Monday, October 4, 2010

A Ball Of A Different Manner

In a perfect world, one could read and write about Superosity all day long. This is not a perfect world, and never will be save for the brief period between aliens bringing world peace and somebody translating their mysterious book to discover that it's a cookbook.

A great many noteworthy things have occurred during this particular landmark period of Superosity, including the addressing of an issue that we weren't even aware of being an issue: the strange case of Arcadia's parentage. I suppose Dark Boardy is trying to ensure his own creation or something? I dunno. It would be overwhelming to attempt to address everything. Let us instead return to the start and re-engage with a relatively insignificant aspect that, having been left unresolved, is bound to raise its head again one day in the future. The return of Spaceball.

It is no secret that children's, or "family," media is a major part of Superosity. To call the main character Chris a manchild would be understating the case- his development was arrested so unequivocally that it was shunted directly to the head of death row and now lies buried somewhere in unhallowed ground. So when, long ago, a space-borne character modelled off Madballs was introduced, it was not the least bit outlandish. Some comics might have made do with the Madball reference and left it alone. Superosity, having inured us to eclectic references, had to one-up that by making the brief side-plot which ensued, with its surprise twist ending, was perhaps the greatest moment of that expedition in space.

The return of Spaceball is not likely to match the elegance of that fortnight-and-a-half story which marked his introduction. It is big, it is bold, it contains criminality and the most pervasive alien race of the entire comic. Yet it also brings the little narrative that I've been trying to concoct full circle. It contains two of the most fitting family-movie-like vignettes that Superosity has ever produced. And it does it with an eerie humourlessness that makes the moments stick out of the gag-a-day comic like an image in a 3D movie.

Just look at this. Chris can already fly through space in his nanorobotic suit. That's not the point. That's not the joy of the moment. This is Bastian riding upon Falkor. This is David Freeman navigating Trimaxion's craft for the very first time.

Now examine the stark contrast of the following week's Sunday. This is Elliot trying to convince a world of stubborn adults that ET poses no threat. This is Ernie Henderson trying to come to terms with Harry Henderson's danger.

There are no jokes here. Just the throbbing pulse of Superosity's soul briefly rising to the surface before being pulled back into the depths of its raging chaos. Simple references without elaboration, and yet moments too special to be described with an unmixed metaphor. And they are great.