It's How They Respond To The Loss That's Important

One of the recurring themes of Liss and Zircher's Mystery Men mini-series seems to have loss. I finally noticed that around issue 4, when Ezekiel (the Revenant) reveals how he became a vigilante because a moment of spite by a cop destroyed his life. He talks of never being able to go back home, or return to his job. It remined me of Professor Green (Achilles) making similar comments in issue 3. How the search for the amulet on behalf of the General had cost him everything. Even after he harnesses its power, only to find that won't win his fiancee back, he says "Over and over, I lose everything."

The Surgeon makes similar comments when his life is destroyed in that issue, as his home is burned down by a crooked sheriff, and again, later in the same issue, when he learns his entire town was destroyed, killing everyone*. Sarah (the Aviator), thought she'd lost the chance to ever fly again, as well as her best friend, when the plane she took joyriding turned out to be poorly maintenanced. Ezekial also has a caption box in issue 4, expressiong concern about how she and he are both losing their innocence with what they find themselves doing to stop the General.

Which is a trend in itself. A loss that prompts the character to action, but then another loss brought about by that action. The aformentioned loss of innocence, Green's realization that Bridget didn't leave him because he wasn't manly enough, but because she really didn't love him. The Surgeon's would be an exception, since his killing the sheriff is not what lead to the General having the town massacred (that was the sacrifice needed to bring Nox physically to this plane).

Even the General has lost things. He's losing his health, to lung cancer, or given his age, perhaps exposure to gases during the first World War. That may have been what prompted him to ally with both the Board, and Nox. The Fear Lord, because she knew of something that could help, and had the knowledge to guide him. The Board, because they had the money to make it happen. Then he loses the amulet, when lead him to wear the bracelet that made him Lysseus, but seems to have placed him more firmly under Nox' control. He's speech is more halting and robotic over the last issue and a half.

It ties in with the air of fear throughout the world the series is set in. One thing that can scare people is if they start losing what's important to them, be it a home, a loved one, a career. When that happens for no discernible reason, or because of the maliciousness of others, it can be even worse. Especially when those others seem immune from repercussions for their actions. The cop who tried to pin a crime on Ezekiel almost certainly faced no reprimand for doing so. I would imagine if the woman who was attacked brings it up with his superiors that she said a white guy with a German or Irish accent, and this crooked bum tried to arrest a black guy, she'd be none too kindly encouraged to clam up. And she'd more than likely comply, because she wouldn't want police harassment or brutality. More fear.

The Mystery Men take that loss and try to use it as a motivator. To get back in the sky, to fight injustice, to get revenge on the General. That's the difference, even between them and the General. His losses create fear. He could accept his eventual death, but he forms alliances with a being far wiser and more powerful than him, thinking he'll get what he wants. His fear drives him to push Green too far, and he loses the amulet as a result. If he had simply waited until morning to meet Green, as agreed, then let Green go after receiving the amulet, he'd have what he wanted. But he sent thugs to roust Green in the night, then tried to shoot him, because he was too afraid, and it cost him.

Oddly, the only character who makes no direct reference of his own to "loss" is the Operative, the one it all started with. There is a point in issue 1, as he defends himself from more crooked cops looking to pin his girlfriend's murder on him, when he talks of a point of no return:

'That stench in the air is the smell of burning bridges. There's no going back. Sometimes you make your mistakes with your eyes wide open. Sometimes you don't have a choice. Nowhere to go but forward. All the way.'

In a sense, that's also speaking of loss, since passing the point of no return means one can't ever go back to what was before. Obviously. But there's no real mention of what he's lost at this moment. Alice is already dead. The cops are after him, but if they'd known he was the cat-thief The Operative, they'd be after him anyway. The General isn't protecting him anymore, but it isn't as though that was done out of any affection for Dennis. It was more a case of nobody wanted to nose too closely to The General's business.

We see in issue 5 what kind of upbringing Dennis had under his father, so you could make an argument he lost his innocence long ago, whenever he understood what kind of man his father was, to make his son fight for his very life as training. That could be the loss that prompted him to become the Operative, seeing how his father used his power mde him decide to act for people without power. The moment in issue 1 could be a loss of innocence. It's the point where Dennis realizes robbing the rich to feed the poor isn't enough, because it doesn't do anything about men like his father, who are the ones putting the screws to the poor in the first place. But rather than give up at that realization, he changes tactics. Some, maybe most, of it is revenge, but there's still a desire to stop what the General and his Board are up to.

