The Standard

And we’re back to Jonathan Rector’s art again!  I love the little details he brings to The Dawn here, with bits of his skin flaking off.

This is as much part of the final showdown between The Standard and The Dawn as any physical battle, as it’s a battle of ideals, of the heroism of past and present clashing.  Here, it’s made overt that The Dawn essentially IS Alex Thomas, the representation of the modern way of heroism.  And here we have these two opposing ideologies.  The Standard represents heroism of a more optimistic Golden Age, of early superhero comics… the idea that there is pure good and pure evil in the world, and that good people never kill.  And The Dawn represents a murkier, more morally pragmatic view of heroism as seen in more modern fiction, one where much satisfaction is placed on the revenge narrative, heroes brutally killing those who have done them wrong.  According to The Dawn, heroes are fallible.

And now we’re halfway through the last chapter of THE STANDARD!  Sad yet?