HUNTER X HUNTER #10 - - Watch & Learn

| Monday, September 30, 2013



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HUNTER X HUNTER #10 - - Watch & Learn



In a weird way, this show is starting to remind me a little of this
obscure American comic, MISTER A. Essentially, the strip starred a superhero
devised by Spider-Man’s co-creator, Steve Ditko, as a mouthpiece for his
extreme and uncompromising objectivist beliefs. Supposedly, he kept trying to
insert these values into Spidey’s adventures, but Marvel Comics kept refusing
to allow their star character to go down such… unusual philosophical
directions.

Eventually, Ditko would go on to work in the independents where, uninhibited
by editorial restrictions, he was free to craft a strip that was less superheroic
serial and more illustrated treatise. As you’d expect, the titular Mister A was
a personification of objectivism (Rorschach from WATCHMEN is a milder
tribute to him, FYI
) who didn’t adventure so much as just solve situations
designed to serve his rhetorical point.

== TEASER ==

I’ve drawn this extended comparison because I’m really tickled by the
notion that HUNTER X HUNTER might actually be a platform for Togashi to explore…
potentially intense notions that he might’ve only gotten to hint at in
YU YU HAKUSHO. While I was already playing with this idea after Tonpa’s
admission of sabotage, the illustrated monologue he goes on here (about the
inherent treachery of the ‘Rule by Majority’ system) really makes
it seem like Togashi is trying to weave a larger point about competent people being weighed
down by incompetent peers.

And the drawn-out bet about our blue bad guy’s state of consciousness
only just strengthens this theory. While you can certainly make the case that
Togashi is trying to mix his heroes’ conflicts up by throwing challenges at
them which can’t be solved with punches and kicks, it still doesn’t seem
coincidental that the most consistent threats to Gon’s band are quitters.

These aren’t fearsome and mighty bullies like Toguro or Shinobu: these
are weasels trying to cheat our heroes out of victory because they possess no worthwhile
talents themselves. And if Tonpa continues to bedevil them like this, it’ll all but prove
my theory.

Watch this episode, Trick ×
To × The Trick
" here and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk







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