Ah Aquaman, such an all-ages book right?

[Tayswift]

Yes, let's limit what stories can told. That will make for better writing in comics!

you are very insensitive to rape victims and women in general, no wonder women avoid CBR boards.

on Arrow tv show the producers said no to rape, it is a superhero show not a reality show or SVU. Rape doesn't limit any story, it open to other things. the most common trope is rape to motivate a female character to become a hero or rape to motivate a male hero.

it is superhero stories for godsakes lol look how many awards waid collect with his daredevil.

also is very easy to a white male says crap about rape

mad max fury road is the best example how rape can be used, or at least should be used. women loved the movie.

[bholderman]

Regardless of the debate, I just finished the issue and, like Catwoman straddling Batman on a rooftop, found it unnecessarily silly.

[Tayswift]

We should take a picture of this thread and put it as an example of the word "overreaction" on online dictionaries.

what overreaction dude?

I didn't saw any

[Agent Z]

Yes, let's limit what stories can told. That will make for better writing in comics!

Where in this thread has anyone done that?

[Lee Stone]

I don't know that's it's ridiculous. I was a little surprised, but maybe I shouldn't have been.

The uproar comes from so many different directions, and I want to try to respect everyone's perspective if at all possible. That means I'm gonna put my foot in my mouth probably, but I've been doing that all my life.

When I started writing this scene, I didn't sit down to write a "rape" scene or to create any sense of shock value. Didn't even cross my mind. That's on me. I probably SHOULD have thought more about what this scene would mean as I wrote it. I did consider the repercussions to the story... but maybe not as thoroughly as I should have. I dunno. But I'm not perfect and I might make mistakes occasionally.

What I was writing was a scene that moved the story forward, depicted how vile the villain was, and would have implications for Arthur moving forward.

He's not going to deal with it in a big way right away (some but not completely). In my mind, he's more concerned with saving Mera. But once the Thule story wraps (issue 48), that's when it would come crashing down on him.

Thanks for coming in and clearing things up, Mr. Bunn.

I think one of the hurdles of comics is that everything is slowed down by the nature of the medium.
While with novels and movies, and most television shows, the audience will get a more immediate effect to whatever possible calamity that is thrown at the hero, giving it a sense of closure by the end. Indeed, often when looking at the hero at the end of his or her story, it would be hard to imagine them reaching that point without certain things happening along the way.
But in comics, there can be at least a month's wait between cause and effect. Sometimes even longer if it's a subplot.
Longer still in comics because they're somewhat a neverending hero's journey. And if it's not addressed by the same writer who initiated it, later writers may overlook it.

[Darrin Kelley]

I will always do horrible things to characters, tear them down and build them up.

And as a writer. I will always believe that doing so is unnecessary to tell a good story about heroic characters.

[Cullen Bunn]

And as a writer. I will always believe that doing so is unnecessary to tell a good story about heroic characters.

Fair enough. Different approaches for different folks.

[Joe Kalicki]

No, but take rape seriously even when women do it, and take care not to do anything that might make your protagonists a joke.

And have a good reason for using it, which doesn't include just shocking the readers.

So let's see how the story plays out before judging it as just shock value.

[Joe Kalicki]

you are very insensitive to rape victims and women in general, no wonder women avoid CBR boards.

on Arrow tv show the producers said no to rape, it is a superhero show not a reality show or SVU. Rape doesn't limit any story, it open to other things. the most common trope is rape to motivate a female character to become a hero or rape to motivate a male hero.

it is superhero stories for godsakes lol look how many awards waid collect with his daredevil.

also is very easy to a white male says crap about rape

mad max fury road is the best example how rape can be used, or at least should be used. women loved the movie.

Don't tell me who I'm sensitive to.

[Rakzo]

In my defense... Lyssa was flirting with Lobo, not really the other way around.

BUT... you're right. Serious issues require attention.

Something happens behind the scenes that a lot of people don't realize... and that is that plots and scripts are often written out of order. That can result in some story elements seemingly glossed over for an issue or two. In the case of Lobo, there's an additional problem in that the series is ending. I will say that I've tried to handle the issue in the final couple of issues. Maybe not as well as I should. Definitely not as well as some will think I should. But I tried.

With Aquaman, when I wrote that scene, I had a long plan for how Arthur would cope with it.

Very different takes on how the characters would deal with these scenarios.

That's all I needed to hear. Thank you.

Hope there's a good development.

[Ragdoll]

I know Bunn can't spoil anything, but it hit me today that this issue is most likely set up for Aquaman to have an evil child born of the incident. Arthur can have his own Damian Wayne come from these events. Others have said the rape was solely to shock audiences, but if she did that to Artur to gain a child, it would have been done for a plot reason, not just shock value. I'm also assuming this child will magically age faster lol, so it can become a formidable foe within the year.

And as a writer. I will always believe that doing so is unnecessary to tell a good story about heroic characters.

