#if that comic writer can just decide to do whatever stupid bs they want then i sure as hell can too!

[final-boy]

Reminder that fan ocs are actually really cool and fun and sexy actually

[saintheartwing]

So Why Should A Hero Be Moral?

The idea of a guy with super powers doing incredible things wasn’t invented by either Japanese anime, western comics, or some obscure 1920′s writer somewhere. No, no, it goes as far back, at least in terms of written record, to Plato’s work known as “Republic”. We find it beginning with the description of an “ancestor of Gyges”. And if you know that name...you know about Gyges’s Ring.

See, this ring makes you invisible if you slip it on. Using the ring, this man got into the king’s palace, seduced the king’s wife, killed the king with her help, and became the new ruler. This story is told to pose a question to us. “Do people actually love justice and goodness for its own sake, or do they do it because they realize if they’re unjust, there’ll be consequences for their actions?

Glaucon, the narrator, takes an “Immoralist” viewpoint. If ANY such person had that kinda magic ring, they’d behave in the same way. NOBODY would “refrain his hands from the possession of others and not touch them”. Well, this is quite the question. Would you do that? Should you do that? But it goes further. Glaucon also claims that if there were any people with special powers so committed to doing good that they’d still seek to be just, the rest of us would despise them and regard them with contempt. Why? Because if anyone who had a license to do whatever the hell they thought refused to do wrong or lay their hands on others things, the reaction would be “What the hell are you, stupid? You moron! You can do f--king anything and you’re not doing it?”

So Glaucon challenges Socrates in “Republic”. If you want to make a really convincing argument for why people should seek to BE good and not just APPEAR good, well, then show that the life of a person who is truly just but thought by others not to be so is superior to the life of someone who is ACTUALLY unjust, but has a good reputation. We have to compare the lives of people who are genuinely good vs the people who pretend to be so, but are thought of, outwardly, as good.

This is quite the challenge. So then...why SHOULD someone with superpowers or powers of any kind be good at all? Why should people, in general, be good? Not just appear good...BE good? Well, Plato presented a person, in Republic, as being someone who was thought of as unjust and suffered accordingly despite being good...and that person maaaaay have come from personal experience. After all, his beloved teacher was Socrates, a wise, brilliant and formerly well-known and cherished philosopher...who people turned on thanks to trumped up legal charges by claiming he was “corrupting the youth” and other BS claims. So a real, genuine, actual good person DID get thought of as being a stupid ignorant fool and let’s all boo and hiss him and then execute him via the state.

But we’re not in Ancient Greece, so let’s try to call on someone a LITTLE more modern. Kierkegaard the German Philosopher! He said that humans are called upon in life to, well, live a live of universal love. We are called by God to love our neighbors as ourselves, and nobody really falls outside that category of “neighbor”. It’s kinda like the idea of “We’re all brothers in Christ”.

OBVIOUSLY this isn’t even close to being an easy task, Kierkegaard says we need to overcome natural selfishness, and the inertia that pushes us toward the satisfaction of our own desires when those desires conflict with the good of others. This is the “first danger”. The first obstacle to goodness, justice and love. If you CAN overcome this, you can then face the external issue...a “double danger”. What is that?

Kierkegaard says that the big struggle involves first the person’s inner being struggling with themselves, then with the world outside. Because we don’t live in a world where it’s easy to love one another and to be just, after all.

So a moral person has to engage in a certain amount of self-denial. Only THEN can you overcome the firm pull of selfish desire. But  then we have to contend with the world because the world isn’t gonna be so nice to us. We may admire sainthood from a distance but facing real, actual virtue can be...disturbing to folks. Think of, say, figures like Gandhi or Dr. King or Harvey Milk or Nelson Mandela. Oh sure, people may ADORE them now but at the time they were alive, folks severely hated them in a lot of places. They were controversial figures who incurred a lot of criticism and in many cases for many beloved figures today...they got murdered for their efforts.

And the temptation of double danger and the like isn’t necessarily the temptation to be a supervillain. Take Spider-Man. Peter’s on his way to see MJ perform. He promised he’d see her. But...uh oh. Some guys are robbing an unfortunate in an alleyway. And...well, he’s Spider-Man! He’s got to help them! So he ends up missing her performance because he had to save people. This wasn’t a temptation to use his powers for financial gain or anything. It was a choice between using your powers for good or...well, just having a normal, private kinda life. He’s tempted to be ORDINARY, not evil. A lot of us kind of experience this. Most of us aren’t tempted to be villains. We wanna be free to pursue our own individual happiness is all.

However Peter also experiences the second danger because J Jonah Jameson, head of the biggest paper in the city, is ALWAYS shouting how Spidey is a menace. Menace! MENACE! Despite Spider-Man saving his life multiple times, AND his son, AND NYC, AND the World over and over...

But no. MENACE!

The good news is the average NYC person doesn’t seem to fear Spider-Man. Unless Joe f--kin’ Quesada is writing the story or the episode because yeah, THAT isn’t tired and played out. But such a thing is a good example of the double danger. Either they cynically refuse to believe in his goodness...or they call him a chump behind his back. Just as Glaucon said they would.

But what does Plato say in response? Well, Plato says that in the long run we’ll be happier both in life and in death, if we live in accordance with justice by turning our attention to the good. Morality reflects the true, deep character of the universe. Those who are committed to the good are committed to what is profoundly and eternally true. It’s no accident this viewpoint’s seen as religious, writers from St. Augustine to C.S Lewis have viewed his metaphysical version of the world as very much congruent to their own faith.

It’s also a matter of mutual responsibilities. Tobe a parent or a son or daughter or husband or wife or a citizen of a state means you have duties to the other. Certain obligations are just part of those kinds of relationships. It doesn’t just merely become grounds to love doing good but to enforce morality across wider stretches and turn it into duty.

