The Four Color Media Monitor

I'd written nearly 2 years ago about a number of comics the disgraced former comics writer Gerard Jones wrote, filled with hints of his twisted mentality, something he's never seemed to address in the time he's been in prison, and probably never will. Now, here's some more material from his Justice League America run towards the end of the 1987-96 volume, which consisted of the last 20 issues or so, and give some clues to how the terrible distortion of Roy Thomas' cast member creation for Infinity Inc, Todd Rice, came into being.

When Jones took up the reins on the title in late 1994, he added both Obsidian and Nuklon to the cast, apparently his idea of a variation on what Booster Gold and Blue Beetle served as earlier, but without any genuine laughs. Indeed, having read this material, I found it quite unreadable, and definitely not worth wasting even a dime on from the bargain bin. First, I'd like to point out how insulting to the intellect the following storyline from issue 95 was, where Al Rothstein (Nuklon) and Beatriz daCosta (Fire) go on a date to a restaurant: Now in these two panels, I found it insulting how Al is made out to sound embarrassed that Bea wears such a revealing outfit, and the defense he's not a prude (but rather a geek?!?) did not impress me either. IMHO, it makes him look like the kind of person who's so lacking in self-confidence, he can't handle himself around scantily dressed women. One can only wonder if Jones was trying to make Jews look like prudes as a way to make them look bad, when here, years later, it's the leftists often called SJWs who've taken up that role. It's quite honestly disgusting. And then, when this story segment continues a few pages later, with Bea discussing possible marriage: The way the above is set up is also insulting. Mainly because Al doesn't ask her immediately if she could convert to Judaism, and it winds up making him look like he's implying she's not worthy because she's not of the same race/ethnicity. My my, how atrocious could Jones get? I've read some of the original Infinity Inc, and IIRC, Nuklon wasn't so successful in finding a date all the time, probably due to his mohawk hairstyle of the era. Point: what may look cool for Mr. T. on the A-Team doesn't always impress the ladies, and that was probably the approach Thomas took at the time. In any event, Jones sure took one of the worst paths to backing away from what could've been a valid idea, getting Nuklon married to Fire, and maybe addressing the query of whether she should convert to Judaism in the process, much as the biblical Ruth did. By the way, did I mention Max Lord all but dies and becomes evil in this run? (As a result of the creature called Kilg%re.) Reading these issues, I suddenly realized, if I hadn't before, how it all got to a point where Max could've been subject to such abuse as he was in Countdown to Infinite Crisis. Now, from issue 106, something to do with Obsidian, the main matter of this post: Now here, we see Todd whining he can't handle being around women, in a way that's basically "otherizing" the fairer sex, and it doesn't seem particularly in synch with his Infinity Inc. characterization either. From the 80s material I've read, he never acted like such an absurd pessimist, and never acted like he was willing to take up the role of an Opposite Sex Rejecter, which is pretty much what the modern ideological thug writers of today who've retconned him into a homosexual man basically did to him. And what, Todd is blaming his mom far more than the abusive stepdad for his troubles? Well that's certainly the perception you could achieve from this embarrassment too. As for the woman Todd goes on a date with towards the end of this series run, he breaks up with her too. By contrast, 3rd Flash Wally West, while he may have had fallouts with Magenta, who'd been introduced circa New Teen Titans, he eventually found his Miss Right in Linda Park, and they married by 2000. I guess the reason Todd was considered an easy target by the PC crowd for LGBT retconning was because, in sharp contrast to Wally, Todd was - what else? - a minor character, and they're particularly easy when you have only so many complacent people refusing to vigilantly defend the creations of decent writers and artists. Hence, Todd fell victim to PC mentality.

