Visions of Hell

My husband never stops surprising me.   There is so much he doesn't tell me and I suppose that is a good thing.  It is nice to have surprises and to still find out new things about someone you've been with for many years.  It is nice to hear new stories and know there will always be mystery.   My husband is a doctor, a medical director, and he has spent much of his life at work.  It is these parts of his life that I don't know and that still hold shadows and stories I have yet to hear.   He told me one of these stories this morning. 

My husband told me about a code he was running on a man who was dying.  The man died.  They lost him.  He slipped away into that realm that people go to after your last breath has passed your lips and your heart beat fades away.  The man died and they brought him back.   On his return, the man started screaming.  He screamed that he had been on fire.  There was fire everywhere.  His yells were like the shrieks of the damned and then he faded from this world again.   My husband and his team kept working and brought the man back to life again.  Again, the man screamed about fire and burning.  Three times the man died and came back screaming about fire.  Finally, he slipped away from this world.

The nurses all believed that the man was going to hell every time he died.  They believed his visions of fire were visions of his own damnation.  They were shaken by what they saw and heard coding that man.   My husband isn't sure what was happening, but he says the event certainly made him think.  He hopes the man wasn't going to hell.  He says that the very idea of that is almost too terrifying, but the mans screams have stayed with him and he wishes he could have saved him.

Beautiful Death

I had a book called Beautiful Death when I was young.  I spent hours flipping though its pages and sketching from the photographs in the book.  It was a photographic journey thought the most amazing cemeteries in the world.  These cemeteries included such famous cemeteries as Pere Lachaise in Paris, La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenes Aires,  High Gate Cemetery in London, and Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.   I've seen Pere Lachaise and today I saw Graceland Cemetery.

Every cemetery is different.  They tell the story of those within.  They speak of culture and history and death in a way that is unique to them.  Each cemetery has stories and ghosts.   Graceland's ghost is the face of death himself.    When you drive into this overwhelming cemetery in Chicago,   you'll pass many enormous monoliths and great mausoleums.   They are so big they dwarf the ancient trees that surround them.   Yet,  these oversized monuments are overshadowed by the unnaturally realistic statue of death himself that stands near the entrance of the cemetery.  He is wrapped in a dark cloak and the cloak falls over his face so only a portion of his features can be seen, but those features are so real you are almost waiting for him to open his eyes.

Death stands on the final resting place of former hotel owner and businessman Dexter Graves. Created by Lorado Taft, the artist christened the design "Eternal Silence" but the brooding and menacing figure has become more commonly known as the "Statue of Death".   Many people say that if you stand and stare at this grim statue you have visions of your own death.  They also say that cameras break and electronic equipment fails in the presence of death.  Of course, as evidenced by the photo above,  this didn't happen to me.  I tried to look at death and see my future doom,  but I saw nothing but the cold statue and that was enough.

Other ghosts are said to wander through this beautiful necropolis.   It is trully a wonderful place and amazingly beautiful.   Among the other ghosts haunting this example of art in death, is a little girl named Inez, who died many years ago.  It makes sense that many ghosts wander this cemetery because if I were a ghost,  I certainly would want to linger in Graceland Cemetery.

Oscar the Therapy Cat

I have blogged before about animals' uncanny ability to sense the supernatural in ways that people can not.  One of my favorite examples of this is Oscar.   Oscar is a therapy cat that  lives at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island.  Oscar has been doing rounds at this nursing home since 2007.  He walks from patient to patient and sniffs them and when he finds a patient that is near death,  Oscar stops and curls up next to that patient.   Oscar has been reliable in his predictions of death since 2007.    He has never been wrong.

So reliable and fascinating are Oscar's predictions that he has been featured in the very prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.  Doctor's compete for years to get a piece of a publication placed in this journal, but Oscar topped them all.  One of the first cases involved a patient who had a blood clot in her leg that was ice cold at the time. Oscar wrapped his body around her leg and stayed until the woman died. In another instance, the doctor had made a determination of impending death based on the patient's condition, while Oscar simply walked away, causing the doctor to believe that Oscar's streak (12 at the time) had ended. However, it would be later discovered that the doctor's prognosis was simply 10 hours too early – Oscar later visited the patient, who died two hours later.

Oscar's stories are so prolific that an entire book has been written about him, he has been featured on CNN, he was featured in an episode of House,  and he has been on CBS.  Doctor's and scientists have struggled to explain Oscar, but to me the answer is easy.   Cat's see things we don't.  They see ghosts and they know when death is coming.

Characters Who Have Killed

I've got an idea for a little study, but I need your help. Yes, just like Meatloaf at the Special Olympics, I am asking for the mighty comics bloggers to lend a hand to this poor boy. Now that I've run that into the ground, here's what I'm talking about.

