Great Ten #9, or I Was Bit by a Radioactive Uterus (But Not Really)

[arionhunter]

Writer: Tony Bedard
Artist: Scott McDaniel

So this is both the last issue and Mother of Champions's issue, which means that Bedard somehow has to write around, if he chooses, the whole baby factory issue. (To be fair, that's not really his fault - he inherits the concept from Morrison.)

Because of the page count limit, I'm going to do a lot of quick-and-dirt summarizing: So basically, Mother of Champions was a high-level scientist when a magical radioactive god particle zapped itself into her uterus. Her husband leaves her because he thinks she's now barren, which leads to self-doubt and angst. Then she has a one-night stand with a soldier and...bing! Babies.

Which is apparently more fully recapped here.

25 metahuman babies who live for a grand total of a week or so. Yeah. So now, whenever China needs an expendable meta taskforce, Mother has intercourse with either an Army volunteer or a Great Ten teammate (according to the art, babies are all male clones of him - Mother, it seems, contributes no genetic code). In her background, there's a bit about how the team's Amanda Waller figure, Jiang, doesn't want Mother to be seen as a baby-machine, but someone to be revered, but it all feels rather hollow, to be honest.

Fast-forward to now, where she's now the Mother, and is trying to convince the reclusive Socialist Red Guardsman to agree to have sex with her to create an army of super-soldiers to stop the Taiwanese robot army marching on Beijing. He's against it, but it's okay because she still believes in the ideals of the Revolution.



So they produce their mini-army and Celestial Archer convinces the false brainwashed metahuman "gods" they've been duped and zaps them back to the battlefield in China.

Also, the Taiwanese President, who has since discovered the origins of the "false gods" plot, takes the general in charge in custody and tries to patch things up with the Chinese. Crotch-kicking may be involved.





And then the assumedly brainwashed-but-Taiwanese "gods" agree to fight to defend Beijing in honor of their Chineseness, which is...internally logically consistent, story-wise, but very awkward in terms of the actual region's politics. Rally around the flag indeed.

Oh, and in case you missed it, the last page does in fact have the entire Great Ten team as fetuses.

Comments

[gargoylekitty]

First page and general rundown of her was posted here. Still not touching this.

[arionhunter]

Thanks! Swapped out the page. I missed it since the author didn't bother to tag their post.

[icon_uk]

Well, that's a pretty armoured thingie in your icon. What/Who is it, if I might ask?

[arionhunter]

Alphasz from Zetman, by Masakazu Katsura. (Speaking of female presence problems...) Kouga, who wears the suit, is basically Bruce without the dead parents but really, really wants to save the world as the Grey Ghost.

There's some great jokes at one point about how Alphasz must be accurate to show Alphasz, because he MUST have a cape.

[flint_marko]

The tags were disabled when I made the post.

Also you can only do three pages, since four pages were already posted.

[lissa_quon]

Okay, what the hell is up with Mother of Champions' lips?

The top one devoured the other? I mean, it isn't that bad till you get to the close up and Damn, that looks REALLY weird.

[arbre_rieur]

"In her background, there's a bit about how the team's Amanda Waller figure, Jiang, doesn't want Mother to be seen as a baby-machine, but someone to be revered, but it all feels rather hollow, to be honest."

I'll say it again: isn't that sort of the point? Jiang is... not a moral paragon of any sort.

[arionhunter]

Yes, but there's no point in being disambiguous - it's also an authorial fig leaf, meant to cover up the act that this concept is, simply put, horrifying on every level. 'She's honored!', the author attempts to point out, as I roll my eyes and wonder why her contribution issue couldn't involve, say, her doing some really cool sciencey-stuff with that high-level scientist brain of hers.

[qalchemist]

Why are the Great Ten depicted in fetus form there... is... that supposed to represent the babies they put in Mother of Champions?

...how can the Shaolin Robot knock anyone up?

[crinos]

He is full of useful devices.

[icon_uk]

When his ¦¦¦|¦¦ interfaces with her|||||| then |¦¦¦|¦ takes place

[joasakura]

I'm sure there's a chat where he talks about it with Machine Man. :D

[aulayan]

I wish Morrison had written this mini-series actually. I'm curious as to what he thought up when he thought up this team.

Or more accurately, wtf he was thinking of when he thought up Mother.

When this team was first announced, I wondered why everyone was hating on the Mother concept. I was probably far more naive back than because wow do I get it now. No matter how intriguing she can be written, she's really just a baby factory. Her contribution to the world is her children who go and save it. That's just sad.

Again. WTF was he thinking?

[icon_uk]

Not sure I entirely agree about that, if we only ever saw her children and vague references to her, then I think it would be worse. As it is, she IS a primary member of the team, is functionally invulnerable in her own right it would appear and we have seen her a lot more than her children. She is a baby factory, but she's not being ignored because of that.

