Mini-Views - Flashpoint: Abin Sur Green Lantern

Flashpoint: Abin Sur: Green Lantern #1 of 3
Written by Adam Schlagman Illustrations and cover by Felipe Massafera

One of the great things about an alternate reality story like Flashpoint is the chance to take a character or concept and tweak it. With the recent release of the Green Lantern film, most pop culture fans are aware that before Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 was an alien named Abin Sur. In the traditional DC universe Sur crash-lands on Earth and, mortally wounded, has his ring seek out a potential successor. Enter Mr. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth and all-around badass.

This universe is most definitely not the traditional DCU, and here we find that the cosmic side of Flashpoint is just as messed up as the Earth, if not more so. Black Lanterns (undead servitors of Nekron, an avatar of Death itself) are running rampant, devouring entire space sectors and reanimating the dead to add to their ravening hordes. The Manhunters (robotic forerunners of the Green Lanterns who rebelled against the Guardians of the Universe when they decided Order was preferable to Justice) have quite logically reached the conclusion that emotions cause chaos, therefore the best thing to do to avert chaos is to kill any living thing capable of emotion. The Green Lantern Corps is stretched to the limit, just barely managing to hold their own against this war on two fronts. Abin Sur is a dedicated peackeeper with a feverent need to protect life in all it's forms, but even he's feeling the strain. It doesn't help that his entire world was wiped out in an as yet untold cataclysm either.

Sur journeys to Oa, headquarters of the Corps, and is given a task by the Guardians: journey to the primitive backwater world of Earth and retrieve the Life Entity, a being that embodies the essence of life much as Nekron does death. It was hidden on Earth in the hopes no one would look there, but with that world in a state of utter chaos (see my previous reviews for a sampling), the Guardians want it retrieved and brought to Oa for safekeeping. Abin Sur is glad to do it, and offers that while he's there, he'll save the Earth as well. To which the Guardians clearly inform him the retrieval of the entity is paramount and to let the planet die.

(. . .brrr. . .it just get chilly in here, or is that just me. . .?)

Being the badass he is, Abin Sur tells the Guardians where they can take that suggestion and rockets to Earth in a spaceship, the better with which to transport the entity across space. Unfortunately, his vessel is attacked and brought down near Coast City, California, in a sequence that is eerily familiar. Our comic Ends with Sinestro seeking information from a character familiar to recent GL readership, as he wants to learn more about the prophecy of. . .the Flashpoint!

This series is starting off with a lot of potential, but there were a few things here and there that give me pause. We'll start with the pros and work our way to the cons:

The Pros: Abin Sur is a total badass, but in a way that makes him relatable and (dare I say) human. He's a protector of life, but isn't afraid to knock heads together to see justice done. Given that in other series we've only ever seen Abin near the end of his career or at his death in the Jordan origin story it's nice to get to know this guy. He's a mixture of a knight errant and wandering penitent and I dig that.

- The art is engaging, the story moving at a brisk pace and it makes for a fun read that leaves you wanting more. I like this version of the Corps, one that has to work a lot harder to get half of what the 'real' GLC already has.

-Thaal Sinestro's characterization from the film carries over here, and I like that. In the movie (up until the baffling to me end credits cookie) he's a harried guy, but you understand where he's coming from. The best villains don't see themselves as such, and you can understand why this guy might well snap from all the strain he and his fellow GLs are under.

The Cons: Hey, did you guys know there's a Green Lantern movie out? 'Cause this book in no way resembles the designs for the characters and settings of the movie. Not at all. Why would you ask?

-All right, kidding aside I get it. I do. You want to tie in the GL movie that just came out to a series that might attract the casual reader that might be a bit daunted by the continuity of the regular Green Lantern comics. I understand that. But in that case, why incorporate stuff like Black Lanterns, or Manhunters, or the fellow on the last page reveal? Stuff that would require someone who hasn't read the comics and only seen the movie to do homework? If you wanted a continuity-light, moviegoer friendly series, go for that. If you want something that requires knowledge of Green Lantern lore and has the reader playing 'spot the differences', do that. Trying to blend them both is a bit clumsy here. Not a deal-breaker, but still.

