John-of-the-Night is posed a hideous moral dilemma, the sort that is endlessly fascinating in fiction (think Kirk in the Ellison-scripted City on the Edge of Forever in Trek or Tom Baker’s anguished decision over the fate of an embryonic evil race in Genesis of the Daleks) but which in real life would be one of the worst decisions anyone could be faced with. Sacrifice some innocents to potentially spare many more? Was Spock right, do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Or was Picard right in Insurrection when he pointed out that maltreating a small group to benefit the greater community is simply justification for awful acts? Can nothing good come from well-intended but ultimately evil actions? Can there be no compromise even in the face of Armageddon? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and, no doubt, regularly dug up by the utility companies of dubious morality and lined with the roadside Little Chefs of Indecision…
(click the pic to visit full-size version and the complete archive of Darryl’s previous Super-Sam and John-of-the-night strips. Art ©2008 Darryl Cunningham; if you want permission to reproduce any part of it you should ask him)
Tue, Sep 23, 2008
Comics and cartoons, Darryl Cunningham's Super-Sam