The Fortress Of Solitude

Tokenism.

I'm not a fan of including characters in comics just because they are (perceived as) different than the majority (when guess what, they aren't) due to ethnic background or sexual persuasion or skin color. I think that's ridiculous and that we should be way beyond that now, both in comics and more importantly, in the real world. I think to change the status quo of a character or team or to introduce a new character just to be "politically correct" is nothing more than tokenism, and that's definitely not a good thing.

Let me be clear on this. I have no problems whatsoever with any type of minorities being in comics. Three of my favorite characters are an alien being, a blue skinned chick, and a lesbian, for crying out loud. I don't want you the reader walking away from this thinking I'm a racist moron or prejudicial idiot, because I'm the farthest thing from it. What I'm saying here is I think it's wrong to force a character just because they are a minority.

I think my main problem with a character like John Stewart is the fact that the only reason he's in the current Justice League is because he was in the animated series, and the only reason he was there was because he was African-American. At the time the animated series started, Kyle Rayner was the one and only GL in the entire universe. John was a mentor of sorts to Kyle but no longer a GL in the book (he was actually unable to walk, if I remember correctly). I understand the show wanted to be culturally diverse, and that's fine. Why not bring in Steel? Or Black Lightning? Or any other African-American character that wouldn't have seemed so forced?

Another example is Captain America: Truth: Red, White, and Black. Shoe horning in a "black Captain America" (not my words) that no one outside the black community in the Marvel U knows is ridiculously token, in my opinion. It's borderline offensive to African-Americans, if you ask me.

Look at the Batwoman fiasco as another example. The first and only thing anyone ever said about Batwoman was "Oh my God! DC Comics has a lesbian!". That was all over mainstream media for weeks. And where is she now? Has the character had any impact on the DCU outside of 52, where she was introduced? Has she even been in any DC books since then, outside of a cameo? I certainly haven't seen her. I would love to see her in Birds Of Prey, or in the Batman books. Again, tokenism.

I could go on and on with various examples from both of the big two (and probably the indies), but you get my point by now, I hope. Minority characters have been introduced in much better ways in the past and have thrived (Storm, Spawn, Pied Piper, Northstar), and that's the way it should be. The focus should be on the whole character and their journey, not just the one controversial-in-some-eyes facet of the character.

I can only hope that sometime soon, tokenism, be it in comics or in real life, will become a thing of the past.

I was wandering aimlessly around Target and Walmart the other day, and I got the deadly urge to buy some DVDs. This happens to me on an hourly basis. Here's what I grabbed and ran out of the store with. After paying, of course.

Tomb Raider 2 Pack - Two fun movies with Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft shooting guns and fighting and stuff? For a grand total of nine dollars? Yeah, I'm SO there.

Conan 2 Pack - While I'm not a big fan of this particular genre, I remember these movies fondly from my youth. Again, nine bucks for two fun movies is impossible to pass up.

Darkman 3 Pack - Love the first Darkman movie, but I really don't remember much about the others. For the trifecta, this pack was also nine dollars (for THREE movies!!). God I love Walmart.

And for the super deal of the day, courtesy of Target...

Dark Angel/Dark Shadows 2 Pack - The entire first season of Dark Angel and the entire series of Dark Shadows (the revival from the 90's)...for twenty bucks. Not each...FOR BOTH! Out of curiosity, I checked out Dark Angel at Best Buy, and the price tag read forty big ones. Hopefully this is the start of a trend, because that price tag on this two pack was awesome.

Cheap DVDs rule!

*I just watched the film Shattered Glass. Hayden Christiensen played Stephen Glass, the political reporter who made up many of his stories while working for a national magazine. Really good movie that sucked me in more than I thought it would. Hayden Christensen was fantastic, and Peter Sarsgaard was excellent as well.

*I'm finding more and more that there are a only a select few who I can talk to about fun stuff like TV shows and movies (I can't talk to anyone (with one exception) about comics anymore, because God forbid I actually like what DC and Marvel are doing). I walk away from the conversation really having enjoyed it, as opposed to feeling like I have to defend myself against an idiot fanboy because I like what I like. I really wish everyone I talk to could be like that, but that's asking fanboys to have intelligence and maturity, which is apparently asking way too much.

*I finished watching The Thorn Birds last night, excellent miniseries. Richard Chamberlain rocks. Great story, great acting, great cinematography, I'm glad I finally got the chance to check it out.

*Still rolling along with Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I'm really excited that I'm enjoying this show, I was so afraid I wouldn't. Favorite character: Giles. Close second: Willow. Give me about three more minutes and I'm sure Faith will knock Willow out of that spot.

*Torn on what book to read next...one of the new Star Wars books, or my precious new Destroyer. I'll start both, at exactly the same time. That possible?

*Going to be a very light week for television for me. Smallville and The Office are done for the season, Lost skips a week, and I think Galactica skips a week too. With Heroes and 24 not on at all, that leaves only Doctor Who for me to watch this week.

*I'm currently engaged to Kylie Minogue, Zhao Wei, Shu Qi, and Eliza Dushku. I figure if I'm going to fabricate a story, I might as well make it a doozy.

That's just a title...not a statement or confession...or anything...really...

This is just a fan video someone made of Eliza Dushku in various movies/TV shows. Nothing explicit or graphic at all, but it might not be appropriate to watch in the work environment. Although if your boss does catch you watching it, he'll probably give you a promotion for introducing him to the sheer hotness of her.

Enjoy.