Let's go to the exact words: from Newsarama's weekly interview with the Countdown staff (MC is Mike Carlin and AB is Andy Beechen):
NRAMA: Over to Mary...how much of the old "Mary" is left? She's killed in cold blood, she's terrorized a region, she's teamed with Eclipso (who she knows is a villain) - all without any second thoughts or reservations...she's notacting like herself at all - or all that brightly, either...
MC: Again we maintain that Mary hasn't killed.
NRAMA: Okay – she changed people from a “living” state into stone, which is “not living” in issue #31. Technically, it’s not killing, I guess, But she didn't raise a fuss when Eclipso knocked the head off of one of the stone guards, which, if he ever gets turned back into flesh and blood, isn't conducive to living…but I digress…
MC: I was waiting… Anyway - she is doing a good job of being mean... And the old Mary is in there... But so is a healthy does of Black Adam - hence the not having second thoughts, reservations or acting completely like herself.
NRAMA: Your thoughts on that Adam?
AB: There's a number of forces at work inside Mary -- she's a creature of conflict right now, so her behavior isn't likely to be predictable or rational...in fact, she's likely decidedly shaded to the unpredictable and irrational. Mere proximity to Eclipso at this point probably doesn't help, either.
Hmmm. Let's go to the tape, shall we?
Carlin: We maintain that Mary hasn't killed.
Or...
Carlin: We maintain that Mary hasn't killed.
One more time:
Carlin: We maintain that Mary hasn't killed.
Now, Lord knows I've kvetched enough about the lame, morally bankrupt process of DC having their heroes turn into murderers, and then handing them magical "get out of jail free" cards, as all is forgiven. It's a lame story, it's been overdone to death, it robs the stories and characters of any moral impact. Yadda, yadda.
But this pathetic attempt (with assistant rationalization by the Newsarama interviewer) is so gutless, so cowardly, so bereft of common sense that it boggles the mind.
Maybe Mike Carlin sincerely believes that being turned to stone and beheaded isn't killing. Look at the preview for Countdown #28 below the interview: maybe he sincerely believes that NONE of the people Mary "ironically" punishes die as a result of her actions. Hey, if Greg Pak wants us to pretend the no one has ever died in a Hulk rampage, who knows, right? Not bloody likely, but let's grant him the silly argument.
But if that's the way you're going to play it, what's the point of turning Mary Marvel "evil?" If she's not going to do anything actually evil, and you're going to hit the moral reset button by or during Final Crisis, what is the freakin' lesson you want us to learn? That it's alright to turn to the Dark Side, as long as you only play pranks? That it's OK to be a whiny self-centered brat who sees being powerless as a sufficient reason to accept evil powers and evil advisers and kill (or not?) innocent powerless civilians? That it's OK to give in to temptation as long as you were a hero (and will be again after DC asserts that all is forgiven)?
What about the rationalizations that it's "Eclipso's proximity", or "part of Black Adam inside her," so she's not morally culpable? Well, she made the decisions that let those things happen, so she certainly bears some culpability, right? And if it all turns out to not be her responsibility, WHAT'S THE POINT OF TEH FREAKING STORY????????
DC hasn't the balls to truly turn a "good" character "evil," and keep them that way. And yet they keep trotting the plot device out again and again and again. They want the excitement (and no doubt extra sales) from the public's fascination with characters turning "dark," but are too afraid of offending long term fans, or damaging merchandising/media rights, or angering their corporate master...or maybe they just think the Comics Code is still in effect. They want a Punisher, but haven't the creative fortitude to stand by that decision.
Ask yourselves: what's the long-term fallout from Emerald Twilight? None: Hal Jordan is back and good again, the Guardians are back, and it turns out that any of the interesting Corps members that Jordan might have killed, well, surprise, they didn't die. Wonder Woman killing Max Lord? None: he had been a non-player in the DC universe for nearly a decade, and Wonder Woman never really faced justice, even amongst her fellow heroes. Jason Todd being a vicious murderer? None: apparently all is forgiven, and now he's a potential boyfriend for Donna Troy and a potential savior of the universe.
So now ask yourselves: what's the potential long-term fallout of Mary Marvel being evil? Yeah, you guessed it. So the real question is: why is DC wasting our time with this nonsense?
On the freakin' nose.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest irritation with DC's mad infatuation with the grim-and-gritty is that we already know they're ready to hit the reset button at the end of this. Any changes they decide to make "permanent" will be erased whenever they need a character for a movie again.
Marvel has the same problem, I guess (it's not like anyone believes Captain America is going to stay dead), but they tend to do a better job at this stuff than DC does.
Hey, Scott, it's always good to hear from the sammich man.
ReplyDeleteI will say this about Marvel: while they're often just as quick to undo the effects of someone's bad actions (Hawkeye & a form of the Vision are back, e.g), they're a lot less likely to absolve the perpetrator:
*It was Wanda who went nuts and did bad things, not Eclipso acting through her
*It wasn't the "color of fear" who possessed Hank Pym into beating his wife
*Tony Stark's alcoholism wasn't excused by Superboy punching the universe and a dip in a Lazarus pit.
Now, I'm not defending all those stories and their follow-throughs. And I will admit that Marvel has done many a "looks like a hero has gone bad but o-ho it wasn't really" story.
But I can't think of an instance where they've agreessively marketed and/or based company wide crosssovers on "Hero has gone evil and killed, really!!" Or followed with a "it was really OK" ending.
And at least when Marvel heroes do bad, or bad characters go good, at least they have the decency to feel guilty and neurotic about it, unlike DC's "instant moral cleansing formula."