Warning: this comic is NSFW and contains nudity, violence, and intense sardonic content. Reader discretion is advised.
It should come to no surprise to anyone familiar with Michael Poe’s comics that occasionally they push the boundaries of good taste. Today’s Does Not Play Well With Others is a perfect example, with a battered and bruised Jordan making an appearance in the comic mentioning that her boyfriend was responsible for her bruises… but that she did deserve it a little. And when the waitress questions this sentiment, Jordan proceeds to explain that she’s a super villain who was attacking the Governor of Virginia at the time using a tank that resembled… well, let’s just say it was offensive and in poor taste and leave it at that.
Add in the fact that he doesn’t know she’s a super villain (so the attack wasn’t against her, but against her villainous identity) and you have a comic that absolves all blame for an attack that left Jordan bruised and hurting as the girl’s responsibility, which is basically a slap in the fact of quite a few instances of domestic abuse. Though let’s be honest; this isn’t the worst thing that Poe’s drawn, especially when you consider one of the main characters of the comic is a man-eating Naga and the other is a witch who has blown up several buildings.
Oddly enough, I must admit that there is an aspect to this specific comic that I enjoyed: the fact that Poe depicted consequences for events in a previous comic (especially one that happened six months ago for the reader). I’ve long been a proponent for consequences in comics, and here we see that Jordan’s double-life as a super villain has bitten her in the ass (or at the very least booted her to the head). Interestingly, Poe’s started coloring the comics for the past couple of weeks (which helped drive home how battered Jordan looked); hopefully he’ll keep doing the colors, no matter how much he hates them at the moment.