#machina.asks

[stephexmachina]

sorry if this is a dumb question, im completely in support of dc blackout but im just confused by the fact that it says that its been 1200 days since a black character has lead a comic when jo is the main character of absolute green lantern right now? plus didnt black lightning and mr terrific both have comics fairly recently? i know at least for abs gl its not a mainline comic, but in fairness dc is pushing the absolute line as much as the mainline right now. not trying to disagree or say that we shouldnt boycott, i just dont understand

it has been over 1200 days since DC released a mainline Black-led ongoing. the operative word here is ongoing – DC has a tendency to restrict their Black-led stories to limited series of no more than six issues. Black Lightning and Mr Terrific: Year One were both limited series — Black Lightning only got five issues total, while Mr Terrific got six. if we compare this to other 2025 releases with white or nonblack leads, Aquaman, Batman, Superman Unlimited, Supergirl, and Batgirl are all still ongoing. and if you look at DC's 2026 releases, the only Black-led release thus far is Batman/Static Beyond, which is both elseworlds and a limited series. notice a pattern here?

as for Absolute Green Lantern, it exists outside of DC's main continuity & though Jo is the primary protagonist, i wouldn't personally consider it a solo. in fact, if we restrict our criteria to Black-led solos only, there have been none this year, not even a limited series. Black DC fans deserve an ongoing that has a real impact on the DC universe – we deserve commitment, not just a limited series every so often that DC can point to and claim they aren't racist.

[stephexmachina]

Could you talk about Alex and the significance of the fridge?

what happens to Alex is as follows: she is assaulted by a man with a vendetta against her boyfriend, who is a novice hero. she refuses to divulge information on her boyfriend, so her attacker strangles her to death. he then puts her body inside the refrigerator and leaves a note for Kyle telling him to look in the fridge.

the fridge here is incongruous. it's pure spectacle. it isn't relevant to Alex's murder, she never even knows her body has been relocated there, and Kyle would have found her body regardless.

women's suffering is frequently unacknowledged and unremarked upon, so if not for the fridge, there might have been nothing unique about Alex's tragedy. but the spectacle of the refrigerator draws attention to the invisible hand of the writer, and retroactively makes Alex's suffering visible. the idea behind "women in refrigerators" is therefore women's trauma as spectacle and motivator. it is not, and has never been simply about female characters being killed off – it's about making a spectacle out of women's pain, misery, and trauma in service of men's motivation and emotional development.

[stephexmachina]

why are you so mad that trans people relate to your post????

1) i said nothing about trans people in general the people taking issue with my post r specifically transmascs so idk why you're acting like i said anything about transfems

2) where did i say transmascs weren't allowed to relate to my post. show me

3) i wrote the post about being a woman bc i am a woman and it's girls & women who specifically need to know they can be women without ever becoming a wife & mother bc all women are whole people who have the right to live for themselves

4) those tags annoyed me bc they clouded my intent by suggesting the post was About something else (rather than just Relatable to other groups) and implying women need an LGBTQ+ justification to not want to be wives and mothers. cishet women can also opt out and were included in the intent of my post

5) go do your homework before u talk nonsense in my inbox

[stephexmachina]

I'm so sorry people are being so annoying about that post. It's directed at girls for a reason, women are expected to settle down and have kids so much more than men, some people think it's our only purpose in life. While the post's sentiment can apply to other demographics too it's directed at girls because they need to hear the sentiment most. Making it about queer people also misses the point because all women need to hear it, not just the asexuals.

thank you for being normal omg 😭💕 people are calling me transphobic for clarifying that a post written by a woman about being a woman was written about women im never leaving this website there's nowhere quite like it 💀

im sure all the people in the notes adding that this applies to other identities mean well but it really is a slap in the face to all the women who want to be women but don't want to be a wife or mother. the problem is that these things are treated as synonymous – a woman must want to be a wife and mother, and if she doesn't, it must signify something about her sexual or romantic orientation. but that preconception is misogynistic! sometimes women just don't want to. they don't want to tie themselves to somebody else, they don't want to be responsible for dependents, they don't want to be romantically involved with a man or with anybody at all, they don't want to partake in an institution built upon the notion of women as property. straight women can opt out, bi women can opt out, lesbians can opt out, & aspec women can opt out for any reason, because women are whole people with thoughts and personalities and ambitions. people are getting so caught up in the words "wife" and "mother" that they completely miss my choice of the word "somebody's" – women are their own people, they don't have to live according to heteropatriarchal expectations, and their choice to opt out does not make them any less of a woman and person. if you read that sentence & feel the urge to go "yes because everybody can live however they want" then that's a problem actually.

