You know what seriously burns my guts?When some Marvel Talking Head Clown says "The Initiative is a success"
Two words: FUCK NO. Please, I'm begging everyone who reads this blog, the next time some one says this, please respond with this list, and then ask where the hell the successes are?
Below I list the RECENT FAILURES that occured between the time I put up the first list and now:
-Failure to capture Moon Knight, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange, Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Daredevil, Spider-Man, The New Avengers, The Runaways, and the New Warriors
-Failure to stop Kraven the Hunter from setting up a supervillain zoo in New York (Punisher War Journal).
-Failure to stop Menace from killing a Mayoral candidate (Amazing Spider-Man).
-Failure to apprehend the patrons of known supervillain bars (Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher War Journal)
-Failure to stop a bio-terror attack and thus, creating the conditions for a gang war (Amazing Spider-Man)
-Failure of Initiative personal to prevent assault on high-profile individuals, puplic and private property, as well as innocent lives (Amazing Spider-Man, X-Factor, She-Hulk) by super criminals. All those assaults were stopped by "unregistered combatatants".
-Failure to prevent the escape of Dr. Doom from government custody (Fantastic Four)
-Near-total collapse of the Thunderbolts program; corruption of multiple members of the Thunderbolts organization (Thunderbolts)
-Multiple deaths and injuries at Camp Hammond due to rogue Initiative program (The Initiative).
-Preventing the relocation of the X-Men under their own aegis and their severance of any Initiative oversight (all X-men related titles)
-Failure to recruit the Asgardians into the Initiative (Thor)
-Mass Defections of former New Warriors Members from the Initiative program (the Initiative).
-Failure to contain Red Hulk. Escape of Bruce Banner/Hulk (HULK).
-Failure to contain time-displaced Invaders. Possible risk to all space-time (Avengers/Invaders).
-Failure to prevent major loss of life in California due to superhuman terror. Multiple deaths of Initiative members (The Order).
Now, those are the really straight forward failures, these next two are a little more complex:
-Failure of Accountability (World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, Illumaniti, etc.)
OK, we know, KNOW that the Hulk broadcasted the blame for his exile from Earth during World War Hulk. What surprises me is that we've never seen any class-action lawsuits against Reed Richards and Tony Stark for their part in going above the law and trying to get rid fo the Hulk without the consent of the government or any governing body whatsover. Furthermore, despite any and all claims that the Initiative brings superheroes under the law, we don't see a lot of them actually being accountable for extra-legal activities. Realistically, there should at least be a Congressional or Senate oversight committee grilling Stark and Richards over these things so they can decide whether or not private citizens would have the right to sue them. Of course, you also should have Kayne West stand-ins saying "Tony Stark doesn't care about poor people" that shows how absolutely reviled these people should be for playing god the way they have. Especially if it is ever learned that the Skrull Invasion was due in large part to the actions of the Illuminati.
-Failure of Public Safety (ALL)
Again, once you start arguing that the SHRA makes superheroes more accountable to the general public and under the law, it opens up a whole other can of worms. Do Richards and Stark now have to get public safety ratings and inspections for their various gear? Does Stark get his armor OKed by Engineering oversight committees to make sure that his suit isn't a public hazard? What are the oversight capabilities and are they at the federal level, or do they extend to the state and municipalities? What are the ordinances that superheroes have to comply with? Do their costumes have to meet with public decency standards (If so, there are a lot of people in trouble there)? Again, this isn't something we are seeing with the Initiative, but then again, that assumes that it's a logical framework and not something completely arbitrary.
4 comments:
Hey Mike, Love the site!
I glad to know I am not the only one who hasn't forgotton ALL the crappy plot holes left over from Civil War. Funny thing to me is when I was kid, the Marvel Universe FELT real, even when they were not as "Mature" as they are now. With the current universe trying (and Failing) to be mature and real, I can't help but notice how little thought many of the new and better changes the current writers are bringing to it. You've listed many of them here and there are many more. Between this and OMD I haven't bought a single Marvel Comic in over 7 months (I cut back after CW, and OMD wound me up). Oh well, I am too old for Marvel to care what I think ( I just turned 34 a few months ago- I'm like ancient!!!!) but I have been unable to spark any interests in my 9 year old son. He likes manga, and anime, video games, and playing on the computer, a long with playing sports and playing with his friends. I don't know if he is typical, but when I was his age I was all over some comic books, as were most of the kids at school. I asked my son if any of friends read, and he said most don't even know what he is talking about. Wow!!!
Anyways, Keep up the good work, I'll be lurking around!
This is especially painful when you realize how much you've left out--for example, Initiative-registered superheroines being abducted into a slavery ring.
The problem with the list of the people they've failed to capture is that they'll never capture, say, the Runaways, or even affect them at all, unless the writer of Runaways wants it to happen.
This puts me in a terrible position as I love the idea of truly universal changes with every title reflecting the new status quo, but I also think the current status quo is godawful and don't want it to affect the few titles I do like.
Hey, rebel-dragon, I'm hesitant to try and convince someone to get back into Marvel, but have you tried introducing him to Marvel Adventures? They're funny kid-based titles with some great old-school references thrown in (without being obtrusive). And don't be too surprised that kids today aren't into comics. Comics are more expensive than ever, they're only available in specialized shops, and our society in general doesn't let small children visit stores on their own. The only way kids can get into comics are if their parents are into comics.
Hey Bradbury, yeah I bought all of the digests for Marvel Advetnures: Avengers, and several of the others book like Spider-Man. Hard to believe but I think they are some of the best books Marvel is putting out now. Jeff Parker is frigging awesome! That said my son just doesn't care for them. He likes Naruto, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and DragonBall Z comics, as well as Indy Jones and Star Wars (he likes Jar Jar- Yeah I know...). I guess this is a generational thing. I took him to see the Iron Man movie and he loved it. Afterwards I took him to our LCS, which is across the street. I showed him an Iron Man Comic, and he was like, yeah that's cool. I asked if he wanted it, and he said no. He wanted to buy a new Naruto trade. I also showed him a BND book just to see what he thought. He was like totally not interesed, and he enjoyed all three movies, as well as watching SP and His Amazing Friends with me.
Bradbury, click on the links in the post. I actually listed most of the stuff you think is "missing" in an earlier post. This was just an update.
Rebel Dragon, Bradbury, welcome. Enjoy and I hope to see your comments regularly.
And as far as superhero comics go, personally, I'm not convinced that they are going to survive without radical changes. Stay tuned....
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