Earth 2 #1

[superfangirl1]

Apokolips led by Steppenwolf has wiped out Metropolis and pretty well conquering Earth and in a last mad desperate gamble. The Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman manage to free the world from the Parademon grip, sacrificing themselves in the process in grand fashion.







Five years later on the anniversary of the Trinity deaths to save the earth.





Sitting silently by himself in the woods depress by Joan words. Jay Garrick meets Mercury after witnessing him crash near by in a crater.

Comments

[sistermagpie]

Yeah, what's gross here is that Jay starts out being really creepy, talking about seeing off "my girl" going off on her cute "adventure" and suggesting he'll come out to see her as if they're still going out. So her firmly telling him that they really did break up and he's not just going to ignore it and treat her like his girlfriend until she gives in makes sense.

But then she reveals that she broke up with him for terrible reasons that are wrong and make her shallow and horrible--and sound like a set up for him to Prove Her Wrong. Which is what makes it into a bit of a creepy sexist fantasy. She's a horrible person, but she should be a horrible person who wants him. Suddenly it's just all that her being a jerk and he's just being nice and supportive despite the fact that she doesn't deserve it.

[turtlefu]

See, I can understand if the WAY Joan said it is kind of mean (the fourth panel is unusually harsh).

But, she is right. Jay is creepy. He calls her "my girl" even though they have broken up, and she rightly calls him out for being condescending. Jay is not treating Joan like an autonomous, intelligent being. He is not respecting her. This is classic "Nice Guy" syndrome. And knowing everything we know about DC's young hero archetype, her reason (that she is a go-getter career person and he is a fresh out of college do-nothing) sounds plausibly accurate.

So I don't think her reasons are wrong, just the way she phrased them.

And how exactly is Jay being "nice and supportive"? He's openly condescending, and then expresses that he wants to follow her even though she tells him not to. That sounds less like supportive and more like controlling.

[sistermagpie]

He's not being nice and supportive. I'm saying that the way it's written, with his Nice Guy condescension followed by her ham-handed "I'm going to make lots of money and you're going no place, loser!" I think many readers will take that as a signal to not only see her as a shallow woman who only cares about money and misses the true worth of the superior guy she's with who just hasn't proved his awesomeness yet, but read the earlier stuff as more of the same. As if his not acknowledging that they've broken up is actually him just showing he supports her and loves her even though she doesn't appreciate it and insults him.

Iow, I think this panel is made to appeal to the Nice Guy fantasy when it detours from her criticism of his behavior here into her predicting that he's going nowhere and saying she's superior to him. I think there's probably plenty of readers who come away wanting him to prove her wrong and then dump her for being mean. As has been mentioned elsewhere in the thread, she's both "the prize" and "no prize."