REVIEW: Killfile Wars # 3

[Jesse Willey]

>    I think the kind of chaos that's going on in this
> installment, all the different plot threads, et
> cetera, would work better in film or in actual
> comics;
> in prose, it strikes one as a little aimless.

   Trust me... it is all going somewhere...

>    There is a strong central line-- one of the
> remaining Ultimate Ninja seeking vengeance against
> Delilah, who murdered the one-handed UN in KW # 1. 
> But I think it's seriously dilluted by the clutter
> of subplots.

    You know... early stories (the first drafts of
Teenfactor which I had up till about a year ago)  she
was called Deliah... then in the actual posted
versions it was Delilah.  I used the drafts I had
saved whenever I wrote her.  I have a not-quite cop
out excuse for the name change.   I will get to it
soon.   Probably in an epilogue to KW that I'm already
plotting for ABC #6.   

>    Granted, this is a conscious choice on Jesse's
> part
> and, again, at this time in the story, I can't quite
> fault him.  At the same time, the subplots in the
> last
> two issues kind of kept to the side, allowing a
> central line (especially in the second issue, the
> funeral) to emerge unhindered.  Here, I think what
> would be a compelling central line-- Ninja, Avenge
> Thyself!-- suffers from underdeveloped plotting and
> an
> over-reliance on variant threads.
 
  You never know.   Somebody (maybe even me) may use
Barney the Security Guard again.  Then who'll be
laughing at me for wasting space... hmm?



>    While the Ninja has killed people in the past
> (after all, he does have the HeartThrob manuever),
> and
> he's not a hero in the same sense as, say, Kid
> Kirby--
> he's a darker hero, he's a ninja for chrisssakes--
> he's still a hero, Jesse.


   One could argue that any form of killing, even in
self-defense, negates the right to call oneself a
hero. 
 
>    And heroes *don't* murder people.
    
     If you look at it from another standpoint there
were many times when there was a way around having to
kill somone.   Considering some of the Ultimate
Ninja's teammates and his position as leader of the
team where he could assign anyone he wanted including
incredibly powerful members like Deja Dude or
Anything-You-Can-Do-I-Can-Do-Better Lad. He could have
placed them on a mission where they could have
resolved the mission without a loss of life. He could
have contained the situation and not killed anyone. 
Instead he chose to take it upon himself to end
another person's like.   He chose to do it.  He has
already committed murder.   This is no different than
his previous action only he's no longer even bothering
to disguise his actions.     


>    Even if you accept the Ninja as a traditional
> action hero instead of a superhero, in which case he
> has a different code... he still has a code.  He's
> not
> going to take a human life _in the way that you
> describe_.  Maybe a battle to the death, katanas
> clanging.

  I was going for a more ninja approach.  Not pop
culture ninja but real ninja.  Ruthless, efficent, and
the only code is get the job done.      
   
> -- but he's not an instrument of justice in this
> case.
>  He's an instrument of sick, twisted,
> I've-seen-SAW-too-many-times vengeance.

  Thus the whole thin line debate.   Where does justic
end and vengeance begin?   Is there even a difference?
 Is what we call justice merely revenge with a written
set of rules that people agree to follow?  Personally,
I think these are all important questions.

>    And, you're right, by these actions, he's not a
> hero.  But guess what?
>    He's not the Ultimate Ninja, either.

  If you want to get TECHNICAL Ninja just did
something that WOULD have killed her.  Until she
release Doctor Killfile who vaporized her.
 

>    Now, just because I don't like it, doesn't mean
> that others don't, and, sure, there is room for
> juvenile cynicism masquerading as serious literature
> in superhero fiction.  Hell, there's room for it in
> the LNH.

  I don't consider cynisism to be juvenile.   I have
nothing again optimism either.  Whatever floats your
boat.   If anything I consider myself a bitter
optimist.  I'd like the world to be a great and
wonderful place.   I just think that it isn't going to
happen.  At least not for me.   There are good people
and bad people and sometimes neither are what they
appear to be.   


>    As the story stands, he's no better than the
> Killfiles.  Which, I know, is Jesse's point.  I
> understand that.  It just seems to me to be an
> asinine
> and unimaginative point to make.  No offense, but it
> takes no mental effort to show the emperor has no
> clothes.  It takes much more of an author--
> mentally,
> emotionally, spiritually-- to hug the naked guy. 

  I know what you're saying.  I'm just hugging a
different naked guy and drumming up a little sympathy
for the devil.  



>    I'd much rather Jesse spend his time making
> points
> that are worth making.

  The point is simple.  All people are assholes.  
You, me, the guy who works at the 7-11 down street,
everybody.  Nobody really thinks of themselves in
terms of good and evil.   Ninja and Del both whole
heartedly believe in what they're doing.  Everyone
does.  
  If you look at super hero comics, they have always
reflected the politics of the time.   From Superman
punching Hitler, Supemrman's 1964 meeting with JFK
(miraculous, huh?), Ollie and Hal's road trip and even
the later part of the President Luthor storyline. How
does one tell a super hero story in a world where
everyday on the news that world where the countries
that we've been taught from almost day one is supposed
to be the good guys are going after people using the
same tactics?   From that point of view, the story
telling technique works.     

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com