Got confirmation of a bit of bad work-related news this week. I was expecting it, but there was always a chance it wouldn't happen. As Red once noted, hope is a dangerous thing. But there's about 6 weeks until it comes to a head, so in the meanwhile, comics! Today, Calvin takes precisely the opposite lesson from comics from what the writers likely intended!
Set during the stretch of the Clone Saga where Peter and MJ moved to the Pacific Northwest, Ben's struggling with being back in a place that holds plenty of memories, but where he can't fit. Because those are Parker's memories, and whether Ben's the real deal or a clone, he doesn't get to be Peter Parker. He does get to be Spider-Man, though, and heads out to capture Carrion, who is lashing out because he got some bad news and can't cope. Ben extends a helping hand, Carrion goes back to Ravencroft.
Ben has a conversation with Dr. Kafka, but rejects the offer of therapy or friendship. Also, Peter apparently explained the whole clone thing to Kafka at some point. The issue ends with Scorpion in Ben's apartment, calling him Spider-Man. Jeez, he let Scorpion dope out his secret identity? At least Peter had the excuse the symbiote snitched to Brock and the Puma used his super-senses.
Hard for me to believe Ben would unmask to her just like that. Unless DeMatteis' point is Ben's in denial. He's simultaneously building walls and tearing them down. I'm surprised DeMatteis isn't showing Ben trying to build a real life for himself in New York. He still thinks this is going to be transitory, that he'll lose it at some point, so why bother? Or he's scared. I identify with it either way, part of why I always liked Ben.
Baldeon's more restrained on the facial expressions than he was with Domino, but this book isn't as over-the-top as that was. There's still variety and nuance, but not as many people looking psychotically angry or screaming. Although Ben was wearing his mask when he briefly lost control, so we could only see one eye during that scene. That's also the one page he goes away from the basic square and rectangle panels going across and then down. He opts for five panels slanting diagonally across the page, zooming in on Ben's face across the middle three and letting the top and bottom panels bookend the thing. The first is from behind Ben, looking down at Carrion before he unloads on him, and the last is from beside Carrion, looking up at Ben after said unloading.
OK, somehow the Third Cosmos is the first of the multiversal cycle. What were the First and Second then? Anyway, the Defenders show up during a fight between Existence and Non-Existence. Zota's already there, and even if it's been an eternity for him, he's not willing to die without a fight. Unfortunately, anything anybody uses to fight draws upon Existence, so they're about to help Non-Existence win. Masked Raider steps in, opts not to shoot Zota, ends up being shot and, yeah, he's Zota.
Not that it was difficult, but I got a prediction right. Mark it down next to that time I correctly predicted Ryan North was using Mojo II: The Sequel in Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
Zota puts on the mask and jumps in to help Existence, a mask made from the stuff of a universe that won't exist for five more cosmoses somehow still working. But the Defenders are able to draw on the nature's of the other ones they've visited to give Existence a boost and help it win, Seemingly at the cost of Zota's life, but probably not. Taaia gives Strange a device he can use to contact her, while Harpy tells him to leave her alone as they fade into an A-Ha music video. Everyone's home, Strange has the mask, story over.
So Masked Raider was Zota from one point of his life, running around trying to stop a version of himself from earlier in life all this time? Only to die because that earlier version couldn't make a selfless decision until he'd killed himself? And that had to happen, so Raider couldn't stop his earlier self any sooner? Feels a bit like that ending to The Dark Tower, the one Stephen King advises you not to read, but if you really must, OK. Where Roland is stuck redoing his whole story until he makes a "better" choice, or whatever King was going for. Except there are two Rolands and the one who needs to make a better choice doesn't realize it.
The page where "Lifebringer One" triumphs, Rodriguez lays it out like a descending arc. Panel of Lifebringer's sword growing as they're powered up aligned vertically. The deathblow at maybe 60 degrees, the initial disintegration at maybe 45. All drawing the eye to a big explosion in a panel along the bottom of the page. A lovely comic to look at, right to the end.
2 comments:
Sorry about the bad news. I doubt it will help, but I also say that cover as Mayday.
We'll see how much bad news it actually ends up being for me in terms of extra work. I might have to testify at an administrative hearing, but maybe I can get out of that. Leave it to my bosses. Just kind of annoying, the volume of e-mails, phone calls and conferences there are going to be to get ready for it.
And it actually does help to know it isn't just me that sees Mayday.
Post a Comment