Playing catch-up.
Detective 853
I don't think I posted a review of the first part of this 2-parter by Neil Gaiman. That was, as I recall, in an issue of Batman. This was delayed, I guess since I've mostly forgotten the first half which I read right away. It had to do with Batman's funeral. A rather surreal funeral that continues here with all sorts of people talking. Bat foes all claim credit for killing Bats and by the end, I couldn't help wondering what the point was. This seemed to be Bruce reflecting on his life as he is dying, but given what we now know about his death, it makes no sense to me. Andy Kubert's art is nice. But I was expecting more from such a big name writer as Gaiman. Or am I missing something because the only Bat books I've read since returning to comics in the mid-'90s have been BoP, Nightwing, and an occasional Robin, plus the Huntress Year One and Robin Year One minis.
Supergirl 40
Okay, I didn't see that coming. Maybe because I'm not a regular reader of the Superman books other than Supergirl, but really, I was surprised by the big reveal. I will not reveal it here, not even with a spoiler warning. That just wouldn't be fair because it's hard to not see something like that even with a warning. I loved the cover, but I wish it had more closely matched the last panel of the story. Inside, Kara pulls off Superwoman's mask, having figured out who she is. On the cover, a shcoked Kara stares at Superwoman, seen from behind, who reveals herself. The cover is lovely, but I would've prefered an angry or determined Kara yanking off Superwoman's mask on the cover, without revealing her face.
Trinity 47
More of the same, not as good a weekly as 52 was, but as good or sometimes better than Countdown to Crisis was. Almost over now; I hope to see a big finish.
Justice League of America 32
All I can say is, huh? Which beats my first reaction: WTF? A lot of people have recently decried the boobification of DC's covers lately. Oracle is viewed from above, her cleavage on display. And there have been others. But the Oracle cover didn't bother me. The GA/BC cover was simply ugly, which fit nicely with the story inside, so it didn't bother me, either. But I don't get this cover at all, as in Why is Dr. Light on the cover representing the JLA when she's just joined the team and isn't a big name, hardly a selling point. As in Why is she in the grasp of the latest big bad who is biting her neck while she appears to be unconscious. Yeah, that'll pump up sales, among the Love to See Women Victimized crowd. Seriously, sexy women? Not a problem for me. Show some cleavage/skin? Fine as long as it's a grown woman and not a teen girl like Kara. And while showing our heroes in danger is always a good way to hook readers -- the Ooo, how will they get out of that deathtrap? factor -- it is preferable for the good guys/gals to actually be fighting to survive. She tried to fight back in the story, so why not on the cover. Why is she ... uh... out like a light? This annoys me. Not the sexy art (provided it's anatomically correct/possible/doesn't defy the laws of physics/anatomy), but this crap that demeans Dr. Light, while giving no real sense of the group aspect of a group book.
As for the story, half is talking heads talking talkity talk. So nice to hear Supes explain to Dinah why they made her leader and why the JLA needs her and then to see the remainder of the team she disbanded get together to keep it going and talking about Dinah, yadda yadda yadda, so that by the time the actual story starts, we have time for Shadow Thief to resurrect Starbreaker who drains Dr. Light's power or much of it, for himself, and then disappear with her going after him. And now Roy isn't in the book, away on leave, so why am I still reading this? I know people didn't like how Brad Meltzer paced his stories, being that he's a novelist who is used to having time for setup, but McDuffie is a practiced comics writer and his pacing is as bad or worse. At least Brad wrote interesting things happening and his talking heads scenes were on-target characterization.
Even the art by Rags Morales (pencils) and John Dell (inks) was ho-hum. Feh.
Zorro 10-12
This just gets better and better as California history and Spanish politics meets the superhero genre where the good guy wears a mask and a cape and carves a Z as a calling card, sometimes on the face of the enemy. This is a novel in comics that is paced just right.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto 2
This is a standalone followup to the first non-continuity Lone Ranger and Tonto. Not as strong as the Lone Ranger title, but a well told story about a town of monsters. Maybe. A good jumping on point for people curious about this new version of the beloved character.
