Saturday Splash Page #196

"Burning Man," in Rurouni Kenshin chapter 145, volume 17, by Nobuhiro Watsuki

This is one of those splash pages I picked not because it best summarized the series - although, maybe? A man combusts because his desire for power overrides everything else - but because the moment I saw it, I knew the title. Also, I think it's funny Saturday Splash Page had no manga posts for the first 8 months of this year, and now 3 in 4 weeks.

Rurouni Kenshin, which came out in serialized form from 1994-1999, is set 10 years into Japan's Meiji Era, with the restoration of the Emperor's power, but also Japan's attempts to modernize and stand as equals with the Western nations. It follows a wandering swordsman (rurouni being a word for "wanderer") named Kenshin, who meets Kaoru, a young woman trying to keep her father's dojo running in the face of unscrupulous elements. Kaoru's father developed a style of swordfighting, Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu, that was meant to protect. It focuses not on killing the enemy, but on preserving the lives of the wielder and those around them. Kenshin thinks it a naive dream, that the art of the sword is to kill, but prefers the dream to the reality.

As it turns out, Kenshin would know about the reality, as he was "Hitokiri Battosai", a famous assassin for the revolutionary forces. Kenshin practices a lightning-swift style of swordsmanship, Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryu, but in the present, carries a reverse-bladed sword, meaning the edge his strikes with is dull. He killed many, once, but has vowed not to do so again. The question is, can he protect others and still maintain that vow?

Especially because, while the new era was supposed to be one of peace, not everyone is happy with how things turned out. There are those who lost, those who were used by the winners and cast aside, those who learned the ideals espoused in pretty speeches were too easily forgotten when rubber met road. Not to mention all the opportunists, profiteers and general scumbags that always inhabit society. Though Kenshin has - by his choice - no position in the government, he's still a symbol of the revolution and bent on protecting those who can't protect themselves, so he's inevitably drawn into the conflicts.

Kenshin is a bit unusual to me, because he seems quite unlike the typical shonen manga protagonist. Dragon Ball's Son Goku became an archetype. Undersized (initially), loud, uncultured, teenager who loves to fight and loves to eat. Naruto and Luffy both lean that direction. Kenshin was a teenager when he fought in the war, but most of this series is set while he's in his late-20s. He's quiet, polite, refers to himself as 'this one', which is apparently a mark of humility, and would rather not fight if a situation can be resolved peacefully. He is undersized, as basically every opponent he faces towers over him. Kaoru, who is close to a decade his junior, is probably taller than him, too, but most of those shonen characteristics are carried by either the best friend character, my boy Sanosuke, or Kaoru's student, Yahiko.

It's a different approach, but it works. Kenshin, despite his placid or pleasant exterior, is haunted by the things he did in the war. He wanted to make a better world for people, but his attempt to make that world left a mountain of corpses in his wake. Didn't those people deserve to be in that better world? What of their loved ones who are left behind? For Kenshin, the moments when he "gets serious" are not cool so much as a type of PTSD, where he slips back into the killer's mindset he adopted during the war. It frightens and worries his friends, as well as himself, and he struggles to reconcile with his past and what it's done to his psyche throughout the entire series.

Yahiko is probably meant to be the reader identification character, as the actual young boy that grows by leaps and bounds. I mostly find him annoying, especially in how quickly he advances in roughly six months that most of the series occurs within. Two characters who hired Sanosuke late in volume 1, cross paths with him again in volume 26, and when he can barely remember them, they point out that was only six months ago. In that span, Yahiko goes from knowing fuck all about swordfighting to winning battles against seasoned warriors on his own, something Watsuki doesn't offer to either Kaoru (who has been training in swords her entire life, and is essentially at the skill of a national champion), or Misao (who has been learning to be a shinobi for at least 5 years when she's introduced.)

Unlike some manga artists, Watsuki does seem able to draw a clean and intelligible action scene. I remember reading volumes of this concurrent with Hellsing or Trigun and being astounded at how much easier it was to follow what was actually going on in RuroKen compared to those two. That said, Watsuki was also apparently a big fan of American comics, and sometimes his characters designs are heavily, heavily drawn from DC or Marvel. The "Jinchu" arc in particular, has antagonists who are heavily reminiscent of the Joker, Apocalypse, and Venom. Personality-wise, not so much - although the Joker-lookalike is really just a sadist, there for his own amusement - but it can be a little distracting when Kenshin fights a guy who sure looks a heck of a lot like Omega Red, complete with weighted chains he throws in such a way they seem to emerge from his wrists.

This was Watsuki's most successful manga by far, running 28 volumes, plus the Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration 2-volume, whatever it was (a condensed, updated version?), the lengthy anime series, some animated movies, some live-action movies in the last 10 years, all that jazz. And then he got busted for possession of child porn in 2017-2018 which, as mentioned in the post on his next serialized series after Rurouni Kenshin, Gun Blaze West, got him fined the equivalent of $1,500, although a check of Wikipedia says it's actually equivalent to $1,900. Which does not feel like enough of a difference to be significant, but in the interests of accuracy, there you go.

