Kernel Panic

Prairie Fires and Faerie Pyres, Part 10

Buddy picked the lemon out of his beer and threw it at Stanley. He returned a ‘what-did-I-do’ look. Buddy said, “Thanks Stan.”

“Thank me,” I said.

“Right,” Buddy said, “I have another idea for a character.”

“Great.”

“Kernel Panic.” He flipped a page in my note pad and started sketching again.

“Colonel?” I asked.

“No. Kernel. Kernel Panic.” He finished sketching eyes and a beret with an emblem. “It’s a computer thing.”

“Kernel?” I asked again, looking at the squared face of a military figure.

“Now that superheros use computers more and more, Kernel Panic corrupts them.”

“Shouldn’t he look like a geek or something?”

“Of course.” Buddy continued to draw a martial figure, clean faced with strong lines, squat not elongated.

“Blue screens of death?”

“The bluescreen death beam. That’s an idea. But it’s not what I’m talking about.” He then simply scribbled over his sketch of Kernel Panic. He filled the page and started again.

“What then?” I asked.

“The best example of Kernel Panic is from StarWars.” Quickly, he had outlined the iconic mask of Darth Vader.

“He’s in StarWars?”

“No. Emperor Palpatine is the example.” He had to work the darkness into the sketch. Still he was very careful with the catchlights and reflections in the mask.

He continued, “Sith Lord Palpatine convinces Anakin Skywalker that Padme will die.” He flipped the page leaving the inking to be done on his sketch of Darth Vader.

“He lied,” I said.

Buddy said, “To stop the death of his beloved, a death that reminds his of the tortured demise of his mother, Anakin becomes Darth Vader.” He promptly started outlining a face without features.

“Mother and wife,” I said.

“Anakin had a Kernel Panic. That’s what this guy does.”

After the face, he drew a long neck, then added a peasant dress, short, with twirls as if Pais was spinning.

He continued, “I wish I had some color.”

“I have a red pen.” I handed him my Paper Mate Flair.

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”

He added red to the dress. Then he wet his finger and rubbed the color so it streaked into the folds of the dress. Finally, he touched the empty face where the checks and chin would be, adding blush pink.

I liked his sketches of Pais. “I’ll take my chance with the pitchfork guy,” I said.

“Pais Lee, her power is that she can stop these panics. At least sometime. It’s like a reboot.”

“I think C has a new boyfriend.”

He scratched out Pais Lee.

… continued

——

Prairie Fires and Faerie Pyres

Part 10: Kernel Panic

Part 9: Pais Lee

Part 8: Burning House

Part 7: Merkin’s Face

Part 6: Merkin’s Beard

Part 5: Conversation Of Biblical Proportion
Part 4: Hockey Fight
Part 3: Your Blog’s Not A Waste Of Time
Part 2: Put Your Head Somewhere Else
Part 1: Showier Prose