-The whole'The Guardians of the Universe Are Dicks Who Are Always Wrong About Everything' thing has got. To. Stop. Look, I get it. In the Buddy Cop Movie archetype that is the Green Lantern Corps, they're the mean Lieutenant that read our heroes the riot act. But seriously, is that the only way you can portray them? Unconcerned about the fate of the cosmos and blase at the potential loss of life? Not mournful that Earth has to be sacrificed if all are to be saved? No? You want to go with the Dick thing again? I guess if it ain't broke, but still. . .a little conflict within the ranks, some debate between the Hawks and the Doves of the Guardians would've been nice to see. Again, not a deal breaker but you have to admit this trope is wearing a bit thin.

-Okay, this advertising thing is getting out of hand. I'll accept ads for the Green Lantern movie, the Flashpoint storyline overview and what's happening next in what issue, other books I might like to buy etc, etc, but you're really going to derail my enjoyment of the story with a 12-page comics tie-in to J.J Abrams' Super 8 in the middle of my comicbook reading? I don't care about Super 8. I don't want to see it. If you wanted to do a tie in, do a tie in somewhere else and give me those twelve pages as part of the issue itself. As it stands I read a twenty page story that could have been thirty-two if not for this informercial slapped into the middle of it.

On the whole I liked the book despite the odd qualm or two. I want to see where this story is going. Recommended.

Stac

Mini-Views-Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #1 of 3.
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Illustrated by Eddie Nunez
Cover by Eddie Nunez, Sandra Hope, and Hifi.

This one--in terms of concept alone--was just neat. The idea of taking two of comics most enduring females (Lois Lane and Wonder Woman) and setting them in opposition to one another is just plain genius, and the creative team of this series took a notion that I've had for years and played it to the hilt. That notion?

Lois Lane is a frickin' badass.

Yes, yes, all too often her typical portrayal has been that of the classic damsel in distress, but think about it. She's a crusading journalist out to bring the truth to the people, she's one of the first to leap into action (admittedly not always with a lot of forethought, but still) and try her best to help the underdog, and she's the one woman on the face of the planet who Superman struggles to keep up with. She is a gold mine of untapped storytelling potential, and in an alternate reality where the guy in the red cape with the spit curl is nowhere to be found, Lois has a chance to shine, and boy howdy does she.

In the world of Flashpoint, Europe is a mess. Themyscira (Paradise Island/The home of the Amazons for the uninitiated) has been sunk beneath the ocean waves and the native Amazons have conquered the United Kingdom, now New Themyscira under the reign of Queen Diana (Wonder Woman). After an attack by Aquaman leaves Paris a ruin, Lois Lane finds herself rescued by the Amazons and taken to the conquered UK, finding herself picking up where her late and lamented colleague left off as an agent of the United States government. Her goal? Contact the burgeoning resistance movement in New Themyscira and open a dialogue with them. In a totalitarian regime with few allies and inhumanly swift and skilled enemies, can our intrepid reporter escape the clutches of her warrior captors?

Fun. That's what this book is. It's an adventure story, it's a spy story, it's a pulp adventure/resistance fighter tale. It's Lois Lane vs. Wonder Woman! Writers Abnett and Lanning hit the ground running, writing this debut issue with the quick clip of an action movie while still allowing for small moments of characterization amidst the set pieces. Lois feels like the best parts of her cinematic and animated incarnations, and without the man of steel we quickly see that she's a character in her own right, not just the Woman Who Superman Rescues. We don't see much of Diana in this issue (we don't see her at all, save for some news footage), but that confrontation is coming and I for one can' wait. The art by Eddie Nunez is good, though a bit rough in spots. I do like his style overall though in that it reminds me of Todd Nauck, an illustrator of no small talent. The cover is great, putting it's mission statement out there for all to see: Lois Lane. Bad. Ass. Consider me in for all three issues.

Recommended.

Stac

Mini-Views: Flashpoint - The Outsider #1.

Flashpoint: The Outsider #1.

Written by James Robinson.
Illustrated by Javi Fernandez
Cover by Kevin Nowlan

This one intrigued me. The Outsider is one of the weirder Batman villains out there, and one of the more obscure so to take the character down off the shelf and provide a new take on the character for the Flashpoint crossover got me intrigued. My initial impression was that the character was actually a metahuman version of Lex Luthor or Alfred Pennyworth (the Outsider in the original comics was Alfred, resurrected from the dead and slightly mutated. He got better) but in point of fact the character merely shares the name and general appearance of the original.

