June 14, 2012

Is this the worst comic book cover of the year?

In my previous entry on Wonder Woman's costume, I suggested that it was the manner in which a character is drawn is a more significant driver of misogyny than the design of the costume itself. A case in point has conveniently arisen with Guillem March's widely derided cover to September's Catwoman #0. I'm no expert of human anatomy, but I feel relatively secure in suggesting that this pose is not physically possible. Or, at least, it's not possible without removing spines.

The "see my butt and my boobs" pose is becoming an endemic problem in popular culture - not solely in comic book art but in movie posters as well. It represents a pinnacle for exploitation imagery of female characters, rendering them entirely as sexual objects. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling rather tired of seeing potentially strong, positive characters stripped down (sometimes literally) to nothing more than magnets for 14 year-old boys - and the 14 year-olds at heart.

I've e-mailed DC Comics about my dissatisfaction with this kind of art. Hopefully others will too. I like Catwoman. I'm a big fan of the character. While DC keeps giving me art like this, however, I'm happy to stick with my back issues.

6 comments:

  1. That's the yoga pose known as downward-facing-busty-superheroine...

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  2. It actually took me awhile to figure out what was what.

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    1. My wife Sonia had exactly the same problem.

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  3. Lords of Kobol, that's quite a wedgie.

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  4. Using the word "misogyny" when you mean "sexism" is one of the great contributors to modern gender divisiveness. Just sayin

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  5. I had no problem using the word in this context. It's a treatment of women as objects: something that is dehumanised, disempowered and denied its own agency. It absolutely stems from a dislike of women on a broad social level.

    Just sayin'.

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