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Post by Avatar on Apr 2, 2024 5:45:01 GMT
DC Fallen Angel (2003) #16 Peter David and David Lopez This is one more concept, that makes no sense at the mechanical level. Liquid sodium can only work as a liquid as a heat sink when it is circulated. Even if the liquifier additive, allows it to retain fluidity, the Americans, and the Russians both learned the hard way from their own research and application that sodium, as sludge, is impossible to pump as a fluid. The EU engineers need to go back to the basics. Americans had this idiot, named Edison. He invented the iron battery.On to the book. =========================================================================== When we left Lee, last time, she had been blown up in her gymnasium office. Someone had left her a warning note. It was apparently too late to save her, as in her distracted state; with Becky, the whiner, complaining about her divorcing parents, that the Fallen Angel had been caught unaware with just seconds to spare. Shadow Boxer, that coward, cad, and Black Mariah Succubus lover/battery, (Refer to the iron battery, solar power, allusion above, for your physics tie-in.), was seen nearby. He has previously established multiple motives for murdering Lee. So, there is that curious bit of business. ============================================================================ Then, about 20 years ago in Durham, England. The mine, where John Boxer digs out coal, to power the defunct British Empire, caved in. That idiot, if I read the story script correctly, bore drilled a line charge into an open coal seam fracture. He used a short charge (Too much dynamite timed to go off too quickly.), to break up the facing wall of coal which held that fracture. The overpressure wave traveled overhead. It dropped the mine tunnel roof on the miners. The roof fall either crushed them or buried them alive. A Mister Gib tells this basic story to Terrance Boxer (Shadow Boxer), John's son. Mister Gib properly suggests that John Boxer, if there was any justice, should have died inside the mine. Terrance bites Mister Gib's nose off. To add insult to injury, Terrance is contemptuously tossed, by Mister Gib's coworkers, who tend to him. One of them, tells the mewling shadow of John Boxer, to run back home to tell Misses Boxer, her nightmare of living with John is almost over. Now, if at this low-point of emotional vulnerability, for Terrance in this story? You, reader, think I have any empathy at all for young Terrance when he meets “Mister Goode”? The “kind man”, consoles him with empathic words that propose to Terrance, that he was not wrong to attack Mister Gib, or little McKean? Not on your life, reader. I was exactly that sort of self-righteous non-objective and non-thinking, self-centered irrational coward, that Terrance was, at his apparent age, as drawn and written. I was old enough to know better. Furthermore, I was old enough to have learned, that when the community makes a collective assessment that one of its members, is a fool, a coward, and unworthy of Human respect; I had best pay attention when why that is so, is explained to me, about me. I took too long to learn better and change, to become “humble”, to adapt to reality, as I should have without the prompts. We shall see, in story, that Terrance never learned or changed himself. He fell prey to “Mister Goode”, all too easily. “Ah, Terrance, the things we can never see or hear, are the things we have to watch out for.” says Mister Goode. Terrance makes a bargain with the devil, to save his dad. “Do you know what a deferred payment plan is?” “No.” “It means you get what you want now, and pay later.” Nobody ever asks about the interest on the soul in such transactions, have you noticed? Mister Goode and Terrance shake on the deal. Terrance is transformed into a “battery”. The price of this transaction is that Mister Goode will call upon John Boxer and Terrance Boxer to work for him in Bête noire. Dumb-DE-dumb-dumb. ============================================================================ Shadow Boxer is at the explosion site. “How many people were in there?” “Someone said the gym teacher, Miss Lee.” Shadow Boxer smiles: “Tragic, that. Miss Lee went and got herself all blown up.” He puffs on a stogie. The happy piece of Shite calls Black Mariah to report the news to her that the Angel is dead. “Y'hi, s' me. Guess what? You won't believe the trouble that's just been solved, with one big 'wham, bam, thank you, Ma'am?” Not so fast, you walking piece of manure. Out of the smoke… “Aww, piss in a bucket, that figures. That flippin' figures.” Lee got her standing shock wave defense up in the nick of time. She even encapsulated Becky. She walks out of the smoke. I wish I could copy that glory page. One of the comic best art pages I have ever seen for its poignancy and simplicity. When David Lopez drew it, it was centered on Lee's expression as a reader's eye draw-to-notice on the page. Madonna perfect. “Is the girl, she's holding, okay?” “Boxer? Shadow Boxer? Son of a Bitch!” A paramedic holds onto Lee, “Hold on there, miss.” “Lemme go.” Lee cocks her fist to let fly at the paramedic. Lee, who is about to punch him into orbit, comes to her senses. “I know what's good for you, lady! You wanna' slug a guy tryin' to help you? I think I can handle a punch from a lady half my size.” He smiles. He helps her into the ambulance. “Go easy on me, I'm fragile.” says Lee. “Okay. Now, you're just