Everyone Knows Somebody

I was going to say this team had a bunch of people who are all independent, prone to just going off and following their own agendas. But that's all the teams I make. I don't gravitate towards characters that like being part of teams. Once I thought about it a little more, each of these characters is the sort who would have a lot of sources or connections. They'd always know somebody that could tell them something or help them out. But each of them would move in different circles, so there wouldn't be too much overlap. Plus their status in those circles would vary.

The Leader: Jet Black (Cowboy Bebop) - Before he was a bounty hunter, Jet was cop, until he was shot in an ambush and lost an arm and leg (later replaced by cybernetic parts). He was a pretty good cop by all accounts (except maybe his ex-wife's). Honest, tough, smart. Not some sort of deductive genius - he has his blinds spots - but he's smart enough. Knows his way around a computer, how to track someone's activity. He's not a hacker on par with Radical Edward, but he does alright most of the time. His trademark was his determination, as he was known as the Black Dog. Once he bites, he doesn't let go.

Jet's contacts would be all his former buddies on the force. They like him pretty well, and are willing to give him what info they can, most of the time. The times they aren't, Jet might know a few secrets they'd prefer not get exposed to the light of day.

He can be grumpy, but he tends to get less extremely angry than his partner, Spike. Spike played relaxed a lot of the time, but when something got to him, it would really set him off. Jet may have just reached the point where he doesn't see the value in reacting like that, or figures he has too many responsibilities to waste time. He's got a ship to keep running, employment opportunities to hunt for, or leads to follow on targets, keeping the ship supplied on an often shoestring budget.

The Rogue: Vash the Stampede (Trigun) - Vash is. . . an idiot. Well, OK, not really. He acts that way, because it's easier. Easier for people to believe he's doing whatever he's doing by accident or pure luck, rather than realize that he's so incredibly skilled he can do these things while acting like a buffoon. This is a man who entered a gunfighting tournament, then was able to make sure no one died by throwing pebbles that diverted the competitors' bullets so they only wounded people, and only one person, sitting right next to him, noticed he was doing it.

Vash is an incredible marksman, in that he can almost always shoot to wound, if he even needs to wound them. A lot of times he can simply disarm opponents. It's fortunate this is a team that for the most part isn't going to mind his resistance to killing. If they're going after bounties, it might be preferable. The biggest issue might be that, because he tends to try using as little force as possible as long as possible, someone else could get hurt in the meantime. He's more than willing to play human shield, but that's not always going to be an option. If someone else on the team gets hurt because Vash was screwing around, there could be hell to pay (although he'll beat himself up about it worse than they will). He's stronger than he looks, fast, with excellent reflexes and sharp senses. His tolerance for alcohol is, unclear. Sometimes he seems like a lightweight, but that might be in comparison to heavy drinkers he's with. Other times, he seems like he's playing opossum. It doesn't seem to slow him down too much regardless.

With Vash, the people he knows could be almost anyone. He's over a century old, and he's helped a lot of people in that time. Little old ladies, sheriffs, young children, bus drivers, single moms. There are entire towns that regard him as a hero who would stick up for him. So, if you need a place to stay (or hide), Vash should have a wealth of options available, although he might resist turning to them if he's worried about their safety.

The Muscle: Sanosuke Sagara (Rurouni Kenshin) - Sano spent his teen years as a fighter-for-hire, taking out his frustration with what the Meiji government did to the Captain of the unit he was part of on anybody he could find that seemed worth the time. Eventually, after meeting Kenshin, he changed his outlook, and now he focuses on fighting people who abuse their power to hurt people with less power. Kenshin was very much about protecting those in harm's way, Sanosuke is more about going at the person causing harm.

To that end, Sanosuke is honest and mostly direct. He's not a bad liar when needed, but if there's no pressing need to lie, he'll say what he thinks and feels. He's impulsive, and can be easily baited into action because, for the most part, he doesn't have anyone to worry about protecting. He's not afraid for himself, so it doesn't matter if challenging some Yakuza is a bad idea or not. Let them try something and see how well it works out. His fighting style is much the same. He comes right at you and you take your best shot. He'll certainly take his. If Vash is going to get injured trying to protect someone on the team, Sano may be the most likely choice, at least early on. I imagine after the first time he does it, and Sanosuke socks him one for treating Sano like a liability, Vash will get the message to just trust him (and Vash will remind Sano of Kenshin in a lot of ways, so they'll probably get along OK eventually).

