The three most questionable moments in superhero comics ever

[Thomas Is Awesome]

I didn't say all ages comics, i said all ages characters. I think it's kinda fucked up that you can't hand just any comic featuring Spidey to a ten year old without worrying about content.

We need a story where Elongated Man's wife is raped about as much as we need one featuring Petunia Pig getting raped.

[jason1749]

(09-04-2011 09:43 AM)Thomas Is Awesome Wrote:  I didn't say all ages comics, i said all ages characters. I think it's kinda fucked up that you can't hand just any comic featuring Spidey to a ten year old without worrying about content.

We need a story where Elongated Man's wife is raped about as much as we need one featuring Petunia Pig getting raped.

Man, my kids love Batman but I won't let them near The Dark Knight till they're teenagers, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have been made.

[Nerd is the Word]

(09-04-2011 12:08 PM)Jason1749 Wrote:  

(09-04-2011 09:43 AM)Thomas Is Awesome Wrote:  I didn't say all ages comics, i said all ages characters. I think it's kinda fucked up that you can't hand just any comic featuring Spidey to a ten year old without worrying about content.

We need a story where Elongated Man's wife is raped about as much as we need one featuring Petunia Pig getting raped.

Man, my kids love Buttman but I won't let them near The Dark Knight till they're teenagers, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have been made.

I see where you are coming from but this is about things we feel are inappropriate or are of questionable content to be in comics. The Dark Knight is a decidedly adult film. I was shocked when it came out in the UK and received a 12A rating! It meant that kids as young as eight could see it as long as they were accompanied by an adult. The Dark Knight should have been a 15 due to its content and subject matter. But hey I'm not Warner Brothers, I can't pay off the British Board of Film Calcification. So what do I know?

Their are plenty of comics that you can tell are adults only just by looking at the cover but many like the ones published by DC and Marvel look and are treated as a content free for all. Marvel may have their arbitrary ratings system that makes sense only to Marvel but DC has nothing.

Let me paint you a word picture.

You say your kids love Batman so what if you bought the Justice League #1 but couldn't find the time to read it. You're too busy or whatever. One of your kids is board so you give them Justice League #1 to read because its Justice League. It can't be too bad, right? Then 15mins later your child comes up to you and asks "What's rape?" because let's say, hypothetically, Batman was raped by the Parademon (not that, that would happen because only women get raped in comics). Suddenly you find yourself in the very awkward situation of having to explain something horrible to a child and wondering why the hell this happened in a superhero comic staring famous and traditionally kid friendly characters.

I am all for adult content in comics but there is a time and place for it. Having it in the pages of a DC or Marvel comic is only okay with me if it is clearly marked as being an adult comic. So that means using a ratings system and sticking to it wether it is self enforced or not.

[jason1749]

(09-04-2011 08:08 PM)Nerd is the Word Wrote:  

(09-04-2011 12:08 PM)Jason1749 Wrote:  

(09-04-2011 09:43 AM)Thomas Is Awesome Wrote:  I didn't say all ages comics, i said all ages characters. I think it's kinda fucked up that you can't hand just any comic featuring Spidey to a ten year old without worrying about content.

We need a story where Elongated Man's wife is raped about as much as we need one featuring Petunia Pig getting raped.

Man, my kids love Buttman but I won't let them near The Dark Knight till they're teenagers, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have been made.

I see where you are coming from but this is about things we feel are inappropriate or are of questionable content to be in comics. The Dark Knight is a decidedly adult film. I was shocked when it came out in the UK and received a 12A rating! It meant that kids as young as eight could see it as long as they were accompanied by an adult. The Dark Knight should have been a 15 due to its content and subject matter. But hey I'm not Warner Brothers, I can't pay off the British Board of Film Calcification. So what do I know?

Their are plenty of comics that you can tell are adults only just by looking at the cover but many like the ones published by DC and Marvel look and are treated as a content free for all. Marvel may have their arbitrary ratings system that makes sense only to Marvel but DC has nothing.

Let me paint you a word picture.

You say your kids love Buttman so what if you bought the Justice League #1 but couldn't find the time to read it. You're too busy or whatever. One of your kids is board so you give them Justice League #1 to read because its Justice League. It can't be too bad, right? Then 15mins later your child comes up to you and asks "What's rape?" because let's say, hypothetically, Buttman was raped by the Parademon (not that, that would happen because only women get raped in comics). Suddenly you find yourself in the very awkward situation of having to explain something horrible to a child and wondering why the hell this happened in a superhero comic staring famous and traditionally kid friendly characters.

