At Ragnell's suggestion I've been reading Battle for Bludhaven, which was not, as I expected, dull. I'm not sure I could exactly recommend it though, since it makes less sense than a barrel full of Morrisons. But one thing I noticed early on, before it went completely chaotic, is that the set up involves Chemo being dropped on Bludhaven, which makes the whole place toxic.
Can you guess what the government's response to this disaster is?
A) send in hazardous waste disposal teams to neutralize the toxic chemicals.
B) use the city as a military base to conduct highly illegal experiments on the surviving citizens.
C) Build a big wall around the city.
If you answered A) then you are obviously a Marvel fan, or you haven't been paying attention.
What is it with the US government in the DCU that their first response to a disaster is to wall the place off and hope it goes away? In No Man's Land Gotham was hit by an earthquake (and possibly an epidemic, I wasn't really following it) so the government had a big wall built around the city and shot anyone who tried to leave. In fact I think they declared it no longer part of the USA so they wouldn't have to go clean it up. In Green Arrow there was a bunch of explosions and possibly a riot so a large part of the city got walled off. And now this.
It just seems like an entirely unrealistic response to a disaster that makes no sense in real world terms and even less in one full of super powered people, and I am a little boggled that they keep doing it.
3 comments:
Yeah, but the construction lobby in the DCU is strong. Gotham was the precedent and "The State of America: Wall Building Protocol" was passed unopposed. It's regarded as a "homeland security" issue. It's the price the rest of the DCUS has to pay to be free: occasionally a city full of citizens is arbitrarily imprisoned and Superman et al are cool with that. They don't try it in Marvel U as, well, how cross is Captain America going to be about that?
Re: Green Arrow
You're still expecting realism in a Judd Winick book?
*laughs*
What I thought was funny was all the people wanting to get back in. AN IRRADIATED CITY! And later on the army opens fire on the crowd... but that's in response to someone shooting one of the troops in the neck, presumably killing him.
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