Identity Crisis #1
© N/A
Means and Ends
By: Kurt AmackerDate: Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Happy Wednesday, Maniacs, and welcome to another exciting installment of Comicscape, where I’ll drag you through the soul-wrenching depths of moral inquiry and sequential art psychoanalysis. This week, I want to revisit an issue I touched on in my very first column in reference to DC’s Identity Crisis – moral complexity in superheroes. This issue seems more relevant than ever, thanks to Marvel’s Civil War and Tony Stark’s transition from clear-cut hero to ultra-pragmatic director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Some readers now question whether Stark even qualifies as a hero in light of his decision to fight for the Superhuman Registration Act and his collusion with Norman Osborn – the Green Goblin. We know that Stark nearly initiated a war between the United States and Atlantis by controlling Osborn and sending him to assassinate the undersea kingdom’s ambassador. He intended to unite the country’s heroes on a single side in the war, thus driving more to work with the government and, ultimately, register.
For everything one can say about Stark’s transition as a character, Brian Michael Bendis’s one-shot, Civil War: The Confession, clarifies that he hasn’t simply become evil in the cackling, moustache-twirling, maiden-kidnapping sense. Feel free to call him a traitor or a politician, but he hardly qualifies as a one-dimensional picture of evil with no higher calling than bank robbery. Rather, Stark pursued his vision of the greater good with a willingness to oppose his comrades and even make greater sacrifices. Ultimately, he projected that the consequences of opposing the Supherhuman Registration Act and fighting alongside his friends would bring greater calamity than supporting it. He weighed the costs versus benefits – remember, he’s a futurist – and arrived at his answer like a moral math problem.
When the Justice League mind-wiped Dr. Light in Identity Crisis, the team followed the same logic. After raping the Elongated Man’s wife, Sue Dibney, Light swore he’d return and do it again. The team realized that simply turning Light over to the authorities wouldn’t suffice. Hence, they had Zatanna wipe his mind – removing his memory of the rape and turning him into a moron. When Batman discovered them, Zatanna removed that particular memory and left him none the wiser – for the time being, at least. Later, when a cadre of super-villains switched bodies with the team and learned their secret identities, they just wiped a few more minds. Hell, the Punisher engages in this sort of greater-good heroism all the time. He shoots criminals after deeming them guilty, knowing full well that a life of violent crime rarely ends with prison.
No one likes the above logic in comic books, but we use it in real life all the time. I don’t mean to justify all of the aforementioned acts, but to explain the logic that drives heroes into morally questionable territory. Put yourself into the position of Tony Stark, the Justice League, or Frank Castle. In Stark’s case, you know that failure to support the Superhuman Registration Act means war between costumed heroes and the United States government – one that, ultimately, the heroes will lose, meaning the end of costumed adventuring. The Superhuman Registration Act stands as the only reasonable compromise in a country that refuses to tolerate costumed vigilanteism to the degree it once did. In Stark’s eyes, he could fight his friends to keep their culture of heroism alive – albeit in a compromised form – or he could help make a last stand against the very country he and his comrades have committed to serve.
Now, put yourself in the place of the Justice League. A psychopath has just raped your friend’s wife and sworn to repeat the act in the future. Because everyone knows super-villains rarely stay imprisoned, this seems likely enough. But, you refuse to kill anyone. Given few alternatives, you turn to one of the few available at that time – treatment in its most extreme form. When one of your comrades disagrees with you, it seems reasonable to stop him using the only non-violent means available – another mind-wipe. Apparently, this trick works so well that you decide to do it again in the future.
Pretend you’re the Punisher, just for a moment. You’ve lost your family to an accident of circumstances. After stumbling on a mob hit in the middle of Central Park, the hitmen gun down your family in cold blood to eliminate witnesses. Your survive, but decide that no one should ever suffer as you have. After serving in Vietnam, you realize that you can only stop someone willing to kill others by killing them, in turn. You believe that every time you shoot a serial killer or a dope pusher, not only have you taken one more lowlife off of the street, but you’ve sent a message to any future perpetrators.
It all makes sense in a pragmatic sort of way. In the above examples, our heroes acted immorally for moral ends. Most writers elect to demonize this sort of logic and tout the virtues of idealism at all cost. In the recent miniseries, Dr. Strange: The Oath, Strange elects to use the last drops of a mystical cure for cancer to save his servant, Wong. He realizes that he can save the substance and reproduce it in his Sanctum Sanctorum, thus curing cancer forever. But, the latter option means letting Wong die for the good of the world. It settles on an old question – would you kill a single person to, for instance, eliminate HIV from the planet forever? Dr. Strange would not. Tony Stark likely would. The kind of idealism behind Strange’s decision resonates in comic books and other narratives, but reality hardly ever affords us such moral clarity. Imagine yourself in that situation and ask if you’d really jump to save a single life over that of millions.
