Criminal Justice League

Magneto Was Wrong – Addendum

2010-06-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

As an added treat, here is a transcription of Magneto's broadcast.

"Do not be afraid. Evolution is merely taking place. Just as man replaced ape, so now must you give way to your evolutionary masters. As you can see, I am still alive. As you can see, nothing has changed except the urgency of the mutant agenda. We are not murderers, we are not terrorists, and our attacks upon human decadence are far from evil. The Brotherhood of Mutants is simply here to take our place at the top of nature's food chain. I will keep this message brief because I dislike speaking to you. It feels ridiculous, like conversing with a toad or a common earthworm. Thus, my statement shall be clear and straightforward - you have six calendar months to surrender your world to Homo Sapien Superior. During this time, we will prepare your new society, and decide which of your races should be kept as slaves, which should be fuel, and which should be saved for our larder. Magneto has spoken"

Magneto Was Wrong – The Ultimate Terrorist

2010-06-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Magneto is one of the classic all time comic book villains. Powerful, driven, an antithesis of the heroes he opposes. A long standing force in the Marvel Universe, he was even voted as the number 1 comic book supervillain of all time by IGN. Often written with more depth than one would require for a guy in purple and magenta tights, Magneto is noteworthy for more than being one of the few Marvel characters to rock a full length cape.

A fan favorite for his extremist outlooks that he fully believes in, Magneto is considered a somewhat sympathetic villain. He was a victim of racial violence as a young man – specifically as a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. As a mutant, he has witnessed further racist – or perhaps speciest – violence against “his” people. Determined that the future of Mutankind is not only sepearate from, but often instead of homo sapiens, Magneto leads a crusade for the betterment of his species. However, at the end of the day, as noble as Magneto may believe himself to be, he is little more than a terrorist, a superhuman mass murderer with a Jack Kirby costume.

Magneto in the primary marvel Universe

Before delving into the true subject matter of this article further, I should provide a little bit of background on the twin subject matter to be discussed, namely political terrorism as well as the fact that there are a multitude of Magneto's which we can discuss.

While criminal justice is readily associated with more mundane topics such as street crime, criminal courts, corrections and their superpowered counterparts, the discussion of political terrorism as a criminal act does fall, at least in part, under the auspice of criminology. Terrorism is an interdisciplinary field, combining aspects of “criminology, criminal justice, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology” (Ross 2006, 6). Since here at the CJL we primarily focus on criminal justice and criminology, that is enough to get our sausage fingers into the pie that is political terrorism.

Switching tracks now back to the Master of Magnetism. Magneto's most common real name (or 'human' name), is Erik Lehnsherr. Being such a popular and iconic villain, Magneto has been reimagined and retooled into various alternate versions. Perhaps the version most immediately identifiable to the popular culture would be the film version portrayed by Sir Ian McKellan. Now dubbed Eric, this version of Magneto would be the principle villain of the first and third X-Men films, while also being a major character in X-Men 2: X-Men United. In the funnybooks from where the films drew their inspiration, Magneto has still had several primary incarnations. The three most notable would be the 'standard' Marvel version of Magneto, the Age of Apocalypse Magneto, and the more recent Ultimate Magneto. Of the three versions, the standard Magneto has had the most changes in characterization, ranging from standard megalomaniacal villain to gritty antihero to harmless old man. In the Age of Apocalypse storyline, Magneto is presented primarily as a hero, and as such will not be much discussed as a terrorist. For the purposes of this article, we will be discussing the modern 'reboot' of Magneto from Marvel's Ultimate line.

Magneto during the Age of Apocalypse

Launched in 2001 as part of their new continuity for new, modern readers, Ultimate X-Men revamped the classic X-Men nemesis Magneto. From the beginning this Magneto was far more intense, more dangerous, and much less morally ambiguous than the Magneto from either the current mainstream comics or the recently released X-Men film. It is this Magneto that today I will describe as a terrorist with a political agenda.

Labeling someone a terrorist has an unusual difficulty that one might not recognize – terrorism is in and of itself immensely difficult to define. It is fortunate to us, then, that many previous scholars and academics have gone through the arduous process of analyzing terrorism and attempting to grant a workable definition. Here at the CJL, we will be working from the Alex P Schmid definition of terrorism which he first presented in 1983.

