On Mirage: After Reading the Arc
Okay so I finally reached that infamous set of panels, and theyāre terrible for sureā¦
But honestly I think the lead up is worse. Note, prior to all of this, that these events are usually used to paint Dick as a cheater.
We have Dick begging for Kory not to leave him during a fight (context is not important for this; just that Dick is uncomfortable AF being around Mirage right now):
And Mirageās face. I fucking hate her. Jesus Christ.
But then the very next panel she jumps on Nightwing. After Dick made his disinterest very, very clear. I would not get this close to a lover in the early stages, let alone a stranger, let alone a stranger who has stood their ground about how uncomfortable they are in prior issues. His discomfort with Mirage has been building for half an arc by now.
You can see him shove her off. He does not want this. It has never been made more clear that a person is not consenting. I have watched mandatory sexual harassment training for my job that is less obvious. But she just doesnāt let it go.
Dickās abject disgust at the whole situation is horrible.
And it is in this context, right after, that the first panels above are shown.
It is after Dick has made it unequivocally obvious that he does not want Mirage to touch him, after physically forcing her off him and telling her that sheās crazy and he doesnāt want her, that he is called a slut.
Mirage is now on my top 5 ops. I legit didnāt think it was this bad until now. Like I knew it was bad, but I figured it was one of those things where you could kind of imagine a writer from the 80s not intending this to be interpreted as assault because of time-appropriate misogyny or something.
No. This is undeniable assault by the standards of any era. There is not even the implication of consent, retroactive or otherwise. This is horrible.
