One of the things I’ve liked about writing NMMs is the opportunity the column provides me to reminisce about comics past. Thinking about the books I enjoyed and the events I remember has crystallized in mind the eerie cyclical nature of the industry. What’s old is new again from story content to debates over continuity.
A Near Mint Memory in the making, DC’s Idenity Crisis (IC), has re-ignited another long-standing debate about whether comics, particularly the iconic “super-hero†books, are escapist fantasies or mirrors of reality.
Welcome to “issue-focused†NMM – a little summer divergence from the traditional NMM formula.
Identity Crisis’ Big Reveal
â€Several years ago, while the League was off fighting Hector Hammond, Sue [Dibny, wife of the Elongate Man] had come on board the JLA satellite out of sheer boredom. All she had wanted to do was kill time until her husband returned from work by doing a bit of star-gazing. She had not figured on Dr. Light managing to sneak onboard for some unknown reason and rape her. Yep, you read that right. This is not just hinted at or left off-panel either. It is drawn in excruciatingly painful detail, with the anguish on Sue’s face all too realistic for comfort.†– 411 Reviewer Iain Burnside.
Not only was Silver Age stalwart Sue Dibny retroactively raped in IC #2, she was murdered in “real time†in IC #1. A darker DC Universe (DCU) to be sure.
Not since Frank Miller’s 1980’s Batman opus The Dark Knight Returns (DKR) has the issue of grim and gritty been so much at the forefront of the comics industry. The success of DKR spawned a much darker DCU and comics industry as a whole. It happened gradually, but the biz did get more gritty, a poor euphemism for “realâ€. Marvel’s preeminent hitman the Punisher spawned multiple ongoing series, DC launched a book called “Hitmanâ€, and so on and so forth. This went on and on, with other companies, like Valiant, launching their own grim “heroesâ€, like Bloodshot.
Readers became desensitized to murder, death, gore and blood.
The question was, and is, are comic books an escapist medium or social commentary on “reality�
Morrison – Escapism
  it’s pretty much set in some kind of current continuity but I’m afraid it’s not the gloomy ‘adult’ world of Sue Dibny’s shredded lycra pants so keep well away if it’s attempted rape you crave. Cannibalism, yes, rape, no. My DCU is a day-glo, non-stop funhouse, where the world is threatened every five minutes and godlike beings clash in the skies like fireworksâ€. – Writer Grant Morrison comparing his opening arc of the new ongoing Justice League of America series, JLA: Classified to Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis
Meltzer – Realism
â€It is not an adventure. It’s a tragedy. That’s what it is. It’s hard for me to speak on it because there are 2 chapters instead of 7.
It’s all in the execution. I think it could’ve been done terribly, but I hope I’ll do it well. The worst thing is it’s about power, it’s not about sex. If I come in and just say ‘Hey, guys, this is what I want to do, I just want to sell some comic books’, then I wouldn’t want me to do it. It’s about the consequences. Does this belong in a comic book? My opinion is if you say you can’t deal with rape in this medium, so if you don’t allow them in this medium, then you’re placing restrictions on the medium. I’ve put a lot of thought into that moment with editorial and the artist. It’s a very serious issue.†– Writer Brad Meltzer on Identity Crisis
My Take
While I have been a fan of Meltzer’s Green Arrow run, and not very impressed with Morrison’s X-work, I do believe that super-hero comics are at their root escapist fantasies. How else can you describe books that tell the fantastic tales of people that fly around with their underwear on the outside of brightly colored long underwear or spandex?
I learned a lot from a youth filled with devouring comic books. Not only did I expand my vocabulary, comics are written by adults with a more advanced lexicon than a pre-teen, but I also learned more about right and wrong – about the moral code my parents taught me. Comics were more of a morality play when I was boy. They were simple stories about big ideas and bold adventures.
We don’t need to read a comic book where an icon is raped to know that our real world is a tough one.
We don’t need to read a comic book where a so-called hero is measured on the length of their body count. That will only further desensitize us to gun violence and, in some cases, reinforce the misinformed “cool†factor of guns among youth.
Its self-loathing comic book creators that resent the fantasy of comics and want to make the medium more “realâ€. Grim and gritty isn’t “realâ€. Its actually more artificial because while the crime rates are going up, the majority of the population still doesn’t engage in crime.
While all that is true, I still remain a big fan of John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad (SS) – a series about “reforming†super-criminals where violence did happen. We’ve always had violence in comics, books, movies, TV, etc. The SS was still rooted, particularly in its early years, in fantasy. It was about brightly garbed people fighting other fantastic beings – whether from a far off planet or squarely rooted on Earth.
The self-loathing comic book writers that want to shoe horn a mislabeled “reality†into comics, and take the “super†and “hero†out of super-hero comics should realize what a disservice they do to readers, particularly the ever-elusive younger demographic. They live a tougher life then I did as a boy, and some need the fantastic escapism that is (well “wasâ€) at the root of this industry.
I’m all for a variety in comics because we have a more sophisticated readership, but the “super-hero†icons like Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, and Captain America should exemplify the best of the “human†spirit, the triumph of the will. Therefore a series like Identity Crisis is actually the wrong place to tell a tale of the horrors of rape.
There are places for Vertigo, Wildstorm, Dark Horse, and so many others alongside the super-hero universes of DC and Marvel. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a great fantasy tale, but its not about super-heroes.
“Creators†out there just need to realize that the appeal of super hero comics is that they are about “super†acts by noble “heroesâ€. You want to tell another type of tale? There are other imprints out there. Leave the icons in the realm of fantasy.
