Tailgunner Jo Shrine

The Original Matrix



Created by Peter Gillis and Tomosina Artis

1988



Tailgunner JO was a six issue mini-series published by DC in 1988. The series is related to Senator McCarthy only by the title. Instead it is a dystopian tale of cyborg assassins and virtual reality. Mixing imaginary teddy bears and and ruthless corporations, it's one of the best comic books I've ever seen, being perhaps a decade too soon and in the wrong country. Thematically, it's more related to manga or French comics than the American comics of its time. Lars and Maire Gunnar are two very gifted and amoral scientists who get a very intense ethics lesson on the ramifications of their research. Their first payment installment is their daughter, the eponymous JO, who is born hideously deformed due to prenatal exposure to mutagenic chemicals used by Satrap Corporation. They jump ship to Telemachus along with their work on the hideous Double Star technology which allows two or more human brains to be cybernetically linked together. The one hitch is to to genetically match "donors" together. The corporation decides to accelerate the process by arranging for a traffic accident involving JO and her dad. Maire is tricked into operating on them, much to her horror when she she starts to recognize the medical stats. JO loses what deformed body she did have and becomes just a disembodied brain in a dome shaped package on her father's back. He is also highly modified, although superficially in street clothes he can pass for a human. JO becomes his "tailgunner" watching their collective rear and operating the special cyborg weapons suite. Her father is in charge of the software and creates a virtual fairyland world for her, complete with endless luncheons, dinners, and picnics with talking animals, a princess, and heroes. The outside, "real" world appears symbolically in Jo's world, and when the software gets confused, the two worlds start to meld together. JO can take over the Cyborg body and does so in one sequence when her father becomes indisposed. She is a very moral 10 year old and hates the killing of cyborg warfare, but does what she must to survive and to find her mother. This future world is divided between economically self-sufficient freeholders and the giant multinational corporations, whose only role is to supply technology for entertainment and arms. Those who fall under the rule of the corporations are referred to as "barrackers" for whom life can be very cheap, as we see in one scene.



The Covers

Issue 1

Issue 2

Issue 3

Issue 4

Issue 5

Issue 6



JO as she was originally was, the victim of birth defects caused by chemicals used at her parents' company



The evil operation, performed by JO's own Mom

JO's Mom realizing that she has been betrayed into operating on her own husband and daughter.

JO and her Dad pledge to fight the evil corporations that have turned them into a monster cyborg.



JO's Virtual World

Princess Anara

Inez, a playmate JO creates from a girl her father sees.



JO summoned to action.

The battle on Alpha Alley

Cyborg combat.



Freeholder Lalique Fonseca gives Gunnar a ride to the Gates of Heaven, end entry to the Satrap/Telemachus Skyhook.

Captain Destrier's "death" during the battle for Heaven.



Death of Outlaw

The funeral.

JO and Dad relate



War in Heaven

JO in Combat

The story seems to end on a hopeful note with the family at least reunited and Maire thinking that somehow she can restore her husband and daughter back to normal bodies. However, that doesn't quite fit in with the tone of the book. Although JO is portrayed as a sympathetic character and we're rooting for her, if not for her opportunistic parents, we suspect that it's not going to be easy for her in any form in this hellish world of the future. JO Gunnar does seem to be one of those unusual people who can cope, such as those refugee kids you read about who are forced to grow up too quickly.