Sunday, August 26, 2018

When did Artemis figure it out?

I'm recalling what we know of her history and drawing a blank for when she realized her actions changed Jason's life.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This is of course referring to the likelihood of Artemis "killing" Willis when he was a test subject. Which seems to be the case since there are A LOT of coincidences if it's supposed to be a fake out. Nothing from the first couple arcs seems like Artemis is aware of Jason being the son she "orphaned" (I'm not sure what to call it since Willis still seems to be around.)

While she does intentionally act like she doesn't know Lex Luthor in front of Jason (from when Bizarro is dying onward) nothing indicates she's made the connection yet. Which makes sense as the flashback has her carrying out her job of killing all the test subjects and not stopping to learn their names. In fact she claims she wants to leave it all in the past when Creeper calls her out on it. That doesn't sound like someone who would purposely research it afterwards.

I've seen some calling the Creeper's appearance pointless but I don't think it is. Whether he'll play a bigger part I can't say but he is extremely important just because he knows what happened. He wasn't in the flashback but he has this information because he's a reporter. If he knows--but couldn't expose it publicly--there's a chance of others learning the truth. Hell Jason could have heard Creeper say the location and connect the dots once he finds out where his dad went.

The only possible guesses I have is that either Luthor figured it out and told her or Willis did off panel. Luthor hired her because it amused him to order around an Amazon. I could see him looking into Jason's history and thinking it's amusing that Jason is working with his father's "killer." Or telling her because he doesn't want Jason/the bat family coming after him and warning that he'd take Artemis down with him.

It's hard to figure out what Willis' end goal is. If he can "travel" far enough outside of Earth to wherever Bizarro took their HQ why hasn't he ever shown himself to his son? Maybe he assumed Jason didn't need him with his adopted family around and/or Jason didn't want him around. But maybe Willis doesn't have a physical body anymore because of what Artemis did. For some reason he's decided now is the time to act.

Willis somehow managed to bring his "killer", Luthor' s failed experiment and his son together on a team. This is all for some reason he doesn't bother to explain that Bizarro's actions were apparently interfering with. At the time Bizarro was super intelligent and manipulating events to keep his smarts. Which could be enough to make Willis annoyed. But Bizarro also imprisoned Ma Gunn (Willis' mom) and hid his letters from Jason. Maybe it was as simple as him not wanting a smart Bizarro threatening his plans by having a higher intellect.

He refuses to give Bizarro his real name although he thinks (smart) Bizarro would figure it out. He knew he could take Bizarro down by himself and did. Yet he doesn't reveal himself when he's watching the trio three issues later. Right after Artemis has her flashback and is called in to see Luthor we have this cheeky comment from Willis:

Solitary: Knock 'em dead, girl.

Kind of on the nose if she did in fact kill him, right? But if he's planning something he's not being direct about it. He only dealt with Bizarro personally to get him to back off. He watches all three Outlaws in this issue so does that mean that wherever their involved in is a big part of his plan? Maybe. Artemis was meeting with Lex Luthor to discuss Bizarro. Willis shows up when Bizarro had finally given up kryptonite and was losing his intelligence. At the diner Faye (Jr.) was finally giving Jason the letters. We see Willis right behind Jason when he takes Bizarro's call.

I'm honestly not sure if Willis would tell Artemis what she did at this point. I mean I could see him rubbing it in that she didn't care about his son in the past and now she does. Doing so this early and off panel would feel like we missed his big moment.

Yet somehow Artemis seems to know her actions link to Jason's life. She says this before she kisses him.

Artemis: Someday. Someday you'll understand how much I owe you. The mistakes I made. How much you suffered because of me.

I'm not sure how this suddenly came to light. I've considered her knowing earlier but that's confusing too.

4 comments:

  1. Lobdell sometimes forget that what we are aware of doesn't mean that the characters know of it too like how Black Mask suddenly knowing Jason's name without explaination.

    Considering Willis' plan, I think he wanted to surround his son with powerful friends who can protect and help him out. I don't think he has a sinister intention toward his son from his conversation with Ma Gunn, but his way of looking after his son might not be ideal and cause trouble.

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  2. I don't think he forgot I think plans changed for Black Mask. A lot of his plans get nixed by higher ups.

    I'm questioning why Willis apparently put his son on a team with his alleged "killer" and a clone created by the man who ordered his death. Why those two out of all the numerous people Willis can get?

    I'm more inclined to think he's trying to set Artemis & Luthor up. Maybe a reverse UTH situation.

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  3. Let's agree to disagree because inconsistency isn't unusual in on-goings and I don't think Lobdell doesn't make mistakes from previous experience with his books.

    He chose Artemis and Bizarro because they were chosen to be part of the book. It's really that simple. Plot-wise, it's possible that he saw a potential in Amazon and Superman's clone to be good allies to his son.

    Him bringing the team together just to set up Artemis and Luthor wouldn't make any sense because he could simply do it without involving his son which will complicate things.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not saying he doesn't make mistakes or forget things. I know for a fact he forgot where a plot was going in Superboy. But he's writing less books now plus I've heard his plans for Black Mask changed.

      ?

      I'm not asking why Lobdell or DC chose the team. I'm asking why Willis, who claimed he created the team, did. I don't think you get what I'm getting at in regards to Artemis potentially killing him.

      Yes it could if he used it to his advantage. Revenge often clouds the mind. Neither of us know enough about Willis to say one way or another what he wants. His current actions however are confusing if she did "kill" him.

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