this post was submitted on 18 May 2025
48 points (100.0% liked)
askchapo
23002 readers
120 users here now
Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.
Rules:
-
Posts must ask a question.
-
If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.
-
Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.
-
Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm not a fan of the show but I love cape shit. It's funny with this show because it really leans into the ridiculous scenarios - alien worlds where one minute outside is a century inside, parallel worlds with other versions of characters that force introspection on how someone can turn out to be.
The dad is an interesting character, but the main characters handle it in a way that feels lacking. He's complicated, yes, but the narrative paint him in a more sympathetic light. Especially when the heroes try to maintain no-kill policies.
Also it slips into an annoying trope where the character need to pay rent and their solution is to work part time as prison guards. I dunno. It's just a larger gripe I have where saving the world isn't treated like paying work.
I know failing to address bullshit capitalism keeps the narrative relatable, but its symptoms aren't acknowledged outside of a motivation for a character to rob banks.
A story where superheroes for hire end up just becoming another branch of the US state apparatus, similar to the way the military tries to push people in tough situations to sign up could be a really interesting story.
You see comics with stories like that, but those scenarios don't come to pass, or is done with explicit villains. That said, it would be interesting if the Suicide Squad just paid people instead of using prisoners. Though those would be the real monsters.
"Yeah, I know I'm using my death ray powers to blow up a hospital, but I had to pay for college somehow."
I've often thought of doing a comic where the heroes work for a US/Capitalist analogue and are surrounded by propaganda that convinces them that the horrible things they are doing are "good" until a big twist moment partway through, where some of them realise that they're being lied to and used by the establishment. I don't like doing superhero stuff though, so designing a setting for it is rough.