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Wouldn't this power be a libertarian wet-dream though? You have a completely unique skillset that some of the most famous and powerful people in the world would crawl on their hands and knees for, and you can make it so that they have to come to you. Like if you decided to up and leave it would leave others at your mercy. THIS MAN IS LITERALLY JOHN GALT AND EVERYONE IS TOO DUMB TO REALIZE IT! e: well time to flip the switch to  hate-watch again I guess. In a bizarre way I kind of love this idiot comic when it does that.
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Sep 23, 2016 17:03
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Well, SOMEONE watched Heroes.
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Sep 23, 2016 17:56
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Yeah I was thinking of Ando as well.
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Sep 23, 2016 17:58
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I hope there's a further twist where he was kidnapped by terrorists and traumatized by having to empower them or some poo poo. Also notable is how Allison tossed Patrick's money, but she's totally fine with using the dossier that he gave her that is much more definitely illegally obtained to illegally violate somebody's privacy. Totally legal money is bad, but definitely illegal information is A-OK. Galvanik posted:Lately the big reveals are tepid and it's killing what remains of my enthusiasm for the comic. It's unfun but not enough to make it worth reading negatively. Yeah, the comic really has gone downhill. It's not complex or deep enough to actually be food for thought, but it's too dead set at not rocking the boat much or saying anything specific to be an ideological preaching point, and god knows that Allison as a person and her adventures through life are boring as hell. There's just nothing to the comic anymore. It's boring enough that I would've forgotten about it if it weren't for this thread.
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Sep 23, 2016 18:17
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So I take it next week is going to be Most Privileged Person talking down to Objectivist Strawman for a couple pages?
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Sep 23, 2016 18:17
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Hell yeah
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Sep 23, 2016 18:26
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Wasn't there an X-man who had this same power amplifier dealie? Not like a regular character, but I seem to remember some mutant having this ability.
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Sep 23, 2016 18:42
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Galvanik posted:That said, I think Max might have sworn off helping people with his power because less because he's a rich objectivist rear end in a top hat, and more because of the crushing disappointment of having a unexciting power. This is basically it. You guys have got the order of things wrong here; I'm pretty sure it isn't that he hates having this power because he hates helping people, it's that he hates helping people because everyone has been telling him his whole life that he ought to be using his power to do it. You can see that in how he reacted to Alison talking to him about it before. It isn't even that hard to empathize with him on this page. Remember when you were twelve and wanted to be Superman? Now imagine that everyone else your age IS Superman, except you get to be Aquaman instead. Not even Aquaman, but a guy who can MAKE AQUAMAN SWIM SLIGHTLY FASTER. From any objective standpoint, this is an absolutely amazing super power, but we're not talking about objective standpoints, we're talking about the point of view of a child. When you're a kid, you want to play tag, not make everyone else able to play tag better. It could be an absolutely crushing blow to a child who had been dreaming of having superpowers, especially to the point of literally leaping off of a roof to see if he could fly. But, of course, everyone around him is telling him how great it is, and how he could help everyone else be awesome, when really he's the one that wants to be awesome. Even the guy who can levitate a playing card three inches at least has a fun party trick. You don't even have that, unless you hang out with that guy. Congratulations, kid, you are now the ultimate wingman. Of course he'd rather not have a power to begin with; if he didn't have a power, people wouldn't be hassling him for favors all the time and reminding him that he can't do anything on his own. This is probably the root of his objectivist shtick, not the result of it. As he grows up, he decides other people can just figure out how to be awesome on their own without his help, thanks. You can see his resentment pretty clearly on this page. EndOfTheWorld posted:Wasn't there an X-man who had this same power amplifier dealie? Not like a regular character, but I seem to remember some mutant having this ability. Yeah, it's come up in comics a few times. You might be thinking of the mutant Sage, who had the power to grant power-ups to other mutants; that was on more of a permanent basis, though.
