* I guess you could say that I like Trickster-figures -- including mythological ones -- only when they are working for a higher purpose which is not immediately or possibly even never entirely obvious to those they trick. Real Tricksters are generally teachers. They often bring painful lessons, eg. force the prideful to develop humility (Anansi and the Lion's balls); other times they defy authority to help the weak (Raven and Prometheus both brought fire to humanity) often taking harsh punishments for it (Zeus bound Promethues to a rock where every day a bird savagely removes and eats his liver, which grows back by the next day, for eternity). What I don't like is pranksters, because they are bullies who harm and humiliate others for their own amusement.
I have to admit, until he went up against Neron the first time, I saw James Jesse as mostly a prankster and con-artist; he only became interesting to me when he started living up to the name Trickster. But, looking back over the old stories with that perspective in mind, it was always there in potential -- it depended on who was writing him. Hell, sometimes the same writer would have him be an goofball controlled by his compulsions one issue, a good guy with a zany sense of fun the next, and a canny manipulator with a near-instantaneous ability to divine how best to take advantage of the quirks of someone's psyche for both his own gain and that of the nearest costumed hero in the one after that. I point you to his appearences in Blue Devil for every example I had in mind writing that sentence, and a real rollercoaster in terms of James' portrayal.
I like him best when he means well but that fact isn't obvious until you look back -- the con-artist for good. Like Percy Blakeney! X3 And he really is brilliantly inventive to boot, much more versitile than most of the Rogues. (But I think Hartley is actually smarter.) But Trickster knows things. Inevitably more than you think he does.
* Hm. Hmmm. Difficult to say. I think even the relationships we see him have or want or reference having had are more friends-with-benefits. He can be romantic, but the problem is that you never know if you're dealing with the real James Jesse, or Giovanni Giuseppe, or what.
* I love his partnership with Piper. It's rocky at times, and James is probably of three minds over the fact that Hartley's best friends are really Wally and Linda, not him... mostly. I also liked his interaction with Selina Kyle. I like that when his old girlfriend Mindy Hong called him for help, he not only came a-runnin', he got a bunch of the Rogues in on it (although Piper was probably the only volunteer). I think he learned something important from Bart Allen, and I enjoyed his interaction with White Lightning and her Momma. I... am actually not too fond of his relationship with Blue Devil, mostly because of how inconsistant it is; sometimes Danny's a real jerkwad to James, and vice versa.
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Trickster pt1
Date: 2011-10-22 10:38 pm (UTC)I have to admit, until he went up against Neron the first time, I saw James Jesse as mostly a prankster and con-artist; he only became interesting to me when he started living up to the name Trickster. But, looking back over the old stories with that perspective in mind, it was always there in potential -- it depended on who was writing him. Hell, sometimes the same writer would have him be an goofball controlled by his compulsions one issue, a good guy with a zany sense of fun the next, and a canny manipulator with a near-instantaneous ability to divine how best to take advantage of the quirks of someone's psyche for both his own gain and that of the nearest costumed hero in the one after that. I point you to his appearences in Blue Devil for every example I had in mind writing that sentence, and a real rollercoaster in terms of James' portrayal.
I like him best when he means well but that fact isn't obvious until you look back -- the con-artist for good. Like Percy Blakeney! X3 And he really is brilliantly inventive to boot, much more versitile than most of the Rogues. (But I think Hartley is actually smarter.) But Trickster knows things. Inevitably more than you think he does.
* Hm. Hmmm. Difficult to say. I think even the relationships we see him have or want or reference having had are more friends-with-benefits. He can be romantic, but the problem is that you never know if you're dealing with the real James Jesse, or Giovanni Giuseppe, or what.
* I love his partnership with Piper. It's rocky at times, and James is probably of three minds over the fact that Hartley's best friends are really Wally and Linda, not him... mostly. I also liked his interaction with Selina Kyle. I like that when his old girlfriend Mindy Hong called him for help, he not only came a-runnin', he got a bunch of the Rogues in on it (although Piper was probably the only volunteer). I think he learned something important from Bart Allen, and I enjoyed his interaction with White Lightning and her Momma. I... am actually not too fond of his relationship with Blue Devil, mostly because of how inconsistant it is; sometimes Danny's a real jerkwad to James, and vice versa.
I love his enternal enmity to Neron. }3
* No comment.
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