Panel 2 lost me. We know that Helen eventually perfected the cure, and it doesn’t seem that Ginny or anyone else beat her to it. But, like Ginny, I don’t see what kind of use Artie’s afraid of. Curing mad scientists of their madness is benevolent, no?
And of course that raises the question of what the cure does to ordinary humans… I can see how Anasigma might be very interested in a chemical that can turn anyone reality-blind.
I think Dr Lee has a problem with *being* benevolently intended, the sane science brain-o-mat is the first thing we’ve been shown in cannon that isn’t some type of super soldier (UNITY) or war machine (Nick) Oh I almost forgot, chemical warfare (the nerve gas in stitch in time she was reverse engineering)…
Maybe think of it less as curing, more as eliminating competition. I wouldn’t be surprised (or possibly missed it being clearly mentioned) if A-Sig has several, or even loads of, Mad Scientists working for them. A-Sig could release the cure, and just make sure that none of their mad employees took it. Imagine how much power it would give them if they controlled a significant portion of the Mad Scientist population. Heck, they could even weaponize it somehow and use it as a defense against any rebellious Scientists, or even an offense in some kind of purge.
It’s somewhat analogous to the cure for mutation in x men. I say ‘somewhat’ because mad scientists really ARE unstable, dangerous loonboxes. But they make the world much more interesting: thanks to them it’s full of talking cyprus swamps and clockwork men and bossy dogs and cheery zombies.
Giving the cure to A-Sig would give them the power to define reality as their vision of it.
Well just because you remove the evil from madness doesn’t mean a mad person is safe. Even the nicest Mads we’ve seen don’t always put much thought into the consequences of their actions. They could still end up causing massive damage and/or casualties because even their good madness is still dangerously unstable.
You know, given how hard mad scientists are to kill (always having backups or clones or time travel or brain-washed-standins or however many other ways to come back after a ‘verified’ death), it occurs to me that the easiest way for A-sig to ‘off’ a troublesome scientist would be to cure them, and *then* kill them. Sanity is their kryptonite.
Only if a prepared Mad can’t mess up their mind so badly that even whilst “sane” they can provide a serious barrier to A-sig. Or manage to get the process working so well that the Mad in question becomes reversely insane, also known as “enasni”, although “knurd” might explain some facets of this concept better.
I can easily see it being abused for a number of reasons.
1) We know from canon in Narbonic that one being a mad scientist does not inherently make one “evil.” This means that, while most of what we see in Narbonic and even Skin Horse is the evil variety, there is undoubtedly just as much “good” mad science — or at the very least neutral — we’re missing out on, that could easily be lost thanks to a so-called cure.
2) One thing it seems that most mad scientists have in common is a tendency to embrace their madness in the end, using it to their advantage. If the mad science community as a whole were to become aware of a supposed “cure” for their condition, it is likely they would do everything in their power to take it down. Despite being a shadow organization, A-Sig isn’t exactly… subtle, so it is likely that a war would break out between the organization and the mad science community as a whole.
3) Moving on from point 2 is the fact that, if one truly embraces their madness, then one of the greatest threats that could be held over them is to take that madness — that genius, that spark, that creativity — away from them. This could, effectively, put hundreds of mad scientists in A-Sig’s pocket, under threat of no longer being that which they hold so dear if they don’t toe the line.
I agree with the above commenters. A cure for mad science may be benevolent, but Anasigma has been shown to be anything but. If they have, or are trying to create, a cure for mad science, it will be only to line their own pockets and consolidate their power.
Two words: prior restraint. Four more words: unlawful restraint on trade. Three more, and slightly more worrisome to most people who aren’t lawyers: government mind control. That is how the cure can be misused. Anasigma may be an independent company, but it clearly has strong ties to the US government.
Part of it is that it’s effectively a very slow death sentence to the transgenic/”product of mad science” community. No mad scientists = no new spidergoats or cute cobras or whatever.
Although being Artie, he’s probably got about 8 different levels of “why this is a bad idea” he could explain but won’t.
If A-Sig can come up with a version that also forces people to ignore all the weirdness, they could have an evil conspiracy shadow government that everyone would ignore the existence of even as it controlled them.