Terrorism is a method of combat in which random or symbolic victims serve as instrumental target of violence. These instrumental victims share group or class characteristics which form the basis for their selection for victimization. Through previous use of violence or the credible threat of violence other members of that group or class are put in a state of chronic fear (terror). This group or class, whose members’ sense of security is purposively undermined, is the target of terror. The victimization of the target of violence is considered extranormal by most observers from witnessing audience on the basis of its atrocity; the time (e.g. peacetime) or place (not a battlefield) of victimization or the disregard for rules of combat accepted in conventional warfare.The norm violation creates an attentive audience beyond the target of terror; sectors of thisaudience might in turn form the main object of manipulation. The purpose of this indirect method of combat is either to immobilize the target of terror in order to produce disorientation and/or compliance, or to mobilize secondary targets of demands (e.g. a government) or targets of attention (e.g. public opinion) to changes of attitude or behavior favoring the short or long-term interests of the users of this method of combat. (Schmid 1983, 96-99)

Ultimate Magneto, Ultimate Terrorist

Ok, take a minute to read that once or twice more, there is a lot of information condensed in that definition. Schmid himself even went on to admit that. In order to facilitate easier understanding of the definition, all you truly need to grasp is that there are five primary elements of a terrorist act.

“Random or Symbolic Targets” - the direct victims of the violent act are either chosen at random, such as random civilians, or is something symbolic, such as a location or structure which represents something to the targets and/or the attackers.
“Previous use of violence or the credible threat of violence... state of chronic fear.” the violent act is designed to scare people. To have them worried, nervous, paranoid, and generally disrupted and kept on edge.
“Considered extranormal by most observers” - the level or intensity of the violence is of such an extreme degree that it would be considered by most individuals and organizations to be far beyond what could possibly be deemed necessary or even acceptable
“Targets of attention” - whatever group the terrorist actors hoped to persuade or influence via their actions
“Targets of demands” - whatever group the terrorist actors wish to extract political concesions from.

Now that we have a definition of what terrorism is, let's take a look at a terrorist and their actions. The comic book example we shall be working with in this article is the miniseries “Ultimate War” written by Mark Millar and penciled by Chris Bachallo. Running from December of 2002 through February of 2003, this was a crossover story bridging the Ultimates (an Ultimate revamp of the Avengers) and the Ultimaxe X-Men, both of which were presently being written by Mark Millar.

The miniseries actually begins with a terrorist attack on New York City. Within the span of five pages, the Brooklyn bridge is bombed, and nearly 800 people are killed. The bombing was perpetrated by Brotherhood of Mutants members Toad, Juggernaut, Rogue, Hard-Drive, Vanisher, and Unus at the behest of Magneto, who commandeered public airwaves to claim credit for the attack.

Magneto as portrayed by the actor Sir Ian McKellan

Now, using Schmid's definition, let's take a look at what precisely made this incident a terrorist attack. The first criteria is random or symbolic targets. The pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge were all chosen at random. Yes, the site was deliberately chosen for the attack – perhaps due to the symbolic nature of it as a famous landmark, but the individuals chosen for attack were random. Now for previous use of violence, Magneto had, in a prior storyline, hijacked a fleet of killer robots, sent them after Washington, DC and humiliated the president on live television, so his potential was well known. While Magneto's initial broadcast makes no overt threats of further violence, he does pledge a 6-month deadline for his 'demands' to be met. Can the violence of Magneto's actions be considered extranormal to most observers? One would assume this to be the case, as a bridge full of civilians was bombed, and, as Magneto prove moments later, he needed no violence with which to broadcast his message to the world. Finally, in this case, the targets of attention and the targets of demand are in some ways interlinked. Magneto wanted to capture the attention of the world's homo sapiens population, which he did. And while his demands that they prepare themselves for the rule of homo superior was technically addressed to the general public, it would fall to the governments of the world to either comply or reject what he demanded.

It should be further noted that the majority of the plotline of this miniseries involves a throwdown between the Ultimates and the X-Men over the X-Men's founder Charles Xavier having lied to the United States government about the prior demise of Magneto. At the end of the story, Xavier is captured, the X-Men are fugitives, and Magneto is still at large, although at least one of his Brotherhood cells had been apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D and The Ultimates.

