There is a pandemic in the galaxy. Something, some virus-like alien lifeform, is spreading from world to world, bringing death and chaos with it. It adapts itself to any form of life it encounters, breeding and spreading, apparently unstoppable. And now it has come to the Earth.

The symptoms: Usually the infected experience cold sensations and itchy skin, followed by hallucinations scripted by the virus to make the victim unknowingly do the virus’s bidding. When the virus’s bidding is more complex, it can also cause mutations in its hosts, giving them otherworldly powers. And it is not limited to humans, it can also infect animals, plants, even Earth-viruses. Humanity needs an expert. That expert is: Dr. Vedzax.

Dr. Vedzax is a member of the League of Space Doctors, the most highly-trained medical minds in the Cosmos. He has devoted his life to eradicating this disease.

So anyway, Dr. Vedzax is an alien. I’m always annoyed when alien characters look just like humans, so Vedzax here does not. Real alien life is probably going to be astoundingly different, and science fiction should be preparing us for that (after all, if fiction teaches us to relate to inhuman beings, we’ll probably even get better at relating to other humans). Even Vedzax here has eyes and a mouth on his face, which is on his head and all that. Vedzax has limbs in the basic configuration we’re used to (though notice the small extra set of arms under his coat). But I figure, it’s less humanoid than a lot of aliens in comics, so it is a step in the right direction.

Also, having the hero be a doctor means that I don’t have to have every story solved by violence. I will grant you, that there have been excellent comics starring doctors who solve problems with violence, but a bit less of that would not hurt superhero comics at all. For real.

I often find myself holding doors for people, and this is especially noticeable now that I’m in school where, if I’m not careful, I can find myself holding the door for my whole class before I even make a conscious effort. This is nothing new. I can remember being in elementary school and holding the door as kids filed in from recess. At that time I kinda wrote it off as having the benefit that I got to be the last one in if I held the door for everyone. Maybe there was some truth to that, but it isn’t like I got a free half hour off of school. I was seconds behind the person ahead of me. And it certainly can’t be the case now, because I have no desire to be the last one to class any more. In university there is no assigned seating and PDR NEEDS to be in his chosen seat. If I don’t get there quickly, someone else could get my spot. But I often still hold the door when other people are around.

Another justification for my door-holding actions has crept into my head lately. I wasn’t looking for an excuse, I just accept door holding as a thing PDRs do, but the excuse appeared in my head anyway. Since I’ve noticed what an amazingly effective means of sickness schools are, it occurred to me that by holding doors, I cut down on the number of people touching the doors, and thus cut down on the number of germs being spread. Now, obviously, the amount of germspread I am preventing is practically nil. These kids touch everything around here. Avoiding one door won’t matter. Te fact that my mind bothered to come up with this made me curious about my door-holding. What is the real reason behind it?

Deep down, I think that I just don’t like the motion that a door makes when it is being handed from person to person. That swaying, the corners of the door making lunges at the passers-through, only just being prevented from making contact. Those corners could hurt someone. One day, those corners are going to hurt someone. The doors are going to show their evil ways and bring ruin upon us.

Doors are the enemy. My vigilant hand is the only thing that is preventing them from taking over. I am the Holder of Doors.

Here.