I’m sorry, DC Comics. It’s not you, it’s me.
Okay, that’s a fucking lie. It is you, it is totally you, it has been you for years and years and we keep trying to make this work and it just doesn’t. We’ve tried a trial separation and I came running back when you offered me flowers and chocolate and Gail Simone. We tried an open relationship and, well, I hate to break it to you, but even considering all their faults, Marvel is just BETTER than you.
And now I think we just need to break up. For good.
Let’s not concentrate on how it’s ending, with your editorial team deciding at the last second that Batwoman couldn’t show Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer getting married, causing the creators to walk off of the title. No, hush, that’s just the straw that’s breaking Batman’s back. It’s a well documented list of failures in recent years, showing that you don’t value you me as a reader and, more importantly, you don’t respect me as a partner.
DC, we’ve had some good times. Remember Final Crisis and how much that meant to us? Remember MINX and how you really tried except you really DIDN’T try and it all ended in fire and flames and I STILL want the last two Janes books by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg? And while you deny it, constantly, our time together with Stephanie Brown was fun. I enjoyed it.
But it’s over, DC. It’s over and it’s best we just say goodbye. But one thing I can tell you, any time I hear the wind blow it will whisper the name “DC.” And so let us part with a love that will echo through the ages.
-Ashly
PS: Come get your fucking stuff out of my house, I am sick of looking at it.
Ashly is a single female looking for a new comic in her life. She’s a Scorpio who enjoys red wine, horror novels and fully-realized characterization. You can find out more about her on Twitter at @newageamazon
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BRAVO!!!!
I’m a gay man, for the record, and I’m very unhappy with DC now. That said, the notion of DC being afraid or unwilling to show a gay wedding is being read in by too many folks today. They didn’t want Kate and Maggie getting married. I can see the point. When was the last time a super-hero got married? Northstar. Before that? I can’t even remember. Super-hero marriages are typically doomed from the get-go. Fans never respond well, even after 75 year courtships. Plus, this character is strife-driven, and this could diffuse it if another writer ever had to come onto the title, which will ultimately happen either way. Also, 2 years in a comic is a VERY short time for two characters to take this step. Romantic tension is something readers enjoy, and there’s no reason not to take it slow. No other Batfamily member will likely ever get married, and I don’t see what, other than her sexuality, would make Kate the exception, and I feel like that’s a double standard. Generally, I’m very non-DC these days, but a lot of folks are screaming anti-gay at them over this and I don’t think that’s a fair assessment.
I don’t necessarily think it’s anti-gay, and I agree that it’s anti-marriage. That said, DC had to know that if this news broke it would be seen as anti-gay, and they did a very poor job at PR clean-up regarding the issue. Also, that the decision was apparently made at the last minute is troubling. If their policy is going to be “no marriages” then make it known that the policy is “no marriages,” don’t okay something, let creators plan it out and then suddenly go “wait, no, don’t.” This is something we’ve been hearing about for awhile now, that editorial’s control and actions are actively hurting creator’s ability to produce quality product. The comics are suffering for it.
So, anti-gay in appearance only, but still a massive issue for all involved, and DC’s business practice of “fuck our fans” isn’t exactly helping matters.
As for “fuck our fans”, sign me up as fucked. :) I don’t think a ‘no marriages’ platform is necessarily a good idea either. Depends on scenario, and could be too limiting. A longer wait period with an organic sense of movement could be fine, especially depending on the angsty-ness of said character. As for damage control, I wasn’t in the boardroom, and I only have these two to hear out of so far. I don’t know how DC approached them with their reasoning against the issue. I don’t think in this case DC was out to fire them, it appears they decided to leave, right or hastily. I’m sure DC has no IDEA how to do PR with their exit, and I don’t even know if they had any idea this would snowball to their exit. I hope a LOT can be fixed here. An overhaul needs to happen no matter how you split it. I’m just concerned with all the articles I’ve read today that it’s going to be done on a platform of the other parties being anti-gay, and I don’t see this as being that. Thanks for the reply!
Oh, I almost forgot to whore myself to you. http://savingwonderwoman.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/save-batwoman-part-two-take-a-deep-breath/ (read it if you feel like it, no pressure)
I think it’s very untrue that “fans” don’t respond well to marriages.
I think it’s more accurate that straight dudes who buy into the insulting premise that marriage is a “ball and chain” don’t respond well.
But there are PLENTY of fans who not only “respond well” to the marriages but are now actively mourning the loss. It’s just that many of them are WOMEN. So be careful generalizing.
Fans not liking marriage has been reflective in sales, in a lot of cases. Take Peter and MJ, who’s marriage was sited by many as being the sticking point in the mythos. After the (admitted stupid way of) ending of that relationship, sales escalated. Yes, some people are suddenly begging for marriage, but not before this, and a large number of people who’ve weighed in on the matter aren’t even readers. It’s so easy to say that DC should change it all, but would that really mean more people would read the books? As for the ‘ball and chain’ ethic, it’s reflective of what the media tells them in virtually every trope. The hateful bitch married to the slack-jawed moron is not only prevalent in the ethos, it’s accepted as reality. Take that factor, and throw it to the boardroom, and how are a group of people who don’t understand nuance going to figure out how to apply it to superheroes and get investment? Also, this is not new but it’s being treated as such. In 1989, two years into the last reboot, there was only one marriage in the entire DCU. The rationale was the same, that in the infancy of the characters marriage would be too soon in the establishment of said characters. As for this being about the victimization of women, I don’t see how this is exclusive at all. Is it not a statement against men, too, and culture as a whole? Where’s the demand for straight women in comics to get married? Why have I not heard a peep about that demographic? Only the secondary character attached to the male hero is in the conversation. Why is the ire so focused on this one instance?
For me, right now Image is where it’s at. With the exception of Snyder’s Batman because Snyder is awesome.
They are starting an entire series dedicated to a heterosexual relationship (Superman/Wonder Woman), yet can’t leave Kate and Maggie alone. Psh.
Well, at least this means Superman and Wonder Woman probably won’t end up getting married? :D? :D?
I am so bad at finding the silver lining, sorry.
Even worse they are devoting a comic to an extremely problematic relationship that turns their lead female superhero into a sex object on the back of the complete and utter destruction of Superman and Lois’s marriage.
They basically threw Wonder Woman and Lois Lane—arguably their two most visible feminist icons as superhero and career woman—to the wolves to promote their mid-life crisis wet dream.
This abomination with Batwoman is the straw that just puts nail in the coffin. Screw DC Comics. They don’t give two craps about anyone but straight white dudes.
AWESOME! I loved MINX! I’m still upset at DC not supporting MINX
:(
SERIOUSLY! I didn’t love everything they did, but it had so much potential! And the Janes books were amazing and there were two more planned that we will never get to see! :(