Double Edged SWordA protest is occurring at Stanhope University against a man named Landers, whom the students accuse of being a racist. Most of the protesters, but by no means all, are black.
Mattie and her friend are pleased with the protest. Cutter is there, taking pictures. Cutter mentions that he and Mattie woke up together, which is as awkward as it sounds. He also says that he is going to interview Landers later, much to Mattie's chagrin. But he says it's his job to cover both sides of the story no matter how ugly the other side is.
Supergirl thinks she is flying with Comet, and is saying that she isn't happy with how his debt situation was resolved. She wants to know more about the Atlas organization, but he pulls a Batman on her and disappears.
She changes into Linda and goes to see her mother at the hospital. She waits hesitatingly outside her mother's room. Sylvia actually invites Linda in, but every word she says is laced with venom. She tells Linda about Fred's plans to divorce her, which upsets Linda, who of course doesn't want her parents to split up. Linda calls Sylvia "Mom" and Sylvia yells at her not to call her that. Linda insists that she's still her daughter, but Sylvia demands proof, which Linda doesn't have. Sylvia says that she can't even take god on faith anymore, let alone that Supergirl merged with Linda and didn't eat her.
Linda leaves and asks the nurse on call if Mattie is around. She says that Mattie is busy at Stanhope. Linda changes back to Supergirl and flies away, thinking that she could use Mattie's advice on what to do about her parents getting divorced. She spots Andy on the motorcycle and flies low to tell her not to worry about Linda being kidnapped by fracture because she rescued her. Other than that she doesn't want to be around Andy after she hit on her two issues ago. Andy likes Supergirl's butt.
Cutter is interviewing the Dean of Stanhope and Landers. Landers tells Cutter about his theories, which are about how black people will ruin America through various means. Cutter says that that sounds racist and asks the Dean if the school endorses that position. The Dean says that the school takes no position, but endorses the free flow of ideas and isn't interested in shielding students from controversial opinions.
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Linda arrives at the protest to see Mattie, who is thrilled with the turnout. Steel arrives to give a speech to the crowd. He talks about the first amendment not being absolute, and that Landers' views are beyond what should be allowed. He asks the protesters not to use violence, but he does endorse them physically keeping Landers from speaking.
Cutter interjects, questioning Steel's views on when the first amendment shouldn't apply. Steel says that views like Landers' always lead to violence, and the risk of violence means he shouldn't be allowed to speak. Cutter points out that by that standard many civil rights activists wouldn't have been allowed to speak, since their words often inspired racists who feared equality to violence.
The crowd turns on Cutter, and one person throws a rock at him. Linda uses her tk to knock the rock away, and Steel has to stand between Cutter and what is becoming a mob. Cutter, Mattie, and Linda have to run away while Steel tries to tell the crowd that Cutter was only doing his job.
Mattie is of course furious with Cutter, who says that he just wants to get at the truth. He asks Linda what she thinks. She turns out to be naiive on the subject, having not thought about it. She says she doesn't see why hatred should be tolerated. Cutter tells her bout Skokie, a real-world case where a group of Nazis demanded the right to march through a neighborhood which had a large population of Holocaust survivors. People who lived through the Nazi persecution were of course against Nazi rallies in their new towns. The ACLU actually sided with the Nazis.
Linda thinks that supporting Nazis is horrible, and Cutter agrees since he turns out to be Jewish, but he says that if the trade-off for having the freedom to show support for Israel is that Nazis have the freedom to do the opposite, he'd rather everyone have freedom than no one have freedom. Mattie says that his situation is different from hers since no one would know by looking at him that he's Jewish. She walks off angrily and almost in tears.
At Leesburg hospital a new subplot starts. A nurse is curious about a room she's been told not to enter, so she does. She is surprised at the name of the patient, Wanda Lee, but when she enters the room she freaks at the sight and another nurse starts screaming and pushing her out. She feels like a part of her soul died just from looking at Wanda Lee.
It is finally time for Landers to give his speech, and Steel is leading the protestors picketing the building so as to prevent his entry. On the other side the police are trying to get Landers in without incident, including a number of black officers.
