Rare Jean Loring Sighting

[lordultimus]

Comments

[mazway_75]

Let me guess: After Mid-Nite leaves, we see Ray jumping off her suit?

[buttz]

Nope.

[superfangirl1]

Aw man. Jean still killed Sue is still in continuity. I was hoping that event would be erased already.

[laughing_tree]

But didn’t the New 52 undo Identity Crisis, with Ralph and Sue alive again?

[tcampbell1000]

I'm pretty sure the new 52 was itself undone. Haven't seen Ralph and Sue around since then, either. But, y'know, continuity is so pick-and-mix at this point that Jean could have killed someone else entirely to bring Ray back to her.

[icon_uk]

Ralph was a member/associate of the Secret Six in the New 52, under another name and shapeshifted into another appearance.

[mastermahan]

And he had lost Sue to a tragedy. But not one that killed her, and they were reunited in the end.

[scorntx]

So after nearly two decades since the publication of Identity Crisis, and developments in the depiction and treatment of mental health since then, surely Jean Loring would be treated in a more respectful ma-
Wait. Never mind.
Sigh.

And apparently Ivy Town has a gothic mansion repurposed into a prison / "mental asylum". Just like Gotham!
As opposed to, for example, some sort of building built within the last hundred years for the express purpose of humane and ethical treatment of people with mental health problems.
(But then, if Jean was put in an actual, functional facility where she could possibly get actual help, how would she inevitably escape and go on a murderous rampage?)

[icon_uk]

One does get the feeling that the artist thought this was intended to be Arkham, but Johns had other ideas.

[thanekos]

Like many writers of his youth, Geoff Johns benefits from artists making his work look a lot better than it is.

[blueprintstyles]

I am 99% sure Ralph and Sue are alive again.

[icon_uk]

Ralph is, Sue I'm not sure about

[dan_ingram]

Ted remembers being shot by Max...

I do have to wonder the exact dynamics of all these recent resurrections. Did Ted have to dig himself out of a grave, or did he just regain the memory of his death after a canon reboot and a hot shower?

At this rate, coffins in the DCU need escape hatches in case of accidental resurrection.

[icon_uk]

DCU Tombstones are "Write on/wipe off" as standard

[dan_ingram]

In Marvel, that's known as the Mac Hudson Standard.

[tcampbell1000]

Jean Loring has never been treated terribly well.

Version 1: Silver Age superhero writers tended to regard male heroes' romantic subplots as an inconvenient necessity at best. Jean in the original Atom stories was a sometime helpmate to the Atom, conveniently reluctant to marry until she got estabilshed in the law, and otherwise about as interesting as rain-sodden pulp.

Version 2: The closest that "classic Jean" got to agency was when Ray sprang his secret identity on her less than 24 hours before they were to be married. He did this, by the way, by transforming to the Atom in front of her, thinking as he did so, "She's already had two breakdowns, I hope this doesn't cause a third!"

...

Just...just gonna let that last paragraph breathe a minute, there...

...

She actually considers not marrying Ray for a few hours because secret-keeping is toxic, then decides this is one of the things that needs to fall under mutual forgiveness. That's fine, and it's actually true that a healthy marriage needs that. But the whole thing is ridiculously rushed, and it doesn't help that the people she's talking this through with, her bridesmaids, are also disguised superheroes and therefore also actively gaslighting her. (Sue Dibny is not among them, though she shows up in the wedding party later.)

Version 3: In the Eighties, Jean appeared just long enough to get caught in an affair, basically so it'd be justified for the writers of the series to recast Ray as a small-scale barbarian hero in the Amazon with a barely-legal alien woman clinging Frank Franzetta-style to his leg. I guess the Warlord DC Comic and Conan movies had done well enough to justify this attempted pivot. I won't hold it against Ray that he got written as somebody's bitter midlife-crisis fantasy for a year and change, but I gotta say, as soon as Jean was gone, she was instantly forgotten.

