The Hacker Files
The Hacker Files | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
Schedule | monthly |
Format | mini-series |
Publication date | August 1992 - July 1993 |
No. of issues | 12 |
Main character(s) | Jack Marshall Barbara Gordon Sarge Steel |
Creative team as of August 1992 | |
Created by | Lewis Shiner, Tom Sutton |
Written by | Lewis Shiner |
Penciller(s) | Tom Sutton |
Inker(s) | Mark Buckingham |
The Hacker Files is a twelve issue DC Comics mini-series published from August 1992 to July 1993. It was written by Lewis Shiner and illustrated by Tom Sutton.[1]
Publication history
The series, written by cyberpunk novelist Lewis Shiner, is notable for the first appearance of a post-Suicide Squad member Barbara Gordon (Oracle), as well as the introduction of the Digitronix computer company, a fictitious computer brand which would continue to show up in the DCU for years thereafter.
At the end of issue 1 in the 'letters pages' section,[2] author Lewis Shiner reveals that he'd based The Hacker Files story and comic book protagonist Jack Marshall on his unpublished novel Red Weather, which he'd began developing in Summer 1978. That story dealt with a software programmer in his late-twenties named "Jack Marshall", who worked for a sinister Texas-based computer company. This in itself was inspired by Shiner's employment with Warrex Computer Corp. in the ’70s who produced the Centurion family of minicomputers.[3][4]
Story
Jack Marshall (Hacker) is a freelance systems analyst from
The Digitronix PC's success and profits caused rapid growth in the company, and a new senior Vice President named Walter Sutcliffe denied Marshall any profit sharing from his invention, because said profit sharing was based on a handshake agreement between Marshall and Donny Travis. Sutcliffe was one of five middle managers Donny Travis brought in from CompuTech. According to Jack, CompuTech went under due to incompetent middle management. Marshall attempted to steal his own codebase for a new updated version of Digitronix' proprietary operating system DROS (Digitronix Resident Operating System) but was caught and summarily terminated. But since he is the only one who truly understands DROS, he is brought in by the United States government (specifically Sarge Steel) as a freelance troubleshooter whenever there is a problem.[1]
"SoftWar"
The first Story arc SoftWar dealt with a virus infecting the Digitronix computers used by the
"Operation Moonwitch"
The Operation Moonwitch storyline was based on real world
"Working-Class Hero"
Jack confronts his former co-worker Yoshio Natsume. Yoshio is the nephew of Tohiro Natsume whose Japanese company originally supplied Digitronix with cheap computer chips he bought on the Black Market from the Yakuza, but he later built chip foundries on the Chinese mainland. Jack confronts Yoshio with evidence of his complicity in the Pentagon Virus and the E911 document leak. Jack discovers that Yoshio was framed by Sutcliffe who has been using his
"Showdown"
Yoshio discovers a massive mobilization of Digitronix personnel and hardware being sent to a secret facility at
Speed Metal Kids
The
- Sue Denim - fifteen-year-old heavy metal fan.
- Phreaky Phreddy - as in phone phreaking.
- Master Blaster - a thirteen-year-old African-Americanvideo game buff.
Digitronix PC
The Digitronix PC (DTX PC) of 1992 is an inexpensive
DROS
DROS is the Digitronix Resident Operating System, a free copy of DROS was bundled with every machine. Lewis Shiner gives detailed information on the inner workings of DROS in the usr/hacker/mail section at the back of the first two issues. Because series consultant Alan Wexelblat had warned him that
Command line examples
/dev/sd0a |
pent1.dod.com:/usr/share |
rm vcom.doc |
Notes
- In issue #11 of the series Digitronix technicians in Kazakhstan demonstrate an early prototype virtual reality computer interface that may be the same one later used by Barbara Gordon (Oracle).
- The letters printed in issues #3-12 were taken from online letter columns that Shiner setup on GEnie and CompuServe bulletin boards. Some of the letters were from computer industry professionals and enthusiasts who often corrected technical errors they had found in previous issues.
- The cover to issue #8 shows a DTX (Digitronix) compatible".
- According to the book's Who's Who entry, Digitronix computers are supposedly used by both Batman and Oracle.
References
- ^ OCLC 213309017
- ^ The Hacker Files #1: usr/hacker/mail
- ^ Lewis Shiner Autobiography: Life As We Know It
- ^ Bitsavers.org: Centurion Business Computers PDF
- ^ Summary of The Hacker Files issues #1-4
- ^ Summary of The Hacker Files issues #7-10
- ^ Summary of The Hacker Files issues #11-12
- ^ According to usr/hacker/mail page 25, The Hacker Files #1 and 2