For example, driving at a moderate speed is a good thing to do, but we also further enforce this as a legal obligation with speed limits. We don’t just have a moral duty to do the right thing, but a legal one at that. And that’s before we get into any kind of open religious reason for being good. Ultimately, Kierkegaard makes the argument, much like Plato, that humans have a simple reason to behave good. Because our own deepest and ultimate happiness is found by following the path of neighbor love.

But of course, now we get to an opposing viewpoint that has sprung up a lot. The concern of UTILITARIANISM. Let me paint a picture for you of a comic featuring Batman. The Joker is on trial for poisoning stamps. People lick them and they die. This time...the Joker’s found guilty and is going to death row. He is, in fact, going to DIE. And nobody could really argue that he doesn’t deserve it. Even though I’m almost completely against the death penalty...

It’s the goddamn JOKER. There are SOME exceptions to the rule. Some people who, absolutely, one hundred percent, would be too, TOO dangerous to let live and whom everyone else in the world would be better off if they were dead, who’ve proven, even if they were unarmed and had nothing but a glass of water...would smash that glass of water, cut the throats of everyone around them and then grab your gun and shoot you.

But...here’s the thing. THIS time...the Joker’s innocent. Batman knows he didn’t do it.

So...what should he do? A lot of us, and I’m tempted myself, would say, well, “Let the motherf--ker fry in the chair”.

Let’s think up another possibility. The Green Goblin has lasso’d an irritated dishwasher. He’s soaring on his Goblin Glider, the poor guy being dragged behind him, screaming all the way, he gets broken ribs and everything. Luckily, Spider-Man saves him. Now, what nobody knows is the guy was a disgrunted employee who had a gun in his pocket. He was gonna unload it into the first asshole in the diner he worked at because he was sick and tired of being underpaid by a cruel boss, picked on at work, and he just one day has decided he’s had enough. With what he WENT through now though, he gives up on his plan, destroys his gun, and signs up for an anger management course. 

So was what the Green Goblin did the right thing? Well, a UTILITARIAN would argue yes, it was. But surely that’s not correct, dragging a rando around Fifth and Main with the intention of traumatizing the guy and maybe even killing him just to use him as bait for his nemesis is CLEARLY an evil act, even if it UNINTENTIONALLY produces a greater good. 

So who do we turn to now? Let’s try Immanuel Kant. Kant maintained our fundamental duty is to act in a way that satisfies what’s called the “categorical imperative”. A formulation that states we should ALWAYS treat people as an ends in themselves, not MERELY as means. This comes down to treating people as always having intrinsic value, and never just using them for our own purposes as if they just had INSTRUMENTAL value. But remember, performing an action in accordance with the categorical imperative alone isn’t enough to make it good. You have to do it because it is your duty to do it! If an action treats an individual as an ends in and of themselves and the person performs the action regarding such individuals in way that indicates they’re following their duty of treating people appropriately, then their action is good. So treat others first as people, not as means to an end, and do it for the right reasons, not for selfish ones. It’s your duty to yourself, to others in Kant’s eyes. 

So what are these “duties” though? Now we get into the weeds. There’s positive and negative duties. Positive is stuff like tending to  the sick. Feeding and clothing the poor. Negative duties are obligations to REFRAIN from doing things that harm people, like assaulting an innocent person or maliciously lying to them. By doing our positive duties, we treat people as ends in and of themselves by showing them respect, and we’re fulfilling our negative duties by avoid treating them as merely a means. 

Spider-Man dives into this sort of thinking a lot. It’s classic line “with great power comes great responsibility” is an admonishment for people to be careful with the powers they have. Those who have power have a duty and an obligation to help those in need. Boiled down simply, its answering the question of “But why be moral at all?” For one, if you fail to do your duty, there will be negative consequences that affect you, directly or indirectly. But then again, this can be questionable. Sometimes reason one isn’t convincing in a world where evil can easily bring profit and virtue none at all. So what’s the second reason?

Because it’s right. 

People like Kant and FH. Bradley, another philosopher, have brought this up. Appealing to someone’s self-interest in the name of getting them to do a moral duty is basically missing the point. Them doing it for pragmatic or selfish reasons means they’re not behaving morally at all. You have to do the right thing BECAUSE it’s right. Not for some self-interested reward. But what if we’re given very strong reasons to do the wrong thing? Then doing the right thing would be irrational. So we have to make sure we’re not being irrational in doing the right thing.

So if reason one and reason two don’t work...is there a third reason? Well, yes. Let’s go back to Plato. Plato says “It’s the only way you’ll really have piece of mind”. According to Plato, a person’s soul consists of reason, of appetites, and the “spirited element”. Reason includes the conscience, and reason MUST govern the soul or the soul is discordant, lacking in harmony. But there’s plenty of people who don’t approach life from a dominantly moral perspective, so does this idea work? After all, even many morally upright people face temptation at some point, or give in occasionally. 

Artistole had another answer. Virtue is its own reward. Being moral is a greater benefit to you than any benefit you might obtain at the expense of your good moral character. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem necessarily true,, the rewards of perfect virtue do not always compensate compared to the rewards for wrongdoing. So then what’s next? 

Reason five! Doing good pays off in the long run. Now, if you’re a religious person, you may already know about this answer. It’s very similar to reason one. But we don’t have to accept it. It calls for some strong metaphysical positions about the nature of reality. 

But then again, maybe it’s not a singular answer that IS the answer. Maybe the multitude of reasons given here are good enough. Maybe it’s a little of them all that explains WHY heroes should behave in a moral way. Why people should be moral and good. Ultimately, how you choose to answer the question”Why be moral”...that’s up to you, and hopefully, you can be proud of the answer you give. 

