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Mar. 7th, 2004 02:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenygalLeah Adezio having reminded me about Garth's birthday, I celebrated by purchasing a reprint of his first appearance. (Actually I was going to do it anyway, but I thought the coincidence was pleasant.) And promptly disgraced the occasion by collapsing into giggles. "I'm deathly afraid of fish!" Oh dear. I'd forgotten about that part...
That said, once I'd got past the fish thing (and mind you that took several rereads), the underpinnings of this story are rather grim, although not quite as much so as later revised versions, and the details are different.
For example, the Atlanteans in this story have a perfectly sensible reason to get rid of kids with purple eyes: they're throwbacks who can't live undersea. However, dealing with the problem by sending them to the surface in capsules, apparently unaccompanied and undirected, has to me ominous notes of exposing unwanted babies on hillsides, and wouldn't seem to provide much more chance of survival. And Garth, who inexplicably can breathe water, is sent off as well (again, alone), because he's afraid of fish. (We will treat this with a straight face for the moment, as honestly it would be a fairly severe problem in Atlantis.) This is presented as "protecting" him, and I can see how the Atlanteans might have felt they were acting in his best interests. Except that Aquaman cures the phobia so fast that I'm sort of forced to conclude that it only continued to be a problem because nobody ever tried to help Garth with it. Garth doesn't say that, but he does say that his parents are dead, that nobody in Atlantis will miss him, and that he doesn't have anything to go back for, which certainly argues for no one having any time for him. (Also, while the only visual we ever get for how he was treated in Atlantis is his being held by a sympathetic man, it's pretty much impossible to imagine that he didn't get teased a lot.)
So what we have here is a very lonely orphan, cast out of his home for something which isn't his fault and which probably exposes him to great social stigma, latching immediately and passionately onto the first person to show him any kindness. (Mind you, Arthur comes off pretty well in this one, so I certainly understand Garth's enthusiasm. It's just that when the poor kid is saying that Arthur is like a father to him after one day, well...) In short, we have Aqualad. And forty years and much revising later, that's still pretty much what he looked like as a kid (only worse, because everything's got darker since then). He's matured a great deal, become stronger and more self-assured, but this is where he started. Poor thing.
Random comments on other stories:
--Roy only backs up my earlier point; his origin's got nastier with every iteration. Well, okay, Devin Grayson is not as mean as Elliot Maggin on certain points; she's a bit nicer about Ollie, although it may just be that he gets less screen time, and it would never occur to her to suggest that the Titans were an unpleasant environment for Roy. At least not if that were all she were going to say on the subject. But the theme of Roy's feelings of constant rejection, and specifically the casting of Roy leaving the reservation with Green Arrow as being thrown out, that's a new addition. Although interestingly Roy feeling like a failure is present even in the earliest version.
--Batgirl's origin. So *many* things I could say... Actually, it's not that bad; the Arrowette story is also here to remind me just how bad it can get for a woman inspired by a male hero. (Although I really like Dinah's cutting comment on that affair: "Maybe you're right. Crime-fighting certainly isn't an occupation for anyone stupid enough to model herself after you!") Yes, Babs wears a Bat-purse and tracks people by the scent of her perfume on them, but hey, it works. :) She's also portrayed as perfectly competent, even if pains are taken to show that B&R could have done fine without her, and displays both a love for the adrenaline rush and a genuine desire to protect and avenge the innocent. And in spite of a couple of unfortunate comments, she's ultimately commended by both Bruce and Jim. (Actually I think we've taken a step back from that, although I want to believe that it's Bruce's paranoia that's increased and not his sexism...) The line that made me choke, actually, was Dick: "Besides--she makes terrible puns!" Oh, honey, let me introduce you to the pot and kettle...
--The "Green Arrows of the World" concept is deeply, deeply silly. Even sillier than being deathly afraid of fish. I'm just saying.
--I am not going to fall for Firestorm. Or Manhunter (the Mark Shaw version, that is, that's a battle long lost on other fronts). And definitely not Captain Atom. Really. I'm not.
--There is, of course, no reason to believe that if the Waynes and Gordons intermarried at some point in the next thousand years, it would involve any of the current characters, or that the hypothetical descendant of a thousand years on would have any resemblance or relevance to them. Does this strike me as a beguiling idea anyway? Well...okay, yes. *g*
That said, once I'd got past the fish thing (and mind you that took several rereads), the underpinnings of this story are rather grim, although not quite as much so as later revised versions, and the details are different.