If Vash doesn't want to risk involving any of his fine, upstanding citizen friends, Sanosuke knows plenty of people of questionable morality that can help. The guys he hangs out with aren't crooks, exactly, but they spend a lot of time hanging around, drinking and gambling. They know who the local bad guys are, they know about what sort of illicit business is going on. While Sanosuke could lean on them if he needed to, he tends to be a pretty fun guy to share a drink with, so people are willing to help him out. They know he has their backs if something comes up.

The Lady of Mystery: Nico Robin (One Piece) - Robin is the character here I know the least, since I kind of gave up on One Piece not long after she showed up. The series was going to be too long, too much of an investment. Just trying to read the online biography I found on her was exhausting.

Anyway, Robin is the calmest member of the team, not easily fazed, unless things get really dire. Vash's idiocy and Sano's temper aren't going to bother her. Even the likelihood Vash will try hitting on her is something she'll handle calmly. She'll be polite, but she's not going to encourage it. I'm not positive if that's indifference. Having seen most every group she's joined end when everyone other than her dies, it may be a necessary cover to avoid attachments. A different approach from Vash playing the fool to disguise his bleeding heart, but leading to the same general point. But it could just be confidence; Robin's likely the strongest person on the team, given her powers. Certainly, she won't hesitate to use that power, up to and including lethal force.

(Vash is probably stronger, given he has enough power to put a hole in a moon, but he almost certainly won't use that power, unless they go up against something that strong. Which I don't think is going to happen, unless his crazy brother is on the loose again. Although some of those admirals in Robin's world are no joke. . .)

As long as Jet shows he knows what he's doing, there shouldn't be any problems there. Robin doesn't seem like she really cares to be in charge as long as she trusts the judgment of whoever is. She has a dark sense of humor, and a vivid imagination to go with it. If one of their teammates gets lost, and they can't hear them anymore, she'll state the person's probably getting strangled, or already been killed and eaten by some monster. Vash is going to be the one most creeped out by that, assuming he isn't already put off by her willingness to snap necks. He'll have to work overtime to end some of these fights before she does in a more permanent fashion.

The thing about Robin that interested me enough to put her on the team was she's a history buff. Her main interest is stone features left over from an old civilization, called Ponyglyphs. I remembered that being her primary reason for throwing in with the Baroque Works criminal organization, a chance to study some that were in a country they were trying to destabilize and take over. I thought having an archaeology expert would be something my teams usually don't have, and bring something a little different to the mix. And I thought she might have all sorts of connections in academic circles, people who were also studying the Ponyglyphs, or other similar subjects. As it turns out, the World Government killed everyone else they knew of that was studying that forbidden subject. Whoops.

But Robin's years of study would, at bare minimum, make her a valuable person to have if you need something deciphered, or to understand what a clue is referencing. If they need to talk to a professor or expert in some historical area, Robin's the best bet to be able to pull that off. Where Sanosuke has a lot of friends who are aware of the criminal underworld, and he has a bit of a rep, Robin was a major criminal for some time (falsely accused, but she stuck with the rep regardless), and was the right hand woman for one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Even if those aren't the circles she travels in now, there are plenty of people who know her rep, know what she's capable of. Sano's rep was he'd beat you so badly you saw the aku mark on his shirt for months afterward; Robin's rep is she wiped out six ships and she leaves people twisted and broken in ways they weren't meant to bend.

The Guy with a Car: Kimishima (Scryed) - Kimishima's not in here for his ride, which was a cobbled together mess that couldn't carry the entire team, anyway. Besides, Jet has a spaceship, big enough to hold that car, and Jet's smaller, personal spaceship.

Kimishima is Morgan Freeman's character in The Shawshank Redemption, the man who knows how to get things. He's a scrounger, always hustling. Always looking for job opportunities, always looking for a buck, or something he can sell, or use to fix his car. He's not a fighter, though he'll lend a hand when he needs to. He's got connections, or knows how to make them quickly. He does have a soft spot for more hard luck cases, but only up to a point. He's good at keeping a low profile while more noticeable people (and there are at least a couple on this team) keep everyone else occupied. You need someone to talk their way into a place, or walk around unnoticed in hostile territory? Kimishima's your guy. He'll go in, get what you need, and come back with a half-dozen other useful (or at least interesting) things and the names and numbers of three people that might have work that needs doing or could help down the line.

How they end up together: Vash has been living in secret for a long time, helping in small ways where he can, but trying hard to avoid drawing attention with the sort of city-damaging antics he used to get up to. He has to abandon that because someone pursues a weapon that could endanger the entire planet. Maybe it's his brother, or a government, or some other person out for power, but they're going to tap into the power of the plants, and he figures that's something he needs to handle. He probably encounters Kimishima early on, bums a ride off him, has trouble paying off the debt. And since he keeps wrecking Kimishima's stuff as they get dragged into situations, Kimishima keeps upping the tab, and refusing to call it quits. Plus, he thinks this Vash guy is actually an OK guy, and he shares any bounties they cash in as they go along.

