Geek vs. Nerd

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Spier-Man and Catwoman?

In case you hadn't heard, the BBC has reported 2 recent shake-ups in the comic book world, Spider-Man going public and Batwoman joining the all-girls team. There are some things that I can understand and, in some manner, support when comic books take on real-world issues. I have no problem with them trying to have super-heroes face some type of real-world issues upon occassion, but these recent announcements just really hack me off.

It is one thing to have your core characters face and deal with issues, it's quite another to change those characters or go back on their established histories just so you can tow some kind of party line. I found it rather absurd and bizarre that they would change a character so drastically after 40+ years in a particular role. The issue with Spider-Man was not so much an agenda with that particular character, but the current storyline in Marvel on “Super-hero registration” is an open response to real-world government actions and a perceived overstepping of constitutional boundaries for the sake of “safety.” My screename was my dissatisfied reaction to feeling preached at by my comic books, which are supposed to be an ESCAPE from real-world stress and propaganda.

My favorite super-hero, for those of you that don't know, was the Flash. I found it a little when the Pied Piper decided to "come out" in the late 80s, but the time they are a'changin', and it offered Wally West, the third Flash, a chance to deal with this issue and learn from it. Piper has kept this part to his character, and it adds depth as well as reality to Wally's non-supero life. But for DC to take an established hero, such as Batwoman, and use her to springboard into a homosecual character just to appeal to a particular demographic or something, is not only lazy and unimaginative, but also an indignant divorce from the legacy of comic book history.

This is probably the most disappointed I've been in comic books since they reintroduced Supergirl 2 years ago without so much as a nod or a recognition of the 2 previous incarnations of the character. I mean seriously, everyone can remember Superman died, but not who filled his shoes while he was gone?

3 Comments:

  • you know, I'm not trying to nag you into updating your blog, but you might want to update you links- your 'girlfriend' might appreciate the recognition of an upgraded status :)

    p.s. the spellchecker built into the latest firefox browser rocks.

    joey

    By Blogger joey, at 2:02 AM  

  • OMG! Someone left a comment! That makes me think maybe somebody out in cyberspace actually READS my blog, thereby somehow motivating me to actually KEEP UP my blog.

    By Blogger ~!*~^~*!~, at 5:49 AM  

  • congratulations, and welcome to the "haven't blogged in over a year" club!

    By Blogger Trevor, at 11:03 PM  

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