[mobius-prime]

137. Knuckles the Echidna #29

My Special Friend

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Art Mawhinney Colors: Frank Gagliardo

We have another standalone issue this time! Sally is pissed, as apparently she's just found out that Antoine was a part of the mission to retrieve her mother and brother from the Floating Island a while back, and is yelling at him for never having told her. He guiltily responds that it wasn't his place to tell her, and so she stalks off to see her father. He tries to speak first, but she, to her credit, cuts him off and insists that he listen to her first before he says anything.

I don't know how much the "I was only trying to protect you" excuse flies when she's literally talking about his previous orders to murder all Robians and force her into an arranged marriage. However, for whatever reason she listens to him, and he orders her to the Floating Island to hopefully negotiate some help in the renewed war against Robotnik. Meanwhile on said island, Knuckles is chatting with Catweazle, a face we haven't seen in a very long time, but in case you don't know him he's a cockatoo with a stupid name and a stupid appearance who first appeared very briefly in the Triple Trouble special. He's mostly come here to cheekily complain at Knuckles, first about him spending so much time in the city as of late, then about his own family, the possibility of Lara-Le and Wynmacher producing a new child of their own (which is a subject Knuckles carefully avoids), and finally, about recent sightings of Overlander craft flying around the island.

Gee, I wonder who those could belong to? They spot one flying towards the island at this very moment, and inside is Sally, presumably having "borrowed" it from Robotnik to take it out here. She's apparently feeling very guilty now about questioning her father, which is really something she has absolutely no reason to feel considering the BS he's pulled ever since coming out of the Zone of Silence. Nicole points out that his sickness and trauma from said zone has probably contributed to his irrational behavior, but then Sally says something I find to be extremely out of character, namely that her father's suggestion to dismantle the Robians was an "arguably pragmatic solution," that he must have done it in case of a situation like this where Robotnik was able to turn around and use them against the citizens of the kingdom once more, and that if she'd been through what he had, she might have done the same. Just, what? This is not like Sally at all - sure, she's an intelligent leader who knows how to make the hard decisions when she must, but that has never included literally murdering over four million unfortunate people just because they had the bad luck to be captured in the war. All I can chalk this up to is either her father's frankly quite emotionally abusive demeanor getting to her head, or - more likely - Penders doing a terrible job at writing Sally. This is just not the Sally we've known for over a hundred issues, this is not how she thinks or acts, and it's honestly a really messed up thing to try to write her as endorsing.

But anyway, Nicole advises her to activate a beacon in the ship, which the Brotherhood, still watching from inside Haven, recognizes as broadcasting the king's digital signature. They allow the ship to land, and she plops it down on the grass at the edge of the island right next to Knuckles, who she immediately marches up on and begins yelling at as well. Man, Sally just loves yelling at people this issue, huh?

Okay, that is a genuinely hilarious excuse to give for her coloring changes in the beginning of the comic. I'll accept it because that is amazing. Anyway, she confronts Knuckles about the existence of her mother and brother on the island, prompting him to retort that even he didn't have any idea they were here, and that if he'd known he would have gone straight to her about it. She just responds that she's here to see the Brotherhood, heading off any ideas he then has about her keeping that secret from him by saying she only learned of their existence today through her father. As if on cue, Spectre poofs in with the help of Deo Volente, and in comparison to his edgelord attitude in past issues he's very warm and welcoming to Sally, escorting her to Haven along with Knuckles to introduce her to the family.

I have to point out that the family line given here is in dispute - for whatever reason, several different issues disagree with each other on the placement of Sojourner and Thunderhawk, with some saying Thunderhawk is the father of Sojourner and others having it the other way around. I think the final order decided upon was the one depicted here, with Sojourner being the son of Spectre and the father of Thunderhawk, but even that isn't fully clear. Boy, it sure is fun keeping all these names straight, isn't it?

As Spectre ushers everyone into a meeting room, Knuckles quietly confronts his father off to the side about how his secret-keeping has now led to his friends, as well, being affected. Locke simply retorts that Sally and he shouldn't have been friends to begin with, and when Knuckles irritably challenges the idea that Locke should be able to decide who he can and can't be friends with Locke dismissively states that Sally's "people" try too hard to coexist peacefully with the Overlanders, which has only led to them being constantly embroiled in war. Geez, Locke, any sympathy? Any at all? Neither the Great War nor the previous Robotnik War were the fault of Sally's people - in fact, they were both almost entirely the fault of Robotnik, with the Great War having Kodos share some of that blame - and this current war is hardly their fault either. His assessment of the situation is downright cold. But it turns out, in a sense, he's just following tradition, as evidenced by the response of the other members of the Brotherhood to Sally's petition for aid.

Because she refuses to agree to the use of literally all kinds of technology, which knowing these guys probably includes nuclear weapons, they decide to give her precisely no help at all, and she leaves Haven in an understandable state of anger and disappointment. It's like these assholes don't even consider the fact that Robotnik will hardly be content to stop at the surface world - we already have evidence from more than one incident where the original Robotnik was planning to extend his rule out into space once he was finished with the planet, and considering the new Robotnik literally dimension-hopped to find even more places to conquer once he bombed his home zone into oblivion, I highly doubt he's just going to leave the island alone if you guys try to remain neutral.

Ugh, this whole issue is just a mess. Knuckles visits the Colonel's compound, asking about Sally, and soon finds her sitting at the edge of the island alone. He tries to talk to her, but when she brushes him off again he points out that just as her own father hid a lot of secrets from her in the past, so has his own. He reminds her of their friendship, how they spent many days together as kids and were able to relate to each other over their duties under their respective fathers. Sally is still upset, and asks him why he didn't support her when the rest of the Brotherhood was shooting her down back there, and he points out that he can't buck tradition any more than she can, given their positions.

