More thoughts on Rucka leaving DC (original) (raw)

Like most fans of Renee, the announcement that Rucka is leaving really bothered me. What also bothered me was my perception that Batwoman was more on people's minds than the Question. If you just browse the recent Women in Comics blog links like I do, it is obvious who is on people's minds. I like Batwoman, but I like Renee more. Plus, it has been announced that Batwoman will get a new book, but we still don't know what will happen to the Question.

Browsing on the Women in Comics blog, I stumbled upon innerbrat 's post. It expressed opinions I had held in the back of my mind, and I wanted to give credit where credit was due. I suggest you read the whole thing here, but there are a few points she made this that I wanted to ask your opinion on. Here are some quotes:

"Since Rucka's departure has been made public, Batwoman's been talked about even more. Does this mean her predicted-to-happen Batwoman title wouldn't emerge? Is Detective Comics going to be about Batman again? Will we ever hear of her again? What a blow to lesbians in comics it will be to lose her!"

I think that DC is partially at fault for this. From what I can tell DC has really pushed Batwoman as compared to the Question. But I think we can't hold fans unculpable. But with superhero comics it's kind of a vicious cycle of incompetence and stupidity.

"For ten years, Rucka has been the primary writer behind every major development of Renee Montoya. She is not the only lesbian character in DC comics. She's not even the only chromatic lesbian in DC comics; although lesbians and chromatic characters are still woefully underrepresented. She is, however, important, as a member of this underrepresented group. She's also a fantastic, well-developed and consistently well written character, but that's not the context I'm coming from here, as it's not the context in which Kate has been talked about."

I think that for some characters they are "popularity-favorites" or "money favorites." If they die they will always come back; people like Batman or Superman. I think Renee is more of a "creator-favorite." She obviously has very devoted fans, but she was only developed and put out there because an individual writer wanted him or her out there. I think that leaves her vulnerable and really says a lot about the types of writers that are hired for comics.

"But what has actually happened, in the year after a biracial Batgirl was replaced by her blonde friend, just months after DC killed a pre-pubescent biracial child , having already put another Asian girl on a bus (not to mention what they did to Connor Hawke, another non-white character), is that a high profile writer has annouonced his departure, and everyone is angsting over the loss of his white lesbian character, and completely her chromatic companion."

I hate that when characters are replaced it seems to slide back to tradition - i.e. white. I like the new characters. I want them to become such important part of the mythos they will be there forever. Personally, I like that there is a new Batgirl book. But I hate, hate, hate that Spoiler had to die, Cassandra had to turn evil, and we're all supposed to kind of forgive about it. I say bring back Cassandra as someone other than Batgirl and have Steph go back as Spoiler. They need their own identities free of the Bat.

Also, I didn't even know about Lian a few weeks ago. But Cry for Justice is awful.

So the questions are:

-Do you worry about Renee's fate in the future? As a lesbian? A a character of color? As both?
-What do you think that the DC higher ups will do with her now that they don't have Rucka leading the way?

My biggest worry is that she will go the way of Cassandra Cain, ignore, turned evil, or both in a clearly racialized way. I also don't trust most comic writers in general for killing of B or C list characters. In my opinion DC editorial would not have gone the direction it did with Renee (and perhaps Batwoman as well) without Rucka writing.

I also find it obnoxious that Batwoman is getting a new book even though in my opinion the Question deserves one more. She's been here longer! She is also my favorite character.

I also want to link to Greg Rucka's interview at Wondercon. I found it really interesting learning how he writes. However, this interview showed the same problem - a focus on Batwoman.

There are also two other links from Anonymous that I thought might counter this negativity. This one in at Prism Comics, GCPD Rewind: Renee Then and Now and another at Gay RVA, DC Comic's Lesbian Superhero.

ETA: I forgot links in the quotes and tags. I still am unfamiliar with lj. :(