No Power in the Verse - New 6 Issue Comic Series by ecgordon

I was wondering about that myself. Nothing like waiting a month to find out... *sigh

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Friday, December 30, 2016 12:24 PM

I like small details, like the same t-shirt Jayne wore in OiS:

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Sunday, January 1, 2017 5:27 PM

I love these characters and so desperately want to be back in that world, but the comic book isn't quite working for me. Part of it is that I don't think characters are being written consistently with the show, but part of it is also that there are in-Verse reasons for making it challenging for the authors to be spiritually true to the series.

These are what I see as the major obstacles for the writers:

1. Some things are sacred. When Joss Whedon was creating Firefly, the audience had no expectations. He had the freedom to take the story wherever he wanted (Fox execs aside). If the series had continued on, we probably would have seen some story lines not just develop but totally change directions. Looking at Buffy for comparison, Angel was clearly originally written to be the the major love interest but for most of the show, he's a minor side note. Xander likes Buffy. Then Cordelia. Then briefly Willow. Then Anya. In Firefly, we kind of hold sacred relationships as they were when the show ended. Or look at Willow's arc, where she becomes the major villain for a season. Would we accept that kind of character shift in the comics? I'm not so sure.

2. Loss of major characters. Wash and Book are part of what made Firefly Firefly. We love that family, and part of it is gone now. I think their voices were crucial to the ensemble, which leaves the comic book writers with a hell of a vacuum.

3. Tonal shift. Joss Whedon wrote this about Firefly: "I wanted to play with that classic notion of the frontier: not the people who made history, but the people history stepped on --the people for whom every act is the creation of civilization. Then again, there's also gunfights and action." The tone of the TV show (and early movie to some extent) is a found family trying to scrape by. When Joss wrote the movie, he clearly felt the need to shift tones to something more "cinematic." Their story changes in scope so that they're now integral to an event that affects the entire verse, basically the exact opposite of the original concept of the series. It has to be tough for the authors to honor the series while still dealing with the events of the movie.

Here is where I think the writing could use some work:

1. Minimal wit. The series is so insanely quotable. Dialogue is quick, clever, and impactful. There is very little in the comic books that I think is on the same level. I recently read Astonishing X-Men (Joss Whedon's run), and to me it felt so much more like Firefly dialogue.

2. Loss of character voice. To me, it feels a little like the writers don't totally understand the characters, especially River and Jayne. In the show, Jayne is pretty menacing. From the very first episode, we're worried he's going to turn on the captain. We learn he turned on Stitch in Jaynestown. He turned on Marco in Out of Gas.. He turns on River and Simon in Ariel. We're still supposed to love him, but if he's written as just a crude but sweet guy, I think part of his character is missing. And I get that River is especially hard to write, but this dialogue just doesn't sound like her voice at all to me. In this last issue, River says, "Let me go. Whatever you're doing here has nothing to do with me." I just can't hear Summer Glau as River saying those words.

3. Not a family. I love Joss as an ensemble writer, and I think he used that gift to create a great sense of found family in Firefly. In general, I feel like the comics are doing a really solid job of showing where that's been lost. I loved the scene where Jayne is seeing Book's ghost. Zoe clearly misses Wash. But I feel like we're not getting any sense of where it's still there. The scenes in Firefly where they're playing that basketball type game, or sharing stories about the natty thing, or eating apples that Jayne bought, or playing tall card, or just otherwise hanging out being a family.If you didn't already love these characters as a whole, it's hard for me to imagine finding that love by just reading the comics. And in the few places where it is there, it feels off to me. Like when Zoe is missing Wash but says, hey, at least I have River. That feels too much like just fan service to me. River is crazy and wholly unpredictable. You should be a little nervous if she's near your baby, even if she saver her yesterday.

I hate being negative about something I want to love so much, so here are some things that I think are working:
- I love the Jayne/Book's ghost scene I mentioned.
- I really liked the Free Comic Book for 2016, even if it was a lot of fan service
- I like knowing that Emma exists
- Some of the art is just unreal, including a lot of cover art
- I loved the explanation in Those Left Behind for why Book left.

