Isolation

[McGrupp]

I read a hulk comic book that I just can't get out of my head and wanted to share. Its set 200 years in the future where mankind is gone and Bruce Banner/Hulk is the last man on Earth.

Link to fan made motion comic:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAHbAekM7wU   

2 warnings:  1. gore at 8:30-8:54  (not too bad by comic book standards but worth mentioning)
                     2. It is very sad. Unless you are a robot you will cry. Robots may still cry.

I was going to write a paragraph or two about isolation, loneliness, avoiding friends or potential relationships as nothing more than a source of hurt down the road. How our society reinforces never showing weakness and the fear of asking for help or admitting that you're hurting. Unfortunately I just can't seem to articulate it.

On a lighter note I'm reasonably certain that I'm the first patient my therapist has had who wept and told her "I'm the Hulk"

Hulk is...happy to be alone. Yes. Hulk is...happy. Hulk never needed banner. Never needed any of them. Because if Hulk needed someone then Hulk would be weak. And Hulk must...must never be weak. Never.

[Left]

I get ya.
I'm still up, down, and all over the place at times, because I'm freshly divorced.
...And now girlfriendo and I are hitting rocks too.

I was going to write a paragraph or two about isolation, loneliness, avoiding friends or potential relationships as nothing more than a source of hurt down the road.

Relationships hurt.  Not having them hurts more.

It's just miles and miles of suck as far as the eye can see.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

That was pretty good.

[The Johnny]

I saw this in the wee hours of the night and i thought about it over the day...

Now, making a diverging interpretation from what the video/comic speaks of (Prometheus of the nuclear age, etc), i think it can be related to how there can be a synergy between isolation and narcicissim...

Narcicissm is more complicated and broad than what is commonly known as "an asshole"; narcicissm is about certain detachment from the feelings of others (aka, no empathy) but narcicissm as a defense mechanism is a way of protecting one's own fragile emotions/"self" from either criticism, hurt or any of the sorts, which can be either accomplished thru isolation or putting up this tough skin front in which people are nothing more than objects that are used or approached on a merely utilitarian fashion.

Now, the old "weak" guy represents the fragile emphatic/humane self which has not been nurtured or is present in too much of a harsh environment to flourish, thus, the only part of the self that can thrive in such a given context is the narcicisstic monstrousity (aka Hulk), which, obviously more survavilistic and practical, but at what cost?

[McGrupp]

Now, making a diverging interpretation from what the video/comic speaks of (Prometheus of the nuclear age, etc), i think it can be related to how there can be a synergy between isolation and narcicissim...

I feel the same way about the Prometheus thing. It just doesn't fit in with what I view as the main and more interesting story which is the final internal struggle between Banner and Hulk.

Hulk has seen many different interpretations by his writers over the years.  Primarily as a metaphor for anger, hate, or guilt. However at the climax of 'the end' what causes Hulk the most pain isn't other people hurting him or his unmatched rage. It is fear. The fear of being vulnerable. The fear of letting others in. The fear of letting go. Even when there is nothing left in world to hang onto, Hulk still can't let go.

[The Johnny]

Now, making a diverging interpretation from what the video/comic speaks of (Prometheus of the nuclear age, etc), i think it can be related to how there can be a synergy between isolation and narcicissim...

I feel the same way about the Prometheus thing. It just doesn't fit in with what I view as the main and more interesting story which is the final internal struggle between Banner and Hulk.

Hulk has seen many different interpretations by his writers over the years.  Primarily as a metaphor for anger, hate, or guilt. However at the climax of 'the end' what causes Hulk the most pain isn't other people hurting him or his unmatched rage. It is fear. The fear of being vulnerable. The fear of letting others in. The fear of letting go. Even when there is nothing left in world to hang onto, Hulk still can't let go.

Maybe that's one of the reasons why I don't like about comics: there is this kind of attempt of creating a contemporary-modern mythology to replace the Classics, the Classics which seemed more "naive" and more sincere, there was, I think, not that much planning behind them...

So in these (what i think are) failed attempts at usurping the place of classic mythology, the deep psychological subjects are given a secondary or tertiary role, which I think should be the primary focus, with, of course, possibly, an attempt at a new creation of meaning to what heroism is.

In this particular case of a divided "self" of one entity, the heroic (as in, vulnerable to tragedy) part is weak Banner opening itself to harm, love, empathy and unto others, while the part of the self deemed "Hulk" is just a hardened but empty shell, which even do brags about its strenght, it gets periodically owned by "reality", in this case, the mutant cockroackes (lol btw  ).

So i think the moral of the story is that, no matter how much you attempt to be a "tough guy that doesn't need anyone or anything to survive", reality and its hardships will find you, and you will get hurt, no matter what you do, and the pain and fragility are an intrinsic part of existing in one way or another.