WTF: Continuity Snarl

I have no idea who Hawkman is, but just looking at that image and the caption and I can understand instantly what this trope is. It's a great image.

For my 2 cents, I think it works pretty well.

Also: fucking hell, what's with that description?

Throwing in my two cents with the folks who know nothing about Hawkman but still immediately get what the image is supposed to convey. It's a little on the freaky body horror side, so I wouldn't be against replacing it with a better one, but I don't think it oughta be pulled outright.

edited 6th Jan '12 11:29:55 PM by Pig_catapult

I still would like to know what actually happens in that issue. If it actually was due to this trope, then it would be perfect (and we could eve note it in the caption). If not, then it only shows the trope out of context.

Vote to pull.

Not only does it not show the trope, it also looks like ass.

Two more cents (the OP will be rich!): it's not great, not terrible. Keep unless someone has something better to suggest.

PS: I have heard the name Hawkman before but if you asked me to describe what he looks like I probably couldn't have. Effectively completely unfamiliar.

edited 7th Jan '12 5:09:41 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Vote to Keep Until Better Image Suggested!

I agree with Rodney and Auxdarastrix that we can look at the bigger picture—many a time IP members underestimate the audience's ability to understand a concept because we only consider that solitary part of the page.

In principle, anyway. In practice, this only works with images that are especially clever/beautiful but lack one or two elements we formally require in an image. If it's a mediocre image like this one, why bother using the holistic rule to save it?

Keep Until Better Image Suggested, but almost leaning towards pull. It's not that good of a metaphorical image.

edited 7th Jan '12 6:28:19 PM by Catalogue

It's different variatons of a charcters violently meshing with each other, it's a good metaphor.

If we could get a good image that isn't as freaky looking, that would be nice, but I think it dose an adaquate job at illustrating an abstract trope.

Actually, the freakiness kind of helps illustrate what a headache this trope can be.

I'll ask again. What is going on in the actual issue?

I think the problem is that whether or not the image fits the trope is heavily dependent on how each individual interprets it. If someone takes it literally, it looks like Body Horror of several people mashed together; if you take it metaphorically, it does a decent (although not amazing) job of showing the trope.

The fact that it CAN be taken literally or metaphorically means that it's a bad image. It should be clear what the intended meaning is.

Image pickin is picky beyond reason to me. Continuity Snarl isn't exactly an indicative title to begin with, so its not like any image is going to automatically bingo. Then you read the description("conflicting plot lines" is what the laconic should be but I digress) see conflicting plot lines then see the picture of multiple different guys and there ya go.

Does anybody know what happens in that actual issue?

It's an issue from after I stopped reading Hawkman, but a synopsis from comics.org: "Bewildered, confused and on the brink of madness, Hawkman is approached by the force behind the chaos of UNDERWORLD... a man who has a deal that Hawkman may not be able to refues. [per next issue box]"

It's both playing with the Continuity Snarl, as Golden Age and Modern Age Hawkman are depicted, along with the Shining Knight and Western hero Nighthawk, who were previous incarnations of Hawkman.

http://www.comics.org/issue/167582/

Underworld Unleashed was about Neron, a DC Satan stand-in, offering various people "deals with the devil." The deal may actually have had something to do with unsnarling his continuity.... ah, it did indeed, according to a rather good page on The Other Wiki:

Hawkman - One of his "Hawk-Avatar" spirits sold its soul to gain ascendance over the other avatars also resident in his body, but failed (Underworld Unleashed #2)(Hawkman vol 3 #27);

If we keep this, a better caption would certainly be in order.

That doesn't say "his plotlines and contradictions got involved". It says "multiple selves fighting for dominance". It does not indicate that the various avatars are due to continuity snarls.

Whether or not anything ever, the Laconic should be rewritten.

Trust me, that's what it means. The "Avatars" are actually artifacts of previous continuities and versions of the character that got all merged together.

OK but anyone who doesn't read Hawkman isn't going to know that. They're just going to see a bunch of bodies crashing together and think it's some kind of experiment gone wrong.

So we (a) need to make it clear in the trope example that what is going on is the trope, and (b) try to also make it clear in the caption that this is an event that is actually related to the trope.

The Hawkman image is... okay. Not bad enough to remove without replacement. If you don't like it (and I am with you!), suggest something better. Two pages of thread and no suggestions.

edited 8th Jan '12 2:18:57 PM by rodneyAnonymous

I did suggest a custom image of some events in boxes, and connection arrows going all over the place.

"I think there should be more fish" is also a suggestion, but it's not what I was talking about.