Having just finished the recent week in Flashpoint, there were two specific scenes that stood out to me that I feel also fold in nicely with discussions concerning the recent announcements of a new Spider-Man and a resurrected Ryan Choi as The Atom over at DC comics.
Flashpoint #4
The most curious thing about the main Flashpoint title, written by Geoff Johns, is that it is really a centerpiece that focuses more on the characters than the action. This is interesting because it allows for bigger themes and ideas to emerge. One that had been sort of bubbling under the surface but came out in full this week is in a scene with the children who comprise the Shazam-tastic Captain Marvel ( aka Captain Thunder in this timeline) in a conversation with Barry Allen, Cyborg, Batman, and Element Woman. The Flashpoint world is on the brink of destruction and heroes are in short supply to go to the front lines to help. As the rambling and disjointed heroes have come to a house for help, it is Billy Batson, a mere boy granted magical powers, who has watched the world begin to disintegrate from war and hatred in front of his eyes on television, fully capable but much like everyone else scared, who has the following exchange with Barry Allen/The Flash:
Billy: We'll come with you./ We have to, guys. Even if it's only The Flash and us. We can't sit inside and watch TV and hope something good is going to happen./ We have to make it happen.
The Flash: No, No, it's too dangerous for kids.
Billy: It's dangerous for everyone, Flash.
Such discourse in comics is common, but, often it is overlooked as just another component of writing for the superhero/heroine genre: the good guys must rally and someone must give the version of the rally round the flag speech. However, let's take a moment to approach what is perhaps being said here on another level. This is the call to action-- social action and/or social justice. Here, in this "comics summer event", we have substance over style as the characters and situation being faced mirrors our own society yet again (which, I might add, all great literature does). Generations (especially young people) who read this will be faced with the question of whether they themselves are active or passive citizens within their own culture and society and what that may mean. As an adult who teaches, this is one of the most important things I try to impart to students--that transformative social change begins with questioning (born from reading and/or discussion) enough that it moves you to action of some kind.
The World of Flashpoint #3
As one of the ancillary titles, I am sure not everyone who is reading the main event book may be getting this one. While it is not a perfect side story (as some of the side ones are not), there is a very important point about cultural beliefs when the character Traci 13, in a dramatic moment of trying to find clarity for her father, thinks:
Traci: All these champions, both good and bad, are all driven by their selfish motives. Each is caught up in his or her own little drama. / And each of them wants nothing more than to mold this world into the image of what they consider right. / But who is truly right? It's all a matter of perspective...
On the next splash page, she imparts to him (along with psychic imagery):
Traci: The world can be a terrible place, dad./ But it can be a beautiful one. It's a place where people try to make it better./ Each in their own way./ Trying to solve the world's problems, one step at a time./ There are no easy solutions. Sometimes you just have to let go.../...and hope.
Traci's call for understanding perspective in a diverse world is punctuated by the two page splash image of man, woman, alien, cyborg, machine, element, meta-human etc. all wanting to make a change for "A" better. The point Tracy is making, I believe, as many philosophers, educators, anthropologists and social theorists have also discussed the last hundred years, is that the first step in understanding culture is to understand that unity can exist even when it is understood differently based on ones upbringing and moral code. With respect for another cultures perspective, respect for views can become shared via reciprocity, and suddenly light is shed upon that most of what everyone wants, regardless of place on the planet, is basically the same: To live a healthy life with opportunity and chance for themselves and those around them; To be free of war and pestilence and hunger and death; To unshackle those that are oppressed and put in danger by those that only want power; To be educated; To be heroes for one another when the time comes.
Faces of Diversity
So I found it rather wonderful that these themes emerged in a high profile series like Flashpoint as announcements concerning the new Ultimate Universe Spider-Man were made. Marvel revealed that the Spider-Man of that universe would be a young man of mixed race background. While the voices of hatred have emerged( as they always do), there was a very nice post over at DC Women Kicking Ass who gave perhaps the best perspective on why it is important that Spider-Man has changed, and also on DC comics continuing struggles towards diversity in characters with the resurrection of Ryan Choi. Just click on the linked name for DCWKA and please read, share, respond, and by all means continue the conversation.
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