The Colonel and his wife (still creepily referring to each other as "mother" and "father") watch the two of them argue through the window of the compound, lamenting that they're so young and should be able to play and enjoy life, not have to fight wars and carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. I've already gone over this, but that's kind of the point - that these wars have left the world so messed up that child soldiers are the norm now, not even because a regime forced them to fight against their will, but because they had no other choice - that if they didn't fight, the world would have fallen.

As Sally leaves, Knuckles watches her go, sadly thinking to himself about how the commonalities that once brought them together and made them able to relate to one another were now tearing their friendship apart. He ends up feeling torn between his childhood friend and his duty to his family and people. Honestly, it's a hard choice to make - after all, as much as Sally would like it, he can't just leave the island and come help her out in the war. Even if he did want to ditch tradition and reject his place as part of the Brotherhood, at this point, given everything that's happened in his comic so far, there's so much keeping him tethered to this place, so many ties he'd have to cut if he wanted to go help in the war. It's a rough position to be in, for sure.

Coming up after a few more issues, we actually have the final arc of this series - the Knuckles the Echidna comic was cancelled not long after this, meaning there's only room for one more three-issue arc. To be honest, I'm a little sad to see it go - I know I've been over this many times, but despite the many problems with how he writes, I am genuinely fond of a lot of the characters, plots, and worldbuilding that are in Kenders' works, and it was interesting to see those things shone in their own dedicated comic. We've still got several more issues before it ends, though, so time to move forward!

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #131: A Quiet Half-Hour in Saigon

January, 1975

This time, the Legion of the Unliving! Which is always an embarrassment to the writers when some dead characters turn out to not actually be dead. But to be fair, how could Steve Englehart know that Steve Englehart would be bringing Wonder Man back in twenty issues?

Also, as usual, this cover is a filthy lie. As the title suggests, this issue is more about a quiet moment before the storm. The Avengers taking some time to chat it up and explore character beats while behind the scenes a foe (spoilers: its Kang again) prepares a new attack.

The cover would be more accurate if the Avengers were standing around oblivious while the Legion of the Unliving loomed behind them. And maybe the Avengers would be taking a water cooler break, standing around talking about the game.

Anyway.

Last times: Kang kidnapped several women, including one very past menopause, because one was destined to be the Celestial Madonna and have a god baby but it turned out to be Mantis and also Swordsman died and Kang literally wrestled with himself and the Avengers went to Vietnam to explore Mantis’ past some more and got into a scrum with the Titanic Three, three ex-villains who decided it would be more fulfilling to be North Vietnam’s Avengers but who will inevitably go back to villainy.

This time: I already said. Its a breather episode, of sorts.

Although we do start with Mantis KLOK!ing a mugger right in the face.

What the dude was even thinking trying to mug this particular garishly dressed group, I’ll never understand.

He seems confused that someone dressed like a bar girl is so agile. Which. This whole time, Mantis was just dressed in her old uniform? That’s a bar girl outfit? She’s been serving on the Avengers basically dressed like a cocktail waitress?

Although I guess if its okay when Zatanna does it...

Anyway, after kicking the dude, choking him, and then slamming his face into the ground, she takes a moment to angst about becoming the Celestial Madonna and that she’s unknown on the streets where she remembers growing up.

But Mantis time is over, Steve Rogers just showed up in his new Nomad identity and becomes the center of attention.

And geez, he’s the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s smiling in every panel. He just wrapped up his first case against the Serpent Squad and decided to drop in on the Avengers.

Iron Man gives him a friendly shoulder punch and tells him he’s looking great, apparently unable to remove his gaze from Steve’s exposed man cleavage.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye bemoans all the changes the Avengers have been through since Hawkeye ragequit the team. Steve is Nomad, Swordsman died, Wanda studying witchcraft. It makes him wonder where that leaves him.

Meanwhile, Kang and Rama-Tut continue wrestling through time. Rama-Tut basically being ‘geez just accept you’re going to mellow out in the future’ and Kang is more like “You cannot make me believe that I will become as soft as you! Though we fall through this void for a thousand thousand eras, I’ll yet fight on!”

Kang needs to chill.

But he doesn’t get the opportunity to either chill or fight for a thousand thousand eras because his time sphere is yanked into Limbo. No, not the Illyana Rasputin dimension.

Instead, the timeless realm of Immortus, MASTER OF TIME.

The narration wonders how a timeless place can have a sequence of events and that is a really good question.

Kang immediately gets into a dick waving contest demanding to know who Immortus is and why he thinks his name alone should impress him.

The reason this is a dick waving contest is that Kang already knows who Immortus is. He’s been spying on the Avengers since #8 and even though Enchantress retconned the entirety of issue #10, Kang still saw it happen. He says this later. He’s just being difficult.

Immortus puts Rama-Tut into an imprisonment tube and Kang decides to take the time to yell at the unconscious man. He gets really into it too while Immortus looks on at his baby tantrum and muses that Kang is most certainly a man he can use.

Meanwhile, back in Saigon. Which. I mean. Can you say meanwhile when one of the places is a timeless place? Limbo is too confusing.

Hawkeye contacts Jarvis on the handheld visio-transceiver to see if Captain Marvel returned their message yet. He has not. As I said, very busy in his own book. Even though he expected the Avengers to drop everything for an issue to be part of his big storyline, they don’t get the same courtesy.

This is why everybody prefers Monica and Carol to you, Mar-Vell.

Hawkeye then asks if Wanda can come to the screen for a quick chat but she’s sequestered with Agatha Harkness and she left strict orders that they were not to be disturbed.

And while that call is going on, Mantis approaches Vision. But not to seduce him this time.