Next are some panels from issue 109: Even here, the talk of Judaism - very superficially, now that I think of it - is absurd and insulting, and now that I think of it, how come no distinction made between whatever different sects Judaism has these days, like Orthodox, Reform and Conservative? Most writers emphasizing Christianity would make a point there's different sects there, like Catholicism, Protestant and Orthodox. So why not do the same research with Judaism? I'd once been told in the past that most writers set their real life locations mainly in New York City, because that way, they don't have to do any research. But that's pathetic and merely validates the laughable idea of not taking up challenging paths in scriptwriting. And now, here's panels from issue 110, where the hints at what was being set up for Obsidian by the mid-2000s really came about: Though it's not stated outright, this scene is definitely telling in more ways than one what went wrong with Obsidian's characterization in the next few years, recalling the time when David Goyer and Geoff Johns depicted Todd murdering his stepdad in the pages of JSA in the early 2000s, and the influence by Ian Karkull is no alleviation or excuse. So how about that, Jones was more or less responsible for the horrific damage inflicted upon the creation of Thomas, as far back as the mid-90s. And he's even depicted on the brink of insanity here, which is worse. Suggesting Jones was, say, making it look like Todd was frustrated, and victim of expectations for higher standards from society that disapproves of homosexuality? Obsidian's not the only one here to whom the LGBT ideology was applied either. As seen at the end of the issue: And here, Ice Maiden's made to be lesbian, as further stressed in issue 111, seen below:Hmm, so if I can figure this out correctly, Sigrid is telling Al that, more than bisexual, she's...a lesbian. And Nuklon's written to look like he's confused, bordering on creepy. Especially when viewed in the context of what appears below: Even this looks awfully creepy, and what was all that talk about Judaism anyway, if this is how they're going to depict these two members of Infinity Inc? Much like various other Jones writings, this is all insulting to the intellect, and otherwise avoids any serious challenges. Though I realize the editors in charge even then would surely have forbade any from being realized. At least we get an idea how the whole abuse of Obsidian began. IIRC, he never took off his costume while this was going on. Gee, does this have something to do with the mental state Jones was brewing for him then?

And of course, nobody upholding this retcon today considers the humiliation it inflicts upon the creation, based on the criminal offense Jones was discovered committing nearly 6 years back. For SJWs of today, this is far more important than recognizing that to keep such a shoddy retcon in place only awards the scumbag who brewed it up in the first place. To make matters worse, Bill Willingham, at the time he was working on at least a few DC superhero titles, came up with the following scene in the 40th issue of the JSA volume published at the time, which shows the following "joke" on display: So rather than just at least quietly drop the whole issue and not address it, Willingham - the same scribe who earned notoriety for his role in the slaughter of Spoiler at the hands of Black Mask in Batman: War Games - chose to appease a SJW mob by perpetuating the shoddy retcon in this tale. He even alluded to where he was going at a panel conference over a dozen years ago. So killing off Chuck Dixon's creation (and scapegoating Dr. Leslie Thompkins by making her out to have finished the job) is fine, but it's not okay to abandon Gerard Jones' atrocious setup? I wonder how Willingham feels now that it's since turned out Jones was such a scumbag? This was another example of a poor writing effort Willingham performed when he was writing DC output, and within a short time, he left it, as he'd become all washed up in the genre. (Lest we forget, since that time, Alan Scott was exploited too.) The CBR report I'd linked to also mentions writer Matthew Sturges, who'd co-written Jack of Fables, and who of recent is another one of these nutcases taking up transgender ideology and calling himself Lilah now. One can only wonder how an alleged conservative like Willingham feels about that too as of today. He really proved himself very weak at the time, unwilling to stand up and defend Thomas' creation any more than any other hack writer in today's industry, and now look where it's gotten everything. It does such a terrible disfavor to Obsidian, that it makes me want to start a campaign to give Todd Rice a girlfriend. Or maybe a storyline where he'd befriend women in situations like these and provide them with a better, safer life. I'd seen hashtags on Twitter favoring the notion of turning Captain America gay, and maybe an ideal way to counter such ludicrous notions would be to conceive a tag saying "#GiveObsidianAGirlfriend"? Well, something needs to be thought of for Todd Rice's sake, to show true superhero fans care about even most minor characters who've been exploited and retconned to serve agendas.

So anyway, the stories Jones wrote in Justice League America during its last 2 years pretty much confirm the damage began as far back as that, though even earlier, a letter writer to the short-lived New Guardians series of 1988-89 also surely had some responsibility as well. It's stunning how past editors/publishers allowed such abuse to metastisize, and practically allowed so-called readers who don't recognize these are only fictional characters - nor that they're not wiser than the original creators - to precipitate the abuse that'd come years later. The irony being of course, that most alleged audience who clamoured for this aren't reading the books emphasizing the sleazy directions they advocated in the first place.

Labels: dc comics, golden calf of LGBT, history, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, politics