Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Last weeks comics - JLA,, Oracle and Supes

Late reviews of last weeks comics. Spoilers for:
JLA 31, Superman 686, Oracle - The Cure 1
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
JLA 31
I bought this because of other people's reviews, and was still surprised by the rubbishness of certain aspects of it. Dinah punching Ollie? Not cool. (For more on this check out WFA) And somewhat out of character. Dinah has morals, she's a superhero for god's sake. She knows what abuse is. So, the beating when combined with Dinah's other odd, very needy, erratic behaviour has led me to the conclusion that she's having a breakdown.
The cover to it is gorgeous (and even though you can see half of Diana's ass, it's not exploitative, because of the muscles and the pose, she looks like a warrior), but I wonder where Dinah has been on past covers? Given that she's the Chair of the league on all, she seems conspicuously absent (unlike this cover), in a way that I imagine the big 3 aren't.

Speaking of Dinah, she's going to get a back up slot in the Green Arrow comic, hurrah! I've said many times before that she seems to be second tier in her own book, so this should sort that out. I also pick up the first GA/BC trade tomorrow :-)

Oracle - The Cure 1
Contrary to how I may come across I really don't want all my favourite characters to be symbols of something. Usually, I just want them to be well rounded creations. When I rail against the sexism etc inherent in any book, I'm actually just angry at the creators for having shitty attitudes.
Having said that, I don't want Oracle's paralysis to be cured. I think there is an assumption out there that all disabled people want to be cured, that they should be fixed, that there's something inherently wrong with them. Now, not all disabled (differently abled? I'm having a semantics issue here) people want to be made 'normal'. Many are happy and content and are vehemently opposed to anyone 'fixing' them.
I think that if the writers do 'fix' Babs and make her walk again, that it would tie into the ideas that folks in wheelchair are wrong and not good enough. That makes me sad.

Or, it could be used as a way for Babs to explore her identity, if it's dealt with maturely and in depth. But you'd need a skilled writer on the case from the get go, and I think having one skilled writer in charge is unlikely to happen.

Or it could be that The Cure relates to the destruction of the anti life equation and has nothing to do with Babs in a wheelchair. The joke would be on us then eh?

Away from the politics and back to the geekishness, Babs is just damn well fine in a wheelchair. She tough, she can take anyone on, she's not helpless. She's brains first then brawn, and very down to earth with it. She's a refreshing change from your cookie cutter mould hero. I love her.

Last criticism, to the artists (or editors) - women of Babs' age (mid twenties?) don't have boobs that round and fleshy. They drop a bit, they change shape. yes, you have given her very beautiful breasts and it's a pleasure to look at them, but try not to make everything about the boobage ok?

I get the feeling this mini will be a middle of the road jobby.

Superman 686
Oh my lord this was perfect. The art was phenomenal, the layout was spot on, the handover from Kal to Mon was executed wonderfully. If you haven't already got this issue I urge you to go purchase it. It is fantastic.

No comments: