| Posted: 14 June 2013 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | 1
|
|
|
John Byrne wrote:
| Sue's story was that of an "ordinary" woman suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances. That's a big part of what makes her interesting. She represents those of us who are NOT exceptional, yet can still rise to the occasion when called upon to do so. Her "career arc" is not scientist to superhero, it's "ordinary Jill" to superhero. |
|
|
SO much wrong with that move!
1) Exactly what you said. One of the FF book's strengths is that these four people were set to live very different lives before the accident. Sue's journey was the boldest of all.
2) Marvel "magically" made her into a research scientist. No backstory, no "process," just "Oh, well, let's all agree that she was a scientist when she met Reed and she's still a scientist now." And unlike many professions, "research scientist" (which is what she would be if she earned a Ph.D) hugely redefines what her personality and motivation was before FF Vol. 1 Issue 1. It's akin to magically saying that Peter Parker was star of the Midtown High varsity basketball team.
3) Marvel's reasoning (driven by the editor and writer) was that Sue's 1963 origin was sexist and insulting, and this was the solution to a problem. To my ear, this is Marvel saying "We can't respect a woman who spent 13 years racking up an amazing record of conquests and achievements, and legitimately earned a spot among the most important people of her era, while being a loving parent and the glue that holds her family together. Because if she's married to a scientist and she isn't a scientist herself, she's kind of pathetic." This is allowing a woman TO BE DEFINED BY HER HUSBAND. It's a major step backwards.
I believe that "characters aren't allowed to change" is a major problem with mainstream comics. But as readers, we're supposed to be able to watch the change happening. That's the definition of "story." This business with "Doctor" Sue Storm is yet another example of Marvel writing with the soft end of the pencil instead of the pointy end.
It's been a terrible few years for "Fantastic Four," for my tastes. It's the only book in which the only way to "fix" it so I can read it again is to do a "restore from backup." Like when your PC is infected with malware. Figure out the first day when things went bad, and roll it back to the way it was the day before that.
Edited by Andy Ihnatko on 14 June 2013 at 10:35pm
|
Topic Closed)
