The current Brave and the Bold issue featuring a team-up of Supergirl and Hal Jordan has been a topic of conversion among the blogosphere lately.
Point:
Melchior del Darién examines both Supergirl and Brave and the Bold #2 and finds the latter disappointing.
Excerpt:
I was cringing so vigorously as I read The Brave and the Bold #2 that I honestly can’t exactly recall the incremental ways the over-arching plot was moved forward. For panels on end, Hal Jordan reminds himself that Kara is 17 years old. For panels on end, Supergirl bats her 17-year-old Kryptonian eye-lashes at him.
Counterpoint:
Shelly, on the other hand, enjoyed the issue.
Excerpt:
I can see that, in light of all the other questionable or objectified portrayals of Kara recently, that her flirting with Hal can be viewed as more of the same. But for me, it isn’t quite that. She comes across as a 17-year-old girl who has serious issues about belonging somewhere and being properly socialized, an area in which she’s lacking.
If you read the issue in question, what did you think?
March 24th, 2007 at 1:36 am
I thought the relationship between Hal and Kara was pulled off fairly well. Its a familiar concept, the idea of a younger girl having a crush on an older guy she admires, but I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the way it was done in this instance.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:57 am
He’s basically Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and she’s one of his students. I don’t see the big deal.
Now the part where she has he teddy bear is absurd.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I don’t think Hal would have worried about talking himself out of it. He wouldn’t have cared that she was 17.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Well first of all he DIDN’T care that she was only 17. He cared about the “S” on her chest and not being Ollie. I thought it was the best written Supergirl story since they brought her in frankly. Waid seems to be the only writer who can actually use the fact she has no real connections in this universe and is struggling with identity. Plus the book was just plain ole’ FUN which is more than I can say for most books at the moment. I didn’t see anything harmful in her portrayal here.
March 26th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I thought it was a very human portrayal of both characters given who they are and the positions they find themselves it. I also want to praise George Perez for being able to draw Kara in the exact same costume she’s been wearing since her return without making her look as overly sexualized as other artists do.