screwin' with me.” Our paramedic is not THAT stupid. I love hero moments like this one as written and drawn. ============================================================================ Shadow Boxer works the body bag, (Another term for punching bag.). He has a lot to worry him. While Black Mariah laughs at the imagined sight of Lee emerging from the rubble, with her clothes shredded, and with the Angel covered in soot and debris. Shadow Boxer points out that Lee is after him, in the belief that he blew her up. Black Mariah assumed the same thing, that Boxer attacked the Angel for her. Shadow will neither confirm, nor deny, because he does not want Black Mariah to know. Why have Lee torture his loved one again? Screwy logic, that is. If Lee comes after Shadow Boxer, upon her belief, that he was responsible, then Black Mariah gets her ticket punched, next, as a fellow instigator. “Me and my loved ones have a proud history together.” ============================================================================ Then, twenty years ago. Somehow, Terrance has reached his father within the cave-in. His father, though confused, and cowardly, manages to stay coherent enough to survive the teleportation from the cave-in, to the closet inside his own home. Misses Boxer thinks it is God's own miracle. John Boxer says; “God or the devil.” How right you are! Step up and win the Kewpie doll, you git! ============================================================================ Now… in Basil Juris' office. Bête noire's Magistrate obtains the good news that Shadow Boxer was seen at the explosion site, from Shadow Boxer. Juris asks why? Shadow Boxer tells him, to kill the Angel. Again, why? It was a personal matter. “Not for long, I suspect.” Lee arrives. She uses one of her Faradays upon Boxer. “Boxer, are you alright?” “Fine, I'm fine.” “Not for long.” It is at this point, that Basil Juris intervenes. He freezes Lee with a simple voice command. Oh boy. What follows, as Lee is frozen in paralysis, is a discussion between Basil and Shadow whether to kill Lee. Lee is conscious of the whole discussion. Shadow Boxer convinces Basil, that it is Basil or Lee, now. One of them has to die. Lee shows fear. Basil is surprised and disappointed. He thought Lee would die like a lion. Basil uses another “power”, to scan Lee. Our Angel is pregnant. Basil puts 2+2 together and comes up with fate. “Get out.” “Are you nuts, Doc? We had her!” “I need to think about this.” It comes down to Juris finally mediating the quarrel between the Angel and the Goon. He separates them…, for now. Avatar
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Post by Avatar on Apr 2, 2024 21:27:40 GMT
DC Fallen Angel (2003) #17 Peter David and David Lopez and I have suggested elsewhere that “Why”, is what ultimately kills us. We hunt for answers and we doom ourselves. Genesis 3 NIV: The Fall====================================================== Consider Genesis 3 as Our Fallen Angel seeks vengeance upon those, who she believes, blew her up. On to the book: Twenty years ago, then County Durham, England… John Boxer recognizes evil; when he sees it. He, John, is written as stupid, foolish, craven, cowardly, a bully, and a lout, but he does recognize evil. He wants to kill Terrance, as evil. Misses Boxer intervenes, the more fool her. Terrance runs back into the closet where he teleported his dad and him from out of the mine cave-in, courtesy of Mister Kind. ====================================================== Now, in the office of Basil Juris… Basil and Dolf are together. They discuss Lee, and her “delicate condition”. It is obvious, by now, that Juris used Lee, as he uses everyone he contaminates. There is no “love” involved in any of Basil Juris' calculations when it comes to people. So when he says, he requires Dolf as an ally in the matter of Lee, it is a contractual business arrangement, as evildoer to evildoer. “I need an ally in this matter, Dolf. Someone who I can trust.” Something interrupts before Juris forges the deal. “What the blazes…” “Mein Gott. What the blazes is right. It appears our understanding, Herr Doktor, ... ... may have moved beyond that which is readily understood.” Basil Juris has the look of shock upon his face. The north-facing triangular point of flame outlined of the devilish pentagram overlaid upon the city of Bête noire has a light source inside it. An entire city block is involved. ========================================================= Outside the nightclub, called “Johnathan's” in the middle of the “red-light district”. Lee battles the city “enforcers”. “Die you, Bitch!” Bazookas and recoilless rifles? Like throwing spitballs at a lioness. Swatted aside. ========================================================= Later… In Slate, the Investigator's, office; Lee and Slate talk about the trouble Basil Juris has with such fellows as “Mister Kinde”. “Nicely deduced, Miss Angel. Continue to show such initiative, and you could 'henh' work for me, like Anton here. Correct Anton?” It is a threat, for Anton is a zombie-bot. “I live to serve.” “Not for long. Be quiet.” “Yes, Ma'am.” Slate's threat is dismissed as nothing. Slate and Angel bandy words about the gymnasium explosion. Shadow Boxer's involvement and so forth is on the table. Lee is upset about Becky among other things, but mainly she is after the root source of those who tried to kill HER and her baby. Lee wants to fight the Hierarchy head on, without going through minions with the wastage of