I ♥ A Little Carnage

When it comes to the world of superheroes/supervillians everyone has their particular favourite. For many its Batman's arch nemesis The Joker, and yes I admit the Clown Prince of Crime is definately in my top 5 too. But he isn't my number one. That honour goes to Carnage who was first featured in the Amazing Spiderman.
So who or what is Carnage? Well to be blunt he is a pure, psychopath, born to killing as I am born to alcoholic froth. His 'host' Kletus Cassidy shoved his own grandmother down the stairs when he was a child. Young Kletus also tortured his pet dog and burnt down the orphanage he was sent to. So 'troubled child' then.
When I say Carnage has a 'host', let me explain: Carny is an alien symbiote who comes from another symbiote, Venom (another of Spidermans villains). And the Carnage symbiote went into Kletus Cassidy's blood when Cassidy was cut in prison, where he had been sent after turning into a serial killer.


Carnage: truly awesome character design

This crazed, red alien has a twisted philosophy, and believes everybody wants to kill deep down, he just has the guts/nutso streak to actually do it. Carnage doesn't want money or crave power, he simply enjoys killing. He was actually modeled after The Joker, to be a darker version of Venom. Indeed he teamed up with Batty's rictus grinning enemy in Spider-Man and Batman #1.
Carnage has a number of super powers including being able spin webs like Spiderman, and is reported to be double the strength of both the webslinger and Venom. And he has never been afraid of dying. In fact, he has been prepared to face death rather than being made nice!
So why is this Supervillian my favourite? Why have I chosen such an evil character who has a total disregard for human life and lives only for chaos? Well firstly its the way he looks. Carnage is villain perfection to me, looking so utterly vicious, the devil incarnate. The way he has been drawn by artists over the years has been fantastic and he never looks rough in cartoons, stills or videogames. Just really great character design.
Secondly its in his 'psychology'. Most bad guys have a soft side, even Carnage's symbiote 'brother' Venom has morals and can be persuaded to fight for good. Not old Red though! He is heer nastiness, anarchy, chaos, call it what you will, and has no soft side which is very powerful. I also like the fact that one of his powers is he can resist any human disease which makes him beyond the grasp of God to some extent.
He is the ultimate bad boy and there's something I admire about a writer designing a bad guy without a shred of remorse as most cop out when designing villains. And this is why Judge Death is my number two.


Kletus/Carnage

Pages of Destruction

The world awoke today to terrible news of an 8.9 earthquake hitting Japan which set off a massive tsunami, killing hundreds and causing diabolical damage. As I wayched the footage from numerous media sources, it seemed a disaster of almost biblical proportions.
There are floods and fires, the shutting down of airports and transportt systems. I heard somewhere that up to 300 bodies have been disccovered on a beach in Sendai, on the northeast Pacific coast with another 100 confirmed dead elsewhere.


Grim scenes of destruction

Obviously its still way too early to know the exact figures, as rescue services from all across the world have only just been deployed but as I watched the video footage of giant whirlpools and mega waves sweeping cars and building away like they were childrens toys, it brought home the understanding of how easily mother nature could destroy us all if she so wished. For instance the tidal waves have even reached the U.S shores of Oregon! Mankind is at her utter mercy and there wouldn't be a damned thing we could do if she decided to crush us all in one foul swoop.
It also makes one realise how little a grasp we mere mortals have on the bigger picture when you watch disasters played out in the movies. The film versions seem almost childish when compared to the real thing.
Looking through the online pages of destruction made me feel even more vulnerable, even more fragile. And all I can think of is those poor people, thousands of lives instantly shattered. So so awful and tragic and my heart goes out to each and every one affected by this disaster.