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Monday, January 2, 2017 4:53 PM

Oh! And yes, MUTT999, I thought the same thing about Iris maybe hitting on Kaylee.

I can't think of anything definitive in the show, but I think Kaylee probably wasn't written to be bi. She seems fairly open about sex (she didn't seem shy when talking about vibrators on Beaumonde or when caught having sex in the engine room or when saying "Have great sex!" to Inara), and I think someone who is comfortable talking about sex is more likely (though I suppose not guaranteed) to have a good handle on their orientation. Her reaction to the Councilor (in War Stories) being a woman reads to me like a heterosexual person from a heteronormative culture to whom it hadn't occurred Inara's client might be female.

So nothing concrete. And I'd be happy to see better representations of other orientations in the Verse. But I think it would be a break from character.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2017 1:00 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Mudd:

2. Loss of character voice. To me, it feels a little like the writers don't totally understand the characters, especially River and Jayne. In the show, Jayne is pretty menacing. From the very first episode, we're worried he's going to turn on the captain. We learn he turned on Stitch in Jaynestown. He turned on Marco in Out of Gas.. He turns on River and Simon in Ariel. We're still supposed to love him, but if he's written as just a crude but sweet guy, I think part of his character is missing.

What is missing in Jayne is his greediness. Until this comic, you could get Jayne to do anything for money. He was the guy who put the “me” in mercenary.

Bea understood Jayne. A suitcase full of cash made Jayne want to help Bea find Mal in Leaves on the Wind in 2014. Now it is 2016 and nobody is paying Jayne. I do not understand why Jayne remains on Serenity.

The Jayne I am familiar with would leave when the money was gone in 2014. But in 2016, Bea is not paying Jayne. Neither is Mal. Somebody has taken our self-interested Jayne away and replaced him with a kinder, gentler Jayne who is no longer motivated solely by money. It must have happened between the end of one comic in 2014 and the beginning of the next in 2016. But how did it happen? I want the old, greedy Jayne back!

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, January 3, 2017 10:35 AM

So, as to this red haired companion. Someone on another site thinks it's Ceres, the companion mentioned in issue #1. Inara's rival. Makes sense:

(panel from current issue)

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Tuesday, January 3, 2017 11:56 AM

Second:
Exactly. I'd be okay with that being Jayne's arc. I think he was going to have to eventually realize the crew was family or he was going to turn on them. I like that either could work for me. I genuinely didn't know which way he'd go. But we needed to see how we got there. I kind of feel the same about Mal and Inara. The movie ends with them on the verge of an important moment, and then we jump over it to them being together.

Mutt:
That does make sense. Clearly we need to get back to Ceres at some point. But the comics have also been good about bringing back characters from the series. I feel like YoSaffBridge is too much of a fan favorite to not bring back eventually. Maybe Ceres has info on her? Out of curiosity, what's the other site?

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Friday, January 6, 2017 10:01 AM

Damn! How did I miss this?

Doctor Who #4!!

Found this on Reddit, posted by Nerrolken.

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Friday, January 6, 2017 10:35 AM

Whedonesque tweeted about that! Apparently the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler appeared in Buffy Season 8 #6.

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Friday, January 6, 2017 10:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mudd:
Whedonesque tweeted about that! Apparently the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler appeared in Buffy Season 8 #6.

Very cool! Thanks!

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017 10:17 AM

Issue #4 is out!

Another Weyland-Yutani reference.

I made this a really long time ago, maybe I wasn't too far off:

I mean, just because we haven't seen any Xenomorphs yet in the 'Verse....

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Wednesday, February 22, 2017 12:48 PM

Okay, 'nuff with the Alien stuff. Issue #5 is out and we have bigger fish to fry. It's coming to an end and the rescue attempt is on!

Stupid inbred stack of meat! I like that!

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Wednesday, February 22, 2017 2:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MUTT999:

Stupid inbred stack of meat! I like that!

Hah, we've got that one on our fridge. My kid called someone in her class that the other day when he kicked her chair

Now, to teach her the rest of the language...

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Wednesday, February 22, 2017 11:23 PM

DREAMTROVE

Firefly!

