Characters Who Have Killed

I've got an idea for a little study, but I need your help. Yes, just like Meatloaf at the Special Olympics, I am asking for the mighty comics bloggers to lend a hand to this poor boy. Now that I've run that into the ground, here's what I'm talking about.

I need to know about heroes who have killed, but have since sworn not to do so again. The death doesn't have to have occurred during their career as a costumed hero, it can have happened during an earlier part of their life (soldier, cop, mugging victim, etc.,). Cassandra Cain would be an example, even though she ended up killing again. In fact, if you could include whether they've kept that vow up until now, I'd appreciate that.

One thing, it needs to have at least been something referenced by the character at some point. What I mean is, Batman and Superman both used to kill criminals, but now they don't (Mostly? Is that time Supes killed 3 Kryptonians in continuity?). What I'm not clear on is the specifics of that change. Was there a point in their books, where each said "I'm not going to kill anymore", or did the writers just change the character at some point with no real explanation provided as to why the character's beliefs about killing had changed. If it's the former, by all means include them. If it's the latter, you can mention them, but I'm not sure that I'll count them.

The vague impression I've got right now is that in American comics, it's pretty much all-or-nothing. Either you don't kill, and never have (Spider-Man), or you killed before you were a "hero", and you continue to do that (Wolverine). In Japanese comics, I've noticed at least a few characters who for various have killed quite a lot at an earlier time in their life, and have since sworn, either to themselves or someone else, not to do so again (Kenshin and Ryoko come to mind quickly).

I may be over-generalizing here, but in manga, characters seem to become somewhat less bloodthirsty, or at least, killing is truly a last resort, only when they can't stop the person otherwise. In comics characters either remain the same, at least within the same version. There seems to be a difference between original (Earth-2?) Batman, and the current one. Barring that, they become more violent. They kill, and that causes a descent into greater darkness. I'd probably put Green Arrow and Colossus into this category. It just doesn't seem that characters go the route of getting less dark.

So any information you have on characters, cultural differences, your opinions based on what I've thrown out here, let's hear it.

That Message Was Jumbled, Please Repeat

For what is likely the first and last time, I want to talk about the Shining Knight. I was watching the episode of JLU "Patriot Acts" (because Cartoon Network in the U.S. is way the hell behind the rest of the world, apparently), and something just didn't add up. Run with me here, OK?

So S.K. is criticizing Dirty Harry because in it, Clint Eastwood doesn't follow his captain's orders. S.K. says that dishonors his captain. But then he tells Eiling a story about how he didn't obey an order to destroy a whole village, because he knew it was wrong. And he tells Eiling that the idea that a soldier is supposed to follow orders no matter what is why this time is so screwed up.

So what was his problem with Dirty Harry's actions again? Harry recognized the orders he was given as being, well to be blunt, dumb. Coddling a person who enjoys killing as much as Scorpio did? Harry finds that to be a stupid order, so he ignored it. Granted, it wasn't so good to ignore rules about warrants or Miranda rights (though I did enjoy Harry stomping on the guy's injured leg), but ultimately, Harry was right.

I guess the best I can figure is they hadn't finished watching the movie yet, and maybe Shining Knight would have changed his mind farther along. I don't know, maybe I missed something. But I'm with Vigilante; Shining Knight needs to watch what he says about Mr. Clint Eastwood.

Movies

I watched 2001:A Space Odyssey for the first time a few weekends ago. I kind of wish I hadn't wasted my time. It was a lot like Citizen Kane in that I can see why people gush over it from a cinematography standpoint, but I can't see anyone watching it because they find it enjoyable. I wound up being extremely bored (just like with Citizen Kane), which is funny, because I really enjoyed the book, as well as the next three books in the series. I guess I read faster than Kubrick directs. But this got me thinking about movies.

It seems like there are certain movies everyone has seen. And it also seems like I often haven't seen these movies, for whatever reason. I've never watched any of the Godfather movies. The idea of them just doesn't catach me. I've never watched E.T., which has surprised more than a few of my friends. Nathan always tells me I need to watch Field of Dreams. Yeah, I'm going to waste two-and-a-half hours on Kevin Costner. I learned my lesson after Dances with Wolves about that.

What about you? What are some movies that it seems like everyone you know has seen, but you haven't? Do you have any interest in actually seeing them?

Free-for-all #2 - Comic thoughts

Just a few thoughts on the books I bought this week:

I really want to know the circumstances between Wolverine (hereafter referred to as some form of James Howlett) and Bucky. Why would Bucky kill James' loved ones? Besides the obvious explanation that he's actually the Bucky from the Ultimate Universe, so his role model was the jerk that calls himself Captain America in that universe. Which means the Bucky in the Ultimate Universe may be the Marvel version. Because he's old, he can't tell this isn't the same Cap he worked with during WW2.

