tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post1707432484191838641..comments2024-03-27T21:12:28.287-05:00Comments on Collected Editions: Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire trade paperback (DC Comics)collectededitionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-82499781005132614372013-12-06T16:22:07.874-06:002013-12-06T16:22:07.874-06:00No, I wouldn't say so. What I found interestin...No, I wouldn't say so. What I found interesting about Vol. 2 -- and I stated this in part above in my review -- is that Scott Lobdell proceeds to actually build a relationship between Starfire and Roy in this book. Yes, Starfire propositioned Roy outright in Vol. 1, but it is not as though she's continued to proposition every other male character that's appeared in the book since; she solely propositioned Roy, and then has been monogamous with him through Vols. 2 and 3. <br /><br />Might we interpret this as Lobdell backpedalling given the controversy with the first volume? Sure, we could. But Red Hood Vol. 3 actually delves a bit more strongly than the series has so far into this idea that Starfire is an alien and not like us, which I think is an interesting concept; what's to say that all DC Comics aliens have exactly the same sexual morality as humans do? It makes sense to me that Starfire is a member of a warrior race that might "shoot first and ask questions later," if you know what I mean, and I don't think that's so far from how I've seen the character portrayed in other comics series.<br /><br />Starfire's introduction was indeed mis-handled in that this idea of "otherness," which is what I think Lobdell was going for, wasn't present enough before Starfire propositioned Roy; I also think the controversy took on something of a life of its own in that people thought Lobdell took the sweet, innocent Starfire of the Teen Titans cartoon and turned her into a buxom boy-toy, which completely ignores the historical context of the character prior to the current day.<br /><br />For me, while again I thought the introduction of Starfire in the first volume of Red Hood was mis-handled, I had to decide whether it would put me off the book entirely, or if I could get over it enough to keep reading and see if there were other aspects of the book I liked; I chose the latter. There's sufficient digging into the how and why and what of Starfire's initial portrayal that the reader can do that I was inclined not to dismiss the series out of hand, but rather to stick with it, like the parts I liked, and try to understand what Lobdell was going for when there was something I didn't like.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-76566965480599515702013-12-05T21:30:39.142-06:002013-12-05T21:30:39.142-06:00So is Starfire as degradingly sexual in this issue...So is Starfire as degradingly sexual in this issue?T Vulturehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01059621433775358668noreply@blogger.com