Spinnerette

I don't think that's Dr. U's brand of objectivism.

I know, to be honest I find it really irritating.

Dr. U's brand of objectivism just plain doesn't exist in the real world and given the current American government and their ideology having a non-threatening sympathetic anti-villain spout the bullshit version they try to sell to people is tasteless at best and apologetics at worst.

Depends.

One might see the Dr. U's more palatable version of objectivism to be condemning of its more common, American form.

But is it really?

Given that he's pretty much spouting part and parcel exactly what American objectivists use as propaganda, I'd say it's pretty far from any sort of condemnation.

I may be optimistic, but my reading of Dr U in the comic is that you have to be a comic-book-genius type with access to a magic energy source to make that sort of thing seem even vaguely viable. And you still end up looking a bit of a dick and not really getting anywhere. Universe is the sort of tiresome geek who — literally — was converted to objectivism by reading one Ayn Rand novel.

Of course, Evescroft is an equel and opposite dick, as he’s evidently just about to demonstrate somehow.

Anyhow, “Give me liberty or give me death!” is a line that always invites an “Okay” *bang* response from pragmatic villain or antihero types.

edited 20th Nov '17 9:56:34 AM by Spindriver

Honestly, I didn't know much about American Rayndian Objectivism.

It's basically social darwinism mixed in with white supremacy all packaged and sold as being free from oppression or regulation like what Dr. Universe claims to stand for in the current page.

This.

"Free from the government's control, we can be as productive as we want! Except of course that means we can not only benefit from the slave labor previously done, but entrenched social disparities and classism effectively limit people's ability to defend themselves or move upwards! The rich and unscrupulous shall inherit the earth, while the poor (white people) who believe they were just unlucky will be too busy fighting the other poor (who are seen as the problem and the recipients of government handouts) to do anything about it! Meanwhile, we'll despoil the planet without repercussions, because there is no longer any incentive to care about anyone other than ourselves and maybe our children!"

edited 21st Nov '17 6:41:13 PM by wanderlustwarrior

From pizza to objectivism.

To me, Dr. Universe's Objectivism always seemed to boil down to "I do what I want and you can't stop me", plus "Never do anything for free". Which works perfectly well as an ethos for a supervillian; less so for actual people.

Incidentally, now that the strip is coloured, we can see the black tiger.

New strip's up but needs some editing and finalizing.

I knew it would come to something like this. Evescroft, you sack of shit.

Anyone still supporting the bastard?

Was anyone in the first place? “As big a dick as Universe, in the opposite direction” was about the nicest thing that anyone could find to say about him.

Of course, showing him as a casual torturer is a nice big solid Kick the Dog touch, to show that the writer really doesn’t like him (and maybe make Universe’s self-indulgent bafflegab look better than it deserves). Though given the amount of casual torture used by a lot of action heroes these days — well, having him use it on a cute girl in a dirndl may have been a shrewd move.

edited 23rd Nov '17 7:02:58 AM by Spindriver

Reminds me of a worse general ross from Civil War

He has a general broad point but he's such a dick

Really kind bothers me. The dude is objectively correct with a lot of his statements but then he goes and has to do a stupid evil puppy kicking thing for some reason.

Maybe to give Dr. U the vaguest sort of point or something.

The guy who's always trying to kill the Incredible Hulk despite his daughter's protests?

edited 23rd Nov '17 7:22:40 AM by Demetrios

Yes. But the movie version.

The Incredible Hulk (movie) was the last time MCU!Ross was shown as unreasonable - wanting to capture the Hulk as he only saw him as government property. Once he was proven wrong, he fell into alcoholism (post credits in that movie), then (exposition in Civil War) had a heart attack, mellowed out dramatically, and became US Secretary of State by the time of Captain America: Civil War. He honestly became a Reasonable Authority Figure compared to Stark, whose response to situations was generally "blow shit up", and Black Panther, whose response was "kill first, ask questions later", but because everyone else is superheroes, he's the one not shown sympathetically. He also put the defeated heroes in a Supermax prison, but apart from its location and the fact that they had to restrain one of the heroes, it could've been much worse. Cap still busted them out later, though possibly with Black Panther's help.

edited 23rd Nov '17 11:43:48 AM by wanderlustwarrior

This one looks good. :)

Yeah, though it saddens me that we'll never get this to happen in-story, for obvious reasons.

New strip.

Fuck you with a rusty and rot-encrusted mace, Evescroft. I'll be laughing my ass off at you and your apologists when you eventually get your comeuppance.

'Sfunny. Evescroft has a perfectly good mustache; why isn't he twirling it here?

Yeah, Evescroft, I'm pretty sure that qualifies as torture and/or "cruel and unusual punishment". Greta is clearly already restrained; pushing the button hurts her, but has no other practical purpose, and Evescroft is obviously using it solely as a lever on Dr. Universe. Because (as we already knew) he's a giant sack of shit.