(Criminal) Justice, Like Lightning!

2010-06-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

I'll admit I was a little late on the Thunderbolt's bandwagon – specifically until the 2005 relaunch as the “New Thunderbolts”. Actually I believe I read the Avengers/Thunderbolts “Best Intentions” miniseries, and a few of their 90s appearances (such as in Star Trek/X-Men 2). But even though I was a bit late to the party, I have seen the team evolve significantly, and honestly, at points it has scarcely resembled the original concept in any real way. However, with dawning of the Heroic Age over at Marvel, the Thunderbolts (starting in issue 144) are going in a direction that is particularly interesting to analyze criminologically.

First, some background on the Thunderbolts – who they were, why they existed, etc. In the wake of the 1996 crossover event Onslaught, in which most of the world's non-mutant heroes (primarily The Avengers and the Fantastic Four) were seemingly killed, there was a vacuum in the superhero community which could be filled with a new team. And so it seemed that a new group of heroes stepped in to fill the gap, calling themselves The Thunderbolts. Citizen V, MACH-1, Atlas, Songbird, Techno, and Meteorite started showing up and saving the day. It was soon revealed to the readers, however, that this team was actually a portion of the Masters of Evil with new costumes and identities. The Thunderbolts were actually Baron Zemo, Beetle, Goliath, Screaming Mimi, Fixer, and Moonstone. By posing as heroes, they could gain the trust of the public and use this to their villainous advantage.

Original Lineup: Citizen V, Meteorite, Techno, Atlas, Songbird, Mach-1

When the missing heroes returned, however, the plan was revealed. Unfortunately for Zemo, however, several of his Thunderbolts (notably Mach-1 and Songbird) had begun to truly reform, and wanted to try and become real heroes. Under the tutelage of Avenger mainstay Hawkeye, the team continued and tried to be genuine superheroes.

New Thunderbolts: Songbird, Atlas, Radioactive Man, Blizzard, Joystick, Speed Demon

As the years went buy, the team basically continued along this theme, with varying degrees of lineup changes here and there. The next significant shakeup, however, would come after Marvel's Civil War event, when the Thunderbolt's became a government sponsored team under the 50 State's Initiative, specifically as the Official Superteam of Colorado. Now under the management of Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin), the team became a bit darker and more brutal. Longtime members Songbird and Moonstone joined hardened, seemingly irredeemable criminals such as Venom (Mac Gargan) and Bullseye. This team was quite popular amongst readers, and lasted through the end of crossover storyline Secret Invasion.

Post-Civil War T-Bolts: Swordsman, Songbird, Bullseye, Norman Osborn, Penance

After the events of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn was placed in charge of National Security and recruited his most loyal Thunderbolts to become his own team of Dark Avengers. The Thunderbolts are reformed into a black operations and assassination team for Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. agency as opposed to an Initiative team. A new team of characters never before on the Thunderbolts was assembled: Ghost, Headsman, Paladin, Black Widow (Belova), Ant-Man (O'Grady), Mister X, and Scourge (aka Nuke). Towards the end of the team's existence the supervillain Grizzly is also added to the roster.

Dark Reign Era: Ant-Man, Paladin, Mister X, Scourge, Black Widow, Headsman, Ghost

Even shorter lived than the previous team, these Thunderbolt's are again disbanded when the Heroic Age rises from the ashes of the Dark Reign of Norman Osborn. Now the Thunderbolt's program is again one of redemption, although sponsored, it would seem, by the United States Federal Government. Former convict turned Avenger Luke Cage (aka Powerman) is chosen to lead a team consisting of several former Thunderbolt's and other incarcerated villains. It is this team, then, that the rest of this article will be dealing with.

Moving away from the comic book side of this article for a moment, we'll talk about the correctional system in the United States. In our mundane reality, without any genuine supervillains (or heroes), the American correctional system is overloaded with activity. According to the American Correctional Association, as of 2002, one in every 31 adults was under some sort of supervision of the correctional system – either on probation, in jail, in prison, or released on parole. That adds up to over six and a half million people. It should also be noted that these statistics do not include anyone in the juvenile justice system.

The costs of keeping individuals incarcerated are tremendous. And despite the immense number of supervised individuals, the correctional system gets significantly less funding on average than either law enforcement or the court systems.

