Thursday, July 29, 2010

Life can't be controlled.

"Life can't be controlled. Life can't be bottled." - Superman
Superman is in the midst of an epic battle with the new and improved Brainiac. Brainiac has downloaded more information than he knows what to do with into his head and thinks that he can control life if he enslaves it. This is a well written trade collection exploring the differences between the human mind and spirit versus that of an artificial intelligence.


In daily life we often try to bottle and control things by trying to understand how everything works or making sense of time by putting all of our activities into our smartphones or PDAs to keep track of things but often we find that we can't stick to those schedules because "life happens" and unforeseen events throw us off course. This is what makes life worth living as it's the variety and undefined future which makes us feel alive and full of possibilities!



References: Taken from Superman Brainiac HC (ISBN: 978-1-4012-2087-7) by Geoff Johns (writer) and Gary Frank (artist). Published by DC Comics.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I'm not afraid of anything

"I'm not afraid of anything." - The Hulk
 The Hulk is running rampant in New York City with the Warbound (aka. his posse) but he encounters one of the Initiative recruits who has the ability to bring one's greatest fear to life. Initially this recruit is able to stand up against the Hulk but eventually his ability fails as the Hulk's confidence rises (along with his anger levels) until eventually the illusion falls and The Hulk spares the beaten recruit.

Now I know you're thinking ... this is THE HULK so he shouldn't be afraid of anybody or anything! You and I are just a bunch of stick figures compared to him ... but if you've read the much acclaimed Planet Hulk collection you'll realize that the big guy had to go through a lot and suffer great losses so he's declaring his defiance after a long, hard road.

No matter how big you are ... there's always somebody bigger than you! Stand up for yourself and don't be afraid of anything because fear empowers those you're afraid of while courage weakens their hold over you.

References: Taken from Avengers: The Initiative TPB (ISBN: 978-0-7851-2516-7) by Dan Slott (writer) and Stefano Caselli (artist).
Published by Marvel Comics