I don't know why people were arguing about silly old Trump when there was Firefly. No one mentioned this!

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017 7:54 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Available today: Serenity – No Power in the ‘Verse #6

“We’re bringing the Alliance down, once and for all.” - Mal Reynolds on the last page.

First comic in the series: Serenity – No Power in the ‘Verse #1
https://digital.darkhorse.com/books/6d04f29dad4c4da98c5ac32c145a3370/s
erenity-no-power-in-the-verse-1

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017 10:21 AM

Wow! A lot of fodder here for the next series. Fiddler's Green huh? So now we know why Inara left Sihnon. Mal is none too happy. Can't wait to see what kind of plan Mal comes up with to bring down the Alliance once and for all. Talk about David vs Goliath!

I enjoyed this series, and I like Jeanty's artwork. But maybe for the next series, which should come soon they say, we could have a different artist for each issue. Could be cool.

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017 11:34 PM

And if you bring down the Alliance, who goes up in their place? More aholes.

In fact, I think astronomy got it wrong, this planet revolves around aholes, not the sun...

Prove me wrong, I dare you

Ok, Mal, you wanna start a war??? I'm in.

Let's go a-warring. Will I see something "new"?

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Thursday, March 30, 2017 10:11 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
And if you bring down the Alliance, who goes up in their place? More aholes.

In fact, I think astronomy got it wrong, this planet revolves around aholes, not the sun...

Prove me wrong, I dare you.

The man who took over the Third Reich after Hitler committed suicide was not Field Marshal Hermann Goering, or SS chief Heinrich Himmler, but the head of the navy, Karl Dönitz. The following is Dönitz's description of his showdown with Himmler:

At about midnight he arrived, accompanied by six armed SS officers, and was received by my aide-de-camp, Walter Luedde-Neurath. I offered Himmler a chair and sat down at my desk, on which lay, hidden by some papers, a pistol with the safety catch off. I had never done anything of this sort in my life before, but I did not know what the outcome of this meeting might be.

I handed Himmler the telegram containing my appointment. "Please read this," I said. I watched him closely. As he read, an expression of astonishment, indeed of consternation, spread over his face. All hope seemed to collapse within him. He went very pale. Finally he stood up and bowed. "Allow me," he said, "to become the second man in your state." I replied that was out of the question and that there was no way I could make any use of his services.

Thus advised, he left me at about one o'clock in the morning. The showdown had taken place without force, and I felt relieved.
— Karl Dönitz, as quoted in The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_D%C3%B6nitz#Flensburg_government

If the Serenity comic books ever has a scene at the end of the Alliance War, it will be Mal holding the pistol. He shoots the Alliance's Heinrich Himmler dead. We can't have the comic book ending peacefully with Himmler walking away.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, March 30, 2017 10:57 AM

Usually, your fantasies are so far out there I gotta shake my head, but that one isn't bad. I could see it. I think hubby would like it, too.

I'm REALLY tired of the "Disney endings" where the bad guy just has to "live with what they've done". If they didn't have a problem DOING the act, they aren't going to have a problem LIVING with the act. And, it assumes they had a conscience to begin with...

So, how do we get to that point? Have Inara sleep with the head of the Alliance? Or do we have Jayne sleep with the head of the Alliance?

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Thursday, March 30, 2017 1:29 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
Usually, your fantasies are so far out there I gotta shake my head, but that one isn't bad. I could see it. I think hubby would like it, too.

I'm REALLY tired of the "Disney endings" where the bad guy just has to "live with what they've done". If they didn't have a problem DOING the act, they aren't going to have a problem LIVING with the act. And, it assumes they had a conscience to begin with...

So, how do we get to that point? Have Inara sleep with the head of the Alliance? Or do we have Jayne sleep with the head of the Alliance?

I'll shoot down the practicality of Mal bringing down the Alliance:

Leaves on the Wind ended with Jayne and Mal murdering prison guards in June 2014. Mal left a witness alive that knows Mal and Serenity. That is the kind of crime where Alliance Law enforcers will kill Mal on sight.

