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Ff1234no.3
First read: oh dear. That was shite.
Second read:
Okay, ‘..now experience itself is open to manipulation’ – increasingly, Morrison’s fictional selves are becoming aware of the limits and strengths of their ‘reality’. The game analogy is strong as usual – sledgehammer strong in the case of 1234. In Morrison’s game the player pieces (doom, king mob, etc.) seem to be forming very strong links with the player/creator (morrison) and creating a new kind of narrative. (all of his characters look like him now as well). Seems Morrison is lapping up this split personality buzz – the duel between Richards and Doom over Grimm’s mind struck me as powerful storytelling (a buzz that grows when I go back and re-read the sequence – when the doctor in the bed next to Grimm has his mind and voice taken over (note his speech in quotation marks) it spurs Grimm to snap out of his wallowing – so I take it Reed won that tussle with Doom.)
‘Prime Mover’ next month ey? – In Dooms game, Reed’s ‘location’ is given as grid 0000 cube 023.
Reed as 23 – others can explain the several layers of significance here if they can be arsed. But 23 is a prime number and the fact that prime numbers are only divisible by ‘themselves’ (the whole) and ‘one’ (I, the individual) sets me finkin about fings and that Reed is at once himself and the FF and must be the Prime Mover.
Sometimes the rapid conclusion of events in Morrison’s stories dissapoint me. The sudden speeding up of events in this episode bothered me on first reading, then with the game analogy firmly locked into my skull, and the fact that Doom (and Richards) can manipulate experience suddenly seemed to validate the appearance of Alicia in the caves, the subbie and sue on the roof, the general dreamlike sequence of events that pervaded this and the previous issues. There was a great theatricality to this issue, with the whole, ‘enter stage left’ vibe kickin ass, as is its wont.
I love this comic – even the shit- liners like, ‘love is the name we use to prettify a savage genetic imperative’.
Worse: ‘the sweet smile of the peace activist…. (response: ha-ha, yawn)
The sick shit wid da moleman was cool – hammin it up, shakespeare style.
This gameplay approach of morrisons has validated all the years of endless back and forth conquests and defeats between the ff and Doom. In fact, extended, it validates the monotony of all american superhero stories. And it invigorates them too. You can apply the structure resptrospectivley and experince the marvel and dc universe in a whole new way.
Final Point – Morrison has been using very large robots recently – (xmen, 1234) – could they be seen as a symbols of old centralised power structures lumbering violently to the end of their lisfespans? The small units of cell-like teams – Invisies, Xmen, the FF as symbols of a mercurial, eccentric, organisations, also known as the future?
Who knows and thank you for your patience and commitment.
Ps: wasn’t too into the xmen this month (okay sick shit was good n that but…I know, there’s another thread. I’m going). |
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