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

From: [identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com


You have to look to find anything.
That sounds pretty much just like every comic, if it takes *effort*. (Randomly, I wonder if we're ever going to get Brokeback Mountain, the comic book adaption.)

It is a nice cover, though.

From: [identity profile] bugchicklv.livejournal.com


I have no earthly idea.

My BF is very tolerant (encouraging) of my fondess (obsession) for slash and a few months ago he found online (stole via torrent) these wonderful screencaps of an anime video game with SERIOUSLY horny gay characters. He got well and truly laid that night.

Here's one of my favorite non-pr0nographic ones:

Image

From: [identity profile] fhwqhgads.livejournal.com


This post was excellent.

What people don't understand about the whole "But men are over-muscled and unrealistic in comics, too!" arguement, is that women disproportionate and objectified is a male power fantasy. Men who are chisled and adonis like is ALSO a male power fantasy. So it's hard to say men that are objectified in comics, when it's MEN for the most part who get off (figuratively) on their appearance.

-casey-
minim_calibre: (Default)

From: [personal profile] minim_calibre


Birds of Prey. Babs swatting Dinah with a towel.

It's slightly less gratuitous in context. Slightly.

From: (Anonymous)

Looks good to me


Perhaps the perspective of a gay man can help. The phenomenon to which you object has little to do with women, and everything to do with male sexuality by and of itself. I can say this with some sense of confidence because we gay men do this to each other in our erotic art, in much the same way straight male artists fetishize the specific body parts of the objects of their desires.

For men, hunger for an object of sexual desire can best be compared to hunger for, say, a plate of food -- a close-up picture of dripping spaghetti sauce has much the same effect in drawing men into an Italian restaurant as that picture of Wonder Woman's ass will in drawing male readers to Miller and Lee's comic.

Sorry, that's just the way nature made us. Men and women are wired differently. How you deal with this is up to you, but as a relatively disinterested observer, I have to tell you: Every time I see complaints like the one found in this thread, I find myself thinking, "Thank goodness I'm gay." Again.

Hell, I get worried when my boyfriends don't objectify me...

From: [identity profile] jcfiala.livejournal.com


My wife would like to sign up for your newsletter. :)

ext_3386: (Default)

From: [identity profile] vito-excalibur.livejournal.com


THANK YOU for making it unignorable.

(here from [livejournal.com profile] divalea)

From: [identity profile] uminomamori.livejournal.com


Wonder woman? has an INTERESTING rib cage there....

From: (Anonymous)


Doesn't she? Rather like something's broken and detached.

From: [identity profile] hoperomantic.livejournal.com


You demonstrated the counter-argument so well with this. It is an excellent post and very effective and well executed. Thank you for creating this post.
ext_9063: (I'm a Pantone color)

From: [identity profile] mlyn.livejournal.com


Sorry to hijack the thread (I was led astray here by [livejournal.com profile] kadymae), but that's the best icon evar.

From: [identity profile] vogelein.livejournal.com

Here via Lea's blog...


You do, in fact win the internets. Well done, and a singular encapsulation of everything that goes through my mind when I see a cover like the one you're lampooning.




From: [identity profile] divalea.livejournal.com

Re: Here via Lea's blog...


Oh, please tell me where you got that icon. It is every one of my fave nerds!
ext_9063: (Graphic design Franklin/Baskerville OTP)

From: [identity profile] mlyn.livejournal.com


I would like that very much. Anyone I should credit?
ext_3152: Cartoon face of badgerbag with her tongue sticking out and little lines of excitedness radiating. (Default)

From: [identity profile] badgerbag.livejournal.com


Really... please put these on tshirts. Goodstorm (http://goodstorm.com) has a cheap but good quality setup, way better than cafepress. And lots of women's styles in shirts!

brownbetty: Black Canary, being sexy. (Hey baby.)

From: [personal profile] brownbetty


The credit really belongs to someone calling themselves "jupiterboy" on the typophiles.com forums. I just cropped and resized it.
ext_9063: (Default)

From: [identity profile] mlyn.livejournal.com


Oo, I love typophile. It figures it came from there. Thanks!

From: [identity profile] ficbyzee.livejournal.com


Holy shit. This is amazing and brilliant.

From: [identity profile] vogelein.livejournal.com

Re: Here via Lea's blog...


I mades it all by mahself. And you may take it for your very owns. ;)
.

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odditycollector: Supergirl hovering in black silhouette except for the red crest. Cape fluttering. Background is a roiling, raining sky. (Default)
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