Identity Crisis, Civil War, and The Punisher (if it’s written well) ask us to consider if ends always justify their means. In Identity Crisis, the Justice League’s actions brought disastrous consequences in the future – ones they could not have foreseen at the time. Iron Man’s decision in Civil War cost the life of one of his best friends. As Brian Michael Bendis revealed at the end of The Confession, even Stark felt it wasn’t worth it. The Punisher has spent years acting as judge, jury, and executioner at the cost of his humanity and any chance of a normal life. His dictatorial style of justice leaves no room for error, either. Well-intended acts sometimes bring disastrous consequences. Good fortune occurs by accident as often as it does by the work of well-meaning individuals. Defining what constitutes good fortune and moral acts becomes even more complicated when one weighs intentions, long-term consequences, circumstances, and a host of other complicating factors.
Despite the inherent complexity in discussing the moral implications of Stark’s decision, I hardly consider myself a relativist or a post-modernist. I believe in right and wrong, though discerning both remains no simple task. If it were, we could probably cancel ethics classes at universities the world over. I can’t answer those questions for you, either. All we can do is talk about them. But, superhero comic books often traffic in moral clarity that serves as uplifting escapism. Ultimately I enjoy that, but sometimes we have to examine thing a little more closely. As we grow older, we can only read about costumed heroes foiling bank robberies and stopping purse snatchers for so long before the inconsistencies bother us. Hence, I admire any publisher or writer willing to ask these kinds of questions and examine heroism in all its dimensions.
Now, what do you think?
Spinner Rack
By Ben Johnson and Kurt Amacker
Ben: This week Black Panther and Storm join the Fantastic Four and I take that title off my pull list.
Kurt: I admit that they are an unlikely choice, but I’d probably worry more about who’s writing the book before I dropped it. That’s just me.
DARK HORSE COMICS
Alice in Sunderland GN $29.95
Ben: See how they did that there? They replaced Wonder with Sunder, thereby guaranteeing your interest. How clever.
Berserk VOL 16 TP (MR) $13.95
Buffy the Vampire Slayer VAR CVR New PTG #1 (pp #759) $2.99
Ben: Last week’s release was the first comic my wife ever read. Now she’s devouring my Fables collection. She gets sexier by the day.
Kurt: Send pictures and we’ll confirm this.
Conan & the Songs O/T Dead TP $14.95
Ben: If you’ve never read Lansdale’s you don’t have any idea how cool reading can be. The More You Know.
Kurt: You’re giving me Saturday morning flashbacks!
Grendel Devil By the Deed HC $12.95
Reiko the Zombie Shop VOL 6 TP $12.95
Star Wars 30th Anniv Coll VOL 2 HC Jedi vs Sith $24.95
Star Wars Boba Fett VOL 1 TP Man With a Mission $12.95
Star Wars Legacy #10 $2.99
Usagi Yojimbo #101 (note price) $2.99
DC COMICS
100 Bullets #82 (MR) $2.99
52 Week #47 $2.50
Ben: The funny thing is, as much as DC proved me wrong by pulling this off in a big way, I have no faith in their upcoming Countdown series.
Kurt: But, it’s backwards! What’s not to like?
Action Comics #847 $2.99
Kurt: Geoff Johns and Richard Donner continue writing an amalgam of the first two Superman movies.
Batman #664 $2.99
Batman Snow TP $14.99
Blue Beetle #13 $2.99
Cartoon Network Block Party #31 $2.25
Catwoman #65 $2.99
Connor Hawke Dragons Blood #5 (of 6) $2.99
Crossing Midnight #5 (MR) $2.99
Ben: This is really picking up steam. Weird steam, but steam all the same.
DMZ #17 (MR) $2.99
Fables #59 (MR) $2.99
Ben: One of the most consistently mediocre comics going.
Kurt: Throwing a hunk of raw meat to the hungry wolves, are we? Thanks.
Firestorm the Nuclear Man #34 $2.99
Green Arrow Crawling From the Wreckage TP $12.99
Green Lantern #18 $2.99
Green Lantern Rebirth TP $14.99
Ben: One of DC’s worst decisions in years, now collected in one volume.
Kurt: Wasn’t everyone mad that Hal Jordan went all nuts and evil? I thought his coming back would be, you know, a good thing.
Hawkgirl #62 $2.99
JSA Classified #24 $2.99
Loveless VOL 2 Thicker Than Blackwater TP (MR) $14.99
Ninja Scroll #7 $2.99
Oyayubihime Infinity VOL 4 $9.99
Ben: What the f…?
Kurt: If you can say that six times fast, I will buy you a drink. It’ll be a cheap drink, but still.
Secret Six Six Degrees of Devastation TP $14.99
Ben: I’ll be biting my fingers off after typing this, but Catman kicks ass.
Spirit 2nd PTG #1 $2.99
Superman Action Comics Archives VOL 5 HC $49.99
Superman Confidential #4 $2.99
Teen Titans Go #41 $2.25
Ben: To hell!!!
Kurt: Wow, we agree on something!
Wetworks #7 $2.99
Wonder Woman #6 $2.99
IMAGE COMICS
Ben: About half of these were listed last week so if you want to see the jokes for them just read last weeks Spinner Rack again.
