Nightwing: Dick and other Cringeworthy Comicbook Moments

[espanolbot]

Warning for nudity, sexism, racism and a horrible instant of "slut shaming".

From the second Nightwing Annual from 2007, here's Dick and Babara's first meeting following the events of the Killing Joke.



Shouldn't the kissing panel me more "Mfffffhhhhh" than "shh"?

Jennifer Walters at the receiving end of one of the worst "slut shamings" in Marvel comicbooks.


Context: the Leader is arguing that gamma radiation poisoning makes people not responsible for their actions, which is the logic used to excuse Dr Banner for the Hulk's frequent rampages, so legally his megalomaniac tendencies aren't his fault either. As more evidence of this, he has his lawyer bring up a full list of the people Jennifer slept with as She-Hulk versus ones as herself to be entered as evidence of how gamma radiation effects her judgement, or something.

Legal explanation or not, it still seems to be as about as liable in court as that time in Veronica Mars where a defence lawyer uses Mars' confidential medical records to damage her statement.

Wonder Woman had the patience of a saint in the old days...


Come to think of it, so must have Sue...


And Kathy Kane...


The Beast appears to be either a master of sarcasm, or he's trying to spare Jean's feelings.


Oh, Billy, no! Bad idea! Bad idea! No stop!


*facepalm* Editors, you're not helping!


Up Next, depending on if it's in the public domain, I'll be analysing this,

It's a terrible comic both in ways that should be obvious, and ways that aren't.

If it's not in the public domain, I'll be doing a special on Jack Chick instead.

Comments

[aeka]

Misogyny in comics has certainly evolved over the years. Though sometimes I can't decide if--in a way--it has gotten worse over the last two decades, with more graphic portrayals of violence against women and their bodies getting more and more sexualised over recent years than they ever were in the 1940s and 50s.

[kksimone]

My favorite part of Batman telling Kathy "One crime-fighter in the family is enough!" is that Robin is standing right there. (And the whole thing is Robin's nightmare)

[shadowpsykie]

is the she-hulk moment actually slut shaming? i mean i can see how it could be seen like that. I've taken law classes, and its low, but they are valid questions for the court to ask in this instance.... the LEADER though, the Leader's actions i definitely see as slut shaming...
(Also if this is obvious i'm sorry, i have been writing papers for the last few days... my brain is pretty near to mush)

[nyadnar17]

I am still not sure what all constitutes slut shaming so please help me out here. If everything else about that situation was kept the same, but Jen had not acted ashamed of her list of conquest, would this still be a case of slut shaming?

[freezer]

The She-Hulk scene and the Veronica Mars scene aren't similar past "Sexual history used to discredit a witness". Jen opened the door to that line of questioning by bringing up her sex life first (under American jurisprudence, a lawyer is allowed to leap on a witness' statement and attack things that would've otherwise been out of bounds, had the witness not brought it into play.)

Wheras in Veronica Mars, Aaron Echolls lawyer brought up Veronica's medical records. It was illegal for the lawyer to have even seen those records, and doubly so to enter them as evidence. That should've sparked an instant mistrial by the judge and charges brought against the defense attorney.

The fact that you can argue that that wasn't even the biggest WTF moment of that entire trial tells you what a clusterfuck it was.

ETA: I've only ever seen the Nightwing scene from the "afterglow" on. Seeing the lead-up makes Dick look like and even bigger... well, dick.

[q99]

-Wonder Woman had the patience of a saint in the old days...-

She never had to be worried about her secret identity.

"Diana can't possibly be Wonder Woman! Women are too dumb and weak to be strong and smart like Wonder Woman!"

[golden_orange]

Wow, Dick Grayson's kind of a prick, hey?

[auggie18]

I know that this wasn't the point that the defense was trying to make, but what occurred to me first wasn't "She-Hulk alters Jennifer Walters' state of mind," but rather "more guys want to sleep with She-Hulk than Jennifer Walters."

[icon_uk]

And this is why I detest that Nightwing Annual.

[kirke_novak]

Some of these made me cringe but mostly they made me angry.

The Nightwing one made me go "Oh, they are so cute, oh that is just so wonderful, oh that is... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[gn6196]

''Slut shaming " hmmm. I few weeks ago I watched a Program about a woman accused of murdering her husband. The deceased was a soldier and in the weeks following the death, the wife slept with about 6 other soldiers including a threesome with a married couple. It was brought into evidence and the soldiers were on the stand as well. They used her behavior to show that she was far from a grieving widow.I guess she was "slut shamed " but it was allowed to connect her actions to her supposed grief or lack of.

[eyz]

What the heck was that last cover?!? Is that real?! What the...°__°

[crabby_lioness]

The first story is slightly mitigated by the fact that I've actually heard of that happening IRL.

Slightly. Very, very slightly. In that case the woman was the one getting married, and her old boyfriend had come over before the wedding to pick up some of his stuff that had been uncovered while she got ready to move into her new husband's home. He later confessed to a mutual friend, who threatened to personally kill him if he ever mentioned it to anyone again (and risked ruining their friends' happy marriage in the process).

The moral of the story, as told to me years later and an ocean away by the mutual friend was, "Some men are irredeemable assholes, and this is how you can tell".

[pyynk]

Uhmmm Hank? These are pliers. THAT is a screwdriver.

[silverzeo]

Hansi... was made by those pro-Nazis douches before WWII... the one who threaten Cap in his golden age?

[gn6196]

There is an appropriate length of time that MOST people observe for mourning a death of a loved one. If your father started sleeping with other women the week after your mom died , it would hurt the surviving family members. Sex doesn't mean a woman is bad but sex immediately after losing a spouse is unusual.

[starwolf_oakley]

Someone on Television Without Pity once said the "walk of shame" has less to do with a Puritanical view of sex and more to do with low standards. Maybe slut shaming is the same thing: less to do with numbers and more to do with "You did it with that guy?"

[fifthie]

Totally adding this one to my HANK PYM IS A WIFESBEATER file

[twospirit.blogspot.com]

I hadn't seen the Nightwing Annual before this, although it's been mentioned in comments how Dick slept with Barbara then gave her his wedding invitation. Still, seeing on the screen was a shocker...how in the world could that have ever been okay? T_T (I reject this continuity and replace it with one where Dick Grayson isn't a heartless Lothario.)