Brian Michael Bendis & the debasement of Tigra: conscious or unsconscious misogyny?

[kali921]

This week continues to be emotionally mercurial, as the discussions of racial and cultural blind spots in fandom continue around LJ, JournalFen, and the larger blogsphere - I'm tempted to call this Jewgate 2007 - and I do have more to say about it, but today I need to write about something that's been on my mind for over a week

Comments

[suburbfabulous]

I left comics in 2001, due to circumstances beyond my control.
If Bendis is the best this medium has to offer, as had been alleged at that time, then fuck comics.
I won't be back, and I'm taking Sue Dibny, Steve Rogers, Stephanie Brown, and Tigra with me. I promise they'll be safe; I'd never off someone for not having a MySpace, after all, or for being a bad fit for a kid sidekick...or just to shock the audience.
It's obviously time to go, Sinestro Corps War be damned.
I mean, really. Who's left to guard the farm, anyway?
Quesada and his MJ-hating, tentacle-rape-digging cohorts?
Didio?
Fuck. Comics.
I love women.
I love stories.
I love women in stories...but I demand consistent writing, and this is not that.

[kali921]

Yeah, this "let's beat Tigra after making her nothing but a pair of t*ts and a shapely ass over in Mighty Avengers" was the last straw for me with Bendis. I'm trying to fight back the waves of sheer white hot hatred for Bendis right now.

Is he just a complete idiot, or so patronizing and condescending to his reading audience that he thinks we won't notice, or is he just so egotistical that he doesn't give a shit?

He also turned her into nothing but a walking hoo ha earlier in Mighty Avengers when she showed up in a ridiculously undersized bikini, seducing Hank Pym.

You know, right when Hank was trying to reconcile with Jan.

[suburbfabulous]

I think he's just oblivious...but I don't care.
I'm offended. Pure, simple offended.
She's better than he's writing, and HE's better than this. Maybe if he was some hack-ass fillerboy, I'd "enh" and ignore it...but this guy gave us the first run of POWERS. JINX. TORSO. AKA GOLDFISH.
He CAN be on. I am sad, on top of offended, that he is not.

[ajpursell]

then he went marvel and started taking notes from Bill Jemas and Joe Q and said "they're actually pretty good."

he's been morally bankrupt for years.

[soldiergrrrl]

Oh. My. God. That's horrid.

I'm not sure what else to say. I'm not a comic fan and I think it's horrid.

[kali921]

Yes. Us Tigra fans went from having so much hope for her in 2004 after her wonderful miniseries, where she was shown with her usual moxie, brains, and general awesomeness, to THIS travesty.

They're not the same woman. They just aren't. And Bendis, unless he's seriously fucking deluded, must know it.

[soldiergrrrl]

I actually wandered over to read some of the comments in the other post, and it got a discussion going with my husband.

It's amazing that people will put up with things in comics, or role-playing games, that they would never stomach in real life. I understand that we read/play to get away from real life, but there are some things I disagree with so vehemently that I can't divorce myself from them when we play.

Slavery and torture are the two biggest I'm come across recently.

The folx saying she deserved it, or that she had it coming would, more than likely, not agree with beating the daylights out of a woman IRL. Actually, reading some of the comments, they might, but I find that too distressing to think about.

[kali921]

For whatever reason, your comment has reminded me of this: I'm a member of a ninjutsu mailing list that has members from around the world, but was started for members of a certain dojo in San Francisco, a very well respected dojo.

And one day, we got in a heated debate regarding a news story about a man that had fought off an attack barehanded by a wild bear that was starving and sick, had prevailed, and killed the bear. Someone on the list posted the story to our forum with the general sentiment of "awesome, and this is why we study martial arts, so that we can learn to NOT FEAR IN THE FACE OF BEARS," and waxed on with a bunch of macho bullshit having to do with killing bears with your bare hands. He wasn't kidding; he was deadly serious.

I pointed out that the death of a sick and starving animal (it was thus classified after an autopsy) isn't a great victory of courage and capability, it's fucking sad. Yes, the dude fought off a very dangerous animal and survived, but this isn't a moral victory of any kind

[thehefner]

This was just ugly, gratuitous, and downright nasty. Much as I try to be apathetic over the bullcrap DC and Marvel pull, just to save myself from constantly being enraged and disappointed (like the first issue of DEATH OF THE NEW GODS... oy), this one just left a nasty taste in my mouth that refuses to go away.

