Nomad (vol. 2) #14
Hidden in View Part III: From the Outside Looking in
Actor Kerry Warshaw’s worst fears have come true: A publication called Out and About has just outed him as being gay. Fearing that his life has been irreparably ruined, Warshaw puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Nomad has been offered a job by Senator Hugh Greider. However, before Jack can get the job, he has to prove that he has the skill needed. To do so, Monroe breaks into Greider’s estate and fights his way through his private security. Jack passes the test with flying colours. The Senator explains that the tabloid Out and About is threatening to out his own son. While Greider doesn’t care if the world knows his son is gay, his son Henry, doesn’t want the news to get out for fear of his father’s political career. This needs to be prevented and Jack accepts the job even though he has only two days to work with.[1]
Meanwhile, in Marseilles, France Bucky’s mother has finally kicked her drug habit and completed her assassin’s training. This was all brought about by Giscard Epurer — the so-called favor broker. He intends to send her to kill Jack Monroe and recover the daughter he took away from her.[2] However, before they do this, Giscard has one last test. He lays out a needle of heroin in an effort to tempt the woman into falling off the wagon again. Bucky’s mom forcibly removes the needle from Epurer’s hand and throws it at a picture of Nomad tacked on the wall. This convinces Giscard that she is finally ready to carry out her mission.
Jack spends the evening reading about Greider’s political history before heading down to the Out and About offices the following morning. When he arrives he asks to speak to the publisher, Robert Thaldron. However, he is told that Robert is in a meeting with two detectives from the Houston Police Department. When Jack asks why, the administrative assistant shows him the front page story in the newspaper regarding the suicide of Kerry Warshaw. Monroe is kind of disturbed that she is gleeful by the news, saying that Out and About is about making minorities voices heard, seemingly uncaring that a man ended his life as a result of their story.
That’s when Robert Thaldron comes out of his office to see the officers out. As it turns out Thaldron is a gay man himself. He instantly knows that Jack is here because he is representing someone they are planning on outing. Jack explains his situation and asks that Thaldron sit on the story. This angers Robert who tosses Jack his file and tells him to get a good look as to what it is exactly that Out and About is seeking to expose. Reading over the file, Jack also finds the information mighty interesting and definitely not what he signed on for.
Jack decides to go and verify what he has read by staking out Harry Greider’s apartment. He leaves Bucky with Doctor Soto, an Undergrounder connection who is currently running tests to make sure neither he nor Bucky have become the latest victims of an autoimmune virus epidemic affecting the country.[3] Catching a camera man on the roof across the street trying to snap photos, Jack knocks him out. He then uses the paparatzi’s own camera to spy on Harry Greider and his date as they come home for the night. When Jack confirms that Harry is dating a man named Gary Bennet he realizes that everything Thaldron warned him about was true.
Jack decides to head back to the Greider mansion and get some answers. Sneaking onto the property he discovers that the rent-a-cops from earlier are long gone. However, once he slips past the automated security and gets to the house he is attacked by another merc for hire armed with two handguns. Although his attacker had the element of surprise, Jack easily knocks him out. That’s when both Hugh and Harry come bursting in with guns. Jack tells them to put their guns down otherwise he’ll make Hugh’s wife a childless widow. He then shows them the file he got from Robert Thaldron and reveals that he knows the truth. Out and About wasn’t trying to out Harry, but Garry Bennet the son of Miles Bennett, the CEO of Cyberoptics. Miles was about to testify before a Senate Committee to tell them that their latest cybernetic super-gun technology was not ready for mass production. This would kill a spending bill in the senate, which would cost jobs, money, not to mention political prestige if the bill were to be passed. He knows that Hugh sent his son Harry to seduce Garry Bennet so they could take compromising photos of the two together in order to blackmail Miles into keeping his mouth shut.
