JMS insults the French on his way out from Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four #541 is J. Michael Straczynski's last issue on the series, and having taken the time to read up about the story setup (and even to obtain a couple of panels), I hate to say, but, anyone who thinks that JMS has shown any real affection for the French is sadly mistaken. First though, let's take a look at the following couple of panels:
What we have here is a case of Ben being confronted by the IRS, acting on behalf of the government over Ben's opposition to the hero registration act in Civil War by confiscating the fortune he made several issues earlier, but which, while explored in the recent, short-lived solo book he had, was never given much attention in the FF afterwards. And while Ben may have said that he was against this policy which was written as an attack on US government policy in real life, they cannot freeze his assets unless he actually did commit a crime. Nice going there, JMS, trying to paint a picture of the US government as an evil entity that acts dictatorially.
Then, there's this next scene, which appears to be an attack on security steps that were taken following the very serious case of when several Pakistani terrorists in Britain plotted to blow up airplanes with liquid bombs:
It appears that Straczynski is either a]attacking the precaution against potential liquid bombs or other forms of flammable/chemical weapons being brought aboard planes, b]portraying airport security as incompetant and lenient, or c]both. Simply disgraceful. Also, while we may know that this is the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing, the airport security staff does not, and no matter who's getting on board, the fact is that everybody, innocent and guilty alike, have to be checked to make sure they're not carrying anything dangerous. It could be Clark Kent getting on board, and even he'd still have to be checked. How can JMS be so disrespectful to the people trying to guard us against potential terrorist threats?
On the Rokk Krinn blog, here's a synopsis that tells a bit about what's wrong with it in text:
I'll have to hand it to the blogmaster there, he got that right. JMS sure isn't painting a very honest or realistic picture of what it's like in real life, where many Parisians live in fear of Muslim vandals. Now me, I've been to Paris, France, at least three times myself, in 1989, 1992, and 2000, and the third time certainly felt dangerous, especially when seeing how at least one town square was dead as a doornail with no nightlife that Paris was famous for years ago, because there'd been thugs coming around harrassing, assaulting and mugging people. And then, there was that horrific moment a year and a half ago when, thanks to Jacques Chirac's efforts to allow it to continue, the Muslims rioted for at least three weeks, burning more than 10,000 cars and other properties and causing millions in damages and injuries to innocent people. And JMS has the gall now to depict things as utterly peaceful and quiet?
In France, Ben meets up with a groups of superheroes who all turn out to be DC Comics knockoffs, right down to the "Blue Light", who derives from Green Lantern. But the way Stracynzki writes them is so silly, and he certainly isn't doing favors for either Americans or French with the following:
But what's really ludicrous here are the likely allegories - the Emperor's claim that the Parisians have hurt him is probably JMS' subtle way of implying that the victims are to blame for hurting the "innocent" Muslim immigrants in the banlieues of Paris, and the ex-girlfriend could be an allegory to the two Muslim delinquents who were electrocuted by a power substation in Clichy Sous-Bois. If my estimates are correct, that would suggest that Straczynski is on the side of the violent rioters. Shudder. The way the French - or the heroes - are depicted here isn't very flattering either.
And worst of all, it's dealt with in the weakest, superficial of fairy-tale terms, providing no better lessons than any of yesterday's stories. One of the dumbest things I have ever seen. Notice how in the final panel, the Emperor is shown simply talking to a policeman (and policewoman?) on the street, and they're not even slapping the cuffs on him? That is just plain stupid. Let's be clear, it makes no difference how loosely the concept of madness is used in comics; this is a character who threatened to level the city, and for that, he should be thrown in the slammer! (Also, don't French police officers usually wear these straight-and-round-shaped caps, and not the kind of wide-rimmed ones that officers in the US usually wear? Didn't Mike McKone do his homework? Considering that he's from the UK and across the Channel himself, if I'm correct, you'd surely think he'd know what kind uniforms are worn around those parts.) If there was ever a time when the medium was dumbed down, this could be it.
I won't be missing Straczynski on this book, or on Spider-Man either, if all he could do was keep shoving his personal biases down the readers' throats. His departure as far as I'm concerned is for the best.
Open trackbacks: Blue Star Chronicles, Is it Just Me, Outside the Beltway, Phastidio.Net, Point Five, The Right Nation, Stop the ACLU.
Then, there's this next scene, which appears to be an attack on security steps that were taken following the very serious case of when several Pakistani terrorists in Britain plotted to blow up airplanes with liquid bombs:
It appears that Straczynski is either a]attacking the precaution against potential liquid bombs or other forms of flammable/chemical weapons being brought aboard planes, b]portraying airport security as incompetant and lenient, or c]both. Simply disgraceful. Also, while we may know that this is the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing, the airport security staff does not, and no matter who's getting on board, the fact is that everybody, innocent and guilty alike, have to be checked to make sure they're not carrying anything dangerous. It could be Clark Kent getting on board, and even he'd still have to be checked. How can JMS be so disrespectful to the people trying to guard us against potential terrorist threats?On the Rokk Krinn blog, here's a synopsis that tells a bit about what's wrong with it in text:
The Thing thinks how nice it is to be in a town where it is peaceful and no one is looking over their shoulders for super heroes fighting and buildings falling down and bombs going off. (Huh, what? This is the same place that was full of riots by Muslim immigrants over a period of a couple of weeks, right? Dude, if the Thing wanted quiet he should have gone to Nova Scotia.)
