There’s been a smattering of “lesbian Batwoman” coverage in the Christian press, primarily in the form of fist-shaking “What about the children?” commentary.
But Agape Press, “Reliable News from a Christian Source,” files an actual reaction story. Okay, it’s just six or seven paragraphs of opinion from the director of the Culture and Family Institute, but still.
Robert Knight’s views on the the subject — “This is a direct attempt to sell homosexuality to kids” — don’t interest me all that much. They’re pretty much business as usual.
However, this, this left me scratching my head:
“I can recall a few years ago when a new executive took over DC Comics and said, ‘We’re going to be cutting edge now. We’re going to use more profanity’ — in fact, they never had it before — ‘We’re going to add profanity and sexual situations.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, great’.”
I admit that I didn’t read comics or follow the industry during much of the ’90s, so I may not be up on all the twists and turns of that period. But has any DC Comics executive, ever, said, “We’re going to add profanity and sexual situations”? Oh, I know there’s the occasional movement to make superhero universes more “realistic,” but when did an editor declare, “DC Comics: Now with extra dirty words”?
Given that DC has only had two executives who would fall within the “a few years ago” parameter, our options are pretty limited.
Mike Carlin, Dan DiDio, fess up. Who got Robert Knight so riled?
June 9th, 2006 at 8:37 am
LOL! That’s great! A right-wing “news” source making up quotes to back up their point? Whodathunk?
June 9th, 2006 at 9:12 am
I’ve never, EVER heard a Marvel or DC editor say that. Weird.
June 9th, 2006 at 9:25 am
I remembr Stan Lee saying something like that back in the eighties. He was all, “Make sure you get Johnny Storm to say something about She Hulk’s cameltoes poking through on her F4 costume.”
June 9th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Aaron – The left wing press does it, too. Jayson Blair, anyone?
June 9th, 2006 at 9:52 am
My best guess is that he’s referring to when the new “Outsiders” launched. If you read the intro in the first trade paperback collection for it, they explain that their goal was to be more edgy. Mor sex and profanity, I believe (I don’t have it in front of me right now), was the express goal. So, if that’s what he’s referring to, I guess he’s at least factually accurate.
June 9th, 2006 at 10:02 am
Looking back, I guess it depends on if an executive was speaking specifically about Outsiders. That’s the *only* book that was to be written specifically for an older audience and was to ramp up the sex and profanity (whether it fit in the story well or not, at times) to a large degree. So, I’m thinking that at best he could be only be factually semi-correct.
June 9th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Wasn’t “Comics: Now with cussing and boinking!” the motto for Marvel Max when it started?
June 9th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Are you sure it was Outsiders?
I thought that was a statement made by Wildstorm when they were promoting the “Eye of the Storm” concept they had. I could have sworn they said they were going to play around with the sex/violence situations in their books a little bit more.
The guy just sees DC and assumes.
June 9th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
I’ll have to grab the Outsiders TP off the shelf when I get home from work and see if I can post a direct quote along with who said it. I tried googling around to find it, but came up empty.
June 9th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
While it’s more than a few years ago, he might also be referring to the launch of the Vertigo line, which has its share of sex and profanity.
June 9th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Well, Wildstorm IS DC nowadays, so it’s not far off. Same publishing company, setting books in different universes is all.
June 10th, 2006 at 3:44 am
If wikipedia is to be believed, Knight’s not your average nutcase. Apparently he’s a former member of that liberal terrorist unit, the Los Angeles Times. That being said, as you essentially point out Kevin, what do you expect from a group formed in 2001 to “focus. . . with particular emphasis on the homosexual activist movement and other forces that threaten to undermine marriage, family and religious freedom.” Now how long before they realize that Marvel’s Jamie Madrox is on the surface an endorsement of cloning with a subtextual support of stem cell research (http://www.cwfa.org/articles/6087/CWA/life/index.htm)?
June 10th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
From the Intro to Outsiders TP vol. 1, written by Judd Winick:
“The marching orders I was given with OUTSIDERS was to make it a darker book, and cliched descriptord like “gritty,” and “realistic” were bandied about. I was perfectly happy with that. I knew, with permission, to amp up the levels on language, content and violence, that we would have a different book.”
Also:
“…edgy, gritty, realistic, gonna use more dirty words, and hit people harder…”
June 11th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Possibly, Weyoun. But Winick doesn’t fit the “new executive” description (of course, I suppose you could interpret that his “marching orders” came from that new executive).
June 11th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
[...] “The Week in Review” typically is JK Parkin’s territory, but he’s on the road so you’re stuck with me. The Week In Review LogoIn our first week at Newsarama, the new Batwoman — or, rather, her sexual orientation — continues to be the talk of the mainstream press. Oh, and Superman’s sexuality didn’t escape scrutiny. [...]
June 14th, 2006 at 9:16 am
[...] Has it really been five days since the last “lesbian Batwoman” story? My, how time flies. [...]