Comments on: Just Past the Horizon: Mirrored Plotlines

By: ejulp

ejulp — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:00:53 +0000

It was heartbreaking, honestly, and seemed so unnecessary. Bendis created such a strong but “humaney” character in Milla, one who was aware of the consequences of dating Matt, but in the end was still predictably “punished” for it by Bru, just like all the other women in his life; why she couldn’t just be a strong character and leave the book of her own accord, I dunno. What Bru did seemed the worst way he could have taken her “off the board.” Both Bru and Bendis have commented on this, Bru saying, “If only you [Bendis] wouldn’t have brought her back in the last arc…she would have been safe.” With Bendis even commenting he thought what happened to Milla was a poor choice (I think I’m pulling these paraphrased quotes from Word Balloon interviews). Milla just ended up being nothing more than a plot point to show how DD’s life will still suck, still have consequence from the events of Bendis’ run, even though he’s been cleared of being “a vigilante and lawyer.”

Again, a better way of doing this would have Milla realizing that because of the way Matt runs his life, she pry shouldn’t be a part of it…that’d be a mature reaction, happens in real life relationships, and still follows-shows how Bendis’ run affects the current book. Instead she is so “helplessly in love with him even love he still loves a dead woman more than her” that she stays with him. I remember the scene, burned into my brain, where she beats up her caretaker, after Matt puts his a$$ on the line to got her back in his custody, shes lying on the floor, completely helpless…not enough that she’s blind, but now she’s not in control of her own actions; it’s like some perverted version of the DD origin, whereas DD proves he can be a powerful blind man and help society, Milla is now a helpless blind woman that hurts everyone around her, even Matt. All at the same time that Sharon is running around doing the same kind of f***ed up things, by the same writer.

I stopped reading DD after the Mr. Fear storyline, but have occasionally thumbed through an issue (skimmed over the Lady Bullseye story, its still lying around). I know I’m not the writer, and right now, am being “borderline” on crossing the line between discussing possible offensive contexts, and those of storyline choices…but I dunno, it simply just feels wrong in both these stories. But yeah, Dakota seems like a good character, be nice to see her remain and contribute to the MU.

By: David Uzumeri

David Uzumeri — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:27:46 +0000

ejulp, to be fair, as disappointing as Bru’s teardown of Milla has been, Dakota North is a definitely strong woman who doesn’t have any particularly horrifying backstory (other than “my dad is a complete douche”). I still think the way he got rid of Milla was lame and lazy, but hopefully that plot isn’t even close to over yet.

By: ejulp

ejulp — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:58:43 +0000

Very good post, and makes me feel a bit better…but you forgot one thing. I said as an “isolated case” I’d be a bit less uncomfortable by her character arc, gender shouldn’t protect her from harm, women are at least as strong as men…but when I was reading this book, there was another mirrored storyline by Bru, the Milla manipulation by Mr. Fear.

Mr. Fear does what Faust does with Sharon, both women used to get revenge on their “man.” And if this storyline just serves as a crucible into developing her into some sort of new stronger hero, well that stories kinda tired. There was a post earlier this week about Lady Bullseye, about how her past, all the horrors built her into a strong woman. The blogger asked (I’m paraphrasing), “how many women heroes do you know that are strong, from years of training, like Batman?”

There’s a 1000 reasons why this makes me question Bru’s story choices in either book. But, anyways, thanks for the post, as much as I’ve enjoyed Cap, the Sharon stuff has bothered me for awhile, and you brought up some great points in the parallel to Bucky, that will have me give it a second thought.