Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Thoughts on the Latest JSA

A Japanese super-villain named Kamikaze whose power is blowing himself to smithereens and pulling his limbs and guts back together.

What.

The.

FUCK?!?!

What's next, a super-villain named Suicidi al-Bomber who just happens to be Palestinian?

I'm just... WHAT THE HELL?! I'm just saying, kamikaze is the ultimate example of the sheer insanity of theocracy. It is tragic and disgusting. And it should not be invoked so lightly and in such a crass manner.

And of course he's a huge fat sumo-looking guy who prattles on about honor. Excuse me -- "HONOR!" And his costume looks like Mount Fucking Fuji. Jesus H, could this get any more stereotyped and insensitive?

Regarding his companion Kung the Obake: "Kung" is not a Japanese name. The Japanese language doesn't have an "ng" sound (as in "ring" or "sing" -- when the two consonants are together they are pronounced separately, like "Ringo"), and words don't end in consonants other than "n." (If I'm mistaken, please correct me.) They could at least have called him "Kun" or "Kunge" or something; it would've been nonsense but at least it wouldn't have been out of the question for the Japanese language.

Regarding Judomaster: Since when doesn't she speak English? Isn't this the smart-alecky woman who was cracking wise -- in English -- about Big Barda's mighty mega-rod (which looms large in her hands) in Birds of Prey last year? I really hate the whole "silent exotic foreign woman" thing they have going for her now. And do we really need yet another Asian super-hero whose gimmick is martial arts or mysticism? Why aren't there any Asian supers who wear capes and shoot laser beams from their eyes?

Bah.

I really wish they'd focused solely on the Kingdom Come plot, because this "legacy heroes" plot is just feeling tacked-on to fill up space. They're trying to tell two stories in the space of one, and it's annoying me.

I mean... I'm just angry because this is Geoff Johns. HE CAN DO BETTER.

3 comments:

zhinxy said...

There was the Chinese heroine whose power was HAVING A BUNCH OF BABIES.

Yeah, that was pretty bad, Grant...

Will Staples said...

Yeah, exactly. As bad as Kamikaze is, Mother of Champions is way worse. In fact most of the Great Ten are like that...

I don't want to come off like the PC Police or anything, but it just seems creatively bankrupt to take a one-note stereotype like that and turn it into a character.

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