tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621995982503387078.post3377636881445784424..comments2024-03-25T12:06:32.583-05:00Comments on THE ARCHETYPAL ARCHIVE: REFORM, HARLEQUIN! SAID THE ELITISTSNOBMANGene Phillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11495562795211277146noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621995982503387078.post-57141330391289546492010-06-22T17:51:47.033-05:002010-06-22T17:51:47.033-05:00Gene,
First of all, thanks for the linking (and ...Gene, <br /><br />First of all, thanks for the linking (and letting me know about it)!<br /><br />I think the regression argument is interesting, in the sense that you are right -- it's not a DELIBERATE act of racism on the part of D.C. to commit an anti-minority purging of the DCU. I don't think anyone is accusing D.C. writers or editors of hiding white pillow cases in their briefcases. But, there does seem to be a push towards bringing back Silver Age incarnations is the unfortunate side effect of reversing their recent diversity efforts.<br /><br />The purpose of my original piece was not to call D.C. racist. I do think Ryan Choi will be back, primarily because his death seems so ill-executed and rushed. The purpose of my post was to acknwoledge that Ryan Choi is, for better or for worse, a symbolic character for Asian American fanboys/girls. I wasn't particularly thrilled with Choi's treatment by Simone in his title, but I did appreciate that D.C. was willing to try to tackle issues of Asian American identity in his books.<br /><br />In the end, I think much of the reaction is fannish anger, but just because it is anger, doesn't make it misplaced. There should be some acknowledgement on the part of fans that characters are important to them, and that their deaths should be meaningful. Asian Americans are reacting negatively to Ryan Choi's death specifically because he's APIA. We're not saying he should be immune to comic book deaths, we're protesting the seemingly insensitive and inconsequential death that he suffered particularly considering he is one of the only APIA superheroes to have their own title. <br /><br />Ryan Choi was specifically sold to fanboys -- particularly APIA fanboys -- based on the uniqueness of his race and ethnicity. If he's going to be killed, I think we would have liked to have there be some discussion from the writers (either in the book or in interviews) about what that would mean to the APIA community.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05988935109319696471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621995982503387078.post-27654839905641654502010-06-22T13:06:07.147-05:002010-06-22T13:06:07.147-05:00Todd,
I've been following some of these "...Todd,<br /><br />I've been following some of these "regression" arguments online, and I just don't think they make any sense except in terms of knee-jerk reaction.<br /><br />Some of the less knee-jerk posters have observed, as I did, that DC tends to temporarily kill off a lot of its heroes regardless of their ethnicity. They've also noted that very few heroes sell well for DC if they're not connected to either the Superman, Batman or JLA franchises. Thus it's impossible to state with certainty whether or not the hardcore fans are avoiding minority characters or just new characters generally.<br /><br />I agree that DC has established a well-received pattern of creating nonwhite characters who inherit roles, as with Ryan Choi, Jakeem Thunder, Mr. Terrific and Batgirl. However, that pattern doesn't exempt any of them from the rules of the game: at any time, they can be killed to suit the desires of a writer or editor. From what I can tell, odds are that it will be a stupid and trivial death, because most of DC's writers don't seem to be able to execute well-conceived death-scenes (call it the Gerry Conway Syndrome). But as long as death sells comics, heroes will be killed.<br /><br />Now, one can say, "If DC was really committed to diversity they'd arrange to bring in a Hispanic Atom to replace Choi, rather than "the old white guy.'" But comics are a business, and it's to be expected that if a new version of a character flops, the old one will be brought out of mothballs for reasons dominantly to do with exploiting any given character's potential. <br /><br />Of course it'll probably be immaterial in the specific case of the Atom. The chances are not good that his new series in ADVENTURE will sell markedly better than any other incarnation of him, or better than that of Choi for that matter.<br /><br />That's why I think it quite possible not only that Ryan Choi will be revived but that DC may have killed to see whether or not his fatal absence would make the fannish heart grow fonder.<br /><br />Most of the other complaints about regressiveness-- Batgirl, Firestorm, et al-- strike me as no better thought out, but I'd have to deal with each in their turn. <br /><br />Thanks for a courteous exchange.Gene Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11495562795211277146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5621995982503387078.post-3970689073328884682010-06-21T11:01:00.312-05:002010-06-21T11:01:00.312-05:00I'm not throwing my hat into the ring of outra...I'm not throwing my hat into the ring of outrage myself, mind you, but I think you're missing the point that the collective affronted are making. My understanding of the broad argument is that the deaths aren't random, but a pattern of restoring the "original" silver age incarnations of characters, which has the effect of trashing everybody's favorite DC thing (the only thing they do "better" than Marvel), which the pattern of legacy heroes (the turning over to another generation of hero that will be accepted as the legitimate heir to the cowl or mask or whatever). The extra step made by the people you are talking about is that they note that this sets the cultural egalitarianism clock back to the mid 50's, when superheroes were all white. Si it is the pattern of regressiveness that they take issue with, not the killing of an Asian-American character as part of a cycle.Todd C. Murryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00660028880926115772noreply@blogger.com