Eventually, the absurdity reaches a level where any sane individual would potentially ask “what is the point?”. The answer to that question, however, is fivefold. The American correctional institution exists in an attempt to fulfill four goals, even if they are sometimes incompatible or ignored.

Incapacitation. This first goal is to prevent the individual from being able to commit further criminal acts.
Protection of the Public. Despite best wishes to the contrary, it is well documented that crime does happen in prisons, and that individuals under community supervision are still potentially dangerous. However, if a criminal is imprisoned, they are, in theory, unable to hurt anyone in society at large.
Punishment. As a society, we hold those who break the law responsible, and assign legal sanctions upon them. A prison sentence is not meant to be enjoyed.
Deterrence. Since incarceration, or even lesser sanctions such as community supervision (probation) are meant to be unpleasant, it is hoped that the threat of such punishment will prevent people from committing criminal acts.
Rehabilitation. The last and, sadly, least goal of corrections, at least in modern society, is that of rehabilitation. However, it is this goal that we find visited in the new Thunderbolts.

After someone has 'served their time' and completed their court appointed time in the correctional system, it is hoped that they will have learned to be a better person – that they will no longer possess criminal tendencies, and instead have developed more pro-social behavior. However, due to limited budgets and prison overpopulation, the ability to rehabilitate anyone is difficult, and the money to attempt such is virtually nonexistent. Despite these hurdles, rehabilitation is exactly the aim of the newest team of Thunderbolts.

With the exception of Luke Cage, every current Thunderbolt is currently incarcerated at the fictitious prison in New York City known as Ryker's Island. This is a fictionalization of the real world Riker's Island, which is a jail in New York City. It is unclear if Ryker's is a state or federal institution, but given as it is a facility for containing superhuman criminals, it is most likely a joint project between New York State and the Federal government.

The active convicts on the team are at present The Juggernaut (aka Cain Marko), Moonstone (aka Dr. Karla Sophen), Crossbones (aka Brock Rumslow), Ghost (real name unknown), and Man-Thing (aka Dr. Theodore “Ted” Sallis). Supporting the team are former redeemed thunderbolts Mach-5 (Abner Jenkins), Songbird (Melissa Gold), and Fixer (Paul Ebersol).

The stated goal of this new Thunderbolt's team is to attempt to redeem (aka rehabilitate) as many villains as can be, while at the same time using prisoners in high risk situations. While some of the members, such as Rumslow, are serving life sentences, others are eligible to earn time off of their incarceration by participating in the program. Additionally, it is an opportunity for even those otherwise imprisoned for life to not only get outside of the prison periodically, but also to theoretically make themselves a better person. For Man-Thing in particular, who is not recognized as a sentient being by the government, his participation postpones plans to attempt to have him executed.

As of this writing, only one issue of the current run of Thunderbolts has been released. However, you can be assured that I will be following the comic closely, as I am not only a fan of the T-Bolts and their new leader Luke Cage, but also of the new angle for the book and how it relates to criminology.

Heroic Age Lineup: Luke Cage, Ghost, Juggernaut, Moonstone, Crossbones, Man-Thing

References for CJ Statistics: American Correctional Association: https://www.aca.org/government/population.asp

Superstitious Cowards: What makes a Criminal?

2010-06-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

Long before there was a recognized science of criminology, people have wondered: why do some individuals break the law? Despite decades of research into various theories, there is no definitive answer. Human beings are highly complex animals, and no one explanation of behavior can cover all crimes or criminals. Criminologists have several theories as to what causes crime, and, here at CJL, we shall go attempt to discuss many of the more prominent theories.

When applying criminology to a context such as supervillainy, however, one has to remember that they are dealing with fiction, and that characters in a narrative will behave in a certain way in order to further the means of the story. Since most authors of comic books are neither criminologists nor career criminals themselves, they may be assigning motivations to characters which may seem to be out of sorts with reality. Despite this glaring fact, we here at CJL will ignore the simple explanation that “supervillains commit crime because it is written in the script”.

Free will and fictional characters

Clearly, fictional characters, be they heroes, villains, bystanders or otherwise do not possess free will, as they are completely at the behest of the writers and artists who bring them to a semblance of life. However, it is my opinion that people in general do possess free will, and, therefore, are capable of making choices on their own, outside of an influence of destiny and overwhelming cosmic forces. Therefore, when it is not shown that a character within a story definitively lacks free will, be it to a mystic curse, mind control, or other plot device, we shall assume that they do possess such freedom.