No Power in the ‘Verse ended with Mal about to get his head chopped off. He’d been disarmed, he was knocked down, but his crimes deserved no jury trial. Mal left another witness alive that knows Mal and Serenity.

Then the comic raised Mal’s violence another ten notches by blowing up ships, passengers included. Mal will be blamed because he was there.

I don’t think Mal will survive what the Alliance can throw at him next time. Mal has gone from a small time crook on the TV show to, in the comics, the worst criminal the Alliance has.

Does anybody think that the Alliance won’t immediately blow up Serenity wherever it is sighted? The Alliance knows the name of the ship and it knows Mal is the Captain. Mal will be the Alliance’s Osama bin Laden. When Mal raises troops he will become the Alliance’s Saddam Hussein.

I see a very short lifespan for Mal if he tries to bring the Alliance down, once and for all. He is being too ambitious taking on the Alliance. He is outnumbered and outgunned.
www.amazon.com/Summary-Always-Outnumbered-Outgunned-Walter-ebook/dp/B0
07GYM5EC/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, March 30, 2017 5:02 PM

Yeah, but how long did it take to actually take down Saddam or Bin Laden? Still dealing with some bureaucracy, no matter the order.

From the way he said it, it sounded like Mal had a plan already spinning in his head for what to do, maybe that's partially why he didn't respond to Inara...maybe her story about sexy secrets made him realize the way to take down the Alliance lies with the Companions, after all they'd have to know a bucket full of secrets, wouldn't they?

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Friday, March 31, 2017 9:05 AM

GWEK

I can't say that I love the direction this is headed, not the least of which because it contradicts Joss Whedon's vision of FIREFLY. Joss has said repeatedly that the Alliance is NOT evil. It is NOT the Empire. Yes, there are parts of it that are corrupt, but the majority of it is a positive force.

Whedon has also said time and again that FIREFLY isn't about people who make history, but about folks who get stepped on by history. The movie contradicts that somewhat, but does so in a way that is still largely in keeping with the idea. From the movie, at least, we don't know if Mal gets any credit for his actions, how striking the results of those actions will be, etc.

This seems to be making things basically just Star Wars without Jedi, and with a rebellion that's only one ship in size... but the thing is, we STILL haven't seen that the Alliance as a whole is evil, just these folks living in the shadows.

Meh.

Some interesting elements, but the whole thing reads like mediocre fanfic to me, with extremes that swing wildly away from the core material, and scenes that are highly derivative (didn't we already see Mal's final speech in SERENITY?).

I predict the next mini-series will be titled I AIM TO MISBEHAVE, or some variation thereof.

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Friday, March 31, 2017 2:14 PM

Yeah, but that was a decade ago...I'm sure our current administration has changed a LOT of Joss's views, in fact I suspect this latest development may be direct result of a conscious desire to end all the crazy.

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 5:04 PM

Hello, I'm new here. I hope this is a good place to post this. I'm wondering if/how the new info about Inara and Fiddler's Green fits with previous canon. I was under the impression that Inara had only recently left Sinohn before renting her shuttle, which, chronologers seem to agree, happened around the end of 2516. For instance, Nandi says that Inara "coulda been House Priestess, few years time." But now we're told Inara was exiled for something she did during the war, which ended in 2511. So would that mean that she had already been away from Sinohn for several years before joining Serenity, or did the House not find out what she had done until several years after the war? I'm leaning towards the latter. Perhaps the House would have never known, except that she eventually confessed, maybe because others were encouraging her to become the next House Priestess, and she didn't feel worthy of the position due to her role in the massacre.

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 7:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DANAJSPARKS:
Perhaps the House would have never known, except that she eventually confessed, maybe because others were encouraging her to become the next House Priestess, and she didn't feel worthy of the position due to her role in the massacre.

Howdy, newb

Yer guess is as good as ours. I haven't read EVERYTHING out there, but I don't think there is that much out there on that, since it's so recent a revelation.

Writing a fanfic?

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 8:17 PM

MOOSE

Newb? Look who's talking, Wishi!

Welcome!

