Monday, September 26, 2011

Just Sayin'--About That Whole Catwoman Thing . . .

While I'm sure that everyone's dying to hear me weigh in on the whole Catwoman/Starfire kerfuffle that happened last week, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to beg off on this one. Partly because Kate Beaton did it way better and funnier than I ever could, and also because at this point even I'm tired of edginess in the service of pointlessness and all I can manage about this kind of thing is to shrug my shoulders and sigh.

I can't decide whether it's a fault of approach or just incompatibility issues, but the more "adult" stuff you try to drag into the tights and flights superhero comics, the more juvenile they become. I really wish people would start getting that.

4 comments:

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

You know, Laura Hudson's closing comments hit rather close to where I've been for a while now: it's one thing to know that you're not the "target demographic", and that the stories aren't going out of their way to appeal to you - it's quite another when you're made to feel like you're being attacked by trash like "Catwoman".

Not that I'm surprised, really - these are the same people who, when confronted at SDCC by female readers questioning the lack of women both on and off the page, publicly ridiculed them in a manner that primates would've found distasteful.

Kazekage said...

Yeah, and one would imagine that a "big tent" approach would be preferable in this case, when you're trying to grow the audience, but no, apparently things are good enough that you can gleefully antagonize people and it will cause you no reprisal.

Yeah, when you entrust the same people who messed everything up in the first place to clean up their own mess . . .man, I just don't know, and have been so beaten down by this nonsense for so long I really find it hard to care all that much now.

Diana Kingston-Gabai said...

My sentiments exactly. In many ways, the reboot has made DC even worse, to the point where I can't find any real justification not to wash my hands of the whole thing and go elsewhere for my entertainment...

Kazekage said...

The best I can manage in their defence is "Well, there's Batwoman," and then I shrug my shoulders and worry a bit they'll find some way to muddy that up as well. :)

So I dunno if I'm the one to urge you to stay. I'm kinda not feeling the love for comics I once had at the moment either, at least as far as their current incarnation is concerned.