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Sep 23, 2016 19:24
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EndOfTheWorld posted:Wasn't there an X-man who had this same power amplifier dealie? Not like a regular character, but I seem to remember some mutant having this ability. I remember a mutant who was on Magneto's side doing this. There was that lady X-man who had the power "make my bones grow real fast" (don't remember the name) and the power amplifier touched her and her bones grew REALLY FAST and encased her in a bone cage until Kitty bailed her out by phasing her but not her bones. X-men is weird, when you think about it.
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Sep 23, 2016 19:27
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Flesh Forge posted:Yeah I was thinking of Ando as well. At least he got weird red electricity out of the whole thing.
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Sep 23, 2016 21:46
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idonotlikepeas posted:This is basically it. You guys have got the order of things wrong here; I'm pretty sure it isn't that he hates having this power because he hates helping people, it's that he hates helping people because everyone has been telling him his whole life that he ought to be using his power to do it. You can see that in how he reacted to Alison talking to him about it before. I'd like to believe this, but on the other hand he comes right out and says at the age of 14 right when he discovered this power he was so disappointed in how it did nothing for himself. e: I see what you're saying but I dunno, there have been so many emotionally miswired characters shown that, well, it really does just make more sense if he has asperger's
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Sep 24, 2016 00:16
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If i was 14 and everyone was getting superpowers and i got that id be pissed at first. But then id either use it to help people or charge people/the gov money to get boosted or w.e. it'd be sweet gig.
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Sep 24, 2016 00:52
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Lots of people are shitheads at the age of 14 but it takes a special kind of shithead to grow up into your 20s and still be bursting into tears because you didn't get a superpower/pony for your 14th birthday, especially when you're filthy rich/have private helicopter/whatever.
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Sep 24, 2016 00:53
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Yea I get why he would be sad; he wanted to be Wheeler and found out that he was Ma-Ti. Kind of a letdown. But if you're a normal person you make peace with that, buy a monkey, and the realize that your ridiculous wealth also lets you be the Batman of this operation and get to it.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:00
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And maybe you also chum up with The Boy Who Smiles Real Good and play around with global politics
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Sep 24, 2016 01:05
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Maybe Allison convinces him that his power is actually useful, and he becomes a super villain instead of helping her out.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:57
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idonotlikepeas posted:It isn't even that hard to empathize with him on this page. Remember when you were twelve and wanted to be Superman? Now imagine that everyone else your age IS Superman, except you get to be Aquaman instead. Allison's family was pretty well off and her parents made it a point to help others and were social workers if I'm not mistaken. Allison has always had this superiority complex because she's a naturally gifted athlete and such; and she wants others to be as good as her. That has been consistent pre/post awakening for her and her powers served to inform how she expects those around her to measure up when it comes to solving problems. Pintsized was always infatuated with comic books and super heroism and he was delighted to find out he had powers because it meant he could do that in real life. His childlike enthusiasm for heroics persisted until recent years when he ran out of super villains to fight. I would speculate, until more evidence shows the contrary, that Max has been (for lack of a better phrase) an entitled little poo poo. Not getting a self reliant power like he wanted only served to fuel his disdain for wanting to do things for others and given that his family is the type to mistreat their workers I would imagine that he picked up that lack of regard from others from them long before his powers set in. Now I would like to believe that there were also people who knew about his anomaly that asked him to help out in some way. Given the wording of his ability he can strengthen anyone not just other bio dynamics which would be invaluable in a lot of areas. Imagine if a group of firemen reporting to a disaster site could lift 50% more weight than they previously could? Imagine if he were to assist in construction and just allow workers to move cumbersome loads without needing heavy equipment? His power is great and you would have expected him to have some change from his 14 year old mentality but instead of trying to find a positive he's just allowed himself to wallow in self pity. What Allison is doing right now (instead of cashing a completely valid check) is banking on a person's ability to have an impact on their mentality. She believes that if you have power you must use it. Or at least in this case if you have power you must also dedicate your life to helping others however you can. We don't know her plan is and given the conversation it could include using his ability or maybe using his other power, having a lot of money. Either way this topic will always be more interesting to talk about in a thread than how it's presented in the comic because they have already made Max a strawman instead of giving him any legs to stand on. Nothing that comes out of this conversation will carry much weight when it's just one character burning down yet another bad argument and walking away flustered.
