History[]
Libra Kelly is the eponymous protagonist of the 2000 AD strip Counterfeit Girl. When readers first encountered her she had adopted the identity of a retired exotic dancer called Lulu Fun, having previously been a bag lady and a biochemist (perhaps simultaneously, perhaps not). This is because Libra lives in a high-tech, overcrowded city in the near future where citizens' identities are constantly observed and monitored. The powerful multinational corporations can scan people wherever they go and find out the most intimate details of their lives, using the knowledge to gain power and wealth.
Libra pushes back against this oppressive society by working as an I.D. simmer: she shadows people, steals their identities and sells them to people who need to be somebody else for a while. Although she is chronically impoverished, she has a rule: "Anyone fighting the system, anyone messing with the corporations, they get my services for free." She's definitely had more names than she's had hot dinners.
When one of her former clients was tortured by the Albion Corporation, one of the biggest and nastiest businesses of the lot, Libra's true identity was laid bare and she had to go on the run. As she tried to stay one step ahead of Albion, she remembered how her father Scorpio had been the head of its security division, and how she herself had had a romantic relationship with Slayd Starflight, son of the CEO, Sir Albion Starflight. When Slayd's angry father found out about his son's girlfriend he had Slayd sent off-world for a year and Scorpio, who knew too much about the business's security, killed. Libra had managed to flee before Sir Albion had her murdered too.
An I.D. simmer called Gene Selfish gave Libra a new I.D. to help her hide (in exchange for a video of her in the shower) but she discovered soon afterwards that it was infected with a deadly disease. Libra tracked Gene down in a sleazy hostel, and was then flabbergasted when a young woman entered Gene's room and announced that she was the real Libra Kelly.
It turned out that the protagonist of Counterfeit Girl was, well, a counterfeit who had been created by the original Libra Kelly to throw the Albion Corporation off her scent. With her skull crammed full of someone else's memories, the counterfeit Libra — whose actual name and identity were as much of a mystery to herself as they were to the reader — had believed herself to be the real Libra. The truth was that she hadn't had a father called Scorpio, and she hadn't enjoyed a passionate love affair with Slayd Starflight. She was a drug addict whom the real Libra had found begging in the street, "who'd had enough of her crappy I.D. and was happy for a change."
The fake Libra was taken by the real Libra to be handed over to Sir Albion Starflight, so that the real Libra could continue her affair with Slayd undetected. (Sir Albion had downgraded his plans for Libra from 'death' to 'brainwashing', so that her skills could be used for the good of Albion Corporation and she would be a docile, perfectly compliant employee.) However, Gene Selfish — who was in love with fake Libra — called in some favours and had both Libras (and Slayd too, who had tagged along with the real Libra because he basically did whatever she said) waylaid by fake Libra's anti-corporation guerrilla friends. Fake Libra gave her I.D. and its infection to the real Libra, who was delivered to Sir Albion Starflight and brainwashed as he had planned. Slayd the doormat had to keep his mouth shut lest his father be told about his clandestine affair. (If he'd found out Slayd had gone against his wishes, he would have disinherited him, and Slayd would have lost an obscene amount of money. Slayd was the sort of person to whom this mattered.) Fake Libra was last seen walking off into a crowd of city-dwellers, wondering who she really was and pleased to be able to carry on fighting corrupt businesses without the Albion Corporation looking for her.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Stealing identities from one person and uploading them to another person; breaking and entering.
Strength level
Skinny human female who gets regular exercise (running away from the corporations' robots, drones, etc).
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Persona (machine which can give people new identities); a tiny modem in her brain that lets her link with machines; emergency savings in a fingerprint-sensitive account.
Notes[]
Libra's first appearance in prog 2000, going strictly by which order the pages were published in, was on the page just before the start of her series Counterfeit Girl. This was a page by Boo Cook showing a variety of 2000 AD characters drinking and/or fighting at a party.
Trivia[]
Libra's former identities include:
- Sybil Mann
- Mary Hair
- Beatrix Upp
- Anais Rank
- Virginia Plain
- Frances Paris
- Geisha Black
- Billie Jean Jupiter
- Karla Cooper
- Sally Ming
Links[]
- Appearances of Libra Kelly (Counterfeit)
- Character Gallery: Libra Kelly (Counterfeit)
- Images that feature Libra Kelly (Counterfeit)
- Fan-Art Gallery: Libra Kelly (Counterfeit)
- Libra Kelly (Counterfeit) quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Libra Kelly · Libra Kelly (Counterfeit)