time. She came to Slate to find out how. Slate tells her, it is not the people, it is the city of Bête noire. Tear that city apart and the Hierarchy will come to her. So she does. =================================================== Back at Juris' office… on the balcony are Black Mariah, Juris, and Dolf… "… Out of nowhere, she just started destroying everything in sight. A squad of enforcers tried to stop her with everything short of Napalm. She just brushed it aside." "So, you're saying, Mariah, that the fire is the result of our trying to stop her?" "Well, basically yes." "Henh, Serves you and your boyfriend right, for your behavior in my bar." Dolf and Black Mariah are about to kill each other. Black Mariah removes her gloves. I presume Dolf has a Walther PPK with blessed silver bullets. Juris has to break it up. His city is on fire, chaos reigns and here comes that lightning bolt which indicates a visitor from the Hierarchy. Notice, reader, no Shadow Boxer? =================================================== Lee has just thrown a car into a traffic light... "Quite the mess you've made. If you wanted to get our attention, ... well, as the ancient curse goes; be careful what you wish for. I am Mister Kind of the Hierarchy." They bandy words, hero to villain. In the verbiage is the claim Mister Kind makes, that the Hierarchy was trying to do Lee a favor, to encourage her to leave, before the city compelled her to stay. Mister Kind concludes that now Lee will find death a blessing to that doom. "Well then, bless me, if you can." ================================================== Juris office. Basil Juris attempts to leave to stop the fight before it erupts. Black Mariah blocks his way. "You can't, Doctor." "One side Mariah or I'll..." "Its gone too far. certainly you can see that?" "But if she dies?" Dolf adds; "Then, it will be on her terms." It is kind of interesting that Peter David puts those words into the mouth of a coward, who shot himself in a Berlin bunker? Juris says something, I found curious. "That's not good enough, not anymore." Juris goes to the balcony and calls out to Lee, "Lee get away from him. You'll be killed. You and the... You'll.." "She is much too far away to hear. You know this." says Dolf the realist. "She was always far away, Dolf... Even when she was right there. I suppose we should be appreciative, Dolf?" =================================================== Battle. The spectators flee, leaving Lee alone. That car she threw before Mister Kind confronted her, just lays on its side as she walks past it. ===================================================== Home. Lee goes home to her two story clapboard house in the suburbs. She has mundane chores. She has to clean her clothes and herself. She is covered in gore. It is a difficult task. She is exhausted. She has nausea, from her pregnancy attack her. She mumbles to herself. "This was your night of strength. You sent those bastards in the Hierarchy a message. You let them know to leave you the hell alone." But. A telekeet has to not be ever distracted, to let her guard down, not even for a moment. "So this is no time to turn into a weepy-eyed lame ass. And sure there is still outstanding business, but I've got tomorrow for that. For now, put on a nightgown, try to get some slee... " Remember Shadow Boxer, the coward, the weakling? "Hah! Got you, Bitch! The whole night I hid in your closet. Whole bleedin' night, but it was worth it. i knew it. I knew if you didn't have your guard up, didn't have your mojo workin', you were no tougher than any other bint. Had lots of time gigglin' tossin me around didn't cha', but when the final bell rings, sweetheat, all that matters is who's left... standing?" "My baby... oh God ... hurts, it hurts." "Mary, Mother of God, she was pregnant... " Choice P (treachery)__> Consequences. Which level of Hell for him? Shadow Boxer should have asked "why" Lee fought so hard, every time he saw her, "why" she tossed him around when he sneak attacked her, before, "why" she displayed such anger at him. In this story frame, Terrance's future... ... is not one that should concern him, anymore. Avatar
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Post by Avatar on Apr 3, 2024 22:17:04 GMT
DC Fallen Angel (2003) #18 Peter David and David Lopez How can you divide by zero? You get null solutions. Hang around, reader. You will find out when a null solution becomes a real one. You remember from last time; how Terrance (Shadow Boxer), sucker-punched a helpless woman in the stomach? The coward and sneak, hid in the closet of Lee's bedroom after breaking and entering into her home, and attacked her?========================================================================= Then in Durham County, England, some twenty years ago. John Boxer goes after Terrance to properly kill the devil-tainted spawn, in front of him, but Misses Boxer intervenes to protect her son. I have “not” mentioned it, until now, but for the last several issues, David Lopez' art has shown Misses Boxer, as very obviously pregnant. In this issue, call it reverse causality or pre-destination, but when John Boxer throws his wife down and out of the way, to get at Terrence, he kills the baby inside her. He becomes an infanticide, a murderer. Not only the baby dies, but his, John's, own future, for if there is no divine justice, the Human variety will sort John Boxer out soon enough. Ironically, for that Human justice, it is Terrance who breaks a push broom over John's head. He