Hell, the thing that got me about that post was people in the comments saying that Something Positive is not only readable, it's as good as Barry Ween, because "millions of people read it".
Millions of people Read Cathy every day and it's still unforgivable tripe. And it's not nearly as in love with itself as Something Positive. But anyway.
Although honestly, I think that both you and Chris Bird have points. I love Two-Face as a villain, but he only really works as something more than an external threat if the writer choses to acknowledge certain things about his history that are sometimes considered canon and sometimes not - like Bruce and Harvey being friends. Even then, while it's true that is is a source of regret for Bruce, he is certainly not a source of regret as deep as that of Jason Todd's death. Batman can tell himself that he's not REALLY responsible for Two-Face; he can't tell himself that with Jason Todd. Batman has fought Two-Face so many times that Bruce's fondness and concern for Harvey doesn't really hamper his quest for justice; when Jason Todd was brought back, him as a villain was a new idea and people had legitimate cause to wonder how Batman would react.
Jason Todd is the direct result of the failure of Batman as a construct AND Bruce as a person. Harvey Dent is ultimately the result of shitty, shitty circumstance, and the Joker represents something totally unique, but he's not there because Batman failed.
So to that end I think he has a point.
I also think that people get way too invested in "their" characters, in fandom. I'm not sure when I started to feel this way. I worry that I am one of those people who is like, "Oh, I USED to feel that way, but I'm too OLD for superhero comics now" - those people are condescending dicks who are dead inside and I hate them! - but honestly, the stories just compel me less and less, I have a progressively harder time relating to the characters, and I have a hard time getting it up for this kind of thing these days.
NOT THAT THAT STOPPED ME FROM AN EPIC COMMENT OF DOOM ON THE SUBJECT, HA HA.
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Date: 2009-07-30 12:30 pm (UTC)Millions of people Read Cathy every day and it's still unforgivable tripe. And it's not nearly as in love with itself as Something Positive. But anyway.
Although honestly, I think that both you and Chris Bird have points. I love Two-Face as a villain, but he only really works as something more than an external threat if the writer choses to acknowledge certain things about his history that are sometimes considered canon and sometimes not - like Bruce and Harvey being friends. Even then, while it's true that is is a source of regret for Bruce, he is certainly not a source of regret as deep as that of Jason Todd's death. Batman can tell himself that he's not REALLY responsible for Two-Face; he can't tell himself that with Jason Todd. Batman has fought Two-Face so many times that Bruce's fondness and concern for Harvey doesn't really hamper his quest for justice; when Jason Todd was brought back, him as a villain was a new idea and people had legitimate cause to wonder how Batman would react.
Jason Todd is the direct result of the failure of Batman as a construct AND Bruce as a person. Harvey Dent is ultimately the result of shitty, shitty circumstance, and the Joker represents something totally unique, but he's not there because Batman failed.
So to that end I think he has a point.
I also think that people get way too invested in "their" characters, in fandom. I'm not sure when I started to feel this way. I worry that I am one of those people who is like, "Oh, I USED to feel that way, but I'm too OLD for superhero comics now" - those people are condescending dicks who are dead inside and I hate them! - but honestly, the stories just compel me less and less, I have a progressively harder time relating to the characters, and I have a hard time getting it up for this kind of thing these days.
NOT THAT THAT STOPPED ME FROM AN EPIC COMMENT OF DOOM ON THE SUBJECT, HA HA.