In defense of Blaze Rize (against her prosecutor, Ray Toler)
In the 12/15 strip, Ray Toler posted a lengthy diatribe against Blaze Rize. By the time he did this, I was too busy elsewhere to reply right away, and when I had a chance to look at it, I realized any defense I could make would be quite lengthy, and I didn’t feel like doing that for a strip where Blaze didn’t appear and wasn’t mentioned by name. But for this strip, she’s here, she’s queer, and I’m going to do it now.
”I’m just pointing out that she may not be as innocent as she is now being portrayed. I do not feel sorry for her or believe she is due sympathy yet. When DT baddies turn good, I need proof of the change.”
Curtis has consistently depicted Blaze sympathetically since the second half of the 2012 Mr. Crime story, i.e., since the first story she had a major role in. Since that time she’s done nothing hateful and plenty that was sympathetic. She tried to get Davey Mylar out of the Mr. Crime hq safely during a police raid. When that failed and Davey died, she gently broke the news to his mom, telling her he died a hero and leaving her money. She paid for Davey’s funeral. She showed sympathy for Doubleup when he revealed he was bullied as a kid She tried to talk Notta Fallar out of her revenge scheme. She only took part in it when Notta literally physically forced her to. She showed compassion for Notta’s brother Purdy. If Blaze wasn’t entirely virtuous, she was clearly shown to be capable of empathy.
In defense of Blaze Rize (against her prosecutor, Ray Toler)
In the 12/15 strip, Ray Toler posted a lengthy diatribe against Blaze Rize. By the time he did this, I was too busy elsewhere to reply right away, and when I had a chance to look at it, I realized any defense I could make would be quite lengthy, and I didn’t feel like doing that for a strip where Blaze didn’t appear and wasn’t mentioned by name. But for this strip, she’s here, she’s queer, and I’m going to do it now.
”I’m just pointing out that she may not be as innocent as she is now being portrayed. I do not feel sorry for her or believe she is due sympathy yet. When DT baddies turn good, I need proof of the change.”
Curtis has consistently depicted Blaze sympathetically since the second half of the 2012 Mr. Crime story, i.e., since the first story she had a major role in. Since that time she’s done nothing hateful and plenty that was sympathetic. She tried to get Davey Mylar out of the Mr. Crime hq safely during a police raid. When that failed and Davey died, she gently broke the news to his mom, telling her he died a hero and leaving her money. She paid for Davey’s funeral. She showed sympathy for Doubleup when he revealed he was bullied as a kid She tried to talk Notta Fallar out of her revenge scheme. She only took part in it when Notta literally physically forced her to. She showed compassion for Notta’s brother Purdy. If Blaze wasn’t entirely virtuous, she was clearly shown to be capable of empathy.
tbc