Seriously though, I am interested, I just wish it hadn't taken Way four parts of a five part story to accomplish that.

I think that Ultimate Peter Parker's life is difficult enough without Nick Fury actively trying to make it worse, to "test" him. I think what's going to happen is, that Fury is going to unleash those "Slayers" he confiscated (I mean, liberated) on Peter, and simultaneously use that genetic paralyzer S.H.I.E.L.D. has on Peter, to block his powers, to really put Pete through the wringer. Good thing he'll have Spider-Gir. . . I'm sorry, I can't call her that. She's Shadowcat. Period.

This could wind up being like that story Larsen did, when Peter asked to have his powers removed, but then his enemies kept causing trouble, so Peter wound up trying to fight the Scorpion without powers.

I'm still not sure why we're seeing so much of the Squadron Supreme these days, regardless of incarnation. Is this supposed to be Marvel's version of the Pocket Dimension?

Should I just assume we're never going to see Peter use his "new" powers for as long as he has this spiffy armor? Or should I just assume we're never going to see Peter use his "new" powers ever again, thus making "The Other" a complete waste of four months?

Free-for-all - Non-comic thoughts

First off, go check out Len's blog, Commanding Thoughts. You'll do it because I told you.

Second, why does Nintendo keep pushing back the release of The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess? First it was to be released in November of 2005, then April of '06, and now it's June. Fantastic. Hopefully it's because they're trying to get all the bugs worked out, and not because they've decided to make it a Revolution launch title. If it's the latter, it'll probably be 2008 before I play it (I'm far too cheap to buy a new game console). Still, when you're console got poned as badly worldwide by the PS2 as the Gamecube did (it's even worse if you look just at the U.S.), I'd think you might not want to piss off your customers by pushing back the most eagerly anticipated game again, and again, and again.

That being said, I am enjoying The Legend of Zelda:The Windwaker. It's even made me stop my rotating game schedule (I was playing about 8 different games for about two hours at a time there for a couple months). I've gotten used to the visual style, even if I still don't love it. Cruising around in the boat is pretty fun, especially once it stops making you go to certain places, and lets you travel as you wish. SPOILER WARNING! I was a little disappointed that Tetra seemed to become so demure when she found out she was Zelda, but I guess that could be chalked up to shock from finding out the truth. She had been so brash up until then, taking crap from no one, kinda Huntress-like, only a good leader.

I played a quick game of Heroclix today, and won. Len gave me a rundown of the rules, and I went up against Jack. I did win, but I was playing with Len's clix, my opposition didn't have his full compliment, and I'm pretty sure he held back. There was a moment early where he was going to do something with Emerald Empress, and Len asked him not to do that to a guy on his first time. Still, pity victory, I'll take it.

SPOILER WARNING! Watching Evangelion last night, it occurred to me that the humans should have lost already. Their Evas are actually Angels, but they've got "armor" on, which actually serves to bind their power. So when they fight, their strength is restrained. How then, are they able to defeat any Angels, whose powers aren't restrained? I suppose in a series as messed up as Evangelion, I shouldn't worry about stuff like that. I further suppose I should just ask Papafred. He is after all, the one who taught me that Evangelion really has three endings, and so you should just pick the ending you like best and treat that one as the "true" ending. Who explained all kinds of things about Rei Ayanami's origin that I would have never gotten on my own, not to mention all the Judeo-Christian symbolism. I'm sure he'd give me some line about how the human soul bonded to the Eva, and that makes it more powerful. Of course, when you've watched the series so many times that you know what the characters are saying when you're watching it in Japanese with no subtitles, and you don't speak Japanese, you damn well ought to know the series inside and out.

A few years back, Papafred takes a film history class. For this, he had to watch a classic film and write a fifteen page paper on it. Papafred was a Computer Science major, so writing astute film analysis is not really his strength. Of course, neither is English in general, just ask Dr. Gathman. There's a reason why he dubbed me his "thesaurus". Anyway, he chose Forbidden Planet (it always amuses me that Leslie Nielsen was once a "serious" actor), and gave it his best shot to describe the undertones of repressed sexuality in the film. Which included our favorite dialogue, "Randy (the Robot), where have you been? I was giving myself a lube job."

Yeah, I'll bet.

Anyway, Papafred got through it, passed the class, and that was that, but we always joked that if he could have written the paper over Evangelion, he could have gotten fifteen pages easily. Hell, in fifteen pages, he probably wouldn't even have gotten past all the stuff about Rei.

The Future of Cassandra Cain

Now that it's been a week since the release of the final issue of Batgirl I figure it's safe to discuss openly, without spoiler warnings. But mainly I want to talk about what's next for her.

