Issue 129 - Amanda Waller

08/04/21 • 51 min

Capes On the Couch - Where Comics Get Counseling

Intro
Background (2:10)
- Amanda Waller created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne in Legends #1 (Nov 1986)
- Amanda Waller introduced as leader of Suicide Squad, a branch of Task Force X - she butts heads with everyone on the team, especially Captain Boomerang, but she gets results
- Later revealed that her family was murdered living in Chicago - worked her way up from congressional aide to head of Suicide Squad
- Janus Directive - Nearly assassinated and replaced with a doppleganger, but kills the double and passes so she can find out who sent them
- Later serves under President Lex Luthor as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, until she is imprisoned for running afoul of Luthor
- Released by the next President and put in charge of Checkmate, serving as both Black King and White Queen
- Discovered to be responsible for an anti-Superman organization called Last Line, and created a monster named All-American Boy made of Kryptonite and Doomsday’s cells to battle Superman should he ever go rogue
- New 52 - Back in charge of Suicide Squad, and later responsible for helping to create Justice League of America
- DC Rebirth - reports directly to President Obama, and tells him Suicide Squad is a necessary evil - Rick Flag is put in charge of Task Force X
- Later fakes her own assassination to reveal an international cabal that the Squad helps take down
Issues (6:11)
- Matt’s question: “How in the hell does someone get to be like that? Where not only the criminals she works with, but other people in general, are literally nothing to her. They have absolutely no agency to her except as instruments, means to her goals, or whatever tasks she’s been assigned by the people above her. Her wonderfully fleshed-out backstory does a great job of explaining her iron determination, aggressiveness, and take-no-shit-from-anyone demeanor, and it’s easy to see how it would give her a fight-fire-with-fire philosophy, but not the place of complete and utter detachment from basic moral principles she regularly goes to in order to do her job. She’s certainly not a sociopath, at least I don’t think so. She’s demonstrated plenty of times that she’s perfectly capable of empathy. In fact, I’d argue she’s more skilled at empathy than most people. It’s what makes her so effective at her job, reading people and being able to intuit what they’re feeling and the things they want. She just ultimately doesn’t care what happens to anyone else, unless it’s a part of her mission objective. And it’s not an act she puts on for the benefit of the people in the Suicide Squad or the targets they’re sent up against; she displays the same casual disregard for superheroes, government officials, military brass, and world leaders. It’s like other people just don’t matter to her at all. The only thing I can come up with to maybe explain her is that, owing to the circumstances of her early life, it’d be really easy to have a hyper-pessimistic default assumption that humans are generally evil, venial, corrupt little shits who don’t warrant much consideration. That’s something that, unfortunately, with how old and set in her ways Waller is, it’d be really difficult to get her to change. She probably doesn’t view anything about herself as being a problem that needs fixing, even though it’s gotten her thrown into prison more than once.”
Break (27:40)
- Plugs for BetterHelp, Hops Geek News, and Meredith Finch
Treatment (29:44)
- In-universe - Have her work on fixing the bottled city of Kandor
- Out of universe - (34:00) - Entrenched government bureaucrat on a power trip
Skit (feat. Jasmin from Geeks Unleashed) (41:54)
- DOC: *muffled* What’s going on? Where am I?
- AMANDA: Hello, Dr. Issues.
- D: *bag comes off head* What the hell... Amanda Waller? What are you doing?
- A: I don’t do therapy sessions, and certainly not in your office. I have other plans for you.
- D: Do those plans involve untying me from this chair?
- A: Depends on how you answer the next few questions. Although having read your file, I think I have an inkling as to how this will go.
- D: Is that so? Care to enlighten me then?
- A: Sure. You'll try to talk your way out of this, I'll explain what I'm doing, you'll still do your best to weasel out, I'll reveal that I implanted a bomb in the base of your skull, and then you'll do what I say.
- D: YOU WHAT?
- A: Oh, the bomb. I needed a failsafe to make sure you played along.
- D: WHAT HAPPENED TO ASKING NICELY?
- A: I don't have time for that. I need this next mission to go smoothly, and there are some potential disruptive actors that need reigning in. That’s where your expertise comes into play.

