>Christopher Priest Writes About DC Comics, Censorship, Sex, Religion And Birth Control
>The next issue of Deathstroke, #20, is unique in that it breaks several longstanding comics taboos against (a) religion (Satanism is fine, can’t talk in any genuine way about God or, heaven forbid, Christ), (b) same-gender relationships (the super-villain is both a follower of Christ, a villain, and gay), and most absurdly (c) women’s feminine health issues (we are not allowed to mention or depict women going through their monthly cycle).
>comics taboos against (a) religion (Satanism is fine, can’t talk in any genuine way about God or, heaven forbid, Christ) For real? There have been several comics involving Jesus and God. Like, the stuff with Lucifer and Michael and all them, for example, doesn't fall under this?
Juan Jackson
>(c) women’s feminine health issues (we are not allowed to mention or depict women going through their monthly cycle). HOLY MENSTRUATION BATMAN
Owen Garcia
Priest truly gives no fucks
Lincoln Edwards
See, it's not that you're not allowed to talk about a woman's cycle, it's just that no one wants to dwell on a woman's monthly chunky salsa.
Liam Jenkins
Why is Priest so based?
Lucas Carter
>Next issue, the “Lazarus Contract” epilogue, includes all of the above. I have _no_ idea why I’m not fired.
>I am genuinely impressed with how progressive DC has become. The last time I mentioned a woman’s menstrual cycle was Black Canary #8, circa 1988(?) where I gave Dinah Lance her period. There were meetings and memos and editor Denny O’Neil fretted over the decision and had to get permission. And we could not refer to it directly but obliquely as Dinah’s “bad mood.”
>So, with Deathstroke #20, I am left to presume either DC has become much more progressive, or, nobody noticed. Which means maybe I *am* about to get fired.
>Conservative Christians will likely love and hate next issue at the same time. Our theme is redemption and closure as we wrap up most Year One storylines. But the messaging is imperfect as are the relationships, both of which present complex inquiries into our existence and purpose as well as confronting the question and relevance of God, however each of us see or interpret God.
>I really did expect a phone call telling me they burned the script and I’d have to start over. But, not a word changed and out the door it went.
Jace Wright
>For real? There have been several comics involving Jesus and God. Like, the stuff with Lucifer and Michael and all them, for example, doesn't fall under this? Historically the big 2 weren't keen on anything that night get controversial In their mainstream books so you'd get Neron and Mephisto in their superhero stuff and Lucifer etc in other lines like Vertigo.
Sometimes they dip their toes into religion and show God as Kirby or a Scottie dog.
Leo Russell
They talk about "The Presence" but they don't call him God. Mostly because pissing off the Abrahamic religions is a very bad idea commercially.
Jesus doesn't show up at all though.
Sebastian Adams
DC was literally publishing a Judas book too a couple of years ago. It's not as big of a deal, but you probably generally have to be careful with some things.
Aiden Miller
>I’ve asked DC Comics to send a preview copy to Christianity Today. No word yet on if they’ve done so. But I’d really like comics to take more and greater chances and to expand our audience beyond the traditional market. There are *billions* of dollars– with a “B” –to be made in the evangelical market. It mystifies me as to why neither DC nor Marvel are in it.
>I doubt any Christian bookstore would carry Deathstroke #20, mainly because it questions religion as much as embraces it. With traditional Christian bookstore chains, there’s a certain quantity of Kool-Aid that must be consumed, which misses the mark of Christ’s message by about a mile.
>Great art, great books and great music are typically banned from these chains which insist on a kind of inoffensive rounding off of reality and adherence to an evangelical message. In my experience, questioning my faith has only strengthened it.
>Deathstroke #20 is surely not an evangelical tool, it is just another issue of a comic book about an itinerant murderer. The Christian theme is just that–the theme of this issue, just as gun violence was the theme of #11.
>As with all good writing, the point is not to tell you what to think or even what to do, but to get the conversation started. Deathstroke #20 will most certainly accomplish that.