Even amongst people who refuse to lay down, the response to loss won't be the same. Achilles' first loss makes him want to address a personal problem, and the second drives him to pin the blame for everything on the General, and pursue him regardless of the cost. Revenant's first loss drove him to fight injustice for those the law chooses not to protect, while Sarah's made her strive to reach the sky again somehow. But their second losses are I think what lead them to each other. They wanted to find something good again, admist the violence and horror, and they found it with each other, while still working to be better as vigilantes. I can't say that the second loss prompted much change in the Surgeon, but in a sense, he'd already lost everything the first time. He couldn't stay in his town, or see his mother, hurt as he was, so he was dead to them, in a sense. The second loss means he can't take some solace in the idea they're continuing on with their lives as before, while he pursues this new path. The biggest change might have been the realization he needed allies. He wanted to team-up with the others even before, but after, he knows he has to. This is too big for him alone.

* When we're introduced to the town, it's population is listed as 167, which is how many are claimed to have died in the newspaper article. Obviously they're wrong about the Surgeon, but how could you kill everyone in a small town like that so readily? Wouldn't there be lots of people who didn't live in the town, but lived on farms nearby that might see or hear something, or just happen to be in town at the time?

That's How You Spread Fear

I've read on the Internet in a few places that the Dire Wraiths in Rom really did a much better job of a "secret invasion" than the Skrulls did in, well, Secret Invasion. I've only read bits and pieces of both, but I wouldn't doubt it. By the same token, and adjusting for the fact I've only read about Fear Itself on the Internet, I think Liss and Zircher's Mystery Men has done a much better job with a story about supernatural forces spreading fear for their own dark purposes.

Nox feeds on fear, but it isn't as simple as, to pick a totally random strategy, having Nazis attack Washington D.C. in mechs. Nox isn't strong enough yet to engineer a showy display like that, and it might be rather tricky for the General to manage, either.

Instead they've built it gradually. The General uses the Board, it's greed, it's disdain for all the other people in the world, to their advantage. The Board uses the Depression, even helps it along in places to line their own pockets, to help push the world towards a war they can reap outrageous profits from. None of them realize that's a side effect. The true goal is to spark fear and unease in the people, and it's working. People are scared they won't find a job, won't be able to hold onto the job they have, won't be able to make ends meet even if they keep a job. Most of all, people are scared things will never get any better, because they can't see what caused this or how to fix it.

The Board most likely sees this as some meaningless effect of their plans. At most, they might regard the spreading fear and uncertainty as useful for the spread of totalitarianism they're hoping will spark that war. None of the Board realizes the fear is the real goal of their leader. The whole thing is a snowball rolling downhill, growing in size as it goes. As the fear grows, Nox gains strength, which enables it to communicate more frequently with the General, to guide him, aid him with gifts or warnings. Which makes the General all the more effective at ramping up the fear. Which increases Nox' power even more, and so on.

Eventually it reaches the point where he can have an entire town massacred, which enables Nox to manifest its own physical body (rather than possessing and burning out other bodies), while simultaneously no doubt terrifying people and increasing Nox' power still more. Still, Nox hasn't announced her presence to the world. Hasn't made a showy display with a giant hammer, for another totally random example. The Mystery Men have seen her, but they don't truly understand what she is, and no one else is aware of her.

Nox (or writer David Liss) understands it's what you can't see that can scare you the most. If the world knew who was behind everything, they might be frightened, but they might also rally together now that they knew their foe. As it stands, there's nothing to fight. The economy is in shambles, Europe's being overrun by dictators, children are being abducted, entire towns slaughtered, and no one knows what's causing it. Is it all coming from the same source, or are they entirely unrelated events? Who is to blame, how can it be set right? No one knows, and the uncertainty is terrifying. It's such an effective way to heighten the fear.

I think the difference between the strategies in the two books is akin to that saying I've seen attributed to Hitchcock about surprise versus suspense. Paraphrasing, A bomb goes off under a table, that's surprise. We know there's a bomb under the table, but it doesn't go off, that's suspense. Fear Itself feels like surprise, where big things are happening but there isn't much of a build up. Mystery Men is more suspense, where we know the clock's ticking down towards the big moment, but the heroes don't know precisely what's happening, and there's a question of whether they can get their acts together in time to stop it.