Graveyard Ghoul

I’m going to preface this by stating that any critique I have will be presented as constructively as possible. I understand that Rogues! is, largely, a one man show. While personally I find that one of its biggest faults, I’m cognizant of the fact that I’m still critiquing the work of a (relatively, in relation to the media it’s derivative of) small creator, and thus a bit more tact would work in my best interest. So, as a prelude to the much more extensive critique of the podcast I have brewing, we’re gonna tackle the one thing that, even upon my first listen of the podcast, gave me a bit of…concern. The depiction of Waylon Jones.

I think another thing that I need to make clear is that I am not new to DC media. Rogues! was not my introduction into Batman, as it seems to be a trend among the fandom that I’ve seen. While there is nothing wrong with that, I think it’s important that I explain the lens from which I’m filtering this podcast through. I am very familiar with these characters and the plots Codot references therein. I shouldn’t have to state that, but I’m doing it anyway just as a bit of context for where I’m coming from when I say that I think that Codot’s particular portrayal of Waylon is problematic at best, and just flat out racist at worst. 

A little bit of a refresher for those that either don’t know or can’t remember. Waylon Jones, aka Killer Croc, is depicted in Codot’s podcast as not only largely illiterate, but also seemingly intellectually deficient, in a way that brings to mind Lennie Small from of Mice and Men, or more directly, John Coffey from the Green Mile. He plays deeply into the tropes of the dumb muscle, dim-witted hillbilly, and kindhearted simpleton. While, at least the former, are not new characterizations for Waylon, the issue arises when all three of these tropes are applied to a black man whose only purpose within the narrative is to be a vehicle for the more intelligent (and overwhelmingly white) main characters’ development. And lackluster development at that, which I don’t think comes even remotely close to justifying this depiction of him. 

Generally speaking in media outside of the podcast, Waylon tends to be characterized close to the trope of dumb muscle but not entirely within it, given the animalistic tendencies and looks he often has. He’s big, he’s brutish, and though he’s not the smartest Batman Rogue by a long shot, he isn’t stupid, either; he’s cunning, and despite often being very vindictive, is quite competent. Within the general canon, Waylon is not mentally deficient by any means. He’s just an average guy, however when compared to the hyper-intellectual members of the Rogues Gallery, he can sometimes seem like the dim-witted brute that newer fans tend to pigeon-hole him as. I feel it is very important for me to note, and insist even, that he isn’t that. Waylon is a very interesting intersection of identities that is extremely easy for someone who, quite frankly, has no exposure to or real knowledge of any of them to get wrong. During my tenure in the DC fandom at large, which expands close to two decades at this point, I’ve noticed a trend that fans, especially more recently, have started aligning him with the simple southerner tropes. Though he has always had some kind of Southern accent (it varies from actor to actor, depending on the series lore, though originally he is Floridian), it’s been more of a trend to associate said accent with the assumption that he must also be unintelligent, as so many non-southerners tend to do. Couple this with the fact that he is more often than not a black man from the south, a hyper marginalized identity already, as well as a man with a physical deformity that left him even more marginalized on top of that…well, it’s certainly not a great look. 

That is to say, I don’t think that Codot meant to be, frankly, racist in his portrayal of the character. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt on that, at least. However, it is obvious that in his attempt at some sort of commentary on race and class, it falls hilariously flat as the narrative itself makes no real attempt to actually engage with these concepts outside of acknowledging they exist. Why would Waylon need to be made illiterate, playing heavily into the harmful “southern poor black people are uneducated” stereotype, when it’s not made relevant to the story as a whole? There are better ways to make him empathetic, and on a greater scale of the story, humanize Edward through him, without feeding into such stereotypes. Edward claims to respect him as an intellectual, but that is not what it comes across as during their conversations. It sounds like Ed is talking to him like a child; not quite condescending, but there is a level of talking down and flattering platitudes that gives the impression that he’s doing it more for his own ego than anything else, and frequently brushes on White Saviorism (particularly in S0605). 

Honestly, the frequent themes of White Saviorism around Waylon is the majority of the reason why I think the way he’s characterized in the podcast is such an issue. His relationship with Dick isn’t quite that, but it does lean too much into the Mammy trope for my liking, especially with how Waylon describes Dick as being his “boy” in a paternal manner; although the way that Waylon is often used as an emotional filter for the people around him also speaks to this. Waylon being a part of a circus in his younger years is not new, but when implemented, is typically a commentary on how non-white and disabled people were presented as oddities or exotic creatures for the entertainment of white people, and in particular, black men’s bodies were (and still are) othered and viewed through the lens of how big and strong they are. Waylon’s only two purposes within the podcast seem to be cooperative muscle in service to the more “sophisticated” characters, and provider of emotional labor to those same characters that serves to only advance their development rather than his. Rogues!, in my opinion, does not have very strong development of any of the characters outside of Edward and Jonathan (and even theirs isn’t all that strong, but that is part of a larger conversation I don’t have time for here), and unfortunately that fact deeply affects the way that Waylon is perceived. I feel like, with a bit more exploration, that issue can be fixed; but not without a lot of legwork in understanding and addressing the problems that are currently there.