Alas, poor hero
Jul. 21st, 2010 08:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroI'm going to rant about comics for a while, but I can't do it without spoiling everything that's been going on in the DCU of late. So, spoiler warnings.
So, Ryan Choi is dead.
As are Gehenna, Holly Granger, Arthur Curry II, Keira Saunders and a few other latest-generation characters.
They basically needed to be moved out of the way so that the "real" (read: Silver Age) versions of the Atom, Firestorm, Hawk, Aquaman and Hawkgirl could return to prominance in the DCU, and retirement just isn't allowed when you're a superhero. If your popularity wanes, you get to be killed by villians to show how serious they are. Lucky characters (like Ryan) get a "send-off" issue. Less-lucky characters get three panels in a massive crossover event. D-listers (anybody remember Amazing Man and Crimson Fox?) get a few panels in an otherwise-ordinary issue of a more popular character's book.
Now, I'm a little upset because this is eliminating the diversity they seemed to be making an effort to introduce to the core characters. Something like 90% of superheroes are white dudes. This is a step backwards, replacing an Asian guy with a white guy, a white woman with a white guy, and a mixed-race woman with a white guy. Very inclusive.
But really, what bothers me is that they're going back to the versions of characters that didn't really have personalities, because there was much less continuity in those days. Barry Allen is a much more one-dimensional character than Wally West ever was, because Barry had a decade of adventures where everything got wrapped up in 8 pages and nothing ever changed. He was defined by his job, his powers, and his tendency to be late for dates with Iris. That's pretty much it.
The writers of this era have been bogged down by the demands of continuity and a shared universe, but the tradeoff is that characters created in the late 90s and the 00s have actually been able to develop and have arcs over time. Superboy is a very good example, despite going through a dozen writers since his introduction after The Death of Superman. When he was introduced, he acted like a 13-year-old; brash, impulsive and utterly full of himself. He grew up a bit during the "hero of Hawaii" days, and was pretty consistantly acting 16 by the Young Justice/Project Cadmus days. When YJ became the new Teen Titans, his portrayal got closer to an angsty 17/18-year-old. Now, despite Adventure Comics implying he's still in high school, he's got a college student/young adult thing going. He's grown up, he's evolved as a character, and he's had some consistant personality elements throughout.
This is also why many folks in my generation (who started reading superhero comics seriously in the 90s) actually liked Kyle Rayner. Kyle was an everyman thrust into a world of gods. He learned, he grew, he adapted, his life got better and worse over time. Kyle earned his place as Green Lantern. Which might explain why it felt so cheap when Hal Jordan came back and it was all "Move over! The REAL Green Lantern is back!"
Ryan was on that same path. He could have been my generation's Atom, after Ray Palmer faded into obscurity. But apparently it wasn't to be. The status quo is god.
So, Ryan Choi is dead.
As are Gehenna, Holly Granger, Arthur Curry II, Keira Saunders and a few other latest-generation characters.
They basically needed to be moved out of the way so that the "real" (read: Silver Age) versions of the Atom, Firestorm, Hawk, Aquaman and Hawkgirl could return to prominance in the DCU, and retirement just isn't allowed when you're a superhero. If your popularity wanes, you get to be killed by villians to show how serious they are. Lucky characters (like Ryan) get a "send-off" issue. Less-lucky characters get three panels in a massive crossover event. D-listers (anybody remember Amazing Man and Crimson Fox?) get a few panels in an otherwise-ordinary issue of a more popular character's book.
Now, I'm a little upset because this is eliminating the diversity they seemed to be making an effort to introduce to the core characters. Something like 90% of superheroes are white dudes. This is a step backwards, replacing an Asian guy with a white guy, a white woman with a white guy, and a mixed-race woman with a white guy. Very inclusive.
But really, what bothers me is that they're going back to the versions of characters that didn't really have personalities, because there was much less continuity in those days. Barry Allen is a much more one-dimensional character than Wally West ever was, because Barry had a decade of adventures where everything got wrapped up in 8 pages and nothing ever changed. He was defined by his job, his powers, and his tendency to be late for dates with Iris. That's pretty much it.
The writers of this era have been bogged down by the demands of continuity and a shared universe, but the tradeoff is that characters created in the late 90s and the 00s have actually been able to develop and have arcs over time. Superboy is a very good example, despite going through a dozen writers since his introduction after The Death of Superman. When he was introduced, he acted like a 13-year-old; brash, impulsive and utterly full of himself. He grew up a bit during the "hero of Hawaii" days, and was pretty consistantly acting 16 by the Young Justice/Project Cadmus days. When YJ became the new Teen Titans, his portrayal got closer to an angsty 17/18-year-old. Now, despite Adventure Comics implying he's still in high school, he's got a college student/young adult thing going. He's grown up, he's evolved as a character, and he's had some consistant personality elements throughout.
This is also why many folks in my generation (who started reading superhero comics seriously in the 90s) actually liked Kyle Rayner. Kyle was an everyman thrust into a world of gods. He learned, he grew, he adapted, his life got better and worse over time. Kyle earned his place as Green Lantern. Which might explain why it felt so cheap when Hal Jordan came back and it was all "Move over! The REAL Green Lantern is back!"
Ryan was on that same path. He could have been my generation's Atom, after Ray Palmer faded into obscurity. But apparently it wasn't to be. The status quo is god.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 03:36 pm (UTC)...oh shit. Jaime's days as Blue Beetle are numbered. After all, the old JLI team is back on Booster Gold, Maxwell Lord is back, Jaime's got an actual personality, and he's Latino. Poor kid's dead meat.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 04:04 pm (UTC)On the other hand, his book and his backup feature were both cancelled and they're bringing back the Giffen/DeMattis-era JLI. So yeah, we can probably look forward to the Calculator dissecting him or something.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 06:33 pm (UTC)