She apologizes for her behavior toward him in the recent past. And although Vision insists there’s no need to apologize, she likewise insists yuh-huh. With the whole Celestial Madonna thing, it seems that her life is coming to a new phase and she wants to put her affairs in order for whatever happens next.

Vision tells her she’s taking this too seriously and that if anything, he was flattered. And if an android can feel that emotion, imagine what new heights she could reach!

But that’s the thing. Mantis does not want to reach new heights. She was happy as she was.

Meanwhile, everything is great for Steve Rogers! He’s very much the guy that’s finally dating again after a contentious divorce. Except in this case, its after the president of the United States committed suicide in front of him after trying to take over the country with a mutant-powered UFO.

But it feels good to put the White House scandals behind him and start again. He’s even thinking of rejoining the Avengers. After he gets that pesky Serpent Squad finished off! Ha ha ha!

There’s a lot of Steve/Tony shipping fodder in this issue.

Meanwhile again, Mantis stands on the outside looking in, admiring the spirit of adventure and camaraderie between the Avengers. She thinks of herself as a Not-Avenger but I call BS on that. She appeared in Giant-Size #1 and Swordsman didn’t. She’s at least a de facto Avenger.

Also, her Mantis senses are tingling that someone is watching her but by the time she looks, the mysterious cloaked figured from last issue who has been watching her from the roof has disappeared.

And apparently in timeless Limbo, five hours have passed while Kang yelled at his older self and only now has Immortus gotten to the point of bringing Kang here.

Also, only thirteen minutes have passed in Saigon. Remember, half-hour in Saigon is in the title.

Immortus wants Kang to help him attack the Avengers. And here Kang reveals that he did know who Immortus was all along and is familiar with his work in issue #10.

Rama-Tut, now awake but still in the imprisonment tube, tells Kang he’ll never capture the Celestial Madonna. So Kang threatens to kill him. Which is less stupid than it sounds. Killing his future self won’t affect his present self and he doesn’t want to become Rama-Tut so he’ll be glad to have himself die if he ever does.

Anyway, Kang wants to use Immortus’ ability to pluck men from any era, like he did in retconned issue #10. Except he’s going to do it smart, not dumb like Immortus did.

Immortus grants Kang power over his machines to let Kang do what Kang gonna do.

So Kang summons the Legion of the Unliving, as seen on the cover!

With a specific eye toward people with powers and people who will bring a crucial element of fear to this campaign because all these people are dead by the year 1974, which is the year the comic is in.

First, the Frankenstein Monster (Adam or The Modern Prometheus to his friends)! Because Hammer Horror is spooky.

But seriously getting into it, the next selection is WONDER MAN from the year 1964! A man whose powers were created to equal the original Avengers, who the Avengers let die, and whose brain patterns were used to create the Vision.

His appearance will cause consternation in all the Avengers but will discombobulate the Vision most of all. And that’s what’s important because the Vision will be the one most likely to remain calm and logical in this assault.

So lets double up.

The next member of the Legion will be the original HUMAN TORCH from 1954!

More like the Human-Shaped Torch or perhaps the Inhuman Torch. Since he’s a robot. But he will serve as a threat to Vision’s robot body as Wonder Man threatens his artificial mind.

For reasons that will be revealed in upcoming issues but I’ve already touched on it before.

The next selection is to match Mantis. MIDNIGHT from 1973 but also from the Master of Kung Fu #16.

He’ll be able to counter Mantis with his own martial arts. That way Mantis can be taken unharmed so that she can marry Kang and make him the ruler of the universe.

You can give Kang this. He stays on message.

Next, the GHOST from 1969 but also from Silver Surfer #8-9. He is a pirate ghost. And he was chosen because he’s double dead or something.

And last, BARON ZEMO! Died in Avengers #15. Surely a man with no powers who was dumb enough to glue a mask to his own face will aid this battle. I mean, I guess seeing him would discombobulate Captain America. If he were participating in this battle. Which he isn’t. So. Choosing Zemo is stupid. You went against your own stupid rules, Kang.

BUT ANYWAY GROUP SHOT!

Although, if the point is to confuse and terrify the Avengers, I have to wonder why he didn’t choose Swordsman for his Legion of the Unliving. Having to fight against Swordsman so shortly after watching him die would rub some major salt in the wound. Could they even raise a hand to their recently fallen friend?

These are some haphazard selections, Kang. I mean I gave you shit about Zemo but at least the Avengers have some feelings about him probably. And Wonder Man and Human Torch are inspired choices. But who are these nobodies like Midnight and the Ghost and ‘Frankenstein’? What are they to the Avengers?

Back in Saigon, Vision decides to talk to Iron Man about love. Which makes him incredibly uncomfortable. Its kind of great.

Vision confesses he finds Mantis’ presence distracting. Her recent distress and the idea that she may leave the Avengers soon have become things that tug at his thoughts. And surely Iron Man has picked up some knowledge regarding matters of the heart after all that time he has spent with his employer, renowned playboy Tony Stark.

Iron Man tries to stammer through an answer that love is different for everybody.

Realizing that the subject embarrasses him, Vision swiftly lets him off the hook and promises he will never talk about love with Iron Man again. To Iron Man’s immense relief.

Meanwhile, Mantis is still wondering about her fate and the feeling of being watched when she spots Swordsman’s ghost in the busy streets of Saigon.

Just “standing there so grim and... green.”

She tries to tell herself that its not happening. Tries to force herself to stop seeing it. But finally she breaks and runs toward the green ghost. But as she reaches the spot where he was, he is no longer.

Its now minute twenty-four of the apparently literal half hour.

Oh, and the narration assures us that Kang had nothing to do with the apparition. Which would have been a really good way to grab Mantis without the Avengers being able to stop him.

