the One Steve Limit was broken by the reveal that Mannequin’s name was Alan. There was already an Alan in the story before then, Emma’s dad, who is a divorce lawyer.
The One Steve Limit, as convenient as it is, is itself bad writing, and resisting it is a touch of realism. In any case, as you’ll find out before the end of the chapter, this Alan was actually introduced first.
Yeah, the one-steve limit being broken isn’t bad writing, especially in superhero stories where people go by Cape names for a decent chunk of the time, and when it’s quickly established that they’re not the same person (like being in a setting previous people of the same name physically couldn’t be). It being revealed that Alexandria, Lung, and Skitter are all named Taylor Hebert was probably the weirdest one-steve-limit break, though.
Yeah, I forgot all about the first Alan until his surname was brought up.
I disagree that the One Steve Limit is bad writing. Sure, it’s more realistic to break it, but even in a story like Worm, realism should sometimes make way for clarity. Lack of realism is not bad writing. Confusing the reader when you don’t intend to confuse the reader is.
Even as much as I’ve gotten into the habit of calling characters by their first civilian names when I know them, I don’t have a problem with the Limit being broken in Worm so much as with the timing. It wasn’t a problem that we got a second Alan with Mannequin’s introduction. It was a problem that the first Alan came back two chapters after the last mention of the second Alan by that name, and immediately after we’ve been dealing with the second Alan for 3.5 Arcs, and the first Alan’s precise identity was kept hidden for a sizable section of the chapter.
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