Oh my ears and whiskers! A closer look at the White Rabbit
By RazzaTazz 21 Comments
This will hopefully be my last of such blogs breaking down the sexier approach of the new 52 at DC (that having been said like most such blogs this month there are spoilers ahead.). I thought overall this week was a lot better than the entire month at DC in its depiction of female characters, even with Voodoo being based in a strip club and seemingly every prostitute in 19th century Gotham being featured in the new Jonah Hex title. I was told by more than one that the White Rabbit in Batman: the Dark Knight was probably the worst portrayal of the week and so after finally reading it today I got to have a look. Overall I liked the issue as I felt the two new female characters were well intentioned introductions (though to be honest at this point it appears that they may be the same person). Anyway I thought I might break down the new character a little bit based on the one panel we saw and from what we know from the coming solicits.
Name - I am kind baffled with its association to Alice in Wonderland. Either it is a campy character who does crimes in the name of Lewis Carroll, like one of the characters from the 1960s Batman television show, or it is a name completely lacking in imagination as it bears a strong resemblance to the character in the novel. A name with rabbit in it doesn't necessarily associate well with a female character seeing as there is an association with the word "bunny" which is a synonym (and I don't know of any serious characters with bunny in their name)
Concept - I really like the concept of the character. For someone like Batman having as his adversary someone who cannot be caught is a great challenge for him. I am interested to see where they take this aspect of the character (although this doesn't really differ that much from other characters like Catwoman in terms of not being able to be caught.)
Costume - I can agree that the costume is kind of a weird one. With a character that cannot be caught, I would have hoped they be something like a super espionage agent and have something really practical. Instead the character has a plush bunny tail, Playboy bunny ears and high heels. The high heels alone in her outfit would make her quite easily catchable, and the rest of the costume itself is not really designed for speed. In terms of the costume itself, it does appear somewhat liberal in its lack of real protection, but contextually as far as comic book character costume go there is inherently nothing really wrong with it. She is about as dressed as Emma Frost was in her early days, and more so than Wonder Woman has been for the majority of her publication history.
Pose - Granted the character is supposed to be one that is running away and can't be caught, but it seemed like a convenient excuse here to put her is a kind of exploitative position
21 Comments