This version of the character is Michael Desai, a metahuman mastermind with a penchant for fine suits, fine living, and a vast criminal network that allows him opportunities to remove any potential threat to his interests. Over the course of the first of this three-part series we see the character in his element, brokering deals and trying to play the chaos of the Flashpoint Earth to his best advantage. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your viewpoint) his efforts are (almost) thwarted by a group of vengeful fallen heroes who managed to breach his inner sanctum and cost him dearly in terms of resources and employees (plus they destroyed his suit, which is really just too much). Those expecting Truth, Justice, and the American Way to triumph are reading the wrong book. It doesn't end well for the would-be avengers.

This one was a pleasant surprise. Usually I find villain books to be a bit of a bore, or an uncomfortable read given the protagonists' anti-social (and psychotic) values, but the Outsider interests me. He's a businessman first and foremost, playing the 'good' and 'bad' guys off each other in ways that best benefit himself. He's no paragon of virtue, but neither is he a complete monster. He just. . .is. Even when enraged, he informs his enemies that what he's doing isn't personal, oh no. It's just smart business.

James Robinson handles the writing here and the pleasant surprises continue. His dialogue is actually solid, the characters engaging, and his sometimes overly florid turn of phrase is under control. Javi Fernandez's art is a suitable mix of bold and grim, and his designs for the Outsider, his underlings, and the would-be avengers (I won't spoil their identities but I have to admit I got a kick out of them) are all engaging. The cover by Kevin Nowland is, of course, utterly boss but saying a Kevin Nowlan piece is awesome is like commenting that water has been known to be moist.

The Outsider and his cartel would make for a great crime network in the DCU proper. Shame it'll all be swept under the rug in the wake of the upcoming reboot.

Recommended. I'm interested in seeing where this one leads.

Stac

Mini-Views: Flashpoint: Grodd of War.

Flashpoint: Grodd of War One-Shot.

Written by Sean Ryan Illustrated by Ig Guara Inked by Ruy Jose. Cover by Francis Manapul.

I love monkeys in superhero comics. There's just something so wonderfully fun about the archetype of the intelligent monkey/orangutan/gorilla that just screams Silver Age insanity at it's finest. In my perfect comics line there'd be at least one alternate reality in the multiverse populated entirely by intelligent apes. So when I heard tell that comics' original Sinister Simian, the wonderfully alliterative Gorilla Grodd, was getting his own one-shot in which he has seized control of Gorilla City and conquered the entirety of the African continent, I was like 'where, when, and how much of my money do you need?'

A single issue tie-in to the current Flashpoint storyline occurring at DC, the book is a snapshot of Grodd's rule in this alternative reality where Barry Allen never became the Flash, Superman isn't around, Hal Jordan isn't Green Lantern, Batman isn't who you think he is, and the entirety of the DCU has become a significantly different and not altogether nice place. Grodd is a Flash villain, a diabolical outcast of an advanced utopian society of intelligent gorillas, and a frequent enemy that the scarlet speedster has dealt with fairly handily despite the evil ape's impressive physical strength and potent telepathic abilities. So what happens when a villain who has yearned for nothing else than glorious conquest finally gets what he wants? Well, there's the old adage about being wary of what one wishes for, as you just might get it.

This book should've been a slam dunk, but it left me more than a little disappointed. Granted they only had so much room in the story to detail Grodd's rule of Africa, but I'm a little confused as to how the population of one remote city goes on to conquer the world. Yes, Gorilla City had advanced technology, but I'm not seeing much of it on display here. And the whole notion that Grodd managed to conquer the entire African continent seems a bit. . .much. I admit gorilla soldiers would be hell on wheels in a melee, but with enough armor-piercing rounds even the biggest 800-pound death machine is going to drop like the proverbial bag of dirt. Maybe it's my Silver Age sensibilities intruding on a contemporary one-shot but I can't help feeling this was a missed opportunity. Basically, I want my lasers and jetpacks, and perhaps a sense that Grodd is working his way up the ladder. I'm no military strategist, but last I checked Africa wasn't populated by redshirts from Star Trek.

Another problem was characterization. My memories of Grodd from the comics was always that of a scheming megalomaniacal type. This Grodd. . .well, he's a bit of a mope. Granted, he is in a position where he has everything he could ever want and it's lost all it's luster, but I can't help but feel writer Sean Ryan could've really cut loose and made DC's resident simian supergenius a delightfully batshit mix of Leonidas from 300 and Doctor Evil. It was a decent character sketch of the villain in the Flashpoint universe, but it struck me a waste of potential.

