Comic Book PSA: When editing for the trade is a good idea

In the recent Outsiders #34 writer Judd Winick gave the character of Thunder some questionable dialog that sacrificed character just for the sake of setting up some hackneyed "gotcha" banter. In the scene in question the evil Dr. Sivana is laying out his evil plan to the Outsiders, monologuing like any good villain. Sivana asks the Outsiders to join him in his goal of world domination and spare them the horrible fate he has planned for the rest of humanity.

At the end of his speech Sivana explains he wants the team to work for him because they seem to operate in a moral gray area when it comes to heroics. As a segue, Sivana resorts to a cliche' that is familiar to anyone above the age of four years old who did not grow up in a cave. For an educated and worldly woman, Thunder doesn't get it and Nightwing has to chime in and explain it to her.

For artistic and culturally historical reasons I am normally against editorial changes to add political correctness to a collection of comic books. I declined to buy the recent Tomb of Dracula collection because of the censorship that plagued the release of what should be considered a mature title. Yet in this instance I'd make an exception and think that for this scene some editing for the sake of the story would be a good idea.

I hope when this arc is eventually collected for the trade an editor will change a bit of dialog so that Thunder does not appear to be so clueless.

Just change the dialog in one word balloon as I did and Thunder appears not only to catch on but it seems she is even a few steps ahead of Nightwing.

Tags: DC Comics Comic Book PSA