616 Harry Osborn is such a unique character partially because he is composed of so many traits commonly derided, treated as jokes or used to turn a character into a one note gimmick in mainstream media yet he’s mostly (MOSTLY, I am glaring at a select few writers here) been written as someone we’re supposed to sympathize with, moreover someone who must learn to sympathize with himself
He’s far from conventionally attractive but is never mocked for it
He has no badass powers, yet his narrative is not about acquiring them but about how forcing them on himself is harmful. He’s not a genius or natural leader either, and he doesn’t need to be – His greatest asset is the love and gentleness in his heart
He’s a jumpy and effeminate man, but is never presented as lesser for it and must in fact accept himself, moreover accept that the people he cares for love and respect him as he is, in order to start healing from his childhood trauma.
He has a “scary” mental disorder, the handling of which has admittedly been dubious. But if nothing else, Harry gets to exist as a character who is kind and caring and deserving of love, who also happens to have schizophrenia. Not to mention that JMD has actually woven Harry’s condition into his goblinizing without using if as a direct cause, but rather as a contributing stress factor that accelerated a pre existing emotional issue.
Similarly, his substance abuse is rooted in his troubled upbringing and the emotional scars its left him with but is never played as “tragically beautiful” or “dark and sexy” (I could go on a whole nother tangent here about how 616 Harry defies the common troubled rich boy with daddy issues archetype in many ways)
I think all of these were pretty rare things to find in mainstream media for the time they were being written, and in many respects still are today. Finding all of them in one character who is so complex and well developed and iconic to the franchise on top of it is even more interesting
spiderman
have now talked to two (three, including myself) people who watched the Raimi movies without ever noticing that Curt Connors was missing an arm even though it’s very much visible, and he’s, like, shown closing a bottle with his teeth and using a hands-free headset to talk on the phone. Movies are so rarely Normal about physically disabled supporting characters that it doesn’t even blip the radar when done reasonably
There’s 2000s movie series by a famously body-horrory director, and there’s a 2010s movie series by a romcom director. Guess which one handled discussion of the antagonists’ physical and mental state with more nuance and compassion. Go on, guess.
Harry Osborn and Eugene “Frog-Man” Patilio: A ribbeting parallel — harryosborn.net
Eugene Patilio, a Z-list superhero who I was always quite fond of, showed up on She-Hulk last night! Well, sort of. That was #NotMyEugene, as Twitter might say. Others have pointed out that She-Hulk’s rich loser, amusing though he was, didn’t really have much in common with the Frog-Man of the comics, and was really […]
Harry Osborn and Eugene “Frog-Man” Patilio: A ribbeting parallel — harryosborn.net
I wrote this over at harryosborn.net and decided to post it here too! Sadly it only has two frog puns in it.
Comics, canon, fanfiction, mythology
Recent unpopular events in the Spider-Man comics (yes, even more of them) have got me thinking about the whole concept of ongoing comics as a storytelling medium. And then I have to stop and take out a word, because I don’t think what comics have at the moment is storytelling? Not in Marvel world, anyway, not sure about DC comics. If Spider-Man or Iron Man or Dr Strange aren’t allowed to grow in many significant ways, or to stay dead if they die, how can that ever work?
At the moment it feels like current comics “canon” is more just us the readers seeing people play with toys over and over again. There’s a lot of value in playing with toys, of course, but why should one person’s made up playtime story matter more than another’s? Can’t my fanfiction be canon too, especially in a world like Marvel’s where canon barely exists as is? Didn’t several of their characters fight in the Vietnam War until Marvel literally, and yes this is as bizarre as it sounds, replace the Vietnam War with a fictional war involving a sentient country? How on earth are you supposed to have a “canon” when stuff like that is going on?
At the moment it feels like Marvel comics are at best a testing ground for ideas that might make it into the MCU, and at worst a long and convoluted advertisement for Funko Pops and Fortnite skins. You can’t grow attached to any character because a retcon or shocking twist will inevitably happen and ruin them. You can’t appreciate your favorite toy because some other kid on the playground is going to rip it out of your hand and stomp on it, and good luck affording a new one. I’ve heard comics called modern mythology but they’re only mythology via capitalism, and thus not mythology at all, in the same way that a story which is forbidden to end cannot be a story.
Do fanfiction.
