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The Matrix
"A Life Less Empty"
Matrix Comics Vol. 1
Story and art by Ted McKeever
1999 |
A hacker recalls her one and only
meeting with the legendary Morpheus and asks, “Why, oh why,
didn’t I take the red pill?”
Read the story at
the Internet Archive
Didja Know?
This comic strip originally appeared on the official Matrix
website in 1999. It was later printed in
The Matrix Comics, Vol. 1 published by
Burlyman
Entertainment, a comic book publisher founded by the Wachowskis.
The hacker main character of this story is not named in the
story itself. According to the
Matrix Wiki and some online reviews of this story,
her name is Tiera but I've been unable to find the source of
this information. Presumably, the name appeared in promotional
material or author Ted McKeever revealed it in an interview.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
Tiera
Morpheus (in flashback only)
Neo (mentioned only)
Trinity (mentioned only)
Didja Notice?
Tiera lives in an apartment in the White Rabbit Hotel inside the
Matrix. "White Rabbit" is a reference to
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
On page 1 of the story, Tiera has several
books on her shelf: Memoreaze, Simulacra and
Simulations, Interfazed, and Byte Me.
Presumably, Simulacra and Simulations is meant to
be Simulacra and Simulation, the 1981 book by Jean
Baudrillard which examines the relationship of symbols to
reality and society; the book is also seen in Neo's
apartment in
The Matrix.
The other three books seen here are fictitious as far as I
can tell.
Underneath Tiera's bed is a copy of The Daily News. Possibly,
The Daily News is the "official" newspaper of Mega
City, though other papers called The City Defender
and Mega City Sentinel are seen in
The Matrix
and Path of Neo, respectively.
On page 2 of the story, what appears to be a book titled
Hackers Bible is seen. There are many real world books with
variations of this title. The one here may be a reference to
the Hacker Bible, published in two editions in Germany
in 1985
and 1988.
A large sign on top of a building near the White Rabbit
Hotel appears to read "Wachowski Brothers Incorporated". The
Wachowskis are the creators of the Matrix
franchise.
On page 4 of the story, a photograph shows a partial view of a sign on a
building which may read "Hotel Lafayette". Though not named in the
movie itself, this is the hotel Neo met Morpheus in in
The Matrix
(it is named later in the Matrix video game
Path of Neo, which covers the events of the movie
trilogy).
Also on page 4, Tiera has a 3-inch floppy disk labeled ME
with a label written with a number of file folder names:
Freud's Memos, Matrix JPGS, Happy Birthday JPGS, Porn Palace
Downloads, In the Wake of Adversity, Coffee File, and List
of Sins and Mistakes. Possibly, "In the Wake of Adversity"
refers to the 1987 song by Dead Can Dance.
On page 7 of the story, a file on Tiera's computer screen
has the partial name of "TRIN" visible. It may be some kind
of communication or research related to Trinity. On the
following page, she does mention she had wanted to be like
Neo and Trinity and "all the other myths and legends."
On page 8, a poster for Bound is seen on the wall
of Tiera's apartment. Bound was the feature film
directorial debut of the Wachowskis.
On page 10, Tiera mentions Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Hitler,
and Einstein. These were all considerable figures in human
history.
On page 11, a book called Johnny Neumonic is seen
in a stack in Tiera's apartment. This is presumably a play
on Johnny Mnemonic, a 1981 short story by cyberpunk
author William Gibson.
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