Jack of Fables 32
Wherein Jack learns something that changes well, everything he knows about himself and puts a new spin on his relationship with the Page sisters. I so love this comic.
Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon
Always nice to see Gordon, especially when he's on his own, but really, was this actually necessary? It isn't memorable enough for me to be glad I got it, but it wasn't a waste of money, either.
Green Lantern 39
Agent Orange brings another color to the mix. heh I think we're gonna need a color chart before this is done and we're into Blackest Night. Another solid installment from Geoff Johns and Philip Tan's penciled art (inked by Jonathan Glapion) is stunning.
WildCats 8-10
Issue 8 featured Maxine, with fill-in art by Pete Woods whose art I like better on the book than Googe, although Googe does a nice job. I just don't like his style on the book and it seems Woods was aiming to keep to that style as best he could. Maxine isn't my favorite WildCat, but she was quite enjoyable in this story focusing on AIs and robots just trying to survive post-Armageddon. The next two issues continue the story of a lunatic Majestic. I love these characters, even if every carnation of them seems different than the last, and it's nice having them back on a regular basis.
Simon Dark 17-18
There had been no indication that the book was a limited series, so I don't know if this was planned to end here or it was canceled, though probably the latter is the case. In any rate, it all read like a horror novel and it ends in just the right way/place. It wasn't a favorite book, but I did get sucked in and will be sorry to not see it next month.
And that's it, until I read some more. Next up, a couple of issues of Madame Xanadu, and a whole lot more.
Showing posts with label victimization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victimization. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Here's a LiveJournal I Won't Be Reading
Actually, I wanted to title this, Here's a LiveJournal I Won't be Adding to My Friends List, but that seemed a bit long.
Anyway, here's the post that I found out about thanks to Ragnell. I could've signed into LJ and posted a comment there, but figured, why bother? I don't invite myself in where I'm clearly not wanted and I don't look for fights. But since it's making the rounds, I thought I should post my position on it, even though I also commented on The Written World about it.
Yes, I think it can be worse for a parent to see their child, the life they helped bring into the world, suffer. Yes, Babs was crippled, never to walk again, although she did pass up a turn in the Lazerous Pit a while back in BoP, but still, she (thanks to Ostrander and Yale, now that I know who to thank) found her inner strength, remade herself, and made a damned fine life for herself. And while she looks in the mirror and sees the legs that can no longer support her, she's still whole where it counts.
Whereas, Jim will always look at her and see his little girl in that chair, the little girl he swore to protect and love, who is in that chair because the Joker had a beef with him.
So yes, they both suffered, but my point was that to make this about some woman-hating writer doing bad things to yet another female character is to miss the point of the story. If only Jim had had a son instead of a daughter for the Joker to have shot, but then, folks would have decried the lack of female costumed characters, because it would've been Batboy, not Batgirl who would've been crippled.
Sheesh. Get a grip, people. I offer my opinions. I don't insult anyone about theirs. I simply disagree. Whether or not I'm a parent has nothing to do with what I enjoy reading. I write male characters being raped, back in my fanfic days and now in my original fic, but not the science fiction novel I'm working on. Maybe in the sequel. But that doesn't make me a man-hater. Really. I actually married one.
Anyway, thanks to Ragnell, and SallyP, and others who commented that the LJer was off-base with the personal comments. I abhor abuse of anyone. Fiction reflects life. The bad things are written up for a variety of reasons in fiction. And we read them for a variety of reasons. Doesn't mean we want life to be that way. And it doesn't make us bad people.
Geez, and I thought folks writing incest fic and mpreg* were weird, though I certainly would never call 'em on it. To each his/her own, as long as it stays on the page and isn't how they live their lives.
*mpreg = male pregnancy fic, quite popular with some people in the fanfic community. Right up there with emasculating men fanfic.
