Quick comic-related note

[marag]

Kevin Church wants to know why a memorial for Stephanie Brown. (Thanks to cheetahmaster for the link.) I've already commented, but I know there are some of you who are way more articulate on this issue than I am, so I figured I'd pass the link on. Head over there and explain why Steph deserves a memorial just as much as Jason. (If not more, considering that he'

Comments

[morganminstrel]

I think Kevin's point is not that the character doesn't deserve a memorial as such, it's questioning why people are fixated on a memorial for a relatively briefly surviving (if loved, apparently) deceased character, rather than focusing on improving the lot of female characters in superhero comics in general. From what I've been led to understand, it's come out that Spoiler was essentially created to die (like Kole in the New Teen Titans) and her becoming Robin was the result of a writer asking to be allowed to do something with her before she was killed. That just kind of sucks. On the one hand, that's the way character arcs can work with supporting casts; on the other hand, it tends to be female characters who are casualties of that kind of thing

[marag]

Yes, but as lilacsigil says above, why is it mutually exclusive to want a memorial for Steph and *also* want to improve things for the future? I mean, the folks at Girl-Wonder are talking about Steph as a big honking obvious symbol of what's wrong with the treatment of women, something to rally around, but it's not the *only* thing they're talking about by any means.

[morganminstrel]

I have no idea. Myself, I've never had anything to do with G-W, beyond knowing the name and what they basically stand for. I think Kevin's seeing it as another "Bring Back Hal, Damnit!"-type group. Maybe it's the narrow focus of the initial trigger? But I have no special insight into his head, beyond reading his blog daily. Maybe G-W and WiR should get together or something. ;-)

[cheetahmaster]

If she was created to die, that's fine. It just makes her more of a character in Batman's story/Robin's story. But then, shouldn't she be remembered, as part of their stories? So her death (and life) isn't literally pointless?

[lilacsigil]

Done! I thought Kevin's position was well-argued, but I don't think asking for a memorial to the past and trying to change things for the future are mutually exclusive!

[marag]

I agree completely. Just because we're agitating for something doesn't mean that's the only thing we want.