A-Force, #5

[Fokken]

Yeah, maybe it will grow on you the design. Although I suspect that maybe they'll do like in Runaways, and Nico will use different dresses or clothes for different story arcs, that would be nice.

I also loved how they handled the use of different languages to cast spells, it was nice and intelligent (that idea was in the air back during the Civil war Young Avengers/Runaways, and I'm glad that Willow Wilson and Thompson used it for A-force).

About Nico's powerset, the idea of the blood magic was proposed by Whedon during his Runways run. When Nico's grandmother kidnapped her and started to torture her, she mentioned the cost of the blood magic and that it was a signal that Nico's magic was weak, as it needed blood to summon the staff of one and that the cost of powerful spells would be greater, so Hopeless respected that concept from Whedon (the lost of her arm and her death in Arena was one of those high prices that Nico's great grandmother mentioned)

Yeah, I mean, personally, I found it really clever how Hopeless implemented those details into Nico's death/resurrection, and given the AMOUNT of blood loss from Apex's vicious attack -- she WAS able to defy death itself. I remember praying that Nico would make it out of the Arena (unlike my poor beloved Reptil) which totally got spoiled pretty early on with teaser images (which was really foolish of them imho and killed the shock factor).

[reptarcereal]

Really can't get into these "fluff" side books that feature characters written differently than their counterparts in their main team titles and books.

Agreed. I wanted to get into this book but the dialogue is awful. Everyone sounds so immature.

[Tiamatty]

Singularity is adorable. And I love that She-Hulk is excited about fighting a giant dragon.



As far as Nico's arm goes, I'm not sure it quite counts as a disability superpower. It's borderline. But she had magic already. She had her power before she lost the arm. The magic is now contained in the arm, yes, but it originated elsewhere. It would be really cool to see a little bit of exploration of her being an amputee, though. Maybe have a comment about her not being able to feel anything with that hand. I do agree disability superpowers are a problem, and there needs to be more superheroes with disabilities whose powers have nothing to do with their disabilities. A perfect example is actually Karma. She's an amputee - she lost her left leg. She has a prosthetic leg, and it's fancy, but it's not like it lets her fly or something. It's just a well-made prosthetic leg.

So, yeah, more examples like that would be fantastic. But I do think you're still getting a little more worked-up over this A-Force example than you need to. Yeah, it's part of a problematic trend, and that's unfortunate, but this is basically an inherited problem. Kelly Thompson didn't come up with the idea. She's just continuing on from what's happened previously, because she's a writer who cares about continuity. And it's not like she's using the arm as a source of angst or anything like that. She's not letting some guy get a victory over Nico. She's just giving a very brief synopsis of the character's current power set and status quo.

[Nelson]

I want to clarify few things that I think got muddled up in the argument.

First of all, we need to remember that first and most important problem here are disability superpowers. It doesn't matter if the story will be good or not, it's still insulting and offensive. This is the main problem and I think the argument got muddled in talksabout continuity and what is the goodway to treat bad stories. But it doesn't matter. This thing is insulting and offensive. First story arc has been smart enough to treat witch arm as a normal prosthesis and let Nico rely on her Staff, as always. it was great, especially since we don't have many disabled superheroes without disability superpowers. Seeing Nico being dragged back to disability superpowers is just an awful step down.

Second, about "respecting the continuity" and "overcoming the tragedies" and other such arguments, I want to point out few things. Somebody brought up Scarlet Witch and how writers found a way to write about her "rising above"and "moving on" past Dissassembled and Hosue of M. I can actually think of only one such story - Rick Remender's handling of Wanda on the pages of Uncanny Avengers, where her story arc was about moving past those events and was the first story to adress it since Wanda's return in Children's Crusade. And you know, here is a funny thing....I have not meet a single Wanda fan who actually liked this. Everysingle one i talked to told me the same thing - that they are sick and tired of every story featuring Wanda revolving about that time she turned on the Avengers and genocided the mutants. It doesn't matter if the run was attempting to have her raise above those events, fans hated it because it had the contrary result - it showed Wanda as defined only by those events and nothing more, portrayed her as a one-dimensional character who has nothing going beyond them. On the other hand, do you know what book is being praised by Wanda fans as showingher moving past those stories and overcoming those past traumas? James Robbinson's current Scarlet Witch ongoing series. Which doesn't directly adresses these events, only vaguelly reffering to them as bad things from her pasts. That book is actually allowing Wanda to move foward, exploringdifferent dimensions of her character, her family, her legacy, nature of her magic, creating her own rogue's gallery even. This is how you show heroes overcoming past tragedies- by allowing them to move foward, to build their future. Not by constantly dragging them into the past.

