Alex DeWitt
28 years ago - Alex DeWitt is born in New York.
11 years ago -17-year-old Alex DeWitt attends college, studying photojournalism.
7 years ago - 21-year-old Alex DeWitt graduates and takes a position at Cat Magazine in LA. She meets Kyle Rayner, and they start dating.
5 years ago - 23-year-old Alex DeWitt, on the verge of breaking up with Kyle Rayner, agrees to stay with him when he shows that he's been given the last Green Lantern Ring, trying to encourage him to take the responsibility seriously and become a hero. They witness an attack by Bito Wladon who has escaped prison and attacked the Modoran royal heir in L.A. They try to help bystanders. Alex is injured but she insists that he keep fighting, sacrificing herself to allow him to do so.
We really never hear much about Alex DeWitt other than the incredibly tragic end of her story. That's understandable, it was one of the most infamous moments in comics, so much so that it illustrated a problem that had been pervasive through much of its history, whether it was Barbara Gordon in the Killing Joke, Black Canary in Longbow Hunters, or hundreds of others. The fact that Alex was the one who finally brought this problem to light probably makes her one of the most important characters of her era.
Still, you do kind of miss out if all you ever see of her is that one moment. She was a likeable character, and the relationship between her and Kyle was both important and a lot of fun. What we'd really like to do, then, is find a way to depict that relationship and the role Alex plays in Kyle's story, while trying to do something to resolve one of the most glaringly problematic moments in comics.
Still, you do kind of miss out if all you ever see of her is that one moment. She was a likeable character, and the relationship between her and Kyle was both important and a lot of fun. What we'd really like to do, then, is find a way to depict that relationship and the role Alex plays in Kyle's story, while trying to do something to resolve one of the most glaringly problematic moments in comics.
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Alex DeWitt's Comic HistoryAlex appeared for the first time in the very same issue as Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern #48 in 1994, right in the middle of the Emerald Twilight arc, the two of them lounging on the beach while Hal Jordan was off losing his marbles. When Kyle was handed the last Green Lantern ring, practically the first thing he did was go to Alex, who we discover has recently dumped him because of his irresponsibility. Seeing how the ring seems to have given him a newfound sense of purpose, she agrees to give him another chance.
What basically unfolds is several issues of origin story, as Kyle explores what being Green Lantern looks like, and the whole time Alex was right there, keeping him grounded and focused, helping him start to become the hero he had the potential to be. Then, a few issues later, she was killed by a villain looking to steal the ring. It was brutal and way too graphic, and we definitely need to dig into this moment further, but it's nevertheless undeniable that Alex was a huge part of Kyle's origin story, and that includes her death. |
A Brief History of Fridging'Women in Refrigerators' was the name of the blog of writer Gail Simone in 1999, before she even broke into the industry, where she first pointed out the literary trope in which female characters are subjected to disproportionate harm, such as death, maiming, or assault, to serve as plot devices to motivate male characters. The name was a specific reference to the murder of Alex DeWitt, who, after a protracted harrowing experience that was wildly unpleasant to read, had her body put in a refrigerator "as a message".
It's probably worth pointing out, however, that not only was this not the first time this happened in comics, it wasn't even the first time this exact story beat played out, practically verbatim, to a Green Lantern supporting character. Katma Tui was murdered almost a decade earlier "as a message"... and in fact Arisia Rrab was subjected to the same nonsense a few years LATER. I like to think we're all capable of recognizing this retched trope for what it is NOW, but it does suck that this is such a pervasive part of the history we're trying to adapt. |
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Our Alex StoryBelieve it or not, we actually struggled with this quite a bit. There was just no way we could allow the murder of Alex DeWitt to stand as it was in canon; to do so actually felt like it would invalidate this entire project. If we changed NOTHING else, we had to change this. But at the same time, her death actually is a foundational part of Kyle's story. It's what makes everything real for him, and puts him on a path to heroism. Alex's role in this story is the very same role Uncle Ben played for Spider-Man. We had a lot of conversations with a lot of people about this, even reaching out to some feminist writers groups, and ultimately, came to a few realizations.
It's understood that the loss of a loved one is a common trope in fiction, and it's a common part of the beginning of a hero's journey. That's not specifically the problem. The problem is that Alex was stripped of her agency and reduced to an object for the hero to be mad about. So the solution, we think, is to give her that agency back. She is the one who wants Kyle to embrace his new responsibility and be a hero, and when she sacrifices herself to help bystanders during his first fight with a supervillain, she shows him what being a hero is. Alex gets to play the same role in Kyle's journey, just without the gratuitous victimization. She's not a victim at all. She's what Kyle aspires to be. |