A lampshade on "Heroes don't kill", plus a few other gems from JLA/Hitman

[thelazyreader]

Garth Ennis doesn't like superheroes. Among others, his reason being that he can't stomach the rigid 'Thou shall not kill' rule that most superheroes live by (often reinforced by editorial mandates) when in real life there are practical situations that necessitate, if not justify the need for deadly force, whether by cops, soldiers or even civilians.

So this was basically the key issue in his JLA/Hitman 2-issue series, where he made Kyle Rayner the 'straight man' of the story, voicing the layman's opinion regarding certain superhero policies.






Don't tell me you've never considered those points yourself. Interesting how superheroes generally just answer to the tune of "That's how it is. Accept it." when faced with such questions.

On a lighter vein, since I have several pages to go, a few humorous scans from the series.

-Tommy's would-be assassins arguing over who gives the orders.




-Tommy's pal Natt introducing his new girlfriend.




-Learning what became of all the forgotten spin-off characters from DC's old Bloodlines crossover.



-And the US President's dialogue during the whole fiasco.





 

Comments

[thelazyreader]

The very nature of comic books (which remain in circulation till sales dip) demand that all prisons be cardboard prisons and no good recurring villain ever die(or stay dead). It doesn't matter how many times characters claim security at Arkham has been beefed up, it will remain a revolving door for supervillains just so writers can keep writing about them.

[darrylayo]

That's just bad writing. And I have a beef with comic book writers:

Maybe if writers showed more commitment to a title and wrote for more than a few issues or a couple of years.

Maybe if each writer didn't insist that "I'VE got to tell MY Joker story!"

Maybe if writers actually created new enemies for the good guys to struggle against--particularly in Batman, where creating villains can be done with a character generator; it's theme, gimmick, hook and repeat.
Also, in Batman, he's supposed to be a detective. So give him new challenges to figure out!

Maybe...and this might be a radical idea...maybe if the nature of the comic book villains crimes wasn't RAPE AND BLOODY MURDER, we could enjoy some light-hearted capers and people would be more tolerant of repeat-offending villainy.

Once the stakes have been raised to a certain level, it's difficult to take seriously how suddenly violent vigilantes become pacifists. It's completely unreasonable.

[thelazyreader]

Agreed on all counts. As for the idea of more harmless capers, I'm afraid that won't happen unless Batman undergoes another transformation into camp like in the Silver Age.

[cmdr_zoom]

Well said.