The presence of free will, however, does not imply that any and all criminal act one would commit is simply a rational choice, derived at logically and with clear thought. Real world examples such as duress, mental illness and intoxication aside, superhero fiction is ripe with examples of truly insane characters, many of them villainous. Therefore, there are villains whom act seemingly at random, the victim of their own insanity – The Joker and The Green Goblin are prime examples. But also present are calm, rational individuals such as Ra's Al Ghul or The Rhino – villains who chose to engage in criminal activity for personal reasons.

In the coming weeks, we here at CJL will take a look at various theories of criminology, such as Rational Choice, Routine Activities, Strain Theory, Trait Theories and Social Control theories. For now, however, we'll end on the following lesson.

Criminals are individual beings, and their motivations and behavior is unique to each person. However, there are significant ways to predict for an individual to engage in crime, or to explain why they have done so. Join us in our next article in this series where we look at Rational Choice and Deterrence Theory.

Not all (Super) men are Created equal – Varying Archetypes of Super Heroes

2010-06-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Not every man or woman who puts on a pair of tights or a suit of high tech armor goes out and stops the first mugging they see. For every Spider-Man going along and stopping a bank robbery, there is a Doctor Strange who is too busy stopping an army of demons from invading reality to really do anything in the realm of civic duty. Therefore it is clear that, from a criminological perspective, the Silver Surfer, cool as he may be, is not of much interest and will not often be discussed.
While a lot of superheroes transcend boundaries and can have multiple areas of influence, it is still possible to create several artificial distinctions, or classifications, of superheroes (and, to a lesser extent, villains) with which to facilitate discussion. Unlike many other discussions of the various categories of superheroes, which tend to break them down into groupings based on common traits such as origin (mutants, powered armor heroes) or power level (street level heroes, cosmic megabeings) or power set (energy control, super speed), here at CJL we'll mostly view heroes as how they tend to operate, specifically in regards to criminals.

So without further ado, here are the superhero archetypes I'll be using for this blog:

