New Star Wars comic featuring Vader-obsessed fan girl causes controversy.

[Reaver225]

Having read it, I feel that there's a distinct parallels in all three chapters of the series, and that if you looked hard enough you could generate controversy for all three.

The first, a low tech alien watches Vader crashland and slaughter a giant beast that was terrorising his home, and turns Vader into a saint and a legendary protector.
The second, where an imperial officer who saw Vader slaughter a room full of officers in the past and tell him not to make any mistakes, goes crazy after not 100% completing all mission objectives to capture 1 particular rebel after wiping out an entire battlegroup in a fantastic attack, and sends his star destroyer into an asteroid field to get wrecked just so he wouldn't have failed Vader, and ends up being killed anyway by Vader because of his fear.
The third, where a nurse gets lost in her own delusions, and professes her love to Vader only to be killed out of hand.

The first chapter could be seen as a portrayal as how natives could be easily fooled by powerful empires into revering them, a damning indictment of cargo cults and their unknowing praise of a symbol of a ruthless culture that would crush them in the cogs of industry had they anything the Empire wanted. That's saying that native people are stupid and also how imperialism is bad, isn't it? How dare they.

The second could be a glimpse demonstrating how workplace abuse can lead to them being traumatised to the point of self-destruction and the ruination of all around them, and how not even trying one's hardest can save them from the inevitable punishment of abusive bosses. But this is a crude depiction of workplace abuses and does not truly show properly how many people at work suffer under their bosses in less obvious but nevertheless harmful manners.

And the third chapter has already been heavily discussed in this thread.


But frankly speaking, it's just that - generated controversy. Had every chapter shown some sort of distinct bias against something or other, I might be complaining. I'm not seeing any underlying trend towards bias or to indicate that the author is indicating all women are mentally ill or even that fangirls can put themselves in dangerous situations. This chapter is telling a story in the Star Wars universe, and from my view there's no moral aesop here. If people are getting upset with seeing too much of themselves in this character, is that really something to rationally get upset over?

[ray245]

To dismiss everything as just generated controversy, esepcially if you are coming from a privileged background as a male can be problematic. Women who actively desire men has often been depicted as a sign of being crazy for a long time.

[Zixinus]

Sometimes writers just fuck up and can't see what an outside reader can.

[ray245]

Sometimes writers just fuck up and can't see what an outside reader can.

That's partly the job of an editor, and also partly why there is a need for writing teams to be more diverse in background. Because it will increase the odds of people actually reading what the story is about and giving feedback prior to the comic book being published.

[Zixinus]

Sometimes writers just fuck up and can't see what an outside reader can.

That's partly the job of an editor, and also partly why there is a need for writing teams to be more diverse in background. Because it will increase the odds of people actually reading what the story is about and giving feedback prior to the comic book being published.

Editors can fuck up too. From the sound of it, the story had conceptual problems, lack of sympathy for the victim and managed to hit some very sore nerves.The problem sounds like the authors did not really understand why those nerves were sore.

Once a comic is drawn, it is almost too late to really change anything because there is a publishing deadline and drawing/coloring the comic is most of the work. A scenario where you have to re-draw the comic entirely is a mayor screw-up. You can't focus-group every comic issue.

[ray245]

Editors can fuck up too. From the sound of it, the story had conceptual problems, lack of sympathy for the victim and managed to hit some very sore nerves.The problem sounds like the authors did not really understand why those nerves were sore.

Once a comic is drawn, it is almost too late to really change anything because there is a publishing deadline and drawing/coloring the comic is most of the work. A scenario where you have to re-draw the comic entirely is a mayor screw-up. You can't focus-group every comic issue.

That will hopefully change as writing teams for a traditionally male-dominated franchise like Star Wars becomes more diverse.