And if you really need to refference Dennis Hopeless' masturabtory fests, you could have done so in a way that is not immiediatelly insulting to disabled people.

Out of points raised since my last post:
On Dennis Hopeless tieing his "upgrade" to Joss Whedon's story - sorry, but those theories are simply not true. Hopeless has admitted he never read Whedon's story, this is why Nico didn't have the Witchbreaker in Arena, because he didn't knew it existed. So the idea he "cleverly" connected two stories is simply baseless.
@Tiamatty- it'seither minor or her entire magic is now tied to the prosthesis, you cannot have it both ways. And former is still insulting and the latter is actually even worse.
@Fokken - I feel that this thread has been derailed enough and futher discussing hopeless will only prove detriment to both discussion about A-Force and the point I wanted to make. I would like this to be my final say in this thread. If you still want me to answer your questions, pelase contact me on PM.

[Wiccan]

Really can't get into these "fluff" side books that feature characters written differently than their counterparts in their main team titles and books.

I don't think Carol is being written any different. Don't know about Medusa, and all the other girls are only on this book right now. So...

[Lucena Soares]

I don't think Carol is being written any different. Don't know about Medusa, and all the other girls are only on this book right now. So...

There's a bit of change in this Medusa since the series started, it isn't much but like others have said in previous threads, she sound more "bitchy" in A-Force.
Plus, there's the fact that they seem to have forgotten her "tagline" is: "I rule by Nessecity, not Desire."

[Akktim]

I stopped pulling A-Force after #3, but this new art team looks so good that I'll definitely have to try this title out again.

[Centipede Damascus]

I do not understand some people whinging about the art. Ben Caldwell is fantastic. Really looking forward to this issue.

[Tiamatty]

I do not understand some people whinging about the art. Ben Caldwell is fantastic. Really looking forward to this issue.

It is definitely a departure from Molina's style. It's a more indie style. Faces aren't as detailed. Everything's just a bit blob-ier.

I'm not completely sold on it yet, myself, but it'll just take me a little getting used to.

[Danileriver23]

I've had mixed feelings about this book since the get-go. I like the secret wars book, and I really loved the first arc, but on a conceptually level I do feel like the concept of A-force is a little bit sexist (An all female team is NOT sexist, a team that can ONLY be all female is) and medusa really doesn't fit in this group to me.

Never read any of Kelly Thompson's work and Ben Caldwell's work is alright (except for the carol. She looks like a parody of herself), But Wilson and Molina were the main thing keeping me on this book. From the previews, this new direction seems to be straying a little bit more away from the characters and more so just using them as placeholders for character archetypes, kind of like the original teen titans cartoon. I know this book has a lot of fans, and I hope it can continue to please them, but this is my stop.

[Kelly Thompson]

You do realize that I co-wrote issues 2, 3, and 4...right?

Sorry we couldn't keep you as a reader. Best of luck!

[Nelson]

You do realize that I co-wrote issues 2, 3, and 4...right?

Sorry we couldn't keep you as a reader. Best of luck!

Since you are already in this thread, can I ask your opinion about the subject of disability superpowers in general, and Nico's in particular and whenever or not we can hope they keep being ignored, as they were in the first arc of the book? I did not want to go back to it after saying I'm done with the debate, but whenever I keep buying the book depends on it. I apologize if it's a topic you would rather not talk about or something you cannot touch upon due to contractual reasons.

[Monpochi]

From the First #1 to the end of the Second #1's run, leaving Molina's art is something that I did not know that I will miss this badly (now seeing and it sinking in that this is the art that we are with now). The change of quality is just too sharp a change (as I am more of a visual comic reader than a writer driven one )

But I still have a sliver of hope, maybe the art is gonna stabilize from here on out (like as good as the cover for all the interior).

All else, I can always pick up the Volume.

[Danileriver23]

I meant to imply I had never read any of your OTHER works. Sorry if I sounded dismissive in that post, it was not intentional.

[ohsnapulon5000]

I like how much this book stands out against the other Marvel meat head mcguffin books and the namby pamby girlie fluff books. If seems like a middle ground that has it's own flavor. I'm sure it's versatility will lend itself to some sweet crossovers with other books.