Where Walk the Gods!: Difference between revisions
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|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|published in=[[The Transformers issue 4|''The Transformers'' issue 4]]<br>[[The Transformers issue 5|issue 5]]
|date=1st November, 1984 (part 1)<br>17th November, 1984 (part 2)
|scripter=[[Marv Wolfman]]
|artist=[[Steve Ditko]]
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The gunman regains consciousness, and threatens to call the police if Machine Man attacks him. Aaron is angered by the hypocrisy, threatening to take out all his bottled rage on the lowlife.
He is stopped by a shaft of light, as a group of five golden glowing humans address him as "father", telling him that life is sacred and that there must be no violence!
===Part 2===
Aaron is indignant that these beings tell ''him'' what to do when it's the behaviour of humans that make him act like this. The beings counter that ''a'' human, [[Abel Stack]], made Aaron act the way he does – and if Abel could control his emotions, why can't Aaron? Affronted, Machine Man attacks them with electrical blasts, but they are born of his energy, and thus able to deflect his attacks.
They are also born of his programming, and point out the illogic of his actions as he continues to try and attack him. Trapping him in a stasis beam, the lead being tells Aaron that he is more human than perhaps he realises, and that he is squandering his powers by allowing his baser emotions to control him. After all, he is attacked by humans because he is different, just as he is now attacking them.
Continuing his assault, Aaron argues that he doesn't ''want'' their help to save humanity – humanity is a lost cause, destroying their own world and each other... and perhaps the world would be better off without it! Energy crackles from the beings, and they ensnare Aaron completely. Their evolved state has gifted them these abilities, including a limited perception of the future. Earth will go to ruin, they say, but from that ruin will arise a utopia... and for the future to come to pass, they must first decide whether Machine Man will be allowed to survive or be destroyed!
Two of the beings vote for his dismantlement, and two say that it is not in their providence to kill. The lead being is left with the casting vote, and encourages Aaron to speak in his own defence. Aaron refuses, not recognising their authority, and he insists that there is no good left in the world.
The lead being prepares to kill Aaron, but the boy interrupts them. He tells them that Machine Man helped his father survive the gunshot wound, and that he's no monster to be feared or destroyed – a monster wouldn't try to help people when it is shunned by society. Aaron asks what the boy would have done with the gunman, but the boy tells him it wouldn't help his dad get better any faster. Aaron realises the truth – having seen so much evil since his creation, he believed that all men were touched by darkness. His attitude that he is above humanity because of his abilities ''does'' mean he is more human than he realises, in that he subscribes to the fallacy that anyone can be better than anyone else.
Content that Aaron has learned the lesson that empathy lies in all people despite their differences, the beings ascend to the stars. They say that Aaron will learn more someday, on his own, but their destiny awaits elsewhere.
''"Farewell, Aaron... farewell, father!"''
==Featured characters==
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|c2=
*Scientists/[[Ethical]]s (unnamed)
**[[Akra]]
**[[Kora]]
|h3=Incidentals
|c3=
*[[Unempathetic mugger]]
*[[Mugged old lady]]
*[[Vehicular hitman]]
*[[Hit and run victim]]
*[[Gunman]]
*[[Shot dad]]
*[[Shot dad's son]]
}}
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"Perhaps I should allow my '''emotions''' to control me, eh? I can always '''justify''' my actions later... just as you '''humans''' do."
:—'''Machine Man''' is right, we suck!
"I -- I can't move... You're holding me in some sort of '''stasis beam!''' Free me and I will show you what my powers can do!"
:—Please don't put on the wiki that '''Machine Man''' got mad.
"Then you leave me with no choice, Aaron... I am forced to make a decision... the '''results''' of which may lie on my conscience till the end of time!"
:—The '''lead Ethical''' prepares to kill Aaron.
"A monster wouldn't get mad when he sees that things are bad."
:—The '''shot dad's son''' sums up Machine Man.
"Because I am faster, my reflexes sharper, my power stronger, I thought I was '''better.''' But like all who believe themselves to be better -- I was wrong. Aaron Stack is no better than any other man... Aaron Stack is merely somewhat '''different!'''"
:—He just like me fr.
==Notes==
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*On page 2 of part 1, "savior" is changed to "saviour". On page 3, "analyzing" becomes "analysing".
*On page 4 of part 1, Machine Man refers to the manhole cover as a "disk". A perfectly acceptable word for a round, flat object in the U.S., in the UK the word is typically short for "diskette", and so it is re-lettered to "disc".
*Pages 1 and 4-6 of part 2 are printed in black and white.
*On page 5 of part 2, "savored" is changed to "savoured".
===Artwork and technical errors===
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*Cards on the table, I don't know if "Everywhere grow monuments to man's inhumanity to his fellow man!" is grammatically correct or not, but it ''sounds'' weird.
*"––whatever the bands of energy accidentally touches..." If it's plural bands of energy, they accidentally ''touch''.
*On page 3 of part 2, "proceed" is misspelled as "procede".
*The American spelling of "criticized" slips through on the final page of part 2.
===Continuity errors===
*The gunman boggles at the sight of the [[Ethical]]s... and then just disappears, absent from the rest of the issue.
===Continuity notes===
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*In his fit of anger, Aaron paraphrases "Man's inhumanity to man" from the [[w:Robert Burns|Robert Burns]] poem "[[w:Man was made to Mourn|Man was made to Mourn]]".
*Threatening to beat the gunman, Aaron reminds him that the [[w:Bible|Bible]] preaches "[[w:Eye for an eye|An eye for an eye]]". This is from the [[w:Old Testament|Old Testament]]'s [[w:Book of Exodus|Book of Exodus]].
*The
**"There must be no deaths" evokes "There will be no more death" from the [[w:New Testament|New Testament]]'s [[w:Book of Revelation|Book of Revelation]].
**"[[w:Thou shalt not kill|Thou shalt not kill]]" comes directly from the [[w:Ten Commandments|Ten Commandments]].
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