odditycollector | 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.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(Sorry had to break my post into two)

""You may only be upset about ass shots if you are a fan of them!" That logic is just *beautiful*. Right up there with anything in Catch-22.""

This made up logic you fabricated here is your own, I have no idea what your talking about.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

""I find it hilarious people keep comparing comics to the porn industry as a *defense*. It makes me feel all possible points have already been made in my favour.""

I was'nt refering to porn I was refering to gay porn, the point I was trying to make is, I don't control it, I'm not the target audience for it, and I am not a fan of it. Therefore it makes perfect sense for me to go onto a message board about it and rant till I'm blue in the face right?

If you as a female reader hate female exploitation in comics, as bad as you seem to, and it's as bad as you make it out to be, why get into a media that had it before you got there, has it currently and will still have it when your gone? Suddenly your going to find reasons to justify your interests right! "Their not ALL like that ", "The books I read don't have it as prevalant as others". So it's not the epidemic your making it out to be really is it, because you accept it, and still get entertainment value from it.

When pro body builders, male and female, compete in tournaments, standing on a stage nearly naked, and oiled up, which sex is being exploited? If I go by the mentality demonstrated on this board the answer would be a unanimous "female", when in fact they BOTH are. When you view superhero comics and see idealistic versions of males and females, BOTH are being exploited, or is it the norm for the men in your neck of the woods to all have six pack abes, 15 inch biceps, can bench press 200 pounds, and wear skin tight body suits?

Yeah, your going to see more cheesecake than beefcake, as women simpily have more erogenous zones to exploit and as I stated many times now, comics....are...a...male....dominated.....field. DC and Marvel don't mind getting your money too, but they aren't targeting you to get it necessarily (at least in their mainstream stuff).

For the record I don't object to (male or female) exploitation. Views and attitudes have varied, but it has been, is, and always will be, apart of our culture and entertainment. Provocative parts and all.

My beef here is the fact that I see a "ban exploitation" banner being waved in the air, but on the back of that banner is a chippendale calendar, making the argument bias and one sided. If your going to damn exploitation, you better be prepared to damn ALL exploitation, not just the stuff that bothers you personally. Your not going to do that though, nor will anyone else, people want what they want.

Yeah, your going to see more cheesecake than beefcake, as women simpily have more erogenous zones to exploit and as I stated many times now, comics....are...a...male....dominated.....field.

And you seem to be missing that that... is... the... whole... point.

It isn't nearly as much of a 'male dominated field' as it used to be... and many comic companies are starting to take that into account. However, there is the assumption - by you, by others - that so long as there are more men buying/writing/drawing them, women should just deal with the bad softporn.

No way. I don't buy that crap anymore. The art gets old after a couple issues. In fact, almost all female-lead comics I've picked up over the years start out with great art for the first couple issues, and by the end of the first year are reduced to TnA shots and repeat storylines.

I have NEVER seen a male-lead comic reduced to just crotchshots, flexing poses and skimpy outfits both in-and-out-of costume. I've never seen a SHOWER scene with a male character, for that matter!! (I'm sure they exist somewhere, but for myself, I've seen probably a half-a-dozen female shower scenes, and in one comic, male-hero voyeurism of the female-hero showering!)

(psst: oddity, THANK YOU SO MUCH - here via boingboing, and I hope you don't mind I made an icon and credited you.)

This would have been easier if I could draw.

Re: Yeah right....

fear the supercrotch!!