It's still a deeply disturbing concept, but I think this story handled it a lot better than I was worried it might when I first heard about the team.

[abagnale008]

I think he used her as an allegory for one of Mao's ideas. Back when he was in rule, he had the idea that nations will be made stronger by more people working for it. So he encouraged the people to have more children that will grow up to do so.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, not sure that actually using the Chinese/Taiwanese situation in his was the way to go, though perhaps it'd balance things since the Taiwanese gods seem to be pretty damned powerful in their own right and as such aren't going to take shit from anyone once this crisis is over.

[arionhunter]

True, but the thing is, I'm not sure they view themselves as inherently Taiwanese - and as such a not-Chinese person. So it's not like they're about to bounce back on over to the island after all this is over.

But then again, after the whole "同志" incident, I'm happy to give Bedard enough rope to hang himself regarding the political accuracy.

[icon_uk]

I don't know what yo mean about the "同志" other than babelfish telling me it means comrade" and a google search leading to me any number of Chinese language gay sites...

And rereading the post

according to the art, babies are all male clones of him - Mother, it seems, contributes no genetic code

I'm not sure how you can make that judgement, since most of her colleagues are visually non-standard-humans, their visual appearance will be what stands out in them.

[arionhunter]

At one point in an earlier issue, Accomplished Perfect Physician calls August General in Iron "同志" as a way to pacify him. Literally, "同志" means comrade and in the past (and we're talking pretty far past here), it was a patriotic term of comradery. In the 90s, gay men began using the term to identify themselves, as did the first LGBT film festival. It allowed them to fly under the government's radar.

Of course, the government has since picked up on this, and "同志" now tends to be the default term if a young Chinese man wants to identify himself as not-straight. So when APP calls General this, as a modern Chinese person working for the government and living in a major city, it's pretty laughable that he wouldn't be aware of its modern meaning.

I'm not sure how you can make that judgement, since most of her colleagues are visually non-standard-humans, their visual appearance will be what stands out in them.

In this page we see her kids from her one night stand with the soldier, and the kids are all pretty much identical, same as when she and the Guardsman have kids. All identical, all male. Which, given the predominant desire for male children that's still quite pervasive in China, is pretty skeevey.

This may not be totally true, but there's a distinct lack of diversity each time she has kids (according to the art). And it wouldn't be that hard to have thrown some in, given they're all background characters.

[icon_uk]

Her kids are always identical to each other, regardless of the father. They're... icosaquintuplets, for want of a better word.

[arionhunter]

That is...somewhat logical. Ultimately, I think joasakura is right. Logistics aside, the entire thing remains deeply troubling.

[icon_uk]

You have some of the best icons, now I want to know where this one came from! :)

[joasakura]

what's wierd in that page is that "brothers and sisters" are referred to in the script, but only brothers are drawn.

still?

skeevy.

[icon_uk]

Oh yeah, still skeevy as all get out. but since the births are 25 identical kids, then each batch will either be sisters OR brothers, never both at the same time.

Late reply is late

[galateus]

Nope, pretty sure that's just the art being all phallocentric on us, since her twenty five firstborn, all from the same batch, are called "my oldest brothers and sisters" (apparently all the sisters' superpowers are invisibility!)

[boundbooks]

And then the assumedly brainwashed-but-Taiwanese "gods" agree to fight to defend Beijing in honor of their Chineseness, which is...internally logically consistent, story-wise, but very awkward in terms of the actual region's politics. Rally around the flag indeed.

I can confirm that this is mindblowingly offensive.

Taiwan has aboriginal tribes who have been there since roughly 8,000 years before the 17th century, the last major immigration (before the 20th century) from China was in the 1600's. I think that after 500 years, they consider themselves Taiwanese.

The major Chinese immigration occurred during the mid 20th-century, and were primarily high political figures escaping the Communists, and included those fleeing enacting huge amounts of political repression, violence, 'disappearances' and torture for the original inhabitants of the island. I'm talking about 'people lighting themselves on fire in political protest' that was taking place less than fifty years ago.

So, yeah, I can confirm that little plot twist is kind of like saying that the 'gods of Tibet suddenly discovered their Chinese-ness and flew to defend Beijing.'

[arionhunter]

That pretty much confirms what I very strongly suspected. However, as someone whose knowledge mostly comes second hand, I wanted to hedge my bets.

is kind of like saying that the 'gods of Tibet suddenly discovered their Chinese-ness and flew to defend Beijing.'

Which, hil-ariously enough, this mini (inexactly) also does! Gold stars all around!

[turtlefu]

I feel like the concept can still be saved.

If you have Mother contribute both to the science team of the Great Ten and the forces, then it would be a little more balanced.

Also, she should be able to have female children.

I understand why Grant did it. Each member of the Ten represents a part of current Chinese social-economic, etc. Mother represents the extremely high population and the Chinese focus on family.

