Due to May being the Mother's Month in the whole world, with some variables in the celebration day, i guess this would be a good chance to take a look at my favorite female character and what's coming up for her in August. Valiant Comics recently announced the introduction a new short mini-series for one of its most unique and newest characters at the moment, War Mother, created and written by no other than Fred Van Lente, which personally is one of my favorite writers currently.
The character was firstly introduced in a one shot issue during 4001 AD series 4001 AD: War Mother #1 in a time period within Valiant's continuity which seems to be a futuristic land with an orbiting Japan. One of the few personal background information we get is her name, Ana. Her introduction revolves around the fact she's looking for inorganic technology pieces in a future were her tribe grows all their food and resources from organic materials, including 95% of their technology.
We initially get to see some justification towards the motherhood behind her name and as the plot evolves, she encounters bad guys, knows what most likely is going to be her side-kick in future issues and we can explore a little more about her inner demons and personal goals. This particular part is what makes War Mother, one of the best female characters i've ever read about.
Two Sides of the same Coin
The fundamental part of her character is the controversy that her name eloquently implies: A Mother for War. In this issue you can appreciate how the character develops as she enters deeper into the wilderness, letting us know she's a very grim person with actual loose morals, but also the whole instinctively caring side of a mother in nature we firstly can perceive.
Evidently enough, her graphic representation and design, even though obviously influenced by Mad Max character Furiosa, was done in a way the writer wanted to make this particular opposition in perceptions as blatant as possible, but most importantly, it is how she interacts with other people besides her family that makes us see she's more than meets the eye. Likewise, her side-kick, a rather advanced organic assault rifle with artificial intelligence and cognitive abilities, happens to develop quite decently along with Ana while sealing the issue with strong hints of a powerful friendship and alliance between these characters, which apparently will be expanded in this new mini-series.
However, one of the things people complained the most about was the lack of distinctive villains or bad guys for such an impacting character. Fred Van Lente confirmed in recent interviews, several villains, memorable ones nonetheless, will be introduced to the character's lore while stating each of them will act as a detonator for more facets about Ana and her surrounding world.
Key Aspect of War Mother
Fred confirmed to SyfyWireAna is one of the Valiant 2.0 characters that are going to be introduced and she plays a primordial role just as important. This means there's a lot of evolution left for her character, her world and possible the connection between other 41st Century Valiant characters like Rai, which is nothing but looked forward to by fans of both characters.
Anyways, i thought in sharing what i appreciated about this brand new character and why it impacted me so much. It's definitely refreshing, even more so when i can nod on her development as a strong leading female character but still with the soft side we always like to see, needless to say, sexy, powerful and badass.
I've found myself repeating the same argument over and over the past few weeks when addressing the S.P.I.N Tech tactic that was going to be used on Hulk during the Marvel Event of World War Hulk. In general, the vine population agrees that if the S.P.I.N Tech was not stolen, they would have been effective on taking down Hulk, implying such instance was PIS driven and that Hulk was NOT supposed to go further that point. If you want to know the reasons why the S.P.I.N Tech would have failed anyways, this blog is for you.
The Super Power Inhibiting Nanobots Technology, commonly referred as S.P.I.N Tech was a project developed by Tony Stark whose purpose was aiming to suppress the super powered individuals attributes and disable technology based people.
What has the "S.P.I.N Tech" to do with Hulk?
During the World War Hulk event, Iron Man decided to stop Hulk once and for all by using a special Hulkbuster armor loaded with an Adamantium tipped needle to inject Hulk with the S.P.I.N Tech. The reason why this tactic was taken into account in the first place is because it proved to be effective on radiation powered individuals, ergo, on gamma powered individuals as well. This was stated and showcased in Planet without a Hulk: She-Hulk #18...
In this issue, Iron Man fights She-Hulk ultimately injecting the S.P.I.N Tech on her. This is forwardly revealed to have "permanent" effects on the victims as well as being perfected on Hulk-Level threats like Iron Clad, Vector, Blonsky and newly added to the list, She-Hulk. At first glance, the tactic does seems like an effective way to deal with Hulk which is a very logical and supported assertion if im allowed to say it myself.
Sadly for Iron Man fans and Hulk haters, such tactic was unable to take place in World War Hulk due to the magazine that precisely was going to be used on Hulk being stolen previously by Hardball in World War Hulk: Avengers Initiative #4...
