Batman and the Outsiders #14, p.8, 13-15
I don't know what kind of college Geo-Force goes to, but we've already established it's the height of summer, and he's in school.
And he's not doing very well. According to the girl with glasses, this is a bird course. But at least he's shown potential in the past. It's just a case of superheroing getting in the way of his studies, surely.
Not that showing potential is at all the same as results. It's kind of a metaphor for Geo-Force's role in the Outsiders, isn't it? He's got all these big powers (potential), then goes out and lets himself be trounced by lesser opponents, most recently Halo. So the two students with the low scores get together for a study group - THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Denise ditches them because she doesn't want her own grades to go down by wasting time with Brion and Alisa, and she apparently smells something off them that says "SEX!". I don't really see it, personally, but I'm not in the room with them to take a pheromone count. Turns out she was right. When we cut back to them, the study date has turned quite clearly into a date-date, with Alicia driving Brion home in her sports car and agreeing to come in for a "nightcap". Code for...
But it all goes wrong when Halo walks into the room in one of GF's unbuttoned shirts...
Where do I start? Well, first, Halo is UNDERAGE, a teenager still in high school, so this is entirely inappropriate for both the writer and artist to present us with this scene. And what kind of guardian is Katana being if she let Gaby slip out at this time of night. Sometimes you gotta look up during your nightly aerobics workout and see what's happening around you! Now, I'm gonna skip a few panels here because the art makes my eyes bleed, so to recap: Halo rolls around on the floor, in that outfit, laughing. GF gets real angry, she calls him Mr. Double Standard (which is a way better superhero name than Geo-Force), and flies off. He can't pursue because he's not wearing his uniform under his street clothes. Which is code for...
So keep in mind he was expecting sex this night, or else he wouldn't have gone out without his long johns. He changes fairly quickly and catches up to Halo, grabs her, she's all like "you're hurting me", and then:
Oh God NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Stomach-churning adult Markovian on animated teenage corpse action. And if that call back to the birds and the bees isn't code for Halo losing her virginity in the moments right after this panel... A revolting turn of events that comes out of nowhere. What happened to Old Country values, GF? Well, I guess I answered my own question there. Which doesn't make it right. Mike Barr, why did you need to ruin St.Valentine's Day 2014?! Batman needs to put a stop to this.
Gross.
CURRENT MEDAL COUNT!
Canada: 4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze (9)
USA: 2 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze (7)
Japan: 0 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze (2)
Greece: 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (0)
Markovia: 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (0)
I don't know what kind of college Geo-Force goes to, but we've already established it's the height of summer, and he's in school.
Gross.
CURRENT MEDAL COUNT!
Canada: 4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze (9)
USA: 2 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze (7)
Japan: 0 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze (2)
Greece: 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (0)
Markovia: 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (0)
Comments
But I think we're seeing a genuine cultural shift from the 1980s, when people weren't quite as sensitive to inappropriate adult / teenager pairings. Sure, it was illegal, but it didn't make people say "eww" the way it does today. I say it's part of a USAvian reassessment of social mores following the repressive 50s and the swingin' 60s / 70s.
As another example, if you ever watch "Quantum Leap", you'll see scenes here and there where Al is making pervish comments about teenagers. At the time it was intended as lighthearted whimsy, but these days ... no. Just, no.
Or "Mexicali Blues" by the Grateful Dead, where the guy is singing about his bender in Mexico, including making time with a 14-year-old girl. The intention was "whoa, wild party, dude", but it's impossible to listen to it now without feeling unclean.
"Half your age plus seven" is common knowledge these days, and I say it's a damn good rule.
(For the World's Greatest Detective, Batman is certainly showing an extreme incuriousness about figuring out Halo's background, isn't he?)
And GF is REALLY a dick. Halo wasn't his only error. He also would had troubles with Looker in the future. Perhaps Train Crash is a better name for him.
To me that's proof enough.