Gross.
Whenever a plot seems to be an allegory about disease and the wasting away of the flesh, why is my go-to belief that it's about AIDS? Why not cancer? It's easy to think that being sexually transmitted, it becomes a more versatile disease for a fictional allegory. Cancer is random and stupid but you can't get it from sitting on public toilet seat. I mean from kissing a stranger. I mean from blood-to-blood contact with somebody you met in a park, or a loved one, or a transfusion from a health care system that didn't take AIDS nearly as seriously as they should have because we had an asshole president and his mean-dick-sucking wife who refused to treat AIDS as a national epidemic and instead viewed it as a consequence of living a gay lifestyle. That's a lot more meat for your allegory than "Well, I was diagnosed with cancer like almost everybody in the world will eventually be as well if they live long enough." Then again, I suppose it depends on the point of your allegory. Many cancers can be traced back to government blowing up atomic bombs right in our own backyard or not giving a shit and allowing corporations to do whatever the fuck they want with whatever chemicals they wanted. So cancer could be a good allegory for getting fucked by the system while AIDS is a good allegory for getting fucked by your social connections. But the main reason I find I can't stop comparing all of the plots about diseases to AIDS is that I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the '70s and '80s and saw how it ravaged our friends, neighbors, and loved ones, especially early on when nobody really took it too seriously in parts of the country that didn't have such a large gay population. It's probably in my top five things that terrified the fuck out of me while still young, scarring and reshaping what would become my adult brain. AIDS haunted me because it was so mysterious for so long. For things that terrified me as a youngster, it was right up there with Killer Bees invading California from South and Central America and shining a flashlight into the sky while standing in my driveway late at night. My understanding of light at the time was that it kept going forever and it traveled so fast (practically instantaneously) that I was obviously signaling to alien beings that I was extant and that I was delicious.
Now that I think about it, was me shining a flashlight into the sky to provoke aliens my areligious version of praying to God?
When we last left Martian Manhunter, he was filled with men: The Atom, The Ray, Rott, Weapons Master, and the mysterious Bloodwynd. Your first thought was probably, "You can't fit that many penises in so few orifices." My first response is "Maybe you haven't tried" and my second response is "J'onn is a shapeshifter, buddy. He'll make as many orifices as needed." Upon arriving inside J'onn, everybody was met by Rott, the disease allegory.
Now that I think about it, was me shining a flashlight into the sky to provoke aliens my areligious version of praying to God?
When we last left Martian Manhunter, he was filled with men: The Atom, The Ray, Rott, Weapons Master, and the mysterious Bloodwynd. Your first thought was probably, "You can't fit that many penises in so few orifices." My first response is "Maybe you haven't tried" and my second response is "J'onn is a shapeshifter, buddy. He'll make as many orifices as needed." Upon arriving inside J'onn, everybody was met by Rott, the disease allegory.
Simon Bisley was banned from working with DC for years because he drew one penis on one Lobo arm and Rick Burchett was allowed to keep working after this disgusting panel?!
This dude invited The Ray into his penis mushroom playground and then immediately began kicking his ass. Imagine being invited to a party and then being threatened by the host because you were expecting to have a good time rather than being assaulted upon walking in the front door. Also the party smelled like moldy taint. Also the previous guests were all strapped into weird sexual torture devices. I don't have to imagine that because, remember, I grew up in the Bay Area!
Rott threatens to snap The Ray's spine into "so many pieces they can't be counted." He sounds like God talking about Abraham's sperm. Also, why would ask for The Ray because The Ray can help him escape only to threaten to kill The Ray once he got there? Is this part of the HIV allegory? How HIV attacks the immune system because it thinks it's helping or something? I'm not a doctor! I don't know how HIV and AIDS work! I'm just a kid who grew up terrified that I was going to die! I'm still that kid! At least I finally lost my fear of Killer Bees invading in my 40s because, well, they seem to have settled nicely in Texas and mostly had their aggression bred out of them by mating with American bees. Damn, talk about a xenophobic allegory! Our country is being invaded by Africans who are going to mate with our women and have aggressive criminal babies! It's basically one of the main plotlines in The X-files. Was everything we were taught to fear growing up just xenophobic allegories that othered minorities? That was a rhetorical question, meaning it doesn't need to be answered meaning we already know the answer meaning yes, yes that was everything we were taught in the '80s.
