Joss Whedon, Barbara Gordon and DC's trauma fetish

So apparently Joss Whedon wants to use his Batgirl movie to “explore the damage” that made her become a vigilante. I kind of wanted to set out a reasoned and calm counterpoint to this but it just sort of came out as a rant so here we go!

No. No no no no no. We do not need this. The DCEU does not need this. No one needs Barbara Gordon of all characters reduced to another showcase of trauma fetish like Batman has been stuck as for seven decades and counting.

You want the story of why Barbara put on the suit? Here's a quick run down of the best version there ever was: she was too shirt to be a cop. Her father was a cop and as a kid she wanted to be a cop, she saw it as the noblest form of public service and public service was what she wanted to do with her life. Unfortunately, she didn't meet the GCPD's physical requirements even though she was more than academically qualified.

Then one day she does to a costume party, a big political thing her father had been invited to, and she's sort of pissed with her dad over something and she wants to show him up a bit. Her big plan for needling her father? She makes her own Batman costume and she's going to turn up to this party, the daughter of the police commissioner dressed up as the police department's dirty little secret.

And then someone takes the party hostage and its just her in a Batman costume and she's really smart and has enough bsic self-defence to get by and she manages to rescue everyone but before she can tell her dad who she is everyone is taking pictures of “the Batgirl” and suddenly there's a new vigilante in Gotham. She sees her way into public service, a way to do right when the official channels of law and order don't want her, she decides she'll become the Batgirl for real. She tries things, screws up, takes advice here and there, meets Dick and starts the whole on-off relationship thing, and over time she earns enough respect from Batman that she becomes the first costume in Gotham he “allows” to operate in the city outside of his immediate operation (a cool tradition of the female Gotham heroes is that, Cass Cain aside, they tend to be independent operators outside of Bruce's strict control).

Its as simple as that. There's no great damage or trauma there. Barbara Gordon wanted to do good and the Bat allowed her to do that when doing it the socially acceptable way wasn't possible. That's Barbara's story. For that matter, its Kate Kane's story, too. Not every superhero needs to be wedded to GRAND SUFFERING and ETERNAL TRAUMA just because untreated mental illness is the only motivating factor that seems to work for DC's marketing people.

Its not like Barbara is without pain or eternal conflict. Depending on the version you're reading she blames herself for Jason Bard's shooting and the end of his GCPD career; the end of her relationship with Dick is a source of eternal mixed feelings; and, to be frank, being the daughter of the police commissioner and a vigilante is one hell of a line to walk and you're going to end up with issues. The thing is that this doesn't totally define her the way the death of his parents defines Bruce or her cashiering from the military defines Kate's journey to the costume. Even when she loses the use of her legs and becomes Oracle that trauma does not define her. Its ever-present, as it should be, but again it isn't her soul motivating factor.

One might almost call her very varied set of emotions and motivations... complex? As if she were, to coin a phrase DC seems to not be aware of, a “complex character”?

Just a thought. 

Comic Reviews Prime

This week, we say goodbye to the best series of a mediocre era; the X-Men relaunch over coffee; I give the Inhumans a chance to impress me; and (Bat)girl talk just isn't enough to sell me on an annual.

All-New X-Men #19

And so the undisputed jewel of this unremarkable era of the X-Men concludes. Its a nice, quiet character piece like Extraordinary X-Men went out on as the team (plus Inhuman boyfriend type Romeo) gather for a barbecue outside a random gas station. What plot there is tidies away the lingering ghost of time travel from the series forevermore and I'm glad of it. As fun as it is to see the original X-Men wandering around the modern Marvel Universe, this issue needed sweeping away.

And Jean Grey returns. I admit, I'm not as high on Jean Grey as most are. One woman of my acquaintance described Jean as her “comicbook waifu” and that's far from abnormal (in some senses, at least). That said, Hopeless does do us one final great service and pretty much confirms that she and Scott are not and do not need to get back together.

All in all, I'm sad to see this series go and I hope Oya and Genesis find a home in the X-books somewhere down the line but I'm still looking forward to where this team goes next.

X-Men Prime one-shot

I've been waiting a while for this Kitty Pryde to return to the X-Men. This is the Kitty Pryde that was around when I started reading comics. Not the teenager of Chris Claremont or the barely more than a teenager Joss Whedon brought back into the fold but the experienced adult from Warren Ellis' Excalibur. This is the Kitty who grew up as a superhero and has some serious game as a result.