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Sep 24, 2016 02:22
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I really don't think his power is "make everyone's muscles have more bro lifting power" based on what Allison told him about saving millions of lives. I'm not sure exactly what she has in mind but for example, revving up Feral to have instant regeneration would probably get into that category.
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Sep 24, 2016 02:29
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Flesh Forge posted:Lots of people are shitheads at the age of 14 but it takes a special kind of shithead to grow up into your 20s and still be bursting into tears because you didn't get a superpower/pony for your 14th birthday, especially when you're filthy rich/have private helicopter/whatever. Yeah, I mean I get his pathos and poo poo, but crying over it nearly a decade (or more) later is a little much. The guy has immense wealth that already makes his extra awesomely special, compared to all the plebes who have to work for a living. You'd think he could just throw money at a therapist, and get his poo poo sorted out. But of course, if he did that, then Alison wouldn't have her big moment where she gets to prove that she is The Only One Right in all conversations. No doubt this chapter will end with Alison proving to her professor that he's wrong, that her axiom is not tyrannical, that she knows true hardship, and even get an automatic A+++++ for the whole semester for being so incredibly right all the time.
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Sep 24, 2016 06:51
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Flesh Forge posted:I really don't think his power is "make everyone's muscles have more bro lifting power" based on what Allison told him about saving millions of lives. I'm not sure exactly what she has in mind but for example, revving up Feral to have instant regeneration would probably get into that category. The logic still applies either way. He would be the guy any group of biodynamics would try and recruit to help them since he makes them better just by standing near them or however it works. But this guy isn't coming across as the type of person who actually used his ability for anything and instead decided that if he couldn't be the quarterback he'd just stay off the field. So all he has is years of hatred and building up this ideology where self sacrifice can't exist because it's the one action he himself is incapable of.
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Sep 24, 2016 06:58
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Oh absolutely, I don't disagree with anything else in your post.
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Sep 24, 2016 10:30
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Radiochromatic posted:Yeah, I mean I get his pathos and poo poo, but crying over it nearly a decade (or more) later is a little much. The guy has immense wealth that already makes his extra awesomely special, compared to all the plebes who have to work for a living. You'd think he could just throw money at a therapist, and get his poo poo sorted out. But of course, if he did that, then Alison wouldn't have her big moment where she gets to prove that she is The Only One Right in all conversations. No doubt this chapter will end with Alison proving to her professor that he's wrong, that her axiom is not tyrannical, that she knows true hardship, and even get an automatic A+++++ for the whole semester for being so incredibly right all the time. I don't think Max's reasons are relevant as far as the chapter goes. I think in respect to Allison, what's important is that he has a power that could make a huge difference in the world on a scale that Allison could never accomplish alone, and he likely will never use it willingly. So the question is how far Allison will go to try to convince him. But really, the way the chapter is going, it pretty much suggests the professor was right and Allison was wrong. If the only way to make Max cooperate is to use force or threaten his life, then doing so would make Allison a tyrant. I don't really see how you can read this as invalidating what the professor said at all.