Intro
Background (2:10)
- Amanda Waller created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne in Legends #1 (Nov 1986)
- Amanda Waller introduced as leader of Suicide Squad, a branch of Task Force X - she butts heads with everyone on the team, especially Captain Boomerang, but she gets results
- Later revealed that her family was murdered living in Chicago - worked her way up from congressional aide to head of Suicide Squad
- Janus Directive - Nearly assassinated and replaced with a doppleganger, but kills the double and passes so she can find out who sent them
- Later serves under President Lex Luthor as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, until she is imprisoned for running afoul of Luthor
- Released by the next President and put in charge of Checkmate, serving as both Black King and White Queen
- Discovered to be responsible for an anti-Superman organization called Last Line, and created a monster named All-American Boy made of Kryptonite and Doomsday’s cells to battle Superman should he ever go rogue
- New 52 - Back in charge of Suicide Squad, and later responsible for helping to create Justice League of America
- DC Rebirth - reports directly to President Obama, and tells him Suicide Squad is a necessary evil - Rick Flag is put in charge of Task Force X
- Later fakes her own assassination to reveal an international cabal that the Squad helps take down
Issues (6:11)
- Matt’s question: “How in the hell does someone get to be like that? Where not only the criminals she works with, but other people in general, are literally nothing to her. They have absolutely no agency to her except as instruments, means to her goals, or whatever tasks she’s been assigned by the people above her. Her wonderfully fleshed-out backstory does a great job of explaining her iron determination, aggressiveness, and take-no-shit-from-anyone demeanor, and it’s easy to see how it would give her a fight-fire-with-fire philosophy, but not the place of complete and utter detachment from basic moral principles she regularly goes to in order to do her job. She’s certainly not a sociopath, at least I don’t think so. She’s demonstrated plenty of times that she’s perfectly capable of empathy. In fact, I’d argue she’s more skilled at empathy than most people. It’s what makes her so effective at her job, reading people and being able to intuit what they’re feeling and the things they want. She just ultimately doesn’t care what happens to anyone else, unless it’s a part of her mission objective. And it’s not an act she puts on for the benefit of the people in the Suicide Squad or the targets they’re sent up against; she displays the same casual disregard for superheroes, government officials, military brass, and world leaders. It’s like other people just don’t matter to her at all. The only thing I can come up with to maybe explain her is that, owing to the circumstances of her early life, it’d be really easy to have a hyper-pessimistic default assumption that humans are generally evil, venial, corrupt little shits who don’t warrant much consideration. That’s something that, unfortunately, with how old and set in her ways Waller is, it’d be really difficult to get her to change. She probably doesn’t view anything about herself as being a problem that needs fixing, even though it’s gotten her thrown into prison more than once.”
Break (27:40)
- Plugs for BetterHelp, Hops Geek News, and Meredith Finch
Treatment (29:44)
- In-universe - Have her work on fixing the bottled city of Kandor
- Out of universe - (34:00) - Entrenched government bureaucrat on a power trip
Skit (feat. Jasmin from Geeks Unleashed) (41:54)
- DOC: *muffled* What’s going on? Where am I?
- AMANDA: Hello, Dr. Issues.
- D: *bag comes off head* What the hell... Amanda Waller? What are you doing?
- A: I don’t do therapy sessions, and certainly not in your office. I have other plans for you.
- D: Do those plans involve untying me from this chair?
- A: Depends on how you answer the next few questions. Although having read your file, I think I have an inkling as to how this will go.
- D: Is that so? Care to enlighten me then?
- A: Sure. You'll try to talk your way out of this, I'll explain what I'm doing, you'll still do your best to weasel out, I'll reveal that I implanted a bomb in the base of your skull, and then you'll do what I say.
- D: YOU WHAT?
- A: Oh, the bomb. I needed a failsafe to make sure you played along.
- D: WHAT HAPPENED TO ASKING NICELY?
- A: I don't have time for that. I need this next mission to go smoothly, and there are some potential disruptive actors that need reigning in. That’s where your expertise comes into play.

