Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1

[history79]

6 pages of 31

Comments

[beeyo]

Okay, what? Clark raped her? Holy shit, I'm glad I don't remember the dark knight series that well.

Also, if you Google "superman wonder woman rape" you will hate yourself. But you'll also come across this story of Mark Millar pitching an idea to DC along the lines of The Death Of Superman for Diana. It was dubbed "The Rape Of Wonder Woman". Shit you not.

http://lostmedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rape_of_Wonder_Woman_(Unreleased_Mark_Millar_Comic_Book_Script)

[captainbellman]

Mm. As I remember it, while trying to give him a pep talk in "TDK Strikes Again", she asks him "where is the superman who threw me to the ground and took me for his own?". This is what motivates him to have sex with her again, causing several tremors and apparently immediately fertilising her with the baby in the pages above. As with everything Miller's written, it's super super gross.

[dustbunny105]

Your recollection is close, but the actual line is even worse: "Where is the hero who threw me to the ground and took me as his rightful prize?"

[captainbellman]

Jeeeeezus. That there is amateur hour fanfic level of writing, in both style and substance. Makes my skin crawl a little bit. And the pages above just reinforce it...

And it's Superman and Wonder Woman, for the love of God. This is like reading a story where Gomez & Morticia are revealed to be suit-wearing furries. Even if written right, it still would not ever fit the characters.

(I'm of course referring to the entire Furry lifestyle and online community, as opposed to, say, the Addams couple donning Kigus/jammies in the shape of enormous bats, which would just be adorable and in-character.)

[walkingthroughforest]

Jesus, Clark did not rape her. If you want to interpret those words as such that's your own choice. Was it objectifying? Sure. But you're absolutely reaching the worst possible interpretation of those words.

[mrstatham]

I don't think it helps that the DKSA Wonder Woman is directly linked to the ASBAR 'fuck off sperm donor' Wonder Woman, in some ways, but I never took that line to mean rape, more that - although I don't really agree with it as characterisation for Diana at all - Superman had to prove he measured up to her to be with her.

[cyberghostface]

They've been doing that for nearly everything Miller's wrote.

[sagrada]

Since we never see it but hear it second hand all that matters is the interpretation. Which is hard to be charitable about, since Miller's view of men and women in his art has gone from charmingly regressive to unpleasantly so.

[servant_iskandar]

There's no doubt that Miller's work gone far, far South these days - both in terms of writing and artwork. I'm also afraid he isn't done tumbling down that precipice of his own making, not yet at least.

Yet more importantly: I hold scans_daily in such regard that I hope that we'll be able to address these hard issues with proper, well motivated criticism: strongly opinonated doesn't equate with ad hominem, both according to the community ethos and my experience.

As such, I stand by what walkingthroughforest and mrstatham stated before. I believe we shouldn't mislead people who haven't read a book by stating interpretations as "truth", especially when they're revolving around things such as rape. I daresay we're better than that.

[sagrada]

Language is everything we have to go on, and the language chosen by Mr. Miller is very clear in its reference to domination and one character overriding another character's wishes. That and it follows the well-worn lines of a strong woman being brought to heel by a stronger man.

That it wasn't intended to be interpreted that way isn't much of a defence. Much smaller character moments have been more deeply read into on much flimsier bases.

Mistakes have been made in fiction since always. Why not here?

[servant_iskandar]

DKSA is absolutely chock-full of mistakes, up to and including the reveal about "Joker" and Lois' fate (fridging), among others.

On top of that, Miller is most likely at his most incoherent / hollow in terms of characterization... at least, that was his worst on record until Holy Terror and ASBAR's most hokey moments.

There's no question about that, no joy in the narrative (as others have pointed out) and no sign whatsoever of the irony that made his debut works popular. The writing is actually made worse by the artwork, which suffers both from Miller's own issues and his inexperience with Photoshop.

Are we looking at a trainwreck -- both in reference to DKSA and this one? Alas, we do, at least IMHO, and we both seem to agree on this point. Does Miller deserve frank (no pun intended), objective and pointed criticism, even more so in the light of his earlier achievements, and especially about the way he treats /depicts female characters? Certainly.

We are of a different mind on this specific issue, though. I respect your opinion but I still think we went too far (and while that's Miller's sorry state these days, I keep believing we can do better. With language and semantics as well).