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Underground > Comic Books >

FF:1234 new thoughts

  
 
Big Talk
23:20 / 08.04.02
first I gotta say that the last thread/annotations on FF:1234 was truly top-notch. helped me realize that FF + Marvel Boy are the best pop comix of the last 2 years- in retrospect, millar's authority pales by comparison, as does moore's ABC stuff.

anyhoo, 2 new analytical possibos:

1) per the discussion of FF members as representing different psychological complexes, could Doom's claim to Ben be true? has reed created them all out of his head? is reed, as he appears interacting with other characters, just a multiple personality or avatar?

where is the story really taking place- entirely in the mind of 'real reed', as he's sitting, (literally) strung out, in his room? is this the story of 'Real Reed' using the Reed avatar to clamp down on the other multiple personalities as they're on the edge of self-awareness? alternately, I rather like the idea that it could be any one of our heads, if we were to absorb enough FF books + go to a couple of NLP seminars. of course, as Grant has said repeatedly, all the characters he writes do, to some degree, exist autonomously in his mind. maybe grant really fought this battle. maybe it turned out different, heh.

evidence:

-multiple levels of mutable reality with reed + doom seemingly on a par- both have access to puppet clay, prime mover rigs, etc. is this metaphor for 2 contending MP's battling it out in someone's head, using personality warping magickal techniques?- witness the rapid mood swings all the other characters are experiencing. 'we should all be more responsible for our moods'- it's hard when you're juggling personalities, harder when they're manipulating each other.
-empty doom suit.
-niles caulder's revelation, which parallels my proposal closely.
-simplistic, cliched + patriarchal (yet tender) attitude of reed- 'we always win, my old friends'. (see JLA, Luthor accusing Superman of hegemony).
-so who's Alicia? a 'conductor 8' type MP- self-aware + incredibly powerful, yet passive? + in her last panel, is she killing doom?- 'Real reed's ultimate triumph over doom's attempted subversion of the system?


2) does 1234 refer to 4th element in the holy trinity, as suggested by gnostics- father, son, holy ghost, + demi-urge (aka the devil). doom offers a gnostic, liberating, yet devilish deal to Ben. Ben can't handle his freedom- thrown out of eden, he ends up in the hospital next to a guy who's lost his fruit.
hah.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
18:18 / 09.04.02
I love all that Big Talk.

Without wanting to sound flippant, I think it could be said that any act of reading is in fact a single mind juggling multiple pesonalities. While the ability of determination of those personalities is removed from the reader, he/she still has some control over their 'world', in the way s/he portrays the characters and environment in their mind etc. The characters also tend to 'live on' in the readers mind after the story has been read, and are often employed in hypothetical scenarios by that reader - 'I wonder what so and so would do if they were in this situation' etc.

This argument is obviously 1 billion times stronger when we consider the act of writing and the relationship the writer has with the characters s/he creates. 1234 can truly be said to be a cross section of Morrison's physical and mental presence cut with a particular kind of blade.

The scalpel in this instance being a 32 page American Superhero comic book.

Please note the scalpel determines the 'shape' of the section.

PS - I like talking shite.
 
 
Big Talk
03:00 / 10.04.02
"While the ability of determination of those personalities is removed from the reader, he/she still has some control over their 'world', in the way s/he portrays the characters and environment in their mind etc. The characters also tend to 'live on' in the readers mind after the story has been read."

that's reader theory, that is. offshoot of phenomonalist philosophy- says the author's intention, and the story itself, doesn't exist, except for how its experienced by us as we read it.

"1234 can truly be said to be a cross section of Morrison's physical and mental presence cut with a particular kind of blade."

yes, 1234 has all the GM standard features, but its so dense, archetypal, indeterminant. truly fantastic.

"PS - I like talking shite."

me too- Big Talk isn't a name, it's a way of life.
 
 
The Natural Way
07:55 / 10.04.02
S'all about balancing the elements, innit? Integrating, purifying and restoring them. Ultimate FF-mind catharsis.

I don't think it's about "clamping down" at all - not very Morrisonian (De Sade wouldn't approve). Doom is the 'fallen' aspect (Tulpa, if you like) that always pits itself in opposition/conflict with the whole. By the end he's trapped - trapped in a narrative he's found himself in time and time again. He doesn't realise that all he has to do is put away his toys - his childish anger, self-obsession and conceit - in order to escape what is, afterall, a self imposed prison.

Funny bloke.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
09:23 / 10.04.02
I like the idea that the four are 'one'. That the other three may be 'part' of reed richards. that his mind was stretched so much it snapped into four elemental states. that the entire purpose of the fantastic four stories is to reintergrate the disparate parts of reed's persona back into a unifying whole.
 
 
The Natural Way
11:12 / 10.04.02
Yeah, but It's that invisible multiplicity/plurality + unity thing. So, it's kind of important to hold onto the self-contradictory idea that each of the elements has it's own integrity/autonomy whilst, at the same, time existing as part of something greater. Basically, in 1234 (as in most of Grant's stuff), subjective and objective reality blur into a kind of swampy, numinous goo.... that's why I don't have a 'theory' (tho' they're fun) - the book just doesn't reduce to any one perspective.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
11:41 / 10.04.02
agreed.

now, shall we go and kick someones head in for a laugh?
 
 
The Natural Way
11:55 / 10.04.02
Always.

Let's kick the Mekon's head in - plenty to go round.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
12:07 / 10.04.02
just reminded me: inflato-xavier (swollen heid, silent ish) looks like thwe bloody mekon!
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
22:49 / 10.04.02
FYI-See also:

1234
Morrison's FF 1234 previewed
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
09:37 / 06.12.05
ahhh, a good old fashioned barbe-comic-chat!

mekon's a pure fanny by the way.
 
  
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