[stephexmachina]

theres no way ur a dick grayson & connor hawke fan and not a roy william harper fan bfr roy is leagues better than dick the toxic cheater misogynist literally known for his assholery. roy has women like dinah lian and mia in his life and family dicks out here crying over his multiplex of failed relationships because the sonuvabitch couldnt commit to one

[stephexmachina]

So I was reading your recent posts and discussions about conner's experiences with fetishization and sexual harassment in comics, and it brought me back to a recent article I read about vic stone and how his sexuality (or lack thereof) is displayed in comics. The article touches on how since his inception, vic has been written as a sexless, non-offending machine that is somewhat unlucky in love. I haven't read all of NTT, but I don't ever recall his romances with sarah Simms or sarah Charles going beyond 1 or 2 shared kisses before the human parts of vic's body is miraculously damaged in battle and he has to replace it with more and more metal. I'll just talk about black men in dc comics (cause the women are treated in a different disrespectful way), but I've noticed a pattern of writers not knowing how to approach black male character's sexuality. I don't know if they're trying to stray away from the sexually aggressive stereotype black men have, but if they are, having black characters experience no or limted sexual or romantic desire is not the way to do it. In the new 52, its even confirmed that Vic doesn't have genitals and it just further confirms my suspicions. I would understand if he were written as ace but thats not the case.

Now for Connor, when drawn right, he is a dark skinned biracial man with asian and white features and is treated as an exotic figure by his writers and readers. However, his response to romantic and sexual advances is awkward, polite, and as I said earlier, non-offending. I remember someone pointing out that conner's being written as the antithesis of Ollie when it comes to women, which can have truth to it, but I think he's written that way cause Dixon and others don't know how to approach black male sexuality without possibly leaning into terrible stereotypes. I think Connor is on the demi or ace spectrum, and him having an actual love interest would be interesting to see how a writer navigates that. However, similar to Vic and possibly other black characters like Mr. Terrific, Conner falls into this weird category of black male characters that never get to truly explore desire and romatic love with their partners or others. The only character I can think of that escapes this category is John stewart due to his romance with Katwa tui in comics (before they killed her🤦🏾‍♀️) and hawkgirl in cartoons.

nearly burst into tears while reading this bc i felt so seen. all of this, you're absolutely right. this is why i get so viscerally upset when i see people call Connor Hawke "aro-coded" despite him stating repeatedly over the years that he does desire romantic connection, and why i'm so bothered by the dearth of Vic ship content despite his central role within the Titans and close bonds with many of them. Vic as a Black man (and particularly a Black disabled man) is sexless, a non-entity; Connor as a Black biracial man is a sex object in some contexts and completely stripped of romantic potential in others. nobody is normal about Black men and nobody acknowledges this fact, so as a Black fan you're just left noticing and noticing and noticing it all & feeling crazy until someone finally puts the phenomenon into words and you realise you aren't just seeing things, it's real, and other people are seeing it too.

[stephexmachina]

& i hate the white savior trope of it all in batfanfics. when i’m trying to read damian fics that i haven’t read and a fourth of the results are like “damian experiences racism! don’t worry though his white older bro and/or dad is going to save him from it by threatening violence/revenge/whatever on the bully/principal/teacher/etc and then everything will be solved forever” like. am i going fucking crazy. use critical thinking bruce or dick or jason or tim or even jon goddamn kent stepping in because damian is helpless IS in fact!! well!!

The white savior is a cinematic trope in which a white central character rescues non-white (often less prominent) characters from unfortunate circumstances. This recurs in an array of genres in American cinema, wherein a white protagonist is portrayed as a messianic figure who often gains some insight or introspection in the course of rescuing non-white characters (or occasionally non-human alien races that substitute as non-white civilizations) from their plight.

*i know you’re british but. the point stands. why don’t people ever think about the racism they perpetuate :)))))))

i love that you started this ask in medias res like i have no idea what post you're referencing but literallyyyyy i see that shit in the tags all the time it's so gross. happens a lot w duke too like no he does not need tim drake to rescue him from bullies..... it's always white people writing the bullies racist too just so their white fave can step in & be an Antiracist Hero like ewwww get away from me 🤢🤮

[stephexmachina]

do you know if we can still participate in dcblackout? is it like just officially over but unofficially ppl are still doing it? or does that not count :(((

personally i don't have any respect or sympathy for anyone who continues to give DC money after this. the organiser may have cancelled the boycott due to backlash from nonblack fans who were angry at not being centered for once, but this does not mean we should just shrug our shoulders & continue forking out money for mediocre releases from a company that refuses to make a commitment to Black creators and fans.

if you care about supporting Black creatives, seek out comics & graphic novels made by Black creators with publishers like Dark Horse, Image, Boom Studios, etc (please note that the creatives at Dark Horse are currently unionising & you can support their efforts here!) i know that some people still want to support DC releases made by Black creatives such as Jamal Campbell; i understand their reasoning, though i will not personally be supporting any DC projects. i would just urge people to keep their personal values in mind & consider the Black people in their community before they pull and/or buy any DC releases or renew their DCU Infinite subscriptions. and if people do continue to support DC, i don't want to see them acting like victims if Black people don't like or trust them.