Omitting Character History: Yes, No?

[Laura]

When you're making a shrine, what happens when there's a piece of your beloved character that you don't like?

Let me elaborate: I have a shrine to the Black Cat that I'm working on redesigning. It's fairly out of date so I want to bring it up to date with what's happened in the comics since 2004 (the site's last update). However, the reasons that she became "The Black Cat" have been retconned in a mini series that Kevin Smith did (Spider-Man & the Black Cat: Evil that Men Do). I won't go into details but the information that's revealed in this questionable series has seriously changed her origin story. Most people who review this mini series generally don't like it and neither do I.

Personally, I prefer to act like it never happened. It's never referenced outside of the mini series but Marvel's official profile on their site include it as part of her history. I usually don't like excluding important events like this but I have HUGE issues with it. I'm not sure what to do; one half of me says to exclude it and the other half says that even if I don't like it, it's now part of her official history according to their web site. It feels wrong to leave out any accurate information but the event is just so... wrong.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to address this problem? I feel like having a separate section altogether for it rather than including it in a origins section would make it difficult to follow. Maybe including it, and then also including some kind of link to a separate page that explains why I don't like it and the issues regarding it? Hmm. I'm open to anything at this point. :)

[Larissa]

I think what you've outlined in this post makes the most sense -- make a separate section to explain the issue and your stance on it, and briefly mention elsewhere if necessary that your site doesn't otherwise cover that material. I think because it's a comics site, it's particularly understandable, since comics are written by multiple authors over the years and end up with stories of varying quality, even if they're all technically "canon." It's perfectly fine to be critical of the stuff you like.

[dubiousdisc]

Personally when that happens I talk about it JUST TO SAY HOW MUCH I HATE IT. (Case in point).

Actually I am more likely to trust someone's analysis of something if I see that they also have some critique about it.

But yes, especially considered the dubious state of canon of this thing, I would absolutely put it in a separate page, and then rant away there. But that's only if you would like to talk about it at all, you know? If you really don't want, you could always give it a side mention in the origin page and say something like, there's this thing but its validity within the canon is questionable and personally I dislike it so much that I won't even touch it, and perhaps give some links to people who did review it. I say it's your site, your rules. But my main point is that I don't think that a fansite has to be ONLY gushing about your subject. You can criticize what you like, too!

...Aaaand I hit preview the very second that Larissa posted and realized that we wrote almost word by word the same thing. Hi there Larissa. :D

[nyxmidnight]

Hey, it's comic. You can ignore whatever you want. At least, that's what I've been told.

[Larissa]

...Aaaand I hit preview the very second that Larissa posted and realized that we wrote almost word by word the same thing. Hi there Larissa. :D

Hi dubs. :D Fancy seeing you here.

[Lethe]

Everything Larissa and dubiousdisc said (I THINK THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I'M WRITING THIS ON THIS FORUM). If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to, just say so on the index page or somewhere so that people aren't confused, or so that they are informed the thing exists.

But, as mentioned, I think it's all the more interesting to hear WHY you don't like it. I love reading criticism on things, and critically looking at a subject is a lovely thing to have on a shrine! A shrine needn't be all about "praise". (I make shrines so I can gush about things and talk about all the things that annoy me both.)

Anyway, I vote for separate section too! :D I don't think it'd be difficult to follow because, if you make a separate section for it, it's considered supplemental information, rather than part of the character's "history" section on a shrine.

@dubiousdisc: omg

I MENTIONED THIS BEFORE, but I would like to talk at more length about the horrible Borderlands: Origins comics. First of all, as a warning not to get them; they're shit, and this is not an opinion but a fact.

LOLOLOLOL quality shrine content

[Robin]

I agree with all the points above, and want to add that I took the prescribed approach with my Dove site. I chose to focus on "Prime Earth Dove" rather than "New Earth Dove," because I didn't care for all the weird retcons they toyed around with in the late 90s/early 00s...so I just made a note that I was only focusing on the 1988-1991 comic run on the front page of the site, as well as on my site info page. (However, I did address a particularly UGHHHH point about the New Earth Dove bullshit content in this essay, LOL.) So you could definitely handle the objectionable part of Black Cat's retcons like this if you wanted, even going further in depth than this.

[Laura]

Ah, thank you so much, everyone! :D I'm so happy to see so many awesome answers in the time I was AFK. <3

I think I will create an entirely separate page for "The Evil That Men Do" and talk about why I don't like it. Since it IS mentioned as being canon on several places, I think it's important to not omit it entirely from my site and you guys are right... it'd be a great opportunity to talk about why it's bad in relation to the Black Cat as a character.

IN FACT I WILL DO THIS RIGHT NOW. I just re-read the last few issues and I'm roiling!! Best make use of this energy and write and enthusiastic rant!! XD

BTW Robin, I don't blame you for focusing solely on one version of Dove. It seems like after a certain point, comics decided to not give a crap about any and all consistency. -_- I can't even say how many times after the 90's that Black Cat has her P.I. firm or not, or has powers or not... sigh.

[Mikari]

This reminds me of the 3rd Madoka movie, which I didn't like, and considering including it on a Homura site I had back then. Though I never got to that, my plan was to put it in a separate section and explain my thoughts about it, why I felt the way I did and how it affected what made me connect to the previous conclusion and Homura's character. Although not talking about it is fine too... so I'm basically repeating everyone else, including you. XD Anyway yeah... here's some extra encouragement. XD

[Laura]

Ahaha thank you, Mikari. xD I spent a couple hours the other night writing up a review about it! So I'm definitely just doing what you were thinking of doing; including it in a section of its own with my opinions on it. <3<3