Friday, February 05, 2010

It's A Nice Trick, But Is It Widely Applicable?

I'm talking about Shiva's little stunt in The Question #37. I guess it was Montoya and Rodor's trick too. They voided themselves of all emotion and became invisible to Black Lantern Vic Sage. Like the title says, it's a nice trick. I'm not quite sure how it works. How did Shiva rid herself of all will? Is it a willingness to accept everything, reaching a state of mind where she doesn't try to resist anything? 'Become like water'

I'm also a little surprised how easily Montoya and Rodor were able to follow suit. Shiva's had who knows what kinds of odd training, so I can buy that she can suppress or expel all emotion from herself. Plus, she was there to fight a Black Lantern, and she'd done that, so she accomplished her goal, and maybe that makes it easier. 

But Renee and Aristotle don't have nearly her training, and I figured they both had deeper ties to Vic, so the ease with which they divorced themselves from their feelings was surprising. Still, this whole thing is pretty strange anyway, so I guess allowances have to be made. And much of The Question seemed to be about Sage trying to overcome his anger at the world and focus instead on helping people, rather than just lashing out. In that sense, the characters surviving by rising above their emotions fits. 

My other thoughts are related, I think. First, is this tactic going to show up in Blackest Night stuff still to come? Second, is this related to why the Black Lantern ring couldn't revive Dove? It said he was at peace, with no residual feelings to exploit, so did that make him undetectable to the ring, as our heroes made themselves to Vic? Being invisible to your enemies would be handy, either to search for a weakness, or to launch an attack. Except, it seems like the various Corps will be the key to victory, and they have to feel their respective emotions to use their baubles, which would make it difficult for them to feel nothing. I can't see how that would work, but I imagine there's a loophole somewhere. Assuming the "feeling nothing means Black Lanterns can't see you" approach will have any wider use than this comic and wherever Current Question continues the pursuit of her predecessor.

2 comments:

Seangreyson said...

I can sort of agree that Shiva could pull it off because it sounds like something you'd learn at a secret Buddhist or Hindu monastery.

As for Montoya and Rhodor, it seems like if you were told that this would work it would be like being told, "Whatever you do, don't think of the word Elephant."

Just trying to do it would cause more emotion, which would make it more difficult, etc. Seems kind of questionable that two people who'd never even thought of doing it before would be able to on the first try.

CalvinPitt said...

seangreyson: If it Montoya had thought of it, I could possibly buy her pulling it off, since she was trained by Sage and Richard Dragon, so presumably they could teach her some of the same stuff Shiva knows, though it certainly ought to be harder for Renee.

If nothing else, trying to rid herself of emotion ought to crank her willpower up as she struggles to let go.

I can't figure out how Rodor pulled it off at all.