>Really grateful to DC, seriously, for confounding my expectations of censorship.
Tyler Sanchez
Well, he's among other things a literal priest; so he has, like, Divine Authorization and the publisher won't stop him.
Asher King
>Legendary comic book writer Christopher Priest, currently on Deathstroke for DC and Catalyst Prime for Lion Forge, writes for Bleeding Cool.
sorry for the slow posting, had connection problems
Chase Reyes
I love lil Peeg. She has to know that medically birth control pills are used to treat things and not literally only for birth control, but she can't deal. She's such a kid.
Jackson Peterson
>Mostly because pissing off the Abrahamic religions is a very bad idea commercially. Is it really though? Other shows and movies have depicted God without being panned or cancelled. Even Supernatural does it, and kind of makes the figures all too human, and still gets away with it. And I'm fairly certain Jesus has appeared. Even if not, the Phantom Stranger I think was Judas in the New 52 so there's that.
Jack Cox
Kek I forgot about this. So he's a priest, a bus driver, and a comic book writer? Anything else?
Brody Torres
>I am genuinely impressed with how progressive DC has become. See, You-know-who, this is how you do progressive.
Gavin Martinez
>pic D-did that mean Slade hit it?
Luis Perez
Man I really hop Priest sticks around in DC. His no-bullshit way of integrating complex issues into comics without sacrificing the quality of storytelling could be the answer to Marvel's rampant, poorly conceived SJWing.
Julian Parker
She just said she doesn't do that!!
Chase Fisher
it clearly says she has ovarian cysts and did nothing lewd
Alexander Perry
A musician, I think? Or a music producer?
Justin Cooper
Comic books aren't as widespread though, so they've got to be more careful. Now does that mean people would actually care if DC were to slander religion or something? Maybe not but if you're the editor at DC you've got to take people's reactions into account.
Jaxson Gray
he's doing an Inhumans mini for Marvel
Christian Nelson
we don't deserve him
Carson Rogers
> black woman is confounded by the idea of birth control.
Luke Taylor
I swear one of the books I pull had periods as a minor plot point in an issue some time in the past month, but I can't recall which one. I'm gonna dig through what I've got out and try to find it.
Brayden Reed
Is it the one that just started last month with Black Bolt in a prison? I never paid attention to the writers. First issue was good though.
Aaron Bennett
No it doesn't start until August.
Jonathan Evans
I guess I was thinking that if a show like Lucifer (which is based on his Vertigo series) could turn him into a heroic good guy who solves crimes and still have pretty good success, then no one (relatively) would blink an eye at comic book writers messing around with religion in their funny books. I get what you're saying about needing to take people's reactions into account though.
Jose Roberts
The world needs more digital reprints of Priest books.
Jose Gonzalez
>New Peej is a christ-fag Huh. Was NOT expecting that.
Charles Martinez
more like >Christian girl can't process that birth control pills can be and are used for more than preventing pregnancy
Brayden Sanchez
I know. But I'm choosing to ignore that because >inhumans.
Asher Price
pretty sure in the first issue they showed her singing in a choir
Carter Peterson
Here we go. Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye has Wild Dog getting a bullet wound patched up with a tampon.
Dylan Lee
Which is kind of weird given that she's supposed to be one of the smartest people on the planet. It sort of implies that christians lose the capacity to think critically when their beliefs are concerned.
William Scott
It think it's more the "only sluts would take this" stigma than her not literally knowing it.
Bentley Perez
Priest has made it very clear that she's still very much a kid and therefore naive about a lot of things. She might intellectually know that birth control is used for more, but she still unconsciously associates it only with preventing pregnancy because of stigma from her faith and upbringing.
Intelligence=/=Wisdom
Luke Russell
NRA member.
Liam Diaz
>black girl >one of the smartest people on the planet >turns out to be an idiot Priest, you card.