Vash being who he is, can't maintain a low profile, and he accumulates a bounty in his attempts to help others. I'm assuming this is far enough into the future his old $$60 billion bounty was dropped because everyone figured he was dead. That brings in Jet and his new partner, Sano (and a lot of other bounty hunters). They're chasing him, at first, keeping themselves funded by turning in all the criminals they encounter along the way. Sometimes Vash actually catches the crooks, but has to leave them behind when Jet and Sano appear on the horizon in hot pursuit. Other times the three of them team up because they all recognize the criminal needs to be stopped. Eventually they figure out they might as well help this guy who really isn't doing anything wrong other than helping in a way that causes property damage.

Robin gets drawn into all this because the weapon relates to ancient history, and she ran afoul of the big bad while looking for other information in the same ruins. It was a pretty serious battle, one neither one could finish, and he destroyed everything trying to cover his tracks. Which is the sort of thing Robin doesn't forgive, so she's after him, and the others have the means to travel faster than she does, so it makes sense to throw in with them. Especially once she figures out Vash might be a fountain of useful information, assuming she can get it out of him past all the stories about places that served the best pizza toast and locations where he met a particularly pretty girl.

31 Days of Scans - Favorite Male Character

The obvious answer is Spider-Man. He's my favorite fictional character, period. No one else comes close. But, like last week, I talked all about him last fall, and where's the fun in just throwing out the link to that post? So I'm going to talk about a guy I really like, but almost never talk about. Since this is going to be about manga, remember to read right to left, please.

Sanosuke Sagara is far and away my favorite character in Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin. He's introduced as a fighter-for-hire sent after Kenshin by a couple of unscrupulous brothers, but once he learns Kenshin's identity, he has his own reasons to want to kill the guy. During the civil war that brought about the restoration of the Emperor and the subsequent Meiji Era, Kenshin and Sano were on the same side. But while Kenshin (who was between 15 and 19 at the time) worked first as an assassin, later as a 'free-wheeling swordsman' protecting his comrades, Sano was a kid serving as an aide to a Captain in a sort of peasant army. The leaders had been promising tax reform for the working classes, and that encouraged a lot of those people to join the Sekiho Army and fight for the Emperor. Then the head honchos realized wars were expensive and they couldn't keep their promise. Rather than cop to it, they said the Sekiho army was a "false" army, spreading lies. Its ranking officers, including Captain Sagara, who Sano admired to the point he took the Captain's name as his family name, were executed and publicly denounced. From Sano's perspective, the same people who did that and covered it up went on to live happy and prosperous lives based on lies.

So he has some grudges, and they're justified, he just happened to go after one guy who a) recognizes the revolution hasn't ended and works to improve things his own way, and b) hadn't taken any benefits or perks from his service. The fight ends - though Sanosuke lost convincingly - and he resolves to stick around and see if Kenshin is who he appears to be, or if this is just another trick. They pretty quickly become friends, since Kenshin isn't the sort to hold grudges, and Sanosuke has Kenshin's back through pretty much the remaining 26 volumes of the series. Except for that stretch where Kenshin kind of gave up, and Sano left for awhile in frustration and disgust. But he came back for his friends when they needed him!

They are very different characters, though. Sano is blunt, direct, and open. Whatever he's feeling, you'll know, whether because he tells you, or because he slugged you in the face. It doesn't matter who you are, he's not going to stand on ceremony. There are times I'd like to be more like that. Just tell people what I think of them and go forward from there. Like Kenshin, he wants to try and make things better, but whereas Kenshin is more concerned with protecting the weak, and will accomplish that without violence if possible, Sanosuke is more inclined to just go beat the hell out of the bad guys. Like the picture below. Those poor dopes are part of a gang of 200 serving under a disgraced sumo wrestler/Yakuza helping a crooked government official to corner the silk trade in a small village, garnering huge profits for themselves, while putting a chokehold on the locals. Kenshin could have wrecked that official's plans with one word to any number of people in the government who owe him their lives. But he was in the throes of depression, and Sano was in a foul mood, so things were resolved with beatings. Which is more fun, anyway.

Because he enjoys fighting. He'd rather fight someone up to no good, but he's not above just taking a fight because he's in a bad mood and thinks a spot of violence will relieve stress. When he was a fighter-for-hire, he determined how much he charged by how much he enjoyed the fight. In the same way he won't hold back telling how he feels, regardless of who he's speaking to, he'll challenge anyone.

Most of the characters in Rurouni Kenshin are older than Sanosuke, who is 19 went the series starts. They're contemporaries of Kenshin (who is 28). People who fought in the war, rather than serving as aides or assistants. People who had extensive training and survived dozens of battles against opponents who also had extensive training.