The art is gorgeous though. Granted there's no super-scientific apparatus to be seen, but Ig Guara draws some mean-looking monkeys (yes, I know. Gorillas are apes. Tell it to my inner 8 year-old), and he brings to life some brutal combat sequences. There's another Silver Age simian-themed character who shows up in these pages and. . .yeah. It doesn't end well.

Good, but not great. Let's see what else this crossover has in store.

Stac

Ps. Look, DC. . .I know you've got bills to pay but did we really need 11 pages devoted to advertisting merchandise for the Green Lantern movie and extolling the virtues of Subway sandwiches? Just sayin'.

Villain Tune-Up: Maxima

'That the female of Her species is more deadly than the male!' -Rudyard Kipling.

Strange the things you never notice. In over thirty years of reading superhero comics I've never even considered it before, and for someone with as deep and abiding an obsession with the minutia of popular culture for something to have been staring me in the face for so long and to completely miss as I have. . .well, it's a bit humbling to say the least.

When I initially started the concept of the Hero/Villain Tune-Up, it seemed little more than a fun little exercise in taking a problematic character (or even a character I felt hadn't been utilized to their fullest potential) and exploring those aspects of said character that could make them absolutely badass. Yet it was only until one lazy afternoon about two weeks ago that—woolgathering ideas for a new blog piece at my typical glacial pace—it hit me between the eyes like a thunderbolt.

I'd been flipping through one of my Essential Handbooks of the Marvel Universe, when I began to notice something odd. I switched over to my copies of the DC and Marvel Encyclopedias, and as the pages flipped by I began to notice it more and more. A discrepancy. A void I'd never even seen until it was staring me in the face, and it all began out of a simple enough thought. Namely: 'Hey, I should do a Villain Tune-Up for a female Master Villain, someone on the level of like a Doctor Doom or Darkseid.'

And that's when I noticed it. Or rather, noticed the lack of it.

Female super-villains don't seem to have a character like that among their ranks, someone that makes the heroic community pause collectively and go 'Holy sh!t, it's her.' You've got some examples that come fairly close; Circe, Nebula, the Dark Phoenix to name a few, but there doesn't seem to be a level of feminine villainy that reaches the upper levels, a villain that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the first tier of villainy and make being bad look good. About as close as I could get in my own researches was the subject of this Villain Tune-Up, and while she does come close there are a few elements that keep her from reaching the top. Together we'll explore them, shake out the bugs and illustrate just how with a few tweaks, this character could go from the minors to the majors.

Debuting in Action Comics #645 in September of 1989, Maxima was created by the team of writer Roger Stern and artist George Perez. Scion of the warrior rulers of the far-flung planet of Almerac, Maxima was the eldest child of the royal line. Born with super-strength, the power of flight, telepathy and telekinesis, she was a formidable enough power in her own right. Desiring a consort with which to sire an heir, she journeys to Earth with the intention of making Superman her consort. This isn't as implausible as it sounds, as it turns out their is a genetic compatibility between Almeracians and Kryptonians, which means that Maxima could potentially provide Kal-El with something no human could: children. Of course, the idea of being the boy-toy of an intergalactic warmongering tyrant doesn't sit well with our intrepid hero (no matter how appealing the red-headed, voluptuous package), and he promptly sends her packing with a stern talking to, stating flatly that he had no desire to father a line of despots. The character would return, eventually becoming an ally and a member of the Justice League before returning to her despotic ways. She died a hero however, saving the universe from the menace of Brainiac. She's appeared in an episode of Superman: The Animated Series, but by and large the character was confined to the comics, and was quietly swept away with other '90s-era detritus. Which is a pity, because with a few tweaks here and there, this is a character that could be easily jump from periodic menace to serious threat.

There are those who argue that Superman is a headache to write for because his powers make him far too capable for villains to provide a credible threat. They see him as essentially the protagonistic (if that isn't a word I'm making it one) equivalent of a Sherman tank, rolling over anything that a writer can put in his path. These people, for all their talent, are much like the character of Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark. They're digging in the wrong place. The key to a good Superman villain lies not in the Super, but in the man. The best characters (your Luthors, your Brainiacs, even your Zods) challenge Superman on not a physical level, but an intellectual/moral one. Thus it would be with the revised Maxima.

