- Did you have a favorite issue this week?
I think I’d go with Blackest Night #4. It had forward momentum in the story and while the dialogue did veer into “let me explain my motivation to you,” I did like the dynamic of slightly smaller heroes like Flash, Mera and The Atom taking center stage.
The Flash issue was pretty good too. It was interesting seeing Barry try to contain his emotions while dealing with the fallout of him still being fresh from his resurrection and not knowing everything.
As for JLA…well…
- Was anything surprising to see?
I knew from reading this stuff previously that I was not going to like the stuff with Dr. Light in this book and was kind of dreading it, but JEEZ, I forgot just how freaking awful and gross this two-parter was. Like, it is seriously one of THE worst Justice League issues I have ever read.
I was recently talking about this over in the General forum when someone asked about the problems with Identity Crisis, and I talked about how the sexual assault of Sue Digby wasn’t just bad for her character, but for Doctor Light as well. What was once a semi-forgettable joke of a character became something profane and gross and just unpleasant to see.
I knew I was going to be grossed out by Light touching and harassing Kimiyo as well as him tearing apart her costume, but I wasn’t ready for the pages upon pages of him running his decomposed lips about Japanese culture. Like, after a certain while you wonder how much of that was Light talking and how much of that was James Robinson talking.
And it wasn’t just Kimiyo – Gypsy and Vixen got the same treatment too by Commander Steel and Vibe! These two issues were literally NOTHING but a group of guys beating, humiliating, and ridiculing women. Whenever people talk about how these Big Two mainstream superhero comics can be repellant to women, this is what they’re talking about.
Of course, the argument to this would be, “but the women do beat the men at the end, so it’s not that bad, right?” And…I guess? I could see that’s probably what they were going for. After all, there is a history in horror cinema (and in comics, really) where women exploitation was a vehicle to deliver an underpinning message of women empowerment. But I just don’t think they succeed here at all.
…Wow, I went off WAY longer than I thought I was! And to be clear, after looking at some of the comments here, I’m not going to say anyone is bad for liking these issues. It just didn’t work for me at all.
ANYWAY.
- Which Black Lantern(s) would you rather deal with, Rogues or Reverse Flash?
Probably the Rogues, because it looks like Reverse Flash has all the Black Lantern stuff AND his super-speed, which is just way too OP to consider having to encounter.