The Four Color Media Monitor: Stop the slaughter of children and of prior hero generations

Wired's Geekdad blog (via Robot 6) has addressed the atrocity of the Cry for Justice miniseries, and even had what to say about Identity Crisis's own atrocities. However, there's something here I have to disagree with simultaneously:

DC’s done some great things. My Comics Spotlight column on Blue Beetle last week showcased one of them. Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis had Superman singing a happy universe in being. (Though DC editorial seems to have forgotten this upbeat possibility.)

First, the problem with the new Blue Beetle is that it was built off the blood of Ted Kord, who'd been slain in a bloody mess in Countdown to Infinite Crisis by Max Lord in a contrived transformation into a real villain. And if that's how they're going to treat the prior generation of even a minor superhero...then it's no more valid a presentation than One More Day is for Spider-Man. Simply put, you don't introduce new generations of superheroes via contempt for the older ones.

Second, didn't Final Crisis kill off Martian Manhunter? In that case, what's so great about that miniseries either?

While we're on the subject, The Weekly Crisis has some previews for upcoming DC/Marvel books, and among them is something called Justice League: Rise and Fall Special, written by the now awful James Robinson with J.T Krul. And what do they say about it:

From the original announcement up until last week, I was incredibly pumped for this storyline to kick off simply because I couldn’t wait to see JT Krul’s take on Green Arrow. Unfortunately, the sheer stupidity of the events of Cry for Justice (Roy Harper losing an arm, Star City being destroyed again, Green Arrow killing Prometheus, and perhaps most idiotic of them all, Lian Harper being brutally killed), I’m not sure if I want to have anything to do with this story. Green Arrow is my favorite non-Bat character in the DCU and this is his biggest storyline in years, but the story leaves such a bad taste in my mouth that I may just avoid it altogether!

Now that's sage advice, I must agree. All those offended by Cry for Justice can now take up the chance to make their opinions clear, by boycotting this special for starters, ditto the upcoming Fall of Green Arrow and the Rise of Arsenal miniseries. Likewise, if Robinson is in charge of writing the Justice League now, all concerned can avoid that too like the plague.

Update: there is now a Facebook group dedicated to campaigning to bringing back Lian Harper and reversing her fate (via Titans Tower Monitor).

Labels: dc comics, Justice League of America, misogyny and racism, violence

I have followed the adventures of Green Arrow since ... oh, back when he was teaming with Green Lantern for the sci-fi adventures, hanging out in World's Finest and pitching the virtues of an open-faced pita pizza in the Superhero Cookbook. (In other words, since the 1970s.)

And I am tired of Ollie being the only DC character to have faults. He's got a temper, ignored and mistreated his ward, became a womanizer in the 1990s and now that preview almost makes him into a serial killer. Come on, just because he can have personality flaws doesn't mean he needs more.

Sure, it could be someone framing Ollie (complete with damning thought balloons) but that won't remove the bad taste.

And killing Lian Harper? Wrong.

I'm done.

Allen W. Wright
Webmaster,
Robin Hood - Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood
http://www.boldoutlaw.com

P.S.: I can accept a killer Robin Hood, and even Ollie under certain circumstances. But this? No.

Posted by Allen W. Wright | 11:17 AM

I'm currently chronicling how DC joined Marvel as "dead to me" over at my blog. That's not easy for a DC fan (not "fanboy") to admit, but if this is how low the DC staff (and the convoluted publisher/editor divisions Diane Nelson came up with) is willing to go, how much lower can they still get?

Sadly, I no longer care.

Posted by ShadowWing Tronix | 12:38 PM

I'm right there with you, ShadowWing. The first two superhero cimics I ever bought were DC Comics back in the late 70s, but I can't stand to see what's happened to the company since. I've long since grown tired of Robinson and others and their reconstructist writing.
Anymore, I'm spending more time tyring to track down some of the stuff from the late 1970s and early 1980s that I either don't have or need to replace.
As for today's DC (and Marvel), like you, I no longer care.

Posted by Thnunumber6 | 1:06 PM

Peer-reviewed studies show that 99.989% of Marvel books printed since 1991 are non-canonical fanfic written by the same Skrulls who impersonated George Lucas and created the prequel films.

I suspect further research on DC material might yield equally interesting results, but that's largely outside my field of expertise.

Posted by Degu, rogue census operative | 3:45 PM