“Pat firsthand experiencing the violent death of his dog (who’s also quite possibly the only being who will ever love him unconditionally and uncoercedly)”

My recommendation is that he get a new dog. It won’t know he’s an ex-supervillain!

He’s a supergenius who has spent all his post-adolescence life learning how to emotionally manipulate other people.

Because Patrick is attempting to be redeemed, and Max is still being an asshole. While actions still count as volumes, so does intent. Patrick still should – if it were safe from whatever potential conspiracy murderers out there – go to jail as Alison had suggested when his time limit is up.

Besides all that, deep down, Alison is still trying to be a superhero. And superheroes try to save everyone, after all.

In addition to what else has been said here – Patrick’s actions are, in part, caused by SEVERE abuse and biological/mental illness, where as Max’s actions are influenced by privilege and selfishness.

I’m a lot more willing to be understanding of someone who does a bad thing because of a severe addiction or because they were experiencing a psychotic episode than someone who does it just because they’re a jerk, especially if the person is repentant and/or seeking treatment.

Max was a controversial character far before we even knew his political political opinions. He pushed a lot of boundaries with Al. He was an asshole to Clevin. There were minor indications that he lacked compassion before the bit with the gardeners (his blithe dismissal of his friend’s apartment burning down?) …and then we find out his whole backstory of how he is angry and bitter because he was absolutely convinced that he should be a superhero. And he had a tortured childhood because where were his powers! …and then in turned out that he did have powers, they just did nothing to fulfill his macho power fantasies. Oh yeah, and meanwhile, his mother misused her position to keep him off the registry so he was never listed and never went to the camps like all the other BD kids. So hard! …what an entitled snotty nosed brat. (That Al later coerced through force and threat into helping Feral. I’m not ignoring that.)

What’s interesting is how sympathetic people were to Patrick before we really know his backstory. He struck me from pretty early on as being very much like the fucked up teenagers in my EEP cohort (I am not holding myself apart from that group…) And we did some pretty fucked up shit. Mass murder? No. Hacking and high explosives, breaking and entering and burglary? Yes. (No regrets on the last.) And… culturally, I am a hacker*. Which means that whoa, a lot of people in my community have questionable pasts. I’m not going to hold a teen to adult standards. I’m also somewhat flexible in my judgements if I understand where the person was coming from (though with adults this gets pretty complicated – I have no objection for reasonable consequences for actions, though “reasonable” can be a sticking point.)

* Both in the classical and neoclassical sense, though other than minor consulting, I don’t mess around with security that much any more. (However, my protege / adopted sister just got hired on an open source security project right out of school and I’m so proud of her!) Mostly, I build things, and take things apart, and… um, yeah.

A large factor is motivation and moral compass. Max clearly is selfish to the extreme and clearly has no regard for others. Classic signs of evil, though not on a grand scale, just a personal one. Read People of the Lie for more on what evil people truly are. Monsters often see right in front of you and you never know.

Patrick on the other hand seems a villain and played the part superficially. The actual motivation goes far deeper. Compare anti hero and anti villain. Noble goal by any means necessary but not with out total disregard for others. He clearly has a moral compass not centered on himself, but it also is not “pure” in the classical sense.

That is the main difference in short form.

It’s the Dolores Umbridge effect. We’ve all known people like Max. I doubt anyone who reads this comic has ever known anyone like Patrick.

Max is the kind of person you can be glad doesn’t have Patrick or Allison’s powers because it’s very clear that he would be far worse in the use of them, and has never really shown an inclination to do or to be better than he is. Whether or not he should /have/ to be is a discussion unto itself.

Patrick and Allison are both the kind of people you can be relieved /aren’t/ worse than they
are, all things considered, and who are demonstrably trying to be better than the world has made them for no other reason than for the sake of other people’s wellbeing.

This isn’t to particularly pardon any of their individual sins, but to observe that they are on the whole far more forgivable for their motives and outlooks from the perspective of many readers.

To put it another way: we know Patrick /can/ be redeemed. We have seen his redeeming qualities. Whether or not he lives a ‘spotless’ life from here on out is immaterial. We have cause to believe that he is /trying/ and will continue to do so. We may be proven wrong, but there’s something there. Conversely, Max has shown little to nothing in the way of inclination to improve his own outlook. This makes it harder to sympathize with him on anything but the most utilitarian grounds and the fact that, arguably, he has managed not to be as bad a person as Patrick in practical terms. I say ‘arguably’ because the conversation can still be had as to whether or not Max had a moral obligation to use his power to save lives when presented with the clear opportunity to do so. We can ask whether in withholding his power he was willfully neglecting people to death. We don’t know how many lives Max is responsible for, and unlike Patrick, neither does he.

Max’s redemption arc probably wouldn’t make for a very long or interesting story in itself. He has a lot less moral or ethical ground to cover to stop being a low-grade jerk with an inferiority complex, and the good he could accomplish by choosing to assist/enhance other capes would pretty quickly outweigh the petty evil’s he’s wallowed in thus far. It’d be great if he did, but right now there’s no reason to believe he ever will.

So the short answer? It’s easier right now to be invested in Patrick’s story than Max’s. There’s simply more to it on every level of engagement, even if you hate him for what he’s done. The very fact that he’s done so much more than Max has makes him a more interesting character. That could change in the future, Max could undergo some kind of heel-face apotheosis and Patrick could wind up getting killed off or flipping irredeemably evil or what have you, but this is how it is right now.

I do not trust the fact that a person allegedly experiencing a psychotic break managed to come prepared with an exquisitely gift-wrapped yet evocatively clumsily glued together broken mug. I’m still expecting this to have all been an elaborate play Patrick set up because Alison’s grown some kind of resistance to his power.