Anyway, here's the post that I found out about thanks to Ragnell. I could've signed into LJ and posted a comment there, but figured, why bother? I don't invite myself in where I'm clearly not wanted and I don't look for fights. But since it's making the rounds, I thought I should post my position on it, even though I also commented on The Written World about it.
Yes, I think it can be worse for a parent to see their child, the life they helped bring into the world, suffer. Yes, Babs was crippled, never to walk again, although she did pass up a turn in the Lazerous Pit a while back in BoP, but still, she (thanks to Ostrander and Yale, now that I know who to thank) found her inner strength, remade herself, and made a damned fine life for herself. And while she looks in the mirror and sees the legs that can no longer support her, she's still whole where it counts.
Whereas, Jim will always look at her and see his little girl in that chair, the little girl he swore to protect and love, who is in that chair because the Joker had a beef with him.
So yes, they both suffered, but my point was that to make this about some woman-hating writer doing bad things to yet another female character is to miss the point of the story. If only Jim had had a son instead of a daughter for the Joker to have shot, but then, folks would have decried the lack of female costumed characters, because it would've been Batboy, not Batgirl who would've been crippled.
Sheesh. Get a grip, people. I offer my opinions. I don't insult anyone about theirs. I simply disagree. Whether or not I'm a parent has nothing to do with what I enjoy reading. I write male characters being raped, back in my fanfic days and now in my original fic, but not the science fiction novel I'm working on. Maybe in the sequel. But that doesn't make me a man-hater. Really. I actually married one.
Anyway, thanks to Ragnell, and SallyP, and others who commented that the LJer was off-base with the personal comments. I abhor abuse of anyone. Fiction reflects life. The bad things are written up for a variety of reasons in fiction. And we read them for a variety of reasons. Doesn't mean we want life to be that way. And it doesn't make us bad people.
Geez, and I thought folks writing incest fic and mpreg* were weird, though I certainly would never call 'em on it. To each his/her own, as long as it stays on the page and isn't how they live their lives.
*mpreg = male pregnancy fic, quite popular with some people in the fanfic community. Right up there with emasculating men fanfic.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
When is it Gratuitous?
This post over at Blog@Newsrama asks what we think about the controversy re: the women in refrigerators syndrome, which by the way, originated not with The Killing Joke, as I understand it, but with the body of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend being found by him in the fridge.
I've been mostly ignoring this latest "outrage" over an old story, but since a lot of people believe, and rightly so in many cases, that women are still not respected in the DCU, I figured I'd write yet another *insightful* post about it. At any rate, this is my opinion and not intended to be treated as anything other than that.
Aside from crippling a sidekick to a character, Batman, who already had Robin, The Killing Joke helped revitalize Barbara Gordon as she transformed herself into Oracle and went from sidekick/guest star to Major Player. She can literally appear in any story in continuity. She has her own book with her own team. Rather than be the helpless female, Babs fought back. True, that was after the fact, but Babs was stuck down at home, in her civilian life, not as Batgirl. So, no, she wasn't given anything heroic to do in the story, because in that story, she was a supporting character. The story, sorry, wasn't about her. It was about Jim, the Joker, and because he's who he is, it was about Batman and his friendship with Jim. Batman was the frontrunner. He was and is one of the "Big 3." Babs, especially then, was not a headliner.
Which brings us to the issue that she was attacked as a helpless female to get back at a male. So what? Jim Gordon has one person in his life someone wanting to get to him could go after: Babs. And Jim, himself, was nabbed and tortured. And has had to live with the guilt over what happened to his daughter. In some ways, Babs had it easier.
It is a fact, unfortunate perhaps, that the best way to strike at someone indirectly, is to go after a loved one, and if there are mostly females in that person's life, it's the females who get to suffer so the males can suffer emotionally. But sometimes, a male gets it. Jason "Robin II" Todd got to die. Even if we'd voted for him to live (I voted for death), he would've had a rough recovery given his injuries, or at least, he should've. Who knows how DC would've handled it. Probably with him bouncing back next issue, as obnoxious as ever. But the fact remains that Jason was a male character getting blown up.
