posted
I thought for sure he was going to absorb that dupe. Is the only exception to absorption having a virtuous life and family? Doesn't this call into question the entire reabsorption plan, ethically?
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
He also spared himself the guilt of depriving a wife of her husband and children of their father.
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I wonder if there's a chatroom or website on the Marvel internet where the dupes can communicate...
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote: I thought for sure he was going to absorb that dupe. Is the only exception to absorption having a virtuous life and family? Doesn't this call into question the entire reabsorption plan, ethically?
It does indeed.
When he re-absorbed Jamie Madrox, Agent of SHIELD, and walked away claiming that he could still here the other screaming in his mind, but that it would fade away in a few days, like it always does, I was like, HOLY CRAP!
Jamie, IMO, is not all screwed up because he's got dupes all over the place. I've come to think that he's all screwed up because he's been killing himself over and over, sometimes multiple times a day. Every time he looks in the mirror, he sees a face that he's seen before, eyes wide with fear, trying to get away from him, hoping not to die. He remembers these moments, *from both sides,* he's seeing both victim and murderer.
How can he value his own life, when he takes it on a daily basis? (And I'm not referring to the dupes that seem to come home and willingly be re-absorbed, I'm specifically thinking of the ones he's re-absorbed kicking and screaming, so many times that he's familiar with how long it takes them to 'digest' and stop 'screaming' inside of him!)
There is no real-world parallel for duplicating mutants, but his dupes are real people, fully-formed, able to have their own hopes and dreams and fears. What he's doing by re-absorbing them against their will would be akin to me having a child, and then deciding that I'm expending too much of my own resources supporting said child and *hunting it down and eating it.*
I don't think that it's the duplicating that's messing up his mind, I think it's the re-absorption. At some point, he has to learn to control the process, to stop producing these 'free-range dupes' that have their own agendas. He's already demonstrating a limited psychic link with the dupes, being able to call to them to 'come home,' feeling pain when they are hurt or slain, etc.
This sets the stage for him eventually being able to more directly link with his duplicates, to a situation where he is one mind in many bodies and not a dozen squabbling individuals.
If Professor X had ever in his life actually bothered to teach any of the mutants under his care the first damn thing about their powers, instead of just saying, 'oh Jean, you can't control this, so I'm turning it off,' or 'oh Scott, here's some glasses,' or 'oh Logan, you're all messed up. Deal with it by killing your teammates and getting mind-controlled every six issues,' I think he could help Jamie to get back the control he has lost, back to the way he was first introduced, able to produce dupes that were essentially psychic clones lacking free will, that he could re-absorb without screwing himself up by murdering himself in effigy on a daily basis and having to live with screaming people slowly dying in his mind.
PAD's really introduced some neat stuff here. I can't wait to see how it works out.
[ March 07, 2007, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Set ]
Registered: Aug 2006
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Doesn't John owe Jamie for his life? He gave the dupe a chance to be, gave up part of himself. This isn't like giving birth- Jamie gave up part of himself, his personality for John to exist. I don't deny that John has taken that small part and grown with it, but it's still Jamie...
So now that John is a separate being, Jamie doesn't have the stable, paternal side of himself anymore?
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Maybe not, but can you think of a better cause to give it up to than his own son? The baby is genetically Jaime's even if he doesn't remember making the kid. On the other hand, if he ever wants to be an active parent he'll be missing that side of his personality. Of course, without that side of personality he may never want to be a parent...
Tough issue.
-------------------- arachne3003.deviantart.com Current Obsession: Birds of Prey/Secret Six
From: Canada | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
More dupe drama this issue. I did enjoy the story, but how many more of Jamie's dupes can say no before the idea gets old?
Terry and Monet take a break and we check in with Guido, Ric, and Rahne. It was some fun reading, and PAD dropped a nugget I'd like to see explored between Ric and Rhane.
Still my favourite X-book (and the only one I read monthly.)
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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posted
In keeping with recent issues of this book, X-Factor # 17 was witty and well-written (say that last part ten times fast.)
But I'm concerned about the status of artist Pablo Raimondi. He joined the book less than six issues ago, and we've already had a couple delays and now we have a last minute fill-in artist. I hope we don't get a repeat of the Sook situation.
posted
After six consecutive good-to-great issues, X-Factor # 18 didn't quite satisfy me. Part of it is that Raimondi is still M.I.A., although solicits for upcoming issues seem to indicated he will be back. The choices of de-powered mutants to make up the terrorist group are not characters I particularly wanted to see again. But I take comfort in the knowledge that the Sigularity arc began to unravel until it pull itself together at the end. Hopefully, history will repeat itself.
And Peter David's wit helps make the issue more palatable. The reference to a popular TV cartoon had me in stitches, as did these lines:
VAL COOPER: And you better not screw this up, Madrox.
MADROX: When have I ever?
VAL COOPER: Don't get me started.
********
SIRYN: I work for a detective agency. How should I know about clues?
quote:Originally posted by Set: How can he value his own life, when he takes it on a daily basis?
Another way to look at is that not only is he continually "killing" himself, he's also being continually being "rejected" by himself. Here are parts of himself that decide they'd rather not be part of him anymore -- that their life is better than the one he has and they don't want to be part of it. Reminds me of Gogol's "The Nose" wherein a man wakes up one day to realize that his nose is missing and when he catches up to it, it doesn't want to go back to his face because it's having a much better life on its own.
I also wonder if it's significant that Layla was surprised by whatsername showing up. It's a cute joke, but could it mean something more?
[ April 22, 2007, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: DrakeB3004 ]
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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