This is a Kitty that Storm is happy to turn to as a possible successor. There's no two ways around it, this issue has a very poor opinion of the franchise's direction in the last couple of years. That's fine, I happen to agree, and there's a definite sense that bringing Kitty back into the fold is an attempt at spiritual renewal for the X-Men as a group.

There are other teases: we see the original X-Men talking about why they're striking out on their own again (even if only obliquely) and a short vignette with Lady Deathstrike that sets up Weapon X. There's also a sweet little moment with Jubilee and baby Shogo, which is an unsatisfying tease for Generation X but a charming little scene in and of itself.

And, whilst I won't spoil the last page reveal, it certainly promises that the X-Men are going to be at the centre of the Marvel Universe again where they justly belong.

Inhumans Prime one-shot

I pretty much just bought this just to see what was up with the new Secret Warriors, which is pretty much the only Inhumans series I knew was spinning out of IvX. As it happens, the Secret Warriors don't make much of an appearance outside of a big group shot of Inhumans on a splash page and the resulting fight scene.

And now that I have read the teases for what else is coming out?

Well... the issue starts and end with Marvel Boy pretty much as we last saw him in Young Avengers. I love that character and that he's going to be a fixture in Royals absolutely sells me on the series. I admit, the Inhumans themselves, especially the new ones, aren't characters I'm very familiar with aside from Ms. Marvel. I find Maximus the Mad rather charming, but not enough to sell me on Black Bolt, which I assume from much silent brooding in this issue is where Maximus will be appearing.

Ultimately, though, that's two out of three series I'm at least willing to give a try which is not a bad average for a franchise I have not much interest in.

Batgirl Annual #1

This annual was mostly fluff and a tease for an upcoming Supergirl storyline. To be honest, that's not much to base an extra long (and extra expensive) issue on, especially as half the issue tells a story set before the current ongoing and so has very little to do with what's going on with Batgirl these days.

And I'm not sure getting some quality girl time between Babs and Alysia, a too rare pleasure since Gail Simone left the series, is enough to compensate for all that. 

A personal, subjective view on the Batgirl Joker variant

The title of this post is meant to convey that this is what I feel about the whole business of DC soliciting and then pulling the Batgirl Joker variant cover. I'm not trying to make a definitive statement here, least of all because the artist, Rafael Albuquerque, wrote an open letter on the subject which I think deserves pre-eminence. Its a bit of non-apology but it does seem to represent genuine contrition, which is good because DC's own statement pretty much throws Albuquerque under a bus in lieu of admitting any fault on their part.

(That said, I can't say whether the theme of the piece was Albuquerque's or DC editorial's idea. After all, you say “Batgirl Joker variant” and the natural pitch is “Killing Joke tribute”, so who knows whose idea it was).

As to the cover itself? I think its a really good piece of art if divorced from context. Hell, even given its context I think its well-drawn. Its technically proficient and genuinely disturbing. I'm a strong believer that art is meant to provoke an emotional reaction and that reaction doesn't need to be positive to have worth. The problem, and I feel there really is a problem, comes from the context this image would have been published in.

As the cover to a horror comic or even to Gail Simone's run on Batgirl it might even have worked. Simone's Batgirl dwelt a lot on the trauma Barbara suffered as a result of The Killing Joke. Put this cover on one of the early Death Of The Family tie-in issues and it would work perfectly, an expression of Barbara's lingering unresolved issues, especially given the presence of the gun (one of Simone's earliest issues has Barbara freeze when a gun is pointed at her).

The actual context of this piece, however, would have been an issue of the Stewart/Fletcher run which DC has heavily marketed to the female young adult audience. Its pretty much the prototype for the way DC intends to diversify its content and audience coming out of Convergence. This is the comic DC is pushing to young women to show them they have a place within the audience and not just with the traditional trick of having a female creator on it, which is pretty much how they marketed Simone's Batgirl and Birds Of Prey before it. Babs Tarr's art is a big part of this: more akin to Lumberjanes or Girls With Slingshots than the traditional superhero house styles, swapping out the style that has historically alienated women for the styles of comics that have been more welcoming to them.

A comic's cover is not art alone, it is also a piece of advertising and good advertising is meant to send out a coherent, unified message. The purpose of this series from the writing to the art to most every other piece of marketing has been to foster a sense of Batgirl as embodying the traditional superhero power fantasy for young women divorced from many of the usual problems that plague female superheroes in that regard. To then pair this with a prominent image of Batgirl restrained and visibly terrified is a massively dissonant note that contradicts the central message of the series.

