Commentary for Chapter-112 - Partners

As I expected, HRG just can’t keep a partner. He doesn’t work well with Syler, he doesn’t work well with Elle, he shot Claude, and was shot by the Haitian, who although only mentioned briefly, it stuns me that he is still employed by anyone since he betrayed the company and Angela. The reference to him being out of the country is also a setup for the next tv episode where Peter and Nathan go to Haiti to find him.

Anyway, back to the GN - In a rare GN moment, there is a direct relation to the TV series in that it starts off with the cleaning of the people Suresh had placed in cocoons.
This GN is chock full of TV references as the target is the vietnam vet that Merideth captured many years ago. Not sure why he was on Level 5, his power doesn’t appear all that dangerous and I am sure Level 4 would do, after all, wasn’t Hiro only on Level 2 or 3?

Dan Panosian first GN project has captured the Vet very well. He also has given Merideth a great deer in the headlights look as it is clear that she is not going to make a good agent, not with her empathy for the people they are hunting. I think he has even gotten Noah closer to Jack than anyone else in the GN world has.

Interesting that instead of shooting a fire burst like she did on the train, she grabs a bottle, finds a rag and creates her version of a Molotov cocktail. Nice of the old man to leave those supplies lying around.

Like a one armed Colossus, he turns his arm into metal which protects him from the fire and then, in what makes him the only clear thinking villain in the Heroes world, he remembers that water is fire’s nemisis and he breaks a conveniently placed water pipe. I don’t know anyone who has pipes exposed to the public in their ceiling but hey, Im open to the possibility that someone actually lives like that.

Touchingly, Noah doesn’t regret taking Claire away from Merideth. Now, 1) from the series at the time he received Claire it did not appear he knew that she was the daughter of Nathan and Merideth, 2) At some point he must have learned whose child he was raising because later, he is aware of Merideth as the mother and Nathan as the father and 3) We have no idea when Noah was made aware that Merideth was not killed but was alive and well. So, with all of that, I don’t think Noah tore Merideth’s family apart. Especially because it is unclear whether her and Nathan had a relationship or a one night stand. Can’t blame Noah, he was following orders from Kaito and the Company.

Then the revelation that Pine isn’t just a fuzzy old vet down on his luck but rather a wife-beater, murderer with no remorse and an all around bad guy. This one revelation makes Merideth realize that she wasn’t ready to be a mother anyway so its ok Noah except someone should have asked her permission to take her baby, try to kill Merideth, implant Claire with whatever catalyst is inside her, and then hide her away from the evil Arthur and friends. I’m sure that if you only asked, Merideth would have said “Sure.”

I enjoyed this GN both with Bill Hooper’s well written incorporation of TV events and Heroes history and Dan’s artwork. See, Im not just a Jason Badower fan although his facebook page indicates he is working on another GN with another shower scene. Looking forward to that one! For those of you who are keeping score, Bill Hooper also wrote Resistance, GN 106 .