I need to know about heroes who have killed, but have since sworn not to do so again. The death doesn't have to have occurred during their career as a costumed hero, it can have happened during an earlier part of their life (soldier, cop, mugging victim, etc.,). Cassandra Cain would be an example, even though she ended up killing again. In fact, if you could include whether they've kept that vow up until now, I'd appreciate that.

One thing, it needs to have at least been something referenced by the character at some point. What I mean is, Batman and Superman both used to kill criminals, but now they don't (Mostly? Is that time Supes killed 3 Kryptonians in continuity?). What I'm not clear on is the specifics of that change. Was there a point in their books, where each said "I'm not going to kill anymore", or did the writers just change the character at some point with no real explanation provided as to why the character's beliefs about killing had changed. If it's the former, by all means include them. If it's the latter, you can mention them, but I'm not sure that I'll count them.

The vague impression I've got right now is that in American comics, it's pretty much all-or-nothing. Either you don't kill, and never have (Spider-Man), or you killed before you were a "hero", and you continue to do that (Wolverine). In Japanese comics, I've noticed at least a few characters who for various have killed quite a lot at an earlier time in their life, and have since sworn, either to themselves or someone else, not to do so again (Kenshin and Ryoko come to mind quickly).

I may be over-generalizing here, but in manga, characters seem to become somewhat less bloodthirsty, or at least, killing is truly a last resort, only when they can't stop the person otherwise. In comics characters either remain the same, at least within the same version. There seems to be a difference between original (Earth-2?) Batman, and the current one. Barring that, they become more violent. They kill, and that causes a descent into greater darkness. I'd probably put Green Arrow and Colossus into this category. It just doesn't seem that characters go the route of getting less dark.

So any information you have on characters, cultural differences, your opinions based on what I've thrown out here, let's hear it.

Things I Think About #12

When did Terra come back? Or is it a different person? I remember she was in that "Titans of Tomorrow" story, but I just figured it was a different person. But then there she was again, in Infinite Crisis #4, right alongside Kalinara's favorite Sand, sticking it to Whiny-Brat Superboy, I mean Superboy-Prime. If it is the same Terra that teamed with Deathstroke, why bring her back? To me, she had one of those deaths that made sense.

It just occurred to me this morning, Tim Drake is now officially an orphan. His stepmother was in a mental health facility/clinic in Bludhaven. And we all just watched Bludhaven go *POOF*, in a cloud of green smoke (ew). So, she's dead. Man, they really are trying to turn Tim into Batman. Crap. Well, under no circumstances should Tim live with Bats, not unless Batman gets a massive personality adjustment. Back when he was escaping from giant typewriters, and making goofy comments, he was at least somewhat ok to be a parent-type. If that happened now? Well it would be a miracle if Dick Grayson didn't turn into the Punisher. Hey, I think I just figured out where Miller's going with his All-Star Batman and Robin. Which is fine. Anything that keeps him away from characters and books I care about is ok.

Besides, I don't think Selina would want Tim around the mansion much.

Major question for the day, connected to the Terra question: What character's death - that has been undone - do you feel shouldn't have been undone and why? In other words, why did the death 'work'? Can be a hero, villain, normal person. Could be a nice/heroic death, depressing, traitorous, whatever.

For me, Colossus. Now I like the big Russian. I mean, he's not one of my favorite characters, but I like him alright. But his death seemed appropriate. Here he was, with a chance to end the Legacy Virus forever. An opportunity to destroy the thing that had killed his little sister, the only family he had left I think, and had done the same to who knows how many others. And all he had to do was give his own life. He didn't have to fight, and at heart, I don't think of Colossus as a fighter. Sure, if punches need to be thrown, he'll do it, but he's a farmer and an artist. And this death just required him to inject the vaccine, and activate his power. That's it, and he ensures no one loses their little sister again. And I'll be honest: I think Peter had been on kind of a downward spiral since her death, maybe since before that, since he had to kill Proteus. Sure, he wasn't hanging with Magneto anymore, which he had done after her funeral, but you wonder if someone ever recovers from that entirely. When you've saved the world - several times - it can't be easy, accepting that you can't save people most important to you. So he might have been looking for a way to leave.

There was an issue of Wolverine, #176, where Logan was right on the border of life and death and he runs into a bunch of old enemies. Colossus shows up to give him a hand, and tells Logan to tell the others 'I'm with my little snowflake. I am happy.' It was a little sad, but I thought it made sense. Obviously, Joss Whedon disagreed.

Then again, Whedon never did know when to leave a character dead.

So, who is it for you?