[Reviews] End of Month Reviews #16 - April 2005 [spoilers]

[saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au]

Martin Phipps (phippsmartin at hotmail.com) replied:
>
>> Speak #1
>> 'The Strange Case of Gregory Dingham'
<deletia>

>> An Eightfold [8FOLD] series
>> by Tom Russell
>> There are a few scenes
>> that foreshadow a superheroic origin, making the story seem to point
>> in the direction of a parallel of the standard Spider Man style
>> superhuman-vigilante-fight-crime-because-of-the-crushing-sense-of-
>> guilt-at-having-caused-a-relative's-death (only this time with a
>> more direct cause of death).
>
> Except that part of what appeals to me about Spiderman is that he
> wasn't really responsible for his uncle's death, at least not in the
> comics.  (In the movie, he lied and said he was going to the library
> so that gave him more reason to angst beyond simply not stopping the
> robber.)  The fact is that his uncle's death in the comics occured
> simply due to his inaction and not anything he actually did.

Yes. Which is what the 'only this time with a more direct cause of
death' refers to. Spiderman feels responsible for Uncle Ben's death
because of his lack of action, and depending on how you hairsplit
the philosophical debate this *might* actually be real culpability.
Gregory, OTOH, is most definately directly responsible for his
mother's death. The thing that unites the two of them is that
neither actually intended for a death to occurr; in both cases it
was a impulsive act of selfishness that had larger consequences.

>>                    Greggory, on the other hand, can do one thing
>> to prevent death and destruction: shut up.  Or he could become a
>> doctor.  Or a phone sex operator.  As the super-plumber said, not
>> every power lends itself to superheroism.

True.

---
Saxon Brenton          saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au
The GIRL GENIUS comic of Phil and Kaja Foglio is now online at:
www.girlgeniusonline.com