And Kevin Conroy wants to voice Batman....

http://comicbook.com/2015/07/27/kevin-c ... rk-hamill/

After the backlash over the Batgirl cover, WB isn't seriously thinking of adapting the Alan Moore story, are they?

It's probably in the top ten for best-selling graphic novels ever, so I imagine they are.

With the direction their animated movies have been going, I'm sure no detail will be left out.

Considering this was in the part I quoted:

I'd say they're a bit more than seriously thinking.

"Fun for the whole family!" ®

Other than being the tie between the two characters, the backlash had nothing to do with this insanely popular (if flawed) Batman story and everything to do with showing Batgirl as a victim instead of an empowered female.

Doesn't this story do just that? - Batgirl gets shot easy as pie, as I recall. In the nudee. Can't get much more victim than that. Or am I misunderstanding something, for once? )

Babs gets shot, by opening the door and being shot out of the blue, as it were, and yes, the rest is as you say. But the cover in question takes an in costume superhero and reducing her to tears because Joker is there, with a gun. It's a fine difference, but a valid one, IMO. It's basically emasculating the hero of their own book (whatever the female version of emasculate is! )

Vagasculate?

And the Killing Joke is about Barbara being used as a prop in a philosophical discussion between three men, so it's not as if it's a feminist favorite.

But it is a very famous story, so what ya gonna do?

Well, to be fair, Gordon is a prop as well.

Why is Jim Gordon called "Gordon" while Barbara Gordon is called "Babs"?

SEXISM THAT IS WHY

Not so sure about that.

It comes down to respect for the characters. If we, the "talent" don't have any, how can we expect the readers to? And if there are already readers who have no respect for the characters, should we be encouraging them?

R. E. S. P. E. C. T. is something I go on about a lot, I know, ranging from stuff like this to the over-use of cutesy-poo nicknames -- but the effect is cumulative. And there is no doubt that it has led directly to the kinds of "professionals" we see today, who cannot get thru an issue without some kind of shout out to their homies, mocking the characters and the concepts.

When I was a kid, reading superhero comics, I was absolutely in awe of the characters. To call Superman "Supes" or Batman "Bats" would never have occured to me. It would be on a par with calling the President of the United States "Tricky Dick" or "Slick Willy" -- names, you will recall, that were not applied with even a modicum of respect.

Thing is, I was not alone in this. None of my comic-reading friends called the characters by anything other than their names, unless it was a pre-existing nickname like "Cap" for Captain America, "Cap" being common armed forces parlance and long established -- and not pejorative in any way.

When I got into the business, I soon discovered that many writers used nicknames in their plots simply to save the typing fingers. WW or "Wondy" is quicker to type than "Wonder Woman", for instance. Likewise the wince-enducing "Bats" and "Supes". Stan, of course, would occasionally refer to Spider-Man as "Spidey" in the printed books -- and it seemed that it was from this that the affectation really took its hold on fandom. (Stan also once -- and only once -- refered to superheroes as "long underwear characters", but as with so many things, Stan was able to get away with stuff that didn't work when others did it.)

Slowly, the nicknames began seeping into the stories themselves -- often not making much sense. I think it was Don Thompson, in CBG, who once pointed out that writers had taken to having her fellow Justice League members call Wonder Woman "WW" -- something which Don pointed out made perfect sense to a writer trying to save a few keystrokes, but none whatsoever when spoken aloud. Won-der Wo-man has fewer syllables than Dou-ble-You Dou-ble-You, and would be "quicker" to say aloud. (He noted he could not quite "hear" Superman or Batman saying "Dub-yuh Dub-yuh", and I agree!)

As with all such things, it comes down to respect for the characters -- and when I hear "Supes" and "Bats" and "Mags" and "Wondy" and all the rest, I cannot help but think that the speaker is surrendering, if only just a little, to the contemptuous attitude civilians have toward these characters. By calling Batman "Bats" the speaker is signaling to the listener that s/he does not really take these characters and stories seriously, so should not be viewed as one of those geeky fanboys or girls.

Amen, bros.

I think he makes his point well, here, and it was a good one when he first made it. It's my impression that many comic writers now do, indeed, wish to appear superior to the product they are producing and to provide knowing winks and asides to the 'adult' audience to let them know that they don't take all this stuff seriously. I remember first reading his take on this and thinking, "Hm yeah - I hadn't thought about it that way but he does have a point."

His endless, endless pontificating about it (and lots of other things) since, robs him of all credibility, of course - but the point itself is still a good one.

Tucker sez:



https://mobile.twitter.com/jtuckeranima ... 8843167744

Good one.