That said, people keep saying the Bendis hates Tigra. What actual proof do we have of that? An interview or something?

I'm surprised Marvel and Bendis haven't tried to defend this bullshit yet.

[kali921]

Weren't you one of the people saying that you didn't see the sexism in this issue, or am I mistaken?

Yes, agreed. And if/when they do defend it, I'm sure it will be with an argument that pulling punches and not showing the horrific nature of violence would do the readers a disservice. Without addressing the fact that Greer would fight back like a divinely-powered agent of vengeance if jumped in her own home. Just like she's done before.

[thehefner]

You are very exceedingly mistaken. When did you see that? How could I possibly defend THIS bullcrap? Didn't you see I posted it in my OWN LJ over how disgusted I was?

[kali921]

It was this comment that threw me:

....and I'm not even pissed from the sexist standpoint (that said, I wouldn't be surprised if we see an uproar akin to the MJ statue, but we'll see), as much as it just struck me as needlessly cruel and pointless. Basically, it's Tigra getting brutalized and degraded, and it's downright ugly, and not in a way that seems artistically redeeming.

Oh, man. You see how badly that can read, right, even if you're intent is to say that you're pissed from the sexist standpoint but MORE pissed just about the sheer stupidity of the storyline?

[shanejayell]

Bendis needs to READ OTHER PEOPLE'S COMICS before he writes a character like Tigra. GODS. He obviously hasn't read or is ignoring at least half of her past continuity, not to mention being a shitty writer.

*arrgh*

[kali921]

Yes. That's what grates. Comics, of course, like television, is a very mercurial medium. It's character-driven, but the nature of the medium is such that writers flow in and out in a constant stream of change. And I don't want to imply that a writer should be wholly beholden to the past in shaping present characterization.

But SOME things endure.

Batman is manipulative and clever.
Clark Kent is a very, very kind man.
Cap isn't a complete asshole.
The Hulk is big and green, except when he's gray.
Siryn is a fiery Irish lass.
Tigra is self-assured.

And none of those things should be thrown away without at least twelve issues showing a logical character evolvement.

Isn't it egotistical of Bendis? I mean, if I was going to write the New Avengers, you can bet your life that I'd spend a year frantically reading the entire canons, or as much as I could get my hands on, of every single character that I wanted to use.

[lustpuppet]

I think you pointed out something important here: That comics are a character driven medium. I want to agree with you, that it is, but I think that the fact this issue was published goes against that. I think that Bendis and a lot of the other new hot writers don't write it that way at all. They have a story and a plot, and they just stick in these characters whether or not their personality should have them in these positions. Hell, the entirety of Civil War was a giant exercise in Plot-Driven rather than Character-Driven story.

Comics should totally be a character driven medium, but the character assassination going on, especially at Marvel, is unbelievable from my point of view. And writers should totally do at least a bit of research before taking over a title. I can understand why they wouldn't.

Anyways, what happened to Tigra was totally BS in its portrayal, and WTF with the sexualizing a brutal beating like that???

I may not be as eloquent as I could be here... hopped up on the coffee after a long, long day.

[oakenguy]

God, Bendis. When the best you can say about someone is that he's not Frank Miller...

The thing about him is, I think he comes up with stories the way Michael Bay does. He thinks "Wouldn't it be cool if..." and then sticks in characters like paper dolls, with no real effort to make their appearance or actions fit with what's known about them. It's really bad fan fiction, is what it is, complete with Mary Sues (don't get me started on 'Secret Wars'), long stretches that make no sense (the 'fucking monkeys' issue of 'Powers') and wild displays of stupidity.

I'll also note that in scans_daily, redorion and radiumhead are like coal mine canaries: they're so wrong, so ridiculous, that if I ever find myself agreeing with either of them on an issue I know it's time to take a step back and re-think my position.

[kali921]

QUOTED FOR TRUTH IN ITS ENTIRETY.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. I've often privately thought that Bendis is more like a bad fanfic writer.

He's even wildly inconsistent within his own continuities. In Daredevil? He has Elektra show up a few times, and dammit if he didn't almost do her justice. He got how important she was to Matt, how well spoken she was, and how conflicted she was, and most importantly that if it comes right down to it right now? Dammit, if he's in serious trouble, she's going to come in and HELP if she can, despite their weird history.

Then he has her as a Skrull punching bag in New Avengers. WRY. WRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY.