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May. 14th, 2010 07:37 pmThis post at Comics Alliance about race in DC at the moment is really good. Someone in the comments made the really cogent thought that this is basically what happened on Batgirl in the last couple of years - Cass Cain, a Batgirl who was clearly part of the grim & grittier, (more) modern school of comics, and a character of colour, left her own book (which was really damn good) and was replaced by Stephanie Brown, who looks a lot more like bright, bubbly, sarky Babs-style Batgirl. Other comments have pointed out that this is sort of happening on Batman right now: Dick, a Romany* character, is going to be re-replaced by Bruce Wayne, Ultimate WASP.
Now, you can sort of try to justify these. Steph becoming Batgirl is a really cool, logical move, displaying both her growth and her close relationships with both the former Batgirls. Meanwhile Dick, unlike Cass or the other characters mentioned, probably isn't going to die or get put on a bus (after having had her character fucked around with in the most insanely infuriating ways... but don't get me started) when Bruce gets back.**
However, I think in both cases it's still a good call. Cass, a terrific character, was put on a bus partly because I suppose they were morons who couldn't figure out a way to use her and all her friends had kind of left the city (Tim was away, Kon was dead... on the other hand, Steph had even fewer friends around). But realistically, as cool a move as I think Steph being Batgirl is, it wasn't entirely necessary. Spoiler was always a pretty cool identity (IMO, YMMV) and they could have given her growth in some other way. (I don't know. But unlike oh, say, everyone who works for DC, it's not actually my job to figure it out.) Meanwhile, when Dick goes back to the Nightwing costume, if he does (come on: no way are they going to kill Dick, but equally no way is he going to keep the cowl - as cool as that would be) it's really only going to be a step backwards for him as a character. Finally becoming Batman was actually a big fucking deal for a character with Dick's history. Returning Bruce is just going to reboot Dick to where he was a year or two ago. Growth is cool, y'all, and sometimes legacy characters should actually stay de-legacied.
I don't know if I actually have a point! Talk to me about the Batbooks this week, y'all!
( Birds of Prey, Batgirl, Batman thingummy spoilers! Lots of rambling )
*As plenty of people pointed out, Dick was white for a really long time - or at least he looked white. Devin Grayson was the one who wrote him as Rom, I guess about ten years ago? On the other hand, as someone else pointed out, there's really no reason not to embrace that. On the other other hand, I'm not sure that, if DC rewrote all its characters to give them ambiguously non-white backgrounds - say, the traditional my-great-grandmother-was-a-%fill in a stereotypical name for Native American group here% - that this would really fix the problem. On a fourth hand, widespread confusion about what the hell Connor Hawke or Lian Harper's ethnicities were doesn't make them not mixed race? Someone give me a sword, please, this knot is becoming a problem.
** Speaking of which, I sort of liked the first issue of Return of Bruce Wayne or whatever it's called? IDEK
Now, you can sort of try to justify these. Steph becoming Batgirl is a really cool, logical move, displaying both her growth and her close relationships with both the former Batgirls. Meanwhile Dick, unlike Cass or the other characters mentioned, probably isn't going to die or get put on a bus (after having had her character fucked around with in the most insanely infuriating ways... but don't get me started) when Bruce gets back.**
However, I think in both cases it's still a good call. Cass, a terrific character, was put on a bus partly because I suppose they were morons who couldn't figure out a way to use her and all her friends had kind of left the city (Tim was away, Kon was dead... on the other hand, Steph had even fewer friends around). But realistically, as cool a move as I think Steph being Batgirl is, it wasn't entirely necessary. Spoiler was always a pretty cool identity (IMO, YMMV) and they could have given her growth in some other way. (I don't know. But unlike oh, say, everyone who works for DC, it's not actually my job to figure it out.) Meanwhile, when Dick goes back to the Nightwing costume, if he does (come on: no way are they going to kill Dick, but equally no way is he going to keep the cowl - as cool as that would be) it's really only going to be a step backwards for him as a character. Finally becoming Batman was actually a big fucking deal for a character with Dick's history. Returning Bruce is just going to reboot Dick to where he was a year or two ago. Growth is cool, y'all, and sometimes legacy characters should actually stay de-legacied.
I don't know if I actually have a point! Talk to me about the Batbooks this week, y'all!
( Birds of Prey, Batgirl, Batman thingummy spoilers! Lots of rambling )
*As plenty of people pointed out, Dick was white for a really long time - or at least he looked white. Devin Grayson was the one who wrote him as Rom, I guess about ten years ago? On the other hand, as someone else pointed out, there's really no reason not to embrace that. On the other other hand, I'm not sure that, if DC rewrote all its characters to give them ambiguously non-white backgrounds - say, the traditional my-great-grandmother-was-a-%fill in a stereotypical name for Native American group here% - that this would really fix the problem. On a fourth hand, widespread confusion about what the hell Connor Hawke or Lian Harper's ethnicities were doesn't make them not mixed race? Someone give me a sword, please, this knot is becoming a problem.
** Speaking of which, I sort of liked the first issue of Return of Bruce Wayne or whatever it's called? IDEK
