Over on the Yahoo! DC History group Ed Bebee asked the question about the plot of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #105, "How do you disguise yourself when everyone looks like you? I suppose you could just claim to be someone other than the original. Getting out the disguise kit sounds futile."I thought the same thing when I read the comic synopsis and it reminded me of another of my favorite short stories by John Varley: The Barbie Murders.
The set up is simple and neat. There is a city on the moon, set up by the Temple of the Standardized Church of Luna. All members of the sect have had their bodies surgically altered so that they all look exactly alike. To join the church you give up your possessions, your identity and sex, as all of the members look like Barbie dolls; no nipples, no external genitalia. They all have the exact same physical traits: height, weight, hair, eyes, face, etc. They all wear the same clothes, all have the same haircut and none of them have a name.
Now in this mass of standardization one Barbie has killed another Barbie. You are the detective; figure out who did it.
This is one of the first Varley short stories I ever read. It was nominated for a Hugo and won the LOCUS Award for best novelette (sounds like a real fancy name for a short story to me). It presents many of the concepts of Varley fiction that I admire, particularly his refreshingly frank and open approach to human sexuality. The story is also a nice little puzzle piece.
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