Starting from the top, let's take the whole 'Wants Superman To Be Her Consort' thing and promptly kick it to the curb. For all the badassness of the character, that notion is one that needs to be removed, or at least heavily underplayed. Maxima is a warrior-queen, the monarch of an entire planet of conquerors whose leaders have done a fine job uniting their people and focusing them into a race to be reckoned with. In a universe of alien threats, from the enigmatic dominators to the vicious Khund, from the cool intellects of Rann to the wingmen-elite of Thanagar, the Almerac Empire should be teased at, hints of a whispered fear. Even Brainiac treats them with a reverence, citing that he attempted to collect a sample of their civilization and that it 'did not meet with expected results'. Eventually a probe reaches Earth, a group of highly trained, possibly empowered Almeracian warriors attempt to establish a beachhead on Earth, only to be repulsed by a powerful figure in red and blue, a figure that identifies as a survivor of Krypton. The Almeracians escape, reporting back to the Throneworld. A decadent world, Almerac cares little for anything save the acquisition of territory. . .and of challenge. And what better challenge than a world so rich in metahuman defenders, especially this 'Superman'. The defeat and enslavement of this world that so many have tried and failed to conquer would be glory enough, but to have the last survivor of the Kryptonian Empire licking the boot of Almerac's queen? No, the prize is too enticing by far. Add a little bit about Almerac being a world that in the past threw off the shackles of Kryptonian oppression only to become the very thing they once fought against and you have yourselves the making of a cosmic epic that would make for a long-term threat that would boil over into a full-scale invasion that would set the pages of the Superman titles ablaze with. . .dare I say it. . .action.

Think about it; a woman with all the basic powers of Superman and Wonder Woman (flight, super-strength, invulnerability), plus she can read your mind, control you like a puppet, shoot bolts from her eyes that stagger the Man of Steel, create force fields a la the Invisible Woman, and can channel her psychic might into her physical attacks to make her stronger still. Plus, she's the ruler of an entire planet dedicated to the cause of war and the expansion of their empire. Where Superman is the open hand of Hope, she is the closed fist of Control. Where Kal-El believes in providing an example for others to follow, Maxima believes in crushing any and all opposition to her will in the most definitive and final manner possible. She is the dark reflection of Superman, and while there may be some potential for redemption, it's buried under centuries of dogma, an ethic that allowed her people to overthrow their masters and create their own superhumans, forging them into a force to be reckoned with. Can Superman make her see reason? Or will Krypton's dark past destroy her last hope for the future?

The Victimized Badass: Some Thoughts on Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.

I've seen the latest opus of director Zack Snyder and let me say this up front: the man knows his cinema. I'll happily give credit where it's due, and Snyder is easily one of the most seamlessly adept genre filmmakers I've ever seen. Since Dawn of the Dead back in 2004 the man has shown a unique talent for conveying action and emotion through his visuals, harnessing the unique talents of the production team under his command to bring amazing things to light. Hell, he made the cinematic adaptation of Watchmen, a comic book I'd believed to be completely unfilmmable, transforming the epic into a new entity while simulataneously paying homage to it's prose and picture counterpart. The same can also be said for 300, his rich and glorious adaptation of Frank Miller's sword and sandals epic.


Simply put, the man can make movies, and when I heard he'd be creating his own unique story in the form of Sucker Punch, and seeing the bits and pieces doled out in teaser trailers and one-sheets, I was on board. I eagerly sat in my seat at an advanced screening, keen to see what Snyder could do with his psyche completely unbound, free to create without having anything to adapt. I saw the film, sat with it, then saw it a second time today. I've had some time to turn the film over and over in my head and I have to say that while it is an impressive spectacle, the film has also done something it clearly didn't intend: it ticked me off. Sucker Punch is the most amazing mysoginist film featuring strong women I've ever seen.


