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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 31, 2023 8:05:06 GMT -5
What’s worse, a character who has a healing factor, or one who doesn’t but never gets hit with bullets or stabbed with knives during his fights?
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Post by MDG on Mar 31, 2023 9:25:37 GMT -5
Worse for who, the character or someone trying to take them down?
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 31, 2023 9:59:37 GMT -5
For the plot or story.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,709
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Post by shaxper on Mar 31, 2023 10:28:31 GMT -5
What’s worse, a character who has a healing factor, or one who doesn’t but never gets hit with bullets or stabbed with knives during his fights? I've been reading old Westerns recently, and three rules seem to always be in effect: the hero can never get shot, the hero can never shoot anyone else, and the hero's horse can't get shot either. Accepting those limitations, it's still possible to fully embrace the story if you don't try to deconstruct it too much. I'd also point to Immortal Hulk as a run in which a character's not being able to die or even be seriously injured became a fascinating aspect of the series instead of a liability.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2023 11:39:01 GMT -5
Neither is worse...wish I could be like those characters
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Post by tarkintino on Mar 31, 2023 11:47:19 GMT -5
What’s worse, a character who has a healing factor, or one who doesn’t but never gets hit with bullets or stabbed with knives during his fights? If the character is an A or B-list-er, I'd say the character with a healing factor, because its almost a guarantee he or she will bore the readers with how many times they're subjected to trauma that would kill anyone else, but they always recover, thus pouring water on any potential for drama when you already know the character cannot die.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2023 11:49:22 GMT -5
What’s worse, a character who has a healing factor, or one who doesn’t but never gets hit with bullets or stabbed with knives during his fights? If the character is an A or B-list-er, I'd say the character with a healing factor, because its almost a guarantee he or she will bore the readers with how many times they're subjected to trauma that would kill anyone else, but they always recover, thus pouring water on any potential for drama when you already know the character cannot die.
Wolverine seems to defy this, and remains a top tier character and seller with Marvel.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 31, 2023 11:53:07 GMT -5
It seemed that many of the early Image characters had that healing factor trait. I’m asking if it’s any worse than having Batman never in 80 years get struck by a bullet.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2023 12:23:36 GMT -5
It seemed that many of the early Image characters had that healing factor trait. I’m asking if it’s any worse than having Batman never in 80 years get struck by a bullet. Surely Batman has been shot at least once, my friend?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2023 12:24:51 GMT -5
What’s worse, a character who has a healing factor, or one who doesn’t but never gets hit with bullets or stabbed with knives during his fights? For me, a healing factor works better on a character if there are limits. A character with a healing factor surviving a shooting or knife wound works well, but if he’s routinely surviving nuclear explosions and acid rain, the tension does not exist.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2023 13:05:12 GMT -5
I think Alex Ross nicely touched on the reality of Batman's accumulated "wear" over the years with this image:
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Post by tarkintino on Mar 31, 2023 13:16:55 GMT -5
I think Alex Ross nicely touched on the reality of Batman's accumulated "wear" over the years with this image: As always, leave it to Ross to effectively showcase realistic details like that to superheroes.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2023 13:42:58 GMT -5
Just about every character has plot armor no matter what their actual powers are, and invulnerability can be just as tired and abused as healing factor, as can any other super power if they become formulaic and hackeneyed. As with all things in comics, it's a matter of the skill and choices the writer, artists, and editors display and not the powers themselves that are the issue and determine whether the story is a quality one or a flawed one.
-M
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Post by tarkintino on Mar 31, 2023 18:50:47 GMT -5
What’s worse, a character who has a healing factor, or one who doesn’t but never gets hit with bullets or stabbed with knives during his fights? For me, a healing factor works better on a character if there are limits. A character with a healing factor surviving a shooting or knife wound works well, but if he’s routinely surviving nuclear explosions and acid rain, the tension does not exist. Which is the reason why Spider-Man has played this closer to realism in that he's clearly super-powered, but not immune to severe injury, radiation poisoning, etc:
This has always sold Spider-Man as being more relatable, as he's suffered on numerous occasions, and not from one threat (e.g., Kryptonite for Superman).
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Post by chadwilliam on Mar 31, 2023 18:58:10 GMT -5
I think Alex Ross nicely touched on the reality of Batman's accumulated "wear" over the years with this image: That was something which Alan Brennert came up with for Brave and the Bold #197 though artist Joe Staton left the actual injuries up to the imagination. It's an idea which makes a certain amount of sense in a way which Batman comics shouldn't try to make sense. I mean, how soon after he became Robin did Dick Grayson see these scars and realize that this is just something which he has to expect goes with the territory? "And remember, Dick - I was already a full grown adult when I started accumulating these! Think of how you'll look before your teenage years are through!"
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