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Jen Van Meter, the writer of “Spin Cycle,” the Cyclone and Power Girl story in the JSA: 80 Page Giant, has responded to my entry of last week. 

Hi, Esther. A friend forwarded me links to your post and to a couple other blogs that have picked up on your comments, and I feel compelled to reply because you’re right — I failed in what I was trying to accomplish with the “Spin Cycle” story, or, at the very least, I failed you and many of your respondents.

What I was asked by DC to supply was essentially a short story about one of the younger JSA characters walking through a door in the brownstone to find something unexpected, surreal, impossible (by the character’s standards) that, whether it “really happened” or not, could somehow have bearing on the way that character perceives her-/himself.

I’ve been interested in Cyclone since she was introduced because, unlike most teens in costume in the superhero worlds, she doesn’t seem particularly interested in conveying a fully-formed adult sexuality, nor is her chosen costume conventionally sexualized. I like her smarts, her sense of the theatrical, and I think she’s interesting because her insecurities seem very plausible and refreshingly commonplace. I wanted the story to be a series of experiences that in one way or another allay some of her anxieties about meriting a place in the JSA, and given that she was team leader at the time I was writing it, I wanted to use PG to stand in for the focus of those anxieties.

Because I was thinking about the story as being some whacked-out magical construct emerging somehow out of Maxine’s point of view, I wasn’t thinking about Power Girl–in the story–as herself but as something produced by how Maxine sees her, and in my reading of these characters Maxine had been seeing PG the way a new hire might see a CEO as explicably demanding, intimidating, and intense as, say, Oprah, Madonna and Secretary Clinton all rolled into one. I wanted Maxine to leave the story feeling more like a worthy peer and teammate.

So one thing led to another, and I found myself wanting Maxine to come upon PG doing something simple, ordinary, humanizing, and when I decided on laundry I started wondering what Maxine would think of Power Girl’s costume. There was nothing externally meta-textual going on for me, but I was indeed thinking that Maxine looks at super-heroics as at least one part theater; she’s got the theater background and knows that–in their world–there’re lots of reasons they’re not all running around in track suits and army/navy surplus. What I had in mind was that in “reading” the costume to this apparition of Power Girl, what Maxine is really doing is explaining to herself some of why she finds Power Girl so intimidating. I’m not pretending to be unaware of the conversations amongst fans and creators about the sexism that seems so deeply embedded in the genre, especially as it focuses on costuming; I am saying that what I was concerning myself with at the time was the notion that similar conversations might/must be ongoing in the world the characters occupy as well.

One other thing I do need to offer up for consideration, and I see this come up frequently in comic reviews and critiques: you ascribed intent to lecture to me but used the art as the focus of your argument. In the script, what I asked for was a shot of Power Girl, “a little surprised by the enthusiasm, perhaps thoughtful,” or something like that. I didn’t see what you have when I saw the inks; if I had done, I probably would have asked if there was time to redraw at least that panel, or, more likely, would have tried to make changes at the lettering stage to make the ideas behind the scene more plain.

Do I like the vast and very gendered disparity in costuming in conventional superhero comics? No. Do I love superhero comics despite the many flaws of the genre? Absolutely. Having chosen to write superhero comics for hire on occasion, must I work with what’s available to me? Sure. Did I imagine that I could say something about Cyclone by giving some thought to how she might see, or want to see, one of the costumes most emblematic of the problem at hand? Yeah, I did. Clearly, I misstepped.

I wish I had caught how the scene could be taken while I was working on the script. I would have done something about it.

No obscenities, no intimations of rage, and no snotty rhetorical questions (which is more than you can say about my original entry).  Very classy.

And here is a link to the original post.  (Jen Van Meter’s comment currently the third from the bottom.  You can also see my response, and a special guest appearance by Jimmy Palmiotti.)

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Hey! A note to anyone interested in buying Christmas gifts from the xkcd store: the deadline for Christmas delivery of domestic orders is December 14th. We'll continue to ship after that, but won't guarantee by-Christmas delivery. (If you haven't been to the xkcd store lately, you might want to check it out. I've got some some new stuff there!)

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We're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.

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Curtains

Thanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you!

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We don’t have a Paypal button on 4l!, mostly because I’m torn on the idea of people just giving money to the site for nothing. I’d rather someone get something in exchange– Amazon and Project Wonderful ended up being perfect for that.

Amazon is running Black Friday deals all week, and if you click this link, you’ll be taken directly to Amazon, where anything you buy gives us a kickback. Theoretically, this works even if you browse around and buy stuff, as long as you came to Amazon via that link. You can also use the search box on the sidebar (it says Amazon Search, you can’t miss it) and get the same result. Same as the Amazon boxes on any review post.