Rott threatens to snap The Ray's spine into "so many pieces they can't be counted." He sounds like God talking about Abraham's sperm. Also, why would ask for The Ray because The Ray can help him escape only to threaten to kill The Ray once he got there? Is this part of the HIV allegory? How HIV attacks the immune system because it thinks it's helping or something? I'm not a doctor! I don't know how HIV and AIDS work! I'm just a kid who grew up terrified that I was going to die! I'm still that kid! At least I finally lost my fear of Killer Bees invading in my 40s because, well, they seem to have settled nicely in Texas and mostly had their aggression bred out of them by mating with American bees. Damn, talk about a xenophobic allegory! Our country is being invaded by Africans who are going to mate with our women and have aggressive criminal babies! It's basically one of the main plotlines in The X-files. Was everything we were taught to fear growing up just xenophobic allegories that othered minorities? That was a rhetorical question, meaning it doesn't need to be answered meaning we already know the answer meaning yes, yes that was everything we were taught in the '80s.
Oh shit! Being an aggressive, violent twat was all part of his plan!
This is why I never get into fights with aggressive men who obviously want to fight me because I'm so awesome. I won't fall for their plan of taking my power after I punch them in the face! I see through your shifty shenanigans, you asshole bumping into everybody at the club!
I just realized Rott is shaped like a Masters of the Universe action figure. Also, his crotch cries for freedom. That's why he would have been called "Freedom Crotch" in the He-man cartoon.
Using The Ray's power, Rott bursts out of J'onn's chest. I was going to add a comparative simile to that statement but it would have either been "like a chest burster" which is pretty fucking redundant or it would have been the most disgusting, over-detailed comparison to male ejaculation. That one didn't seem like the proper choice not because it would have been gross but because I know dicks aren't located on chests. So I chose not to add a simile and just ramble about the choice of not choosing instead.
I just realized Rott is shaped like a Masters of the Universe action figure. Also, his crotch cries for freedom. That's why he would have been called "Freedom Crotch" in the He-man cartoon.
Using The Ray's power, Rott bursts out of J'onn's chest. I was going to add a comparative simile to that statement but it would have either been "like a chest burster" which is pretty fucking redundant or it would have been the most disgusting, over-detailed comparison to male ejaculation. That one didn't seem like the proper choice not because it would have been gross but because I know dicks aren't located on chests. So I chose not to add a simile and just ramble about the choice of not choosing instead.
Artist's rendition of me and my ejaculate.
The first thing Rott does after gaining freedom is assume Booster Gold is going to send him back into the gem and punches him in the face. I've made terrible assumptions in my life but I don't think I've ever walked into a room, didn't like the look of a guy in high-waisted pants, and knocked him the fuck out because he looked threatening. Who would ever think a guy in high-waisted pants was threatening? Wait. Did Hitler wear high-waisted pants? I have no reason for asking that assumptive question but if the answer is "Yes," I might rethink how I feel about men in high-waisted pants. To be clear, I will look down on them as the genocidal lunatics they obviously are.
Beetle said he was down, J'onn, not out. Now he's also "down" in that his feelings have been hurt.
Obviously Booster knows he's not as strong as J'onn. But nobody wants to hear that, especially after they've just been knocked out by a sentient syphilitic spirochete.
Only one person ever looked at Blue Beetle and thought, "He's just DC's version of Spider-man." That one person was Dan Jurgens. Ever since Dan took over the book, Blue Beetle has been hanging upside down from lampposts, squatting on the backs of chairs, and running around hunched over. I guess Dan is one of those idiots who think spiders are bugs. I am one of those idiots who will mock a person for thinking that.
Rott rips the gem from J'onn's chest and declares he's going to use it "for power. For the dark side." Great. He's not only a living representation of an STD; he's also a Star Wars fan.
Inside the gem, The Atom finally gets free of the Stasis iPhone he was trapped within. He and The Ray ponder how they're going to escape when they find the original Bloodwynd hanging from the rafters. He explains that he can explain.
Only one person ever looked at Blue Beetle and thought, "He's just DC's version of Spider-man." That one person was Dan Jurgens. Ever since Dan took over the book, Blue Beetle has been hanging upside down from lampposts, squatting on the backs of chairs, and running around hunched over. I guess Dan is one of those idiots who think spiders are bugs. I am one of those idiots who will mock a person for thinking that.
Rott rips the gem from J'onn's chest and declares he's going to use it "for power. For the dark side." Great. He's not only a living representation of an STD; he's also a Star Wars fan.