Sano doesn't have that advantage, he's starting from behind and trying to catch up, but that never deters him. He's almost constantly underestimated. Kenshin thought he could beat him with one hit. Shinjiko felt he was stuck fighting 2nd-rate goods because he had to leave Kenshin to his boss, Shinomori Aoshi. Saito dismisses Sanosuke for a long period of time (and never gives him credit to his face, even if he admits to Kenshin he knows Sano is reliable). Shishio's right-hand guy, Hoji, dismisses Sano as a "tagalong", right before Sanosuke destroys their ironclad.

But it never stops him. Sure, sometimes Sano gets his ass beat, but he always goes down swinging. His fighting style pretty much mirrors his personality: He doesn't know or care a thing about defense. He'll take your best shot, then deliver his own. This isn't necessarily a smart approach - even when he wins, he's almost as beat to hell as his opponent - but I still like it. You don't have to be versed in some otherworldly sword art, if you can take the pain and keep going, you've got a chance. 

He's usually an underdog, but that's fine, the supporting characters usually are in shonen manga. The main characters are almost always going to win, and even if they do lose, it's always to some high level opponent. Kenshin doesn't have really have an equivalent loss to those two times Spider-Man lost to Stilt-Man, you know.

Also, he's an important character in the series for occasional comic relief. On the one hand, you have Saito constantly needling Sano, in large part because Sano can't control his temper, and so long as Saito knows he can get your goat, he'll keep doing it. Because he's kind of a dick. Or Kenshin saying something and Sanosuke overreacting to it. 

On the other side of things, Sano's willingness to say whatever's on his mind can lead to a lot of funny stuff. Comparing Kaoru's cooking to poison, trading barbs with Megumi, tweaking Yahiko in much the same way Saito does him (though I think Sano's is more good-natured. He cares more about Yahiko than Saito does about Sanosuke). It's a little bit of the same role Hawkeye plays among the Avengers, but with more of a comedy bent, as opposed to creating conflict among the characters. It's mostly friendly ribbing and jabs.

I Do So Love Comparing And Predicting

I suppose comparing Thomas Blake to Shinomori Aoshi yesterday struck a chord with me, so here we are. I've seen at least part of Aoshi's character arc, how he wound up no longer caring, what brought him out of that, and where he went from there, so maybe draw some parallels between the two.

From the flashback in Secret Six #1 it appears Catman lost another family to poachers. This after Deadshot killed the first one he was running around with*. He got a little vengeful on those stinking poachers, which troubles him at least some of the time. As near as I can tell, he went to Africa to rediscover himself after his less-than-impressive run-ins with Green Arrow during Brad Meltzer's time on that book. He was a shell of himself, but somehow found acceptance with these lions, then they were killed. And now it's happened again**. At this point, all he has is the team he runs with, and that's a problem, isn't it? Because he told the Huntress that he and his group were trying to do better, but it was a work in progress. Except I'm not certain his teammates have the qualms he has about certain jobs, so can they actually do "better", in the sense of taking "good" jobs, helping those who need help, stuff like that***? Blake is feeling disconnected, working with people he may care about, but who do things bad enough he can probably divorce himself from those feelings. He doesn't want to be a villain, but he's not certain he can be a hero. He's not even sure he wants to continue existing.

Aoshi got to that state by losing four friends/subordinates, who had fought hard for him. Aoshi prizes loyalty, which is why when he was offered high ranking government positions, he turned them down, because the four were not desired, and he refused to simply abandon those who had fought for him faithfully. Then they died for him, after he had failed to beat Kenshin and claim the title of the strongest. Then Kenshin told him to train and return for a rematch, so he could try and claim the title for those four. Except Aoshi decided the way to do that was to give up caring about anything other than that fight. He allied himself with evil men (Shishio, who planned to overthrow the government and plant himself as ruler), and nearly killed a man who was once his ally. Kenshin eventually got through to him during their rematch, by telling Aoshi that his attempts to divorce himself from his humanity, while using his friends' deaths as an excuse, was dishonoring their memories. He'd made their deaths a millstone around his neck, rather than something which inspired him to greater heights. Plus, Kenshin reminded him there are other people still living that could use Aoshi's guidance, including the 15-year old that's tried to assume his position at head of the clan since Aoshi damn near killed the person that had been running things in his absence.

After that whole sequence, Aoshi resumes control of his group, and sets himself upon trying to be a force for good. He decides he will fight evil, and fight for justice. He's not careless with his life, merely dedicated to a greater cause, and determined to see it through. So where does that leave Blake? The dead lions are his loyal friends who have died. His actions towards the poachers, and maybe even confronting Batman are his questionable actions to "honor" their deaths. They saw something in him that they deemed worthy to stay with them, and so he's going to prove them right by confronting the big, bad Bat, or by scarring the ones who harmed/killed them. That leaves the Six as the friends that are still alive and need guidance. The question, and maybe this is what the first arc is going to cover is, what is their purpose? Is it to make money? Is there a person or organization they want to stick it to? Are they trying to help others? What jobs are off-limits, if any? Blake has to serve as the conscience of the group, but he can't do that until he decides what goal he's pursuing. He told Deadshot he thought he had lost the horizon, so he needs to reacquire it.