Previous Episode

Issue 128 - Jocasta

Intro
Background (1:42)
Jocasta created by Jim Shooter and George Perez in Avengers #162 (Aug 1977)
Jocasta was built by Ultron as a “wife” - he kidnapped Janet van Dyne and brainwashed Hank Pym in order to have her brain pattern and mind transferred to the robot body - the Avengers disrupted the process before it was done, having been alerted by the subconscious Janet inside Jocasta’s body
Hank brought the body to Avengers Mansion for further study, where it was remotely activated by Ultron, but she betrayed her creator and helped the Avengers defeat him again
Lived at the mansion for a time, but never felt part of the team until she sacrificed herself to destroy Ultron once more
Recreated by the High Evolutionary to be used for their purposes, but she remembered the Avengers, and signaled for them to assist - once again she self-sacrificed to save the team, but before she did so Captain America told her she’d always be an Avenger
Survived another destruction by downloading herself into Iron Man’s armor, and she served as his suit’s AI for a time, until the portion of code to reassemble Ultron appeared again
Joins the Mighty Avengers, but duplicates of her body were taken over by Ultron - in exchange for him ending the fight, she agreed to marry him - once that happened Hank Pym stranded them in space, where he couldn’t hurt anyone else
Served on the faculty for Avengers Academy
Sought out Tony Stark’s brother Arno to help her create a more human-like body, but it came with a code to make her submissive to humans - she and Machine Man helped defeat Arno and the Extinction Entity
Issues (4:19)
- Built to be a bride
- Initial distrust by teammates (9:49)
- Longing to be human (20:01)
Break (26:06)
- Plugs for BetterHelp, Frigay the 13th, and Al Ewing
Treatment (28:08)
- In-universe - Use Master Mold to give her 3 chances to create the “perfect” version of herself
- Out of universe - (31:14)
Skit featuring Anna from Freudian Sips (41:16)
- DOC: Hello Jocasta, I’m Dr. Issues.
- JOCASTA: Wait...ok, nice to meet you.
- D: Why’d you tell me to wait?
- J: I decided to defragment your hard drive after I exited your system.
- D: Those are...words...*realization* did you just hack into my computer?!
- J: Hacking would imply there was a proper barrier in place that requires a combination of data mining and social engineering. This was just walking through a decade-old loophole of your operating system. And yet, the certifications for your medical records indicate that this is still standard for your electronic charts.
- D: So many questions...why do that at all?
- J: Prior knowledge that you have had encounters with relevant parties.
- D: Well, I did have a sentient cyborg take over the recording equipment, but I wouldn’t think you’d know
- J: I mean Hank.
- D: So did I, but I didn’t think you know krypt...whoops, wrong rabbit hole! Hank! Hank! Riiiiiight *nervous laugh*
- J: For as long as I’ve been around humanity, I still don’t “get it.”
- D: *eager to change to that subject* Perhaps I can help you with that, then. For starters, don’t violate confidentiality with someone trying to help you in a session. But I’m willing to acknowledge that you wanted some good to come out of it.
- J: That’s something that’s been a facet of my existence from the beginning. I am meant to serve.
- D: That’s a noble view...but the way you said it, you sound melancholic. There’s a difference between providing a service and being a puppet.
- J: It’s hard to distinguish when you’re a limited edition e-mail order bride.
- D: Ouch! I got that hostility. Seems like there’s much to unpack, and we’re clearly not going to get to all of it in one session. What would you like to stick with for now?
- J: Going by your order of operations, I’ll keep to the human side...or lack thereof.
- D: Stop selling yourself short. The fact that you emote as much as you do makes you capable of anything and everything as a sentient being.
- J: Have you ever had to create your own sense of reality?
- D: I think we all do that
- J: But have you had it truly manifest as its own virtual world? I did that when I was working with Stark. All I did was spend as much time as I could in it, being more human than I first thought possible. I almost made it in this world, too. Something always diverts my plans, though.
- D: That tends to happen in all of our realities.
- J: But not due to someone that forces it ad infinitum.
- D: For some, it can. Past experiences ...

