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Tweak says, "kiss my grits"

starwolf_oakley (starwolf_oakley) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-09-23 23:27:00

Entry tags:

publisher: wildstorm, title: the authority

runespoor7's post of Jason Todd talking to Mia Dearden led to a thread discussion about billionaire vigilantes beating up poor criminals.

A panel from THE AUTHORITY: TRANSFER OF POWER shows that at least a few comic creators are aware of this.

"The Authority" was always pretty "out there" for superheroes. But that's Warren Ellis and Mark Millar for you.

For more than a few superheroes, actually being a superhero can be seen as a case of Noblesse Oblige. Noblesse Oblige can be seen as "With great power comes great responsibility... and a really smug sense of superiority."

It came back to Batman, as these things do. After all, we never really go into detail about how "well-off" the Kents were from farming, or how much Clark Kent's Daily Planet take-home pay is. Some seem to think it ties into "Lonely Place of Dying," that since Tim Drake's family is wealthy, Tim isn't as "street" as Jason Todd.

Quotes from users via http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/987439.html?thread=27947311#t27947311:

runespoor7 said: "The fact is, 'Oh, Jason was lower class and her turned out badly, and then he was replaced by Tim, who came from a good family the same side of the streets as Bruce and who did very well as Robin' leaves a strange impression."

lynxara said: "In particular, confronting the class issues at work in the Batman stuff is impossible without coming to the conclusion that most of the characters involved are selfish monsters so steeped in white privilege that they've lost all grasp of reality."

icon_uk said: "Dick was suddenly an ethnic Romany with angst about the likelihood of him ending up in jail like so many of his kin."

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runespoor7
2009-09-24 09:37 pm UTC (link)

their jobs are also very defining of their class

Yes. Their jobs determine their class, unlike the others, who could be any class in order to be heroes. That's why I don't think they count in the same way, though the way they're written as moral and allies of Batman is still interesting; after all, there could have been stories in which they weren't, they might've become bad guys*, but they didn't.

*I think even with comics' love for status-quo that could've happened?

but I got the impression he was pretty standard in his abilities as Robin, with the main problems being emotional, which also sometimes led to him not being diligent. So his problem wasn't incompetence.

I had the feeling that the two were often linked. Given Bruce's emphasis on emotional control, it makes sense. Bruce tolerates Dick not being closed-off because 1)Dick proved that he's good enough to be still alive in spite of it (post-Jason, I get the feeling that lack of control = BAD FATED TO DIE for Bruce), and 2)Bruce likes it.

Jason's recklessness has been greatly exaggerated since his death. It wasn't being reckless that killed him, it was trusting his mother with Bruce's blessings. Steph, personality-wise, is close both to Dick and to Jason. War Drums - Gabrych in general - shows well the parallels between Jason and Steph. A lot of them are in Bruce's head, but it's an interesting comparison if only to think about what Bruce fears and what Batman looks for in a Robin.

There's so little making sense about the time Steph spent as Robin - even less making sense in Robin than in other series - that Steph being short-sighted is in many ways a retcon. I can't even blame Batman for not telling her he was Matches Malone, not when I'm supposed to believe that Steph would've seen the Case in the cave, would've seen Jason's name, and wouldn't have tried to find out who the kid was.

which she could have done as a girl from his own class, but she wasn't written as that.

Making her the Cluemaster's daughter was a handy and interesting way to put her in the story. Maybe DC thought Tim was enough as ar as upper class was concerned, and making Steph a girl from the same class would've felt too forced for the reader? I don't know, when I start thinking about how she could've been from the upper class, I end with the feeling that she wouldn't be Steph. She might be Kate Bishop, though.

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	mysteryfan 2009-09-24 09:51 pm UTC (link)
	even less making sense in Robin than in other series - that Steph being short-sighted is in many ways a retcon. I'm reading War Games right now and just trying to understand. Are you saying those books are part of a retcon for Steph? (I don't blame Bruce for not telling her he's Matches, either.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

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