snaps the handle in two. Then he takes the instant stake he has made and drives it down into John's heart. Way to save your dad, (Again?), kiddo, from the gallows. Patricide. “Yer the thing of evil, y' great lout, y' bastard. I'm nothin' like you. Nothin'. Nothin'. Ye killed him. Ye killed a baby. A helpless baby. What kind of piece of shite does that?” You do, Terrance. Divide by zero. ============================================================================ Now… Belle Reeve Hospital, Louisiana. Shadow Boxer delivers Lee to that hospital. The staff recognizes the woman beater and woman beaten, immediately. The intern calls for the hospital security. True to his cowardly, gutless nature, Shadow Boxer heads for a closet within to hide and escape. He teleports away, to escape his just desserts. ============================================================================ Now… in Basil Juris' office located at the center of Bête noire... The long night battle has ended. Juris has no time to pick up the shambles. Mister Goode from the Hierarchy arrives. Mister Goode and Doctor Juris discuss the past evening events. It turns out that the Hierarchy needed Mister Find (Without the “e”.), gone, for “reasons”. The quantum eraser selected was Lee. She succeeded. If Juris thought, with Mister Goode's news about the need to erase the fiend and his plot for rebellion in Hell, Juris had dodged responsibility, even though he mumbles the words that he will accept whatever consequences are necessary, well, he was wrong. "Still, he was one of ours, just as the Fallen Angel is one of yours. So there will have to be a small sort of punishment inflicted, before the matter is closed. Just for good form's sake, you understand?" "What sort of small punishment?" "Oh trust me. You'll know when it happens." Just which faction is Juris? I know that Mister Goode serves the head cheese among the sulfur and brimstone crowd in this story universe. In DC canon, we deal with a piece of Hell on Earth, in Bête noire, so when I first read the book, I thought Bête noire was a 'burb. It turns out, as I read it now, I must reinterpret my original impression. I think it is a part of LIMBO, where the partially, but not irredeemably damned, get a chance to prove they are worthy to again see the face of God.
If you need Mister Goode's comment about the "small punishment" explained; then hold that thought, reader. You already know that Doctor Juris will discover, soon enough, about his terminated fatherhood. But there is more. When you screw up as big as Juris has (Pun.), there is always another layer to the consequence. He is thoroughly rooked.============================================================================= Next door at the end of the intercom... Slate, the examiner, listens in upon Mister Goode's and Doktor Juris' private conversation. Anton, the Zombie, asks; "I was just wondering, why did you leave the warning note telling the Fallen Angel to get out of the school building, considering you blew it up in the first place?" Oh come on. Who else could it have been, reader? The only question is; "Why?" That is always the "fatal" question. The answer: "Because I didn't want her dead... I wanted someone else dead." Shadow Boxer? Basil Juris? Mister Find, obviously. Black Mariah? How about the baby? You have to consider just what a conniver, Slate is, reader. Spoiler alert; Take one from Column A for sure. You will have to wait on Columns B, D and E for the future outcomes. There will be aces and eights, and snake-eyes for some of those bastards and bitches. ============================================================================== now... in Lee's hospital room at Belle Reeve Hospital: Shadow Boxer comes to apologize to the Angel. He confesses he wanted to murder her, but not her baby. He expects her to kill him. That is not Lee at all. "I'm not going to kill you, Boxer. I want you to live a long time." "Oh? Yeah??" "I'm going to kill your lover, Mariah. Oh, it won't be today or tomorrow... but sooner or later... when I decide it's time. I'm going to take the only thing you care about from you... just as you did from me. That's fair, wouldn't you say? I would go now, if I were you." ============================================================================== Still in that same hospital... We check in with Becky. She is a mess, and so are her parents, but they are together. That divorce seems like it might not be a good idea after all, as the parents reorient and realize, that they have a first duty to Becky, before their selfish selves. Who eavesdrops? Lee. "Miss Lee, you should be in bed." "I was just going to pay a visit to a student... but she is spending some quality family time." Even when Lee is handed the manure sandwich, she does "good". It brings her joy, when those good consequences fall out of her choice menu of evils, she is forced to pick. =============================================================================== Bedtime for Basil... Shadow Boxer shows up to cry on Doctor Juris' shoulder. "It's just I got no one else t'talk to... I" Summary: Boxer confesses to disobeying Basil's direct order to leave the Angel alone. When Juris finds out the baby is dead. It is not as if it would not torque him off? Here is the thing. Every firstborn male, descended from the line of Cain, is doomed to rule the cursed city of Bête noire. Doctor Juris' sole interest in Lee was to use her as the host mother to bear his son, so he could pass the curse onto