I look forward to reading your stories where nothing bad ever happens to good people. It sounds like a thrilling tale. I'm on the edge of my seat.

[joybeans]

I don't know that's it's ridiculous. I was a little surprised, but maybe I shouldn't have been.

The uproar comes from so many different directions, and I want to try to respect everyone's perspective if at all possible. That means I'm gonna put my foot in my mouth probably, but I've been doing that all my life.

When I started writing this scene, I didn't sit down to write a "rape" scene or to create any sense of shock value. Didn't even cross my mind. That's on me. I probably SHOULD have thought more about what this scene would mean as I wrote it. I did consider the repercussions to the story... but maybe not as thoroughly as I should have. I dunno. But I'm not perfect and I might make mistakes occasionally.

What I was writing was a scene that moved the story forward, depicted how vile the villain was, and would have implications for Arthur moving forward.

He's not going to deal with it in a big way right away (some but not completely). In my mind, he's more concerned with saving Mera. But once the Thule story wraps (issue 48), that's when it would come crashing down on him.

Thanks for addressing reader concerns. It's good to know you have this story arc planned out.

[nightrider]

The issue here is not thats she changing part of her look or lied about her past to make herself more appealing.Its the fact the she pretended to be a completely different person
and knew that the person she was sleeping with thought she was that person.

So does it mean that Mystique has always been raping men? We've seen more than once that shes used sex as a weapon to get what she wants and most of the time, she'll shapeshift into someone else. Why no uproar there though. How about the example that I've quoted earlier?

I got another one,
what about men who picks up women in pubs and he pretends to be a billionaire, drove the girl around in a borrowed ferrari, fake identity and stuff.
But in actual fact he's just a homeless bloke with $4k in his bank account. Is that rape by deception?

Is this rape?

[nightrider]

you are very insensitive to rape victims and women in general, no wonder women avoid CBR boards.

on Arrow tv show the producers said no to rape, it is a superhero show not a reality show or SVU. Rape doesn't limit any story, it open to other things. the most common trope is rape to motivate a female character to become a hero or rape to motivate a male hero.

it is superhero stories for godsakes lol look how many awards waid collect with his daredevil.

also is very easy to a white male says crap about rape

mad max fury road is the best example how rape can be used, or at least should be used. women loved the movie.

I think whats more important is what constitute rape and if rape by deception is really that sensitive. As far as I know, no one in the real world has the ability to shapeshift. As mentioned by another poster -
"Its the fact the she pretended to be a completely different person and knew that the person she was sleeping with thought she was that person." Do anyone really have the ability to do that? To mimic someone such that you can pretend to be someone's wife without the person knowing.

I think what is important is like you said rape should not be a motivation or should not be done to encourage anyone. But if certain rape by deception such as this is unachievable in real life, then is it really necessary to overreact? Also, if rape in mad max fury is okay then I don't see what is so bad with what Siren did. Thats just my two cents.

[Frontier]

I don't know that's it's ridiculous. I was a little surprised, but maybe I shouldn't have been.

The uproar comes from so many different directions, and I want to try to respect everyone's perspective if at all possible. That means I'm gonna put my foot in my mouth probably, but I've been doing that all my life.

When I started writing this scene, I didn't sit down to write a "rape" scene or to create any sense of shock value. Didn't even cross my mind. That's on me. I probably SHOULD have thought more about what this scene would mean as I wrote it. I did consider the repercussions to the story... but maybe not as thoroughly as I should have. I dunno. But I'm not perfect and I might make mistakes occasionally.

What I was writing was a scene that moved the story forward, depicted how vile the villain was, and would have implications for Arthur moving forward.

He's not going to deal with it in a big way right away (some but not completely). In my mind, he's more concerned with saving Mera. But once the Thule story wraps (issue 48), that's when it would come crashing down on him.

I will say this... I have thought on more than one occasion that I might have approached Aquaman wrong with this story (the Thule story in general)... that it might have been a story that would have worked better with some other character. I dunno. We'll see.

Thank you. All of you.

Discussing things like this isn't easy, you're right. But I appreciate the discussion and the feedback.

Honesty is my only excuse.

Mr. Bunn, I just want to echo others in saying how much I appreciate your openness and honesty regarding how you approached this story and thank you for understanding the many perspectives people are bringing to this issue, both positive and negative .

It really means a lot having a creator address fan reactions and concerns in a polite way, express their thoughts going into writing the issue, and being open to the idea that they may have made mistake. Not to say that you did, or to say that writers can't approach this subject at all, but it's refreshing to see a writer who's willing to say they may have been wrong or might not have handled something in the best way.

You're a really cool person .

And I'm also happy to hear that you plan to address the issue in the series, and I can at least understand what you were going for in having Siren do this to Aquaman. I still don't think it was the right way to go about it, but I'm at least glad to know you plan on dealing with the ramifications of it.