For example, the Atlanteans in this story have a perfectly sensible reason to get rid of kids with purple eyes: they're throwbacks who can't live undersea. However, dealing with the problem by sending them to the surface in capsules, apparently unaccompanied and undirected, has to me ominous notes of exposing unwanted babies on hillsides, and wouldn't seem to provide much more chance of survival. And Garth, who inexplicably can breathe water, is sent off as well (again, alone), because he's afraid of fish. (We will treat this with a straight face for the moment, as honestly it would be a fairly severe problem in Atlantis.) This is presented as "protecting" him, and I can see how the Atlanteans might have felt they were acting in his best interests. Except that Aquaman cures the phobia so fast that I'm sort of forced to conclude that it only continued to be a problem because nobody ever tried to help Garth with it. Garth doesn't say that, but he does say that his parents are dead, that nobody in Atlantis will miss him, and that he doesn't have anything to go back for, which certainly argues for no one having any time for him. (Also, while the only visual we ever get for how he was treated in Atlantis is his being held by a sympathetic man, it's pretty much impossible to imagine that he didn't get teased a lot.)
So what we have here is a very lonely orphan, cast out of his home for something which isn't his fault and which probably exposes him to great social stigma, latching immediately and passionately onto the first person to show him any kindness. (Mind you, Arthur comes off pretty well in this one, so I certainly understand Garth's enthusiasm. It's just that when the poor kid is saying that Arthur is like a father to him after one day, well...) In short, we have Aqualad. And forty years and much revising later, that's still pretty much what he looked like as a kid (only worse, because everything's got darker since then). He's matured a great deal, become stronger and more self-assured, but this is where he started. Poor thing.
Random comments on other stories:
--Roy only backs up my earlier point; his origin's got nastier with every iteration. Well, okay, Devin Grayson is not as mean as Elliot Maggin on certain points; she's a bit nicer about Ollie, although it may just be that he gets less screen time, and it would never occur to her to suggest that the Titans were an unpleasant environment for Roy. At least not if that were all she were going to say on the subject. But the theme of Roy's feelings of constant rejection, and specifically the casting of Roy leaving the reservation with Green Arrow as being thrown out, that's a new addition. Although interestingly Roy feeling like a failure is present even in the earliest version.
--Batgirl's origin. So *many* things I could say... Actually, it's not that bad; the Arrowette story is also here to remind me just how bad it can get for a woman inspired by a male hero. (Although I really like Dinah's cutting comment on that affair: "Maybe you're right. Crime-fighting certainly isn't an occupation for anyone stupid enough to model herself after you!") Yes, Babs wears a Bat-purse and tracks people by the scent of her perfume on them, but hey, it works. :) She's also portrayed as perfectly competent, even if pains are taken to show that B&R could have done fine without her, and displays both a love for the adrenaline rush and a genuine desire to protect and avenge the innocent. And in spite of a couple of unfortunate comments, she's ultimately commended by both Bruce and Jim. (Actually I think we've taken a step back from that, although I want to believe that it's Bruce's paranoia that's increased and not his sexism...) The line that made me choke, actually, was Dick: "Besides--she makes terrible puns!" Oh, honey, let me introduce you to the pot and kettle...
--The "Green Arrows of the World" concept is deeply, deeply silly. Even sillier than being deathly afraid of fish. I'm just saying.
--I am not going to fall for Firestorm. Or Manhunter (the Mark Shaw version, that is, that's a battle long lost on other fronts). And definitely not Captain Atom. Really. I'm not.
--There is, of course, no reason to believe that if the Waynes and Gordons intermarried at some point in the next thousand years, it would involve any of the current characters, or that the hypothetical descendant of a thousand years on would have any resemblance or relevance to them. Does this strike me as a beguiling idea anyway? Well...okay, yes. *g*
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random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 06:22 am (UTC)And all three are getting their own series soon...
Re: random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 04:26 pm (UTC)I can resist The New Firestorm without difficulty, my primary interest in Captain Atom is the people he hangs out with anyway, but Manhunter...oh dear. Any details?
Re: random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 04:35 pm (UTC)Re: random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 04:50 pm (UTC)Re: random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 05:06 pm (UTC)Re: random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 05:22 pm (UTC)Is this an issue I should own?
Re: random comments in the night
Date: 2004-03-07 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-08 10:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-08 11:59 am (UTC)For an extended version of Roy's origin, I think SECRET ORIGINS #38 is worth reading, although I don't know that I'm convinced by Ollie playing head games with Roy for no readily apparent reason (dragging him out to do the hero thing when he should be studying, however, I totally buy) and I'm not quite sure what Maggin was getting at with his treatment of the drug story.