A Rant About Something I Haven't Read...

I thought I was annoyed by Amanda Waller, but man, Red Hood's depiction of Starfire takes the cake.

Now, full disclosure: I haven't read the comic. It's possible that the bits I've seen that I'm complaining about are only part of the story and mitigated by the rest.

It's not the costume that bothers me. Don't get me wrong, I think the costume's stupid, but Starfire can fly in space. She probably doesn't need a whole lot in the way of weather protection. So if she wants to wear a couple of flimsy bits of cloth for decoration, fine. (It's kind of similar to the way I look at some of Storm's less substantial costumes. If you've got a character for whom clothing really doesn't serve much practical purposes, then you've got more leeway, I figure.)

But what they did to her personality? What the hell?

Look, Starfire was always kind of wish-fulfillment, creator-fantasy made flesh (well, ink and paper at least). It's always been kind of obvious that she was made to suit someone's taste. She's free spirited, cheerful, wears very little clothing, has lots of sex. She could absorb languages through any number of ways, but she does it by kissing because it's fun. Her name is also a ridiculous pun.

But she was fun. She fit an emotional niche on the team. She was particularly suited to Dick Grayson, due to being the exact opposite of the over-cerebral bat-angst that he's used to. She feels things, deeply. She cuts through bullshit. She gets to have sex without being bogged down by angst and drama. She's got a dark backstory but she doesn't let it pull her down.

She has so much potential. She suited Teen Titan soap opera. She worked equally well in space in 52. And I'm still sad that I'll never get to see her and J'onn Jonzz team up in an Howard/Rice-Burroughs/Brackett inspired epic, where they wander about Mars and punch aliens in the face.

The Starfire the bits of Red Hood that I saw, (which again, I admit, is not the full story), doesn't have any of the qualities that I liked. I was going to say they kept the sex-positive aspects, but really they didn't. A sex-positive character is a character that gets enjoyment out of sex. That character has sex because she loves (or at least LIKES) her partner. A sex positive character can have casual sex, sure, but not meaningless sex. There's a difference. A character who has sex just for the sake of having sex, with partners that might as well be robotic stand-ins for all that she actually cares about them, who can barely remember former partners' names? That's not a sex-positive character.

So what did she get to keep? A design and powers? Is that it?

Please tell if I'm wrong. If you've read the comic and can verify that the excerpts floating about online are wrong. Or out of context, at the very least. If my impression of the character from those excerpts is mistaken, please tell me. I will go out and buy the comic right now. I will get over my irrational aversion to Jason fucking Todd out of sheer appreciation for a character I didn't realize I loved so much until I thought she was gone.

Hell, if you can tell me that you think this personality shift actually has a point, and will maybe be leading somewhere interesting (like brainwashing that will then be undone), I...probably won't spend money on this comic, but I'll keep an eye on it and reconsider when the storyline reaches its climax.

At any rate, if you guys tell me I'm wrong, I'll buy the comic, read for myself, and take back this entire rant. If you can't, I'm sure as hell not going to waste the time reading it. I'm just going to sulk, grumble and go read something else.