| I think this is the part where I make a cliche Hulk anger joke. | [Jan. 6th, 2007|12:13 am] |
So, I've been considering reading the Midnighter/Grifter mini on the strength of the cover, which is fabulous. I was going to tolerate the Chuck Dixon because hey, sometimes you can't always win every battle, but now...
Oh, hell. Will someone just shove a vodka-doused sock in Chuck Dixon's mouth and light it, please?
I wrote an anti-death penalty story even though my views are the polar opposite.
Oh, so now it's the "black friend" defense. Clearly, your non-political, escapist comics never taught you that tokenism as a defense is idiocy.
My suggestion was that superhero comics are, whether die-hard fans like it or not, ostensibly children’s comics and perhaps not the forum to be informing children of homosexuality, heterosexuality, or sexually transmitted diseases. think I incensed some people by saying that I didn’t want my kids receiving their sex ed from Judd Winick in the pages of a superhero comic book. I still don’t.
I’ve never backed away from my disdain for agenda-driven comics in what should be the medium’s primary escapist, mass appeal genre. Stand on your soap box all day long. But don’t stand on the shoulders of household-name icons. Write the characters in character and don’t write your world-view through them.
And the introduction and retro-fitting of gay characters into established series has become an instant cliché. It’s done in a cynical manner strictly for marketing purposes in a way that should offend everyone.
I think I can pretty well-assuredly say that when Alex Ross first made his comments about Obsidian's gayness, there was anger. However, he later explained and clarified in what I'd term an acceptable manner and made clear his position. Unfortunately, Chuck's still so far in the closet he's visiting Narnia.
Chuck's also shrunk a bit in height, so it's easier for the point just to sail right over his head. Heck, when people like Chuck are confronted with the reality of the industry, there's a hurricane of not getting it that threatens to flatten Florida. So, his kids can read escapist fantasy where women are busier advertising assets than acting, and men are often impossibly-muscle bound, occasionally to unhealthy levels (this is much more an issue of the 90s, but it still stands). So instead of getting Judd Winick's Sex Ed. (which one hopes is more than, "This is herpes. Doesn't it look nasty? Don't fuck people, kids!") they can learn women are there for boobs and men are always the winners. Escapism is not bad in and of itself, but it's also in no way superior in actually considering the reality of a situation. This isn't even tackling the whole bit with Spoiler, which has been much better stated by others.
Any changes I might make to that part of his character are not a matter of interpretation. Any changes would be wrong and a disservice to the writers that came before me and the readers who enjoy Midnighter’s antics.
(Warning, this is the part where I do a Moon Knight soapbox) I wonder, because I seem to recall part of the issue with Marc Spector: Moon Knight is that it flat-out ignored canon and was a steaming pile of crap. Did you ever think about the disservice to Monech, who created and wrote Moon Knight for years? So thanks for pulling Moon Knight further from his origins because you hate "realism." Instead of making up for the abysmal Fist of Khonshu, you took an interesting character and turned him into a laughing stock for your own purposes. Don't tell me you write in-character even if you don't agree with them. Thank the powers that be Huston is writing an awesome book right now.
And on the note of writing bad escapism...
Please. Stop thinking you can write martial arts, manhwa-ish stories. Your exposure to martial arts stinks of seventies kung-fu movies with bad dubbing and third tier Thai Bruce Lee imitators. A contest to find the "best archer in the world?" What an original way to force two characters together. You're really adapting and revolutionizing those old hackneyed, boring, pointless concepts there.
And I know we all love gangs. Especially the yakuza. But either bother to write the yakuza well (see Beat Takeshi's stunningly brilliant Sonatine) or find something new.
Also! Connor? About as Zen as those little karesansui (rock garden) boxes next to the checkout counter in a bookstore. Yes, Connor lived in an ashram. There was karesansui work, always an automatic sign of enlightenment. This is all well and good, but it is not true, real Zen practice. So stop trying to point to Connor as something special. It's microwave Zen. (This is not to say he's not a good character, however.)
Hell, just find a new trick pony besides "Look, it's Asian and deep!" You've got nothing but dogfood left.
After all, we have a Canadian, a German, and an Irish guy added to the cast.
Yeah, those white (or fuzzy blue) and male "ethnic" additions were great. Who needs the Super Friends when you can have the Racially Insensitive Friends?
Despite all of the brouhaha over me writing the limited series, this is the kind of story I’m known for; visually-driven, fast paced and violent with a few laughs thrown in.
Chuck, you're that uncle at the reunion who thinks he's hilarious but always tells the same five bad jokes, then gets roaring drunk in an attempt to forget he's less funny than a Chuck Norris joke. |
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