Killing of Children in Comics - Page 3

mwf6171 · 07-31-2007, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickwm68

Maybe I never noticed it before but I have a 2 year old and I'm noticing it now. An awful lot of child killings are going on in comics nowadays. Wasn't this a taboo subject at one time? I'm at work now and don't have the books in front of me but I can remember the titles in question:

Ghost Rider (Recent Mini-Series, child forced to put pencil in eye)

Ghost Rider (Current Series, van with kids in it blows up, resurrected Jack O' Lantern beheading children)

Amazons Attack (2nd page of the first issue, Amazon kills father and son)

JSA (Nazi Speedster rips right through a mother and child in issue #2, more children killed by other Nazi supers)

Civil War (Whole school yard of children killed)

52/WW3 (Black Adam goes on a rampage killing everyone including children)

I'm sure I'm missing something. Just curious on everyones thoughts on this.

Seems like a cheap way to get a rise out of readers to me.

Man, if only Marvel would have started by killing off Power Pack..........................

Teague · 07-31-2007, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bat_collector

are you calling geoff johns and mark millar hacks??

That's just ludicrous!

Lets not get over-board in our over-reaction.

They're not hacks at all, in my opinion. That's not to say that they haven't taken the easy way out in some cases. Not every story can be gold.

patrickwm68 · 07-31-2007, 01:36 PM

All these stories could have done just as well without throwing in some morbid child death for shock value.

Teague · 07-31-2007, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickwm68

All these stories could have done just as well without throwing in some morbid child death for shock value.

Agreed, 100%. Like I said, even the best writers slip now and then.

protector2814 · 07-31-2007, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bat_collector

are you calling geoff johns and mark millar hacks??

That's just ludicrous!

Lets not get over-board in our over-reaction.

I admit my use of the word was wrong. I did "go overboard". Just a knee-jerk reaction to the subject-matter. I was stunned when Kirkman had a murderer decapitate a child in his Walking Dead title. I recall being upset with a recent Batman story where the hero couldn't stop a child's murder. I'm just seeing more of this plot-device than I'd like too, especially when you consider that these comics are right there, completely available to kids.

Crom · 07-31-2007, 02:15 PM

Well, the Comic Code has been gone for several years now, though I think Marvel dropped it about a year before DC.

Before the comics code women and children were killed in comics. Heck, comics back in the forties and fifties were brutally violent.

I'm not for these killings. Something like this in the hands of an average or less-than-average writer is often just a crutch. Also, the more it happens the less impact death has.

I think it is like in horror movies. I just cannot get excited about movies that base their horror on torture and heavy effects that try and look as real and gruesome as possible. It's just gross if you have no emotional attachment for the character.

I think it feels like comics have gotten darker, but in truth all of entertainment has become meaner in an attempt to feel more "real".

bat_collector · 07-31-2007, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by protector2814

I was stunned when Kirkman had a murderer decapitate a child in his Walking Dead title.

Its a zombie comic. Bad stuff happened to all sorts of people! Tons of kids died in that zombie plague. The serial killer who kille the kids tried to kill an adult, too!

I don't get how this is "easy" storytelling. Its a zombie comic, where characters die in often brutal form. And since the writer is trying to stay pretty realistic, I don't see how bad things can't happen to kids.

A killer in that environment would probably go after the weakest, like women or children. It makes sense.

As for Civil War, how was the impact of Civil War to be felt if children did NOT die?????

JSA was about a group of killers trying to exterminate the entire familial line of a hero. Kids would have to be part of that.

Again, I'm not seeing this as exploitive at all, especially from good story tellers.

loupegarou · 07-31-2007, 02:55 PM

Every avenue of entertainment is pushing its boundries because it takes more to startle people and make them react. There are less and less places for kids or people who are tenderhearted to get good fun entertainment.

Movies....more violence than ever.
Games....Well nuff said GT auto anyone
Comics....following in the footsteps of other media
Even television ....

The more violence people see the more accustomed to it they become. Its like a spot on your glasses...after a while you just stop seeing it.

Comics have been violet. Movies have been violent. Yes art takes on life. But does it have to in every facet.

I used to watch wholesome tv shows like full house/family matters and so many i can't name them all. Name me 2 for every day of the week thats on ABC or CBS or NBC. No today CSI (for each state) is being watched by kids. I don't know if there is a way to curtail the path were following. But i do know i want to win the powerball and buy 400 acres somewhere in the flatlands..

patrickwm68 · 07-31-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bat_collector

Its a zombie comic. Bad stuff happened to all sorts of people! Tons of kids died in that zombie plague. The serial killer who kille the kids tried to kill an adult, too!

I don't get how this is "easy" storytelling. Its a zombie comic, where characters die in often brutal form. And since the writer is trying to stay pretty realistic, I don't see how bad things can't happen to kids.

A killer in that environment would probably go after the weakest, like women or children. It makes sense.

As for Civil War, how was the impact of Civil War to be felt if children did NOT die?????

JSA was about a group of killers trying to exterminate the entire familial line of a hero. Kids would have to be part of that.

Again, I'm not seeing this as exploitive at all, especially from good story tellers.

Aside from Walking Dead which is a horror comic and we all know what to expect when we read it. Why in a mainstream superhero title like JSA do they have to show us the child being killed or the after effects? Why can't they just say, "So and so's wife and kids were killed", why do they have to show us when they were killed, how they were killed, and what they looked like after they were killed?

When the news tells about a child being killed they don't show us the photos of their dead bodies.

Makkari1 · 07-31-2007, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichBamf

Comics, like all art forms, reflect life.

As long as kids are stabbing and killing each other, or parents or family members/friends are abusing or killing them, it'll be portrayed in comics.

What we've noticed is an increase in the instances of these cases in real life, reflected in comics.

Whether that's good or bad is up for debate, but art will always reflect life.

This true to a certain point. Comics were supposed to represent fantasy as well. You heroes you are larger than life saving people from evil and in the end good triumph over evil.