I'll have to hand it to the blogmaster there, he got that right. JMS sure isn't painting a very honest or realistic picture of what it's like in real life, where many Parisians live in fear of Muslim vandals. Now me, I've been to Paris, France, at least three times myself, in 1989, 1992, and 2000, and the third time certainly felt dangerous, especially when seeing how at least one town square was dead as a doornail with no nightlife that Paris was famous for years ago, because there'd been thugs coming around harrassing, assaulting and mugging people. And then, there was that horrific moment a year and a half ago when, thanks to Jacques Chirac's efforts to allow it to continue, the Muslims rioted for at least three weeks, burning more than 10,000 cars and other properties and causing millions in damages and injuries to innocent people. And JMS has the gall now to depict things as utterly peaceful and quiet?
In France, Ben meets up with a groups of superheroes who all turn out to be DC Comics knockoffs, right down to the "Blue Light", who derives from Green Lantern. But the way Stracynzki writes them is so silly, and he certainly isn't doing favors for either Americans or French with the following: During the battle the Phantom Detective calls the Thing a bourgeois capitalist. The Thing calls the Phantom Detective a socialist layabout.Funny that JMS should do that, considering his own personal politics, which would suggest that he's a socialist layabout himself. But now, here's where JMS deals the death knell to any credibility the story could have, when confronting the villain of the story - a Mole Man ripoff at that - and his army of underground creatures:
Let me get this straight. The Emperor planned to do things that could injure/murder thousands, maybe even millions of people, and they consider noble and worthy of respect and honor? (As you'll notice in the picture, the Batman-knockoff certainly seems to think that.) What is going on here? I doubt that many French will be charmed by the super-doers featured here if that's what they think of someone who was going to use deadly force against them. I additionally doubt they would want them guarding their homeland with those kind of opinions and forgiving attitude. The worst part is how it's all dealt with in superficial, juvenile terms, without making any serious consideration of consequences of what this Emperor was planning to do.The Thing then comes face to face with the Emperor of the underground world. The Emperor tells the Thing that he can’t hurt him. The Emperor said that the city of Paris and her citizens have already hurt him so much that he can never be hurt again. The Emperor says that Paris deserves to fall and be destroyed. The Thing says that a girl turned him down for a date, right? The Emperor answers “Maybe.”
The Heroes of Paris totally understand that in the name of love that the Emperor would attack Paris. They heroes think it is very noble and touching. The Thing destroys the Emperor’s machine that he was going to use to destroy Paris. The Thing and the heroes return to the surface along with the Emperor. There, the Emperor is greeted by his ex-girlfriend who broke his heart. His girlfriend is impressed that the Emperor would try and destroy Paris all in the name of his love for her. His girlfriend tells the Emperor that she wants to marry him.
But what's really ludicrous here are the likely allegories - the Emperor's claim that the Parisians have hurt him is probably JMS' subtle way of implying that the victims are to blame for hurting the "innocent" Muslim immigrants in the banlieues of Paris, and the ex-girlfriend could be an allegory to the two Muslim delinquents who were electrocuted by a power substation in Clichy Sous-Bois. If my estimates are correct, that would suggest that Straczynski is on the side of the violent rioters. Shudder. The way the French - or the heroes - are depicted here isn't very flattering either.
And worst of all, it's dealt with in the weakest, superficial of fairy-tale terms, providing no better lessons than any of yesterday's stories. One of the dumbest things I have ever seen. Notice how in the final panel, the Emperor is shown simply talking to a policeman (and policewoman?) on the street, and they're not even slapping the cuffs on him? That is just plain stupid. Let's be clear, it makes no difference how loosely the concept of madness is used in comics; this is a character who threatened to level the city, and for that, he should be thrown in the slammer! (Also, don't French police officers usually wear these straight-and-round-shaped caps, and not the kind of wide-rimmed ones that officers in the US usually wear? Didn't Mike McKone do his homework? Considering that he's from the UK and across the Channel himself, if I'm correct, you'd surely think he'd know what kind uniforms are worn around those parts.) If there was ever a time when the medium was dumbed down, this could be it.I won't be missing Straczynski on this book, or on Spider-Man either, if all he could do was keep shoving his personal biases down the readers' throats. His departure as far as I'm concerned is for the best.
Open trackbacks: Blue Star Chronicles, Is it Just Me, Outside the Beltway, Phastidio.Net, Point Five, The Right Nation, Stop the ACLU.
Labels: marvel comics, moonbat writers