Version 4: All the bad things to say about Identity Crisis have already been said (who still wanted this?) and she's basically remained the same ever after that, albeit slightly more fun when Eclipsofied. The irony is that only by reaching cartoonish levels of dissociation has Jean managed to get any attention paid to her internal life. But that attention has not extended past "Aw, LOOK! She thinks this is romantic, isn't that TwIsTeD?!" And it sure hasn't tried to be consistent with any of the other three versions of the character, let alone tried to make them consistent with each other.

I feel bad for her...but not as bad as I feel for characters who used to be treated well and then got the shaft. Y'know, like Sue Dibny.

[dan_ingram]

...do you have scans of version 2?

Because just reading the summary, I'd almost be willing to kill to read it now, lol

[superfangirl1]

The cliff notes version.


https://www.cbr.com/justice-league-atom-ray-palmer-jean-loring-wedding/

[tcampbell1000]

I put it up!

[dan_ingram]

Well, that's one stabbing spree averted!

[huntleyhaverstock]

With all of the above valid criticisms acknowledged...

1. I found Jean's delusion about Ray sneaking in on all her visitors to be kinda clever/poignant/creepy. It's not like she lacks good reason to suspect that!

2. I like that she snaps into being intelligent, analytical, and helpful when asked about Eclipso. It ain't much, but it's something.

3. The art's pretty decent -- especially the part where she's talking about being infected by Eclipse, and half her face is in shadow, mimicking the classic Eclipso half-face look.

But also, Geoff, your Killing Joke/Watchmen obsession is showing...

[tcampbell1000]

I'll agree with all of this. Also, I like the way she snaps into being helpful. Mid-Nite can't seem to get her attention with direct questions, but when she makes a misinformed statement, Jean gets this "WHAT? THAT'S not right" face. "Someone is being wrong on the internet!"

[sabertoothlotus]

I found her delusion that Mid-Nite has anything even resembling a lapel on that outfit to be more disturbing than her obsession with her ex-husband.

[bradygirl_12]

Yeah, Arkham's got a twin

[icon_uk]

It could be worse, it could be becoming a franchise!!

[superfangirl1]

I bet the doctors psychiatrists and employees doesn’t get murdered as much as Arkham asylum.

[scorntx]

But I'd be willing to bet the amount of clown-related murders in Ivy Town skyrocketed after they opened.

[shakalooloo]

They just get inducted into the worship of M'nagalah instead.

[bradygirl_12]

It could be worse, it could be becoming a franchise

Eek! ☺️

[john_drake1964]

Could just be another example of DC Universe alternate history beyond the extra-cities and super-folks running around. Unlike our world, the old sanitariums never really got shut down as they did here, for reasons both legitimate and less so (or at the least, shutting them down and then never really instituting something better to replace them...)

So, you've got Arkham and now Cold Coast...bet Metropolis was probably bought out by Lex at something and turned into the LexMed Psychiatric Center or something...all bright and shiny and expensive...

[scorntx]

Plus LexMed only accepts one type of mental health disorder, which is calling Superman a hero.

And by gum, they'll selflessly beat it out of every patient who comes through their doors, no matter how long it takes!

[john_drake1964]

Hmmm...now I'm wondering, which sounds better...
LexMed or MedLex?

The second does sound more like an actual medication "Take MedLex to deal with constipation..." so maybe just stick with LexMed.

[thezmage]

There's no way that Lex Luthor wouldn't insist on top billing

[starwolf_oakley]

Just because Jean Loring is locked away in a mental institution (not a spa, as Diane Chambers would say) doesn’t mean she’s there for “accidentally” kill Sue Dibney and torching the body.

[shakalooloo]

Which state is Ivy Town currently in?

[zylly]

I get it’s probably delayed synergy, but I’m not a huge fan of Beth’s OG Doctor Mid-Nite derivative look. Her yellow and black costume was great.

(And where’s Pieter these days while we’re at it?)