Irredeemable #7 - One Page

[zegim.insanejournal.com]

Spoilers ahead.

I wanted to post this just because of "The Plutonian read blogs?" line, really.

Comments

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

That's clearly why he's superior to Captain America

[darkblade.insanejournal.com]

Well of course. In this world of myspace and nascar how can one be concerned with concepts such as honor, justice and truth?

[thanekos.insanejournal.com]

oh, I get it, the Plutonian is objectivist!

...no?

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

Reverse engineer alien technology we know nothing about? What could possibly go wrong?

TVTropes has the "Reed Richards is Useless" trope and "Planetary" had Elijah Snow bitch out members of the Four for hoarding technology that could save people's lives. I guess Waid is exploring this here, but not in much detail.

[thokstar.insanejournal.com]

I guess Waid is exploring this here, but not in much detail.

The above statement describes Irredeemable, for various meanings of this.

[wizardru.insanejournal.com]

Not so much. Waid is showing us a couple of things:

1) The Plutonian is more sensitive than he wants to admit to people's opinions of him.

2) The Plutonian doesn't always use the best judgement.

3) The Plutonian (like Busiek's Samaritan) never gets to rest, due to his need to desire to help people combined with his inability to shut them out.

4) The Plutonian was, over time, slowly beginning to HATE the people he was saving.

5) The Plutonian is responsible for the death of tens of thousands of people, even if unintentionally.


The core driving idea of Irredeemable is: 'what if Superman was not emotionally able to handle being a superhero?' and this whole story is part of driving that forward.

[jarodrussell.insanejournal.com]

Having only seen parts of this series on Scans Daily, I assumed the moral of the story was that comic writers are both superior in every way to fans but still want to be loved by them.

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

So, comic book writers are all Gul Dukat from Deep Space Nine?

...Sounds about right.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

The unique frustration of the science-fiction/fandom writer goes back quite a ways. Dig up and read Harlan Ellison's essay "Xenogenesis" sometime.

[jarodrussell.insanejournal.com]

Funny how the topic of author hubris often brings up the words "Harlan Ellison" and "genesis."

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

Eh, not quite the same thing. It has more to do with the fact that fans have always had a really strange relationship with creators, up to and including various unfortunate events perpetrated on creators by fans. The fact that Cranky Old Uncle Harlan broke it down in 1982 does not mitigate its continued appearance in modern fandom.

Waid himself has a story - related recently by Warren Ellis - concerning a bunch of fans who had him fly into the middle of nowhere for a signing, only to find that the store never existed and they just wanted to hang out with him for a couple of incredibly uncomfortable days. Dude has issues, and there are entire issues of Irredeemable that read like a hilarious fuck-you from him to his readers. The dealer comes to hate the junkie.

[stig.insanejournal.com]

That's no like anyone on Fox at all!

[silverzeo.insanejournal.com]

The Doctor from Voyager is this guy's worse enemy?

[pyrotwilight.insanejournal.com]

Looks more like the Timebroker from Exiles.

[deepspaceartist.insanejournal.com]

Robert Picardo is EVERYBODY'S worst enemy!

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

Considering he played the standard Mean Gym Teacher on The Wonder Years, I'm not surprised.