Because as we are soon to learn, with Immortus’ equipment, he can just kidnap people right to Limbo.

But Kang and Immortus are too busy discussing tactics right now. See, Kang initially wanted to just transport himself and the Legion of the Unliving to 1974 to fight the Avengers in Saigon. But Immortus talks him around to just kidnapping the Avengers to Limbo.

There is an endless maze of tunnels beneath Castle Limbo. And if Kang wishes to inspire fear and confusion in the Avengers, its a good battleground.

Its a good idea. AND THE LAST THING HE NEEDED FROM IMMORTUS!

He traps the Master of Time in an imprisonment tube.

Kang has no respect for a man that holds his attacks until an ally appears. Immortus lacks the aptitude for true warfare. And he thought Kang would consent to be a mere warlord in his court.

Immortus acts surprised at this sudden but inevitable betrayal but he really shouldn’t.

Now, twenty-eight minutes into the Quiet Half-Hour in Saigon and Cap Nomad receives a notification that the Serpent Squad has been sighted in Los Angeles. So off Nomad goes, bounding over a wall to go wrestle some snake themed supervillains. And, again, this is the happiest he’s been in a while.

And as soon as Nomad is gone and Hawkeye wonders what they’re going to do now, the Avengers are kidnapped to Limbo with a mighty KZAP!

Transported into separate locations within the labyrinth beneath Castle Limbo.

And Kang contacts them on the PA telling them they’ve defied his will for the last time and that they will die here in the Labyrinths of Limbo. And then he sicks the Legion of the Unliving on them.

And that’s the end of the story. But there are more pages in the book. The letters pages have been included! And dang but there was apparently a shipping war in the fandom back in 1974.

But the letters I’ve seen in this and recent issues seem to lean toward Vison and Mantis getting together.

One letter says that Vision and Wanda’s relationship has gone far enough. “One of the most basic beliefs of love is to eventually marry and procreate children. How can a machine return love and warmth to Wanda? How could the Vision be a father? The whole situation is unrealistic. I know this is comics, but with the realism Marvel has instilled in its books, I hope this is changed.”

Another letter argues that Vision and Mantis suit each other much more naturally than Vision and Wanda and hurls vile obscenities on anyone that disagrees. Both Vision and Mantis “exhibit magnificent control of both body and mind, they are both without a past, and both are ‘strangers in strange lands.’” And wonders why Vision even loves Wanda. I mean, sure, he can see why Wanda loves such a mysterious, brooding powerful, attractive fellow with a sexy voice. But why does Vision love Wanda? The letter writer theorizes “The Vision, thrust into a world of mature adults, is still immature in the ways of the heart. To hide his emotional adolescence, he becomes involved with a beautiful woman. More importantly, being ‘in love’ with Wanda makes him feel human. Read over the last sentence. We all know how much the Vision would like to be human. He’s somewhat resolved to the impossibility of this, but loving Wanda compensates for it.”

Another letter in last issue, wanted the love square between Wanda, Mantis, Swordsman, and Vision to end with Vision and Mantis together and was noncommittal what would happen to the other two.

Which is all funny, looking back from a perspective of Wanda and Vision being one of THE couples of Marvel to rival Hank and Jan (divorced), Scott and Jean (she died, he remarried), Peter and MJ (demonically retconned), Black Bolt and Medusa (divorced) and Reed and Sue (together but could probably use marriage therapy but there’s no therapists in the space between dimensions where Reed trapped them to rebuild the universe without running it by Sue).

Hm. Discouraging. But anyway, with the perspective looking back, its weird to realize that at one point, it wasn’t sure that Wanda and Vision would end up together, get married, have demon children, lose their demon children, get divorced, and eventually Wanda would go crazy and cause Vision to be killed by She-Hulk. Readers back then wouldn’t know that.

And its heartening, in a weird, small way, that basically fandom has never changed. People have always been over-invested in who fictional characters kissed and they will continue to always be over-invested in who fictional characters kissed.

I can only hope that the letters pages continue to be included on Marvel Unlimited so I can see how people react to upcoming events.

[onyx-archer]

The Flash Episode 20 Post-Episode Ramble

Alright, so this is kind of an impromptu post that will likely piss off SOME people (you know who you are) given how I’m going to tag this, and just be warned I’m not putting up with your bullshit tonight. I’m gonna be going into spoilers for this episode, given how it finally reveals the true identity of the big bad, and I want to talk about how I feel about it, and the show going forward. I’ll do it below the cut so them pesky WestAllen fans can fuck off for me talking about shit that they can willfully ignore because it’s not visible.

OH, and to the WestAllens who actually go to read the post and then proceed to act like you’re superior, this time you don’t actually have to see me calling Iris a badly written character... outside of this sentence of course. Oh, and yeah, that was me kicking at you with the intent to bother you. Just know if you decide to talk down to me like you know better that you will be blocked at the absolute worst. Keep it civil and mature, or don’t bother. I’m tagging it this way because I’m talking about the ship a little below the cut... though I’m being civil about it. It plays into my talking of the episode, so bite me, tags aren’t just to gush about ships and whatever.

Anyway, onto the bulk of the post:

So a number of things were done in this episode. Let’s talk about them.

First off, we meet the newest character of the show, Tracy Brand. By the sounds of her significance in defeating Savitar, she’ll probably stick around from here on out... adding to the roster of characters for next season. Assuming Caitlin is reformed (which I hope to the gods she is after this shitty “turn to the dark side” arc of hers) that’ll make the major cast will be at least 9 characters... which is a bit bloated.

