Sunday Trade: Buck Godot
Buck Godot: Zap Gun For Hire by Phil Foglio
A collection of four short stories from Foglio's short lived humor/scifi series. Buck is a freelance soldier/PI/bodyguard/etc on the planet of New Hong Kong. A planet with no laws. See in the future, some time after humanity started making a ruckus, these nigh indestructible floating robots called The Law showed up. They'd pop up on a world, and everyone would have a chance to vote Yes or No on all the laws. And once a majority voted in a law, then the Law-bots would enforce it. And they'd do that by taking away criminals. Never to be seen again...
Except on New Hong Kong. Where someone managed to rig the voting machines. So that the only option was "There Shall Be No Laws On New Hong Kong". Well for interfering with the vote that dude got hauled off, but the damage was done. New Hong Kong had no laws. Making it a haven for ne'r do wells and fortune hunters and grey area types. Like Buck Godot...
Its a pity that there is so little of this series. Enough for three collections, and slim ones at that. Along with the XXXenophile ccg its a project I'd love to see the Foglios get back on. Buck is a cynical, sarcastic, violent fat man. For some reason that appeals to me...