...or rather, of comics in general (a la the tail end of the Hodgepodge post):
First son is eight tomorrow, and has of late been on a comic book jag. We bought him a few of the Marvel Age titles, the ones that are aimed at younger readers (i.e. less cleavage, etc.). Things have changed.
We bought a Fantastic Four anthology, one that reworked the first issues from the series. The FF came to be when Reed Richards & Co. ventured into space in the name of exploration - Reed is an intellectual giant - and were exposed to cosmic rays. But in the retelling, there's a wrinkle thrown in - viz the scene where Reed convinces Ben Grimm (who will be tragically transformed into the Thing) to pilot the spacecraft (edited for length):
Reed: I don't need to tell you that the people currently running the White House aren't all that fond of spending billions on space research. We so close to finishing the craft, but... they cut the funding, Ben.
Ben: Whoa, whoa! Hold on there, zippy! Yer askin' me ta sneak into a government facility wit'chu an' steal a rocketship?
Sue (Reed's fiancee): You know how long this has been a dream of Reed's. It's just not fair!
Reed: Think about it, Ben. Think of all we could learn -- think of the good it could do for all mankind!
Ben: Aw, cripes...
Evil? Evil is governments that cut funding and crush Reed's dream, which just isn't fair. Good? Good is scientific advancement. Evil certainly isn't theft, or at least, it's not so evil that the ends fail to justifty the means. Ben, as you can tell from his slang, isn't so bright - that's why he's hung up on the whole stealing thing. But when Reed explains that ends justify means - that the potential good outweighs the actual evil - even Ben comes around.
In a later issue, we get it again. The Black Panther is marveling that Reed will help him, even after the Panther kidnapped the Human Torch as a way of getting the FF to his homeland.
Reed: To protect my own family, I would do whatever I had to. No one here can hold that against you.
Whatever you had to, Reed? That's not the Reed Richards I know. The old Mister Fantastic was a moral giant as well as an intellectual one. Case in point: Galactus is a cosmic giant who eats entire worlds to survive. While the family was back in my childhood manse, we dug up a bunch of my brother's old comics for First Son, including FF 243, which featured a battle royal against Galactus, who once again was gearing up to devour the earth's energy. Joining the FF in the fight to stop Galactus were Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Doctor Strange - the biggies.
First, a preamble to admire the writing (it aint' just the art that's gone simple):
Reed: Galactus, please! I beg you! There are four billion souls upon this earth! In the name of humanity, you cannot do this!
Galactus: Speak not to me of humanity, Reed Richards! You talk of color to one struck blind. My humanity is lost in the swirling mists of time. Yes, once even Galactus was a man, a mere mortal such as you, though memories of that life are but a dim and dying pain within my heart. The past is done and gone, and mourn it though we may, it cannot be retrieved. So do not speak to me of four billion lives. Galactus has seen the end of forty times four billion worlds! Must we know grief for each of these? Had he but tears to cry, Galactus could weep oceans in their memory, and in the end, they would still be dead, and madness would at last have claimed me. So do I turn my thoughts ever from that path, for one foot set upon it, and is a journey begun from which no creature ever could return. Now.. let the final switch be thrown...
Thor (hurling a thunderbolt): I say thee NAY!
Even Galactus, the world-eater, exists in a moral universe. Even he must tremble in the face of what he has done, and keep his foot off the path of remembrance, lest he go mad. What follows is a magnificent battle, one that, incredibly, sees the defeat of Galactus. A key moment in that battle comes when Doctor Strange reaches into the "darkest corners of Galactus' mind to confront him with the ghosts of all those he has slain."
Reed: No wonder he collapsed. His mind must have closed completely to escape madness!
Once the dust settles, our heroes discover that Galactus, starved and unconscious, is "only moments from death."
The Human Torch: Well, I hate to sound hard-hearted, but that will solve everything, won't it?
Reed: No, Johnny, it won't. And if you'll think for a moment, you'll realize our problems have only begun!
Captain America: I know what you're going to say, Reed, and I concur. Galactus may be the greatest menace we've ever faced, but he is also a living being.
The Thing: Stretch, ya don't mean...
Reed: We have no choice, old friend. We have to save Galactus!
Here, the Thing is once again a step slow on the uptake, but when Reed corrects him, it's not to encourage him to break the rules, but to uphold them absolutely. As I said, things have changed. The old Reed Richards is not the sort of man who would do anything to protect his family. In fact, in order to do what he believes is right, he is willing to put his family - and the lives of everyone on earth - in danger. To save Galactus, after all, means renewing the threat he poses to earth.
Now I know this is a comic book. And I know there are arguments to be made, subtleties of moral reasoning to be teased out. But here's my general objection: once you remove the moral universe, once the ends justify the means, what really separates the heroes from the villains? And which Reed Richards would you rather introduce your children to?