the boy. That would allow Basil to escape the city, to live as a mortal man among Humanity. Shadow Boxer nixed that option of escaping the curse. So... after explaining why, and "I know how to save Mariah.", Basil shoots Terrance in the heart and in the head. He then defenestrates Shadow over the balcony railing. So ends, Boxer. ============================================================================ In the future, if I had to guess? About eight months. It is that convent in Massachusetts, where that same whacky nun, Sister Mary Catherine, is again disturbed in the middle of the night by the same Reverend Mother. Same visitor? What did the Angel bring Mary Catherine this time? It could not be a piece of the true cross. so what is it? Sister Mary Catherine is presented with Lee's baby. It is another piece of irony or woodery if you are in the moods for puns. I am in the mood for puns, for "pun" is a root word for "punishment" and why should not Sister Mary Catherine share in the "joy" the Fallen Angel has? Lee tells the nun, she needs a guardian and a place to secure her baby. Lee has to return to Bête noire. The nun asks why Lee has to return to Bête noire. "Because Sister Mary Catherine... the city calls to me. Its in me, In my blood. In that battererd bruised thing, I call my soul. And the call gets louder and louder as time passes. I can't sleep. I can't eat. If I stay away much longer. Sorry sister, better to live in Hell, than to die in heaven." I don't know if I would agree with that choice."Someone warned me, this might happen. that I might become stuck there. I did not listen." "Why not?" "I was too busy killing him. Ironic, huh?" The baby's name is Jude. Sister Mary Catherine protests. "You're not a lost cause! You can be saved." "Maybe, maybe not. But at least I have something to live for, while I am finding out. He should go with God. and since God and I are not on speaking terms, you're the best shot he's got. Oh... when he get's old enough. tell him not to fly too high. Wouldn't want him to fall. And tell him..." Here, Lee is drawn as crying. "Tell him, mommy loved him, or not. Up to you." ============================================================================= This would have been a good place to end the book, run. There will be two more issues to come. In fairness, that should have been the end of the book, now, because the series cancellation was already in the winds. But the contract run was twenty ... and IMAGE was in negotiations; that is another whole series. For now, Sister Mary Catherine does not understand Lee's parting words; until she discovers the boy is an actual angel. The wings, Sister, the wings. ============================================================================ ============================================================================ We still have a problem with converting a null solution (Shadow Boxer) into a real one. To convert a null solution into a real one. invert the number system where finally 1=0. You GET what you deserve, out of that system, reader. Everything in that number system, every operator still equals 0. IOW... the wages of stupidity = death. =========================================================================== ============================================================================ Avatar
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Post by Avatar on Apr 4, 2024 23:16:05 GMT
DC Fallen Angel (2003) #19 Peter David and David Lopez In this issue, we learn: a. that Lee is “Human”. b. that Benny the Snake remains at large, swallowing lost tourists. c. that Dolf and Bumper Ruggs are business people, first, and guidance counselors second. d. that Basil Juris has a death wish. e. and that at least three people want to help him commit suicide by Angel. ============================================================================ How about some quantum mechanics to flesh out the operators at work? The gravity of the situation should not be lost on you, reader. The actual tie in of how gravitons could be the “dark matter” in this analogy will require some expansion. ============================================================================ Sachs and ViolensThese two creator-owned characters, originally written for and published by MARVEL, Peter David ported into the DC Fallen Angel series, for these last two issues. I cannot speculate why he did it, though if I had done it within my intellectual property parvenu, it would be my wish to include characters that I created. With which I had some affinity, like, and ease of ability to write. The characters, in this issue, serve as the unknowing antagonists to Lee. ============================================================================= On to the issue at hand: Detroit; Two hoodlums run into Sachs and Violens. After the by now, trademark street-level vigilante type antics, which characterize the two characters Sachs and Violens, the two hoodlums get cross-trained in how to squeal on each other. The reader does not, yet, know what information Sachs and Violens seek. That will be revealed shortly. ============================================================================== “Furor's” Some yahoo goes through a window. The Angel threw him through it. Given the last time the reader saw Lee, from the last issue, this means that nothing has changed her rotten disposition. What the reader needs, are details for why this yahoo was tossed. Dolf asks twice, “Are you out of your mind?” Guess who shows up to