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Sep 24, 2016 11:29
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It's kind of an interesting conflict, where here's this guy who obviously grew up in an atmosphere of "everyone is wholly responsible for their own lifestyle" who, in his early teens, encountered the first thing he desperately wanted but found he could never, ever have no matter how hard he tried, right after getting his hopes up. I could understand the conflict giving him a bit of a complex.Radiochromatic posted:Yeah, I mean I get his pathos and poo poo, but crying over it nearly a decade (or more) later is a little much. The guy has immense wealth that already makes his extra awesomely special, compared to all the plebes who have to work for a living. You'd think he could just throw money at a therapist, and get his poo poo sorted out. But of course, if he did that, then Alison wouldn't have her big moment where she gets to prove that she is The Only One Right in all conversations. No doubt this chapter will end with Alison proving to her professor that he's wrong, that her axiom is not tyrannical, that she knows true hardship, and even get an automatic A+++++ for the whole semester for being so incredibly right all the time. This comes up a lot, but has the comic actually had a scene where everyone acknowledges that Allison was right all along? Or is the comic just all being told from her perspective?
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Sep 24, 2016 12:29
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Brought To You By posted:I get your point but I will point out that we've seen how some of these characters acted before their powers, and how they coped with things afterwards. I'm going to argue that while his current resentment for helping others is partially borne from his disappointment in his own ability, it's not the source because I believe he was always like this to some degree. That's fair, but I think it also isn't that simple. Pintsize's childish glee about super heroes probably would have faded if he hadn't turned out to be one. Alison might have grown out of this expectation if she'd ever run into someone better than herself at anything. (As she's pointing out in the current page of the comic, she really doesn't know what that kind of disappointment feels like.) The powers shape their personalities as much as the other way around. Of course, he is also still a bad person. Obviously he should have gotten over this at some point. I'm not arguing that he's actually a Misunderstood But Good Human Being, just that the particular way in which he's broken comes from an understandable place. JuniperCake posted:But really, the way the chapter is going, it pretty much suggests the professor was right and Allison was wrong. If the only way to make Max cooperate is to use force or threaten his life, then doing so would make Allison a tyrant. I don't really see how you can read this as invalidating what the professor said at all. Yep, this is exactly it. The whole point of the professor's argument is that not everyone has the motivation, knowledge, or skill to do the right thing, and trying to have everyone do the right thing is going to require you to coerce them. Max is proving this exact point right now. Even if Alison does find some way to convince him to help out, it doesn't disprove her teacher's point at all. Tenebrais posted:This comes up a lot, but has the comic actually had a scene where everyone acknowledges that Allison was right all along? Or is the comic just all being told from her perspective? Not really. The closest scenes we have are the one where Pintsize admits she was right about not sulking about superheroics, and the conversation she has with Cleaver about how she understands his point of view, and the scene with her sister. All of those got fairly positive reactions when they happened, and all of them come with a heaping spoonful of "but maybe Alison isn't always behaving well either". A few people seem to have this idea that the comic will have this scene where Alison is revealed to be Always Right All The Time, but it never happens, because the comic isn't really about that.
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Sep 24, 2016 14:00
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Tenebrais posted:This comes up a lot, but has the comic actually had a scene where everyone acknowledges that Allison was right all along? Or is the comic just all being told from her perspective? I think the tone is intended to be ambiguous, but so often it ends up putting Allison against the most exaggerated strawmen and moral caricatures (Furnace, Patrick, Max, Mary) that it doesn't come out that way. e: I mean look at the ethical challenges she's had to face: - Is it right to unilaterally torture and murder people? (Mary) - Is helping people good or bad? (Feral) - Should people be altruistic or should they be selfish? (Max) Flesh Forge fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Sep 24, 2016 |
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Sep 24, 2016 14:13
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I can almost hear fingers slamming on keys, and to head that off: of course those are gross oversimplifications of the issues the comic has tried to present, and of course I don't think the author was trying to make them sound that simple. On the other hand when these issues have come up they've been such overwhelming no-brainers, presented in the least subtle way possible.
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Sep 24, 2016 14:26
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idonotlikepeas posted:Of course, he is also still a bad person. Obviously he should have gotten over this at some point. I'm not arguing that he's actually a Misunderstood But Good Human Being, just that the particular way in which he's broken comes from an understandable place. Tenebrais posted:This comes up a lot, but has the comic actually had a scene where everyone acknowledges that Allison was right all along? Or is the comic just all being told from her perspective?