The cover image is disturbing in a way that does not suit the series it would have been used in and this, more than anything, is why I think it was a good decision for DC to pull the cover. Hell, of all series for this to happen to its strangely fitting for it to happen with the Cameron/Fletcher Batgirl, whose creators were previously criticised for the use of transphobic tropes in one issue. Their response, in an open letter, was to look at their work and apologise for the feelings it evoked, for not properly considering the issues when they wrote and drew those scenes and to thank their audience for provoking the discussion and expressing hope that they and others would be able to create better stories as a result of those discussions.

Especially given DC's own sidestepping of all responsibility in their corporate response to this issue, its nice to see that the DC title designed to appeal to women is also the comic whose contributors own their actions. 

The triumphant non-return of Cass Cain

(Due diligence: I have not received last Wednesday's comics yet because of postal issues therefore I'm writing about the “semi-canon” return of Cassandra Cain sight unseen. That said it's basically a what if story in Gail Simone's goodbye issue so I doubt there's much to fruitfully interpret. This post is my case for why this needs to go further and we need to see Cass properly reinstated into the present day New 52. I've been meaning to write this for a while, basically since Steph's return was announced, and Batgirl: Futures End gives me the perfect excuse.

On with the motley...)

So, about two years ago someone at DC did a stupid and referred to Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain as “toxic” characters in reference to not allowing them to be used in a Smallville comic. They could have gone with “We want to firmly re-establish Barbara Gordon as the sole version of Batgirl for the time being and are not pursuing the development of other characters who have embodied the role” but instead they went with “toxic” and other people at DC confirmed the quote and even agreed with the description.

This, of course, has changed. Steph is now a big presence in a tentpole Batman series and Gail Simone has used Cassandra Cain (and the Steph Brown Batgirl) in the Futures End issue of Batgirl. A few things need to be mentioned about this before we move on. This issue was, of course, Simone's last; it was set in a future that likely will never be explored outside of the Futures End series; and Simone has already made some other fanservice casting choices during her final arc like slipping Misfit in for a single panel cameo. This might be nothing more than a big author on her victory lap being allowed to slip in a few fan-pleasing Easter eggs now there's no chance she'll try to pursue them.

However, I think there are good reasons to reintroduce Cass to DC continuity proper beyond mere fanservice. You see, Cass has a unique distinction amongst female Bat-characters.

Look at the boys who help Batman: Alfred, Dick, Tim, Jason and Damian. Bruce calls them family: his surrogate father and his adopted and biological sons, they're an inner circle who have all lived at Wayne Manor at one time or another and have always known Bruce's secret. The female Gotham heroes (Barbara Gordon, Kate Kate, Helena Bertinelli, Kathy Kane, Steph Brown, Renee Montoya) tend to be independent operators with their own resources, to whom Bruce is at least initially antagonistic and he doesn't usually reveal his identity to them. Of that whole list I think only Barbara and Steph know “the secret”, at least as far as I'm aware.

Cass defies the distinction, probably because she's the youngest woman to be Batgirl: high school age instead of college age. She was more analogous to a Robin in many ways and she even slept at Wayne Manor every now and again. She's family, taken in by Bruce in the same way the Robins were and that's unique for a female sidekick.

So, bring back Batman's only begotten daughter, is basically what I'm saying.

There are a couple of other angles that should be mentioned. Aside from Batwing and absent Renee Montoya the Bat-books are rather short on characters of colour these days. Also on the inclusivity side there's the fact Cass has a disability, albeit an inconsistent one, being either illiterate due to her upbringing or profoundly dyslexic depending on who's writing her.

Mainly, though, I want her back because she was really interesting me again in the lead up to Flashpoint. She had a bad couple of years between the end of her ongoing series and Batman Incorporated. First she was a villain then there was a pretty bad limited series and then she was just wandering the world off-panel after she gave Steph the Batgirl identity. Then Batman Inc. happened and she became the Black Bat, Batman's woman in Hong Kong. She turned up once or twice in Red Robin, Batman Incorporated and Gates Of Gotham but we never really got to see what sort of adventures she had on her own in her new identity in her own city.

Let me pitch this to you. The Black Bat: a female Nightwing operating in East Asia. Sells itself, doesn't it?

In all seriousness, it felt like the character was going somewhere again. Since I've already argued that Cass had the character progression of a Robin instead of a Batgirl the next step for her is the inevitable change to a solo hero with her own identity like Nightwing, Red Hood and Red Robin. But we never got it, we were just teased with it and now she's in limbo halfway through a major, necessary transformation and it strikes me as a massive missed opportunity if nothing else.