check on the partially defenestrated yahoo? Slate, the Investigator, advises the yahoo to depart Bête noire. No money, and no job, equal vagrancy. The city has strict laws about that condition. Dolf and Lee, in Lee's booth, discuss the recent bad habit the Fallen Angel has acquired of throwing people through Dolf's doors and windows. “You know the rules. No violence here at “Furors”! Yet you threw him through my window.” “Yet, I did.” It turns out that Lee is fed up. The yahoo, she threw, is under indictment by a district attorney for statutorily raping his stepdaughter. A 12-year-old stepdaughter. Lee was supposed to do something to the district attorney. “He's a rat, Dolf. And what attracts rats? Garbage. That's me! Reigning queen of garbage! I should finish what I started months ago! Just… just bring the whole place down around everybody's ears! Go Biblical on them! Level it all and salt the earth!” There is a lot of merit in that spew of illogic. Bête noire might be better off as a glassed over parking lot.^1 ^1 The rats clear out. Ezil has no-one to wait upon. This might upset Dolf a bit? No paying customers… again? It is obvious that Dolf tries to get at the root of the problem. He mentions Lee's baby. That is no-go country. “This cannot keep up. People come to you for aid. That is your purpose here in Bête noire. Help them. Don't help them, that is up to you. But if all you see is colored by rage, you cannot function.”” “I'm functioning fine…” “And I say you are not.” There is a moment of power when Dolf takes Lee's arm and holds her. He abruptly releases her, suggests that she get high, get laid, do something, but not to come back to “Furor's” until she is rational. ============================================================================= Later in Basil Juris' office; Slate, the Investigator, and Doctor Juris discuss Lee's latest antics. Slate mentions that Black Mariah wants to know what happened to her lover/battery, Shadow Boxer. What will Juris do about that little difficulty? Juris extemporizes. ============================================================================= Lee visits a whorehouse. It is not just any whorehouse. It is Bumper Rugg's whorehouse, all decked out like a church. Unfortunately, Lee's reputation has preceded her. The denizens of the whorehouse immediately expect the Supergirl Sendoff. Bumper opens the door; “Oh Jesus! It is you.” “Bumper, you're just pissing me off. You sure you want to be doing that?” ................................... “What do you want?” “You run a whorehouse, Bumper. What's the obvious answer?” “You gotta be kidding.” Lee surveys the merchandise. One of the chumlies is stupid enough to speak. She picks him. “P'please, don't hurt me!” “Let's go. Paying customer here. Let's get a room. “ “I don't wanna die!” “You know, this is really killing the mood.” Bumper protects her merchandise. “Who wants a woman's legs around him, when those legs can drop-kick a Buick?” “I'll control myself.” “Right. Because self-control, that's your thing. Let's talk.” “I don't need to t'” “My house. My rules. We talk.” ======================================================================== Along a street in Bête noire… Benny the Snake has found another naive victim, who hunts for “Furor's” and the Angel. Benny does what Benny does. You would think after the Supergirl Heimlich he had last time, he would have learned? This time when he gets hit, it is not Lee, but Violens who gives him the Solar Plexus upchuck encouragement. Sachs and Violens are after a child pornography ring. While Benny does not say it is Bumper Ruggs, who runs it, he confirms that rumor. He promises to take our power couple to Bumper Ruggs' place. ======================================================================== Bumper's office and domicile… “What kind of hero type buys sex?” “What kind of president has sex with an underage slave? I'm only Human.” “Since when?” “A few years.” It gets around to Bumper offering herself to Lee to protect her people, but then that conversation is interrupted. Sacha and Violens are on the premises' monitors. Bumper offers a new deal to Lee, the run of her house, anything Lee wants, if the Angel will stop the power-couple from getting to HER. “'kay” ============================================================================= Well, I told you, reader, that this issue was a refraction problem. ============================================================================= Avatar
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Post by Avatar on Apr 5, 2024 22:16:07 GMT
DC Fallen Angel (2003) #20 Peter David and David Lopez Measuring the situation is the problem with gravity in regard to= quantization. The measurement issue is similar to figuring out what is layered under the rather simple, plain and obvious story, Peter David wrote. ======================================================= On to the issue. ======================================================= The graveyard. Basil Juris has invited the Succubus, Black Mariah, to that place to show her where Terrance (Shadow) Boxer was buried. Basil explains that the perpetrator was the Fallen Angel. Black Mariah, as Peter David writes her, does something weird, which I find strange even in 2024. She washes her face with dirt from Shadow Boxer's grave. The Magistrate lies to the Succubus, about who murdered her lover. At this point, if it is a first read, the reader does not know exactly how Peter David will write Black Mariah to process