Information about Starfire-gate

[shadowpsykie]

So a blogger had a conversation with Scott Lobdell a while back and they discussed Starfire-gate.

the blog post can be found here. http://thefiretonight.tumblr.com/post/11014351661/so-i-had-a-small-chat-with-scott-lobdell-tonight

"Kory was definitely being evasive/sarcastic because she did NOT want to talk about her past with them and issues that will come up later in the series. She does not have a memory of ‘a goldfish’ as some people have been saying ‘round the ‘net.

Also, Jason was lying to Roy about certain implications he made in the first issue to Roy about Kory. I won’t say what exactly because I don’t want to spoil the next issue, especially since it’s not out yet."

so it appears that some of our guesses were correct, Kory was being purposfully missleading, and Jason had been lying. Her memory issues are not issues at all, she does NOT want to talk about her past for some reason.

the post goes onto say that Lobdell seemed visibly upset about some of the posting coments people have been leaving on message boards (not the interviews or reviews themselves, but the comments people have left... and i think we can safely assume that the comments were the "starfire is a slut" and the like comments.

I know i a have been one to defend Lobdell during Starfire-gate, and it is because I KNOW he is a great writer, and a great writer of women. which is why the impressions we got from RHATO troubled me. Also as a dabbler in writing i know about playing "the long grift" card and the dangers there in.

hopfully this will comfort some of us who have been... worrying about this
title. The fact that Lobdell actually seems to care about this also helps...


I will be blogging about this more in depth later.

anyways, for legality, because he traveled with her....





One Page From Animal Man #2

Comments

[salinea]

Note that the suggested "fix" would probably have made it even worse.

[janegray]

Scratch the "probably".

"A woman who enjoys casual sex? It must be a cry of help because she was raped and is broken and suffering! Because no healthy and happy woman could ever possibly enjoy casual sex!

[salinea]

it's not entirely inconceivable to make a good story about a rape survivor who tries to deal with her trauma by sleeping around a lot.

It's just that in context, I can't think of it ever being handled in a way that wouldn't be a big, offensive train-wreck.

But, hey, maybe Rucka would have been able to do it!

[shadowpsykie]

or Andreyko, or Bendis (yes i know that Andreyko's nightwing anual was not thebest, but i tend to ignore that work...)

[salinea]

Bendis? Bendis has feminist cred? I know I'm still new to comic book but that wasn't the impression I've been given so far.


(I don't even know Andreyko).

[shadowpsykie]

He wrote Alias, you've never read it? its the Marvel Series abot Jessica Jones. its an EXCELLENT series...

Mark Andreyko wrote The Manhunter series (staring Kate Spencer... whom i miss dearly, as Munhunter)

[shadowpsykie]

Bendis' Spider-man is also the ONLY thing good in the Ultimate Universe... imho. he also did the Spider-woman series a while back which was also a great series.

[salinea]

I didn't ask if he was a good writer. I know he's good at what he does (comics: the sitcom, mostly :p); I asked if he had feminist cred.


I haven't read Alias yet. It's on my tbr list though, but pretty low because I've been told it was also using a lot of references to other stuff that could make me feel lost easily.

Actually so is Manhunter, but it's pretty low because I heard Andreyko was pretty Conservative and sometimes it showed in his writing.

[shadowpsykie]

Conservative? i would never call Andreyko conservative.... he seemed VERY liberal. who said he was Conservative? Kate is a flawed but STRONG female character, and his books are both pro-woman and pro-gay.

Alias... yeah i suppose there is back story there... but 99.9% of it is explained in the series itself.

[salinea]

errr, someone on rpg.net I think. That's where I got most of my comic recs.

[salinea]

and you know, some Conservatives are pro-woman and pro-gay. Like Willingham definitly knows how to write decently strong female characters, that doesn't make the xenophobia in parts of Fables more palatable.

and isn't Byrne very pro gay?

[shadowpsykie]

to be honest... i know... maybe two or three ofhis works.... he DID do that issue of man of steel where Luthor finds out about Clark but just won't believe it right?

that said, what you say is true, im just saying from what i have read of Andreyko's writing, conservative NEVER came to mind...

[suzene]

How do you define "very pro-gay"? He thought DADT was moronic and things same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt. Not sure about his stance on SSM.

[salinea]

well, "very" was an exaggeration, sorry. I don't know that much about his position. Just that he was pro gay on some stuff.

[janegray]

Frankly, in the context of superhero comics, I don't care if it's conceivable or not.

Because it seems like virtually every strong and independent female character in comics is either a virgin, a stable wife/girlfriend, or a rape survivor.

It's not the idea of a rape survivor who tries to deal with her trauma by sleeping around a lot that bothers me. It's the inevitability of it. It's like it's so bad and shameful for a woman to freely enjoy casual sex, that she must be turned into a victim to make her sympathetic. "Guys, it's ok, she is not a slut, she is just suffering!"

Even if Rucka wrote the greatest story ever starring a a rape survivor who tries to deal with her trauma by sleeping around a lot, the topic would still be more of the same.

[majingojira]

...That's it. Kaylee Frye (from Firefly) needs to become a superheroine.

Or was that pre-reboot Starfire to a degree?

[suzene]

Please no. Much as I like yon sex-positive space pixie, when she's not getting what (or who) she wants, she's a real brat.

[whitesycamore]

Yes, this. There is basically no way to have a 'normal' sexuality when you have a history of rape/sexual abuse - either you're having too much or too little, and whichever way round it is, it's because you're so damaged. And if you're adamant that it's not, that's just because you're in denial!

I am quite thankful that Lobdell avoided that minefield. For now, at least

[q99]

DC *needs* someone high-up who understands feminist issues and they listen to. This is 101 stuff, and they'll keep banging into it until they get a clue.

[salinea]

Yup. They do.

[salinea]

Do you think I should send them my CV? I could use a job and that sounds like a fun thing to do.

[q99]

The tricky part is more convincing them of the need than finding the person :)

[benicio127]

Oh my goodness, yes, I was just thinking that.