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Sep 24, 2016 14:43
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I feel like the problem Mary presented was closer to "is the person lashing out at wrongdoers better than the person who spends her life keeping her hands clean without actually doing anything?".
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Sep 24, 2016 18:24
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SlothfulCobra posted:I hope there's a further twist where he was kidnapped by terrorists and traumatized by having to empower them or some poo poo. Pretty sure he was traumatized throughout childhood by an acute case of affluenza.
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Sep 24, 2016 20:15
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Flesh Forge posted:I think the tone is intended to be ambiguous, but so often it ends up putting Allison against the most exaggerated strawmen and moral caricatures (Furnace, Patrick, Max, Mary) that it doesn't come out that way. Flesh Forge posted:I can almost hear fingers slamming on keys, and to head that off: of course those are gross oversimplifications of the issues the comic has tried to present, and of course I don't think the author was trying to make them sound that simple. On the other hand when these issues have come up they've been such overwhelming no-brainers, presented in the least subtle way possible. The problem is more that all three of your statements are just flat-out incorrect, not that they're oversimplifications. Mary's story is about two questions: 1) is what superheroes do, what we want them to do, really any different than murdering rapists, fundamentally? 2) Is it better to take action, even if you might gently caress up and hurt someone that doesn't deserve it, or hold back to avoid that? (This isn't a simple question, although I do believe there's a correct answer; our criminal justice system seems to think it's better to hold back, for instance.) The comic always presented her murders as a bad thing. The issue of whether it is okay to murder people never really came up. Alison, our point of view character, maintains throughout that duh, it is not okay to do that. But we often accept people doing bad things in the interest of the greater good, which is kind of Mary's point. Feral's story isn't really asking us a philosophical question, per se. I mean, she's right. It's obvious that she's right. If anything, it's more an examination of the nature of heroism and Alison's own character flaws. As Patrick correctly points out, she wants the one-punch solution to all the world's problems, and that's the thing that gets in her way more than anything else. Feral is okay with just doing something right, even if it doesn't fix literally every problem in the world. Her actions are a contrast to those of our main character, who wants to do The Best Thing, not just a good thing. As for Max, we aren't done with his story, but what it looks like it's about is whether it's okay to OBLIGATE people to be altruistic. That is not the same as "should they be"; that is, again, a settled question; we're supposed to come into this story understanding that people should probably be altruistic, but the question of what to do when they just don't want to be is much more interesting. The comic is not going to waste its time trying to prove to us that being altruistic is a good idea, because it makes an assumption that its audience is not composed of assholes. The comic has problems, no doubt about it, but that doesn't mean it has EVERY problem.
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Sep 25, 2016 02:55
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I don't think the comic was ever really against Mary. It did this gutless thing where it said upfront, "Hey, we all know that going around murdering people is wrong, right, but wouldn't it be soooo GREAT if SOMEBODY would go and SLICE OPEN EVERY MOTHERFUCKER WHAT DID WRONG AND IF ALL THE loving SHITBAGS WHO DISAGREED WITH ME WENT OFF AND DIED HORRIBLY DUE TO THEIR OWN HUBRIS, BLOOD SHALL FLOW EVERYWHERE--not that I SUPPORT that or anything...but wouldn't it be really nice?" Feral and Max both are fully within their rights to act or not act as they so choose, although Allison tried to talk both of them out of it. There's a good question somewhere of whether having some freak skill or ability by chance should dominate your life. If you had the ability to breathe underwater, should you be required to stay by the coast and forbidden from living in the desert? Should all supertasters become chefs? I really honestly don't expect the comic to confront that question though.
