Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett takes a look at the latest DC controversy.I have written (and written) about the TV show The Big Bang Theory, specifically whether its depictions of geek culture are accurate and perpetuates the worst sort of stereotypes concerning comic books and their fans. Given the way that comic book fans are usually represented in the media it's understandable we look at things like TBBT through a prism of "Yes, But Is It Good For The Comic Book Industry?." But the truth is we don't have to wait for Hollywood to humiliate us. We can do a pretty job of doing that ourselves.
Like the "Ben Affleck is Batman" thing. It's not as if I expect fans to handle news concerning unexpected casting choices with anything like restraint but the overreaction to this one seemed completely disconnected from reality. I didn't like Daredevil either--and I saw the extended director's cut (while no better it certainly was longer), but I really can't see anything fundamentally wrong with Affleck in the role. Plus, seriously, at this point does it even matter which member of Actor's Equity gets stuffed into the rubber suit?
But while comic fans continually obsess over our public image comic book publishers never seem to ask themselves if what they're doing is good for the industry. Like last week when DC seemed to go out of its way to make decisions so singularly boneheaded and tone deaf it's obvious Time Warner is too cheap to spring for a media consultant. It started when J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman left Batwoman over editorial interference (see "Creative Team Leaving 'Batwoman'") over their plans to have Kate Kane marry Maggie Sawyer. This wasn't due to homophobia but a blanket ban by DC on superhero marriages because, as Dan Didio said at a Baltimore Con panel, "Heroes shouldn't have happy personal lives."
I think it would have been a lot more honest if he admitted there's a popular presumption that marriage isn't sexy. Even their core 45 year old male readership considers marriage as being for old people. It's dull, boring grown up stuff and the serious adult responsibility that comes with it is kryptonite to the 18 to 34 demographic they're now desperately chasing. I suppose you could argue readers get enough of that sort of thing from real life and comics are supposed to be an escape from it. But I contend cutting superheroes off from such a basic part of the human experience is another sign of just how dehumanized superhero comics have become.
Jimmy Palmiotti, co-writer of the comic where the page will appear, has gone on record to say the scene was part of a "surreal dream sequence" and "that the tryout Harley Quinn page went out without an overall description of tone and dialogue is my fault." Context of course is key and I absolutely believe there was no bad intent here, but incidents like this demonstrate there’s a downside to comic books finally being taken seriously by the outside media. They're going to take what we do and say seriously.
Which is why there’s a meme out that there's a DC comic coming out where a naked woman commits suicide in a tub. The reaction of one woman I know to this was, "I'll never buy DC products again," which didn't change when I told her that it was all in good fun. "It smacks me in the face like a warning," she told me, and like the publisher was saying, "This is how we like to think of you. Naked. Despairing. And, in a minute, dead."
You might say that's her problem and just one person's reaction--but clearly this isn't just the opinion of just one person. You might also say this is just a bunch of hysterical hypersensitive females upset over nothing, but this response isn't happening in a vacuum. There's a weird regressive/transgressive/aggressive animus currently at work in our culture, best exemplified by "comedians" who say something horrifically offensive then smirk as if to say it's OK because they really didn't mean it. It's given people the license to express their darkest hates when it comes to race, religion and gender and if someone is offended it's their fault if they "can't take a joke."
Maybe you haven't noticed but there's a lot of anger being directed at women right now, and that includes our industry, and it's long past time we acknowledge the elephant in the room.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.