Of IC comments

Text: The only female character that I can think of at the moment that had a mundane husband was Donna Troy, but he and their kid bought it, right?

More text: I think the problem is that most female heroes do not have a mundane SO, with one or two major exception. Why? Because they very rarely had their own titles, and were introduced and featured as supporting characters in other titles, which immediately puts them a storytelling disadvantage. If you are going to kill off someone, it's not going to be the lead character (who is male) is will be his buddy or SO.

Some more thoughts I wonder if someone went back and did a study of how many buddies of superheroes die? For instance, in Hitman, virtually his entire male supporting cast was killed over the length of the series, some of them in horrific ways, but no one blinked.

Or is it the manner of death? Most buddies are killed in order to extract information while most SOs are killed to send a message/intimidate the hero. Is that what is offensive ?

I thought the only people that knew were the ones that were right there, right then.

I thought the only

Yep, ita.

Matt: the line you're thinking of is "Clark and Diana would never understand." Which I tend to agree with, because while I think Diana at least would understand if they'd just killed him, the particulars of what they did are pretty not-okay. As for "Oliver's overprotective chauvinism toward Dinah (which was immediately challenged, but still contributes to the overall mood)," I think I would have been bothered if Ollie hadn't acted as he did, because it would have seemed out of character for the post-Quiver Queen. Regarding "I'm really impressed with the the way the plot is being structured and laid out, but there's little in the world that's as sure to piss me off as the whole "the womenfolk are under attack, so the menfolk have to go get vengeancey" trope," I'm probably cheerfully reading too much into this, but I'm seeing IC as going to a place where it's exploring the ugly assumptions that dominated a lot of Silver Age stuff, even when it was trying to be progressive.

re: your last, Plei, I very much hope so.

Ita's correct. Even Ralph was surprised, and it seems as if he may not have approved if he HAD known. I think the "woman in the refrigerator " complaints are extremely valid, but I'm enjoying the story immensely anyway.

Also, Matt, IIRC they don't consult Ralph, either. Ralph and Sue are both gone when they make their decision. I totally want to see the fallout of all this in the Flash title, given Wally's recent actions and decisions WRT his own identity.

I thought the only people that knew were the ones that were right there, right then.

Yes. The thing setting off my chauvinism-dar in that respect is Diana being specifically mentioned as one of the one's who can't be allowed to find out. Admittedly, without IC#1 in hand I may be remembering this wrong, or it might be an indication of the narrator's chauvinism rather than the writer's. But my emotional response to the story is pretty much the same as amych's, and I get the feeling that Black canary is being presented as the exception that proves the rule rather than actually de-fusing the sense of sexism .

I agree with Plei when she says:

the particulars of what they did are pretty not-okay.

If I were one of the participants, I wouldn't assume anyone would understand who wasn't right there, and even then ... there's the "take no life, mess with no mind" crowd and there's the "well, kill the fuck" crowd. The dicey place is the one where they all stand.

d'oh! I knew there was a reason I was going to start picking up the Flash.