Posted by Darth Dobbin at ct-naugatuck3a-68.wtrbct.adelphia.net on July 11, 2001 at 14:19:15:
In Reply to: Please, no bright-eyed idealism before my coffee posted by jkm822 on July 11, 2001 at 13:38:04:
I don't want to jinx anything (I'm terribly superstious about good fortune) but I believe in that impossible dream because I am lucky enough to be living it. I only endlessly wonder what a woman so patently amazing, on every concievable level, is doing with a dork like me. And I pray to all the Fates that she never shakes off that fog, and that I somehow manage to continute to trick her into thinking I am worthy of her love. So there's the Secret Origin of my shiny, happy stance.
But when you talking about the Emp, I'm going to have to take issue. Screw Neil Gaimen, he's a Johnny Come Lately New Kid in Town, and his take on the Emporer was nice, but not definitive.
You say:
": And the Emporer of America was a novelty and a tourist attraction with no real power, despite how lovely his dreams may have been. I read Sandman, too, remember? "
He existed. He crafted an absurd, wonderful illusion, and people willingly, gleefully allowed it to be "reality."
Tell me, what do you think money is? The Emporer ate his meals by issuing his own currency, which was gladly taken by the restaurants.. That's magic. Maybe even magic with a "k."
Also, in one of his more famous episodes, a mob of angry looters/rioters was forming to bust up a chinese section of town. The Emporer heard about this, and went, with many would-be "protectors" of his urging him not to do so. He was, after all, a silly buffoon who was, as you say, a tourist attraction, and this was a serious matter, where his illusions would be shattered, and him possibly hurt.
Reportedly, Norton stood up before the group, who fell silent more out of quizzical wonder and "novelty", giving him the opportunity to bow his head, and intone reproachfully The Lord's Prayer.
The mob and agitators, in shame and embarrasment, disbanded, doing no harm, and creating no riot.
That's power, and of the most magical variety. Seriously, if you only know of this wonderfully bizzare and amazing character through an odd issue of a comic book, you are cheating yourself. He's one of the most amazing figures our country, or ANY country, has ever produced.