Next Episode

Issue 130 - Number Five (Umbrella Academy)

Intro
Background (1:45)
Background (1:45)
- 5 created by Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba in The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite #1 (Date)
- The Umbrella Academy is about a team of superpowered children
- All around the world, children are born to women who previously showed no signs of pregnancy - the children are all adopted by Dr. Reginald Hargreeves, a wealthy philanthropist (and secretly an alien), to create a team - 7 of the children ultimately survive, all identified by numbers instead of names
- 5 is able to travel through time, but only forwards - he arrives in a post-apocalyptic world, and spends 45 years figuring out how to return
- When he does, he is reverted to his 10 year old body, and is then incapable of aging or growing
- He arrives shortly after Dr. Hargreeves’ death, and reveals to the estranged team that the world ends 3 days after the death - he has to reunite the team, who had been apart for 9 years
- Works with #1, aka Spaceboy, to help lead the team - they end up fighting #7, who turns out to be the most powerful member of the team after she is experimented on by evil musicians - #5 shoots her in the head, leaving her paralyzed but alive
- In the second volume, it’s revealed that #5 was experimented on in the future, and had DNA from history’s greatest killers grafted into his body, making him the perfect assassin
- He was designed to prevent aberrations in the timestream, and then was sent back to help kill JFK - the “old” one has to kill all other assassins attempting to kill Kennedy so the “young” one can do the job - JFK ultimately ends up killed by #3, aka Rumor - also revealed that #5 and #1 are twin brothers
- Vol. 3 - Hotel Oblivion - neither of us have read it :(
Issues (6:04)
- Detached from humanity because of spending 50 years alone
- An adult in a child’s body - dysmorphia (12:50)
- Unhealthy coping mechanisms (18:12)
Break (24:08)
- Plugs for BetterHelp, Legends: A Superhero Story, and Erica Schultz
Treatment (26:07)
- In-universe - Lean into the temporal paradox of his life
- Out of universe - (33:30)
Skit (42:18)
- Hello 5, I’m Dr. Issues. - Good afternoon Doctor.
- I must confess that in all my years of experience and all my patients, I’ve never dealt with one quite as young as you. - I wouldn’t consider this a deviation from the norm. Despite my appearance, I’m actually 60 years old.
- Really? - The curse of my abilities. I traveled ahead in time, spent 50 years figuring out how to get back, and when I returned discovered my body had returned to the state it was when I first jumped. Not only that, I cannot age. So I’m stuck in this prepubescent body permanently.
- Oh my. - As you can imagine, it hasn’t exactly been the best time for me.
- I see. So, uh, 5... do you have another name I can use? - Yes, but unfortunately it’s long been forgotten. It doesn’t matter. There’s no one worthwhile who would use it anyway.
- Well I would like to think - And that’s where you’re wrong. It’s ultimately futile, Doctor, because all of this discussion is an attempt to think the unthinkable, undo what can’t be undone, unless I’ve already thought and done it.
- You’re literally talking in circles. -Living in circles, yes.
- Must you correct every phrase? -No, but when I don’t, there’s nobody else around to do it for me, so it might as well be me.
- What is it that you want, really? You talk as if you already have all of the answers. -Not all of them, just more than most. Maybe I want a little more.
- That’s a common problem. Hedonistic adaptation. -Hard to be hedonistic when everyone sees your appearance as a cherub.
- I wouldn’t go that far. -I would. I HAVE. I use...this...and I have to drown my past in booze sometimes because nobody believes a little boy has done what I’ve done.
- Well...what have you done? -Kill.
- Oh, I’m sorry. -A lot.
- ...um, still sorry? -...Not sure you should be. Some deserved it. Hopefully all. But I’m realistic. Played the odds.
- And how do you feel about the innocents you’ve killed? - It is what it is. Collateral damage, so to speak.
- That’s an awfully callous way to describe murder. - I wouldn’t know. The people that asked me to kill for them didn’t see a problem with it. I actually thought I talked it out pretty good with myself when I had some alone time.
- When was that? -Twenty years into the future before I knew I had to get back to the past.
- I...uh...that actually...it’s... -No need to stammer. I’ll move on
- NO! I a...