Man, I feel really dumb. Who's in the last panel? My instinct says Catwoman, but gee, I don't think there are enough cats for me to be sure. I mean, there are only two cat pillow cases, two cat plushies, a cat rug, a cat t-shirt, a real cat and she's saying "meow." WHO COULD IT BE? I JUST DON'T KNOW.
(Two to one odds she'll be in purple whenever she does finally show up, because oh my God that bedroom. Is she me at thirteen? No, wait, don't answer that, I already know. Also that pose screams "THIS EXACT POSITION WILL BE ECHOED IN THE FIRST PANEL OF THE NEXT BOOK" Which I'm cool with if I'm right, because I like that kind of visual continuity.)
So I finally figured out what bugs me about making Two-Face female, and it's...tied up in stuff I hadn't really though about and only just realized. You know all that slashy subtext that's sewn throughout Bruce and Harvey's friendship? The Kirk/Spock-type stuff? The tragic "I have to SAVE YOU D:<" "I'm not worth saving :((( *jumps off building*" stuff?
Yeah, interesting how that's all straightened out now that Two-Face is a girl, ain't it? Not that I think it's intentionally homophobic or anything like that, since it's tied to meta-fandom stuff, but it sure feels like grafting those aspects onto Jessica magically makes that angle more viable as text rather than subtext. Then again, I've seen the gender swap to make a straight 'ship out of slash so often in fanfic that I'm automatically wary of the trope, I think.
I do think it's pretty awesome that we'll have a visibly scarred, unattractive villainess for a change--provided they don't cheat and give her Veronica Lake hair on that side to hide the ugly bits. You know, like Sugar. And Doctor Blight. And Viper.
But yeah, that observation about what they'll do with a female Two-Face is very interesting, especially since so many writers have either ignored or retconned Bruce and Harvey's friendship over the years, despite it being something that goes back all the way to the latter's first appearance. It's almost enough to make me wonder if writers are disinterested in (or even put off by) writing about deep friendships between men, but now it's "safe" to explore those in the context of a man trying to save his unstable girlfriend.
I doubt that this was intentional by Johns, but considering how often people overlook the Bruce/Harvey friendship as being one of the most interesting things about Two-Face as a character in favor of just making him a boring gimmick villain, it does kinda raise a skeptical eyebrow to imagine it being explored in depth here with Jessica.
I would argue that writers these days - at least at DC - seem uncomfortable with friendships in general, given that they seem to go out of their way to subvert them whenever possible. Take Superman and Batman, for instance - a classic friendship; goes back decades. Even after it was partially derailed by the Crisis and the changing nature of the characters, they had a clear mutual respect for each other. Maybe they weren't best buddies anymore, but they were still friends. Now? They tolerate each other, and that's about it. Name me a recent Batman/Superman story that hasn't resulted in a fight. Heck, we're about to get a movie with both of them in it for the first time, but is it called 'Batman and Superman', or 'World's Finest' or anything like that? No, it's 'VS'. 'Batman VS Superman', because the gods only know we can't have our two flagship characters in a relationship of mutual respect.
Or for something a little more subtle, let's take Superman and Wonder Woman. Ever since the two characters first met, people were saying that they should hook up - and yet they didn't. Despite fan-pressure, the two stalwartly avoided becoming a couple. Why? Because they didn't need to be. They both had their own romantic interests already, and while they did share thematic similarities, they were mainly surface-deep. As Alan Moore put it, it would be "too predictable". And so for many years, they were simply friends - in fact, after Bats no longer filled the position, they were best friends. And now, suddenly, they're lovers. Now, one could argue that the best relationships are ones where you're lovers and best friends, but clearly DC isn't treating them like that - they're lovers, period, because that's sexier. The message? DC doesn't do 'platonic friends'. You can be lovers, or you can be enemies, but 'friends' is too difficult to market.
I personally prefer Dent as someone who's not friends with Bruce but only has a relationship with Batman. BTAS did the opposite which is why I've never understood it's praise in the Harvey Dent department.