It seems pretty obvious she isn't Batgirl anymore. Even if I didn't have the impression she renounced the title, killing somone doesn't seem to be acceptable behavior to Batman. So I kind of doubt he'd take her back, even if she were inclined to ask. So what then? Is she doomed to just fade into the background of the DC Universe, someone ultimately remembered only by the fans? Well, let's ignore that distasteful possibility and try to figure out some others.

I think the destruction of Bludhaven, for no real reason other than Deathstroke was pissed off that Nightwing showed him up, is the true catalyst for Cassandra's changed outlook. She seems to recognize that it's kind of dumb to let these lunatics like Luthor, the Joker, and Slade Wilson run around killing whomever they please, with the only punishment being they get locked up, usually for a limited period of time. I think Cassandra has concluded some people can't change, and the only way to deal with them, is elimination. It doesn't mean she's necessarily happy about it. I don't believe she took any pleasure from killing her mother, and accepting her "legacy", so to speak, but she understands it may be an acceptable response. This isn't to say she becomes the Punisher, just killing all the time. But I think Cassandra could realize when she's dealing with someone who can't be reasoned with, that won't care about jail time, and in those scenarios, she would be prepared to take that final step.

That being said, she shouldn't go the Deadshot route. She shouldn't become a killer-for-hire. I aslo doubt she's going to be joining the Birds of Prey at this point, although Barbara could try to bring into the group, to try and "rehabilitate" Cassandra.

I could see her just being a wandering vigilante, traveling the world, dealing with problems as she comes across them. This wouldn't have to involve killing, or even violence. I think her ability to communicate should continue to improve, and her ability to read people's emotions would prove valuable in trying to settle some disputes through negotiations. She could cut through any posturing bullcrap.

Two other ideas that came to me today:

Cass joins the Outsiders. Supposedly, they're going to deal with the problems the other teams don't want to handle, because it would require getting too dirty. I think at this point, "getting dirty" isn't something Cassandra would have a huge problem with, and the Outsiders could do a lot worse.

Cassandra is the "surprise!" member of the Secret Six, maybe under the name Kasumi (the one she used in Justice League Elite). Think about it. The way Luthor formed the team, it was designed to have enemies that were familiar with pretty much every heroes rouge's gallery, and who hopefully had some sort of rep with them. I'd say "the girl who killed Lady Shiva" would have a rep with some people. Maybe not all the Bat-villains, they're too crazy (or dumb), but there would be some healthy respect/fear for her. Plus, it would make it a little harder for the Bat-family to try to catch the Six, with one of their friends on the squad.

I got to say, I like that idea the best of all. What are your thoughts/predictions?

What I Bought 2/22/06

It's a little later than normal, but it's been a bit of a hectic day. So here we go, four books, spoiler warnings, yadda, yadda, etc.

Wolverine #39 - And so we reach part 4 of 5 in this story. I got to admit I was stunned by the realization, mostly because I haven't felt like much was happening. And for the second month in a row, I finished reading the book with a sense that it hadn't been finished. Like there were supposed to be more pages this month. I don't know why that would be, the issue ended in a perfectly logical place. Maybe it's because there hasn't been much dialogue, I guess I've grown used to Bendisian yak-fests.

Anyway, Wolverine is hunting for Bucky. I refuse to call him Winter Soldier. I swear that is the stupidest name ever. This has lead him to Bucky's current stomping grounds, which is apparently the nation formerly known as Yugoslavia. Hmm, when dealing with a character with the repuation Bucky has apparently gained (in his universe, not ours) over the last fifty years or so, I would think it would be a mistake to go after the guy on his turf. But the only other option is to draw him to yours, and I doubt Logan could devise a way to do that, so here they are in Belgrade.

The fight between the two is actually kind of sporadic. It starts and stops for various reasons. But there is a sense of brutality in the fight. This isn't too much about flashy moves and ninja tricks. Nope, nobody here is using salad bowls to cross moats, although we do learn that covering yourself in ink is an easy way to hide from enemies, with no short-term health ramifications. Where was I? Oh yeah, the fight. So it's kind of an ugly fight, mostly cheap shots. And at the end, we find out why Logan is so eager to get after Bucky. And it isn't because Buck helped him escape from Department K. I would say I'd be looking forward to next month, if I thought there was any chance Editorial would let James Howlett knock off Cap's "little buddy". Still, I'm hopeful there'll be some sort resolution that evryone can be happy with. Maybe Howlett could castrate Bucky. Not a bad issue, so 3.5 out of 5.

