Comic Book Resources

Don’t blame Robinson, blame how hyper-sexualized everything has become these days.

The problem with everyone’s “outrage” over the Huntress/Lady Blackhawk scene in Cry For Justice is that Robinson didn’t flat-out say what went on between the two ladies, Hal, and the bottle of grappa…everyone just assumes it’s some massive three-way. For all we know, it could’ve been some kind of spin the bottle game or something. People are bringing their own assumptions and sexual ideas/hang-ups into the mix and THAT’S what’s causing all the outrage…Robinson set it up to leave what happened to our imaginations and we’re the ones dragging the most extreme porn movie assumptions to the forefront, not him.

No, it was just terrible writing from a guy who should know better, like the Geoff Johns Wasp/Yellowjacket scene.

@ Brian

I totally agree. There was a guy who shot up a liquor store yesterday as well. I blame society, not the guy with the gun.

I’m really sure he had a good reason to send bullets flying.

Aaron, care to elaborate Geoff Johns Wasp/Yellowjacket scene and quote the issue number plz?

It was The Avengers, Vol. 3, #71, Yuri.

“But the worst thing about the whole business is if you’re of a mind to write torrid superhero sex scenes we already have a medium where you can do that to your heart’s content. … It’s called fan-fiction.”

That’s what mainstream superhero comics ARE, and have been for at least the last 25 years. The Dark Knight Returns is the greatest fanfic ever written.

Re: Malorie Blackman’s Top 10 Graphic Novels for teens – her list is loaded with R rated comic books. As a comic book retailer, I would be wary of selling the majority of her picks to anyone under 18. She even makes a point of stating that The Chronicles of Wormwood is “for mature readers only. And I mean, mature! It is sexually explicit.” Then why is this on a top 10 list for teens?

All super-heroes now are portrayed as hooking-up, and decadent, and for GL to have done this is more to earn some grinning recognition that hes supposed to be that kind of guy as a character- the kind of guy girls can’t resist and guys want to be, i presume. the problem is, is this supposed to add “maturity” and “realism” to something that is still a guy in a green and black tight outfit, calling himself “The Green Lantern” ? It brings nothing. Let it be escapism. I don’t really care about super-heroes nailing other super-heroes. You know why? I get laid in real life. I don’t get to fight inter-galactic threats, however.

I remember the palpable excitement from a desperate comics industry when stuff like “Identity Crisis” was mentioned on CNN.com and things like that. “Mainstream attention!!!” “They’ll see ‘comics just aren’t for kids now!’” The problem with this ‘gritty, cutting edge’ type BS is that is often has the opposite effect. You see, people LIKE the “Biff! Bam! Pow!” aspect of comics- thats what comics are supposed to be. When someone who reads ‘mainstream’ things like the NY Times, etc. sees that theres a DC Comics series with rapes, or super-heroes having a sexual relationship, its probably more prone to make them bemused and take it LESS seriously. After all, these are super-heroes, fighting crime, wearing costumes. Do you think it makes anyone think; “Oh wow, thats such realism..! I’ve got to go check that out.” Not at all. It’s a safe bet people don’t like to equate sex with super-heroes…

…except those who really lack any form of intimacy with someone else, and i DONT mean that in a snide, dismissive way. fans have a collective chip on their shoulder about this elusive ‘mainstream’ that doesn’t get how much stories and characters mean to them… they need to get over it. this one little scene, which i thought was juvenile and worthless coming from Robinson, is just an out-growth of the epidemic facing comics for some time now, that is, trying to appear like something they are not. this was an industry created for kids, created for escapism, created to provide cheap thrills. This is not hollywood, this is not television- get over it.

“Don’t blame Robinson, blame how hyper-sexualized everything has become these days.”

That doesn’t let Robinson off the hook, but you do have a point. You can’t watch TV with a kid anymore without having sex paraded in the front of kids. Even if the show you’re watching is pretty safe, chances are the commericals aren’t. Watching an evening of ads on ABC sometime and see: both ads for products and promos for ABC’s own shows. Sporting events are just as bad with all the Viagra ads, etc.

Then there was last week, when I went over to mom’s to drop off a set of keys right before going on vacation. She had The View on, I think, my kid sits down on the couch and right there on the screen: “Is Oral Sex The New Goodnight Kiss?” Great, thanks again ABC…

Shaun, thanks for being open-minded to the idea, at least. I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t dumb of Robinson to even go down that road, just that he left it open to interpretation and most people who read it were quick to assume the worst. It’s like in a horror movie when you don’t actually see the thing/whatever that’s killing everyone…the power of the imagination is much greater than anything somebody could put together to show us. And, in this case, most people went right for a massive superhero porn flick.

Maddhatter, grow the hell up.