@fifthchild said:
@nathaniel_christopher said:
That's not really what the writer said though.
Now that we’re a few days out from it, a thought on Batgirl 49: I’m often interested in ambiguity as a narrative device. One of the things we intended for this issue was for it to be read in several ways, depending on your own interpretation and/or preference. I believe that an individual’s subjective interpretation of a work of art can matter as much as the artist’s intent. What does an image mean to you specifically? How do you interpret it based on your own set of experiences? There’s no right or wrong answer. This is, I think, an unusual concept for the superhero genre, where material is often strictly deemed canonical or “real,” or not. There’s no right, and no wrong, way to read that page. It is what it is to you. We deliberately set it up that way. If you want to read it as retcon, you’re welcome & encouraged to do so. If you want the timeline as-is, you are also encouraged to do so. Your own personal “truth” in this story is what we want you to take from it. How you read that page is how it is.
So it seems to me that it could go either way.
Meh. That 100% sounds like the writer trying to backtrack out of things now that they are getting some backlash.
The tweet from the artist made it pretty clear that they intended to change continuity and their antipathy towards The Killing Joke is pretty well established.
It reminds me of when that guy wrote the story where Hulk beats the hell out of Thor with his won hammer and then leaves his unconscious, busted up body lying on the ground. When Thor fans went mental he did an interview a t Newsarama where he tried to claim that the scene was written such that you could interpret it as Hulk "running away" from Thor's broken body because he was scared that he might...get up or something.
Could go both ways and I honestly think its crap reasoning regardless. Not only because retconning KJ in such a way doesn't make any actual sense in regards to what's already happened and been said in this universe, but because it really just comes off as them being incapable of making a solid decision and standing by it. This is a half-measure. "How you read that page is how it is". No. That's dumb and KJ is too big an event to leave it on that note.
At the same time, I don't think the issue itself makes it all that clear either one way or the other. Barbara is literally falling through her mind when all this is going on and you see a variety of different events flashing by while this villain is messing with her. Don't really think everything we see is meant to be fake. Heck, one shown on the same page of KJ just has her sitting in a wheelchair. Another just has her and Dick swinging through the city (Gotham I presume) as Robin and Batgirl. Another has her graduating. Point being, some of those memories are good, some are bad, and others are fairly pivotal either way (Such as her being in a wheelchair in general, regardless of KJ). Doesn't honestly look like there's any way to distinguish real from fake in that picture.
EDIT: Also makes the team look somewhat silly in my opinion. They've been pushing pretty hard the importance of Barbara Gordon moving on from KJ and really never had to reference the story again if they didn't want to. Then they go and do something like this. For what purpose? None except the simple fact that they apparently don't want it to be canon in any form. Just comes off as fairly childish to me. Especially when at the very least the event, traumatic as it was, led to some phenomonal character growth for Barbara Gordon.
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