anthroxagorus's review

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3.0

Boy howdy, that was long. And good. But mostly long. Strap in for a long discussion about why DC's rebooting all over again.

Rebooting for DC was a great idea. I'm a fairly new reader, I was ecstatic about having a point to start on. The New 52 line-up promised to be innovative and "entry level friendly" and for the most part, the second level is delivered on. (Well, except Legion Lost #1 and Legion of Super-Heroes was way too messy to be friendly). The first, however, has already been commented on. While some titles do get cool, modern twists, and you see some sprinkling attempts of more racial diversity, innovation didn't exactly happen as far as representation goes. Of course, DC didn't promise to do any of that, which is precisely why it's readership for New 52 didn't change all that much, and DC's trying for another reboot this year: DC YOU, starting new titles (Black Canary and her punk girl image), reclaiming others at the #17, mostly at the #40 mark.

Why it failed is pretty obvious. 52 titles, and a whole lot of white men, some aliens, and barely-clothed women. (Is anyone surprised that surveys showed DC readership for New 52 was 92% male/8% female, but no data on racial diversity??). The one title that should have given its female readership anything should have been Wonder Woman, but I've already talked about how it totally sucked elsewhere. Catwoman will always be a sexualized character (and that's actually fine, because she's a sex-positive person), but when every single female superhero has large breasts and/or boob windows while her teammates get full body armor, there is a big issue at hand. And can someone please give me context to Voodoo #1 and how the only WOC (but actually alien? shape-shifter??) performs both a strip-tease and a lap-dance?? Should I even mention Starfire's sexdoll appearance in Red Hood and the Outlaws?

And, look, the reason why people have spoken out about all this is because it's so heart-breaking to see nearly every woman in the DCU either be a stock back-ground character or hyper-sexualized crazed fighter, when DC writes incredibly complex storylines otherwise. Does it have anything to do with not bringing on female writers? With all that said, Batgirl stands out the most as being a genuinely good written character, personally. Aquaman's Mera has also been promising from what I read.

Anyways.

Then you've got DC making such a big deal about making one of their Green Lanterns a LGBTQA+ representative/gay a few years back, but virtually no discussion happened regarding Alan Scott in this reboot. So much for that. And while Batwoman's been confirmed as bisexual since 2006, and Catwoman this year, the best I've seen happen with LGBTQA+ representation was making Batgirl's roommate trans* (which just barely qualifies as representing! And was almost immediately overturned after Gail Simone's run ended.) (Okay, and there's also a nod to "slash fiction" in Stormwatch #1, but I'm iffy whether that means what I think it does.) And remember, this reboot was supposed to bring the DCU into this century, so where is the gay community??

Now, let's talk about race. You've got Static Shock (a favorite), Mister Terrific (who da hell?), Cyborg (the star player!), Batwing (he's in Africa too!) We even had a character call out another for the underlying racism going on in The Fury of Firestorm (seriously, why haven't I heard more on this title?!). As far as black women are represented, I think you have Vixen from Justice League International and Voodoo from SexShow #1. For the latino/latina population Justice League International hosts Beatrix Bonilla de Costa/Fire and we've got the Blue Beetle with his own title. Annnd that's about it. Baring in mind of course that we're talking about 52 titles and hundreds of characters. I think there's some generally good things going on, but a whole lot more needs to happen here. (Dare I dream one day of meeting a black lesbian superhero?)

I say that representation is a large part of the reboot and talk so much on it, because the storytelling throughout New 52 is actually really, really good. I can't stress this enough. I seriously dropped this book to go out and find half of these titles at the library and read (so far) Justice League, Aquaman, and Batgirl. On my next trip, I'm going to fight everything to get my hands on Swamp Thing and all the Green Lantern and Batman-related titles. My savings are going to be depleted entirely. I almost want to give up my love for Marvel from how good these have been. (Almost). I mean, this line alone has me wanting to read Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.: "Typical? We've only been a team for about ten minutes... Quit your whining and START KILLING!"

But being progressive and winning me over? DC, you've got a lot of work to do.

The 52 Titles:
Justice League, Justice League International, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Captain Atom, The Fury of Firestorm, Green Arrow, The Savage Hawkman, Mister Terrific, Deadman, Action Comics, Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Batman, Detective Comics, Batwoman, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Batwing, Catwoman, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, Red Lanterns, Justice League Dark, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.; I, Vampire; Resurrection Man, Demon Knights, Stormwatch, Grifter, Voodoo, Deathstroke, Suicide Squad, O.M.A.C., All-Star Western, Blackhawks, Men of War, Teen Titans, Static Shock, Hawk and Dove, Blue Beetle, Legion Lost, Legion of Superheroes.

(Yes, I read them all.)
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