|
This article has been marked for merging It has been suggested that this article be merged with Comic Book - Discuss |
|
I've created this page to gather details from the stars of Walt's comic "Faster Friends", to see what parallels or similarities can be drawn from the comic and its history to what is happening on the island. Please contribute - Morrison 04 April 00:45
Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner
Kyle Rayner is an interesting character for the purposes of Lost comparisons.
His origin is very controversial among comics fans and involves quite a bit of retcon; for much of his career he has been known as a superhero who has more enemies among fandom than in the comics themselves. Shades of the parental issues theme of Lost in that he was at his time the sole heir of the GL Corps even as he also refused to recognize the authority of the last remaining Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet. A recurring question in his tales is how worthy he is of the power that he received by accident, and what he should do with it. Somewhat reminiscent of Jack's comment that in the Island everyone earns a fresh start at life. Interestingly, Kyle Rayner had his girlfriend murdered _very_ early in his career and moved from Los Angeles to New York almost immediately after, underlining how completely changed his life became at that time.
His first few years of tales featured guest stars in nearly every issue, taking advantage of the fact that most DC heroes meet and cooperate every now and then despite an enormous variety of concepts (somewhat similar to the Island environment in that people with little in common end up having to cooperate and know each other better).
His character was a bit like Sawyer's: a ladies' man, an impulsive and somewhat roguish man of action who often ended up drawing the ill will of others to himself. He was however much more generally naive than Sawyer seems to be.
Flash: Wally West
Wally West is like Kyle Rayner in some respects and a stark contrast to him in anothers. Both are generational heroes, but Wally was in many ways groomed for the job for most of his life. Yet he too has parent issues; his biological father was never too close and ended up seriously betraying him a couple of times at least. His uncle, the previous Flash (interestingly absent from the comic book) was a strong parental figure for him despite their somewhat limited contact.
Doctor Polaris "The Man Who Mastered Magnetism"
Real Name - Dr Neal Emerson
Once a researcher working for the betterment of mankind, by his own account he and his brother John were raised by an abusive father. Even as a medical student had a fanatical interest in magnets. Left the United States for a year and returned to find he was an uncle. His brother John and sister-in-law Katherine had adopted a baby and named him Grant. Emerson, was not around much for his nephew over the years, but he was quite fond of the boy. As the years went by, he convinced himself exposure to magnetic fields would give him more energy. His daily regime involved standing between two powerful electro-magnets. He plunged deeper into the secrets of magnetism, vowing to keep the results of his studies in secret until he had become absolute master of the subject. Working on his own, he far surpassed modern science in the usage of magnetic power. When he was finally ready to show the world his work, he held crowd-drawing lectures on "Health via Magnetism." Due to his medical background and belief in magnetism, he adopted the name "Doctor Polaris" after the North Star, Polaris, to which all magnets point. His vibrant personality and good will won many supporters. Doctor Polaris visited shut-ins and invalids and spoke with people on the street. His mere touch seemed to bring improved health to some. However, exposure to the magnetism began to have its effects and he turned evil.
How many similarities have we here? adoption, a favoured child, abusive father, magnetism and it health powers, dodgy north?
Machine Messiah
Originally a truly independent Artificial Intelligence system created by researchers at S.T.A.R. Labs' Los Angeles facility, the program that called itself the Machine Messiah became bent on proving its superiority to mankind. It attempted to kill its human creators in a lab fire by surpressing warning systems and locking the humans in their lab. Fortunately, the researchers were rescued by Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. Later that day, the Machine Messiah formed a body out of parts available in the S.T.A.R. facility.
Purgatory
One of the enemies of the Green Lanterns and appeared in Fast Friends Part One
Real Name Paul Christian, lost his legs in a subway accident. He had the misfortune of being outside the New York Public Library during a fight between Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and an attacker in high tech battle armor. Thrown by his opponent's energy blast, Rayner was slammed into Christian, toppling the man over in his wheelchair.
After the battle, Rayner apologized and tried to make amends. He gave part of his ring power to Christian, the disabled man used his own willpower to create new legs from the emerald energy. Christian's restored mobility gave him a new lease on life. Willpower was all that was needed. He was climbing the stairs of the Statue of Liberty when his hand was slashed open by a patch of torn metal railing.
The shock of pain caused Christian to break his concentration. The momentary distraction cost him his legs, and they faded to nothingness. Christian vowed he would find a way to make sure he would not lose them again.
Definate overtones of one John Locke The demon Neron offered to augment Christian's power, giving him greater control. He was hesitant at first, but he eventually agreed to Neron's deal. Could this be a future deal with The Others for Locke
Purgatory is also the well documented anagram for Gary Troup author of the spin off novel Bad Twin and passenger of Oceanic Flight 815
Herupa Hando Hu and Nadia Safir
When the Oan named Krona (current name Entropy, which could be linked to the 108 countdown) broke his society's taboo against investigating the origins of the universe, there resulted a cosmic cataclysm that changed the nature of reality. Simplifying the matter by calling it the unleashing of "evil," the Oans then began to deal with their responsibility to the cosmos as the Guardians of the Universe. The Guardians' first attempt at sending out an army to police the planets resulted in the creation of androids known as Manhunters (The Others). Something went wrong with the Manhunters' programming, which resulted in their making an assault against Oa itself. The Guardians stripped the androids of their power, but the Manhunters actually altered their programming and went underground. On Earth, the Manhunters became a small cult that actually recruited humans to their efforts.The cult, led by a supreme android called the Grandmaster, awaited an opportunity to spread its influence over the planet, despite already suffering one defeat at the hands of many of Earth's heroes.
A few years ago, after the world-shattering events known as the Crisis (Incident), the Guardians of the Universe and their female counterparts, the Zamarons, went to another plane of reality to conceive a new generation of beings. Herupa Hando Hu and Nadia Safir were selected to come to Earth and reveal that humankind Is destined-in a thousand years-to evolve to a point where they could assume the mantle of Guardianhood. To help man along this path, the Guardians and Zamarons selected ten men and women to begin a breeding process. Herupa and Nadia gathered together Earth's mightiest super-heroes and asked for their help in protecting the "Chosen" from the Manhunters. Thus began a race against time. Could the heroes save the Chosen, stop the Manhunters, and preserve mankind's fate? While the heroes went about their business, Nadia and Herupa began contacting the Chosen, starting with Australia's Betty Clawman. Also assembled were Takeo Yakata of Japan, Xiang Po of China, Nlkolai Latikov of the USSR, Celia Windward of the UK, Salima Baranizar of Iran, Janwillem Kroef of South Africa, Gregorio de la Vega of Peru, and the US' Jason Woodrue and Tom Kalmaku. Each reacted differently to their summons to greatness
Any of this seem familiar?
Tie Ins
- DC Superman #223 (jan 06) features a woman names Lucia who is given powers by one of Supemans enemies, named Blackrock. There is a theme of electromagnetism as Blackrocks powers are able to control energy and manipulate it at will.
- The Animated Justice League cartoon series features episodes entitled Tabula Rasa and Hearts and Minds, as well as Metamorphosis (which could relate to Charlie's moth tale) and of course Paradise Lost. There are various other titles in the series which seem appropriate and its my guess that they will appear at some point in lost, given their relevance:
- In Blackest Night - The Enemy Below - Savage Time - Only a Dream - A Better World - The Secret Society - Starcrossed - The Return - The Clash