Art Of Darkness $14.99
City Of Heroes #18 $2.99
Elephantmen #8 $2.99
Ben: We are not ANIMALS!!!!!!
Godland #17 $2.99
Hunter Killer Rocafort CVR #12 $2.99
Kurt: It’s the end of “Season One.” Remember when this was an ongoing?
Hunter Killer Silvestri CVR #12 $2.99
Pirates Of Coney Island #5 (Of 8) $2.99
Sam Noir Ronin Holiday #3 (Of 3) $2.99
Spawn #166 $2.95
Ben: After only 166 issues this title is finally getting to the point.
Kurt: Did they ever resolve that internal power meter he had that would send him to hell when it ran out? Man, it’s been a while.
Spawn Armageddon Vol 2 TP $15.95
Strange Girl #15 $3.50
Strongarm #2 $2.99
Texas Strangers #1 $2.99
Most Totally Rad and Awesome Real Solicitation of The Week: Six Shooters and Sorcery! Gunslingers and Goblins! Old Magic meets the New World as teenage twins Wyatt and Madara begin a perilous quest to reclaim their heritage and dispose of a deadly artifact in a weird Wild West - a world full of monsters, mayhem and the mysterious lawmen called Texas Strangers!
Ben: I liked this the first time when it had less explanation points and was called The Dark Tower.
Unique #1 (Of 3) $2.99
Witchblade #104 $2.99
Kurt: It’s good to see that breasts are getting their own books these days.
Witchblade Takeru Manga Gonzo CVR B #2 $2.99
Witchblade Takeru Manga Sumita CVR A #2 $2.99
MARVEL COMICS
Black Panther #26 $2.99
Ben: I hate this title almost as much as I hate Ghost Rider.
Kurt: I’m going to kick you in the taint for that.
Captain America 2nd Ptg Epting VAR #25 CW $3.99
Ben: Why did this get a second printing?
Kurt: Because it sold out all over the place. Why else?
Civil War Initiative 2nd Ptg Silvestri VAR $4.99
Daredevil #95 $2.99
Ben: Everything is perfect in Matt Murdock’s life, time for Brubaker to kick his f--king legs out from under him again.
Kurt: Murdock’s not interesting when he’s happy.
Essential X-Men VOL 5 TP New Ptg $16.99
Kurt: The Essential X-Men volumes are almost through Claremont’s landmark and way-long run on the title. This means that I have a lot of reading ahead of me.
Fantastic Four #544 $2.99
Half Dead TP (MR) $10.99
Ben: The worst is when it starts to move a little bit just before you’re done.
Kurt: Oh man…I thought you were a preacher or something!
Heroes for Hire #8 $2.99
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age USA Comics VOL 1 HC VAR ED 76 $59.99
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age USA Comics VOL 1 New ED HC $59.99
Red Prophet Tales of Alvin Maker #6 (Of 12) $2.99
Sensational Spider-Man #36 $2.99
Ben: I wonder how they decide what to name a title? Amazing Spider-Man? Makes sense. Sensational Spider-Man? Is he swinging around without pants on?
Kurt: That would be Totally Fabulous Spider-Man.
Silent War #3 (Of 6) $2.99
Ben: A somewhat enjoyable distraction.
Kurt: There’s a ringing endorsement. Why would I look for great comics when I can look for somewhat enjoyable distractions?
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane VOL 1 HC $24.99
Ultimate Fantastic Four #40 $2.99
Ultimate Fantastic Four VOL 7 God War TP $16.99
Ultimate Spider-Man #107 $2.99
Ben: Finally enjoying this book again after a couple of years of total blah.
Ultimate Spider-Man VOL 8 HC $29.99
Ultimate X-Men #80 $2.99
Ben: I like what Kirkman’s been doing here.
Wolverine #52 $2.99
Wolverine Black And White VAR #52 (Pp #749) $2.99
Ben: Same comic, same price, but now with 100% less color!!!
Kurt: When they do these black and white variants with the original uncolored line art, that’s cool. When they just render the book in grayscale, that’s stupid beyond all measure.
Zombie TP $13.99
Kurt: This is a pretty good MAX reboot of Simon Garth, the original Zombie from the Marvel 616 Universe. Anyone who’s seen a bunch of zombie movies will recognize all of the genre conventions, but it’s still pretty entertaining.
Tony, though, was shown playing both sides of the fence. He did his utmost to delay if not stop the SHRA. He even payed a mercenary to attack a conference to sway things in their favor. Then he pulls a 180 when it goes through and tries to manipulate an entire group of people into doing what he thought was the right way to go. It begs the question, what if Atlantis had declared war on the U.S.? Tony made himself the very thing the public feared because of his "vision". You might argue he did the wrong things for the right reasons or that he is not a villain, but in my opinion, the man has become morally bankrupt. He has shown me that he will do whatever he thinks is right to get the results he wants. As for being a futurist, are you familiar with phrase "self-fulfilling prophecy"?
As for the Justice League, well, they paid for their mistakes. When does Tony pay for his?