Versus started out because of the age old dilemma… Who would win in a fight between blah and blah? Then many of us comic nerdians thought we would see the question answered with our favorite heroes when Marvel vs. DC came out and sadly, it solved nothing. So here at Versus we endeavored to determine our own winners set in our own battles. We saw some great matchups and will continue to see great matchups, but why push ourselves into a box? There are so many great characters from all the companies, not just the Big Two. And maybe it’s just me, but I want to see those great characters beat the shit out of each other as well. So let’s crack open this box and see what the rest of the comic universe has to offer.
Now our last Versus was a personal upset for me, because it featured pretty much my favorite hero of all time, Nightwing, get “beat” by pretty much my favorite hero of all time, Daredevil. It even went to a tie vote, resulting in an evening of tears for myself, and a desire to never pit my faves against each other again. Alas, as is the case quite often with Versus I have to do it again. This time we are looking at Image vs. Vertigo (yea, yea, I know it’s pretty much DC, eat me) and some more of my faves taking each other on. And here to help me decide the outcome, Scott Castillo and Jared Zygarlicke in their Versus debut.
SupaScoot
Now we get to the real action. Two tough warrior women, one defined by her years of training, and one by her will to survive. At first I gave this one to 355, with little doubt in my mind. But my thoughts have shifted, because as usual a battle like this can’t always be determined by weapons or tactics. It boils down to emotion and will. 355 would no doubt fight to the best of her ability, which far exceeds Michonne’s skill level, but Michonne is used to taking on the odds. Michonne could break through 355’s icy exterior and turn this into a primal match of woman vs. woman. A knock down beat ‘em up unlike any we’ve seen outside of softcore lesbian prison movies. Faced with yet another situation where she is facing her death, I think that somehow Michonne comes out on top. I don’t believe it either, but I can’t help it, she scares me.
Y: The Last Man’s Agent 355 is an incredibly well trained, straight to business, does what needs to be done type of lady. With an assignment as important as protecting the last human male on the planet, all of the above mentioned traits are a necessity for keeping him, as well as herself, alive and on their journey. While in The Walking Dead, a mysterious woman known as Michonne uses a katana to thwart the constant threat of zombies. Each series, in their own respect, have created characters which play major supporting roles to the books and protagonists. Both of the women are strong, independent characters who act upon their own free will. Both women also provide a feeling of safety, comfort, and hope to each books’ male lead. This is most obviously shown in Y since 355 is always saving Yorick from getting his dumbass killed. This, however, is a bit more subtle in TWD. While Rick Grimes is willing to take in someone who can competently defend themselves and help protect his family, he is also comforted by Michonne when caught carrying around a telephone specifically used for talking to his dead wife. Despite this, in a one-on-one fight to the death, there is no doubt that Agent 355 would completely wreck Michonne’s shit, leaving her a bloody mess just waiting to become a zombie herself.
I think in a fight like this, 355 is easily the more skilled of the two. Having grown up tough and street fighting, she was at a young age recruited to become a secret agent. Those years of hand-to-hand combat along with weapons training practically make her a killing machine.
Not much of Michonne’s life pre-zombie land is known. But from what we have seen of her since the character’s debut is that she is a cutthroat bitch. She displays this trait almost immediately by decapitating the two zombies which she was pulling around on chains. Yes, you read that correctly, she was pulling around two shackled zombies like slaves (one of which was her boyfriend). If that doesn’t scream “don’t fuck with me”, then I don’t know what does. Michonne is obviously a tough individual who can hold her own. But against a highly trained agent of the Culper Ring, I really don’t see much of a fight happening.
Scott Castillo’s Winner: Agent 355
When Michonne was introduced as a character I thought she was boring and one-dimensional (especially with what I thought was a heavy-handed origin). She didn’t trust anyone, blah blah blah, could take care of herself,blah blah blah, I was really just not interested. But Kirkman was adding some more depth to his book and new characters were fine with me. Then she messed with Tyreese and Carol. Not cool. Her character had been so un-identifiable up to that point, when she pulled that stunt I totally lost even the tiniest level of interest. Michonne is a crazy (she fucking talks to herself), manipulative character that too often hides behind her appearance as a badass to be interesting to me. She lies, doesn’t trust anyone, and after she does its too late, and the shit has already gone down. She started out ok, then goes batshit-crazy. I’m not really into that.
355 is the exact opposite. She’s brave, strong-willed, and has a great character arc over the course of Y’s sixty issues, that it really got to me. When she was introduced it was all business, with a generous dose of witty, sexual tension between her and Yorick. But as the book progressed we began to see sides of 355 that weren’t overtly clear. Cracks in her resolve. Flaws in her character, that transformed her from super-spy badass into a human being. Yeah, she’s always tough on Yorick, but anyone can see that she cares deeply for him. Her actions always give insight to her character. Even when she knows it’s a dumb idea she’ll follow Yorick’s stupid plan to help people, because she knows it’s the right thing to do. 355 is a well-defined, well-rounded character with tons of emotional depth and personality. I felt an attachment to her the minute she came onto the scene, kept wanting more of her character as the series progressed, and absolutely hated Vaughn for never giving me her real name.
So. Yeah. It’s pretty obvious where I stand on this one. Michonne is someone I never really had that much interest in. Her character is one that I couldn’t identify with at all and did some really stupid things for really stupid reasons. 355, on the other hand, is amazing. A dynamic character with strong motivation, and even stronger convictions, who does things she doesn’t necessarily want to out of duty and love; she embraces her faults and tries to learn from her mistakes in order to better herself. For that she wins my vote.
WINNER - 355 by a score of 2-1.
Wow, these are 2 of my all-time favorite books. I have to admit tough, I don’t think Scotty C and The Z Man are giving enough props to Michonne. Sure 355 is a badass, but how many Zombies has she killed?
I think that I could take both of them check me out.
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Ooooh man. I love Michonne but 355 had to be the winner on that!
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I think it would totally depend on the situation. You back Michonne into a corner, watch out, cuz she is gonna go apeshit
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