The plot (what there is of one) centers around Baby Doll (played by Emily Browning), a teenaged girl whose mother dies and finds herself and her sister the sole heirs to her mother's estate. This doesn't sit well with their stepfather, who in a drunken tirade kills the younger sister and pins the rap on Baby (we never get any actual names for our protagonists, merely labels). The sequence is really one of the movie's high points; heavy on mood, kind of gothic and score by an amazing cover of 'Sweet Dreams' by the Eurythmics. It ends with Baby being sent to the Lennox Home For the Mentally Insane(clever little shout-out there), and with the aid of a crooked orderly named Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac) the young girl is slated for a lobotomy. The specialist will arrive in five days. The film then follows Baby as she struggles to escape, coping with the situation by envisioning the asylum as a Prohibition-era nightclub, the well meaning Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino) teaching her to dance (i.e. work through her feelings) to survive, and the remainder of the protagonists: Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), her sister Rocket (Jena Malone), Amber (Jamie Chung), and Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) assembling around Baby in a mutual bid for freedom, using the newcomers amazing dance abilities to distract their captors as they assemble the items they'll need to escape.

This leads into a fantasy within the fantasy, where as Baby Doll begins her dance numbers we flash into various and sundry fantasy scenarios; from an epic battle in a Shogunate-era castle against oni demons armed with rail guns to pseudo-WWI combat against steampunk reanimated German soldiers to a raid on a dragon's lair to an attack on a robot-filled bullet train. These sequences are the centerpiece of the film and the craft and care that went into them shines through, our five heroines looking absolutely effin' badass as they plough through their enemies, meeting their objectives, and looking damned cool in the process. And if this had been the premise of the movie, that rather than dreams this was an elite female unit of dimension-jumping kickers of ass and takers of names struggling to save worlds throughout the multiverse to prevent dimensional collapse, I would have pumped my fist and said this was the most amazing thing since the application of peanut butter to bread. But it's not and I can't.

I'm doing my level best not to get into spoiler territory here, because I do believe the movie is fundamentally worth watching. But the thing that makes my molars grind is that the badass, empowered women we see on the one sheets and in the trailers. . .they're not real. Or rather they're part of Baby Doll's dream-within-a-dream. Or the dream selves of the characters, who ultimately (apart from the figure of Baby herself) are shown to be anything but self-reliant or badass or strong. There is a moment when you watch these characters go completely to pieces. Is it understandable, given the circumstances? To an extent, yes. There's been some trauma, the pressure is on, etc. But isn't the journey of the film supposed to be the discovery by the girls of their own inner strength and resources? That they are far more powerful than they believed possible? If yes, then why does the film make victims of the girls, having them break down at one minor setback (to the point where a character makes a decision that is just. . .baffling), and then become hapless at the drop of a dime? Much like Chewbacca being a wookie from the planet Endor, this does not make sense.

Why is it that a film that's selling point is badass, confident looking women kicking the absolute crap out of bad guys really about being a helpless victim with some mealy-mouthed message about finding some inner strength within to deal with the pain without. . .and then having that pain without completely bulldoze you into the dirt? Yes, those who have seen the film will argue it ends on a hopeful note. Hopeful? Perhaps. Satisfactory to this member of the audience? Hell no. In my version the girls get away, after some very satsifying Death Proof-style vengeance on Blue's sleazy ass, laughing all the while as the asylum burns to the ground. That is the note the film should've ended on.

I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking this thing, but the film's notion of the victimized badass really made my hackles rise. Why can't a female hero simply be a confident, strong, fully realized character rather than either a victim, a headcase, or some combination of the two? Is there a spectrum that I'm not aware of?


Is Sucker Punch worth seeing? Again, yeah, I'd say so. If nothing else it got me thinking, and in an age of sequels/remake repeat as needed that's something we really, truly need in our escapist fare. Ultimately it is an impressive spectacle, with eye-candy galore and one of the most kickin' soundtracks I've heard in ages, but I can't help wishing for a little more steak to go with the sizzle.

Stac

Villain Tune-Up: The Parasite.

'All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.' W.H. Auden

For the model upon which the entire genre is based, Superman doesn't have a lot of what you'd call 'name' villains. Sure there's Lex Luthor and Brainiac, but after that it doesn't take long before you're straining for more names. It could be argued that Darkseid has become an arch-villain of the man of steel (though mainly as an import from Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga), and there are more contemporary villains such as Metallo, Rampage, and Silver Banshee (although quiz most non-comics readers about the last three and you might get some recognition from Metallo via Smallville). Even Doomsday, the brutal force of nature that did what no other villain could previously, namely kill Superman, is hardly widely known. About the only character that might gain mass recognition is the infamous General Zod, and even then he wasn't tailored to be a regular foe of the man of steel, just an occasional menace that cropped up every now and again from the Phantom Zone.

