Thursday 22 October 2009

Janus Stark - early mutant or lazy writing?



Something i'm noticing as i go through these tales is how Janus gets himself into a right old fix that his rubbery bones can't get him out of - and then utilises some weird talent never seen or referred to before to save him.
Two examples here:
He's in a cage with an attacking lion. He can't squeeze through the bars as he hasn't time and anyway, there's guards on the other side. What does he do? "summons a powerful new weapon to his defence... the weird hypnotic gaze".
The other example isn't getting him out of a fix, rather a way of providing payback to the fiend who'd so cruelly tormented him when he were a nipper. Rather than just fetching the Peelers, "the power of the universe seemed to leap from Starks' finger-tips"
What's going on here? Had the writers all along had him down as a multi-powered character? Or is it a case of needing to get out of a fix or needing to add something a bit different to make things more thrilling?
I'll be keeping and eye out for more finger-tip action and hypnotic gazes as i continue on

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