the situation and act upon the false information. Spoiler alert, Mariah will not be written as the reader will expect. ======================================================= Outside Bumper Rugg's “cat house”. Lee, true to her given word, goes outside to confront Sachs and Violens. Now, the question is, will she tear them limb from limb or burn them down? The reader should remember that Peter David and David Lopez wrote and drew the following: a. Lee tossed cars, started fires, ripped doors apart, and manhandled objects and people larger than her with ridiculous ease. b. She has been hit with explosives and kinetic effects that kill tanks. She shrugged those off, with no appreciable harm. c. Though vulnerable when distracted, Lee, in her “human limited state”, can take Human-killing punches and headbutts. She appears to have a rapid healing factor, independent of her mind-based power set. So, why does she go easy on Juanita J. Sachs and Ernie “Violens” Schultz? That, dear reader, may be because Lee either recognizes the pair are not a threat? Or that the pair have a legitimate beef? Or that something else may be at work, that Lee is written to judge as being at work? Whatever David's intentions to convey, as I am not a mind-reader, I leave it to the reader to speculate and to the author to speak about what he intended. For what I read, I took away this impression: a. David might have written it as a comedy interlude. b. It gives the reader some idea, of how Sachs and Violens work as characters, if they have never encountered them before. The opening shot is a Faraday torpedo. Lee reacts to challenges and threats badly, as you would expect from the Fallen Angel. It appears to be limited as a teaching moment. Sachs and Violens take the hit, rather well, considering that they are "normal" Human beings. Sachs bounces off a brick wall. Violens smashes through a windshield in their truck. Any sensible comic book character pair would get up and run after that "love tap". They react badly to being tossed around. Sachs goes in first. She tries to martial arts Lee. It does not go well, as you might expect. When Sachs finally lands a punch, it is like hitting steel. Ernie attacks next, telling J.J. to get clear. If anything, the impression I get, in script and page is that Lee is written as enjoying herself. But then again, in a nice character moment for Violens and for Lee, out come the grenades. "Oh, now it's grenades. Fine?" "Here, let me. As I said, things work differently here. For one thing, I don't blow up." Lee pulls the pin. "Yeah? Do you breath?" "Br--?" "Shit! Not aga--" Lee hacks and cooghs. Violens dons a gas mask. Lee yanks it off Ernie. They both collapse from the sleep / tear gas. "Bitch." "Baaas---tard." It appears that Lee, even when depowered, is tougher to take down, than a normal Human being. As she should be as a Captain Comet-type Human. The other fight inside the whore house foyer has J.J. Sachs go up against six "weirdos" who are Bumper Ruggs' bodyguards. With whip and trash can, Juanita seems able to handle four of them (Art is actually kinetically good, as David Lopez gives both kinetics and cheesecake, as he did previously with the fight between Juanita and the Angel.). Sachs becomes distracted when she recognizes Bumper. She is sapped from behind. One of Bumper's "weirdos" who is about to knife Sachs in the back, Bumper orders to stop. Somehow, in a single panel that is art confusing, Juanita manages to stop "weirdo" number five. I think Sachs nutcrackered his walnuts and put him down. But why did bumper order the "weirdo" to stop? The reader quickly discovers why. Juanita and Bumper know each other? J.J is the daughter of a US Army major general? Not that I did not immediately think of Lucy and Lois Lane as a possible inspiration for David in this setup, but come on? Bumper was previously a nun? This is my impression of a writer slabbing on the cream cheese a bit too thickly. Leaving Juanita and bumper for the moment; and back to Schultz and the Angel, Ernie staggers away from the front gate. "Unhhh... Oooh shit..." Lee, all 50 kg of her, suddenly grabs and lifts 100 kg Ernie into the air, like he was nothing. "You bet your ass, "Oh shit.". My lungs are my only weak point. But I bet you've got plenty to choose fr-- Hey!" Lee keeps forgetting that Ernie is not a goon. He is SMART as well as big and tough. He grabs the Angel's hair. "Ow! knock it the hell--leggo my hair!" "Your lungs, your hair... where else can you be hurt?" "Will you quit it? What're you? Five years old?" Lee fights a soldier. Soldiers, especially infantrymen, learn, when they are fighting tanks, to seek for chinks in the armor. That is some good character writing and reveals there. Lee expects "fair" in a fight? With Ernie, the only rule is to win. "Oh, you are so dead!" Another ball lightning torpedo Lee uses to get Ernie off her back. Ernie lands on his feet this time with a broad smile on his face. He has strands of Lee's hair. She can be fought to a standstill. "You son of a bitch." "Your eyes. Can I hurt them?" Ernie reaches for his pistol. "No. Yours however can be--" Lee powers up to discharge another discharge. Who drives up to break up this schoolyard type fight. "Oh now what?" It is Basil Juris in his roadster. Lee and Basil exchange cold words. "Oh dear. Have I outlived my usefulness to you?" "Perhaps." At this moment in the story, I concluded that Peter David might have indicated to the reader, that Lee decided that Juris would