Once again, we enter the realm of the adult graphic novel to meet the Vertigo Emperor.

And once again, we are presented with images rendered in shades of brown and red and off-white. Sitting awkwarded upon a slab-like throne, a lop-sided figure resembling a freakish rag doll dominates the card. This is the Emperor. From a torso held together by tightly wrapped string emerge two upraised, garishly white arms. The fingers on each hand are disjointed, and they each hold the strings attached to two marionettes that are held upright, facing one another, in front of the Emperor. The over-large head of the Emperor flops onto his right shoulder. The features of his face fill his head--his eyes are large and hollowed out, his nose a protrusion of cloth, and his mouth suggested by wrinkles in the cloth that is his skin. His thin hair streams up and behind him, as if he was falling from a great height, an illusion contradicted by the steadiness in the rest of his pose. An orb floats above the marionette on his left, which is depicted wearing what appears to be a feathered headdress. A sceptre floats horizontally above the other marionette, who wears what appears to be a fedora and a trenchcoat. Both marionettes are reaching out to one another. Are we the marionettes, the ones going through the moves of our lives, our actions in truth controlled by an impotent Emperor who is nothing more than a stuffed doll?

Rachel Pollack imforms us that the figure depicting the Emperor is known as the Geek. The Geek is in fact a rag doll, "brought to life by a quirk of nature." (Aren't we all?) The Geek has the ability, in his stories, to merge with any doll and bring it to life. He is the animating force, the drive, that motivates life. He is the puppetmaster and manipulator, and we must recognize his power over us. Of course, the question remains, since he is a rag doll, and dolls are meant to be played with, whose toy is the Emperor?

Bonne'
LaSenyera@aol.com