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Sep 25, 2016 04:05
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idonotlikepeas posted:The problem is more that all three of your statements are just flat-out incorrect, not that they're oversimplifications. Mary's story is about two questions: 1) is what superheroes do, what we want them to do, really any different than murdering rapists, fundamentally? 2) Is it better to take action, even if you might gently caress up and hurt someone that doesn't deserve it, or hold back to avoid that? (This isn't a simple question, although I do believe there's a correct answer; our criminal justice system seems to think it's better to hold back, for instance.) Mary's goal is explicitly to make her victims suffer and to kill them, so yes, what I want superheroes to do is fundamentally different. Maybe you and I want superheroes to do different things  No, it is not better to unilaterally take action (torture and kill someone) if you might gently caress up and hurt someone that doesn't deserve it - actually you shouldn't unilaterally torture and kill people period. Actually it's not up to the individual to decide whether they deserve it period. Actually nobody deserves to be tortured and killed (although I'm pretty OK with a death penalty there is never any societal value in torture). This is why even where legal systems have a death penalty, there are many checks involved like a jury, lawyers, a judge, and oversight of the whole process. quote:The comic always presented her murders as a bad thing. The issue of whether it is okay to murder people never really came up. Alison, our point of view character, maintains throughout that duh, it is not okay to do that. But we often accept people doing bad things in the interest of the greater good, which is kind of Mary's point. Actually the comic tried to make it very ambiguous (Dr. Rapestatistics, Patrick's ambivalence we talked about all this poo poo already). Furnace is the only person to actually say hey, whoa, this is wrong, and he's a hilariously bad stereotype to be the one to deliver that message so it really came out corkscrewed. quote:Feral's story isn't really asking us a philosophical question, per se. I mean, she's right. It's obvious that she's right. If anything, it's more an examination of the nature of heroism and Alison's own character flaws. As Patrick correctly points out, she wants the one-punch solution to all the world's problems, and that's the thing that gets in her way more than anything else. Feral is okay with just doing something right, even if it doesn't fix literally every problem in the world. Her actions are a contrast to those of our main character, who wants to do The Best Thing, not just a good thing. That's what I said, although Feral's arc is cool, it is an unambiguous ethical statement and not a challenge at all (yes duh of course it is good to help people). quote:As for Max, we aren't done with his story, but what it looks like it's about is whether it's okay to OBLIGATE people to be altruistic. That is not the same as "should they be"; that is, again, a settled question; See, it shouldn't be, that would be were the interesting story could be found. I think it's good to be altruistic (in my own life I'm moreso than anyone I personally know) but I dunno that I can say everyone should or must be. quote:we're supposed to come into this story understanding that people should probably be altruistic, but the question of what to do when they just don't want to be is much more interesting. The comic is not going to waste its time trying to prove to us that being altruistic is a good idea, because it makes an assumption that its audience is not composed of assholes. But then it portrays the characters as assholes who are never* going to be altruistic, and tries to make us see it from his objectively evil and selfish viewpoint, so again the author is trying to make this an ambiguous issue. *within the foreseeable future, barring some righteous moralising smackdown that Allison lays down
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Sep 25, 2016 06:52
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SlothfulCobra posted:Feral and Max both are fully within their rights to act or not act as they so choose, although Allison tried to talk both of them out of it. yase SlothfulCobra posted:I really honestly don't expect the comic to confront that question though. noes
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Sep 25, 2016 06:55
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BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Sep 25, 2016 |
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Sep 25, 2016 08:59
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e: quote is not edit
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Sep 25, 2016 09:00
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Sep 25, 2016 11:03
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I will grant you, if the comic goes into "should you force people to be good/moral or not if you have the means to" I may be pretty impressed.
