Excalibur #114
“For the One I Love”
Writer: Ben Raab
Penciler: Pete Woods
Inks: Scott Koblish
Colours: Kevin Tinsley
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft & Kiff Scholl
Editors: Kelly Corvese & Jason White
Original publication date: November 1997
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″] [/et_pb_code][et_pb_button button_url=”https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/8579/excalibur_1988_114″ url_new_window=”on” button_text=”marvel unlimited link” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”14px” button_text_color=”#FFFFFF” button_bg_color=”#ef00db” button_border_width=”8px” button_border_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” button_letter_spacing=”2px” button_font=”Nunito|700||on|||||” button_use_icon=”off” custom_margin=”30px|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” hover_enabled=”0″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”0px” box_shadow_vertical=”25px” box_shadow_blur=”45px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(148,166,191,0.25)” global_colors_info=”{}” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” sticky_enabled=”0″][/et_pb_button][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”My Books Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”23px|||||” custom_padding=”100px||100px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”-78px|auto||auto||” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||7px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]Pete Wisdom is a right bastard in Excalibur #114, “For the One I Love.” But that’s good news for returning guest Dr. Keith Friedlander, current president of the Pete Wisdom Haters Society! We talk gendered violence and representations of BDSM in and around a sequence that made some of us angrier than we’ve been in a while. Also! We see the painting! And coin a new trope about the very real thing every woman actually wants.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="26px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On gendered violence:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/114_humiliation.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“I would argue that the violence she subjects him to is very different than the violence he subjects her to. The latter is more about gendered humiliation.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On insinuations:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/114_slap.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“Sari looks scared here—like she’s acting out a trained response to someone doing this before… with the implication that he’s done this before.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="-16px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On kink:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/114_bdsm.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" custom_padding="0px|||||" global_colors_info="{}"]“Raab is trying to insinuate that they had rough sex, and Pete was the sub… But he doesn’t understand the BDSM community.” -Mav
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On bad guys:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/114_wisdom-likeable.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“I get Pete is supposed to be unlikeable, but there’s unlikeable in a useful way, and unlikeable in a way that makes me question why this character is being treated like an identifiable protagonist.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On gendered tropes:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/114_psycho-ex.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“The story kind of boils down to that ‘psycho ex-girlfriend’ trope, which is very misogynistic, and problematic, and dated.” -Keith
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="Om excess:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/114_excess.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“The 90s was often a time of complete excess in superhero comics, and we make fun of it for that… But anytime there’s an aesthetic movement in a medium—that’s worth studying.” -Keith
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="20px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_team_member name="Want more Keith Friedlander?" image_url="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/16_keith.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" link_option_url="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/A+Companion+to+Literature%2C+Film%2C+and+Adaptation-p-9781118312049" link_option_url_new_window="on" global_colors_info="{}"]Find him on Bluesky, @friedkeith.bsky.social
And! Check out his fabulous book chapter “Parents, Counterpublics, and Sexual Identity in Young Avengers” in Anna’s edited collection Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero.
You can also read more of Keith’s insights into superheroes and gender politics in his article for The Middle Spaces on the MCU’s Thanos: “Despite the Genocide: Deconstructed Masculinity and Thanos Fandom.”
And! Keith is the past President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics – aka the organization through which Anna, Andrew, and Keith all met for the first time! They hold yearly events and regular symposiums, and the membership is a mix of academics, fans, and critics; it’s also very reasonably priced (with a free option for the financially challenged). If you’re not up for joining the society, you can still follow them and the work of the society’s members on Twitter! (@ComicsBD)
[/et_pb_team_member][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-107px|||||” custom_padding=”80px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-63px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]And as usual:
You can find Anna on Twitter (@peppard_anna) and at Sequential Scholars (@seqscholars).
You can find Andrew on Twitter (@ClaremontRun) and at Sequential Scholars.
You can find Mav on Twitter (@chrismaverick) and on his podcast, VoxPopcast (@VoxPopcast).
Enjoy!
-GGW Team
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