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With this shown, now we can directly connect the feelings of those Hulk haters and Iron Man fans with the Marvel event in question... Hulk seemingly had "Plot Induced Stupidity"'s help to avoid being beaten by Iron Man in their future fight. Even though such feelings have somehow a base to support its case, it has nothing to do with Hulk's capabilities to overpower and be potentially immune to the effects of such tactic.
The reason as to why putting their hopes on those nanobots would have proven highly unpractical is very simple. Hulk has an incredible degree of adaptability, an attribute that everybody which those nanobots were used on conveniently lacked throughout their usage. This "immunity" is strengthen by the fact the S.P.I.N Tech has a hilarious, let alone simple way to be countered... Sugar. This is graciously explained by Amadeus Cho in Incredible Hulk #106 which is the issue that canonically follows Planet without a Hulk: She-Hulk #18...
In this issue, Jen Walters (She-Hulk) after being stripped off her powers by Iron Man, walks out the tower and is later met by Amadeus Cho who gives her a Grape Soda. Throughout the issue Jen was unaware of the real purpose of the grape soda and ultimately is notified that its purpose was to restore her powers, albeit temporarily, but to restore her powers nonetheless. This process is forwardly explained by Cho, mentioning the grape soda's glucose gums up the nanobots, ergo, stopping their process and combined with replicating code it extends the effects of the glucose on the nanobots, this means the more replicating code, the longer the obstruction, ultimately achieving permanency.
In simple words, what is needed to stop the nanobots from working is nothing more than sugar... Literally. The fact that something so simple as generating glucose, even for normal humans, proves to be a quite effective way to stop the nanites. It only discards completely the tactic's application on Hulk, of course, given Hulk's adaptive attributes previously mentioned.
These attributes have proven consistent throughout Hulk's publication history, going from classic days while adapting in space, pressure and the lack of air, as well as modern days in the depths of the sea. Even in the same World War Hulk story arc he managed to showcase his adaptive prowess in a very efficient way. Let's approach the tangible proof shall we?
Let's start with the same story arc... World War Hulk: Incredible Hulk #110...
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In this occasion, Hulk took an attack from Scorpion, also known as Carmilla Black, this attack was meant to kill him with an incredibly strong toxin. As seen in the scans, the toxin was being effective on him and he totally fought it with regeneration, ultimately overcoming the full effect on him with his adaptation. The feat is even more impressive when the toxin's power and purpose is showcased, as it deliberately was in World War Hulk: Heroes for Hire #13 in order to make serious emphasis on Hulk overpowering it...
So the scan describes the toxin called Thallium, a developed toxin that mutates with the victim, becoming stronger as the victim fights it, let alone specially attuned to gamma mutated individuals. As the scan shows, the purpose of the toxin was to >kill< Hulk as well as giving a pretty self explanatory image of what Hulk was supposedly to become when he encountered the toxin.
To strengthen the validity of Scorpion's knowledge and skill with toxins, it is fairly convenient to cite Scorpion's success on subduing The Hulk by using her toxins in the past, mentioned in the same issue while referring to Incredible Hulk #87...
In simple words, Scorpion is NO pushover when it comes to toxins, let alone the already mentioned Thallium. So, we have a quite decent example of what Hulk is able to adapt but for the sake of consistency as well as showing the degree of complexity such adaptability is able to display, let's cite Incredible Hulk #77...
Hulk developed new organs while being underwater. He created out of thin air by adaptability, glands that gave him regulations for the pressure, air for his lungs and seemingly the ability to even speak underwater. Without approaching scientific semantics, let the scan itself explain what Hulk did with his adaptation.
Concluding...
The counter for such tactic is so easy to accomplish the tactic itself becomes, and pardon my unsoftened directness, as irrelevant as a punch of a 5 year old kid on Hulk's face. The tactic turns so petty and easily overpowered it will prove absolutely no threat to Hulk whatsoever. Not only the very guinea pigs of such tactic lacked precisely what makes Hulk so hard to take down with approaches of that indole, but the fact even Tony Stark himself wasn't sure it was going to keep him down, as stated in World War Hulk #1 by Tony himself...
In simple words, making the assertion the S.P.I.N Tech would have been effective on Hulk and that Hulk would have been stopped in that specific moment, has NO solid ground to stand on.
Finally, assuming this blog will convince the 100% of the vine population is something i would consider idealistic and would be putting too much faith on something that is bordering in impossibility, however, if the majority of the population agrees or flat out decides to make this point a moot one, then my job here is done.
Best of luck to the readers, and hope you enjoy the analysis.
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