I took it that Inara was immediately expelled.
Seems to me that if she had hidden it, they would have pulled her Companion status totally.
And yeah, I always assumed that Inara got to Serenity shortly after she left so it does seem to create a bit of a discrepancy.
But I don't think there's a real official official timeline of it, so I'm taking the comic as canon for now.

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 9:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:
Newb? Look who's talking, Wishi!

You do know this is my THIRD account and name on here? We moved and had to switch computers and providers...Anyway, I've been here since the movie was released on video which was December of 2005. I lurked for about six months, but I've been posting since 2006. Eleven years makes me... like...Master Apprentice or something. Brown Belt? Independent Army Sergeant??

I wish I could say I was around since the beginning, but I was busy with having a baby and working when the series came out. I know, excuses, excuses...

I remember the other version of this site, and the blue chat room. I know the fan name for the chat room is "The Juggled Gosling". I'm still and forever a "Flan"....I got my virtual Browncoat from someone named Doncoat eons ago. I've talked to hundreds of newbs in chat and on the main page. Been to a few events, got all the comics... Would you like to see my ID card??

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 10:22 PM

Thanks for the welcomes. I'm not really much of a fic writer, just tend to obsess about canon details and worldbuilding. This site is a bit of a rabbit hole for that kind of stuff. :D

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 11:02 PM

MOOSE

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:
Newb? Look who's talking, Wishi!

You do know this is my THIRD account and name on here? We moved and had to switch computers and providers...Anyway, I've been here since the movie was released on video which was December of 2005. I lurked for about six months, but I've been posting since 2006. Eleven years makes me... like...Master Apprentice or something. Brown Belt? Independent Army Sergeant?? I wish I could say I was around since the beginning, but I was busy with having a baby and working when the series came out. I know, excuses, excuses...

I remember the other version of this site, and the blue chat room. I know the fan name for the chat room is "The Juggled Gosling". I'm still and forever a "Flan"....I got my virtual Browncoat from someone named Doncoat eons ago. I've talked to hundreds of newbs in chat and on the main page. Been to a few events, got all the comics... Would you like to see my ID card??

TL/DR. Newb.

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Friday, September 15, 2017 1:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:

TL/DR. Newb.

I'll take it.

And....I can do things to your brain.

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Friday, September 15, 2017 2:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:
I took it that Inara was immediately expelled.
Seems to me that if she had hidden it, they would have pulled her Companion status totally.

If so, then I think this creates some new questions about Inara's past, like what was she doing before she joined Serenity?

It also adds to the mystery of Inara's true age. I'm going to assume that the minimum age for registered companions is 18, which would mean that she's 24, at the very least, when the series begins. Then add to that however many years of experience it takes to be on one's way to becoming House Priestess.

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Friday, September 15, 2017 3:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by danajsparks:

It also adds to the mystery of Inara's true age. I'm going to assume that the minimum age for registered companions is 18, which would mean that she's 24, at the very least, when the series begins. Then add to that however many years of experience it takes to be on one's way to becoming House Priestess.

I remember a conversation about that. Just like in the old west 16 was pretty much an old maid, some were speculating that in the future -with as jacked in as kids are now- that 16 would be a more likely age of consent. I think there would be a bit of cultural influence on that as well, with all the blending going on in the 'Verse.

We never do see anything about Inara's family, or even if she has one. I suppose she could have gone home for a while, she's bound to have a relative SOMEWHERE. Unless they were all on Miranda o.O

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Friday, September 15, 2017 8:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:

I remember a conversation about that. Just like in the old west 16 was pretty much an old maid, some were speculating that in the future -with as jacked in as kids are now- that 16 would be a more likely age of consent. I think there would be a bit of cultural influence on that as well, with all the blending going on in the 'Verse.

Yeah, I can definitely see the general age of consent as being about 16, especially since that's currently about the average age on a global scale. However, I feel like there are other factors to consider when it comes to companions, such as child labor laws, sex work regulations, contract law, and maybe even professional licensure requirements. In most countries today, the age of majority is 18, and any kind of sex work under the age 18 is usually illegal. For instance, in the Netherlands, age of consent is 16, but sex workers have to be at least 18.

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Friday, September 15, 2017 10:53 PM