Sex And Relationships In Comics

[Carabas]

Yeah she did, as Brian Cronin recently covered. That was kind of my point. She was ticked off about the original line and had the characters address it in a similar matter, via a line of dialogue. Why Robinson went there, except to make Hal into some kind of "mack daddy," to appeal to 15 year-olds is beyond me. In Starman, he probably would have had the character called out by the woman (or women, in this case) in question. It would have been a source of character conflict. That's what disappoints me. He's a better writer than that. I've only recently acquired Airboy, but haven't read it yet. I know that he addresses some of his writing problems and personal issues, though you never exactly know how much is truth and how much is for story effect. He has spoken, in broad terms, about some of his issues in the Starman omnibi. Personally, I always felt Hollywood did him no favors. His work was pretty consistently very good to great, up through Leave It To Chance. It seems like its been a struggle ever since he came back from Hollywood.

James Robinson is a better writer when he's heart is in it, but I get the impression that doesn't happen very often.

[t hedge coke]

James Robinson is a better writer when he's heart is in it, but I get the impression that doesn't happen very often.

Possibly. I think he's just wildly uneven. He wrote Captain America as a guy who hates big city liberals and loves the integrity of small town folk in Texas. That's not just "not caring," that's aiming your nose at the dirt as you fall. Every sad story Clive Barker tells about the producer on Nightbreed, including the one about a woman masturbating in a hotel room being unrealistic, isn't just Robinson on a bad day, it seems to be his standard that also includes him getting some things right or doing some solid work.

[ed2962]

Possibly. I think he's just wildly uneven. He wrote Captain America as a guy who hates big city liberals and loves the integrity of small town folk in Texas. That's not just "not caring," that's aiming your nose at the dirt as you fall. Every sad story Clive Barker tells about the producer on Nightbreed, including the one about a woman masturbating in a hotel room being unrealistic, isn't just Robinson on a bad day, it seems to be his standard that also includes him getting some things right or doing some solid work.

Where was this? Was it in the recent Invaders series?

[ouroboros]

That scene creeped me out, but not for the obvious reasons. Why did they feel the need to show her smoking and painted up in garish makeup in order to show that she's not a "good girl"? It seems like a weirdly outdated take, even considering that it was about 30 years ago. Having her in costume, looking like regular ol' Terra and talking about how she betrayed the team (or not, depending on your perspective) would have done the job just as well, and been more disturbing/heartbreaking in my book.

Keep in mind, though, that we as readers don't know what was normal for Terra. The guise she assumed for the Titans was that of an innocent if feisty girl, but that's not what she really was.

[t hedge coke]

Where was this? Was it in the recent Invaders series?

Heroes Reborn.

Robinson was the only person who took over a Liefeld book during that and made it worse. (To be fair, the other guy was Walt Simonson, who is just always and consistently damn good.)

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

It's funny to read the old letter columns from the Mike Grell green arrow series, with people complaining about the sexual stuff, there was alot of that in the Wally West stuff too during the Messner-Loebs run. Especially how Wally straight up steals Tina Mcgee away from her husband lol. Although i like the modern age and its greater focus on character development, there has definitely been times where it's way overdone. The 70's 80's probably struck the right balance for me, comics should be all inclusive and for all ages.

[ed2962]

It's funny to read the old letter columns from the Mike Grell green arrow series, with people complaining about the sexual stuff, there was alot of that in the Wally West stuff too during the Messner-Loebs run. Especially how Wally straight up steals Tina Mcgee away from her husband lol. Although i like the modern age and its greater focus on character development, there has definitely been times where it's way overdone. The 70's 80's probably struck the right balance for me, comics should be all inclusive and for all ages.

I haven't read many of the regular series by Grell ( I did read Longbow Hunters), but I do know that many fans say they appreciated the mature way the Ollie/Dianah relationship was handled.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

I haven't read many of the regular series by Grell ( I did read Longbow Hunters), but I do know that many fans say they appreciated the mature way the Ollie/Dianah relationship was handled.

yeah, in all fairness to DC, it was part of their "mature" line.

