The Authority: More Kev #3

[history79]

Warning: Homophobia

Comments

[repto]

So why are we posting blatantly homophobic scans again?

(Also, why does a company give a writer free reign to shit all over one of their existing properties with a homophobic, asshole, unlikeable character?)

[janegray]

Because stories can have characters with shitty beliefs. It's absurd to demand that people stop posting stories where the characters are dicks. Or should we stop posting stories where supervillains kill people?

That's the same mentality that got people to ban Huckleberry Finn from schools for using the n-word.

[cyberghostface]

Yeah with Ennis at least he’s usually depicting homophobia as a way to deconstruct straight men’s masculinity. I.e. how Hughie in the Boys will call out explicit homophobia while still acting uncomfortable around gay people.

[cyberghostface]

I don’t see how Ennis is shitting on Apollo or Midnighter. It’s not like they’re being depicted in a demeaning fashion like he does with other characters all the time. (Like when he had Wolverine get shot in the balls and run over by a steamroller)

[janegray]

If anything, I appreciate that Apollo is explicitly portrayed as moral and upstanding, willing to push himself to the limit to help people even when they are dicks. You know. Like a superhero.

I know that the Authority oftentimes takes things wayyyy too far, but at their core they always wanted to save the world. And, frankly, after one-too-many "if you shoot the guy who is gleefully setting orphans on fire you are as bad as he is! If you ever kill ONE (1) unrepentant serial killer after he exterminated your family, you automatically turn into a dictatorial mass murderer who'd execute people for jaywalking!" patronising speeches from traditional superhero comics, they were flatout cathartic.

But a ton of writers I otherwise like and appreciate reacted to the Authority the way one might react to stepping on shit in the sidewalk. Treating them like irrational monsters who would only be casually beaten and humiliated by traditional superheroes.

(The "what's so wrong with" story especially pissed me off. Superman is frustrated that civilians are cheering for antiheros who think problems can be fixed through brutality, so he... beats the shit out of them. *insert "so you agree?" Legally Blonde meme here*)

I loved that in this story Apollo is clearly portrayed as the moral authority (no pun intended). When Midnighter finally runs out of patience for Kev's bullshit and wants to throttle him, Apollo stops him with the Armour Piercing Question "so we kill people just because we don't like them now?" Apollo wants to help people. He's the good guy, and the fact that he has been driven to use lethal force against monstrous villains doesn't change that. I wish creators like Waid took note.

[thezmage]

I believe that's actually a Mean Girls meme, not Legally Blonde

[janegray]

I stand corrected! :)

[laughing_tree]

Wait is on record as being a fan of the Authority, actually. Or at least the Ellis/Hitch run.

[janegray]

That's not the impression I got.

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/9279715.html?thread=214271203#cmt214271203

[laughing_tree]

I’d hesitate to read too much into someone’s paraphrase of a years old memory of what someone else said. I also don’t think thinking the JLA would arrest the Authority means you’re not a fan of the characters. Even Ellis said that he wrote the Authority as villains who you root for because they fight enemies who are even worse.

[janegray]

I think that there is a enormous difference between saying that the story would somehow end with the JLA defeating the Authority, and saying that the Authority would be defeated offscreen before the story even starts and only given a single page in the prologue to be thrown in prison with zero interactions and utterly and completely dismissed.

Much as I loathe the Civil War storyline, and as a Captain America fan who dislikes the Punisher, I appreciated that that story had Cap face Frank in a dramatic scene where, even though we've seen Frank at his worst (gun down extremely minor villains who were in the process of going out of their way to try to help the heroes), Frank was still allowed the dignity of expressing himself in a sympathetic way (refuse to fight a true hero like Cap even as Cap is kicking his head in).

[blueprintstyles]

I just watched Comicpop's video on that story, they had an interesting take that "What's so wrong with.." was actually a response to Mark Millar's take on the Authority specifically, which was much more childish than the other runs on the book.

[super_fly]

You mean like Mark Millar did, literally *and* figuratively?

These are cheap gags but derogatory language and behavior towards Apollo & Midnighter is not a particularly new occurrence at the point of this comic, and depiction does not necessarily mean endorsement, even if this *is* Ennis.

[repto]

Well, the less said about Millar's tasteless and disgusting run, the better.

At some point, I just get tired or reading jokes about fags and fudge-packers and whatnot, whether it's meant to be "ironic" or whatever. I don't care that Kev gets beat up and ends up in the hospital because Midnighter beat him up for his crass, crude remarks, so all is good--I'd just rather not wade through three miles of shit just to smell a rose. I see no message or value to Ennis's Authority, and I don't find it entertaining at all.

[icon_uk]

Well, THAT was charmless, wasn't it?

[mazway_75]

"How was I supposed to know you had superpowers? I Mean, not like you're the most famous heroes in the world and all over the news and every intelligence agency has files on you and you go around bragging about the ability to win any fight in seconds and all that...."

[super_fly]

I often wondered how someone could be so ignorant of a group of people who've been involved with so many world-shaking events but it's also shown that if anything major is being covered by the newspaper he's flipped right past it straight to the sports section so yes he might be just ignorant of anything that doesn't interest him or hasn't been relayed directly to him as part of his job