So someone mentioned something in some thread about how the super-serum in cap's veins was losing effectiveness over time and how this was supposed to play some sort of story role. We know that Cap's the only one that the super-serum has had any long-lasting and non-harmful effect on (except for banner/hulk but i think that the fact that he's the hulk has something to do with why he survived), and there has never really been any out-and-out explanation for why this is. IMHO, it's at least tacitly implied that the reason that cap survives isn't necessarily scientific, it has more to do with who he is and the fact that he is a true patriot and a genuinely good person. I just remember him at banner's funeral and how he really did seem sad about banner's death, even though the guy had killed over a thousand people.
You see this touched on again in issue #10, where you have the reserves, who are in many ways physically superior to the ultimates, they have military training etc but they are still unable to stop this invasion because they don't have "the right stuff," and that the whole thesis here is one that is seen in a lot of comics but really doesn't get old from repetition, which is that powers don't make the hero, it's the attitude and "soul" if you will. I think it is a good message to be pushing in comics, and i think that it's one of the concepts that really defines and makes worthwhile the western comic tradition, as opposed to say a lot of anime and manga stiff, which is obviously inspired by asian and particularly japanese mores (and they have different but equally valid messages and themes in them for the most part). As an example, one of the reasons that superman is still a valid and interesting character in comics isn't his powers, or even his personality, which while made more complex in recent years isn't really his selling point. It's the idea running through the comics that more important than these powers that you're born with or receive through random chance it's the way you behave morally that counts and what you do with what you have. So in that sense it's cap's morals which have really given him his powers, as that's the main difference between him and everyone who's been given the serum. I think that this is really an important message to be giving these days with our focus on wealth, youth, and beauty in today's culture. You look at magazines and they talk about these people and how they're great people because they're so beautiful and famous and rich, and how politicians get more press the more power they happened to get their hands on rather than by how intelligent and worthwhile their policies are. Admittedly comics are part of the capitalist machine as well and of course you don't see too many comics characters not drawn to somewhat ideal personifications of beauty, but i think that that has more to do with comics' roots in myths and fables with their larger-than-life characters than anything else.
Sorry that got a bit wordy
. Just a bit bored. Anyway, kinda the hole in the above theory is that liebermann wasn't particularly amoral, and he died saving people from a burning building, but that's still my take on it. Though he did supposedly last longest. I'm interested to see how Darth Red turns out; he may or may not have the super-serum in his veins (probably does because he's sort of the anti-cap) and as we've talked about isn't even a "villain with understandable motivations," he's really stopping what from his perspective is the evil empire. From here I think his character could go either way; he could become embittered as a result of the defeat, and possibly disfigured as a result of the serum, and become red skull, or he could become redeemed to some degree, either taken prisoner or perhaps still allowed his freedom. Personally i'd like to see him be a good guy as he just seems like an interesting character who's very similar to captain america but not a carbon copy, though a lot of people would take it as a sort of pc "the arabs are good guys" move, and it doesn't have to be that. In the 90's we saw a lot of russian heroes and stuff, oftentimes redeemed villains because we didn't need to be antagonistic towards them. Now we have this character, and i definitely appreciate that we as a culture and Millar as a writer can see the good in this other culture. At the same time, they're shown to be pretty terrible people, gunning down down civilians in new york etc. It's not like Red's hands are clean of this affair at all; if he's the captain america analogue he's the one who outlined the plan and is commanding all of this. In a sense Red and Cap are in the same quandary, as they're guys who are used to a black-and-white morality system trying to deal with the real world's shades of grey.
On a more banal note, what's up with the lightsaber dealie? whe you first see him and he gives his "roman empire" line the handle part is really long, taking up most of the length of it, than in the team pic at the end its short, more like the double-blade lightsaber dealie. In the first pic i thought that it looked kind of like a lightsaber but more like a staff, but in the second the resemblance is just too apparent. If i had to explain something like that, the casing that he's holding retracts around the "blade" when not in use so that it can be safely handled, rather than energy beams extending from the handle. In that case the blade could be an energized metal of some kind that's giving off light in the red spectrum (again, adamantium maybe? something to cut through cap's shield....) and perhaps vibrates at various frequencies to cut through objects etc. I understand that he's got to have a red motif going, whether he's red guardian or red skull or someone new, cap's enemies have always traditionally had the red thing goin' on.
*whew* what a mouthfull. Thoughts?
Edit: Also, this issue showed a bit more of a focus on quicksilver and wanda. I loved that scene were he took apart the chicken-bot, very cool. It's a credit to millar and hitch that they make pietro a heroic character because heroism has always traditionally been defined, especially in comic books as strength and/or resilience, not speed, and a spritely androgynous looking guy like quicksilver doesn't reallt fit the bill of bad***, but they do a good job. I also hearken back to the issue "Passion Play" where he grabbed thor's belt after getting up off that stretcher; he's really come a long way since the beginning of the series. One image that i would have really liked to see but of course didn't was this picture of pietro's hands and arms being bloodied and torn up from having to pound on the chickenbot for so long; it couldn't have just been pulling out bolts and stuff as there's no way they would have built them that easy to take down. Oh well, chalk it up to comics i guess. I kind of lauged when the antithor made his "dodge this" comment, remembering how a few issues earlier he had dodged the same thing, and am hoping that antithor gets his next issue.
Wanda's powers are kind of tough to adjudicate, because it's not like she can really have her powers work without the fight being over. When they work it's basically like nothing happened because she edits reality. Hopefully that's what vision will be for, linking to wanda's brain and helping her make all of those calculations. Incidentally a good move for wanda would be to neutralize the US's nuclear arsenal so that the union can move in, from a scientific perspective manipulating subatomic particles should be infinitely easier than turning someone into a cat, as there is a much higher influence due to random chance at the quantum level. While we're on the topic she could also conceivably do the same thing in reverse, making non-radioactive matter go critical. I assume that she doesn't do this either because she has to be too close or because it would cause too many civilian casualties. Than again it is comic books and powers don't have to and really shouldn't follow scientific laws.