I can think of at least one scarred/deformed villainess who didn't do that - Dr. October, from 'Ghost' (the comic, not the movie). Or for one in the DCU, there's Dr. Cyber. Sure, neither of them are visibly scarred; they both wear masks, but it's made pretty clear that it ain't pretty under there, and we're allowed to use our imagination - similar to Dr. Doom. (Huh - deformed doctors are kind of a thing in comics, aren't they? I never really noticed that until now.)
...Also that pose screams "THIS EXACT POSITION WILL BE ECHOED IN THE FIRST PANEL OF THE NEXT BOOK" Which I'm cool with if I'm right, because I like that kind of visual continuity.
"He loves meee!" "I LOVE YOU NOT!" what the hell is wrong with me
(Two to one odds she'll be in purple whenever she does finally show up, because oh my God that bedroom. Is she me at thirteen? No, wait, don't answer that, I already know. Also that pose screams "THIS EXACT POSITION WILL BE ECHOED IN THE FIRST PANEL OF THE NEXT BOOK" Which I'm cool with if I'm right, because I like that kind of visual continuity.)
So I finally figured out what bugs me about making Two-Face female, and it's...tied up in stuff I hadn't really though about and only just realized. You know all that slashy subtext that's sewn throughout Bruce and Harvey's friendship? The Kirk/Spock-type stuff? The tragic "I have to SAVE YOU D:<" "I'm not worth saving :((( *jumps off building*" stuff?
Yeah, interesting how that's all straightened out now that Two-Face is a girl, ain't it? Not that I think it's intentionally homophobic or anything like that, since it's tied to meta-fandom stuff, but it sure feels like grafting those aspects onto Jessica magically makes that angle more viable as text rather than subtext. Then again, I've seen the gender swap to make a straight 'ship out of slash so often in fanfic that I'm automatically wary of the trope, I think.
I do think it's pretty awesome that we'll have a visibly scarred, unattractive villainess for a change--provided they don't cheat and give her Veronica Lake hair on that side to hide the ugly bits. You know, like Sugar. And Doctor Blight. And Viper.
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But yeah, that observation about what they'll do with a female Two-Face is very interesting, especially since so many writers have either ignored or retconned Bruce and Harvey's friendship over the years, despite it being something that goes back all the way to the latter's first appearance. It's almost enough to make me wonder if writers are disinterested in (or even put off by) writing about deep friendships between men, but now it's "safe" to explore those in the context of a man trying to save his unstable girlfriend.
I doubt that this was intentional by Johns, but considering how often people overlook the Bruce/Harvey friendship as being one of the most interesting things about Two-Face as a character in favor of just making him a boring gimmick villain, it does kinda raise a skeptical eyebrow to imagine it being explored in depth here with Jessica.
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Now? They tolerate each other, and that's about it. Name me a recent Batman/Superman story that hasn't resulted in a fight. Heck, we're about to get a movie with both of them in it for the first time, but is it called 'Batman and Superman', or 'World's Finest' or anything like that? No, it's 'VS'. 'Batman VS Superman', because the gods only know we can't have our two flagship characters in a relationship of mutual respect.
Or for something a little more subtle, let's take Superman and Wonder Woman. Ever since the two characters first met, people were saying that they should hook up - and yet they didn't. Despite fan-pressure, the two stalwartly avoided becoming a couple.
Why? Because they didn't need to be. They both had their own romantic interests already, and while they did share thematic similarities, they were mainly surface-deep. As Alan Moore put it, it would be "too predictable". And so for many years, they were simply friends - in fact, after Bats no longer filled the position, they were best friends.
And now, suddenly, they're lovers. Now, one could argue that the best relationships are ones where you're lovers and best friends, but clearly DC isn't treating them like that - they're lovers, period, because that's sexier.
The message? DC doesn't do 'platonic friends'. You can be lovers, or you can be enemies, but 'friends' is too difficult to market.
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"He loves meee!"
"I LOVE YOU NOT!"
what the hell is wrong with me
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