Fool's Wisdom

centipede-damascus asked: Between Sharon Carter, Rogue, and Scarlet Witch, it really does seem like Remender is benching a lot of your best female characters. Not saying the stories aren't good, but it does look like a disturbing trend.

brevoortformspring:

I have a different perspective, obviously, but I don’t really think so. You’re talking about two stories out of the 75 or so we publish every month—that’s not really enough for a trend.And I also come at this from the point of view that I want to treat all of the characters in the same manner, regardless of their gender, their orientation, their nationality or their heritage. It’s a stone-cold fact that bad things are going to happen to super heroes in super hero comics—without those stakes, you wouldn’t be interested in them. So my yardstick always boils down to: would I do this to Spider-Man, or Captain America? Given that we have in both cases, I don’t see it as anything more than strange timing, where these stories are hitting these crescendos at the same moment where there’s a lot of (justified) talk going on about the portrayal of women in comics. But I don’t think any of this makes Rick Remender a misogynist, I think it makes him a super hero writer.

Basically, because I’m too irritated to write a response, I’m just going to hang this one out there, for the most part.  There are just two things I want to say.

Seriously, am I the only comics fan (obviously I don’t think I am) who doesn’t give a good goddamn if bad things happen to superheroes?  I am so godawful sick of these “higher stakes,” death and maiming and all that, that have been so popular since 2000 or so.  It’s ANNOYING.  I read these comics because I love the characters, not because I’m worried they might die, and the threat of that kind of thing has had me reading less comics over the last several years, not more.

Also, I don’t think Rick Remender is a misogynist either, strictly speaking – I mean, I don’t know the man personally, I can’t say – but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s written some sexist stories.