I used to have a friend named Wiley, and we’d been like peas and carrots since we could walk.
And boy did we like to race!
I always won, though.
Over the years we did this, Wiley started to become more and more obsessed with me. He talked about how I was the fastest girl he knew, how one day he’d catch me and make me his.
Whatever that means.
Wiley would spend hours each day planning and training, trying to figure out the best way to catch me.
He knew he’d catch me, cause he had faith!
We had a fun time, too! He’d set traps, dig pits, and one time he even disguised himself as a bush. Silly man.
But golly gee, he still never gave up! Every day he came up with a more elaborate scheme to try and beat me.
No matter what he tried, it never worked! I always managed to outwit him and escape.
But one day, when I came around he didn’t have a trap set. Wiley said he had a realization.
I’d never be his, he said. No matter how much he wanted to get me, it was never going to happen. His faith had been in something that died a long time ago, if it ever existed to begin with.
That was the last time I saw Wiley.
But you know, when I saw little ole Destructo Boy and his Burned friend, I thought of Wiley.
Strange, right?
But it makes sense if you think about it.
James Jackson is all about faith.
He looked up to Maxwell Rijen. We all did. He was so strong and mighty.
But when he died, James took up his fight. He knew what he wanted to be. Who he wanted to be.
And he had faith he’d get there.
So each and every day, Destructo Boy goes out into the world, doing everything he can to capture what Rijen once had.
He doesn’t do traps, but he rushes into danger.
He doesn’t dig pits, but he digs deep into himself.
He’s not hiding in a bush, but he wears a mask to show he’s a hero.
And the Burned Man?
That guy went through the worst.
His whole family? Golly, I can’t imagine…
But he survived where they didn’t, and his faith has led him to persist just like Wiley.
Except he’s not chasing a girl, he’s chasing vengeance.
No traps, just rage.
No pits, just despair.
No bushes, just dirty wraps.
Both TBM and the Boy live by faith like Wiley did. They spend hours every day trying to figure out the best way to catch what they’re looking for.
But they never do.
Never will.
Because Destructo Boy is chasing an image that someone can’t just go out there and train to be. It’s something earned through hardship and toil.
Because the Burned Man is chasing vengeance for something that was just another random act of violence in the Slums.
Just like Wiley, they’ll never get what they want.
Gosh, I hope Jackson has pictures of Rijen, and TBM his family.
They’ll last longer than their faith.