| |
|
"I was referring to the Ned/Greg amalgam, not Greg as a concept/para-personality."
Okay. BTW, apologies if I came off like I was “correcting” you, Smile (and frosty).
The way I see it, there’s at least three Greg Feelys going around in The Filth:
1. The coloured stuff – engineered in the labs of The Hand – that was snotted out of Ned Slade in issue one (…but presumably The Hand could knock up a new batch of this Greg anytime they want to).
2. The imprint that that coloured stuff has left in Ned.
3. Greg Feely the social construct – the Greg that exists in Ned’s next-door neighbours’ minds when they gossip, the Greg that exists in the files of the local police station, and so on. (I guess this is a lot more than one Greg, really, but for convenience I’ll group them all together.) If Replacement Greg spends the night raping Tony in his back garden, then “Greg Feely” No.3 becomes a cat-fucker.
The “chemical Greg” (No.1) and the “social construct Greg” (No.3) together make up a Greg Feely “para-persona” (er... No.13?).
Replacement Greg I don’t think of as a “Greg” as such – I see him as a Hand agent that’s “taking care of” the socially constructed part of the Greg para-persona.
The Hand seem to be setting up the para-persona as a paedophile – but as far as the para-persona is concerned, being “set up” as something is the same as actually being that thing. I suspect The Hand’s intention is not to set up Ned Slade – the Ned/Greg amalgam, as you put it, Smile – but to change the Greg Feely para-persona so that it is no longer a “safe place” for Ned Slade to hide out in. I’m guessing they want to make Greg Feely such an unpleasant and dangerous person to be that Ned ceases to identify with him and wholly embraces his identity as “hard-boiled Ned Slade, agent of the Hand”, returning to his Hand duties with enthusiasm. (That’s what I was trying to get at when I was wittering on about “Karma and Greg” earlier.)
Imagine if the Outer Church forces had managed to sway Dane Magowan before King Mob and co. had gotten to him. Imagine if, a couple of rungs up the Outer Church hierarchy, the stresses of his initiation – the repulsion, fear and disgust that he felt in the company of amoral monsters – became too great for Dane. He might have fled back to his old life, as “ordinary Dane Macgowan,” and tried to forget about what he had experienced. The Outer Church hierarchy would be concerned to continue their protégé’s initiation…might strive to make life as one of the “cattle” an unattractive option.
Now that I think about it, things did go in a similar fashion for Dane during the course of his “Invisibles” initiation…he found no safe place in Liverpool, at his mum’s, or his friend’s…tho’ K.M. and company had “the enemy” to thank for that…
Okay, I’m aware of the anal-retentive quality of my Greg-counting, I want to see a “Where”s Greg?” picture-book for kids, Hermit’s post has bowled me over, I love the idea that The Filth is Promethea’s evil twin, and has anyone seen that ad on TV with all the beautiful naked people kissing each other’s armpits? MORE DEODORANT!! APPLY MORE DEODORANT!! and “let your skin breathe”… |
|
|