Inside the gem, The Atom finally gets free of the Stasis iPhone he was trapped within. He and The Ray ponder how they're going to escape when they find the original Bloodwynd hanging from the rafters. He explains that he can explain.
Oh no. The allegory is worse than I imagined.
This isn't an allegory about sexually transmitted diseases at all. It's an allegory about a Black man struggling with his internal, violent nature! Egads! It's like I'm reading fiction from four plus decades ago! Oh, wait. That's right. Never mind.
I understand that this story could just be one individual man wrestling with the darkness inside of him. That's always a rational possibility. But I've got a degree in literature so I've read enough literature from across centuries within the context of the times each piece was written and one thing's certain: if you're writing in the context of "Western Civilization" and you're writing about one individual's struggle with whatever, that character is always white. Because in "Western Civilization," "white" (and, ultimately, "male" and "heterosexual") is a blank and neutral canvas within to inscribe the themes of your plot. "White heterosexual males" were the only characters who could be "individuals" with internal struggles. Much of this was just unconsidered supremacy but it was also due to an understanding of context and interference from things outside the author's plot. If the main character were a woman or non-white, the plot would essentially need to deal with a whole host of outside distractions. The character no longer becomes an "individual" but a representation of a smaller group. So a woman must represent not only herself but all women in the context of the historic moment. How that character acts will be seen by the audience as the way all women would act, and thus she must shoulder a responsibility to act "appropriately." Whereas a man can just do fuck all and, if his actions are reprehensible, will be judged as just an individual jerk-off. Non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual characters are never given that kind of latitude and freedom. They can never be just a reprehensible piece of shit without a large portion of the audience thinking, "Yep. Those types are all reprehensible pieces of shit."
What I'm trying to say is that it looks bad, even in 1993, to have a Black character struggling with their inherent violent nature! Maybe that's just me and my racist reading of this text. But if my reading of this text is racist, it's only because I grew up in the context of people writing racist texts like this!
Bloodwynd tells his origin story to The Atom and The Ray.
I understand that this story could just be one individual man wrestling with the darkness inside of him. That's always a rational possibility. But I've got a degree in literature so I've read enough literature from across centuries within the context of the times each piece was written and one thing's certain: if you're writing in the context of "Western Civilization" and you're writing about one individual's struggle with whatever, that character is always white. Because in "Western Civilization," "white" (and, ultimately, "male" and "heterosexual") is a blank and neutral canvas within to inscribe the themes of your plot. "White heterosexual males" were the only characters who could be "individuals" with internal struggles. Much of this was just unconsidered supremacy but it was also due to an understanding of context and interference from things outside the author's plot. If the main character were a woman or non-white, the plot would essentially need to deal with a whole host of outside distractions. The character no longer becomes an "individual" but a representation of a smaller group. So a woman must represent not only herself but all women in the context of the historic moment. How that character acts will be seen by the audience as the way all women would act, and thus she must shoulder a responsibility to act "appropriately." Whereas a man can just do fuck all and, if his actions are reprehensible, will be judged as just an individual jerk-off. Non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual characters are never given that kind of latitude and freedom. They can never be just a reprehensible piece of shit without a large portion of the audience thinking, "Yep. Those types are all reprehensible pieces of shit."
What I'm trying to say is that it looks bad, even in 1993, to have a Black character struggling with their inherent violent nature! Maybe that's just me and my racist reading of this text. But if my reading of this text is racist, it's only because I grew up in the context of people writing racist texts like this!
Bloodwynd tells his origin story to The Atom and The Ray.
The woke mind virus must have time traveled to 1993 because I was led to believe this kind of stuff only exists in modern comics.
It's not just Bloodwynd's violence and anger that has been captured by the gem; it's the violence and anger of all of his ancestors who kept the Blood Gem safe. Also it's the violence and evil and darkness of slave owner Jacob Whitey. I mean Whitney. Because the gem was used to murder him and capture his soul! So Rott is actually representative of the centuries of violence perpetrated on the African people stolen from their home and enslaved by white Americans. Now I'm wondering why Bloodwynd seems so ashamed of this evil and ugliness! He has a right to be angry! Maybe if he stopped trying to imprison Rott and instead incorporated him into his being to become whole (like a 1993 Black version of Hedwig), he would become balanced and more capable of restoring justice to America! Didn't we learn in Justice League Europe when the team went up against Echidna the Mother of Monsters that it's better to understand rather than suppress one's darker nature?!
