Say it ain't so, Gail, say it ain't so....

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

The following scans are the opening pages from Action Comics #827.  This is, in my opinion, an archetypical case of the "women in refrigerators" phenomenon.  After all, what we see here is a superheroine, Aura, murdered for no other reason than to demonstrate that the villainess of this story is both evil and dangerous.  Moreover, Aura has been brought into this story for no other reason: she is only here to die.  And as the final insult, if you will, her death, so far as I have been able to determine, goes unremarked upon; she is unmourned by any of her former teammates. 

What is especially strange about this is that the author of this tale is Gail Simone.  The same Gail Simone who started the WiR website in the first place, having diagnosed and named the syndrome.  I don't bring this up to criticize her, I should say; I generally enjoy her work quite a lot, after all.  At worst, this is a case of hypocrisy, which is after all the tribute that vice pays to virtue.  I do think that this is worth discussing, however, because of what it may tell us about this issue.  Perhaps whatever causes WiR syndrome in the first place is a structural factor, not the will of a particular writer, such that even a writer who decries the problem may fall prey to it.  Alternatively, maybe the causes lie in the subconscious, and a writer may fridge someone without consciously realizing it.  I don't know, but I do think it's worth discussing, and I haven't seen it discussed elsewhere.







So what, if anything, should we make of this?  Does it tell us anything about the cause of the WiR syndrome?  What would motivate someone like Simone to do this?  I want to reiterate that my purpose here is not to attack Simone.  I'm just genuinely mystified, and I thought I'd see what others think.

Comments

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

IIRC later in the same issue (or the next one) it's shown that Aura is still alive, so the point is sort of moot.

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

I'm afraid you recall incorrectly. Aura does not appear later in that issue nor in the next.

[buxnalaus.insanejournal.com]

Even if Aura had stayed dead, I believe this would be a 'jobbing' not a fridging.
Might have the term wrong, but this is an established hero being taken down to make a new villain look good.
Fridging is when a female character is tortured/murdered/raped/depowered/what have you to motivate a male character, objectifying the female character and turning her into a plot point instead of a character.

[freezer818.insanejournal.com]

Indeed. As they say on a certain other website, "wrong trope".

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, jobbing is having a new villain take down a hero with implausible ease (based on said hero's experience) to make the villain looks scary.

Nightwing tends to suffer from this condition.

[kingrockwell]

I've never thought it had to necessarily be a male character running the revenge gauntlet, since the fridged character's role isn't any different if it motivates another female, though the gender politics subtext does change drastically.

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

Point the first: jobbing and WiR are not mutually exclusive. Second, I'm using WiR the way Simone used the term, which is not necessarily the same as the way tvtropes.org uses the term.

[zegim.insanejournal.com]

Pretty much this.

It's like every plan is a "Xanatos Gambit" if it's more complex than "open door to enter the room".

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

'jobbing'

Also known as "Worfing," because it happened to Worf ALL the damn time.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

After all, what we see here is a superheroine, Aura, murdered for no other reason than to demonstrate that the villainess of this story is both evil and dangerous.

Aura wasn't attacked to show how badass the villain was but because Repulse was hunting down heroes with powers similar to Aura's. If it had been how you say or done only to get Aura's former teammates to come into the picture you might have something though as is I'm not seeing it.

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

There is a distinction to be made between the character's motives and the writers. Repulse wanted to kill her because she was magnetically powered. Simone wrote the scene, it seems clear to me, to establish the bonafides (malafides?) of the villain in the story.

[kingrockwell]

Yeah, Aura survived this. Which is why I haven't brought up similar charges regarding Artemis' supposed death in Secret Six this month. As the story progresses, some light may be shed on things not being what they seem, but what it seems like right now is Artemis was brought in just to die and rile Diana up.
The funny thing is I didn't even know Gail was behind the WiR sit until a few weeks ago, but now I know, it makes me a little more uneasy, but a little more hopeful, about the whole Artemis deal.

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

You are not the first person to make the claim that Aura survived this incident, but I would like a source for this claim. Where was it revealed that she survived?

[scottyquick.insanejournal.com]

The solicit for #12 says Artemis survived.

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

Hey, Bettie Page, that was the Channel Eight traffic copter, not Channel Six...

[cowtasticism.insanejournal.com]

Ha, I was thinking Bettie Page, too.
Didn't notice the Channel 8/6 thing though :D

[gailsimone.insanejournal.com]

That channel thing has bothered me for years. I have no idea how it happened. John's way too much of a pro to make a mistake like that, and yet the script is consistent. I think it might have been a lettering mistake no one caught.

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

Frankly she looked cooler in the hooded get up.

[snowglare.insanejournal.com]

Read the rest of the story. This is one of many instances where you can't judge the whole thing by the first chapter.

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

I have the entire trade paperback of Strange Attractors right here in front of me. I've read the whole thing. I don't know what you think I'm missing. If it's that, as others have claimed, Aura didn't die in the depicted incident, then I can tell you that I've double- and triple-checked, and if she was revealed to still be alive, then it was not anywhere in this story-arc. If you are claiming otherwise, I would again like to see a source.

[gailsimone.insanejournal.com]

No body.

She's shown using her magnetic powers at the end.

No way she's dead.

[richardak.insanejournal.com]

Well, I certainly don't want to argue with the author herself. But while I've already admitted that I missed that Dr. Polaris said "nearly," I must have also missed where Aura was using her magnetic powers at the end. Dr. Polaris and Superman defeat Repulse, then Black Adam and Reverse-Flash show up to get Polaris out of there. Black Adam helps Superman prevent the bridge from collapsing. Then Superman and Lois spend time together in China. Where is Aura shown using her powers?

Of course, you are right that I forgot one of the key rules of superhero comics: no corpse, no death. Anyway, thanks for responding to this. I hope you weren't offended by my bringing this up. As I said, I didn't bring this up to attack you at all.

[gailsimone.insanejournal.com]

I'll tell you the truth, looking at these pages, I again say John Byrne knows comic book storytelling like few others. The way your eye is deliberately led around like a dog on a leash, and then it plummets downward as the helicopter crashes...that is stuff some 'hot'
artists of today will never learn if they live to be a thousand.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

There are few who'd argue with that, and most of them have personal issues. I think the only time I saw Byrne do shaky art was the end of X-men: Hidden Years--a lapse I believe was due to sudden cancellation and change of story.

[bariman1987.insanejournal.com]

Ah, "Superman: Strange Attractors." One of the first three trade paperbacks I ever bought (t was a three-for-two deal at Books-A-Million), and I picked it simply because the names "Gail Simone" and "John Byrne" were on the cover. Loved it, loved the villains, loved the cute Lois/Clark moments (flying around the world for coffee and rolls for your wife? That's dedication).

I recall that Polaris said Aura was "nearly" dead, so I assumed she got better. And some of the Ravers showed up for a panel to help in Bludhaven during Infinite Crisis, though I don't remember if Aura was featured. Still, I would assume she's alive until told otherwise.

Here's hoping for a Ravers Reunion in Adventure Comics.

[kingrockwell]

Comicvine's giving me an appearance in Teen Titans 66, earlier this year. I'm guessing this is prolly when they decide not to recruit her due to being an "underage binge drinker", as was mentioned above.

Pardon if this was already brought up

[psycheluna.insanejournal.com]

Isn't one of the main aspects of a "fridging" is that the female's death gives a reason for a male to angst/get revenge/be made more interesting. I don't really know Aura, or this story, so I can't say for sure if this "death" caused such a thing. Just because a female dies doesn't mean it is a fridging... though the odds are good ;)