Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.
Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 3:32 am
As for the America Chavez book, for my money it really is a terrible book. That isn't to say that Chavez herself is a terrible character, from what I understand she was actually something of a fan favorite before her solo book. It's just that the writer is . . . well, she was a diversity hire. She wrote one young adult novel (admittedly, that's one more than I've written) and was hired because she was a lesbian Latina. She clearly doesn't really have a grasp of this whole "comic writing" thing, I'm not sure she really knows all that much about superheroes in general, and . . . well, she seems to believe some odd things.
For instance, when Moon Girl appears in the book, she talks about how rules are just a form of oppression meant to keep her down. She wonders why school days are a the length they are and why, despite allegedly being one of the smartest people on Earth, she isn't allowed to vote. And rather than this be an instance to explain why Moon Girl is wrong, everyone agrees with her in a way that suggests we're suppose to as well. Despite, you know, a simple Google search showing why those things are the way they are and that Moon Girl is demonstrating WHY 10 year olds are not allowed to vote regardless of their intelligence: because intelligence does not equal maturity. Likewise, when fighting an energy monster composed of pure white energy, Chavez says, "Well, pure white just means the absence of color…so let me give her a little of this brown fist!" For one thing, no, white is not the absence of color, it's the amalgam of all colors. And two . . . there's some weird connotations with that line.
The book also seems to fluctuate from a degree of self-awareness to a complete lack of one. For instance, when Chavez punches Hitler (totally not to upstage Capt. America), Peggy Carter points out that punching Nazis isn't actually the most effective way to deal with them. You need to take out their leadership, dismantle their organization, expose their villainy, etc. And good on her, since members of the extremes on both sides seem to enjoy labeling anyone they don't like a Nazi and advocate punching them (*cough*NICKSPENCER*cough*). But at the same time, you'll get things where America complains about saving some white kids (who admittedly were acting like complete tools) and complains about having to save "Some privileged white dorks". Just as a reminder, America is a Thing-class flying brick who can open portals between dimensions, who came from a place literally called "The Utopian Parallel", who has been welcomed by everyone who has met her and who, by all accounts, has never had to work a job or even really pay for anything. No mention is even really made of how she's paying for college. And yet she is going to bring up "white privilege". Though that's not surprising, Gabby apparently believes in the patriarchy as well.
America herself is . . . not a very likable character. She's shown as being short-tempered, petulant, aggressive, violent and judgemental . . . which means if she were over 6'1" she'd basically be Jab's ideal Amazon. And the book occasionally seems to remember that, with Peggy calling her out, her being unable to mediate under Storm's training, and even getting called out for being a "fraud". That latter part is weird, tho, because while the complaint is real (America had metaphorically turned off her hero-cellphone and ignored calls for help from these people), the way it's worded is more of a condemnation on superheroes in general: that they show up to deal with a problem, but when things "get real"(?) they leave. But apart from that, America is basically given tons upon tons of undeserved praise and emotional validation. The very first page of her comic is a bunch of established characters (some who had never interacted with her) talking about awesome America is. Peggy and Storm do the same. Rather than doing anything to endear the character to us, we're just told by other people that we should like her.
The other characters aren't really anymore likable. Probably the most likable character was America's girlfriend, which is a shame because we barely see her and she's broken up with immediately. Everyone else . . . well, lets see. The sorority that "befriends" America look like a bunch of idiots, talk like a bunch of idiots, act like a bunch of utterly unlikable idiots . . . and are America's more reliable allies in the series. The Chavez Gorillas from the Utopian Parallel are . . . well, exactly like the sorority. Kate Bishop is written with some of the most terrible dialogue I've ever read, enough to make Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison's exposition-speak sound natural. There is no one to root for in this book.
America also never faces any real challenges. Virtually every enemy she faces, she defeats with a single punch, or by pulling a Deus Ex Machina. She's never really challenged. The closest thing we get to a challenge is a boxing match with one of her ex-girlfriendes (who by all accounts is a normal human) and America just lets herself get beaten. When she gets swarmed by a bunch of Mindless Ones (who aren't written as mindless) and supervillains (including the Wrecking Crew), she basically takes them apart. There is no struggle in this book.
In addition to unlikable characters and unnatural dialogue, the plotting is all over the place. It takes until issue 3 and 4 to find out things like America's backstory, that the college she goes to is in another dimension, and the "time travel to get advice from different heroes" includes all of TWO heroes, when that seems to be much more of a long-term character growth arc, where there should have been many more heroes to get lessons from. And the main villain of the first arc is given no motivation, no reason for doing what it does, and it's beaten via time travel shenanigans due to powers Gabby just gave America out of nowhere.
The art is passable, ranging from decent to outright ugly at times, but then it becomes downright hideous when the second artist takes over.
So yeah, America is overall a very poorly put together book. Issue #1 was just the tip of the iceberg, and it only gets worse from there. And that's without bringing up all of the other weird things. For instance, America was bi-sexual originally, and one of the only (if not the only) bi-sexual heroes in Marvel. But Gabby made her gay because . . . well, Gabby was hired because she was gay and Latina, so she made the Latina looking alien gay instead of bi-sexual.
For another, the college that trains superhumans in the use of their powers. Not only is it in an other-dimensional "safe space" (their words), it's named after Sonia Maria Sotomayor, the first Latina on the Supreme Court. Which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, if it were a regular college on Earth (and if she was dead, they usually don't dedicate schools to the living), but why is a college that exists in another dimension that teaches superheroes how to use their powers named after a Supreme Court Judge?
There's just a lot of bad and stupid in this book, and more than a little to cringe at.