Jonathan Hernandez
They're not completely unmentioned. Like I remember a joke in Runaways about Nico not needing to cut herself to use her staff because she was on her period.
Actual medical reality tends to get skipped over though outside of pregnancy, so this is a little different in his mind I guess.
Nathan Morris
It's refreshing that Priest actually writes her as a kid as opposed to the 100 million kid genius over at Marvel who are the "new wave" and act like 30 year olds in 10 year old bodies.
Jace King
Wait you mean screaming "MENSTRUATION" and "LET'S TALK ABOUT TAMPONS!!!!" randomly every two minutes without it having any bearing on the plot ISN'T the way to start an actual conversation about women's health? Who woulda thunk!
Colton Baker
she's extremely booksmart and very naive and a teenager, I'm glad she's dumb about some stuff and not perfect and better than everyone else like a lot of teen genius characters are written
Alexander Rivera
No, she has POS it just means she has cysts in her ovaries and it fucks with her hormonal balances amd Birth control pills help some cases of POS.
I knew a girl who had that, she was cute but super insecure because POS usually makes girls really hairy since the estrogen they get is less.
They also have irregular and painful periods and tend to put on more weight too if they aren't careful with what they eat.
Grayson Nelson
Priest is a hack and Deathstroke is overrated.
Cooper Price
k
Connor Green
A nigger.
Benjamin Edwards
Deathstroke quoting scriptures is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen in a comic.
Is he going to recruit his entire team by preaching to them?
Jose Collins
>implying I'm wrong He's also a self hating nigger
Ryan Ward
that's nice
Matthew Ross
you two are edgier than Tony Daniel's Deathstroke
Xavier Sanders
no, he's going to appeal to them all differently because he's a master manipulator
lure Terra with his dick and Wally with fried chicken, for example
Jace Morales
Not an argument.
Blake Adams
Now I know you are underage
Aaron Cox
Nah, birth control isn't actually just used for birth control. It has other medical uses, my sister has to regularly take them for example.
Daniel Jackson
I thought the same thing during the Rebirth announcement but here we are, with Deathstroke being the best rebirth book by far
Jaxon Fisher
correct, it was an observation
John James
Wel, he already hit Terra who has younger
Brandon Turner
This reminds me of that stupid comic collaboration that came around Orlando.
Brandon Rogers
>assault rifle
Kek.
Nathan Turner
As Catholic Italian, I find Christians in the USA mostly a bunch of nuts.
Julian Smith
Priest actually did a gun control issue of Deathstroke though
Aaron Lopez
It's just the ones you'll hear about on TV that act like cults that are fucking insane. Most are normal.
Brandon Clark
That's because most of them are.
Blake Perry
even the "normal" ones... either are very(too much) religious or basically atheist.
Them lot should really learn moderation.
Jason Rogers
>Go on Christopher Priest's wikipedia page >An urban Gospel song recorded by Priest in 1985 (then known as Jim Owsley). Although best known for comics writing, he has pursued music and Christian ministry for decades.
>Priest is an ordained Baptist minister >In my experience, questioning my faith has only strengthened it.
This gon be good
Brandon Kelly
I can't recall religious references in comics ever being very taboo, particularly in DC where a significant part of its cosmology/lore draws from it.
>Most powerful entity is quite literally Abrahamic God (The Voice/Presence) >Phantom Stranger implied to be Judas >Lucifer/Michael making appearances >The Spectre is an outlet for God's wrath/vengeance, was once an angel that rebelled in Heaven >Various demons act as villains/antiheroes like Etrigan, Neron or Satanus
Levi Williams
Because he works on his craft, and because he holds to basic quality and ethical principles, and is willing to sit out of the industry for fucking YEARS to get a chance to write a good story.
Kevin Bell
Vertigo is a different weight class. And in Vertigo's case, people literally got arrested for selling their books at one point.
Tyler Butler
Vertigo has different standards
and in PS and the Spectre's case, >implying is the best they'll get
Camden Sanders
Reminder that Mockingbird and Faith are up for Eisners for best new book against Deathstroke.
