(no subject)
I'm trying to get an article together for the Journal of Comics and Graphic Novels so I can get some academic street cred. It's an issue on gender, so I was briefly toying with looking at The Killing Joke and Heart of Hush and if they're both fridgings.
This was helped by The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight starting the section on Oracle, "The Joker's bullet would forever define Barbara Gordon." So, basically, she's defined by her injury. And why did the Joker do this, Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight?
To crush Jim Gordon's spirit. the Joker aimed straight at Barbara, crippling her as she answered the door. While Barbara lay bleeding upon the carpet, the Joker photographed her paralyzed body in a scheme to drive her father mad with grief!
Take that, Commissioner Gordon! Actually, I guess I can't really be mad at this book since that's basically what TKJ does to her, but "to crush Jim Gordon's spirit" really sums up how crap the whole thing is.
What really made me decide TKJ is too depressing/angrifying right now? (This is Oracle's Origins and Omens.)
I was going to crop this, but why does she save the camera? It's not a trophy. If it's a grim reminder of being paralyzed and humiliated, I'd think not being able to walk does that pretty well.
But that bottom right panel. Faceless pin-up of Barbara Gordon getting shot.
At the moment I feel like I'm too pissed to make any sort of scholarly contribution. So, thanks to Batman: The Brave and the Bold, I'm going with plan B: Straight Batwoman.
I've always been strangely fond of Kathy Kane despite her being as obscure as you can get and definitely a product of Sexist Times. (Seeing the BATB version really made me realize how she's Catwoman without the claws: they're practically identical except for eye color, and Kathy showed up after Catwoman was briefly sent away for being too bad for the Comics Code.)
But I love her origin:
I think I liked it back when Bat-Ladies weren't tragic--they just decided to put on costumes and be awesome. And if I may be all Women's Studies for a moment, it's about making a place for herself within the male-dominated superhero world. And there's that weird wanting be him/wanting to bang him combo I think women sometimes get with male characters. By which I mean I would like to have sex with Batman, but it would also be awesome to be Batman.
"A man dressed as a bat strikes fear into the hearts of criminals! But a dame? That's fucking stupid!" I guess kudos to Sexist Times for Kathy showing those thugs just what a Batwoman can do!
Batman later tells her that it's against the law for anyone to wear a Batman costume but him (I assume the law was passed after Catwoman dressed up a bunch of henchmen in Batman costumes), but Batwoman says it's only against the law for a *man* to do it! Take that, male-as-default-sexist-wording!
Seriously, I have no idea how Kathy's costume could in any way be mistaken for a Batman costume.
Batman is miffed, and it totally has nothing to do with the fact that a girl is making him look stupid:
The rich are different from you and I: they're always thinking about using their secret identities to get laid.
I can't decide if Kathy's make-up weapons are OMG So Sexist or Hilariously Awesome. Notice that Kathy doesn't take the opportunity to remove Batman's mask, and Batman wants to make sure Robin knows there's no funny business going on.
So, Kathy drops some circus slang, and Batman and Robin go to their high tech filing cabinets to look up "Lady Acrobats Who Could Be Batwoman".
Kathy willingly giving up some prime blackmail would be an incredible gesture...except of course Batman already used his manly brain to figure out the portrait and make the whole thing meaningless. And that whole set up is pretty fucking impressive given that I'm not actually making up Batman and Robin going through the bat-filing cabinets.
And here's a swell picture that I believe is from Alfred's fan fiction:
Yes, during the Silver Age, Alfred wrote Batman fan fiction. Since this was Stupid Alfred, his dreams of Batman and Batwoman's marriage were confined to the written word.
What I like about this one is Batman saying there can be only one...while Robin's standing right there. You picked a winner, Kathy--you need to get back in the kitchen, and Robin's not family.
This was helped by The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight starting the section on Oracle, "The Joker's bullet would forever define Barbara Gordon." So, basically, she's defined by her injury. And why did the Joker do this, Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight?
To crush Jim Gordon's spirit. the Joker aimed straight at Barbara, crippling her as she answered the door. While Barbara lay bleeding upon the carpet, the Joker photographed her paralyzed body in a scheme to drive her father mad with grief!
Take that, Commissioner Gordon! Actually, I guess I can't really be mad at this book since that's basically what TKJ does to her, but "to crush Jim Gordon's spirit" really sums up how crap the whole thing is.
What really made me decide TKJ is too depressing/angrifying right now? (This is Oracle's Origins and Omens.)
I was going to crop this, but why does she save the camera? It's not a trophy. If it's a grim reminder of being paralyzed and humiliated, I'd think not being able to walk does that pretty well.
But that bottom right panel. Faceless pin-up of Barbara Gordon getting shot.
At the moment I feel like I'm too pissed to make any sort of scholarly contribution. So, thanks to Batman: The Brave and the Bold, I'm going with plan B: Straight Batwoman.
I've always been strangely fond of Kathy Kane despite her being as obscure as you can get and definitely a product of Sexist Times. (Seeing the BATB version really made me realize how she's Catwoman without the claws: they're practically identical except for eye color, and Kathy showed up after Catwoman was briefly sent away for being too bad for the Comics Code.)
But I love her origin:
I think I liked it back when Bat-Ladies weren't tragic--they just decided to put on costumes and be awesome. And if I may be all Women's Studies for a moment, it's about making a place for herself within the male-dominated superhero world. And there's that weird wanting be him/wanting to bang him combo I think women sometimes get with male characters. By which I mean I would like to have sex with Batman, but it would also be awesome to be Batman.
"A man dressed as a bat strikes fear into the hearts of criminals! But a dame? That's fucking stupid!" I guess kudos to Sexist Times for Kathy showing those thugs just what a Batwoman can do!
Batman later tells her that it's against the law for anyone to wear a Batman costume but him (I assume the law was passed after Catwoman dressed up a bunch of henchmen in Batman costumes), but Batwoman says it's only against the law for a *man* to do it! Take that, male-as-default-sexist-wording!
Seriously, I have no idea how Kathy's costume could in any way be mistaken for a Batman costume.
Batman is miffed, and it totally has nothing to do with the fact that a girl is making him look stupid:
The rich are different from you and I: they're always thinking about using their secret identities to get laid.
I can't decide if Kathy's make-up weapons are OMG So Sexist or Hilariously Awesome. Notice that Kathy doesn't take the opportunity to remove Batman's mask, and Batman wants to make sure Robin knows there's no funny business going on.
So, Kathy drops some circus slang, and Batman and Robin go to their high tech filing cabinets to look up "Lady Acrobats Who Could Be Batwoman".
Kathy willingly giving up some prime blackmail would be an incredible gesture...except of course Batman already used his manly brain to figure out the portrait and make the whole thing meaningless. And that whole set up is pretty fucking impressive given that I'm not actually making up Batman and Robin going through the bat-filing cabinets.
And here's a swell picture that I believe is from Alfred's fan fiction:
Yes, during the Silver Age, Alfred wrote Batman fan fiction. Since this was Stupid Alfred, his dreams of Batman and Batwoman's marriage were confined to the written word.
What I like about this one is Batman saying there can be only one...while Robin's standing right there. You picked a winner, Kathy--you need to get back in the kitchen, and Robin's not family.