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Sep 25, 2016 11:55
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idonotlikepeas posted:The comic always presented her murders as a bad thing. No, it didn't. Like the judge is presented not just as being too lenient towards frat boys who committed rape; he's also hinted to be a wife-beater and a child abuser. The mercenary guys were war criminals. The only person who really opposed her is a ridiculous strawman that was introduced in the comic as Mega Girl's impotent douchebag rival. And Allison's motive to confront Mary was always that it made her look bad because she had been connected to Miles by the media, and that killing these guys after their crime wasn't a perfect solution. The chapter ended pretty much with Allison going "okay, you know, just keep doing what you're doing". Furnace is the only one of Mary's victims for which they have put some ambiguity as to whether he might actually be innocent; all others were explicitly shown to have been criminals who could strike again and who had been ignored by justice.
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Sep 25, 2016 13:16
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Flesh Forge posted:No, it is not better to unilaterally take action (torture and kill someone) if you might gently caress up and hurt someone that doesn't deserve it - actually you shouldn't unilaterally torture and kill people period. Actually it's not up to the individual to decide whether they deserve it period. Actually nobody deserves to be tortured and killed (although I'm pretty OK with a death penalty there is never any societal value in torture). This is why even where legal systems have a death penalty, there are many checks involved like a jury, lawyers, a judge, and oversight of the whole process. Sure, and I agree with you. The point is, though, that her torturing people is uncomfortably close to, say, Batman beating them bloody and unconscious. The only reason we accept some superheroes as heroes in the first place is that they manage to never kill anyone, and some don't even hold to that restriction. And the comics don't generally show the bodies getting cleaned up afterward, but more on that in a second. Cat Mattress posted:Like the judge is presented not just as being too lenient towards frat boys who committed rape; he's also hinted to be a wife-beater and a child abuser. The mercenary guys were war criminals. The only person who really opposed her is a ridiculous strawman that was introduced in the comic as Mega Girl's impotent douchebag rival. And Allison's motive to confront Mary was always that it made her look bad because she had been connected to Miles by the media, and that killing these guys after their crime wasn't a perfect solution. The chapter ended pretty much with Allison going "okay, you know, just keep doing what you're doing". Furnace is the only one of Mary's victims for which they have put some ambiguity as to whether he might actually be innocent; all others were explicitly shown to have been criminals who could strike again and who had been ignored by justice. Okay, the first half is correct, but irrelevant, and the latter half is wrong. Yeah, the judge is too lenient towards frat boys and is obviously a wife-beater and child abuser at the very least. But his death is not represented as a triumphant moment of victory for the forces of good. It looks like this:  Are you really looking at this page and thinking "yeah, the artist is definitely making a powerful statement about how this was the right thing to do"? How about the first murder spree?   Everyone looks super happy there, right? The hover test on that first one is literally "The amount of blood on this page is courtesy of a very unhappy google research session." The aftermath of her murders is always represented as horrific. The comic explains WHY these people are being murdered (in retaliation for being rapists), but it does not then go on to say "and that makes it okay that they were murdered". As for Alison, her opinion during her conversation with Mary is "killing won't work, try teaching instead". She never once endorses Mary's plan implicitly or explicitly. Mary keeps her occupied by having an image of herself feed Alison a line of bullshit that she knows she'll buy as she runs like hell; Alison was determined to bring her to the authorities right up to the end, she just failed at it. Her last statement to Mary is "how can you live with yourself knowing that you will someday kill an innocent person?". Her last statement ABOUT her is "Moonshadow wants to use lethal violence as a tool for social change. I think that's wrong." The closest she gets to what you're saying is saying "maybe she wasn't literally the worst problem in the world I could have been solving at that exact moment", which is not any kind of endorsement. It's just her realizing that she fell back on old habits of seeing a supervillain and trying to punch them right away instead of working on the whole world-saving thing.
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Sep 25, 2016 15:41
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It's very helpful of the comic to clarify that the guy attempting rape was always rapist, and his friend decides that he was a scumbag ("It's like my idea of him was killed too" or something along those lines). And of course all the suspects and their defenders die - very tragic, but at least we don't have to live with them going free!
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Sep 25, 2016 17:42
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