What The Atom and The Ray learn is that Martian Manhunter was manipulated not by Bloodwynd all this time, but Bloodwynd's evil side, Rott. Although J'onn wasn't being a big jerk so maybe Bloodwynd tempered the control somehow. It doesn't make perfect sense but then I'm pretty sure Bloodwynd was never meant to be an actual character, just J'onn in disguise. But seeing Bloodwynd's popularity, Dan Jurgens had to rewrite the story so that an actual Bloodwynd could exist after all was said and done.
While The Atom and The Ray learn Bloodwynd's half of the story, Martian Manhunter gets the rest of the story from Rott. It turns out J'onn didn't find the gem in a cute little boutique store. But the story is still pretty close to my assumption from last issue's review. He was about to fly into space when he was distracted. Not by antiquing but by a scream from Bloodwynd. While trying to help Bloodwynd, the gem wound up on J'onn's chest and Rott took over, forcing him to infiltrate the Justice League as Bloodwynd to find a power source to help free him. And that's the story of Bloodwynd! Are we all satisfied?
I'm satisfied! It was a decent way of explaining J'onn's transformation while also keeping Bloodwynd as a real character. Now he can stop being mysterious and actually build a personality while interacting with the other members of the League. Oh, and also they all escape from the gem while trapping Rott back inside of it. And then Dan Jurgens ends the story with "So long. It's been fun!" with his signature. I guess that's it for Dan then!
Justice League America #77 Rating: B+. A bit rushed, probably due to Dan Jurgens only having two more issues left to explain Bloodwynd, but overall a solid origin story for a character that was probably never meant to be anything more than another disguise of J'onn's. It's possible Dan planned this whole thing out exactly as he wrote it but, in the end, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that a writer can write their way into and out of whatever situations they place the characters. And Dan was more than capable throughout this run. Plus you could tell he really respected Blue Beetle! Blue Beetle was probably the star of most of Dan's run, really coming through for everybody at the end of each story. He even beat Eclipso in an annual! On the other hand, Superman did practically fuck all. And everybody was worried he'd take the spotlight away from the rest of the group! I suppose he did but he did it by dying and not by saving the world singlehandedly every story. Ha ha! What a loser.
What The Atom and The Ray learn is that Martian Manhunter was manipulated not by Bloodwynd all this time, but Bloodwynd's evil side, Rott. Although J'onn wasn't being a big jerk so maybe Bloodwynd tempered the control somehow. It doesn't make perfect sense but then I'm pretty sure Bloodwynd was never meant to be an actual character, just J'onn in disguise. But seeing Bloodwynd's popularity, Dan Jurgens had to rewrite the story so that an actual Bloodwynd could exist after all was said and done.
While The Atom and The Ray learn Bloodwynd's half of the story, Martian Manhunter gets the rest of the story from Rott. It turns out J'onn didn't find the gem in a cute little boutique store. But the story is still pretty close to my assumption from last issue's review. He was about to fly into space when he was distracted. Not by antiquing but by a scream from Bloodwynd. While trying to help Bloodwynd, the gem wound up on J'onn's chest and Rott took over, forcing him to infiltrate the Justice League as Bloodwynd to find a power source to help free him. And that's the story of Bloodwynd! Are we all satisfied?
I'm satisfied! It was a decent way of explaining J'onn's transformation while also keeping Bloodwynd as a real character. Now he can stop being mysterious and actually build a personality while interacting with the other members of the League. Oh, and also they all escape from the gem while trapping Rott back inside of it. And then Dan Jurgens ends the story with "So long. It's been fun!" with his signature. I guess that's it for Dan then!
Justice League America #77 Rating: B+. A bit rushed, probably due to Dan Jurgens only having two more issues left to explain Bloodwynd, but overall a solid origin story for a character that was probably never meant to be anything more than another disguise of J'onn's. It's possible Dan planned this whole thing out exactly as he wrote it but, in the end, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that a writer can write their way into and out of whatever situations they place the characters. And Dan was more than capable throughout this run. Plus you could tell he really respected Blue Beetle! Blue Beetle was probably the star of most of Dan's run, really coming through for everybody at the end of each story. He even beat Eclipso in an annual! On the other hand, Superman did practically fuck all. And everybody was worried he'd take the spotlight away from the rest of the group! I suppose he did but he did it by dying and not by saving the world singlehandedly every story. Ha ha! What a loser.