With the truth finally out, Hugh asks about what will happen next. Jack says that he has done his job, he has convinced Out and About to quash the story outing Harry and he expects payment. However, he says that the magazine is now going to put out a story about how Harry was trying to set up Garry Bennett instead. He tells the Greiders that they made this bed themselves and leaves. On his way out he runs into the guy who attacked him earlier and apologizes for being so rough. The man tells Jack that there’s no hard feelings, no hard feelings at all. As Jack turns away he doesn’t see the man open his eyes, revealing that they are blood red.[4]
Recurring Characters
Nomad, Hate-Monger, Bucky, Giscard Epurer, Bucky’s mother, Hugh Greider
Continuity Notes
Hugh Greider states here that he knows what happened in Alaska. He is referring to how Nomad interfered with a government plan to construct a mentally controlled gun. His interference led to Jack becoming an outlaw. See Nomad #1-4.
Jack took Bucky away from her mother in Nomad #3 because she was a drug addicted prostitute that he felt couldn’t raise a child. Giscard offered her a chance to get her baby back in Nomad (vol. 2) #9. She is unnamed here. As of this writing in October, 2022, her name has yet to be revealed.
This story states that Nomad is getting HIV tests done (see below). He feared that he and Bucky might have been infected — Bucky because her mother was a drug addict and Jack because he always gets treated by unlicensed doctors — in Nomad (vol. 2) #13. The results will come out next issue.
This mystery man is identified as the Hate-Monger next issue.
Topical References
The central focus of this story is regarding people being publicly outed as being gay and how that could destroy the lives of the individual and/or their family. In particular how the Henry Greider’s outing as being gay was so catastrophic that it prompted him to commit suicide as well as negative impact the political career of his father, Hugh. At the time this story was published there was a massive social stigma aimed at the LGTBQ+ community, prompting people to keep their sexual orientation a secret out of fear it could ruin their lives. This is still a complex issue, see below.
The HIV/AIDS subplot was a product of its time, back when the disease was far more deadly due to lack of treatment options. Since then there have been advances in medical science that makes the virus less of a death sentence, allowing those infected to live longer lives and manage the illness. As such, references to this specific autoimmune virus should be considered topical.
When Jack returns to the Greider mansion he thinks about what he’d be watching on TV at that time. He mentions Letterman, Cher informercials, how Letterman moving to CBS will ruin his schedule. These should all be considered topical references. They are:
“Letterman” is in reference to late night talk show host David Letterman. At the time of this story he was the host of Late Night with David Letterman a position he had held since 1982. At the time this story was being published he was making a move from NBC to CBS where he would host The Late Show with David Letterman from 1992 to 2015.
At the time this story was published Cher was in a down point of her career, making appearances on infomercials where she hawked various types of junk products. Her career would be revitalized in the late 90s with a fourth comeback, allowing her to leave the world of infomercials behind for good.
How to Interpret This Story in a Modern Context
This is yet another Nomad tale that is a product of its time. As stated over the last few issue summaries there was a lot of societal stigma in America towards those who did not follow a heteronormative lifestyle. The most visible discrimination was directed towards gays and lesbians as they were the most common groups that were being targeted.
Often those who had sexual preferences that were outside of what was considered the “norm” chose to keep their orientation and preferences a secret. This is because the truth could have negative consequences, such as the loss of a job, or negatively impacting one’s family. This was especially true for those in politics. Being outed or having a family member outed as being homosexual could end your political career. People so distressed about the repercussions of being outed did lead to people committing suicide.
This does still happen, but there are less people that hide their true sexuality these days. That doesn’t make being part of the LGTBQ+ community much safer mind you. People are still regularly discriminated against, people are pushed to suicide, people have their lives ruined. It just happens in different ways now because the world is an ugly place and we refuse to learn much as a society.
I would say that the only thing that would be considered topical here is that the character of Henry Geider being specifically identified as being gay. In a modern context, he could represent pretty much any marginalized group in the LGBTQ+ community. In a modern context it there wouldn’t be a specific magazine centered on outing people that you could go out and buy. This sort of shit happens on the internet and in real time with devastating effect on the lives of the people who are targeted and harassed.
I’d argue that we haven’t done much to push the needle forward on tolerance and acceptance so much as we have created new avenues for shithead bigots to torment people for being different and that’s really god damn depressing.
That said, there is not really a way I can generalize this story without fundamentally changing the original plot of the story so my summary is written without generalizing any details.
