Least Subtle Public Service Announcement - Walking Dead #51
Reading? More fun than video games? Simmer down kid, your dad's already going crazy, we don't need you losing your head too. But seriously, there's nothing wrong with a little book-boosting, though the precocious execution here is a little Family Circus. I prefer a more direct approach.Movie references, Doctor Light gets what's coming to him (kind of), and social justice, after the jump...
Movie Moment - Simon Dark #11
I've been waiting for the mysteries of Simon Dark's past to be revealed for a year now, I was a little disappointed when it was all unloaded in one big 5-page scene by the freaking Architect.
Most Disappointing Death - Doctor Light, Final Crisis Revelations #1
I have no problem with this death in of itself; turning someone into a giant candle and using their head as a wick is classic Spectre. But it's sadly literal; I get it, Doctor Light, Candle, Incandescence, okay. But Doctor Light is (in DC's Infinite Wisdom) a serial rapist. I'm not saying I wanted to see Doctor Light being raped to death. I'm just saying, if you introduce rape as a fundamental aspect of a character (it comes up several times in this issue alone), wouldn't something concerning rape be a more appropriate demise? This couldn't be a double standard where rape and gender are concerned, could it?Credibility Issue - Welcome to Hoxford #1
I'm not convinced this guy would actually be committed to an institution. First of all, the insanity defense is used way, way less than you'd think from watching courtroom drama. I guess on The Wire rich drug dealers can get out of prison with their fancy lawyers, but this guy seems to have actually been convicted of killing cops. His status as a young black male makes me think most states would be less inclined to institutionalize him and more willing to have him swiftly fitted for a drip feed of death.Wow, this was the most depressing Panel Discussion ever! Thanks for reading!
3 comments:
I have been DYING to talk more about this Dr. Light thing... I spent the first page or two saying, "Man, here we go with Light as a rapist again," which, granted, he is... But it's similar to when a character comes out in comics, and then every interaction that have is:
Northstar: I'll get them from behind!
Cyclops: Whoa, okay Northstar.
[Everybody laughs.}
The characters lose anything that makes them multi-dimensional... Meltzer's whole thing in making him a rapist was to jack up his threat level, and show that he was a horrific person. Not just Rapey McRaperson.
That all being said, after all this build up, he gets turned into a candle and dies. WTF???
Okay, rant over.
Rapey McRaperson is right. Though I did like how Grant Morrisson played it for laughs in the first issue of Final Crisis in this panel, the gist of which is:
Doctor Light: I CAN HAZ RAYPE?
Mirror Master: OMG WTF LOL
But to emphasize my original point; it's kind of a strange double standard that DC will let it's heroic female characters get raped left and right, but they (and or Rucka) stop short of using the most obvious "ironically appropriate" punishment for a super-rapist. Is this because when a heroine is raped, we're meant to look at it as something that's horrible and unpleasant (at least ostensibly), but if rape was used as poetic justice against a villain, the audience would be given permission to, er, enjoy it?
I don't know-i think i'm with alex on this one... when ironically killing a supervillain, it makes sense to use his gimmick against him-not necessarily his crime. If he was actually The Super Rapist or something, then i'd buy it... but the guy's shtick from day one was light... i don't think its a double standard so much as it is a case where the gimmick seems the more obvious choice.
Like if Lex Luthor were to bite it at the hands of the Spectre, I would hope his ironic death Wouldn't include hostile corporate takeovers or what have you...
Besides, I happen to like the candle death-having your body melt into a pile of wax and then having your head torched seems like a pretty gruesome and ironically appropriate death.
Though I know AHR would have preferred it if he were raped with a candle.
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