It raises concern from me since part of the reason why Arrow fell into a pit of mediocrity was it’s cast became too large to support it’s writing properly. Not saying The Flash will suffer in the same way, but given how this season has been written, I think my concern is justified. We’ll have to wait and see either way. After all, we have 3 more episodes for stuff to happen to change this. And for all I know, Tracy will only be a recurring character after this Season. Again, time will tell.

Next we have the little Joe romance subplot. Given that I honestly can’t be fucked to remember her name right now (even with her major role as a plot device for the climax of the episode), I think it’s apparent that I don’t really find it interesting, though my mom (my grandmother, long story, not gonna bother with it here) thinks it cute (and according to her, better than the WestAllen stuff this season, which I can agree with), so I figured I could find something to say about it. It’s not that it’s a bad subplot for the season or anything; honestly, Joe deserves a lady like her in his life after all of the stuff he went through last season with his ex-wife.

My problem here is that after this episode, I only see her as a potential liability for Joe (which he himself knows is the case, hence why he tried to cut the ties prior to the climax), and by proxy, Barry and Wally (and potentially Cisco, assuming he embraces his Vibe identity more next season). Joe trying to cut the relationship off to “protect her” is honestly incredibly stupid in my mind, since he knows that Savitar could go after her, let alone Caitlin (we’ll get to that) if he distances himself from her, since the villain always aims for a potential weak spot to gain the high ground in a confrontation. Sadly, Joe was hit with a momentary dose of stupidity, and it nearly got her killed. It’s a tired trope, and it’s something I could do without, given all it does is reinforce the use of a “damsel-in-distress” type scenario, which is lazy writing.

Next, I’m briefly going to touch on the absence of Wally for most of this episode. I’m sure there might have been off camera reasons for it (life happens, and sometimes things need to be changed to fit that), but when my mom and I are asking each other “Where’s Wally?” and we don’t remember being told he was visiting Jesse on Earth-3, there’s a problem. I don’t recall them mentioning that in the episode, though that might have been during one of those moments when I couldn’t hear the TV, since I was in the next room over (as the kitchen and living room are divided by a wall, but no doors). If that’s the case, then whoops.

Now we get into the Caitlin stuff. You know, the stuff I have a problem with over all. I refer you to my last post talking about Caitlin’s shit writing this season, but just in case you don’t want to bother, lemme give you the short version: Caitlin’s transition into a villain was so pointlessly stupid, and poorly written, that it makes her look mentally deficient. Keep in mind that Caitlin is one of my favorite characters in the show, so me being ticked with the handling of her character is out of love for the character. I know that Killer Frost is a villain in the comics, and that Caitlin Snow is an incarnation of Killer Frost, but last I remember, the Caitlin Snow Killer Frost in the comics wasn’t really “evil,” and was now a member of the FUCKING JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA! Yeah, it took a little bit to get there, but it happened.

The Killer Frost that the show is CLEARLY trying to be more like is Louise Lincoln, aka the Killer Frost that is referred to as “Killer Frost” in most non-comic DC properties. I honestly think this is a waste of a character... and that it goes against the character’s “heart.” Caitlin Snow is a woman who wants to do right in the memory of her dead husband in this show, yet if Ronnie could see her now, he’d be disappointed in her... and that’s a BIG reason why I think her arc in this season is bullshit. That, and like, SHE HAS FRIENDS WHO HAVE POWERS! I’m still utterly confused as to the logic behind NOT TELLING YOUR FRIENDS WITH POWERS YOU HAVE POWERS AND THAT YOU ARE SCARED OF THEM! It makes no logical sense, but this show is a teen drama, where logic goes out the window as the plot demands it... so Caitlin is made into an idiot because “drama” which is really stupid. Again, Ronnie would be so disappointed in her. Hopefully Savitar’s defeat fixes this crappy character shift, but that’s up to the writers. Personally, I’d love it if they made her a good Killer Frost, and maybe introduce the Louise Lincoln one in some capacity? It’d be interesting. Again though, that’s up to the writers.

The only good this episode touched upon with Killer Frost is Cisco getting a shining moment of badass, in a scene that echoes the scene where he loses his hands, as we saw in the last episode during Future Cisco’s flashback to explain why he couldn’t use his Vibe powers (which, by the way, is kinda bullshit logic if you ask me, since it’s more of a psychic ability... not a physical one... but whatever, maybe he got psyched out by the loss of his hands). I like how Cisco struggles to hurt his best friend, even if she’s flown over the cuckoo's nest, though it was incredibly trite that he’s only NOW afraid his powers could kill someone... But hey, Cisco was able to save the day, and since Cisco is ALSO one of my favorite characters, I can push aside fringe logic BS long enough to enjoy that subplot for the episode. I continue to hope that next Season, Cisco will do more as Vibe... but we’ll have to wait and see.

Next, it’s time for me to talk about Savitar, and his true identity reveal. The fact that they strung us along for 20 fucking episodes over this shit really bothers me... given that the reveal, while being an interesting enough twist, is beyond stupid. They poorly foreshadowed Savitar being a future Barry, and that’s the thing that bothers me the most. You know, other than a few aspects of the reveal, and the fact that it’s Barry. First, the fact that it’s an alternate timeline version of Barry is fine (I guess), and that he’s a product of something of a bootstrap paradox is alright too... but why in the fuck is it BARRY? It wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact that this makes the WestAllen aspect of the show even more idiotic in it’s pacing.

Because Savitar is Barry, and Barry loves Iris... wouldn’t he NOT want to kill Iris, to prevent past Barry from becoming him? I get that he lost his mind at some point, be that prior to being trapped in the Speedforce prison, or afterwards, but how does his motivation make sense anymore? Like, what does killing Iris do other than ensure his descent into madness, which isn’t even guaranteed. We don’t know if the Savitar we know is what happens to Barry in the future we saw in the previous episode after enough time passes, or if he’s a version of Barry that happens BECAUSE Barry went to the future... or anything of the sort. I hope we get answers, because fuck dude, Savitar’s a dumb fuck. I’m incredibly perplexed about this aspect. He wants to make Barry lose hope by killing the woman he once loved and that this version of himself currently loves? Why? Because he got faster, and more powerful as a result?