That requires someone to help show him the way, though. Aoshi had Kenshin, someone he respects and recognizes as having walked a similar path; Catman has. . . He fought Batman, and while I imagine Catman respects Batman to a certain degree, I doubt he would accept advice from him. He spoke of how Batman holds himself above the people he protects, and Batman's certainty in what he does and how would probably convince Blake they don't have much common ground. I don't think he needs to be following the guidance of any of his teammates, so based off people we've seen thus far, I guess that leaves the Huntress. They like each other, or are at least interested in one another. More important, she's had a long struggle to find peace for herself. She seemed dedicated to venegeance for a long time, but she's found other things now, between working for the Birds and being a teacher. She can relate to Blake feeling alone and uncertain, so maybe she's the one who can provide that moment of clarity.

* It was Deadshot disguised as Deathstroke, correct? that was the big surprise of Villains United? Well, that and Luthor being the mysterious leader of the Six. I say it would have been more interesting if it had been the same Lex running the Six and the Society, instead of one being Lex, and one being Alexander Luthor pretending to be the real deal. It was OK the way it went, but if anyone could use a ragtag group of villains to scare more villains into joining a larger group for protection, it's Lex Luthor, and it's the kind of scheme he'd use, since he'd be the only one who knew the truth.

** Though I'm making an assumption that the pride was wiped out. If that isn't the case, that might be concerning.

*** Assuming that's even what he meant. I'm going off what I remember from flipping through that trade in a bookstore, and I was more focused on Tora flipping out and the Harley/Misfit fight. The Secret Six as the A-Team. Now I wish to hear Bane say something about someone flying Knuckle Airlines, Fist Class.

Trying To Understand Batman

This refers specifically to an exchange he had during his skirmish with Catman in Secret Six #2. During the fight, Catman says he has an advantage, he doesn't care whether he lives or dies. Batman's response is 'Then you have no advantage at all.' The sequence caught my eye, as small, likely inconsequential things have a tendency to do.

The first explanation that came to mind is Catman has no advantage there because Batman also doesn't care about his own well-being. But I can't picture Batman being so cavalier with regards to his life*. He puts far too much effort into training and preparation to not care. Plus, he has all these proteges that, for as much as I bust on Batman for being a jerk, he does care about, and he probably would like to be there for them as long as possible. Not that he's afraid of death, but neither is he rushing headlong to embrace it.

Then I considered whether he meant that he cares whether Catman lives or dies, and that somehow offsets Blake's supposed advantage. Which would certainly be true to the character. Batman doesn't want anyone to die, not even the Joker. The problem is, I can't see how that negates Blake's advantage. It suggests Catman could do throw himself in front of a train, and Batman would exert energy to save him, and put himself at risk in the process, both from the train, and from a cheap shot Catman would likely take, since the opportunity is presenting itself and all.

Third possibility relates to a similar sequence from Rurouni Kenshin. Kenshin is squaring off with Aoshi for the second time, having promised Aoshi a rematch if it meant that much to the guy. Aoshi is really going to town on Kenshin, intent on killing him, and makes it pretty clear that all that matters is victory, and his continued existence beyond that is irrelevant. Kenshin, who has been down that road himself, says that he has strength beyond that willingness to throw away one's life, because he wants to live, to continue helping others, and to be with the people he cares about, and that's why he'll win. Because he cares more**.

That sounds pretty good to me. Like I said earlier, Batman doesn't want people to die, and that includes whomever he winds up saving later that night after the little donnybrook with Catman is finished, as well as the night after that, and the night after that, and so on. He has to survive, because people need him, and that makes him stronger than Catman, who is doing his damndest to give off an air of not caring about anyone or anything, beyond trying to prove (to himself) that he isn't intimidated by Batman.

I've got a few other thoughts swirling about right now, related to what this might mean for Catman, but I need a little time to try and put them together. Until tomorrow then.

* By superheroic standards. I would say he's certainly putting himself at greater risk than most of us, but not so much compared to his allies.

** There's also the reason the reader is aware of: That Kenshin will win because he's the title character. It's annoying how he seems to at least partially defeat his foes by chipping away at their reasons for fighting, until they're no longer as certain of themselves. Believing in yourself and what you're fighting for is a big part of that whole series.