Suffering is part of drama. Sue Dibny gets raped because that's a horror people can relate to in the real world and because neither DC or comics readers are ready for male rape. It was a horrid act that could logically lead to the mindwipe that led indirectly to Identity Crisis. Sue was one of the very few civilians who could have been in that role. Jean, who turned out to be the killer, was one of the few others, someone with inside info, but not one of the team. And Sue was one of the few characters who could have been in the satellite and been unable to fight off Light. Story-wise, it fit.
I am not disgusted by stories that have women harmed, maimed, tortured, or raped. Nor am I disgusted by stories that have those things done to male characters. I AM disgusted by stories that do any of that to either sex for the sheer fun of doing it without a story reason, without a story to go with it. Without a purpose, without the follow-up. Black Canary was tortured in the original Green Arrow series, but then, so was Ollie. Was it less horrible when it was Ollie hanging from the rafters with blood dripping down his body?
All we need, IMO, is to even things out a bit, balance the suffering between the males and the females. But mostly, we need more books with female leads and vulnerable males in their lives. Now, are they bringing back Kate Spencer, the Manhunter, or not?
I've been mostly ignoring this latest "outrage" over an old story, but since a lot of people believe, and rightly so in many cases, that women are still not respected in the DCU, I figured I'd write yet another *insightful* post about it. At any rate, this is my opinion and not intended to be treated as anything other than that.
Aside from crippling a sidekick to a character, Batman, who already had Robin, The Killing Joke helped revitalize Barbara Gordon as she transformed herself into Oracle and went from sidekick/guest star to Major Player. She can literally appear in any story in continuity. She has her own book with her own team. Rather than be the helpless female, Babs fought back. True, that was after the fact, but Babs was stuck down at home, in her civilian life, not as Batgirl. So, no, she wasn't given anything heroic to do in the story, because in that story, she was a supporting character. The story, sorry, wasn't about her. It was about Jim, the Joker, and because he's who he is, it was about Batman and his friendship with Jim. Batman was the frontrunner. He was and is one of the "Big 3." Babs, especially then, was not a headliner.
Which brings us to the issue that she was attacked as a helpless female to get back at a male. So what? Jim Gordon has one person in his life someone wanting to get to him could go after: Babs. And Jim, himself, was nabbed and tortured. And has had to live with the guilt over what happened to his daughter. In some ways, Babs had it easier.
It is a fact, unfortunate perhaps, that the best way to strike at someone indirectly, is to go after a loved one, and if there are mostly females in that person's life, it's the females who get to suffer so the males can suffer emotionally. But sometimes, a male gets it. Jason "Robin II" Todd got to die. Even if we'd voted for him to live (I voted for death), he would've had a rough recovery given his injuries, or at least, he should've. Who knows how DC would've handled it. Probably with him bouncing back next issue, as obnoxious as ever. But the fact remains that Jason was a male character getting blown up.
Suffering is part of drama. Sue Dibny gets raped because that's a horror people can relate to in the real world and because neither DC or comics readers are ready for male rape. It was a horrid act that could logically lead to the mindwipe that led indirectly to Identity Crisis. Sue was one of the very few civilians who could have been in that role. Jean, who turned out to be the killer, was one of the few others, someone with inside info, but not one of the team. And Sue was one of the few characters who could have been in the satellite and been unable to fight off Light. Story-wise, it fit.
I am not disgusted by stories that have women harmed, maimed, tortured, or raped. Nor am I disgusted by stories that have those things done to male characters. I AM disgusted by stories that do any of that to either sex for the sheer fun of doing it without a story reason, without a story to go with it. Without a purpose, without the follow-up. Black Canary was tortured in the original Green Arrow series, but then, so was Ollie. Was it less horrible when it was Ollie hanging from the rafters with blood dripping down his body?
All we need, IMO, is to even things out a bit, balance the suffering between the males and the females. But mostly, we need more books with female leads and vulnerable males in their lives. Now, are they bringing back Kate Spencer, the Manhunter, or not?
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