Viral: Part One
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| "Viral: Part One" | |||||||||||||
| First published | September 16, 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Kelly Thompson | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Emma Vieceli | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | M. Victoria Robado | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Robbie Robbins | ||||||||||||
| Edits by | John Barber | ||||||||||||
Having firmly established themselves, The Holograms deal with success while The Misfits gain a new ally.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
At breakfast, Jerrica struggles to deal with the flood of new emails that have come in following The Holograms' derailing of the Misfits VS! concert and, though they offer to help, Shana and Aja seem more interested in bantering with one another. Being a bit more cooperative once Jerrica shares with them the full extent of what she has to deal with, the girls agree to make getting a new website set up their top priority for the moment so that they can launch a new video for "MoreMoreMore", Five by Five Records owning the rights to the one they made for Misfits VS!. The three of them knowing nothing about web design, Aja suggests asking Synergy to put something together for them. Summoning her Synergy confirms she can and acquires a variety of web domains they can use, but still needs a basic template and content guidelines to work off of, which Aja agrees to help with. Unfortunately, she quickly ends up putting it off so she can meet up with Craig, leaving her sisters behind.
Still in mourning over her break up with Stormer, Kimber sits alone in her room staring at her phone, reading but not responding to the dozens of desperate texts Stormer is sending her. As Synergy comes in to check up on her, Kimber confides in her that she doesn't know who to trust, Stormer having potentially been involved in a plot to seriously injure if not kill her sisters, who she fears may be upset with her for secretly being involved with a member of The Misfits. After Synergy suggests she just talk to her sisters, insisting they'll understand if she does, Kimber comments that Synergy reminds her of her mom, something she finds comforting.
In a meeting with The Misfits, Harcourt informs them that the competition was a disaster, largely due to Pizzazz's unprofessionalism. While it did at first lead to a small spike in sales and the band's profile, The Holograms crashing the final concert of the competition has led to a rash of negative publicity. To help keep them on a leash and get them back on course, Five by Five has elected to assign The Misfits a manager, Eric Raymond. The executive leaving to attend to other matters, Eric smirks and expresses relief that she's finally gone. Turning back to the band, he tells them that while he's still planning on fulfilling his duty of putting them back on track, he also assures them that he has every intention of helping them destroy The Holograms, instantly winning over Pizzazz.
Back at the Benton home, Shana wakes the passed out Jerrica to show her the rave review Rio had written about Misfits VS!, enraging her just as he arrives outside. Demanding to know what he was thinking writing such a glowing article about the band who tried to kill her and her sisters, Rio tells her that he's a journalist and can't let his personal feelings or suspicions impact his work. Still frustrated, Jerrica asks what he's doing over there to begin with. As it turns out, he's been assigned to do a piece on Jem, getting to know the woman behind the performer! As they talk, Shana is inside, apprehensively sending in an application for a fashion internship while Aja is out dirtbiking with Craig, the two making dinner plans and sharing a kiss as they finish.
Meanwhile, Stormer suffers from a case of writers block as she tries to come up with lyrics for The Misfits next song, eventually giving up and giving someone a call to let them know Kimber never showed up to meet her. Elsewhere, Eric Raymond has seemingly broken into the extremely monochromatic home of the hacker Techrat, who soon arrives demanding to know what he wants. Though his offer of work is initially turned down, Eric quickly gains Techrat's when he gives him the details of the job... gathering as much information about Jem and the Holograms as he can get!
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Jem and the Holograms | The Misfits | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Shana's passion for fashion was first mentioned back in the first issue and was later glimpsed at again during the montage in issue 5.
- Issue 5 is also where we first saw Aja (quite literally) run into Craig, who went unnamed in his first appearance.
Covers (3)[edit | edit source]
- Regular cover: Jem and Jerrica, by Emma Vieceli
- Subscription cover: Jem and the Holograms, by Jen Bartel
- Retailer incentive cover: Jem and the Holograms, by Tula Lotay