And Again, I Gird My Loins For Travel

Yes, I'm leaving town. Again. As you may have surmised, I am not ecstatic about this, but I'm a sap, and let my conscience guilt me into agreeing to help the family again. At least this means I get to see Iron Man with Alex, so it isn't entirely crap. So before I depart for the Land of Sporadic Blogging, a meandering post. It's a metaphor for me using back roads to get where I'm going, because it's ostensibly more peaceful, except I eventually get tired of driving and slide into "Fuck this, I'm going 70 in a 55 zone" mode (which just means I'm driving like every other person in Missouri, so insert joke of your choice about Missourians being desperate to escape). Or it's just representative of my inability to get to the point.

I've been thinking about Marvel's Superhuman Registration Act. Yeah, that whole thing is passe, Skrulls are the big thing now, but I don't care about that. It seems as though there's two ways the Act could work, but they seem mutually exclusive. naturally, Marvel has decided they aren't, and has placed both options in play. On the one hand, the Act could apply to any person that wants to fight crime, but not be an actual cop or fed or whatever. You want to wear costumes, you sign up with SHIELD, go through their training program, get assigned to some place and there you are. (Brief aside: Do you think SHIELD has placed super-teams in other countries, a worldwide version of the Fifty States Initiative? SHIELD is supposed to be an U.N. agency these days, not a U.S. one, so it would make sense, to the extent any of this does.) This option would exclude people with powers, but no desire to do the hero thing, like Cloud 9.

That's more of a "Superhero Registration Act", but that really seemed to be the issue at hand, so that doesn't seem like a bad thing. The other option would be a more truly "Superhuman Registration Act", and it would apply to anyone classified as superhuman. Of course, Reed Richards noted (during the Simonson FF) that "superhuman" is rather difficult to define, and that's true. Is it required you have some sort of visible ability that "normal" people wouldn't have? So would that mean people like Echo, Hawkeye (both of them), Tony Stark (and would his classification change with the Extremis) and Frank Castle are exempt? None of them have powers.

All of that lead me to a different question: Are Iron Fist and Dr. Strange superhuman? Or maybe "superpowered" is a better term. They both have these extraordinary abilities, but they're learned skills, in that sense not much different from Hawkeye's archery skills. Danny Rand went through a grueling set of trials, but as we've seen, so have many others. Likewise, Dr. Strange isn't the first Sorcerer Supreme, and he won't be the last. You could look at either of their skill sets as being the equivalent of a diploma. They went somewhere that taught specific skills, took the coursework required, and and now they have these abilities which demonstrate their qualifications in those particular disciplines. I'm sure Danny could teach lots of people to kick ass like him (even if he couldn't teach them to make their like like a thing of iron), and if a snobby surgeon can learn magic, I imagine there's any number of other people that could as well.

I think this came from me reading through my Rurouni Kenshin volumes again, because you frequently see people doing things in that series that normal people probably couldn't. Characters outrun horses, block bullets fired from point blank range with the hilt of their sword, disintegrate boulders larger than sumo wrestlers with a single punch, and on and on. But there aren't any radioactive spider bites, weird mutant genes, or rocket from another world involved. The characters simply worked their tails off to get that freaking good at what they do. So theoretically, anyone could do that, if they're willing to put in the time. So does it qualify as "superhuman" when it's the result of a lot of hard work?

Alright, I've gotta run. Now where did I put my donut seat cushion?

International Boundaries Can't Deter My Enjoyment

So I read this post, and it got me thinking about manga. I do enjoy a few manga titles, and thinking about the "whys" of that got me thinking about what my favorite mangas have in common with the American comics I enjoy. For the record, I have no beef with people who don't like manga. Everybody has types of "entertainment" that do not, in fact, entertain them. It's all cool though, the differences are what make us cool, dig? *in the background, a beatnik taps on a bongo* So let's move on.

So I just wanted to look at some of the parallels between Japanese and American comics that I enjoy, beyond the fighting, and struggling with internal conflicts related to past actions.

Rurouni Kenshin is about a man, who during a civil war, worked as a highly successful assassin, until he accidentally killed someone he cared about deeply. When the series begins, he's spent the last decade wandering Japan, using a sword that is designed not to kill (the blade is set reversed in the hilt, so the leading edge is not sharp), and helping defend those who need help. Kind of like the A-Team, but without the getting paid part, or Mr. T. But, Kenshin is constantly forced to confront his past, in the form of people who wish to challenge one known as the greatest of all, or by people who hate him for what they feel he represents (the side that won, which he greatly aided) had some nasty skeletons in their closet. Kenshin has to deal with how far he's willing to go to stop them, and resist slipping back into his old, killing ways. Plus he runs into to people who lost loved ones to his blade, and want revenge, and how is he supposed to respond to that?

