Endlessly fascinating Mindhunter Overkill...

Sometimes the best thing about a particular work of art is the title. It is easy to understand the reason why. Because that part is usually easier to pull off than actually do something worthwhile through and through. After all - "title is the half job done". Good title can salvage mediocre or merely generic piece of work simply by being irresistible. It is able to elevate the work to another level where imagination can run amok on the possibilities hidden behind the intriguing title. That kind of instigation sometimes can be all the piece needs in order to stay.

And I want to tell you about two particular works of art that perfectly encapsulate that statement.

There are two comic book miniseries with somewhat generic titles "Overkill" and "Mindhunter". Both are part of inter-company crossover between Dark Horse Comics and Top Cow Productions. (stop for a moment and think about narrative potential of such team-up. Dominant cow and mysterious horse. Oh, oh, oh, oh... Where is Mighty Boosh when we need them?)

The selling point of the series was pairing down four signature characters from respective companies in the "ultimate showdown": Aliens and Predator on the Dark Horse side - Witchblade and The Darkness in the Top Cow corner.

Despite offering some curious narrative opportunities - both series are fairly generic crossovers that follow traditional Aliens\Predator crossover formula. The same that driven the series to the ground around that time. It goes like this: "Aliens happened to nest somewhere, Predator happens to be hunting nearby, Somebody Someone is caught in-between and fighting back". "Overkill" is exactly what it says on the tin while "Mindhunter" goes a bit into "Lovecraft meets Barker" territory but barely does anything with it.

Since every character is recognizable brand - it seemed reasonable to include all of them on the cover. Overlong list of participants made the titles special. Because of that the official titles look like this: "Overkill: Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness" and "Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness: Mindhunter". These are long-long titles. Too long to be coherent.

But because of that already generic titles became overcrowded to the point of incoherence. The list of participants made the titles extra clumsy. By shoving all involved parties into the titles - the whole thing turned simple titles of the story into a demented poetry of sorts. The titles are hijacked to the parts unknown. For some reason titles of the story are situated in the different places - in the beginning and the end respectively. That adds some rhythm to the thing.

Just try to read them: "Overkill: Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness" / "Aliens/Predator/Witchblade/The Darkness: Mindhunter" - they are so long that by the time you have finished reading you already forgot what it was all about. It is too much one can take in the title. I guess that wasn't part of the plan.

And there is only thing that could be done with it - going further in combining the names and making a poem out of all possible combinations. Because endless repetitions can strip them from the remnants of the sense and turn these lists of participants and brief summary of the ordeal into a insipid incantation.

Here's my version:



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Aliens / Predator / The Darkness / Witchblade: Mindhunter
Predator / The Darkness / Witchblade / Aliens: Mindhunter
Overkill: Aliens / Predator / The Darkness / Witchblade
Predator / Aliens / The Darkness / Witchblade: Mindhunter
Witchblade / Predator / Aliens / The Darkness: Mindhunter

The Darkness / Witchblade / Predator / Aliens: Mindhunter

Aliens / Witchblade / Predator / The Darkness: Mindhunter
Overkill: Predator / Aliens / The Darkness / Witchblade

The Darkness / Aliens / Predator / Witchblade: Mindhunter

Predator / The Darkness / Aliens / Witchblade: Mindhunter
Overkill: Aliens / The Darkness / Predator / Witchblade

Overkill: Aliens / Predator / Witchblade / The Darkness
Overkill: Witchblade / The Darkness / Predator / Aliens
Aliens / Predator / Witchblade / The Darkness: Mindhunter
Overkill: Predator / Aliens / Witchblade / The Darkness

The Darkness / Aliens / Witchblade / Predator: Mindhunter
Witchblade / Aliens / The Darkness / Predator: Mindhunter
Overkill: Predator / The Darkness / Aliens / Witchblade

Overkill: Aliens / The Darkness / Witchblade / Predator
Witchblade / The Darkness / Aliens / Predator: Mindhunter
Overkill: The Darkness / Aliens / Witchblade / Predator

Aliens / Witchblade / The Darkness / Predator: Mindhunter
Predator / Witchblade / Aliens / The Darkness: Mindhunter
Overkill: The Darkness / Witchblade / Aliens / Predator

Aliens / The Darkness / Witchblade / Predator: Mindhunter
Overkill: The Darkness / Aliens / Predator / Witchblade

Overkill: Witchblade / Aliens / The Darkness / Predator

Overkill: Predator / Witchblade / Aliens / The Darkness

Witchblade / The Darkness / Predator / Aliens: Mindhunter

Overkill: Aliens / Witchblade / The Darkness / Predator

 The Darkness / Predator / Witchblade / Aliens: Mindhunter

 The Darkness / Predator / Aliens / Witchblade: Mindhunter
Overkill: Witchblade / Predator / Aliens / The Darkness
Overkill: Aliens / Witchblade / Predator / The Darkness
 The Darkness / Witchblade / Aliens / Predator: Mindhunter
 Predator / Aliens / Witchblade / The Darkness: Mindhunter
Overkill: Predator / The Darkness / Witchblade / Aliens

Overkill: Predator / Witchblade / The Darkness / Aliens
Overkill: Witchblade / Aliens / Predator / The Darkness

 Aliens / The Darkness / Predator / Witchblade: Mindhunter
Overkill: Witchblade / The Darkness / Aliens / Predator

 Witchblade / Aliens / Predator / The Darkness: Mindhunter
Overkill: The Darkness / Predator / Witchblade / Aliens
Overkill: The Darkness / Witchblade / Predator / Aliens
Overkill: The Darkness / Predator / Aliens / Witchblade

 Predator / Witchblade / The Darkness / Aliens: Mindhunter
Overkill: Witchblade / Predator / The Darkness / Aliens
 Witchblade / Predator / The Darkness / Aliens: Mindhunter

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