(TUNE: “I Like It Like That”, Chris Kenner & Allen Toussaint)
[CHORUS:]
Come on!
Now, we’ll dive into the sewage vat!
Come on!
Down to where the zombies all are at!
Come on!
There’s no time to stand around and chat!
Let’s jump in the sump, ’cause I got a new hat!
Now Artie tells Ginny,
“Shame on you!
You know just what the Cure can do!”
He says, “Stop!”,
And she says, “Go!”
And Tip says, “Hey, check my fabulous chapeau!” [repeat CHORUS]
Now Doctor Lee
Says, “You must see
How this could help society!”
Then Artie said,
“It’s bad!” instead …
But Tip’s new stylin’ is going to his head! [repeat CHORUS]
and Treesong, its a great line – and I love it specially cause I have seen so many clothing freaks decide that with ‘this new hat’ or ‘these new shoes’ they we’re unstoppable
I can confirm that this is extremely confusing for people who haven’t read Narbonic. One of my friends thought that context made it obvious it was a cure for zombieism, for instance.
Hmmm. Wonder if a cure can also be reverse-engineered? As in, can a method be found to *give* non-geniuses the Mad Genius syndrome, perhaps minus the ‘mad’ aspect? Don’t tell me that Anasigma couldn’t use something that could make selected staff into Tony Starks (though he’s probably not without his own Mad quotient.)
Panel 2 lost me. We know that Helen eventually perfected the cure, and it doesn’t seem that Ginny or anyone else beat her to it. But, like Ginny, I don’t see what kind of use Artie’s afraid of. Curing mad scientists of their madness is benevolent, no?
We know Helen eventually perfects the cure. Now that Dave’s gone insane though, it might not be as high of a priority any more.
Current Helen does have [i]a[/i] cure. It’s just the “turns you into one of the twenty percent of delusional mundanes” cure.
And of course that raises the question of what the cure does to ordinary humans… I can see how Anasigma might be very interested in a chemical that can turn anyone reality-blind.
And Lee’s superiors aren’t known for using her benevolently-intended research for benevolent purposes…
I think Dr Lee has a problem with *being* benevolently intended, the sane science brain-o-mat is the first thing we’ve been shown in cannon that isn’t some type of super soldier (UNITY) or war machine (Nick) Oh I almost forgot, chemical warfare (the nerve gas in stitch in time she was reverse engineering)…
Maybe think of it less as curing, more as eliminating competition. I wouldn’t be surprised (or possibly missed it being clearly mentioned) if A-Sig has several, or even loads of, Mad Scientists working for them. A-Sig could release the cure, and just make sure that none of their mad employees took it. Imagine how much power it would give them if they controlled a significant portion of the Mad Scientist population. Heck, they could even weaponize it somehow and use it as a defense against any rebellious Scientists, or even an offense in some kind of purge.
It’s somewhat analogous to the cure for mutation in x men. I say ‘somewhat’ because mad scientists really ARE unstable, dangerous loonboxes. But they make the world much more interesting: thanks to them it’s full of talking cyprus swamps and clockwork men and bossy dogs and cheery zombies.
Giving the cure to A-Sig would give them the power to define reality as their vision of it.
What would be perfect, of course, is if they could keep the ‘genius’ and even the ‘mad’, but leave out the ‘evil’…
That would just be a cure for evil, and applied to everybody, yes, that would be perfect. A perfect world…
Well just because you remove the evil from madness doesn’t mean a mad person is safe. Even the nicest Mads we’ve seen don’t always put much thought into the consequences of their actions. They could still end up causing massive damage and/or casualties because even their good madness is still dangerously unstable.
I was thinking less ‘Serenity’ and more making the altered mental state produced by Walton’s Disorder a bit less sociopathic.
“Control…Mad Scientist” ?! Gook luck with that.
@Avid: You forget, Helen has already weaponized it.
Doesn’t mean Anasigma aren’t also interested in the weaponized version.
You know, given how hard mad scientists are to kill (always having backups or clones or time travel or brain-washed-standins or however many other ways to come back after a ‘verified’ death), it occurs to me that the easiest way for A-sig to ‘off’ a troublesome scientist would be to cure them, and *then* kill them. Sanity is their kryptonite.
