Sysop
on March 1, 2015 at 12:01 amSo I guess about half a year into It’s Walky!, I was like, hey, let’s go move another Roomies! character into this series. *shrug*
So I guess about half a year into It’s Walky!, I was like, hey, let’s go move another Roomies! character into this series. *shrug*
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Ehh, not like he really did anything here.
Well, technically Joe and Rachel get to get together because he was around.
Actually, I just re-read that sequence, and it’s established that other Rachel has Internet that Joe could use at that point, so I think the only real effect Alex’s presence had was letting Willis string out the “maybe Rachel is other Rachel” fakeout a few strips longer.
I used the search engine on the old archives, and was surprised at how many appearances Alex actually had. And then I went and looked at them, and was amused by in how many of them he’s basically just set dressing for the SEMMF labs. He’s there, but he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t do anything, frequently is just a sketchy silhouette in the background… but he’s there!
And then he’ll be relevant again sometime in like 2004. Briefly.
Sysops?
My guess: system operations.
Operator. A sysop is a person, not an activity.
That’s pretty much what sysops are: lurk in the background and are seldom seen.
Yeah, Alex pretty much peaked right here. The government and tech companies do have a pretty long history of hiring hackers dating back at least as far as Frank Abagnale (for a certain definition of “hacker”) and that was an especially popular idea in the early 2000s, so this spoke to its audience. But Alex never really developed a significant conflict– even his Internet addiction is hardly an issue when he’s paid to be on the Net 24-7 and doesn’t seem to have a life outside it to neglect.
(I am amused that 2015 DoA Alex’s coding skills seem about equivalent to 2000 W! Alex’s, making him laughably behind the times but just the sort who could bluff his way into an academic position.)
“What? You hacked our Invulnerable Security system??
…
You’re hired!”
You know it a shame we don’t see that much of Alex anymore in the future
Well, that was random.
I’m really feeling a Doonesbury influence in the way Alex is drawn. Also the dramatic camera angles in a few strips.