Oh, Good Grief...

This week, we've been witness to one of the strangest, most surrealistic Internet broohaha's to date: rabid fans attacking Avengers: Age of Ultron, and, in particular, director Joss Whedon, for the on-screen romance between comic book characters Black Widow and the Hulk. When I first heard there was a war going on over this, I thought it was a joke - oh, I was so wrong.

Joss Whedon has now officially left Twitter, presumably because of the neo-quasi-sortof-feminist venom being spit in his direction because - horror of horrors - a strong female character was shown to have *gasp* a love interest.

And, I mean, I completely see their point: it's ridiculous to give comic book heroes and heroines the capacity to care for one another. Right?

Good grief.

At the heart of their argument appears to be the idea that Black Widow doesn't need a man in her life.

What exactly is wrong with a highly skilled assassin (who regularly rides motorcycles out of airplanes and performs bone jarring acrobatics to deliver knock-out blows to bad guys) falling in love with a mad scientist (who occasionally turns mean and green)? Nothing. Hulk and Black Widow can do things people can't do, so why is it some sort of attack on women when they do something people have been doing since the dawn of time, i.e. falling in love?

Now, I feel a little silly taking comic book romance serious enough to write a blog post, but there's something deeper here. Somehow these wackos are trying to say there is something wrong with relationships in general. As a writer, that pisses me off.

I've written three books with a fourth on the way, and one thing that binds those books together is strong female characters. I draw from experience. I'm from the Appalachian Mountains: my Mom is a crack shot with a pistol, although her weapon of choice is the business end of a high heel, and my Grandmother regularly killed poisonous snakes with a hoe - always took the head off clean, never missed. She would've made a ninja proud.

All my strong female characters have a love interest, so do my strong male characters, because I believe that there is a love story at the heart of everything we write.

There are good relationships, and there are bad relationships. I've had both. The bad relationships weaken you, the good relationships make you stronger than you've ever been. Today, I have a partner in life, love, and crime, and, although I might not look like a comic book superhero, I sure feel like I'm dancing on air.

So, why wouldn't I want to write about that in a book? Granted, I write horror, so quite often it doesn't end well but, c'est la vie. It's the emotion that counts.

In any event, the people who objected so strongly to the Avengers romance missed the point. It's all about demographics. Why does Black Widow fall in love with Bruce Banner? Simple, kiddies - look at us comic book nerds.

Are we billionaire playboy Tony Stark with meticulously styled facial hair? No.
Are we demigod's with long flowing blond hair? Um, no.
Are we genetically enhanced super soldiers and natural born leaders? Nope.
Could we see ourselves as clumsy nerds who might accidentally turn ourselves into monsters, although we would still find ourselves socially awkward EVEN when we get mean and green? Yep.

The movie was making a statement, but not the one the narrative nazis want you to believe. The message is there's someone out there for you, even if you see yourself as a socially inept monster - although, there's no guarantee (or promise) that they won't be a sociopath or a knucklehead who will fly off in a quinjet in Act IV.

If there's somehow something wrong with that sentiment, please keep it to yourselves. The rest of us get it.