IGN has a preview of Red Hood and the Outlaws #0

[icon_uk]

One scan under the cut...

And I have to ask this....



Are there ANY women over the age of 30 in the DCnU?



THAT'S Dr Leslie Thompkins? Remember when she was a handsome (rather than pretty), kick-ass, woman in her 50's with short hair? Yeah, me too... (Heck, I remember when she was a sweet little old lady in her 70's who just happened to have been the first person to show the newly orphaned Bruce kindness, the night his parents died)

Is there some sort of Logan's Run age limit on women in the new DCU or something? When they hit 35 they evaporate or something? (Amanda Waller de-aged, Ma Kent no longer around... no JSA members around the place)

The rest of the preview can be seen here, can't say I'm overly impressed.

Sigh, DEFINITELY time to start digging out an "Accentuate the Positive" post, for me if not for you foiks....

Comments

[leoboiko]

You think you have it bad, try being a manga fan. I almost squeeled in delight when I found out Balsa, the protagonist from Seirei no Moribito, was a 30-year-old woman. Typically in Animeland even 600-year-old fertility goddesses are 15-year-olds with zero agency.

[icon_uk]

It's balanced out by opera, where consumptive teenagers are played by women in their fifties who are built like tanks.

[q99]

It's not that rare you'll see old women in *supporting* roles, though (Chiyo in Naruto, for example, or Cologne from Ranma). It's only in main roles that they're super-rare.

[arilou_skiff]

Yeah, I had a bit of a "WTF!?" reaction when someone mentioned that Haman Karn (of Gundam fame) was *21*.

[janegray]

Typically in Animeland even 600-year-old fertility goddesses are 15-year-olds with zero agency.

Not typically, the zero agency part depends on the anime.

There is much, much more variety in anime than there is in Western cartoons. Thus, while it's easy to find incredibly sexist anime that make our shows look like feminist masterpieces, you can also easily find series like The Slayers and Sailor Moon and Fullmetal Alchemist whose female characters are awe-inspiringly great.

[freezer]

So basically, they turned Leslie Thompkins into Cuddy?

Joy.

[darkknightjrk]

Who's Cuddy?

[darkblade]

I think Alfred might be the only person over forty period.

[omnipotent]

And Commissioner Gordon and Colonel Jacob Kane. I still can't come up with anyone female though. :(

[wake_the_dragon]

DC, why was this change (or any of the changes you made, actually) necessary? How does Leslie Thompkins being younger, improve the story?

Seriously, DC, what is the point of this.

[christianconnor]

I'm betting Jason will sleep with her.

[espanolbot]

Pendantic complaint: Wait, I thought that she was blonde when she was younger?

[an_idol_mind]

Whenever I imagine DC's marketing meetings, I'm reminded of a sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look where they discuss bringing Numberwange back for a new audience.

[crazycomiccult.blogspot.com]

Now I can't stop picturing it like this

[ablackraptor]

...da hell with this? How does-but that-it just. My brain hurts. It physically hurts. Do you think this is grounds for a lawsuit against them? I think I can get them done for assault in the first degree with a lot of this crap.

This might explain why I'm staying with the Nightwing series for now. Nothing amazing, but at least it doesn't make me angry. Just hope they bring that Red Robin Ongoing out sooner or later with a new writer.

[blackruzsa]

Same. Red Robin was great before, anyway, though little hope of Marcus Toh doing the run since he's working on Cyborg 009 right now (cue fangirl squee).

[sun_man]

DC's really doing a number on all the former Robins I love. Jason is a mary-sue now. Dick was only robin for like a year. And Tim's prancing around in a Vegas showgirl outfit. Enough is enough

[omgwtflolbbqbye]

I want to give a benefit of the doubt and say that while she's been de-aged, it's not as much as the art would lead us to believe, and that she's maybe in her 50s here.

Still though, I think that would be too much cause it still makes it improbable under this 10-year bottleneck for her to have had the same relationship with Thomas and Martha Wayne as she had in the original continuity, which, for me, is part of the unalterable core of the character since that's the foundation for her assuming a surrogate parent role to Bruce alongside Alfred, and sometimes Jim, in the Bat-mythology.

[whitesycamore]

Looking at the rest of the preview, it looks like they've retconned a lot of Jason's origin.

Including no tyre stealing. The FUCK. I mean, DC can say "that never happened!" until they're blue in the face, but the original canon will still exist and I'll still love it. However, these changes still bother me because they feel so pointless and arbitrary.

It's insulting; it's like someone just wants to make their mark on DC continuity by pissing all over it. Why is this necessary?

[darkknightjrk]

One thing I heard someone say was that it might have been because it would be hard to buy a kid actually being able to put the Batmobile on cinderblocks, not to mention that isn't necessary as much of a common crime nowadays as, say, stealing prescription pills are, like what we got here.

The Batmobile take definitely stands out, but I can understand that reasoning. Lobdell actually briefly mentions that in a Newsarama interview that came out today:

"Instead, we see Jason’s life from Jason’s perspective, and I have to warn you, it is not an easy story to read. Even after the death of his parents, Bruce Wayne was still a boy millionaire with an adoring Alfred at his side. Jason was born into poverty and crime and addiction and depression."

[katya]

Judging from how she's drawn in subsequent pages and how Alfred is drawn by this artist, I'd say she's still supposed to be around Alfred's age and this particular artist just doesn't know how to draw older people that well.

[jlbarnett]

I don't get where this youth obsession is coming from anyway. There are still tons of stars who became big in the 80's around these days.

[darkknightjrk]

Huh--I think I was surprised and happy to Leslie I honestly didn't notice she looked younger until just now.

[spacebetween]

I'm finding it harder and harder to like the Nu52. Right now I'm no longer reading the comics, soon it will be to the point when I'm no longer reading posts in regards to what is happening.

[mommy]

I've come to the conclusion that DCnU is DC's attempt at making their version of Marvel's Ultimate line. It's slightly less painful to read with that in mind, and I like to pretend the old DCU is a couple realities over.

[lilacsigil]

Maggie Sawyer?

[junipepper]

More and more, I'm getting the message that DC really doesn't want me to buy their product. Women over 30 are apparently their least favorite prospective readers (followed by women under 30, probably), which makes total sense (not). We have the highest incomes of any demographic group in the US; of course you want to alienate us.

I can get that they want to pull in younger readers as better long-term prospects, but I don't see why it has to be all or nothing. Is it actually the case that younger male readers will drop a comic instantly if they see any older women lurking in its pages? "AAAAAAAAAGGGHH! Grey hair! Must destroy!"

I liked Leslie being in Bruce's parents' generation and being able to speak up to him when he was being an idiot. But the most egregious example of the disappearing woman syndrome has to be Amanda Waller.

[jaybee3]

Remember when Leslie and Alfred used to be a thing...and Leslie was old enough to be Martha Kane's mentor before she married Thomas? If Bruce is 30 that would make her pushing 60. Now? Obviously no longer.

I have a lot of issues with the "new 52" but nothing, NOTHING has been worse than the ageism the whole reboot has practiced (even in Earth-2!). Everybody (minus Animal Man) has to be young, and beautiful, and thin...and unmarried (can't forget that). I wish the issue would get more attention from the media covering the comics world because it's shameful.

[eyz]

Agh...not Leslie Thompkins too!!! X__X

[md84]

Leslie Thompkins needed to be made younger why? Explain, DC, explain!

And I thought making Amanda Waller thinner and younger was weird.