Costs you nothing extra, you get in on some dope deals, and you help me embezzle money pay for 4l!’s hosting. If you aren’t into shopping online… no bigs. Thanks for reading anyway.

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Solo #7 was originally supposed to have a cover by Mike Allred that depicted the 1960’s Adam West incarnation of Batman dancing the Batusi. It was replaced with Wonder Girl doing the same pose. One of the rumors as to why it was scrapped was that Dan Didio wants to put the kibosh on emphasizing the West-style Batman due to beliefs that West’s portrayal ruined the character for many decades up until Dark Knight Returns returned him to form. You get the idea: you can’t take a man dressed as a bat with underwear over his pants seriously if you’re reminded of that show where Cesar Romero painted over his mustache.

Is it true? Probably not. Batman: The Brave and the Bold is very Dick Sprang Batman and Sprang’s take on the Caped Crusader is practically brothers with Adam West Batman. Then again, I’m not sure if Didio had any real say in that.

But the precedent is there. There are fans out there who seem so stuck in their ways that to even portray their beloved character in a different tone offends them. That’s the case with the current Rick Remender Punisher storyline, Franken-Castle.

People HATE this image and all it represents. If you’re seeing this for the first time, chances are you might be thinking, “What the hell is this shit?!”

It’s awesome, that’s what it is.

The backstory is that Norman Osborn has gotten sick of Frank Castle trying to kill him and the Hood, so he sent some HAMMER goons and Daken to take care of him. This leads to a fight on a rooftop where Daken not only kills Frank, but CUTS HIM TO PIECES AND THROWS HIS REMAINS DOWN TO THE STREETS BELOW!

You have to give it to Frank, because most temporary hero deaths are never that horrific. Like, when Superman died, he was just Superman with blood on his mouth and his cape torn. Green Arrow was vaporized in an explosion with no gruesome trace. Deadpool melted in his spandex. Spider-Man sort of just collapsed after stabbing a vampire with his claws that everyone forgot about. None of them got CHOPPED TO PIECES.

As an aside, I love how Daken killing Castle adds to the Daken/Bullseye rivalry. In the Marvel world context, icing the Punisher is really the best comparable thing to taking out Elektra.

Now with Frank Castle in pieces and as dead as you can get, the story continues. Of all the Marvel characters who could have shown up, Man-Thing and a pack of moloids grab all of Frank, kill some HAMMER guys, and make their way to Monster Island. Morbius the Living Vampire stitches Frank up, but Frank awakens before he could finish the treatment and crazy shit ensues. All of this because there is a group of cybernetic samurai dudes out to commit monster genocide and they need Frank to set things right.

I love this.

I’ve seen people shit on it because it spits in the face of the down-to-earth MAX stuff, made famous by Garth Ennis. This is, of course, ignoring that the Punisher first appeared in comics as being hired by a crazy old man dressed as a green goblin who had to call himself the Jackal because there was already a Green Goblin. Or how Ennis has written some crazy stuff with Frank, such as everything relating to the Russian.

Honestly, it reminds me of when the Thomas Jane Punisher movie came out. There were people all pissy about how they put in the scene where Frank interrogates a mob flunky by poking him with a popsicle even though that was an actual scene from the comics.

Looking back at Ennis’ pre-MAX takes on the Punisher dealing with superheroes and the like, I find it contradicting to what I enjoy about Punisher/616 stories. Frank Castle is a street level down-to-earth killer of common trash and mobsters. If 616 is a comedy of a world, then Frank Castle is the straight man. Unfortunately, Ennis gets too deep into how cool and above everyone Frank is to make this work. He’s too in control of the world around him, such as how he “tamed” the Hulk into doing his dirty work.

A good example of Frank in 616 done right is Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Team-Up #8. As a backdrop to a storyline involving the Ringmaster, the Punisher finds Blade spying on a meeting between mob guys. Punisher at one point shoots Blade, but due to his vampire physiology, it doesn’t do much damage. Frank figures it’s due to some heavy-duty Kevlar. Frank listens to Blade drone on and on about how one of the parties below is made up of vampires and how Blade and Frank are kindred spirits in their own personal missions. Frank silently believes Blade to be full of shit until the vampires start feeding. How does Frank take it?

It’s great because you can tell Frank wants life to be as simple as it is in the MAX world. It’s just as black and white with the good guys and bad guys, but there are no goddamn powers to mess with the order of things. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past Frank to harbor some racism towards mutants, just for making his way of life so much more complicated.

I think the idea of doing something radical with the Punisher has been made taboo due to two things. First, is the Punishment story from about ten years ago. I haven’t read it, but by all accounts it’s horrible, meaning I kind of have to read it at some point. For those who don’t know, Frank dies and becomes like the Marvel version of the Spectre, but with guns made out of ectoplasm or what-have-you. It was a failure and Ennis abruptly wrote it off like a guy trying to change the subject of an annoying conversation.

