Honestly I find this very frustrating. T. is an amazing writer and I’ve been reading fans for years so I know that this has got to have a point where it will turn awesome, but so far Zach has shown an absolute void of humility and almost no flaws whatsoever leading him to be an utterly unlikable protagonist (particularly since his growth as a character has been into being a dill hole).
I really don’t want to be one of those people that just complains with every update and offers nothing constructive, but its very hard when week in and week out the protagonist of the story heaps condescension on those around him.
@T Campbell: please tell me this is going to get better.
Gaddez, I don’t know what to tell you that wouldn’t qualify as a spoiler at this point. I guess all I can say is that throughout the story, I’ve done my best to make it clear that Zach’s superintelligence isn’t the same as omniscience.
@Gaddez: Keep in mind, a protagonist doesn’t have to be likeable. Usually main characters are at least somewhat likeable, but there’s plenty of precedent for unsympathetic ones too. (Consider, for example, the title character of Mike Carey’s Lucifer from DC Vertigo.) So when I, for my own part, say that I find Zach annoying, I don’t see that as necessarily a flaw in the storytelling. Frankly, I can see how a person who had a supernormal ability to perceive the truth of things could very quickly become insufferable. But every super-powered character in fiction (that isn’t a Gary Stu/Mary Sue, and I don’t think Zach qualifies) has some sort of vulnerability, and I suspect we’re to learn what Zach’s is.
In fact, we’ve already seen he’s unable to lie (like that Jim Carrey character), and it’s not hard to see how that could come back to bite him in the ass, and in a worse way than failing a reality show audition.
So in other words…I assume T knows what he’s doing here. He usually does. 😀
Hey, I’ve spent the entire run of this preview assuming ZZ would become a supervillian.
If we’re actually meant to grow to like or respect him, than I agree with Gaddez: something needs to be tweaked earlier in this story so the audience doesn’t spend the first 50+ pages thinking “what an asshole, I can’t wait to see him get taken down a peg or two” or more likely “this guy sucks and I don’t want to read about him anymore”.
It feels more true to life that someone with those particular powers might act the part of antihero more easily than that of the hero. To be given that power to manipulate people and see right through all their deceptions/play-acting without getting a little morally distanced would require being something of a saint. And antiheroes generally tend to follow a more natural story arc towards either villain or victim than towards hero. Or to stay an antihero from start to finish, and leave us all feeling queasy, but still have a damn good story anyway. It’s going to be interesting to see which way this turns out, but I for one refuse to call it.
This line of commentary’s interesting to me, because the story, despite a number of twists and turns, is quite deliberately following in the footsteps of the first story in Amazing Fantasy #15 (the references to that story are all over this one). And if you read that story with that in mind– AF #15 really does seem to be showing the birth of a supervillain right up until the end.
Even after Uncle Ben’s death, Peter seems to be motivated only by revenge. He only uses the costume to protect his identity and because he’s got it lying around. If some random thug had killed Ben, and Peter had beaten said thug up and left him for the cops, it might’ve ultimately just been one more step on the road to Peter’s descent into egomania. “The THRILL I felt– the POWER– maybe Uncle Ben HAD to die, to make me realize what I was MEANT to be! NOTHING can stop the Spider-Man!” But instead, the O. Henry twist of the killer’s identity reawakens his conscience with a vicious slap. He stops being an angry young man with the power to act out and starts a relationship with his conscience that will lead him to a lot of self-torture but also to a life of public service.
Zach has read and absorbed that origin story with every pore of his being, and, whatever his other flaws, always feels that his power makes him responsible to society. That’s why he asked the others to help him fix the world, and why he’s advising them now. Of course, his notion of what “responsibility” is may not be yours or mine, at this point.
You know, it’s kind of funny. I’ve been bashing on Zach for a while now, and now all these commenters are having a go at him. But this page seems to give me a somewhat likeable side of him, maybe the most likeable I’ve seen from him yet. He may be a conceited jackhole, but he’s a patriotic conceited jackhole. And I can definitely see the comparisons with Peter Parker’s low point, right before he learns the responsibility adage.
Okay, Zach’s really starting to annoy me. But there’s still time for him to be taken down a peg and teach him some humility.
I’ll be real curious to see how this is going to be wrapped up in 11 episodes.
