Lightbringer and the media

[Sun tzu]

Something I've been thinking about: How has the world at large been reacting to the arrival of Lightbringer? I mean, putting aside reaction to his quest and the whole "is he insane?" "Is he basing his whole thing on comic books?" "Is his costume based on a DC rapist?" thing, there's the fact that, well, he's got super-powers. That's bound to have people scratching their heads.
I remember Carter mentionning that the purpose of the gauntlets is misdirection: People are supposed to assume they're the source of his powers. That's actually pretty clever (plus, hey, the gauntlets look good). I imagine most people are assuming that his powers come from technology, then? If so, there are probably theories ranging from "modern Nikola Tesla" to "alien" to "government agent"...

[Linkara]

I admit that I have kind of fallen short on that aspect, but different parts of the world are seeing him in different ways. Some don't even believe he exists, that he's some publicity stunt or a propaganda weapon. The government's opinion is shaped on what they do know of him and they do realize he has power. The direct fallout and opinion of Lightbringer is shaped by eyewitness accounts, satellite footage, and the Code Poet's report she submitted after she worked briefly with him. As such, the government's immediate reaction from all of that will actually be shown in Issue 9.

The common people are scratching their heads about his superpowers, some of course throwing out the natural theories: "He's an angel!" "He's a mutant!" "He has technology that he's not sharing with us!" "He's an alien!" The people of Pharos City tend not to care, really, because of everything he's done and are just grateful he's there. However, they also like the fact that just being there, he acts as a sort of mascot for the city that has increased tourism in the area from those who just want to catch a glimpse of him.

The brief interview that he did with Iris Kellert was carried throughout the country by major newspapers, but it didn't reveal much about Lightbringer other than being motivated by superheroes to do right, which in turn has led to a minor increase in comic sales. ^_~ He has indeed become something of a celebrity, but not on the level of actors or whatnot in gossip magazines because people still know so little about him.