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] nnaloh.livejournal.com 2006-05-07 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Me, too! I don't mind objectification so much; I just don't want it reserved only for women's bodies.

[identity profile] mycrust.livejournal.com 2006-05-08 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
Totally and completely awesome.

[identity profile] archimer.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Brilliant.

[identity profile] mattcomics.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
IMO Frank Millers superhero work is astonishingly overated and just plain dumb most of the time.

In regards to the whole issue, I have always viewed glorification of the human form as a stylization of the genre used as a way to express power and nobility. I guess this is why I don't think of classic superhero costumes like Green Lanterns or Supermans as "body condoms", and why I don't really feel there is anything bad about Wonder Womans costume in and of itself. However, they way some artists handle this stylization and the costumes is where we start having problems. They either overdo it, or they pick totally the wrong moment, time, story, or context for fanservice.

[identity profile] frankengirlll.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
This is fabulous - :)

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_illumina_/ 2006-05-09 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[identity profile] sonicwylde.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I would so read comics if they did covers like that. REally that would renew my interest mightly.

[identity profile] vgnwtch.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw this through Making Light (http://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/) - do you mind if I link to this entry in my LJ? It is absolutely superb.

[identity profile] one-in-progress.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm here via Alas, a Blog. *Really* enjoyed your post, thanks!

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi, glad you thought so!

If you want to link, go ahead. No need to ask - that's what the internet is for. *g*

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

And it's really interesting so see how people find this post, so thanks for that as well. ;)

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
You're very welcome. ;)

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
*obligatory "Woot! Vancouver!"*

I did try to have shame, once. Then I got an LJ, and it was all pretty much downhill from there...

But, yeah. Feel free to link - that's pretty much what the internet is for.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
*g* Good to meet you.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks!

Re: Looks good to me

(Anonymous) 2006-05-09 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I doubt it. I don't think I need any "help" here at all. This was, yes, an exercise in switching perspective, but it seems to me you've missed the point.

Yes, yes, you don't have a problem with male sexuality, so long as it's on your terms. Art should therefore downplay it, even when it's meant to appeal primarily to men. Gotcha.

Life must be one long disappointment for you, yes?

[identity profile] kalimeg.livejournal.com 2006-05-09 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Delicious. I've pointed an entire SF group to your entry :)

[identity profile] summerrose.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
Good god. The cover on the right looks like the BDSM porn people make with Poser (http://www.daz3d.com/) (link to non-pornographic examples of Poser artwork).

[identity profile] kc-risenphoenix.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
Personally, I LOVE your covers. I would have bought them in a New York second! **pant**pant** I wouldn't have even checked the cover price. I keep hoping something like this will happen...

WAIT! You were talking about objectifying... Not sure I understand. It is a comic book. Hooters objectifies women...

As a gay man, I don't find your covers objectifying at all. I find myself wishing I could find these comics!

[identity profile] beatniknight.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure that you're going to have about a billion people coming to your LJ from boingboing and the like, but would it totally inappropriate if I added you because I think this post is brilliant?

[identity profile] dmlaenker.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
Curiously enough, as a gay man I was both expecting and fearing a Tom Of Finland style Green Lantern cover.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Wow. I'm internet famous!

But no, go ahead, no need to ask. (Although suddenly I worry I shan't be able to keep up the brilliance.)

[identity profile] akashayi.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
Cheers! This was unbelievably refreshing to see.

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
Hee. Sorry. (Although there's a link to Wolverine in tight jeans around here somewhere, and that is *slightly* closer. If you, y'know. Approve of Wolverine.)

[identity profile] odditycollector.livejournal.com 2006-05-10 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
Ah. here. (http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=4484&sessionid=d349c9de4bed635440a449cbc9b9870a)

Page 7 of 40