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A review by nimirra
Those Who Speak by Alexander Freed, Chad Hardin, David Gaider
I really disliked this volume. Which is sad, because story-wise I was more interested in it than the previous. Things weren't a vague mess like in The Silent Grove. There was actually action and excitement that you were invested in. So, what is my issue then? All my favorite things about Bioware and the Dragon Age games are not only *not* present, but the opposite prevails in this comic series. The only women present (Isabela, the witch, the Qunari priestess, and an unnamed elven slave woman) are all extremely sexualized. To the point where it takes you out of the story.
It is particularly disturbing in the case of the elven slave, who in the sole scene where she is present, a scene that is supposed to be emotionally dramatic, needs to have her already threadbare garment lifted up leaving her almost entirely exposed... as she plummets to her death. Really? Even in her last moments a female character needs to look appealing to the assumed straight male audience? It took me out of the moment and ruined a poignant scene.
I continued reading only out of a sense of obligation after having fallen in love with the Dragon Age world. But this makes very clear to me the fact that these comics weren't written for me, and perhaps the problem isn't that I just 'don't like comics' but that they are excluding a sizable potential audience by objectifying them instead.
It is particularly disturbing in the case of the elven slave, who in the sole scene where she is present, a scene that is supposed to be emotionally dramatic, needs to have her already threadbare garment lifted up leaving her almost entirely exposed... as she plummets to her death. Really? Even in her last moments a female character needs to look appealing to the assumed straight male audience? It took me out of the moment and ruined a poignant scene.
I continued reading only out of a sense of obligation after having fallen in love with the Dragon Age world. But this makes very clear to me the fact that these comics weren't written for me, and perhaps the problem isn't that I just 'don't like comics' but that they are excluding a sizable potential audience by objectifying them instead.