@Alice
Honestly I find this very frustrating. T. is an amazing writer and I’ve been reading fans for years so I know that this has got to have a point where it will turn awesome, but so far Zach has shown an absolute void of humility and almost no flaws whatsoever leading him to be an utterly unlikable protagonist (particularly since his growth as a character has been into being a dill hole).
I really don’t want to be one of those people that just complains with every update and offers nothing constructive, but its very hard when week in and week out the protagonist of the story heaps condescension on those around him.
@T Campbell: please tell me this is going to get better.
Gaddez, I don’t know what to tell you that wouldn’t qualify as a spoiler at this point. I guess all I can say is that throughout the story, I’ve done my best to make it clear that Zach’s superintelligence isn’t the same as omniscience.
@Gaddez: Keep in mind, a protagonist doesn’t have to be likeable. Usually main characters are at least somewhat likeable, but there’s plenty of precedent for unsympathetic ones too. (Consider, for example, the title character of Mike Carey’s Lucifer from DC Vertigo.) So when I, for my own part, say that I find Zach annoying, I don’t see that as necessarily a flaw in the storytelling. Frankly, I can see how a person who had a supernormal ability to perceive the truth of things could very quickly become insufferable. But every super-powered character in fiction (that isn’t a Gary Stu/Mary Sue, and I don’t think Zach qualifies) has some sort of vulnerability, and I suspect we’re to learn what Zach’s is.
In fact, we’ve already seen he’s unable to lie (like that Jim Carrey character), and it’s not hard to see how that could come back to bite him in the ass, and in a worse way than failing a reality show audition.
So in other words…I assume T knows what he’s doing here. He usually does. 😀
Hey, I’ve spent the entire run of this preview assuming ZZ would become a supervillian.
If we’re actually meant to grow to like or respect him, than I agree with Gaddez: something needs to be tweaked earlier in this story so the audience doesn’t spend the first 50+ pages thinking “what an asshole, I can’t wait to see him get taken down a peg or two” or more likely “this guy sucks and I don’t want to read about him anymore”.
Why? in A clock work orange we spend the first 3/4 of the movie hating the hell out of the main character, only to pity him for the last bit.
ALL HAIL PRESIDENT FIRE SPRINKLER
though I’m not too sure about his trickle-down policies…
@Arky,
It feels more true to life that someone with those particular powers might act the part of antihero more easily than that of the hero. To be given that power to manipulate people and see right through all their deceptions/play-acting without getting a little morally distanced would require being something of a saint. And antiheroes generally tend to follow a more natural story arc towards either villain or victim than towards hero. Or to stay an antihero from start to finish, and leave us all feeling queasy, but still have a damn good story anyway. It’s going to be interesting to see which way this turns out, but I for one refuse to call it.
This line of commentary’s interesting to me, because the story, despite a number of twists and turns, is quite deliberately following in the footsteps of the first story in Amazing Fantasy #15 (the references to that story are all over this one). And if you read that story with that in mind– AF #15 really does seem to be showing the birth of a supervillain right up until the end.
Even after Uncle Ben’s death, Peter seems to be motivated only by revenge. He only uses the costume to protect his identity and because he’s got it lying around. If some random thug had killed Ben, and Peter had beaten said thug up and left him for the cops, it might’ve ultimately just been one more step on the road to Peter’s descent into egomania. “The THRILL I felt– the POWER– maybe Uncle Ben HAD to die, to make me realize what I was MEANT to be! NOTHING can stop the Spider-Man!” But instead, the O. Henry twist of the killer’s identity reawakens his conscience with a vicious slap. He stops being an angry young man with the power to act out and starts a relationship with his conscience that will lead him to a lot of self-torture but also to a life of public service.
Zach has read and absorbed that origin story with every pore of his being, and, whatever his other flaws, always feels that his power makes him responsible to society. That’s why he asked the others to help him fix the world, and why he’s advising them now. Of course, his notion of what “responsibility” is may not be yours or mine, at this point.
… and, of course, there is that. (Or, in other words: “I’ve been blind”).
You know, it’s kind of funny. I’ve been bashing on Zach for a while now, and now all these commenters are having a go at him. But this page seems to give me a somewhat likeable side of him, maybe the most likeable I’ve seen from him yet. He may be a conceited jackhole, but he’s a patriotic conceited jackhole. And I can definitely see the comparisons with Peter Parker’s low point, right before he learns the responsibility adage.