Something tells me that they are going to explain the loss of Barry’s mind with a “he began using Caitlin’s Velocity formula out of desperation, only for it to affect his mind like it did with Trajectory.” Also, I wouldn’t be surprised that it’s because of said speed enhancing drug, he needs the Savitar armor to run, so he doesn’t burn up? I mean, Tracy did hypothesize that he needs the armor to run as fast as he does due to the amount of energy he gives off in this very episode... so it’d make sense? It’d be an interesting way to tie things in with the previous season... but at the same time, it would make the whole “Savitar gained his speed from the Philosopher’s Stone” thing not be accurate...

Also, what was with that use of the “Trigger Phrase” realisation? I mean, Barry just suddenly put the pieces together because of something Joe and Cisco says? When the audience couldn’t? Say what you will, but that is poor set up for a twist, at least compared to the last two seasons. With Season 1, it was more in your face about the whole “Wells is actually Thawne” thing, but with Season 2, they hid clues to “Jay’s” identity in plain sight, with the use of visual cues, and small hints that were obvious if you went looking for them. But with Savitar, it’s all dialogue stuff, which makes it harder to figure out unless you binge the show... or at least that’s how I see it. Overall, I think Savitar’s reveal only further’s my view on Iris being a plot device, seeing as her death is the direct cause of Savitar’s “ascension” into the villain that kills Iris in the first place... making Iris’s life itself the deciding factor of everything... which is beyond stupid.

Iris does so little in the show (which my mom pointed out several times this evening), that her death has no real weight to anyone who doesn’t like the romance (that was rushed in this season to play to the stakes of her death being the cause of Savitar’s “birth.”), which is bad from a writing standpoint. Every viewer should feel like her death matters, because they connected with the character, yet everyone I know personally who watches the show feels nothing about her impending demise, or is, at the very least, bothered by the concept of her being “refrigerator’d,” because of their socio-political leanings.  I don’t feel like she’s done anything of significant value for the story thus far, and I know plenty of people who share that sentiment. So with the writers shoving in every little thing to try and get the viewer to care about Iris’s life, even those that up until now didn’t really care for the character, is made more aggravating by the fact that she is now the key for the birth of the very villain that kills her in the first place.

If they had properly paced the romance, and made it believable enough to the average viewer, this would be an interesting development... but I’m sorry, the response to the character and her writing is so mixed that this feels like an awkward means to garner sympathy from the audience for a badly structured romance. I’m aware that people will say “the majority will say they like her!” and what not (I’m looking at you, WestAllens), but the fact that people like myself don’t care, that people like my mom, a casual fan of this kind of show doesn’t care, and my friend @ericthatguyyouknow, a die-hard fan of the comics doesn’t care, along with all of the SnowBarry’s I’ve interacted with that have expressed similar frustrations to the writing of the show’s romances, among other things, shows that the romance is not universally liked, canon be damned.

Sure, there will always be people who don’t like a relationship in the canon, you can’t really say there’s been an instance where that’s not the case... you can’t please everybody. But the fact of the matter is if people don’t care about the fate of a character, romance or otherwise, you’ve fucked up as a writer. A poorly written character is the kind of character that garners a feeling of apathy in regards to the fate of said character, whereas a good character is one you WANT to see happy if they are good guys, or punished if they are bad guys. Iris, to many people, is a bad character because they don’t care about her life, and this sudden revelation that her death causes Barry to go fucking mad, causing an endless loop of misery for Barry only makes them MAD, because it’s roping in the fate of a character they like with a character they don’t care about.

As hard as it is to believe, I don’t want to feel apathetic about Iris’s fate, or Iris in general. I want to be able to go “Iris is fantastic!” But I can’t ignore the faults that I see in the show’s writing and handling of her character when it’s directly in the way of her being seen as that great character that WestAllens and other Iris fans see. In Season 1, I knew this relationship was the likely direction... but after Season 2, I was left disappointed at best. I see problems you don’t, and that’s fine. Enjoy what you want.

I went a bit off topic there towards the end, but all in all, this episode was good in places, bad in other places, and is overall, pretty average I’d say. I don’t like the reveal much, and I continue to hate Caitlin’s badly written “heel turn arc.” Iris still feels useless, and this revelation doesn’t really change much for me. I’m mad that it took so long to get this reveal and how it was handled, but I’m glad we finally know so we can move forward. I’ll probably make a post like this next week too, so look forward to that if you want.

Oh, and before I forget, a reminder I’m putting this in the WestAllen tag AND the SnowBarry/FlashFrost tags because I tried to make a point involving those ships, or at least the character within those ships.

Side-note: There are people who want to say that SnowBarry/FlashFrost is abusive because of how Barry is trying to protect people from an unstable Caitlin, and has to use force to do so... well, uh, a version of Barry literally kills Iris... for no real reason other than wanting to keep a cycle going? I get that it’s an alternate future version of Barry, but still, I think that when it’s Barry killing Iris, vs Barry defending people from Caitlin with force... the former is the more “abusive” aspect of it. Although, that argument is bunk, since it’s only used to “validate” one’s hatred of a ship... even though the justification in itself is poorly thought out, and doesn’t understand the concept of “abusive actions” versus “the defence of one’s self and others from an aggressor.”

Also of note: The fact that Caitlin was so quick to help Savitar after learning his identity... makes you wonder why that was, doesn’t it? Eh, I’m sure it’s nothing.