jenny is one of the three main characters and is but only a teenage girl who has recently began her transformation into a God.
• Malloy is the leader of The Ten Seconders and a guardian to Jenny and has sworn to protect her.
• Harris is the character who adds the comedy to the strip and is a friend of Malloy and Jenny and is the toughest of them all.
• The Scientist, a mysterious man who seems linked to the God's. Now he is turning Jenny into a God as part of a deal with Malloy, which lets the surviving humans defeat the Gods...

Gods

• Hero is the leader of the Gods, and the first God to appear. He is killed near the end of the progression by another God, called Watchtower. His superpowers include flying, the ability to set things on fire and a heat ray from his eyes. His character is a nod to all-purpose superheroes such as Superman (in one panel, he is shown saving a plane from crashing)
• Lord Mach is a kind of servant to Hero with the ability to move extremely fast making him impossible to shoot. But when he attacks Jenny, The Scientist pins him down allowing Jenny to kill him.
• Watchtower is another God from New York who's superpower ability is to fly great distances, as well as the ability to "see" everything that occurs over a wide area.. He is chained up by Hero in order to keep an eye on the city. Watchtower betrays Hero at the end of the first book and decapitates him with the chain and then disappears.
• Damage is a massive God, with a child-like mentality and intelligence, who cannot be harmed by any weapon making him impossible to kill. At one point, it is revealed that he is an aberration, a failed attempt at a God that nevertheless has the powers of one. He treats The Scientist as his father but because he is so stupid, does anything for him. The Scientist sends him on a chore to the bottom of the ocean and like Watchtower we are yet to see him again. Damage is a reference to the stereotypical "super-strong, yet unintelligent" comic book character, such as the Incredible Hulk.

Publication

• The Ten-Seconders (by Rob Williams):
  • "The American Dream" (with Mark Harrison, in 2000 AD #1469-1479, 2006)
  • "Make. Believe" (with Dom Reardon (1-3) and Shaun Thomas (4-6) and Ben Oliver (7-13), in 2000 AD #1578-1588, 2008)

References