Jackson Barnes
>(c) women’s feminine health issues (we are not allowed to mention or depict women going through their monthly cycle). I guess Priest is not reading Marvel.
Cooper Martin
Marvel isn't DC
Jonathan Hughes
that's just using the word there's not mention or showing of someone actually going through it
but there are exceptions to what he's talking about
Colton Taylor
But mentioning is actually worse than showing.
Priest was allowed to show Black Canary going through a menstrual cycle, but without mentioning it.
Josiah Brown
I'm trying to say using a word out of context is different from using it to apply to an actual situation canonically happening
Michael Hughes
That's just supposed to be a joke. Besides Priest is used to the industry of 15 years ago and publishers since then have matured a lot. Now the main battles behind the scenes are if something is marketable or not as apposed to what kind of boundaries you are supposed to push with your content.
Dominic Smith
Being smart does not mean you know everything. No matter what, there will be something you don't know because learning never stops
Carson Sanchez
Uh, have you never heard religious conservatives talking abouts their believes on female sexuality? You have classics like "the woman body has an internal mechanism that automatically terminates rape pregnancies."
When it comes to sex, American gung ho Christians are fucking retarded. They will object safe sex education entirely on muh morality grounds even though numbers show only teaching abstinence programs increases teen pregnancies. There's also a lot of higher than thou hypocrisy involved, like whenever a female abstinence on religious grounds advocates are caught being pregnant themselves, it's always "oh, but it's totally different with ME having unprotected sex, I still think abstinence is the way to go when its other people"
Ryan Hill
>You have classics like "the woman body has an internal mechanism that automatically terminates rape pregnancies." The USA have religious congressman saying that.
Jayden Reyes
Reminder that Mockingbird mention women going through their monthly cycle. And Priest wants to compete
Joseph Stewart
Reminder that Mockingbird implies that only weak women are raped. And Priest wants to compete.
Michael Ross
>There are *billions* of dollars– with a “B” –to be made in the evangelical market. It mystifies me as to why neither DC nor Marvel are in it.
Because no one with a brain would touch anything that panders to those freaks.
Cameron Davis
Agreed. The last thing the Big Two need is making Chick tracts.
Lucas Wood
Actual taboos are anti semitism, anti Islam, anti gay and anti government that's why they don't dare break them but they are breaking the other "taboos" every other week what a bunch of cowards
Bentley Johnson
>hate speech is taboo
wew lad hate speech is hate speech, that's why no one with a brain would present any argument with it
Blake Roberts
Paktion Comics was pretty firmly anti-government
Justin Powell
>anti Islam >hate speech
Joshua Richardson
>Why is Priest so based? He's had time to learn who to piss off and who not to. Also as Spider-Man editor he's the man who brought Peter David into the fold (firing Archie Goodwin to do so) when he was still not well known.
As a writer he's one of the last of his generation, who understands the medium for what it's supposed to be and not as a dumbed down screenplay format. His frequent absences have kept him from burning out like most others of his seniority.
He's also ridiculously literate, Shooter drafted him out of the New School for Social Research when he could have gotten a job writing or editing for an actual New York publication because Shooter knew the field needed people like him.
Joseph Lopez
It was a Catholic Italian that started the trend of flooding us with Mexicans.
Thomas Moore
"Even ___ _____ may quote Scripture."
>a literal priest Minister, please.
Chase Davis
All moderation gets you is muslims driving trucks over your children.
Camden Cook
>most absurdly (c) women’s feminine health issues (we are not allowed to mention or depict women going through their monthly cycle) Mockingbird already did that, though. There is no "taboo" to be broken anymore.
Leo Morales
>same-gender relationships There are a ton of gay relationships in big two comics now, though. There have been going back decades.
Zachary Price
just because someone else broke the taboo doesn't mean the taboo is gone
Brayden Jackson
Dude give it up, you lost your job drawing X-Men, move on.