Ultimate Spider-Man #90 - Things I learned in this issue: It's hard to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. (without dying). Silver Sable doesn't like it when you kill her soldiers. If you fire a person, they may put a former espionage agent in a high tech suit and send him to kill you. Nick Fury likes to watch people have bad days. Nick Fury is planning to make Peter's life harder in the near future. Nick Fury is a manipulative asshole. OK, I knew that already. I did learn that Peter really needs to kill everyone in the Ultimate Universe. Seriously, beat Gah' Lak' Tus to it. When even Cyclops is laughing at a crappy made-for-TV movie that involves you, it's time to start breaking some necks.

But that's just silly. Peter wouldn't do that. Even though he probably wishes he was back to just being hated and accused of being a multi-armed freak, as opposed to being laughed at. I did enjoy this issue. I may not have indicated that up to this point, but the fight between Peter and Ultimate Vulture was well done. I really like that Vulture suit. I know it isn't original (the Vulture had one like it in Amazing Spider-Man back in the '90s), but damn, I love those feather-blades! Freaking awesome! What can I say, I'm very visually oriented. It seems like quite a lot happened. The Silver Sable thing got resolved, as I believe she'll want to stay far away from Spider-Man and the crap that surrounds his life. We know who was gunning for "Idiot Who Runs Roxxon", we know Nick Fury's got stuff planned. And we know Nick Fury can do entirely too much stuff. Where's the checks and balances people? Stop the reckless theft and appropriation of high tech gizmos by one-eyed men! 5 out of 5.

Exiles #77 - Man, the Squadron Supreme are everywhere these days. You've got Supreme Power, which is just Ultimate Squadron Supreme, and a few of them have been popping up in New Thunderbolts. And now this. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

The good thing here is that with a new team member (Miguel O'Hara, aka Spider-Man of 2099), they have to explain things to him, which helps newbie reader (i.e, me) catch up. I find out why exactly the Exiles had been jumping around from reality to reality (fixing damage done by the weird bug guys in the Crystal Palace), and that chasing Proteus around isn't part of that, and that the Exiles have screwed things up in the last two universes they visited.

Anyway, Proteus helps the Squadron out of a jam, and uses Mimic's memories to convince the Squadron he's on their side, and the Exiles are dangerous loose cannons. Which is true to an extent. They run around, altering realities, and from the view of the people in those universes, it may not be for the better. Right about then, the Exiles catch up, and we get the misunderstanding brawl, as Proteus bails to another reality. Hmm, the Squadron is essentially the JLA (a good version, not the crap they trotted out there the last few issues). The Exiles biggest gun is, Sabretooth? Longshot? Yeah, that'll end well for the title characters.

So, they're in deep stuff. I mean Proteus would be hard to stop on most any day. But now he has the Hulk 2099 body (supposedly more powerful than current Hulk), so he doesn't even need to use his powers. I am very happy with this book so far. There was talking, fighting, potentially some set-up for long standing problems, and this book still has a letter column! Hell yes! 5 out of 5.

Amazing Spider-Man #529 - I'm a little concerned about where that stinger thing between his legs is coming from. OK, cheap joke over. So Peter goes out to fight some crime, that's nice. And Tony Stark is still a voyeur, I mean an eagle statue with communication devices in the Parker's bedroom? Freak. They should have had him putting the moves on MJ, not Logan. Tony explains why there was no evidence of Mary Jane's arm having been broken by Morlun in any of the later issues of "The Other". I wonder whether that was actually planned, or if the artist for Marvel Knights Spider-Man screwed up, and they just decided "Screw it. For the rest of this her arm looks normal. When it's over, JMS will have Stark give some goofy-ass answer as to why." Peter does a nice job of saving a hostage, and the cops take advantage of the situation to scare the crap out of the criminals. At the end, Tony (and his gigantic forehead) offers to make Peter his protege. This has bad idea written all over it. I don't mean for the writers, I mean for Peter. Tony is telling Peter, "I can't tell you what it is I need you for, until you take a blood oath to not tell anyone else about what it is that I'm going to use you for. That includes Captain America." There's no possible way that can be a good thing. Peter should just say no thanks, and if Tony is angered by this, then give back the costume, so you don't feel you owe him anything.

Oh yes, the costume. I haven't really discussed it in this review. Here's my take: It's hideous. Spider-Man does not need a suit with all sorts of goofy crap in it. He is not a normal human like Tony Stark. He has spider-powers, powers which have enabled him to beat almost every villain in the Marvel Universe at some time or the other. All Peter needs is his web-shooters (I still don't see how he can use organic web-shooters if he has gigantic stingers popping out of the same location), and a costume that doesn't interfere with his powers. reed Richards could make that in like three minutes, and it would probably look much better. Fortunately, Peter is going to come to his senses in the next few months and dump this thing, so I'm prepared to accept it as just another mistake Peter makes, like that time he teamed up with the Fabulous Frog-Man. And now I will speak of it no more. 3 out of 5.