The Four Color Media Monitor

No surprise, honestly, if they do. Here's a CBR puff piece from several days ago which begins, most irritatingly, with the headline, "Tom King Indicates the Heroes in Crisis Deaths Are Permanent", which on its own sounds like they're quite fine with throwing Wally West and company down the memory hole. Of course, it still confirms King actually does support that position:

When Heroes in Crisis #1 by Tom King and Clay Mann released in September, it kicked off with the murder of multiple superheroes at Sanctuary, which was intended to help superheroes deal with the stress that comes with the job. Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman now have to figure out who killed the heroes and why. Now, writer Tom King has more or less said those killed are “dead” dead.

This weekend DC’s New York Comic Con panel, King was asked by a fan if any superheroes would be resurrected. After all, superheroic deaths don’t always take, and revivals are something fans have become used to over the decades. However, King said that his story wasn’t really about bringing those fallen back from the dead.

“We tell these stories not about death, but about our lives,” King said. Of the many killed, the most controversial were Roy Harper–who in the Red Hood comics had said he’d be going to Sanctuary for rehab–and Wally West, the second Flash whose return kicked off the DC Rebirth continuity Heroes is currently set in.

Whose lives, exactly? I've seen defenses like these before, and they leave me unimpressed, and more than a bit disgusted. Exploiting other people's creations to serve your narrow idea for entertainment, or worse, "education", by turning them into sacrifices for political propaganda, disrespects everything they were meant to be about. Besides, it's already pretty clear character study and drama isn't the focus of this rock-bottom stunt.

As far as Wally’s death is concerned, that will supposedly be dealt with in an upcoming Flash annual, though writer Joshua Williamson has yet to clarify what exactly that will entail. If and when those killed do come back, it may not be King who revives them.

Actually, it'd be far better if he didn't, because his attitude is so cynical, and he's so full of himself, it'd be better if he wasn't the writer tasked with resurrections, which had better come soon in any event, because they've already angered plenty of folks for no good reason.

One of the commenters, interestingly enough, said in response:

I’ve held my tongue simply because I feel I’m probably in the minority. But I really dont like the whole concept of “Heroes in Crisis”. It’s just a little too reflective of the real world. As one who has been diagnosed and treated for PTSD, I don’t want my comic book heroes dealing with such a real concept. I want them to live in a comic book world where their pain is a motivator and not a problem to be dealt with or overcome. Sure - we all know Batman has been traumatized but I’d rather see him simply use the trauma as a motive to fight crime. I go to the comics to escape into a world where heroes are stronger than the rest of us mere mortals and they don’t feel the effects of things like PTSD. I know it’s not realistic but neither is the sole survivor of Krypton flying around in his underpants. And please don’t tell me how wrong I am on this. I recognize it is my on personal hangup. Maybe I should stick to reprints from the 40’s.

Now what does this show? That there's other people out there who did suffer traumas, but recognize why it's unhelpful to exploit fictional creations solely to serve what was a phony "agenda" long before it went to press. To do so would contradict their fandom if they're readers per se, and even if we weren't, it would be completely unfair to the fans proper to exploit notable characters for the sake of a revolting stunt, instead of creating new ones to serve the purpose. And another said:

You are not wrong. I agree with you. I’ve enjoyed DC since Rebirth started, but making a series focusing on PTSD, that impacts the rest of the line is disheartening. I’m still holding out that the deaths are reversed somehow, but I won’t be supporting this series with my money anymore.

Then, another said:

So...DC craps on Wally West for 10 years, even wipes him from existence for a lot of it. Spit in the face of the fans by creating "a" Wally West when they realized the fans weren't going away, but that too backfired because you can't just NAME a character with the same name and expect people to treat him or react to him, or for him to BE that character the fans want. He's finally brought back to start Rebirth and bring hope and legacy back to DC, but right after he gets back DC starts dumping on him again and treating him like garbage. Took his wife, kids, and gave him a pacemaker at one point...holy crap. Then when finally gets one win: being named the true fastest man alive, he has a nervous breakdown over all of his losses and is killed. WHAT!? This is shabby treatment of the character, the fandom, and was done only for shock value. This is a dick move, DC, King, and Didio, and the worst part is that you don't even give a damn; just trying to increase revenue. Screw this and screw DC.

And it's about time fandom sent the message they should've sent back in 2004 after a certain anti-female screed that made light of serious issues was produced. Interestingly, the latest sales reports tell that Heroes in Crisis only debuted second to the Return of Wolverine from Marvel. For now, that's good news in a sense, suggesting the audience has wised up to DiDio's contempt, as well as Joe Quesada's at Marvel. I hope this can serve as the beginning of a campaign to have DiDio/Quesada ousted from their positions, but the sad part is that, by the time it happens, the Big Two are bound to be shuttered, having driven out much of the audience, casual, regular or otherwise.

Labels: bad editors, dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, golden calf of death, Justice League of America, misogyny and racism, msm propaganda, sales, Titans, violence