[ed2962]

Been reading some of the recent Green Arrow rebirth issues. While not perfect, I kinda like how Ollie and Black Canary are handled.

I really enjoyed Midnighter and Apollo's relationship in their just ended mini.

I'm a little meh on Sam Wilson and Misty but I'm glad it exists if that makes sense.

I'm not sure how to describe the love triangle in the Deadman comic...I'd say the view of romance the comic takes is pansexual, but I might be using that word wrong.

[ed2962]

A question on another thread reminded me that was neglecting this one.



The premise is that the main character is a young man, but when he dresses as a superhero he dresses as a woman. Meanwhile, there's a movement of people called "alters" (mutants/meta-humans) who are in the news. There's debates in this society about what should be done about them and other people trying to help them. The metaphor is pretty obvious. It was written by Paul Jenkins and I only read the first three issues. It wasn't bad, but ironically enuff it felt sorta like a just ok issue of an X-Men spin-off title.

[ed2962]

I'm looking forward to reading The Vision in trade. Among other things I'm interested in how the concepts of marriage and family will be handled.

[ed2962]

Noble #1



The first issue is set up. There's some cool action. Notable for the purposes of this thread is that the hero is black and has a black wife. Until recently, it seemed that interracial relationships in superhero comics were outnumbering same minority romances.

[ed2962]

I can't believe I didn't mention the Dennis Hopeless run a few months ago. I really respected the way he treated the pregnancy. And I really really like the way he slowly developed the romantic relationship between Jessica and Roger. I find their relationship way more plausible and way more enjoyable than the way BMB just sorta threw Clint and Jess together.

[Rogue Star]

Dat cover tho.

I respect Jess' decision to skip the middle man in getting pregnant but I would have liked her to have a child with someone she cared for and who cared for her. Not just because I believe children with both parents present are healthier but because families in the real world don't always hold together, sadly, and it would be nice to see more positive examples in comics. I guess people prefer the negativity of disfunctional families in comics though.

[Sharkerbob]

Have I complained yet about my disdain for the whole “Bond Girl” effect that a lot of superhero seem to engage in? It seems that one very American element of hero comics is that there always has to be some element of romance or at least sexual tension. And these days it seems like characters can't stay in a relationship for more than three issues before circumstances change and they're breaking up again to date someone else.

This is especially egregious in teams of young heroes, particularly the X-Men. I dunno if it’s just for cheap thrills, to constantly tease various shipping possibilities, or if it’s supposed to be some ham-fisted attempt to replicate the “modern speed dating scene,” or if they want the characters to be in a perpetual adolescence when it comes to relationships. Sure, a lot of the time the characters never actually sleep with one another, but there’s dramatic kisses and goo-goo eyes aplenty.

But even outside of teams, with solo heroes, you end up with the “Bond Girl” effect. The solo hero, usually a male, will always have a female character in a main supporting cast, and whoever it is, that’s the one there’s going to be sexual tension with. Especially if there’s a string of female hero guest stars, there’s that sense of “yeah, if this were a Bond movie, we’d be boinking during the end credits.” Flirting, significant glances, lingering moments of contact. And that’s fine and all, but it ends up not meaning much of anything, because by the time the next adventure rolls around, there’s a different woman to play footsie with. A love the one you’re with situation, I suppose, but is it really part of the character, or is it just there to spice up the comic, and the previous love interest wasn’t available, so **** it?

I kind of miss the days when you had couples that would be a thing for several years of publishing time, and it wasn’t super dramatic, it was just a nice part of the character interaction. Like, Storm and Forge were a couple for a while. If they were in a comic together, they’d be appropriately affectionate. If they were separated in different comics, they didn’t just start macking on the nearest available member of the opposite sex just to keep things titillating. Nowadays you only seem to get that with the tiny minority of characters for whom being in a specific couple is a core part of their mythos. Superman and Lois, Reed and Sue, etc.

I dunno, man, I’m probably blowing it way out of proportion, and I’m sure there’s three dozen counter-examples, it just seems the comics I happen across always have some kind of hook-up, break-up soap opera relationships going on, and it’d be nice to see more stable couples that can develop over time.