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greenygalSometimes I miss lettercols. They reminded us how many loons there are out there. :)
Reading through old SUICIDE SQUAD issues (about which I can only say "Yum!"), I encounter a letter from a fellow who was concerned that the content in SS was not child-friendly. We might reasonably inquire as to why he had expected it to be, given that the premise of the book is a bunch of supervillains doing black ops work for the government (all right, they weren't all supervillains, but the good guys weren't always very nice either), and the issue he was responding to was quite far enough into the book to have firmly established the tone. But it did carry a Comics Code seal, and this was years ago when kids probably did read comic books, so okay, granting that for a minute.
So what's his problem? The whole idea of the book? The presence of a sociopathic assassin on the roster? The body count among both the main characters and the people they went up against? The presence of drugs, racism, and terrorists? The bad language, even?
Nope. His complaint is that an issue (an issue that starts off with several murders, I might add) features a character drooling over attractive women and has mentions of bras, underwire bras, and a gynecological exam. He feels this is bad. How would the writer like to be the one having to explain to a young boy what an underwire bra is?! "Shame! Shame!" he cries. No, really, he says that.
Personally, I feel up to explaining to children of all ages what an underwire bra is, and am equally secure in my belief that they wouldn't particularly care. If that's the worst question a parent ever has to answer, they're clearly being watched over by some particularly overprotective deity. And if that's the most traumatizing thing that a kid ever encounters, they're being kept in a plastic bubble, and probably wouldn't be allowed to read SUICIDE SQUAD anyway.
God. Underwire bras. Oh, the horror. *snickering helplessly*
Reading through old SUICIDE SQUAD issues (about which I can only say "Yum!"), I encounter a letter from a fellow who was concerned that the content in SS was not child-friendly. We might reasonably inquire as to why he had expected it to be, given that the premise of the book is a bunch of supervillains doing black ops work for the government (all right, they weren't all supervillains, but the good guys weren't always very nice either), and the issue he was responding to was quite far enough into the book to have firmly established the tone. But it did carry a Comics Code seal, and this was years ago when kids probably did read comic books, so okay, granting that for a minute.
So what's his problem? The whole idea of the book? The presence of a sociopathic assassin on the roster? The body count among both the main characters and the people they went up against? The presence of drugs, racism, and terrorists? The bad language, even?
Nope. His complaint is that an issue (an issue that starts off with several murders, I might add) features a character drooling over attractive women and has mentions of bras, underwire bras, and a gynecological exam. He feels this is bad. How would the writer like to be the one having to explain to a young boy what an underwire bra is?! "Shame! Shame!" he cries. No, really, he says that.
Personally, I feel up to explaining to children of all ages what an underwire bra is, and am equally secure in my belief that they wouldn't particularly care. If that's the worst question a parent ever has to answer, they're clearly being watched over by some particularly overprotective deity. And if that's the most traumatizing thing that a kid ever encounters, they're being kept in a plastic bubble, and probably wouldn't be allowed to read SUICIDE SQUAD anyway.
God. Underwire bras. Oh, the horror. *snickering helplessly*
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 08:20 pm (UTC)BTW, didn't Oracle first appear in Suicide Squad? I never assumed it was a supervillain team.
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Date: 2004-01-23 08:36 pm (UTC)Ah, America...
Date: 2004-01-23 08:58 pm (UTC)Of course, if the writer was extolling the virtues of underwire bras, *I* might object and demand a few athletic cups (of the hard variety) for balance.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 09:27 pm (UTC)That was pretty much the lettercol's response, as well as noting that SUICIDE SQUAD was deliberately targeting a higher age range.
BTW, didn't Oracle first appear in Suicide Squad?
She did indeed; I don't have all the issues yet (give me time :), but it was quite a long-running plotline, and eventually featured her coming in to do for the Suicide Squad pretty much the same kinds of things she now does for the Batfolk and the Birds of Prey.
I never assumed it was a supervillain team.
SS was...kind of complicated. The idea was that it was a secret governmental team of supers, whose boss--that'd be Amanda Waller, known appropriately and none-too-affectionately as "The Wall"--was answerable directly to the President, and which was available for whatever needed doing. Some members of the Squad were jailed supervillains who were offered time off of their sentences in exchange for missions--the catch, of course, being that they had to survive those missions; it wasn't called "Suicide Squad" just for the alliteration. Others were good guys serving out of duty or debt, and there were usually enough of them to balance out the criminals--but some of them had their nasty moments as well.
The Squad was usually--I stress the usually--on the side of the angels as far as their actual mission objectives were concerned. The way they achieved those objectives was frequently very questionable, as were the Wall's methods of running the show, and the things that happened when people slipped the leash...well, I did mention the body count, right?
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Date: 2004-01-23 10:13 pm (UTC)Though I have seen Suicide Squad scans recently on suprnova.org when I was browsing for tv eps... I mean, I don't usually download comics, because I want to read and collect them on paper, and generally have more issues with it than with filesharing for tv eps, that aren't aired here anyway, but maybe I should take a look at the series digitally.
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Date: 2004-01-23 11:59 pm (UTC)Re: Ah, America...
Date: 2004-01-24 12:07 am (UTC)Of course, if the writer was extolling the virtues of underwire bras, *I* might object and demand a few athletic cups (of the hard variety) for balance.
Just the opposite; Ostrander had a character comment on how uncomfortable they were. See, SUICIDE SQUAD was a realistic book...! ;)
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Date: 2004-01-24 06:33 pm (UTC)All of that understood, do what you think is best. :)
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Date: 2004-01-24 06:55 pm (UTC)I'm fine with trainwrecks as long as they're not the "bad writing" kind of trainwreck. Though it must be bad if it tops the regular fare comics dish out to their characters. Compared to the average tv characters (even tv characters with bad luck) the comic fellows have definitely drawn the short straw.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-24 11:25 pm (UTC)* They actually kill people. Even important characters.
* They talk about religion. One of the main characters is a priest.
* They actually talk about psychology. People have regular psych therapy.
* Some of the members are killers. Some aren't.
* Every member is a distinct character.
* People have sex, and it's not drawn attention to, it's just a normal human interaction thing in the background without going for titillation
* Relationships are portrayed like normal human relationships, not idealized 'we two were meant for each other and nothing can ever break us apart'
* There are jerks on the team
* There are idiots on the team
* There's Lashina. There's Captain Boomerang. There's Count Vertigo. They KICK ASS. So does Deadshot.
* Punch and Jewelee are SO funny
* People get cream pied (not in the smut sense, not explicitly at least, although it's kind of implicit with Jewelee...)
* Three of the most important heroes are black. Probably the biggest black 'senior officer' crew of any comic book
* A fat chick. How many comics have fat chicks, let alone in leading position?
* Mysteries that never get solved, just like real life
I cannot recommend the book enough. Score it off Ebay. The full run (66 issues) runs for like under a buck an issue, usually.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-12 08:42 pm (UTC)