The one funny thing I can say is that 4chan actually trolled the comic, sending in a letter mocklingly comparing the book to "The Room". Hilariously, the creative team took all of the sarcasm at face value, seeing it as genuine praise and not realizing they'd been mocked. I'm not someone who visits 4chan, but I have to admit, that's pretty funny.
For instance, when Moon Girl appears in the book, she talks about how rules are just a form of oppression meant to keep her down. She wonders why school days are a the length they are and why, despite allegedly being one of the smartest people on Earth, she isn't allowed to vote. And rather than this be an instance to explain why Moon Girl is wrong, everyone agrees with her in a way that suggests we're suppose to as well. Despite, you know, a simple Google search showing why those things are the way they are and that Moon Girl is demonstrating WHY 10 year olds are not allowed to vote regardless of their intelligence: because intelligence does not equal maturity. Likewise, when fighting an energy monster composed of pure white energy, Chavez says, "Well, pure white just means the absence of color…so let me give her a little of this brown fist!" For one thing, no, white is not the absence of color, it's the amalgam of all colors. And two . . . there's some weird connotations with that line.
The book also seems to fluctuate from a degree of self-awareness to a complete lack of one. For instance, when Chavez punches Hitler (totally not to upstage Capt. America), Peggy Carter points out that punching Nazis isn't actually the most effective way to deal with them. You need to take out their leadership, dismantle their organization, expose their villainy, etc. And good on her, since members of the extremes on both sides seem to enjoy labeling anyone they don't like a Nazi and advocate punching them (*cough*NICKSPENCER*cough*). But at the same time, you'll get things where America complains about saving some white kids (who admittedly were acting like complete tools) and complains about having to save "Some privileged white dorks". Just as a reminder, America is a Thing-class flying brick who can open portals between dimensions, who came from a place literally called "The Utopian Parallel", who has been welcomed by everyone who has met her and who, by all accounts, has never had to work a job or even really pay for anything. No mention is even really made of how she's paying for college. And yet she is going to bring up "white privilege". Though that's not surprising, Gabby apparently believes in the patriarchy as well.
America herself is . . . not a very likable character. She's shown as being short-tempered, petulant, aggressive, violent and judgemental . . . which means if she were over 6'1" she'd basically be Jab's ideal Amazon. And the book occasionally seems to remember that, with Peggy calling her out, her being unable to mediate under Storm's training, and even getting called out for being a "fraud". That latter part is weird, tho, because while the complaint is real (America had metaphorically turned off her hero-cellphone and ignored calls for help from these people), the way it's worded is more of a condemnation on superheroes in general: that they show up to deal with a problem, but when things "get real"(?) they leave. But apart from that, America is basically given tons upon tons of undeserved praise and emotional validation. The very first page of her comic is a bunch of established characters (some who had never interacted with her) talking about awesome America is. Peggy and Storm do the same. Rather than doing anything to endear the character to us, we're just told by other people that we should like her.
The other characters aren't really anymore likable. Probably the most likable character was America's girlfriend, which is a shame because we barely see her and she's broken up with immediately. Everyone else . . . well, lets see. The sorority that "befriends" America look like a bunch of idiots, talk like a bunch of idiots, act like a bunch of utterly unlikable idiots . . . and are America's more reliable allies in the series. The Chavez Gorillas from the Utopian Parallel are . . . well, exactly like the sorority. Kate Bishop is written with some of the most terrible dialogue I've ever read, enough to make Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison's exposition-speak sound natural. There is no one to root for in this book.
America also never faces any real challenges. Virtually every enemy she faces, she defeats with a single punch, or by pulling a Deus Ex Machina. She's never really challenged. The closest thing we get to a challenge is a boxing match with one of her ex-girlfriendes (who by all accounts is a normal human) and America just lets herself get beaten. When she gets swarmed by a bunch of Mindless Ones (who aren't written as mindless) and supervillains (including the Wrecking Crew), she basically takes them apart. There is no struggle in this book.
In addition to unlikable characters and unnatural dialogue, the plotting is all over the place. It takes until issue 3 and 4 to find out things like America's backstory, that the college she goes to is in another dimension, and the "time travel to get advice from different heroes" includes all of TWO heroes, when that seems to be much more of a long-term character growth arc, where there should have been many more heroes to get lessons from. And the main villain of the first arc is given no motivation, no reason for doing what it does, and it's beaten via time travel shenanigans due to powers Gabby just gave America out of nowhere.
The art is passable, ranging from decent to outright ugly at times, but then it becomes downright hideous when the second artist takes over.
So yeah, America is overall a very poorly put together book. Issue #1 was just the tip of the iceberg, and it only gets worse from there. And that's without bringing up all of the other weird things. For instance, America was bi-sexual originally, and one of the only (if not the only) bi-sexual heroes in Marvel. But Gabby made her gay because . . . well, Gabby was hired because she was gay and Latina, so she made the Latina looking alien gay instead of bi-sexual.
For another, the college that trains superhumans in the use of their powers. Not only is it in an other-dimensional "safe space" (their words), it's named after Sonia Maria Sotomayor, the first Latina on the Supreme Court. Which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, if it were a regular college on Earth (and if she was dead, they usually don't dedicate schools to the living), but why is a college that exists in another dimension that teaches superheroes how to use their powers named after a Supreme Court Judge?
There's just a lot of bad and stupid in this book, and more than a little to cringe at.
The one funny thing I can say is that 4chan actually trolled the comic, sending in a letter mocklingly comparing the book to "The Room". Hilariously, the creative team took all of the sarcasm at face value, seeing it as genuine praise and not realizing they'd been mocked. I'm not someone who visits 4chan, but I have to admit, that's pretty funny.