I am from beyond!
In our bookshelf, there are two photos of the time that I first came to Canada and visited Niagara Falls
with my future wife and her parents. I have to say that this well-known
natural landmark was a bit disappointing, since even though the falls
are big, they were not even close as big as I had imagined and expected
them to be. Later back in Finland, when I talked to a few other people
who had also gone to see these falls at some point, many of them
confirmed having the same experience. So perhaps this summer we should
go see Grand Canyon during our trip to Vegas, since I have read in many
sources that it behaves the exact opposite way in this sense, being way
more magnificient than you could ever imagine from just seeing the
Canyon in pictures.
This morning I also read Wikipedia to learn about the highest mountains and the issues surrounding them. Just like the Grand Canyon, these mountains don't really look that great in small and flat pictures, but I can imagine how immense and majestic they would be if I saw them with my own eyes in front of me. For example, I looked out of the window and tried to mentally visualize something like the Mount Everest placed into that scene in actual size, with its base pretty much covering this whole city and its height of about 16 CN Towers piled on top of each other reaching to the high heavens. That sure would be one truly gigantic piece of rock to admire.
From that thought, my mind freely associated to "Secret Wars", a twelve-issue comic book crossover series by Marvel that I read when I was a kid. The premise of this series is that a godlike creature called Beyonder snatches a bunch of well-known Marvel universe heroes and villains are to an artificial patchwork planet that he creates by casually erasing a whole galaxy, and tells them to fight each other. At one point of the story, the heroes are escaping after a defeat in battle and the villains want to go after them to finish, but one of the villains, Molecule Man, stops them since he has a better idea. To impress his new girlfriend, a supervillain called Volcana, Molecule Man lifts a distant mountain range to the air with nothing but the power of his mind and drops it on top of the heroes. Now that should do it! (Of course it doesn't, due to the fact that many of the heroes are comic book scientists.)
I kind of have to wonder why none of the other Marvel comics that I ever read featured this... interesting character, who is basically the ultimate in nerd omnipotence wish fulfillment. The super power of Molecule Man is simply total control of all molecules with his mind. For example, when he wants to go somewhere, he can create a flying wagon out of thin air. Near the end of the series, Molecule Man takes a piece of the artificial planet and turns it into a spaceship for the defeated gang of villains to return home, doing little stuff like creating new stars and manipulating the structure of time and energy along the way. Since this character is for all practical purposes basically God, I can't help but wonder his total nonexistence in Marvel comics since then. According to the Wikipedia page, this character "became a dangerous criminal" after getting his powers in a particle generator accident, a career choice the more incomprehensible the more I try to think about it. The magic word why has never been more fitting than it is here. If you can manipulate molecules to create anything you want at a whim, why would you ever need to steal anything? Even The Chairman does not reach this height of stupidity.
The Secret Wars miniseries also featured Galactus, who in his borglike simplicity must be one of most ingenious Marvel characters ever conceived. One time, years ago, I realized that Galactus is inherently such a comical character that pretty much whatever you say about him, it is automatically funny. I wonder what would happen in a fight between Galactus and Molecule Man. Or between Molecule Man and Superman, another superhero with Godlike powers. I vividly remember one Superman story in which a swarm of super-heavy kryptonite meteors were in a collision course with the Moon, threatening to destroy it. What can Superman possibly do to prevent this, since he is unable to deflect the meteors since they are too heavy even for him? Simple: just push against the Moon and this way stop it from moving, to prevent the collision from taking place! I can't remember exactly what the Superman's thought caption said in this panel, but I recall it being very nonchalant and casual in explaining the reader this simple solution to the problem. Lateral thinking is a truly powerful way of solving problems.
This morning I also read Wikipedia to learn about the highest mountains and the issues surrounding them. Just like the Grand Canyon, these mountains don't really look that great in small and flat pictures, but I can imagine how immense and majestic they would be if I saw them with my own eyes in front of me. For example, I looked out of the window and tried to mentally visualize something like the Mount Everest placed into that scene in actual size, with its base pretty much covering this whole city and its height of about 16 CN Towers piled on top of each other reaching to the high heavens. That sure would be one truly gigantic piece of rock to admire.
From that thought, my mind freely associated to "Secret Wars", a twelve-issue comic book crossover series by Marvel that I read when I was a kid. The premise of this series is that a godlike creature called Beyonder snatches a bunch of well-known Marvel universe heroes and villains are to an artificial patchwork planet that he creates by casually erasing a whole galaxy, and tells them to fight each other. At one point of the story, the heroes are escaping after a defeat in battle and the villains want to go after them to finish, but one of the villains, Molecule Man, stops them since he has a better idea. To impress his new girlfriend, a supervillain called Volcana, Molecule Man lifts a distant mountain range to the air with nothing but the power of his mind and drops it on top of the heroes. Now that should do it! (Of course it doesn't, due to the fact that many of the heroes are comic book scientists.)
I kind of have to wonder why none of the other Marvel comics that I ever read featured this... interesting character, who is basically the ultimate in nerd omnipotence wish fulfillment. The super power of Molecule Man is simply total control of all molecules with his mind. For example, when he wants to go somewhere, he can create a flying wagon out of thin air. Near the end of the series, Molecule Man takes a piece of the artificial planet and turns it into a spaceship for the defeated gang of villains to return home, doing little stuff like creating new stars and manipulating the structure of time and energy along the way. Since this character is for all practical purposes basically God, I can't help but wonder his total nonexistence in Marvel comics since then. According to the Wikipedia page, this character "became a dangerous criminal" after getting his powers in a particle generator accident, a career choice the more incomprehensible the more I try to think about it. The magic word why has never been more fitting than it is here. If you can manipulate molecules to create anything you want at a whim, why would you ever need to steal anything? Even The Chairman does not reach this height of stupidity.
The Secret Wars miniseries also featured Galactus, who in his borglike simplicity must be one of most ingenious Marvel characters ever conceived. One time, years ago, I realized that Galactus is inherently such a comical character that pretty much whatever you say about him, it is automatically funny. I wonder what would happen in a fight between Galactus and Molecule Man. Or between Molecule Man and Superman, another superhero with Godlike powers. I vividly remember one Superman story in which a swarm of super-heavy kryptonite meteors were in a collision course with the Moon, threatening to destroy it. What can Superman possibly do to prevent this, since he is unable to deflect the meteors since they are too heavy even for him? Simple: just push against the Moon and this way stop it from moving, to prevent the collision from taking place! I can't remember exactly what the Superman's thought caption said in this panel, but I recall it being very nonchalant and casual in explaining the reader this simple solution to the problem. Lateral thinking is a truly powerful way of solving problems.
Keep in mind that while the heights of mountains are given measured from sea level, what you see when you look at a mountain is its height above the surrounding terrain - which is usually far above sea level.
Posted by Anonymous | 11:16 PM
From the vantage point of the Maid of the Mist, the boats that take tourists to the base of the falls, the Niagara Falls are pretty darn sublime. At least that's been my reaction on both occasions, and I'm usually blase about these things.
Intellectual Pariah
Posted by Anonymous | 9:39 AM
If you like Galactus, you should buy the new "Last Planet Standing" Miniseries. In it, the MC2 version of Galactus has consumed the Shi'ar homeworld and now Asgard, and is threatening the entire MC2 universe.
(MC2 is the Marvel universe in which the Spider-Girl comic takes place.)
Posted by Glaivester | 11:37 AM