be better off dead. I do not know if he intended that impression to be conveyed to the reader, but it was the one I had.Now we get confirmation definitely that Bumper Ruggs (Real name; Maxine Sachs.), is Juanita Sachs' sister. That Lucy and Lois connection and inspiration might be stronger than I thought, but that is my speculation. Ernie asks Mac why she runs a whorehouse now, when she was a nun when he met her. "I had issues." The reader can infer a crisis of faith, or perhaps gender bigotry, or something else, but David wrote what he wrote for this character. I do not mind-read, so I cannot declare his mind. My impression is that Mac/Bumper is transgender. She is where she is for story reasons to make a point. That point is up to the reader to decide. A good writer does this treatment in his or her technique. Preaching never works, which ironically is the point of that technique.Now we get direct insight into Lee. She addresses Bumper. "You're her sister. That's why you were freaking out. You didn't want her to see you like this. I thought it was something like that." "You thought...?" "Yes. That's why I was letting this guy delay me." Remember, from above, my comment about just how outclassed Sachs and Violens were against a powerhouse who could tear doors off safes with her bare hands?"Letting...? I was kicking your ass and now you're just making excuses!" Leave it alone, Ernie."Really? Since I am out of excuses not to disembowel you--" There still remains a lot of the childish in Lee. Mac/Bumper pleads with Lee to stop. She wants to honor her deal, if Lee will just stop. Oddly enough, Peter David, has Lee paraphrase Groucho Marx. "Screw you, these two, and our deal. Like a wise man said; "the hell with any club, that would have me as a member."" What about the child porn ring? Mac/Bumper explains to Sachs and Violens that it is Benny the Snake, who is behind that racket. "He played us." remarks Ernie. Now; Juris steps in to offer Sachs and Violens resolution to their hunt. The offer is to take Violens to find Benny. Cannot kill the Snake, since he is the Serpent from the Garden of Eden, but Violens can educate Ben ny some. Which brings up a job-offer. Since the Magistrate is short of a Chief Enforcer, how would Ernie like a job? ================================================================================= On the garbage pile outside "Furor's" Have you noticed, reader, that when Lee has a morale-issue that she adopts the Job posture? Peter David has repeatedly written Lee as sitting amongst the garbage outside "Furor's". "Just wonderin' if I'm still in the doghouse." From HITLER, no less, Peter David writes these words: "You know, I love you my Angel, but you need to find some purpose you can feel good about, instead of taking your turmoil out on Furors. Find that purpose and I will welcome you back, as I would a daughter." Hitler leaves. Still on the garbage pile, sits Lee. Someone shoves a gun in her face. Black Mariah gives Lee a light from a pistol lighter, a metaphor for a coffin nail activator^1 that was popular at the time of this series' writing. I mean the banter about lungs and cigarettes that Dolf and Lee engaged with the earlier Angel commentary about how her lungs were Lee's only physical weakness, has to have a payoff? Lee is committing suicide by lung cancer? Horrible way to go/atone by the way. Lee remarks; "That's a new look for you." She notices Black Mariah's face covered with dirt. "Yeah." They discuss Shadow Boxer's death and Juris' lies. Neither one of them budges an inch from their mutual dislike of each other. But for now, "the common enemy makes us allies of convenience." Lee speculates that Basil Juris wants to commit suicide by Angel and/or Succubus. "Either way, I'm inclined to accommodate him. How about you?" asks the Succubus. "Well, since it turns out I need a purpose to feel good about... 'kay." ========================================================================================== I have some thoughts about good and evil as "I" read it in this series. I could apply a real world example of what I see as the theme. Climate change.Sift the evidence. As with quantum mechanics (dark matter and dark energy) and chemistry (behavior of catalysts and oxidizers), to confirm a hypothesis, do not rely on one evidence track or one set of observations. In accelerated climate change, the deniers have yet to explain away the interlocking jigsaw of rising surface temperatures, ice core samples, tree rings, ocean acidification, albedo effect, and much else, etc. ; as anything but majorly Human originated and derived causal effects. So, it is with this story, David crafts. I leave it to the reader to figure out how much David implies as to whose fault is whoms, but I will suggest that these somewhat fallen characters, are shown as sympathetic with certain notable exceptions (Shadow Boxer, and Basil Juris are distinctly evil and irredeemable.).
How the reader feels and judges these characters, David leaves open. He does not preach to the reader, then, as comic book writers do now.
That is probably why I liked the series when i first read it, and why it is still one of my favorite Supergirl series. Peter David will tune Lee to avoid DC IP infringements when he ports it over to IDW, but to ME, Linda Lee Danvers is the Fallen Angel. I still think she was and is the Best Supergirl.
^1 Cigarettes. =======================================================
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