That led to the second thing: Ennis’ MAX run. It was so iconic for the Punisher that you couldn’t think of Frank as anything more than a Bradstreet cover depiction in a gritty, real-world setting.

It was actually a big deal when Frank showed himself in Civil War and it was announced that Matt Fraction would be writing his new Punisher: War Journal series because that wasn’t proper. I thought the series was pretty good for the most part. Once Howard Chaykin took over the art it became nigh unreadable, but hey, at least Jigsaw looked right.

What made it work was Frank’s response to the craziness of the Marvel world. He’s overtaken with tiny robots and prays that he doesn’t die in a way this stupid. He disguises himself as a bartender and attends a supervillain funeral, only to stare at the events bewildered as he bides his time. When the current Kraven the Hunter kidnaps him and forces him to fight a series of animal-based villains who have been broken and brainwashed into acting like their respective animal avatars, Frank can only growl, roll his eyes and say, “I hate everybody.”

Other than the art, the main flaw of Fraction’s run was that Frank was too nice. It worked well for the World War Hulk tie-in, but making Frank a forgiving jokester probably wasn’t for the best.

That’s why I’ve been loving Rick Remender’s run on Punisher. It goes further into the realm of the comic book fantastic, but makes Frank less likeable. It does make sense in the narrative, I suppose. His partner and friend Stuart Clarke turned out to be a killer, which led to a major falling out. That would easily return a guy like Frank to cynicism.

A perfect moment in all of this is Frank’s exchange with his new tech wiz sidekick Henry. Henry is sick of how cold Frank is and asks if he even knows why he’s helping Frank in his war against crime. Frank tells him that he doesn’t want to know because he doesn’t want to care. It’s an interesting line that can be taken at least one of two ways. Either Frank doesn’t want to get attached to Henry, knowing that he’s going to get killed somewhere along the way, or he doesn’t want to get attached to Henry, knowing that he will eventually betray him like Micro and Stuart. The more he knows about the kid, the more likely he is to find some skeleton in the closet that will make him one of Frank’s targets, shades of what happened with Stuart. This proves true when Frank discovers that Henry is really the abused bastard son of Jigsaw and immediately cuts ties with him because there’s a strong chance the kid is out to avenge his father’s death.

Back to Punisher MAX, one interesting story that came out of it was Frank fighting Barracuda over the life of Frank’s newly-discovered baby daughter. Frank wins and has a living, breathing daughter, but he’s too far gone for it to matter. He gives it away and continues his life. It’s good because it challenges Frank’s character to put him in a situation like this.

Remender’s comic challenges it even further by using the science fiction and fantasy elements. Frank Castle will refuse a new family member, but what of his old family members? Prior to the Franken-Castle stuff, the first ten issues lead to a major confrontation between Frank and the Hood. The Hood has been shown to be able to resurrect people from the dead (though at a cost). Microchip is back. The Scourge’s supervillain victims are back. If Frank lets up, he’ll even bring his wife and kids back.

By the tenth issue, Frank is given the offer one last time with the bodies ready for resurrection. Microchip is there, of course, working for the Hood in return for his son’s return. All that’s needed is the sacrifice of Frank’s comrade George Washington Bridge. Frank tries to stop the ritual, but Micro shoots Bridge and puts everything in motion. How does Frank take it?

Man, say what you will about some of the art in those panels, but that is utterly chilling. There is so much that can be said about this situation and his reaction to it. Why did he kill them? Is it because they represent something he can no longer be? Is it because they wouldn’t love him anymore? Is it because their very being pushes forward what a monster he is? Is it because his existence as the Punisher would be deemed pointless? Is it because he couldn’t bear to see them involved in the Hood’s demonic magic? Is it because he feels like he’s making a deal with the devil himself and needs to defy that, even if he’s already damned? Is it because the idea of bringing back anyone, even his own beloved and innocent family, is unnatural?

If Remender has his way, I’m sure this scene will be defining for Frank for years. It’s refreshing when a hero makes a decision like this. It may not be right and the reader may not agree with it, but the hero himself might not agree either once there’s a chance to reflect. This is going to haunt the bejeezus out of Frank and it’s already begun.

616 Frank Castle is currently interesting as hell and he’s finding himself in a world of utter ridiculousness. I can’t wait to see where Franken-Castle goes next and I suggest giving it a chance.

Or, if that fails, you can just stick with Punisher MAX.

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gottsuiiyan at The Eastern Edge bought the new issue of Switch Magazine, and it’s got a feature on the new One Piece movie, Strong World. One Piece is basically the best adventure comic, so I’m looking forward to Strong World. Especially if it has stuff like this:

That mooseasaurus rex in the link looks great, too. Good to see that Oda’s Nami is still 2/3 legs, too.

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