odditycollector: Supergirl hovering in black silhouette except for the red crest. Cape fluttering. Background is a roiling, raining sky. (Default)
odditycollector ([personal profile] odditycollector) wrote2006-04-19 08:34 pm

This would have been easier if I could draw.

I really should know better, but I clicked on a link to the DC message boards, topic of the new Frank Miller cover.

In summary... this is why I’m going to stay way the hell over here okay thanks. However, one exchange did catch my attention and would not let me shake it as it might have a sane person.

[livejournal.com profile] maelithil:
Depicting [women] as an ass, a pair of tits, some gorgeous thighs is doing them a disservice. Distilling them into nothing but their sexual attributes is objectifying. And that's exactly what this cover does.


Random Fanboy:
And notice that Superman's chest is OFTEN a whole panel unto itself. Not Superman fighting the bad guy. Not Superman standing full figure. Superman's chest. Just his chest. His huge, massive, S-draped, extraterrestrially muscular chest. Is Superman being objectified? Is he being used? Should I cry for Superman?


And. Just. What? This is the counterexample?

But! Maybe it’s not that his logic is just that scary. Maybe it's hard to understand what she’s talking about because it really, honestly is that there’s no comparable example featuring a male denizen of the DCU. I mean, even the occasional Nightwing crotch shot *tries* to have context.

Obviously, something had to be done. For The Good Of Fandom.

Luckily, much like Miller, I have no shame.

 
Totally Appropriate Covers (with bonus, never before seen script excerpts!)

 



Hal’s flying away from us through a generic starfield, nothing interesting to see except him. Have him wriggle around, giving us a good shot of his package. Add some details, something fancy for the fanboys to drool over, but don’t let it draw attention away from the point of the cover – that Kyle has nothing, NOTHING, on my boy Hal.

 



Be careful with this one – we don’t want Supes to come off as too powerful, too imposing. Maybe have him lean a bit, off balance, the better to show off his *well filled* briefs. He's fiddling with the waist line, such a cock *heh* tease. He knows he’s got what we want, and if we turn the cover, he’ll let us have it.

 



Well, we’ve done just about every variation on the theme by now, so let’s go back to the basics: Black on black, a full cover shot of Batman’s ass. Add in the utility belt for colour – give it that Sin City look. Show me thick, powerful legs under that latex or whatever the hell he wears. Clenched butt muscles. Make it obvious this is no BatGIRL we’re talking about.


free hit counter

[identity profile] count-fenring.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Also, on a side tangent... I believe that Wonder Woman's icon is the golden 'W' across her chest.

Well, I guess a full-cover of Wonder Woman's bust wouldn't really help with the "Exploitation" issue...

[identity profile] count-fenring.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh. My fandom's weakness is listening to lying blue god-gnomes when they tell me I can't hurt yellow things.

[identity profile] ellid.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

[identity profile] marag.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
These? Are fabulous! Every woman in comic fandom should bookmark this post for the next time the "but women aren't objectified" argument comes up. Heh.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
It doesn't have *quite* the same ring, I think. ;)

[identity profile] violetfishy.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
Ended up here from a link on someone elses journal.

You win. The internets is yours!

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
It'd depend on what the artist is trying to do. I mean, in Identity Crisis (4? 5?) we get nothing Diana crotch shots, but it doesn't come across as "hehe! Girly parts!" at all. Or, saying *as little as possible* about the current series, Peter David's run on Supergirl had, IIRC, a few covers featuring nothing but her chest. They worked as riffing on the icon, not the boobies.

(And I mean, I'm a huge fan of Amanda Connor's Peej.)

I've lost my train of thought. Probably that it's perfectly possible to do it *right*. If they *want* to.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks very much!

(I just... I can not get over that script for All Star Batman. Or that they *published it*.)

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
*curtseys*

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
And if they come back and say "What? I don't see the problem here either," then, well, they are still dumb, I suppose. Or more probably lying.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
Yay! *takes them and runs, giggling manically*

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
hilarious (and a bit disturbing. a lot)
*g* I'm glad that came across. It would have lost something with *tasteful* images, I think.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, help yourself.

[identity profile] razorsmile.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
Sheeee-it, if I saw any of those on the stands, I'd be on 'em like white on rice. Any comic doing something that unexpected absolutely deserves my $$$.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Hee! This is obviously a marketing strategy DC hasn't considered.

[identity profile] kensan-oni.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
OR... they're gay. :'D

[identity profile] kkglinka.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
What perfect visual statements. Thank you.

[identity profile] ghostgecko.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
(here from the onion)
Y'know, after those TBS commercials for Lord of the Rngs targeting slash writers (the Frodo is gay for Sam ones), maybe DC will cotton on to alternative markets?
Nah . . . .

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/ 2006-04-21 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
The Superman cover... Oh, *god*, the Superman cover... I don't know what's more disturbing, the drawings or your spot-on Miller notes.

You rule. Please don't do this too often, it couldn't have been good for your sanity, trying to get inside his head...

[identity profile] scarfe.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
You know, I read his Sin City stuff and I think, "Okay, he's obviously exaggerating the noir conventions regarding women, turning them around to grant the women of old town a kind of power and autonomy, so maybe I can let that slide...as problematic as it is."

Then I read stuff like this so-called "All Star" Batman and Robin series full of cheesecake ass shots and I think, "Okay...maybe he's just exaggerating masculinity conventions of comics to make some kind of satirical point. Dark Knight Returns is pretty satirical...he can do satire..."

Then I read the All Star issue with Black Canary and see this cover and I think, "Yeah...Miller just likes T'n'A." Subtlety goes out the window. And to do this to Wonder Woman, off all characters. Where the fuck is her arm? It was in the way of a boob, so off it goes?

I bet he’s getting cut a fat paycheque for this stuff. Hope he's enjoying himself.

[identity profile] collie13.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
Came here from a friend's LJ. You are a bad. Bad. Person. Keyboards everywhere curse your name.

And now I must go clean my keyboard... ;)

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
(Hey, cool!)

I've never seen those commercials, which surprises me - I would expect they'd have spread all over the internet. When were they aired?

maybe DC will cotton on to alternative markets?
You never know! Perhaps the competition from the yaoi manga will finally drive them to it.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
It was actually surprisingly easy to mimic the script style. I don't know if that says more about him... or *me*. I've decided not to dwell.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
You're welcome.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Hee! I'm sorry, but I make no apologies!

Or, wait. Hmmm. Can I start the gloating over?

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