Meanwhile, the ad for the Justice League of America action figures in the first issue of Brave and Bold (Apr 07) shows Vixen being, er, assisted from behind by Black Lightning. Well, okay, not really, but seriously, look at the expression on their faces, the postions of their hands and the position of their hips.
(I asked a female co-worker, and she said both Vixen and Black Canary looked like sluts, though I don't see it in Dinah's case. Vixen, however, is showing more cleavage than Salma Hayek, but my co-worker definitely agreed with me about Vixen and Black Lightning. If you look at Superman behind Black Canary, the offset is enough that it doesn't quite look like the same thing is going on. I'm just glad it was Black Lighting and Vixen and not Speedy and Black Canary. That would be wrong.)
(Addendum. I asked two male co-workers. They didn't spot it immediately, but when I pointed it out to him, they burst out laughing, also mentioning the look on Black Lightning's face and Vixen's breasts.)
Posted by Mike Chary at May 30, 2007 5:21 PM
uh...this? http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/solicitation-artwork/March-2007/JLA_AF_p128.jpg
Is this serious? Because if it's a serious statement, then I am actually rendered speechless (and have very little impetus to type as well) and if you're telling a joke, well, either I just don't get it or it's not funny.
It can't be that image. There must be some other picture of the figures in which the angle and pose make them look provocative. Right?
I asked a female co-worker, and she said both Vixen and Black Canary looked like sluts, though I don't see it in Dinah's case.
She's a woman wearing fishnet stockings up to her bikini line (do they even make those?), what looks like a black vinyl suit with a bright yellow stripe from neck to pelvis, and Farrah Fawcett hair. I think I can see where "slut" might be a first impression.
In fact, I think that's the main reason behind the recent uproars from comic fans, and why they're taking editors and management by surprise. Women in comics are hypersexualized. Almost everywhere, for a number of years now, to the point that you don't even realize it if you're sufficently immersed in the hobby. You become blind to it, in fact.
And then an editor goes ahead and commissions a cover where the heroes are menaced bv an evil creature from the deep, without any sort of purient interest and only shooting for a creepy horror cover. Unfortunately, you work in a medium where the heroines are displayed bodysuits open to the waist. A medium closely related to one where nubile women are depicted being violated by a tentacles so often it's a cliche. So your creepy horror cover comes out, and the public at large understandably thinks "Tentacle rape!"
Or you make statues of the Adam Hughes drawings that sell so well only to realize than in 3-D, his female form is somewhere between ridiculous, offensive, and defying the laws of physics. And then you're shocked at the uproar.
It's a problem, and the more superhero comics trying to regain and audience and mainstream acceptance, it's going to continue to be one.
Nope. That's not the picture in the advert in the comic book. The one I have is in Brave and the Bold 1, and I would presume in every Apr 07 DC mainline title.
If it's the ad in B&B issue 1, the one with Green Lantern and Batman, then... well, I have to question how anyone who looked at that picture and thought it looked like what you describe could have any familiarity with the act in question.
It's not just a stretch, it's a remarkable one. You might as well say that Red Arrow looks like he's masturbating because his hand is held in front of his crotch.
The one in the comics is pretty similar, but it's been photoshopped (or sotherwise slightly reconfigured) so that Black Lightning is more directly standing behind Vixen. I don't know that my first instinct would have been "anal sex," but Mike apparently showed the ad to three other people who did come to that conclusion, so ...
Come to think of it, maybe that's why the version Scavenger linked to was reposed as compared to what they printed in the comics a few months ago.
Matt: if you were rendered speechless, then, to paraphrase Tom Lehrer...
All I can say is that four separate adults disagree with you, three of them non comics readers. I mean, obviously they aren't actually engaged in anal sex. They are fully clothed, but the the posture, the expression, and the position of the hips are rather odd...
I've seen the ad, and yes, it's not apparent on first glance, but no, what I get from it is not that she's being penetrated from behind. She looks more like she's wondering what's rubbing up against her. Anything more requires some stretching.
(I'm a regular reader of scans_daily, so I'm usually conditioned to interpret these things in the most innuendo filled light.)
"the public at large understandably thinks "Tentacle rape!""
The public at large? Or the geeks steeped in the sport of finding phallic imagery in any longer-than-it's-wide object?
Don't kid yourself about the ability of the the public at large to find phallic imagery.
Terrence: Hmmm, maybe they are all in a night club dancing, and Black Lightning is just grinding on Vixen. (Btw, the consensus was that she has nice breasts. I did notice, I suppose, but I will say comics art has desensitized me to it. I wonder how mom will react toward buying that particular figure for her kids.)
I happened to show it to a 16 year-old girl yesterday. She said, "It looks interesting. I think women are beautiful and they should show it off whenever they can."
Actually, Matt, no, the ad I am talking about has Black Lightning, Vixen, Red Arrow, Black Canary and Superman. No Batman or Green Lantern to be found. Which ad are you talking about?
I think Matt is talking about B&B #1 being the issue featuring Bats and GL, not that the ad has Bats and GL in it.
Ah! That's what I had originally thought, but then I figured given his apparent shock that anyone might interpret the ad so, that he must be speaking of an ad rather than the comic.
"The public at large? Or the geeks steeped in the sport of finding phallic imagery in any longer-than-it's-wide object?"
For what it's worth, I think awareness of Hentai comics extends somewhat beyond comic geeks. It's entered the realm of more general freakish trivia one collects if you spend enough time on the web. It's like how 'Star Wars Kid' is known by people beyond Star Wars geekdom.
