Friday, December 21, 2012

12-21-12
IF THIS BE DOOMSDAY (Revisited)
WEEP FOR THE SOUL OF MAN


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12-21-12
(posted at 12:21:12 PM)

*SEE IMPORTANT UPDATE at END of POST*

Since this "End of the World" thing didn't pan out on the 12th (see that entry [HERE]), it's OBVIOUS that today will surely be..
THE END OF THE WORLD!
I mean... how many times can it NOT happen?

Since, as ominous portents, possible interpretations of Mayan calendars, (and the guy on the street corner yelling to his shoes) are to be believed... today - the 21st day of the 12th month in this 12th year (of the 2nd millennium) - should bring about...
THE END OF THE WORLD!

No. Seriously. THIS time for sure.

Or at the VERY least... the END of LIFE as we know it!

"Weep for the Soul of Man..."

But, just in case the Mayans (or the nutty...er...scientific...uh...prophets...hmm...modern interpreters) weren't quite right, and the End of the World isn't in the offing, there will always be Do-Badders like Baron Mordo who are more than willing to help it along.

Arranged in a circular pattern (much like the Mayan Calendar) each of these mystic adepts (including Man-Thing and Jennifer Kale) would die, in turn, to open the GATES OF CHAOS -and thus cause...

THE END OF THE WORLD!


No, really.
Here, let Mordo explain it.


See?
This is for real.

NOTHING can save us now...


Oh. OK. DOCTOR STRANGE can save us.
That's good to know.


Although, really, it was a team effort, as Man-Thing had just as much to do with preventing the end of all there is as did Doc.

SO... I'm sure that WHATEVER dire cosmic threat seeks to cause...

THE END OF THE WORLD...

... that DOC and MAN-THING will be around to make sure that we all are alive to see tomorrow.

Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts # 41
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*UPDATED 12-22-12*
Stupid Mayans...

5 comments:

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

seems that blogger isn't updating other sites in tmy blog role again i wasn't aware you had posted anything new recently. cool team up here although one wonders why a creature like the Man-Thing would be used as some sort of sacrifice. virgins and people possessed of mystic power sure, but a scientific aberration?

~P~ said...

Yeah, that blogger update thing is really bugging me. I think the problem started when I back-dated a post. Since then, it's been giving me fits.

Anyway, as for Man-Thing... well, Mordo DID have good mystic-based reasons for including Manny in his plot. Not the least of which is that Man-Thing was created by a unique FUSION of SCIENCE and MAGIC!

The waters of the swamp are mystically charged, and the NEXUS of ALL REALITIES lies therein.

In fact, at the end of that very issue, Doc tries to CURE Manny, but can not precisely BECAUSE of that unique blend of science and sorcery that created the beast.

Neither one nor the other method can be used to cure Man-Thing. It would require a synthesis of the two methodologies to hope for success.

Thanks for the comment, my friend!

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

the magic aspect of the Man-Thing's creation must have come along later in the character's mythology cause this is the first i'm ever hearing about it. during the 80s and early 90s i read several recaps of Ted Sallis's transformation and it was always depicted as a scientific matter.

~P~ said...

No. Not really.

Trust me, while it's not always discussed each and every time, the mystical nature of the origin has been there since VERY early on. It took less than 5 appearances before it was introduced formally.

In his first appearance (SAVAGE TALES # 1) it was noted that the "waters of the swamp" had an unforeseen effect on the super-soldier-serum derivative with which he injected himself.

Certainly, the "waters of the swamp" aspect is indistinct, unclear and nebulous, but that's the reason given why he turned into a monster and not a super man.

That "swamp water" explanation was used each time his origin was recapped in expositional text boxes, but BECAUSE it's so random sounding, it never really explained anything.

So, very early on, Steve Gerber took over the character (Adventure into FEAR # 11) and began the explanation that the swamp was the NEXUS of ALL REALITIES and that is why the "swamp waters" caused the unnatural change. By FEAR # 13 & 14, it was firmly established that he was a mixture of science and sorcery.

Sure, it's been tweaked here and there - some new additions making little sense and being forgotten, but overall the NEXUS explanation finally made sense of the flimsy "swamp water" aspect of the origin.

Man-Thing's list of storied appearances up to that point only included a scant few:

-SAVAGE TALES # 1 (and a reprint or 2 of same)
-ASTONISHING TALES 12 & 13
-ADVENTURE INTO FEAR # 10...
That's it.
Then came Steve Gerber's mystical angle.

In each of the earlier issues, Man-Thing was more of a "who dunnit" mystery, as everyone was searching for Ted Sallis and wondering what happened to him. Not a lot of attention went into Man-Thing himself as anything more than just a "monster" (a living embodiment of retribution, irony and fate).

That's not to say that the mystic nature was always utilized in later stories.
Even the first issue of his 2nd series was more of a retread to the scientific angle, starting with the "where is Ted Sallis?" story and then the attempt at a science-based cure, but soon thereafter, it was back to "science & sorcery".

Thanks again for the reply, my friend.

Doc Thompson said...

THE END OF THE WORLD!Is this about silly prediction or something in the comic.Either I'm sure Doc Strange will stop it from coming about.

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