Only if a prepared Mad can’t mess up their mind so badly that even whilst “sane” they can provide a serious barrier to A-sig. Or manage to get the process working so well that the Mad in question becomes reversely insane, also known as “enasni”, although “knurd” might explain some facets of this concept better.
I can easily see it being abused for a number of reasons.
1) We know from canon in Narbonic that one being a mad scientist does not inherently make one “evil.” This means that, while most of what we see in Narbonic and even Skin Horse is the evil variety, there is undoubtedly just as much “good” mad science — or at the very least neutral — we’re missing out on, that could easily be lost thanks to a so-called cure.
2) One thing it seems that most mad scientists have in common is a tendency to embrace their madness in the end, using it to their advantage. If the mad science community as a whole were to become aware of a supposed “cure” for their condition, it is likely they would do everything in their power to take it down. Despite being a shadow organization, A-Sig isn’t exactly… subtle, so it is likely that a war would break out between the organization and the mad science community as a whole.
3) Moving on from point 2 is the fact that, if one truly embraces their madness, then one of the greatest threats that could be held over them is to take that madness — that genius, that spark, that creativity — away from them. This could, effectively, put hundreds of mad scientists in A-Sig’s pocket, under threat of no longer being that which they hold so dear if they don’t toe the line.
I agree with the above commenters. A cure for mad science may be benevolent, but Anasigma has been shown to be anything but. If they have, or are trying to create, a cure for mad science, it will be only to line their own pockets and consolidate their power.
Good inventions do not make good intentions.
Two words: prior restraint. Four more words: unlawful restraint on trade. Three more, and slightly more worrisome to most people who aren’t lawyers: government mind control. That is how the cure can be misused. Anasigma may be an independent company, but it clearly has strong ties to the US government.
Part of it is that it’s effectively a very slow death sentence to the transgenic/”product of mad science” community. No mad scientists = no new spidergoats or cute cobras or whatever.
Although being Artie, he’s probably got about 8 different levels of “why this is a bad idea” he could explain but won’t.
I like Tips attitude, I never get tired of it!
but I am interested in the exchange between Artie and DrLee
They both did something stupid: Tip. Well, relative to themselves.
If A-Sig can come up with a version that also forces people to ignore all the weirdness, they could have an evil conspiracy shadow government that everyone would ignore the existence of even as it controlled them.
(TUNE: “I Like It Like That”, Chris Kenner & Allen Toussaint)
[CHORUS:]
Come on!
Now, we’ll dive into the sewage vat!
Come on!
Down to where the zombies all are at!
Come on!
There’s no time to stand around and chat!
Let’s jump in the sump, ’cause I got a new hat!
Now Artie tells Ginny,
“Shame on you!
You know just what the Cure can do!”
He says, “Stop!”,
And she says, “Go!”
And Tip says, “Hey, check my fabulous chapeau!”
[repeat CHORUS]
Now Doctor Lee
Says, “You must see
How this could help society!”
Then Artie said,
“It’s bad!” instead …
But Tip’s new stylin’ is going to his head!
[repeat CHORUS]
‘Let’s jump in the sump, ’cause I got a new hat!’ is one of your best lines evar.
ya know Dave, I’m personally hoping that mad as a hatter or not – the other Dave is somewhere banging Helen about 4 times a day, he deserves it
I think this comment leaves me feeling a bit confused, because I think he… is?
and Treesong, its a great line – and I love it specially cause I have seen so many clothing freaks decide that with ‘this new hat’ or ‘these new shoes’ they we’re unstoppable
I suspected Tip wouldn’t settle for a mundane wet suit, but couldn’t imagine what he would come up with.
and of course I need to check my new avatar LOL
Hey, it’s the Meth-Lab dog!
Welcome to the club
I can confirm that this is extremely confusing for people who haven’t read Narbonic. One of my friends thought that context made it obvious it was a cure for zombieism, for instance.
More motive to read
Hmmm. Wonder if a cure can also be reverse-engineered? As in, can a method be found to *give* non-geniuses the Mad Genius syndrome, perhaps minus the ‘mad’ aspect? Don’t tell me that Anasigma couldn’t use something that could make selected staff into Tony Starks (though he’s probably not without his own Mad quotient.)