From: wogg0743@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (William Shakespeare)
Subject: Re: Miracleman #23
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 06:29:40 GMT

>        Interestingly, the only other person who seems to have done
>that sort of expanding the limits of the powers is Kid Miracleman, who
>developed rudimentary mental control ("John, are you doing something
>to my mind?"), eyebeams, and some sort of low-level TK or electrical
>control or some such (building a lightning bolt and throwing it at
>Miracleman), not to mention increasing his raw strength dramatically.
>Despite Miraclewoman's greater creativity in devising tactics, she
>never seems to have expanded the potential of the powers themselves,
>even in more constructive directions.  Of course, Bates had more time
>to experiment-- but he had less motive.  He was _already_ the most
>powerful thing on Earth, and as far as he knew his only rivals were
>dead.  Miracleman and Miraclewoman, having to stay on top of a system
>which involves other powered beings, really should be at least
>_trying_ to figure out the limits of their powers.
 
Miracle woman is empathic and capable of tracking other superhumans
over long distances.  Mist's ability to see with her eyes closed seems
to be similar.  The main empasis of MW seems to have been on her senses
prior to going public, whereas all Bates could think of was how to
increase the megatonage.
 
>        Which is all _any_ of the Miracleman family are.  From Winter
>and her half-brothers and half-sisters to Miraclewoman to Miracleman,
>not one of them has anything but naked force to support their claim to
>be above human concerns or human morality.  They have less to fear--
>but not nothing, as Kid Miracleman so aptly proved.  Or do they trust
>that they and the warpsmiths, or they and their fellow Miraclefolk for
>that matter, will live in amity forever and ever?  They have fewer
>needs, but not none-- they still need to interact with other people
>(of whatever form and in whatever way).  They still have the same
>questions that humans have had since Neanderthal times: what happens
>after death (and Mors machines just postpone the question-- they don't
>eliminate it)?  What constitutes a good life?  Does life have a
>purpose, and what is it?  If greater strength and resistance to damage
>makes one a superman or a god then give me a Kevlar jumpsuit, some
>scuba gear, a lever and a place to stand, and then fall down and
>worship me.  Miracleman is only quantitatively different, not
>qualitatively.  I think that Gaiman recognizes this, and that Moore
>did as well, to a lesser extent.  That "utopia" is almost certainly
>_going_ to fall somehow, or the next arc wouldn't be called "The Dark
>Age".  But whom it will be dark for, and what role Young Miracleman
>will play in its fall, remains to be seen.
 
Very true.  I never said they were gods, though, just that MM's personality
would be different from Moran's.
 

-- 
William ("Shakespeare") Gulstad          /  So where are the C.S. babes?
wogg0743@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu                /  Joni Mitchell for President!
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