I am all for adult content in comics but there is a time and place for it. Having it in the pages of a DC or Marvel comic is only okay with me if it is clearly marked as being an adult comic. So that means using a ratings system and sticking to it wether it is self enforced or not.

You're predicating your story here on two false assumptions 1. That Batman is raped in JL #1, which doesn't happen. In fact the content of that issue is just fine for the all-ages set. 2. That I don't read anything I hand to my kids first (other than all-ages titles like Batman: The Brave and the Bold). As an adult comics fan, I know that these titles are written for a 15 year-old an up audience, so I know they need to be read before handed off.

[Nerd is the Word]

I was being hypothetical and using an extreme example to argue my case.

[KingImpulse]

(09-04-2011 05:32 AM)thechrishaley Wrote:  

(09-04-2011 02:54 AM)Name Wrote:  In Identity Crisis, there's a moment where you see Dr. Light at home(or somewhere private, I haven't read it) and he's got hookers(or worse) dressed as the Teen Titans.

Man, fuck Brad Meltzer.

Not to defend Identity Crisis (because I hated it too), but are you sure that's where that scene happened? I thought I remembered that happening in something after Identity Crisis.. and then the Spectre turned him into a candle.

It was in Final Crisis: Revelations #1 by Rucka and Phillip Tan.

[Palmer]

(09-06-2011 10:40 AM)KingImpulse Wrote:  

(09-04-2011 05:32 AM)thechrishaley Wrote:  

(09-04-2011 02:54 AM)Name Wrote:  In Identity Crisis, there's a moment where you see Dr. Light at home(or somewhere private, I haven't read it) and he's got hookers(or worse) dressed as the Teen Titans.

Man, fuck Brad Meltzer.

Not to defend Identity Crisis (because I hated it too), but are you sure that's where that scene happened? I thought I remembered that happening in something after Identity Crisis.. and then the Spectre turned him into a candle.

It was in Final Crisis: Revelations #1 by Rucka and Phillip Tan.

Yup, here's the link to it er, the preview. http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/...hp?gid=565

[deebeemonster]

(09-04-2011 09:43 AM)Thomas Is Awesome Wrote:  I didn't say all ages comics, i said all ages characters. I think it's kinda fucked up that you can't hand just any comic featuring Spidey to a ten year old without worrying about content.

Actually you can pretty much hand any kid a Spider-Man comic without rape. Unless that comic is written by Kevin Smith, ladies and gentleman. (see Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do and yes that link has one ONE example of Gwen Stacy having sex with Norman which is super creepy but it is not rape)

Really, and I have to agree with jason1749, is you're making an issue out of something that doesn't typically happen.

Now straight up bloodshed and murder? Yeah, that's more likely. But honestly that's Geoff Johns for the most part, followed by Jeph Loeb's "fantastic" Ultimatum. But I don't really recall that even happening unless it was in a very M rated title.

Rape isn't as prevalent in your average superhero comic as you'd like(?) to believe. It's just that it's used just enough to get people to talk about it (because it's terrible and stupid trope).

[Nerd is the Word]

Well there is some stuff in recent Spider-Man comics that is of questionable content.

Like Spidey's recent friend's with benefits relationship with Black Cat. While I personally have nothing against it. I went through a similar thing and I get that people need these kind of relationships at certain points in their life. I wouldn't want to even try to explain it to a child. Or basically the whole of the awesome Shed storyline which goes to a very dark place for a Spider-Man book.

Like I said I am all for more adult content in comics when it is done well, its just the current approach that, a lot of the time, seems off. It is for shock value rather than worth. Using rape as an example is an extreme one but even though it is not widely used it is one of the most questionable things you can put in a story. That and putting people in refrigerators!

[KingImpulse]

(09-06-2011 08:13 PM)Nerd is the Word Wrote:  Well there is some stuff in recent Spider-Man comics that is of questionable content.

Like Spidey's recent friend's with benefits relationship with Black Cat. While I personally have nothing against it. I went through a similar thing and I get that people need these kind of relationships at certain points in their life. I wouldn't want to even try to explain it to a child. Or basically the whole of the awesome Shed storyline which goes to a very dark place for a Spider-Man book.

Like I said I am all for more adult content in comics when it is done well, its just the current approach that, a lot of the time, seems off. It is for shock value rather than worth. Using rape as an example is an extreme one but even though it is not widely used it is one of the most questionable things you can put in a story. That and putting people in refrigerators!

Shed is a great example actually. While I can appreciate that it was a good story, I felt it crossed a line for me personally when it comes to what I want to see in Spider-Man comics