My problem with Raven’s costume

She was raised to be devoid of emotion right? From what I’ve seen of her backstory* she wasn’t given a whole lot of agency when growing up. She had to feel nothing because otherwise Trigon would take her over in some manner, use her for evil. The way I’ve interpreted her upbringing is that she didn’t get to make decisions about anything – she was kind of an automaton. When she was brought back to human society she had to learn how to be human again, and suddenly learn how to take choices, have emotions and grow into her own person. Without emotions I don’t think you can truly have a character.

So if she wasn’t give any choice growing up, if she had to be obedient and quash her emotions and do only what she was told without questioning, then that means that someone else has picked out her costume. A rather sexy provocative costume with thigh high boots**, cut away gaps at the side of the torso to show the breasts (sometimes), and all in all is rather skimpy (excepting the cloak of course). Now someone else choosing to dress a teenage girl in that way is pretty exploitative, especially when the girl in question probably doesn’t really understand what the style of dress means.

The fact that she kept wearing it is also rather creepy, because when she came back into human society she would have been rather innocent of the world, and now she’ll have half the blokes and lesbians on the earth leering at her. The fact that she can feel emotions and all means she’ll have an idea of what people’re thinking, which can’t be pleasant.

It reminds me of that issue of Batgirl where Babs takes Cass on holiday and gives her a tiny skimpy bikini to wear. Cass can’t deal with it because she can read the body language of all the blokes and see what they want to do to her. At least most of us can ignore or may not notice sexual harassment on the street, but if you can read body language then it must become really oppressive and aggressive.


*My knowledge of her backstory comes from the current Teen Titans run, so it's quite likely there's a lot I don't know. If anyone would like to fill in the gaps That's be much appreciated.

**I know she doesn't always have thigh high boots but when artists change the costume for one issue, without an in context explanation, I get the idea that they are intending that version as the definitive costume, so for the current issue you can just forget about past options.

The Brave and the Bold \18

Picked it up yesterday, I take back my previous moaning, this is a bloody good issue and story :)
And the art rocks. Except for Raven's belt which is surely too low to stay on her.

Now are we ever gonna find out where this fits into Kara's continuity? If not, I'll just make up my own space for it.

I think I'll start picking up the Brave and the Bold trades. I'm liking the team ups.

Back on the internets

I've had a really busy couple of weeks. Been to London and saw The Wildhearts (very very good despite the crappy balcony seats) and then been promptly ill for a week and a half. There's this bloody cold going round that's wiping out half of Norfolk and it's pretty much decimated my office.
To get back in the swing of things I thought I'd do something easy and go through the backlog of comics and write a few words.
But before that, good news in England - there are moves being made towards allowing the first born, regardless of sex, to be able to inherit the throne. In addition to this, a heir marrying someone of a different faith would also be allowed to keep the throne. I am not a monarchist, but i think that's good news. I think the succession rules say a lot about a country, and it's just daft to not let women or men marrying catholics/Jews/Hindus/Muslims/Sikhs etc to not be king or queen.

OK, topical stuff out of the way, onto the (my) fun.
Super titles:
Superman Beyond 3D I succumbed to the gimmick. I didn't really enjoy the comic, I'm not to keen on random universe shattering stuff - I think a lot of the time everything gets too busy, and characters and worlds are included for the sake of being included, not because it's actually a good idea. I'm not explaining this very well.
I'm still confused as to what infra red massage is and how it keeps Lois' heart beating. The Lady Monitor of nil looks rather daft but I guess if I enjoy Unobtainium I should also enjoy Ultramenstruum. yet somehow I don't.. I do want to read more about Overman - Superman of earth 10 where the Nazis won the Second world war, yet I will not be picking up the second book.

Action Comics 869 This was good. Kara was good, she's tough, she's brave, she's desperate. Supes is, well Supes really. I'm thinking that Kandor may be a fake. Last I saw in the Supergirl comic Krypton was destroyed by phantoms and her mother was dead (except oh no, didn't issue 24 contradict that? I'm so lost, what's her origin story again?)
Loving the argo city protected by a dome though! How silver (?) age! And, has Brainiac just shrunk Metropolis?! Now that's great!

Brave and the Bold 17 Arggghh there was much gnashing of teeth with this one. Stand alone, this was a good comic (if you ignore Raven's choice of high school clothing, I say gratuitous). It's nice to see snarky Kara again, good to see her attempt to meditate. And the art was good. the scenes of Kara at home at night, brushing her teeth, really good to show her like a normal girl. Made her very human, and when that's juxtaposed with her flying off, well i just really like it.
The story was put together really well, the contrast between the students and Kara/Raven worked. The black and white art was really effective. And I like screwed up family stories.
BUT. Ithoughtwealreadywentthroughthis! Kara's dad is not evil, she doesn't have an innocent layer over a dark side, she's not meant to kill Kal out of revenge on her Uncle. *headdesk*
I hope the next issue resolves this and puts it in continuity.

Superman/Batman 52 Yay for the L'il league! Not so much fun as issue 51. Still enjoyable, grympy li'l Batman is a treat, as is grumpy big Batman actually, having to stay behind and look after the kids. 2 Dinah's is always a plus, particularly when talking about kissing Ollie (and I notice Dinah's in her old costume, awesome!) Big exasperated Luthor is tres enjoyable and I'm glad L'il Joker's stuck around.

Superman 680 Krypto's back! I LIKE vicious Krypto. I loved this issue, which obviously makes me very sentimental as it's basically the dog saving the day and Supes making everyone recognise this. Loved it.
Also, Renato Guedes art, still ever so good.

Bat titles:

Batman Confidential 21 The final issue in the arc. Wrapped up nicely. Barbara gets her due from Selina and gets to outwit the Joker in Arkham (and you can truly feel her panic when she thinks she may have to face him).
I've swung back round on the art question, although Babs and Selina's body types may be drawn similarly they have a full range of facial expressions. So now I like it again.

ASBAR 10 I miss the goddamn batman jokes. And the woeful batman thoughts.

On a similar note, I got my All Star Batgirl figure! She's WONDERFUL! Her belt and earring charms are Wonder Woman, Supes, Batman and Green Lantern sigils! When I get my phone to computer transfer thing working again I'll put up some pictures. (Betcha all can't wait ;) Her hair and cape are molded differently to that picture as gravity is affecting them but you get the idea. And she has freckles!!!