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Hardware #46 (Dec. 1996):
“Give Them the Works”
by D. G. Chichester, Prentis Rollins, Ken Branch

Hardware #46

Title: “Give Them the Works”

Medium: comic

Cover date: Dec. 1996

Publisher: DC Milestone Media
Written by: D. G. Chichester
Art by: Prentis Rollins, Ken Branch


11 characters in this story:

Character
(Click links for info about character
and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.)
Religious
Affiliation
Team(s)
[Notes]
Pub. #
app.
Hardware Hardware (Curtis Metcalf)
(lead character)
hero
  black; The Shadow Cabinet DC Milestone Media 97
Edwin Alva EDWIN (Edwin Alva)
(details) 
villain scientist
CBR Scale: M obsessed with power
System DC Milestone Media 39
Denise Metcalf Denise Metcalf supporting character
  black
[Hardware's mother; community activist]
DC Milestone Media 4
Cheryl Saltz Cheryl Saltz supporting character scientist
  [scientist] DC Milestone Media 6
Barraki Young Barraki Young supporting character
  black
[taught African-American Studies; Hardware's girlfriend]
DC Milestone Media 29
Edwin Alva, Jr. Edwin Alva, Jr. supporting character villain
  [Edwin Alva's son] DC Milestone Media 5
Autopsy villain
  [Post Mortem's sister] DC Milestone Media 4
Post Mortem villain
  [Autopsy's brother] DC Milestone Media 4
COVERT villain group
  [agency created to monitor Dakota City superhumans] DC Milestone Media 4
Ann Kim Ann Kim supporting character
  Asian
[hospitalized due to attack by Autopsy, Post Mortem]
DC Milestone Media 4
Hard Co. Hard Co. supporting character group
  [company of geniuses intent on bettering the human condition] DC Milestone Media 9

Summary (from http://milestone.luthor.com/comics_detail.asp?ID=178&):

The artificial intelligence Curtis creates takes on the persona of Edwin Alva. The Alva IA has dispersed into the Internet and can't be destroyed. As Curtis and Alva IA argue, Cheryl learns that Edwin, Jr. and Kim are in the hospital due to the attack of Autopsy and Post-Mordem. Edwin IA gives some clues to Curtis on the attacks and Hardware takes off to get some payback. We see Kim's relatives in a sick, twisted sweatshop. Congresswoman Metcalf helps commission an agency, COVERT, to monitor the superhumans located in Dakota. Hardware tracks down and stops the horrors of Autopsy and Post Mordem. And then Barraki drops an ultimatum on Curtis: make a commitment or she leaves.