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WRT this issue and the last, I'd agree that Thunderstone's origin seems to have been intended as an earlier issue, as it jars a little with his immediate reintroduction as Spartacus Hughes in the following issue. As someone suggested, issue 10 appears to have been intended as issue 9, in order to give a pause between Thunderstone's first appearance and his subsequent reappearance in issue 11. In addition, Thunderstone's operation on Moog isn't discussed in the following issue, though perhaps due to lack of space.
Not having read the discussions on previous issues, I presume that the similarities between Max Thunderstone and Flex Mentallo, right down to the 'Hero Halo' have already been discussed, so it would seem that Morrison intends a confrontation between Black Mentallium Flex - the eponymous 'Thunderstone'? - and this continuum's Gideon Stargrave, as seen here through a psychedelic Nick Fury lens. Is Flex intended to be symbolic in a higher sense in the same way that he is indicative of the Everyman hero? Is Thunderstone's eptification symbolic of the cancerous auto-immune system of the Hand and its infection of the God molecule in the brain, subjugating the higher impulse in order to to ensure that 'Riot Fails To Occur', that is, that the development of the system as a whole is being restricted by the Hand?
If the para-personae peddled by the chemist are seeding Hand agents, would this too not symbolise its attempts to spread throughout the system as a whole - the world, as opposed to the Hand's subdermal domain, corrupting healthy cells in order to act against the system? Either that, or the Hand is the healthy immune system recruiting cells through the para-personae to fight encroaching bacteria - the anti-personae - and eliminating genetically-engineered and surgically-altered cells in order to preserve homeostasis in the system. Knowing Morrison, it's probably both :-)
The world-system is also seen to act to protect itself from rogue cells, as seen by the community's persecution of Greg, his interrogation by the system's immune system - the police - and the eventual elimination of the rogue cell as symbolised by Dmitri-9 - demonstrating the evolution of the system in evolving beyond the biological behaviour of the lower brain - the aggressive primitive response as a killer chimpanzee.
Sharon takes Tony away because Tony is, like her, a vessel for the I-Life following his resurrection. I believe that in part the Filth is another of Morrison's magickal memes, this time programming the auto-immune systems' of its readers to incorporate the concepts embodied by the different systems within the comic. The I-Life can be seen as both an idiosyncratic interpretation of nanotechnology and as a command to the immune system to befriend infected cells and ensure their recovery. Greg, Thunderstone et al are attempts by the system either to inaugurate change throughout it - local action for global change - by both being inducted by the Hand - Greg - and attacking it directly - Thunderstone - and eliminate the Hand, or to destroy the Hand and destabilise the system as a whole - Spartacus Hughes as a brain tumour, never going into recession and destabilising system after system, as ably explained by someone whose name doesn't appear on this preview page :-S
This also brings back Morrison's concept of the memeplex with the para-personae and the idea that anyone can become an agent of the Hand by taking on another para-persona in order to better serve the system - as seen in the behaviour of ants. This type of system would depend on the coordinated group action of its components and the rise of individuality would indeed be seen as detrimental to the health of the system as a whole.
I have to say that the Filth has been the highlight of my comics reading since its beginning, despite my inability to convince my wife to read further than issue one. Also, despite his redundancy within the system, Dmitri-9 has been one of my favourite Morrison creations, especially the 'Oh no, a poor little cat!' line. Chris Weston and Gary Erskine's art has been superb and Morrison is exploring new ground with the series as a whole - unlike his New X-Men sadly :-( |
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