1.The Vigilante. The Vigilante is a crime fighter first and foremost. Whether due to personal loss (Batman, The Punisher), an instinctive sense of justice (Daredevil), or simply being low or non-powered (Kick-Ass), the vigilante deals with criminals almost exclusively. The Vigilante tend to skew towards the lower “street level” end of the power spectrum, with exemplars Batman and The Punisher not (usually) possessing any superpowers. There are exceptions however, such as Spider-Man, who is a vigilante more often than not, and Power Man (Luke Cage), both of whom are in the middle range of superhuman power.
Other Notable Vigilantes: Nightwing, Moon Knight.
The Slayer. In some ways, The Slayer is a spin-off of The Vigilante, in that they have taken up a personal crusade to fighting evil, but for The Slayer, it is often a more tangible supernatural evil than one of simple human greed. Often, The Slayer is generally in search of redemption or vengeance, or is himself a supernatural being. Power levels among The Slayer archetype range from non-powered (Hannibal King) to supernatural powerhouse (Ghost Rider, Spawn).
Other Notable Slayers: Hellboy, Buffy, Blade
The Explorer. While they will stop a small time crime if they were to come across one, The Explorer often is more involved in larger stakes or a more personal quest. This type of hero tends to seek out mystery and the strange, either because they are a super scientist (Hank Pym, The Atom) or are the close allies of a super scientist (The Thing). When The Explorer stops a criminal act, it is usually one of terrorism, such as a madman trying to blow up a city or freezing a continent or something equally extreme. While most members of this archetype are quite formidable (such as the Fantastic Four), there are less potent members (The Wasp).
Other Notable Explorers: Challengers of the Unknown, Rip Hunter
The Myth. Gods, deities, creatures of legend. All are common archetypes for superheroes. From pre-existing mythical beings (Thor, Hercules) to modern additions to classic pantheons (Wonder Woman) or more broad 'mash-ups' (Captain Marvel), The Myth is a classic dating back to the golden age of superhero comics. As amazing as their legends of old, heroes which fall into The Myth are generally above such simple things as low level crime fighting, and as a general rule, they tend to clash with other beings of myth and legend. Also, while their power levels can be somewhat lower in the spectrum, this is usually found in 'generic' creatures such as random Amazons and unnamed Asgardians. The more well known examples of The Myth are some of the most powerful heroes in comics.
Other Notable Myths: Black Adam, Snowbird
The Savior. Almost always clad in a cape, and generally considered the exemplars of the superhero genre, The Savior is there to save the world, even if it spends time simply saving individuals. From a kitten in a tree to a tsumani headed towards Los Angeles, The Savior is there to save the day. The Savior is always a hero with a high level of power, often able to pull of extreme feats such as stopping a nuclear weapon or a volcano. Despite this, it is notable that The Savior is still available to stop things seemingly below their notice, such as a mugging, a bank robbery, or even a speeding, out of control motorist.
Notable Saviors: The Sentry, Superman, Flash
The Soldier. A broad archetype, The Soldier is someone who is, or was, a trained soldier or government agent. Whether they classic 'super soldier' (Captain America), a service member granted superhuman powers (Magog), or an elite agent (Black Widow), The Soldier differs in many ways from other archetypes. Of all the archetypes, The Soldier is the most likely to use lethal force, albeit there are exceptions and this is still not a common occurrence for most. Having served in war, they have seen the horror of killing and still realize that sometimes it is the only solution. When The Soldier fights crime, it is generally in a more covert manner, such as dealing with international espionage, terrorist organizations (real or fictitious) or taking out supercriminals. Power levels in this archetype range from completely human (Amanda Waller) to near the top of the charts (Ms Marvel).
Other Notable Soldiers: Nick Fury, Captain Atom
The Ruler. Whether or not they lead a nation or are simply heirs to a throne, The Ruler is generally defined by the nation (or world) from which they hail. This can either be a fictional country (Geo-Force), an alien world (Starfire), or just a portion of the world where no one lives in reality (Namor). Members of The Ruler archetype tend to either show up only when there is a threat to the entire planet (or just their section thereof) or as members of larger superteams, and therefore don't often find the time to deal with traditional crime. While often superhumanly powered, The Ruler can range from lfow level (Black Panther) to major powerhouse (Black Adam)
Other Notable Rulers: Aquaman, Black Bolt
The Solution. There are problems in the world, and The Solution strives to fix them. Whether they are created to do so by someone else (Machine Man), or have turned themselves into a weapon of sorts (Iron Man), The Solution tends to look to the future as a means of saving the world, possibly from itself. The Solution is an archetype into which many heroes ocasionally cross into, but is generally a permanent residence for few. In many examples, the degree of difference between a hero of this sort and a supervillain is not terribly severe – it is generally the methods and the personality of the individual which determines which side of the line they are on. Criminologically, The Solution tends not to deal with individual crimes and criminals so much as attempting to end crime, or perhaps end the social ills to which they attribute crime from being created.
Other Notable Solutions: Reed Richards, Superman (Red Sun)
The Other: Some are just born different. Whether they are an alien, a mutant, or an even stranger being, The Other tends to walk a path of solitude. Any companions that The Other has are generally members of the same type of being, or other freaks and misfits. Since The Other is such a broad class, the degree to which heroes of this type will interact with criminals is as unique as each member of the group. The Hulk is unlikely to stop a bank robbery, but Wolverine might indeed stop a mugging. This group runs the gamut of superhuman power, but, as the name implies, it tends to imply at least some degree of power.
Other Notable Others: Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Silver Surfer
The Generic: Sadly, not all heroes are as well developed as the next. Whether they have not had a solo book, or simply have only appeared so infrequently as to not have a well defined personality or Modus Operandi, The Generic tends to exist in the background. The Generic is often found in Team Books, doing anything from stopping an alien invasion to fighting against a horde of evil ninja. Power levels for The Generic run from talented humans to potent, if not bland, powerhouses.
Notable Generics: Stargirl, Wonderman

Clearly, these classifications aren't hard and fast rules, but they are going to be useful as I continue this blog. While there are a lot of superheroic characters in modern comics, there are some that just won't be mentioned much, if at all, on this blog. Heroes that fall under the Vigilante and Soldier archetypes will garner much more discussion than those in the Slayer or Myth classes simply due to their typical behavior.