At first glance it might seem that the Rudy Jones, aka the Parasite, is another one of these forgettable types. Good for a single-issue formulaic smackdown, then carted off to jail by the end of the story, curses foiled again, etc, etc. That's the impression, and I can certainly see how easily the character could be placed into that archetype. But in point of fact, the Parasite is one of the most potentially terrifying foes Superman could ever face. Let's break down why together.

First, a bit of backstory. Rudy Jones was one of life's losers, a guy always out to make a quick buck while secretly railing at a world that couldn't appreciate him and where people less deserving than him (namely everyone) got all the breaks cut for them. Working as a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs (Scientific & Technological Advanced Research. I pulled that from memory people. MY NERD POWERS ARE SUPERIOR! Ahem), Rudy was convinced that there had to be something in those canisters marked 'hazardous waste' had to be worth selling. With that airtight bit of logic in his feeble mind, Rudy opened the container and exposed himself to a massive dose of strange radiation. This being the world of comics he didn't die a lingering death, but instead found himself transformed into a purple-skinned abomination with a drastically increased metabolism. Soon learning he had to feed from various living beings in order to survive (he could feed off electricity or nuclear power in a jam, but there's just something about the energy of other life forms). An early rampage through the streets of metropolis brought the newborn Parasite into conflict with Superman, and it was then he learned he could absorb metahuman abilities as well, draining Superman of his powers and finding the Man of Tomorrow to be the gourmet cuisine of his new diet. Since then Superman and the Parasite have clashed numerous times, often leaving Superman drained and weakened until his body can reabsorb sufficient solar energy to get him back up to par.

As time went on, Rudy's powers continued to mutate, allowing him not only to retain the energies of another living being, but also their memories as well. This was illustrated at it's most startling when the Parasite drained arrogant scientist Dr. Torvell Freeman dry, killing the man. . .but leaving his mind cohabiting the Parasite's form, Rudy oftentimes arguing with the 'Doc' in the middle of a battle. As bad as a large purple humanoid attempting to drain your life force dry must be, imagine one that's talking to himself in two entirely different voices. The Parasite's appearance gradually warped over time as well, becoming less human and more like a mix between a man and a lamprey. The two caused Superman no end of trouble, including one point where--after absorbing a shapeshifter and retaining the power to alter their appearance--they impersonated Lois Lane for several weeks in an effort to break Superman emotionally. Lois Lane. Superman's wife. See, that's creepy on a level I was barely aware existed.

Of course, this origin and background is pre-Geoff Johns' new take in Superman: Secret Origins. I've no idea what the Parasite's status quo is these days, but from what I have available it wouldn't be too difficult to give the character an upgrade from Menace of the Month to High Octane Nightmare Fuel.

Let's suppose that Dr. Freeman isn't the only consciousness that the Parasite's absorbed that has retained their individuality. Gradually all these personas begin to overwhelm poor Rudy, to the point that he's just one more face in the crowd. Over time these personalities begin to realize that they're not 'real', just copies of whatever poor souls were unfortunate enough to get in the way of the monstrosity they've now become part of. They get scared. . .they get angry. . .and then they get something far, far worse. They get organized.

The monstrosity that roars and lumbers through Metropolis, drawing in Superman and the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit and the Science Police, that's largely for show. Rudy's mind has been confined to that form (with one or two monitors to keep his gibbering wreck of a mind on track) while the rest of the mass has used the powers of shapeshifting they've gained to split off into various individual forms. After all, being confined to one form and feeding one person or group of people at a time? That's small potatoes. What one 'probe' feeds from, they all can feed from after all. And once they absorb a victim, their knowledge, experience, and form (right down to the DNA) becomes a part of the Whole. Simply put, the Whole is getting smarter by the day, and pretty soon it's going to set it's sights on expansion. Infiltration into facilities like S.T.A.R. Labs, Lexcorp, Wayne Enterprises. . .maybe even the metahuman community. After all, who's going to miss a couple of those third-string heroes? And if they work hard enough, maybe they'll even get into the Justice League. So much food, so much hunger, but the Whole can be patient. Patient like a spider is patient, like a shark on the hunt is patient. Not only will the prey come to them, it will do so with open arms and a smile.

And from the beaming face it stole from a corpse, the Parasite smiles back.