InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We are the champions!"

psychicsaphie (psychicsaphie) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-09-03 20:22:00

Entry tags:

char: blue beetle/jaime reyes, char: miss martian/m'gann m'orzz, char: red devil/eddie bloomberg, char: wonder girl/cassie sandsmark, group: teen titans, publisher: dc comics, title: teen titans

Teen Titans 74
MASSIVE SPOILERS

Do not click unless you want to be spoiled.

So when we were last left with the Titans, blah blah prison break, blah blah distractions, blah blah, the Calculator has a huge plan going to mess with the Titans. Lots of foreshadowing about a Titan dying, and it was pretty clear from Origins and Omens who.

The problem is the Titans left the situation at the prison without realizing there was a severely injured metahuman with nuclear powers slowly going critical, so that it wasn't even noticeable until after they left and got into the fighting elsewhere. Eddie was informed of this fact via a "government agent" that turns out to be the Calculator having rerouted all communications from the Tower.

Trap or not, calculated or not, this guy is going critical. The others are fighting for their lives, so Eddie does what a Titan does and powers or not, pulls his own weight.

Wonder girl goes to beat the snot out of the bad guys, Amazon style, but stops raeging and doesn't do anything she'd regret.

And ultimately... they learn from it. Rather than it destroying them like the Calculator intends, they deal with it.

And I have to say, I've severely disliked this trend as Titans being expendable canon fodder, I'm sick of characters dying in general, but... I was very happy with how this turned out. Eddie went from being a kid sidekick to a kind of useless lump that couldn't hold down a job, to someone so desperate for a family and to be a hero that he sold his soul for superpowers to be able to be a Titan--and then who refused to be useless when he lost those powers. He had a hell of an arc, and came a long way from being something of a dorky foob wannabe.

Recently, the Titans have gotten chumped. Random, pointless deaths all over. In making a comparison to the Legion of Superheroes, recently, to a friend, I pointed out that when Legionnaires die it is typically in a blaze of fucking glory, and how it's much more satisfying. Yes, people just die sometimes, and no, not everyone can have a heroic death, but you still expect one every once in while, and after a string of pointless ones, it gets tiring and seems like all they want is a gore-splosion. These are heroes, dammit. Even if death is swift and surprising, they still would likely give the finger to evil as they go down.

And here, Eddie just carries a walking nuke away, gets himself bombarded by a ton of radiation, carries the dude even as it burns him horribly, and kind of flies right into his death with a smile on his face, and a loyal "They'd do it for me"--with all the faith in the world that they would, and without a flinch. And even if he'd known it was a trap, since it was the only way to save them, and communication was cut off, you know he would've done it anyway.

I would've liked more time with the Red and the Blue, but I was happy with this. It wasn't a chump death--it was a send off, with the characters dealing afterward by not dwelling in angst, but deciding to fight harder, learn from their mistakes, stick together, and make sure his sacrifice to save them all wasn't in vain.

He believed in the Titans, and it ends on the note of them trying to believe in themselves. THAT is how you do a death if you're gonna do one.

So, RIP Eddie. Thanks for dying in an attempt to make the Titans suck less. It probably won't work because the new writer sounds utterly vapid ("Static is special because he’s the male version of me – Pasadena, California as my Dakota. I was this kid growing up, except for the whole big bang explosion-turns-you-into-a-super-hero-ability-to-harness-electromagnetism part"--oh God, make it stop), but thanks for trying, kid.

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	batcookies 2009-09-04 01:32 am UTC (link)
	I couldn't disagree more. I'm sick and tired of "not everyone goes out like a hero!" deaths. They outnumber the well written heroic sacrifices at this point. I'm reading a book about superheroes. If they're going to die, they'd damn well BETTER go out like a hero. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-09-04 01:42 am UTC (link)
	The pendulum's swung way too far between the "superhero deaths" and the "dying like a chump" deaths. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-09-04 02:21 am UTC (link)
	I really question why we'd ever need even a single "dying like a chump" death. The point of superheroes is that they're heroic. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

aegof.livejournal.com
2009-09-04 07:25 am UTC (link)

Maybe it's a better story that way.
I mean, I get that lots of people are into superhero comics for the superheroism. That's cool! Good a reason as any, right?
Me, I'm here for the muscley people shooting lasers from their eyes and ice beams from their hands, (and, since Final Crisis, Grant Morrison). And honestly, I prefer simple heroism to super--the kind that isn't always pretty, and sometimes involves compromises. Or failure.

Ted Kord died a heroic death. Barry Allen died a superheroic death. I guess I don't see why there shouldn't be room for both.

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psychicsaphie
2009-09-04 08:07 am UTC (link)

Is ort of agree.

See, I see Eddie's as a simple heroic death. I mean he didn't really do a superhero thing there. He walked right into what was basically a trap, and was the sacrifice Calculator had intended for him to be to hurt them. But it didn't matter. He just did what any brave person could've done and moved the bad explodey thing away from the people and wasn't afraid to die. No powers or anything, just "Yep, get in the jet, nuclear guy, we's leavin'."

That's what I liked about it. It kinda WAS pointless, because it was actually preventable if the Titans had realized they were getting played, and y'know, checked the prison for injured nuke-people, but it was a very simple, brave thing to do, just like Ted poking into Checkmate was, and any old chump (with access to a multi-billion dollar jet) could've done it.

Had he, say, been able to eject, but died a horrible gory, kinda inglorious death of radiation poisoning, it still would've been good to me because it's like that regular sort of heroism like a dude separating nuclear matter with their bare hands to prevent it from going critical during an experiment, or something like it (and stuff like that has happened in RL).

But on the other hand, my problem with a lot of recent deaths is IDK... like not only have they been pointless, but they've been sort of victimized as they went down. I mean a few ought to get caught by surprise but most heroes shouldn't die victims if the death gave them time to compose themselves--they're brave people. I liked that Ted was all "Rot in hell, Max" rather than "OH NOES, DON'T SHOOT ME MISTER SCARY MAN." Cypher died taking a shot for a friend. And Cap, IIRC, shoved the cops around him away with the shooting started. (I think. If I remember it right). They don't all have to die heroes or superheroes, but at least let more of 'em die brave--they knew they might die when they got into this stuff and have faced it regularly until now--I like seeing that edge of courage last right up to the moment they bite it.

Even if they fail, I prefer the "Someone else will take you down, you sonovabi--"BLAM kinda stuff to "OH GOD I'VE BEEN CUT IN HALF." I just think there's been a recent trend of too much of the latter.

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