It reminds me of both Batgirl and recent developments in Cable/Deadpool, as each character has been trying to change their lives, and atone for past deeds. In some ways, both those titles could be considered like seeing Kenshin's early years as a wandering swordsman. Cassandra Cain seems to be constantly dealing with the fact she was raised to be a perfect killer, and trying to make up for it, and trying to move past it, find a better way. It's harder for Deadpool, because he's been even more deeply ingrained in killing for whatever reason for years, but now he's trying to change after Cable sacrificed his life (as far as he knows), to make sure Wade was OK. Wade's trying to change, trying to do better, but he's got to deal with the skepticism of all the established heroes who know him primarily as a violent, amoral goof, and so he's got to keep working to show he's not like that anymore.

Additionally, all those titles have a theme of characters trying to find a place to belong, although when Cassandra found a place where she seemed to be doing well (Bludhaven), DC proceeded to blow it up. Well, no one ever said finding a place to belong was easy. But Kenshin had been wandering for ten years before meeting Kaoru and helping her stop the person killing people in the name of her family's school, and Deadpool has just recently found a place at Agency X, where he can work with actual friends.

The other manga title I'm a big fan of is Hellsing, which I've decided reminds me of the current Punisher MAX series. Both characters kill lots and lots of people, and do so with no real hesitation, but each character has things about them that make them more than just killing machines. Ennis has gone to great lengths to demonstrate how it was more than just three tours in the 'Nam that made Frank Castle the Punisher, it's a culmination of his childhood neighborhood, his tours of duty, the loss of his parents, the kind of kid he was, just so many things that make him a truly unique being In the last few volumes of Hellsing, Kohta Hirano's started giving us glimpses of who Alucard was before he became a vampire that kills other vampires for the Hellsing Organization, and well, he's still not a sympathetic figure, but there is a sadness about him, that for all the power he's gained, all the destruction he can bring, he's lost some very important things, and he knows he won't ever get those back. Not unlike Frank Castle.

Some time, I need to sit down and see how similar some of these series are, and how much differences in Japanese and American culture contribute to differences between them. Are they paced differently, do they present different kinds of challenges to the protagonists, things like that. Uh, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for those posts, if I were you, seeing as how I never have started the "Spider-Man: Giant Slayer" posts.

I Won't Be Left Behind This Time!

So Chris Sims restarted that classic meme of yesteryear, and damn it, I'm going to get in on it this time around! I didn't have a clue how to do it last year, and it's probably fairly evident i still don't, but what the hell, this'll drive me nuts otherwise.

So, with that in mind, here's my submission, done to the best of my abilities in Paint (as I lack fancy Photoshop programs like the rest of you). In a move that may surprise you, this one's based on Rurouni Kenshin rather than anything Marvel or DC related. Which means even fewer of my readers will understand what I'm talking about than usual. Sigh. Nonetheless, I press forward, and thus beseech you to Always Remember...

Also considered: "Saito Hajime Loves His Smokes", "Saito Hajime Does Not Give A Damn About Your Lungs", "Saito Hajime Does Not Care For Your 'No Smoking' Policy", and "Saito Hajime Will Cut You In Half And Enjoy A Smoke While You Finish Dying".

Clearly, my imagination vastly outstrips my computer skills.

For the record, Saito will actually use a human to stub out his cigs, so I'm not just goofing around there. So yeah, this is my contribution to the cause. Go me.

Stop Making Things Easy

I wasn't disappointed or sad when Superman died fighting Doomsday. I was sad that he came back. And it isn't because I don't like Superman. I don't like Cyclops, but I think I'd be bummed out if he were killed off forever, because then who would I mock endlessly for being uptight and bossy? No, I think the problem is, things seem to come too easily for Superman. When a foe is too tough for Wonder Woman, or J'onn, or the Big Red Cheese, well don't worry, Superman can stop him, because just like Danger Mouse, 'he's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best!'

I know that's not accurate, other heroes have saved Superman's butt in the past, and that I'm biased because of my intense dislike for Planet-Juggling Superman of the 1960s, with his endless array of super-powers with no upper limit, but still it seems the gap between him and everyone else is too great. I sort of recall that story from Morrison's JLA where Superman has just finished putting the Moon back in orbit, but he's perfectly capable of going up against someone that's been trashing the Martian Manhunter. There were probably extenuating circumstances (was the angel using fire on J'onn?), but still it seems Supes should at least be worn down enough to require assistance for something like that.

I think this is my Rurouni Kenshin Syndrome, defined as "dislike for a character that apparently must always be the best, no matter how much other characters attempt to close the gap, or how much the character lets their skills atrophy, or how beat up they are." Watching these seemingly supreme characters save the day, just leaves me wondering "How would the good guys have triumphed without Character X? Would it have taken longer? What would the repercussions be?" And with the number of characters the DCU has, with all their varieties of powers, the answers to that are more intriguing to me than "Well, Superman used his super-..."

I suppose the answer to this is something Scipio pointed out once, that in the Golden Age Superman dealt with problems that couldn't be punched away, but I think there still would be the question of how could someone else have pulled this off.