Images of Bucharest in 'Titans: Villains for Hire'
Specs:
Title: Titans: Villains for Hire
Genre: Action, Superhero
Series: Titans: Villains for Hire
Issue: no. 1
Artists: Sergio Ariño, Fabrizio Fiorentino, Mike Mayhew
Writer: Eric Wallace
Publication date: July, 2010
Publisher: DC Comics
Country: USA
Characters: Romanian thugs
Setting: Bucharest, Romania; Egypt; Italy; U.S.A.
Outline/synopsis:
After traveling through the entire world, Deathstroke assembles a new team in order to assassinate The Atom.
Tropes:
The place of corruption = Bucharest;
Foul mouthed thugs = a Romanian gang;
The image of the Western savior = Deathstroke.
Personal view:
Six months before being hired by Deathstroke, Cheshire fights on the streets of Bucharest against a gang of thugs. Armed with pistols and other types of guns, the gang of Romanian men hopes to defeat the woman by outnumbering her, but as her movements slow down, she is saved by Deathstroke who offers her a deal. The Romanians pictured in the first few pages of the comic book only reinforce old tropes and stereotypes about Romania, such as those of backwardness, corruption, and a general inclination towards violence.
Furthermore, the streets of Bucharest illustrated throughout this episode appear deserted, covered in snow, and they are small and narrow, which suggests a certain degree of isolation and remoteness of the city, in particular, and of the country, in general, at the level of the European continent, or even the world. In addition, as Andaluna Borcila indicated in her book, American Representations of Post-Communism, Romania becomes a “site of violence,” where various forces collide, and the streets therefore become covered in blood, bullet cases, and debris.
Moreover, the people fighting against Cheshire try to use cunning and dishonest means in order to defeat the assassin, and they are also represented as being overconfident and fearless, while their language is foul and disrespectful, which further strains the image of Romania. Another important element to note is that none of the Romanian people wear any names, which seems to point towards some sort of generalization—a projection of the idea of corruption and ill-intent over all the inhabitants of the country. Also, the fact that it is actually an American who defeats the Romanian gang and saves the Asian woman (another Oriental) from her death further enhances the idea according to which Romania can only be saved by the West.
All in all, Bucharest becomes, once again, as it was shown in several previous articles, a place of corruption, where crimes and brutality reign, a place where dirty laundry is sorted out, and a place filled with thugs who can only be cleared out by the Westerner.