Feeling like dirt, Supergirl comes down from the sky and uses her tk to push Steel out of the way and then to clear a path for Landers. Steel throws his hammer at her, and when she dodged uses a voice command to make it turn around and hit her in the back of the head. He assumes that being an artificial alien who was only created maybe 5 years ago she doesn't understand what she's doing, but he attacks her anyway.
Landers and Steel get into an argument and Supergirl takes the opportunity to grab Steel. They wrestle in the air and argue. Supergirl says that they shouldn't be the ones to decide who gets to say what, while Steel refuses to tolerate racism altogether. He shoots her, and she manifests her flame wings, much to his shock.
They here a noise, and realize that someone has detonated a bomb in the hall where the speech was to have taken place. In the destroyed hall, Landers helps a black cop up so they can escape. Fireballs fall on them from the roof, but Supergirl catches the fire with her wings. Steel grabs the men and gets them out. When he comes back Supergirl is absorbing the fire into her wings. It hurts her, but works. She and Steel are still at odds, however.
Outside, the cop Landers helped tries to thank him, but Landers refuses to shake his hand.
Later, Steel has stuck around with Mattie, her friend, Cutter, and Linda. Steel wishes Supergirl was around so he could explain why she was wrong, causing Linda to awkwardly whistle. A Jewish student comes in demanding that they rescind their invitation to a Nation of Islam member who he says is a known anti-Semite. He goes on to say that bigotry won't be tolerated. Why Mattie's friend says that some people just don't get it Cutter starts laughing hysterically.
My thoughts: A huge improvement over the last 2 issues, but then that wouldn't have been too hard.
This is a surprisingly relevant issue, as the idea of free speech and what should be tolerated on a college campus are bigger issues now than ever.
The first amendment deals with the government restricting free speech, not private institutions. But the concept is still central to the American ethos even in more private contexts.
The university was wrong for inviting Landers in the first place. It looks like a publicity stunt. Even 15+ years ago I don't see a university making that kind of decision. But the point about not sheltering the students is one that probably should be made today, with the 'microagression' concept and babying of college students. Both sides can go too far, which is why there has to be a debate like this in the first place.
The issue makes it clear that Landers is a horrible racist, but it also shows that he doesn't want the people he hates dead, which in my opinion makes his case less severe than the Skokie case. Also, the Nazis chose Skokie specifically to cause pain to the Jews in that town, while it seems that the university is the party that invited Landers, The Nazis still won that case.
Onto the fight between Steel and Supergirl. It plays back into the differences between them in Team Superman. Steel, the one who is focused on fighting injustice, wants to prevent racists from speaking. Supergirl, who is focused on hope, is trying to make the best out of a bad situation and going against her own convictions for what she feels is the greater good for everyone.
Steel was wrong. As a superhero, he crosses the line into 'deciding what's right' when he actively moves to prevent a citizen from exercising his rights. Joining the protest is one thing, but blocking Landers' path is too far, though it is understandable. Steel crossed the line that prevents Superman from taking down Luthor in two seconds flat, and his presence seemed to only make the other protesters more riled up and willing to use violence. And his willingness to use violence on Supergirl is also crossing a line. Again, everything he does is understandable, and none of it makes him a worse person. But in this case he was wrong. Superheroes should not do what he did.
Supergirl...she was basing her opinion on a single speech by Cutter, which is incredibly naïve. I'm not entirely sure what her goal was. She might not have known either. If her goal was to try to diffuse a situation that Steel was inadvertently making worse by getting it over with as quickly as possible, I don't see anything wrong with that. If her goal was to support free speech and the such, she probably should have stayed home. She didn't think things through, and this will lead to her being seen as supporting bigotry.
Again, this doesn't hurt her as a character. She's young. She's naïve, and Steel's presence creates an unnecessary complication for her.
It does seem that PAD is on the side of free speech just from this issue, though I've seen writers write comics that show the exact opposite position from what they actually believe. Dixon wrote a story that was anti-gun ownership for his Robin run even though he's one of the few right-wing writers in the business.
The only problem I have with this issue is the Jewish student at the end. He's written like he'd completely oblivious to the fact that a bomb just wrecked a building in his school.
Other than that the character work is strong, the issues important, and Linda and Sylvia speak for the first time since before her accident. A-
