Nick Smith of the Pasadena Public Library, in Pasadena, California has been following the recent discussion (see "Mark Dudley, Illustrator and Sequential Artist, on Steve Bennett's Latest Column") regarding mature themes applied to classic comic book character and has this to say:

Oddly, the sexual shenanigans of Green Lantern didn't bother me all that much, although the comments seemed out of place in what is otherwise a comic I would hand to kids.  I didn't see how this gave us any helpful insights into Hal Jordan's character, and in fact, it seemed OUT of character.  In the past, he's always seemed like a sequential womanizer, at most, and while Lady Blackhawk has been portrayed as being "wild and crazy"... but the Huntress????  That part just didn't make sense.  The thing is, editors at both Marvel and DC have been letting incidents like this slip into the mainstream titles.  Remember Pepper Potts showing her thong underwear to Tony Stark, in the office?  That was an All-Ages Marvel issue.  If the "threesome" dialog had been in a comic labelled for mature readers, or even older teens, frankly it wouldn't have been a big deal.  Not good writing, but not a big deal.

Mark Dudley's view is that this is a sign of maturing of comics.  I fail to see how slipshod editing and labelling could be considered an improvement, or why meaningless changes in a character would make him more appealing to the core audience of "13 to 40" that Mr. Dudley touts, but maybe that's just me.  It's true that there are probably readers out there who are now going "Oh, wow, Lady Blackhawk and Huntress at the same time!  Oh, wow!," as they continue turning pages with one hand.  Somehow, though, I'm not sure that's a desirable artistic result.

What really bothered me was the continued abuse of sidekicks.  This has been going on at DC for some time, and I just don't get it.  From aging security guards to former "Super Friends" to wives of superheroes, they're being tortured and brutally killed in ways that simply don't make for good stories.  It's as if someone at DC wants to clean house of a lot of old characters, and hasn't come up with a good way to do it.

If you're going to kill someone in a comic, do it in a way that lets the reader care about the victim.  Badly written throwaway deaths just don't do that.  They build up a body count, and leave you more worried about the lost gadget than the victims, and that's very disappointing.  In a previous discussion, Mark Dudley had asked why death is always temporary in comics.  In this case, I would have to ask why needless deaths are even considered a worthwhile plot point.

I'm with Steve Bennett on that aspect, and also on the point that if these characters all come back with black power rings, I will not be a happy reader.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.