Lobo #1

[history79]

"I have no idea why Lobo took off... I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine hero prototype, and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure."

- Keith Giffen




8 pages of 24

Comments

[crinos]

Its the same thing as with Rick from Rick and Morty, or Tyler Durden from Fight club. There is a specific subset of asshole who will look at fictional characters who are intentionally made to be parodies or deconstructions, or who are very clearly meant to be in the wrong or bad characters, and ignore all the subtext that indicates they are terrible losers, and then just attach themselves to how cool and badass that character is.

They did it to Lobo, they did it to Tyler Durden, they did it to Rick Sanchez, to Eric Cartman and Peter Griffin, and they'll do it to the next asshole fictional character that comes down the pipes.

[deathcrist2000]

Of course, there are several ways to do interesting things with them in spite of (or because of) this reputation. These include:
-Making him the Space Pope of a race of Space Dolphins
-Making him a metafictional idea that has infected our culture and is being used by the author as a weapon against those who admire him.
-Giving him massive depression and showing how truly pathetic his seemingly fun life is.
-Do absolutely nothing because the writers are part of that subset of asshole.
-Focus more and more on the Dog and Baby.

[crinos]

Oh of course. The point is not to let assholes liking these characters for the wrong reason not interfere with the good stories you can potentially do with them.

[strejdaking]

Eh, are they? I've read quite a few Lobo comics and while we are often meant to laugh with him rather than at him, I've yet to read any Lobo story (in between LEGION and New 52 anyway) that isn't meant to be a comedy.

[dcbanacek]

They do it to non-fictional characters. The James-Younger gang, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Al Capone, the Krays and that's just a short list off the top of my head.

[ozaline]

On that vein I remember hearing that even the Neo Nazi aesthetic largely came from a film that was decidedly portraying them in the, proper, negative light... but I can't seem to google up the name, so I could be wrong.


Though I wonder are there really many writers who are unaware of the joke? I mean this is the character who killed Santa (a fact that was even going to be used in his cancelled video game).

[crinos]

The story you are thinking of is American History X.

Lindsay Ellis did an essay about the producers and the whole making fun of Nazi's, and points out that Neo Nazi's flock to American History X because, while it shows Nazism to be bad, also makes them look badass and cool, but on the other hand they stay far away from the Producers, which via Springtime for Hitler makes Hitler look like the pathetic ridiculous fop he is.

[ozaline]

Thank you. And yes now that you say it, that video essay is exactly where I heard that.