[icon_uk]

I thought she could have female children, they were just less common

[turtlefu]

Also: Have her be the leader of the team.

[crinos]

Ok, here's a question: Why is she on the front line of that final splash page?

I know they wanted everyone to be in the big group shot, but really? The front line? Why not have her in the back, behind the ten other guys who can no sell ranged artillery fire?

[crinos]

Wait, according to the text of hers and Red Guardsman's pillow talk, apparently Mother of Champions is indestructible in addition to being a walking baby factory; she doesn't need to eat, breath, and is immune to radiation.

Makes sense I suppose, Other wise she'd never be able to bring to term 20 something kids at once without massive burnout, nevermind doing it on a regular basis, but still doesn't explain why she's on the front lines; she has no offensive ability.

[arionhunter]

Thing is, she's not. She barely shows up in the rest of the series, and only has three lines, one of which is implying/suggesting this solution, then being shot down. She's not even tactically helpful, unless she's making babies.

[crinos]

Yeah, but in that final splash page, they show her right there, with everyone else, on the front line, like she's ready to football tackle some mother fucker.

I know its a splash page for the end of the series, but they couldn't have come up with anything better, like them standing together after the battle?

[crinos]

On a similar note: Why is Immortal Man in darkness not in his space ship? I mean, without his primary weapon he has less business being in a fist fight than Mother of Champions, at least she's indestructible; Immortal Man in Darkness is a walking corpse basically.

[icon_uk]

"Come near me and I'll... I'll decompose all over you!"

[joasakura]

I'm not half the man I used to beeeee!

[terrykun]

"I was a maaan... a maaaaaaan... I WAS ONCE A MAN!"

[crinos]

Also, one question: Since this series was cut an issue short, who got gipped out of an origin story?

[mistersandman]

The Socialist Red Guardsman. We sort of get a general idea of his backstory in the Shaolin Robot/Mother of Champions issues.

He's radioactive, he was once the leader of the Great Ten, but has since become disillusioned with the Party after their switch to "Communism with Chinese Characteristics," which is to say, a Western market economy.

[mistersandman]

Since I'm pretty sure we will never hear from the Great Ten ever again after this, I think I will make it my personal canon that Socialist Red Guardsman is actually Chairman Mao in a suit that he built to carry out the Cultural Revolution. However, prolonged exposure to the suit induced severe memory loss. The suit prolonged his lifetime, but he is still dying from the radiation.

When it was clear the Chairman could no longer remember himself enough to run the country and was unable to survive for too long outside his suit, Hua Guofeng was put into command based on what they determined to be the last words he spoke in his "right" mind.

[icon_uk]

Oh I think we'll see them again, next time the JLA need a challenge or something...

[crinos]

Or when the trade paperback comes out.

[crinos]

Alternate: Or when they all get horribly butchered in the next crisis.

[mistersandman]

The true fate of every minority character/team with commercially unsuccessful series. Hopefully the art will be better then.

[terrykun]

He was also apparently a lot more willing to shoot through his own troops to get to enemies than August whatever In Iron.

[silverzeo]

What Eggy?

[proteus_lives]

I'd side with the Taiwanese fake gods against super-team from Beijing any day of the week.

[da_reap]

Tbh, I quite liked both this character and this series, even the basic premise.

As far as I can tell, they were making super-soldiers who believed they really were the ancient gods of Han China, even if they really were from R.O.C. stock. First they were trying to retake their homeland from Communism, then they get shown their true nature... I can see people in that situation wanting to both take revenge on their lying creators and defending the land they were indoctrinated to cherish, and fighting this army seems like a good way to do both.

As for Mother of Champions, I really thought she had this immense dignity about her. Very cool, very reserved, and while- unfortunately, in my opinion- she deferred to Jiang, she still had a say in things. Really, she seemed like the force that grounded the team, to me. (Which, considering her view toward 'acceptable losses', may not be all that good a thing.)

Whether it's true or not, my personal canon is that she's the real team head where the General is the field leader, much like Zemo with his last run in Thunderbolts. (Which now has me thinking that I would've LOVED to see Zemo going guerrilla with as many of the old Thundercrew as he could get ahold of, and working against the Dark Reign lineup. That would've had some serious potential!)

But admittedly, I think her character would be strengthened with more inclusion of her scientific background. Maybe she could oversee the super-functionary tech department, knowing secrets about the team's equipment (and Shaolin Robot) that even they don't...

But maybe that's one of the reasons I like her so much. Not necessarily for what she is, but for what she COULD be. (Which in turn sets me to thinking: What if that reserve of hers is held for that specific purpose? So that others can project their desires of what they want her to be ONTO her, and she can pick and choose whichever she sees fit to pretend towards, depending on who she wants to manipulate- be it the Physician or the General or, yes, even Socialist Red Guardsman. Heck, maybe even Jiang...

I personally don't like that interpretation, but I won't deny it's got some very intriguing ramifications.)