Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Crisis On Infinite Earths #2: The Tie-Ins

      Steve Morris
      April 28, 2015
      Crisis in Infinite Comics
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Exclusive Marvel Preview: "Nova" #7

      Steve Morris
      April 28, 2016
      Marvel Comics, Previews
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • Singles Going Steady 11/2/2016: Rock The Vote!

      Steve Morris
      November 5, 2016
      DC Comics, Reviews, Singles Going Steady, Valiant
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • Singles Going Steady 7/29/2019: Great Comics While You Were At Comicon

      Steve Morris
      July 29, 2014
      Reviews, Singles Going Steady
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • INTERVIEW: Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá Part 2: A Daytripper Retrospective

      Steve Morris
      October 14, 2015
      Dark Horse, Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • A Page from Daredevil #193

      Steve Morris
      March 9, 2014
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Post-SDCC News from Fanboy Planet

      Steve Morris
      July 16, 2015
      News
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Review: 'Prison Island' is a Journey to a Close-by Strange Land

      Steve Morris
      September 7, 2015
      Books, Reviews, Small Press
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Columns

Wrong End of the Stick

Steve Morris
April 4, 2012
Columns


 

Steve Morris wants to know “What’s so funny about funny books?” So each week in Killing Jokes he’ll be examining humor in comics, from titles that are meant to be funny to jokes inserted in otherwise completely serious books. 

Once you finish this week’s Killing Jokes, scroll back up to re-read the title and realise how offensive it might be. Sorry! Couldn’t help it . . .

While comic books are typically written by people we call ‘professionals;’ that does necessarily mean every joke ever written is going to be a success. Every funny comic series will have, somewhere, a joke that doesn’t work and bombs right there on the page. Normally when a joke dies and fails to get anything from the readers, it’s fine and can be skipped right over. Real-life conversations are filled with dud gags, so mirroring that in comics only adds to a sense of realism. That seems to be the main purpose of Brian Michael Bendis’ work on Avengers – the characters are all so different that only a few of them share a similar sense of humor and many of the quick-fire jokes garner no reaction from the rest of the cast.

But every so often, something happens with a joke that drastically changes the tone of a story. Or, in this case, tars a character in a thorough coat of worrying subtext. This week, I want to talk about a scene from Peter David’s X-Factor. A noir detective series, which every so often forgets its roots and goes off on a yearlong tangent, has proven massively popular amongst fans, at least online. The people who get David’s unique, reference-heavy banter absolutely love the book, while anybody not interested in Star Trek jokes tends to completely ignore it. As such, it’s entered that top level of cult books like Young Avengers (which it recently had a semi-crossover with) wherein the readership are so devoted to the characters that they skip right past some of the iffier subtext. A few years ago the X-Men line was involved in a mini-event called ‘Utopia’ in which the main team were forced to flee from an attack by The Dark Avengers and Norman Osborn, and moved to live on a tiny island off the San Fran coast. X-Factor normally takes pride in not taking part in big Marvel events and standing off to the side – but for once David decided he had a story to tell and so brought his cast onto Utopia for a one-shot special.

This reunited two characters who’ve had a long history together: Dazzler and Longshot. Formerly a couple with a baby on the way, they were split up via the wonders of reader apathy and years in limbo, so upon their return the baby had mysteriously vanished and they were no longer together. Dazzler rejoined the Uncanny X-Men, while Longshot wandered into X-Factor. Their return was due to create a few sparks, and David was more than willing to live up to that. Within a few panels, they’ve decided to hook up again for old times’ sake, and race off to the bedroom. They then exchange a bit of pillow talk, wink to the readers, and pull the covers back over once more. It’s a cute touch for long-term readers, who’ve been wondering what happened to the relationship.

But the jokey dialogue also contains some horrific subtext.

Longshot’s powers of luck mean that most women around him fall in lust with him. Like the former Avenger and woman-enthralling villain Starfox (whom Dan Slott memorably deconstructed during his She-Hulk run) Longshot’s powers are more than a little bit creepy. He gets good luck, which means he gets lucky. There’s never been a discussion about how much control these women have over their actions, and David’s decision to stage this particular hook-up as an in-joke means a second idea creeps into the picture: Longshot is using his powers to rob Dazzler of her right to object. He’s possibly raping her.

Take a look at the panels again. In the first instance, Longshot’s innocently-asked question “shall we have sex again for old time’s sake?” is a silly subversion of the expected. Nobody just goes over to a woman and puts things that bluntly, do they? It’s a spit-take moment so unexpected that many readers will look straight past Dazzler’s response, which is to turn him down. There’s a pause, his eye flashes (suggesting he’s using his powers), and she immediately reverses her decision. That’s . . . really unnerving, isn’t it? Sure, you can take this to suggest Dazzler is just being flighty, and the story is too light-hearted for something like rape to be read into it. David himself has addressed this online, declaring that he never intended for this to be construed as rape. But just look at the panels. Dazzler refuses to have sex with him, then changes her mind in an instant. And in both cases, Longshot then gives a satisfied, smug grin to the readers. We’re meant to be pleased for him, but it’s so incredibly easy to instead see him as a creepy villain.

David’s never been afraid to go online and challenge what he sees as misreadings of his work, and a far more recent issue of X-Factor actually had Longshot mention that he and Dazzler had been sexting. Sexting suggests Longshot can’t possibly be using his powers on The Glittery One, because they’re living so far apart his powers can’t reach her. Unluckily for Longshot, David has already asserted that there is no subtext that can’t be read into a comic, so long as somebody can back it up with evidence and intelligence. Prior to this issue, David brought Shatterstar into the book and launched him into a cute homosexual relationship with another member of the cast, Rictor. Shatterstar’s creator, Rob Liefeld, objected, saying he never intended Shatterstar to be gay. David responded by saying that the subtext had always been there (and it was, much of it placed by Fabian Nicieza), and he was simply picking up on something everybody else had been aware of for years. So now we’ve noticed that Longshot’s jokey, childish innocence could well be a front for a rapist. What if somebody else picks up on that, and runs with it in a future story? What was intended to be a joke has now become an element of subtext, which could well be used against Longshot in the long term.

You can choose to go along with the joke, or read something entirely more sinister into the story. Your choice…

 

DazzlerKilling JokesLongshotSteve Morris

Share On:
Tweet
Game of Thrones 2.01 Review- "The North Remembers"
2012 EZMM: Brain Dead (2007)

About The Author

<a href="http://comicsbulletin.com/byline/steve-morris/" rel="tag">Steve Morris</a>
Steve Morris

All-knowing bunny.

Related Posts

  • X-Wing: February 2013

    Steve Morris
    March 13, 2013
  • 2.0

    Review: 'Pirate Eye: A Pirate's Life Is Not For Me' Stays Afloat on Its Art

    Steve Morris
    March 8, 2013

Latest Columns

  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

    Daniel Gehen
    December 4, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

    Daniel Gehen
    October 30, 2020
  • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

    Daniel Gehen
    October 27, 2020
  • What Looks Good for the Week of 10/14/2020

    Daniel Gehen
    October 12, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – Monster Mash!

    Daniel Gehen
    October 9, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders