The Bad Guys have always been there. Whether it was Cain cracking Abel's skull open with a rock or those damn dirty apes clubbing each others brains in with bones because they saw some creepy Black Obelisk or Lucifer flipping off God and starting a war that damn burned down the Universe or whatever you wanna believe in, the Bad Guys have always been there. And, yeah, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. Were the Romans Bad Guys? Yeah, they were pretty bad dudes. They created a totally messed up society full of debauchery, murder, persecution, slavery and a disparity between the rich and poor that makes the said disparity in our society seem insignificant by comparison. Oh, and they were ruthless imperialists, which, quite frankly is evil, no matter how much Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney say otherwise. When you invade other countries and kill a buncha people and take over and force your society unto others, that's Evil. But, the Romans also made massive innovations in technology and society (the Greeks started Democracy, and the Romans kept it rolling, and we all loves our Democracy) that helped shape the future we live in now.
And in reality, no matter how bad a Bad Guy is, there's always a bit of a Gray Area floating around in there. That cop killing drug dealing scum bag gangsta? He's got a wife and three kids at home, and maybe he ain't so good at being a husband and father, but maybe he makes sure to put a little food on the table and maybe he puts a roof over their heads, and maybe he just fell into the life to try to get out of the life or some other BS, y'know? Hell, even a dirty, money grubbing, land destroying, oil drilling, Country Invading Politician might occasionally pass a Bill that will bring some good to people that need help (of course, there was probably a pay off for himself somewhere in that Bill, but whatever). That Corporate Greedhead who got a prescription drug onto the market even though he knew damn well it was gonna kill people, and, yeah, he cheats on his wife and he hardly ever sees his kids, but the Wife gets to the live the life, and that kid of his is going to Harvard, and maybe at least one drug he put on the market actually saved a life, right? Grey Areas. Y'know?
Grey Area or no Grey Area, a Bad Guy's a Bad Guy, and a Good Guy's a Good Guy, and in the Real World, the Bad Guys win more often than not. Which shouldn't come as much of a surprise, cause the Bad Guys cheat (again, that's kinda what defines them as Bad Guys). Why wouldn't the Drug Dealer deal drugs to kids? It's easy money, and it's not like he cares what happens to some kid, right? He'll make in a week dealing his drugs on the street than I will in a year at the Sawmill. Why wouldn't that Politician wanna invade some other country and start some war that never ends? He's gonna negotiate some lucrative Contract Deals with some huge ass Military Contractors and when he finally steps down from the Senate he's got a nice, easy Consulting Job with that big fat Military Contractor where he will make more money in one week than I will in my entire life. And that Corporate Fat Cat who's gonna kill about 500 people with his nasty little drug? You know why he's gonna do that? Because no matter how much money they're gonna have to pay in lawsuits and restitution and medical bills and fines and everything else, they will still have made more money than the gross national product of most third world countries, and that Corporate Fat Cat is gonna get a Bonus that will be worth more money than I will make in 100 Lifetimes.
So what am I saying? That it's good to be Bad? That being a Good Guy don't work out and the Bad Guys always win?
That seems to be a running gag in our fiction. It used to be you had your Good Guys and your Bad Guys, and the Good Guys won and the Bad Guys lost, and that was our Fiction. Sure, it was simplistic, but at least we were saying something worthwhile, y'know? Steve Ditko believed in the purity of Good vs. Evil. When the comics started being less about Good vs. Evil, and more Grey, more Anti-hero, Ditko started to flee the comics. Couldn't stand it. He envisioned a world of moral purity, and when the real world didn't reflect that, he wanted to create an illusionary world of absolute right and wrong, and when he watched that world eroding he ran.
Our world of Fiction is now awash with grey. Right now I'm watching House of Lies on Showtime (free preview, baby!), and it's rife with immorality and dirty dealing and Bad Guys doing Bad Things. I watched Shameless yesterday, and while House of Lies is about Rich Folk and Shameless is about Poor Folk, the story is the same, it's flawed people with messed up lives doing messed up things to stay alive. And it's compelling. Makes good teevee, y'know? I love Justified on FX. It's a bad ass Modern Western full of Bad Guys getting bullets in the brain, but the series lead, Raylen Gibbons ain't no squeaky clean law man. He makes some pretty questionable moral decisions, and he don't follow the rules of the law all that cleanly... ever. Everything on HBO is a a mess of moral confusion. And Comics? The Good Guys become the Bad Guys, the Bad Guys are now Good Guys (Doc Ock's Spiderman now? Whaaaaaaa?). The Good Guys redeem themselves and then die and then come back and then they're Good Guys and then they turn Bad again and oh Lord I just want to bring back Steve Ditko because I am just so bored with it.
So what am I saying here? That our Fiction needs to get back to the White and Black? Good vs Evil with Good always winning? Flashback to the 50s and 60s? Maybe if we just started putting out cleaner Fiction, maybe it'd make the world a better place, right? Art imitating life and all that?
Yeah, right. I said way back at the beginning of this Rant that Evil's always been there, and Evil wins more often than not. Ain't no amount of Fiction ever gonna change that. You think the 50s were a wonderful time to live in with all of the Fiction with Good Guys winning the day? Really? I've got three words for you: Jim Crow Laws. The Bad Guys have always been there, dude.
So what am I saying here? The world I'm building, the Bad Guys have already won. Ortex has Earth. They have it all (except a tiny little strip of woodland just outside of Mud Village, IL. And, yeah, I know that's ridiculous from a Logic standpoint, but this, again, is Fiction, baby. Logic should only ever be tangential). They are the Government and the Industry and the Religion and everything else, and they are E. V. I. L. They are Hell. They are Ultimate Evil. This isn't some, maybe Lucifer wasn't such a bad guy hell, this is a Hardcore We Want to Violate You in Every Way Imaginable Hell. And then there's the damn Clinic. Ortex doesn't exactly provide good health care, so if you've got a medical problem, maybe you'll check out that weird back alley Free Clinic that sometimes just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Where did that damn thing come from? But maybe they can patch you up, right? And then you get in there and the next thing you know some horrible doctors have got you naked on a slab and are cutting out your kidneys and injecting you with horrible drugs and then it's the Infection, Dr. Dendull, the Other Horrible Thing in the Dark, that wears your face like a Halloween Party Mask.
And these are the Bad Guys. And they're so damn hungry that they want everything. They want the Whole of Reality on a frickin' platter.
But I don't really bother with the Bad Guys. They're there, they're a problem, but they're not the point like they are in every other damn comic or movie or whatever out there.
My comics are about the Good Guys. And my Good Guys are pretty good Good Guys. They're not on drugs, they don't mess around with married women, they don't commit crimes, or do questionable things to make money, or any of that kinda stuff. They kill (actually, Octopus Jones hasn't even done that yet), but that's just the way it goes in my world. It's do or die. You can't lock up the Bad Guys in Jail when the Bad Guys own the Jails and the Courts and everything else. But, other than that, Good Guys.
And for me, that's the Truth of the World. The people I know are Good Guys, and I tend to think of myself as something of a Good Guy. I'm flawed like everyone else, but I don't bring evil into the world. The people I know don't bring evil into the world. And the World can be a pretty Evil place. It's easy to be Evil, again, being Evil is all about shortcuts and playing dirty, and that gives you an advantage. But Evil is hungry, because Evil is empty. That's why it's never satisfied. Why it always needs more more more. Good? Good just wants to get by. To survive. And even then it won't break the rules to do it. Evil will take everything you own without so much as batting an eye. Good will give you the shirt off its back.
So I say let Evil have the world. It's not gonna stop me from doing my thing.
I think that's what I'm trying to say.
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