Dave's ASH Archive - The Reverse Engineers

Last Updated: 8/6/23

LL&DD "A Lesser Mousetrap" added.

From left to right, Doctor Developer (1990s) and Doctor Developer (2020s).

The Reverse Engineers

Written by Andrew Burton and set in 2020s Detroit, a former hub of superhuman activity from fifty years earlier. Can an aging former supervillain and a bunch of kids not affiliated with the government make a difference in the world?

New Kids In Town - Set in 2014, Doctor Developer checks out an old supervillain hideout in the wake of the Big One, and finds quite a bit more than he expected!
The Kid's All Right - The spotlight is on the relationship between Doctor Developer and his young charge Rachel...and why he can't bear to be around her. Ties in with LL&DD #4.
Forbidden Foo - The Reverse Engineers clash with the Tinker Team, while thinking back on some pivotal moments in their development...and the mystery of why no one wants to go to Detroit is resolved!

LL&DD

An open-ended series of vignettes starring Lady Lawful and Doctor Developer, a sort of prequel to The Reverse Engineers. Stories take place in the mid to late 1990s, in no particular order. Winner of Favorite New Series of 2007 in the RACCies, and tied for Favorite Ongoing Series overall with Easily-Discovered Man! Doctor Developer also won for Favorite New Character and Favorite Hero/Protagonist, while Andy Burton won Favorite New Writer of 2007!

LL&DD #1 - Swing of Things: Young lovers turn to discussion of...shopping.
LL&DD #2 - Guess Who's Coming To Dinner: It's time for Doctor Developer to meet Lady Lawful's parents...but as someone with a lifetime of supervillainy, meeting the original Lady Lawful is a little more daunting than this sort of thing usually is! Voted Favorite Single Issue in the 2007 RACCies!
LL&DD #3 - Best Practices: A vignette on the topic of standardized mad science....
LL&DD #4 - First To The Future: Ever wish for one last day with someone? Be careful what you wish for!
LL&DD #5 - You Can Go Home: Deedee has met Jennifer's family, now it's time for her to meet what passes for his, in 1990s Detroit. Of course, his "family" doesn't get along nearly as well as hers....
LL&DD #6 - Inter-lewd: Taking a break from the "You Can't Go Home" storyline for a short tale of how wedded bliss wasn't always blissful.
LL&DD Valentine's Day Special: Love hurts, as Dark Cupid is out to demonstrate on a helpless Doctor Developer!
LL&DD #7 - Sex, Wounds and Simulations: Three vignettes explore a few more of the consequences of life in the Third Heroic Age.
LL&DD #8 - Everyday Things: Snapshots of the couple's life as seen through the lens of some "everyday things".
LL&DD Christmas Special: Scenes from the four Christmas days that one of ASH's oddest couples got to spend together, from when they were still enemies through their first (and only) Christmas as man and wife.
LL&DD #9 - Other Family: What if the world hadn't ended in 1998? What would the child of LL&DD have been like in that case...and would something as minor as not existing get in his way?
LL&DD #10 - The Ties That Bind: It's Valentine's Day 1996, LL&DD's first as a couple rather than as adversaries...and each is wondering if they can make it work. Or if they should.... Plus a vignette from 1998 on the subject of neckwear!
Special - "Pull": Doctor Developer started his career in Detroit, then moved to Chicago for a time. This is the story of that move, written for High Concept Challenge #10, "The Immigrant Experience".
Special - "Surprise": Halloween 1995, and maybe there's something to the Mask Principle after all.... Written for High Concept Challenge #27, "The Element of Surprise".
Special - "LabViews": Doctor Developer may have spent most of his career as a hero, but some of his villainous habits were hard to break...like stashing secret labs all over the place. And when you can't afford to attract attention, that means making do with a mismatched menagerie of machinery....
Special - Chore Bored: With DeeDee reformed and made an honest man, in January 1997 it's time to set up housekeeping and decide how the household chores will be divvied up. Yeah, that's gonna go smoothly.
Special - Empaneled: A short segment of a Supracon '96 panel, written for High Concept Challenge #36.5 "One Minute Origin".
Vignette - Two Fingers: A really short piece that started out as a Facebook post.
Vignette - A Lawn Too Far: Another Facebook post formatted and edited, involving the high cost of mowing.
LL&DD Special - A Lesser Mousetrap: In a world starting to go crazy with the effects of the Godmarket, there was still room for some of Doctor Developer's old projects to prove themselves...troublesome.

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