I would like, by taking random images from comic book sites -including Comic Vine- put to rest the 'controversy' over that Manara Spider-Woman cover.
I'm guessing it was a publicity gimmick to boost sales and in a way it worked with most sites rejecting the "sexualisation" of a comic book character. So, without naming names, let's see just a random selection of what is on comic sites (there was so much I HAD to just select a few!).
Manara not looking so bad now, heh?
There is some great art here and sculpting -some of this by women not just men.
Let's just keep the two-faced hypocrosy tucked away shall we? Statuettes, action figures, comics, posters -even cosplay can be called "sexualising- are all full of well endowed, sparsely clothed women and WHY? Because men, and some women, like this. And the same applies regarding well endowed musclemen super heroes.
Grow up or shut up.
I'm guessing it was a publicity gimmick to boost sales and in a way it worked with most sites rejecting the "sexualisation" of a comic book character. So, without naming names, let's see just a random selection of what is on comic sites (there was so much I HAD to just select a few!).
There is some great art here and sculpting -some of this by women not just men.
Let's just keep the two-faced hypocrosy tucked away shall we? Statuettes, action figures, comics, posters -even cosplay can be called "sexualising- are all full of well endowed, sparsely clothed women and WHY? Because men, and some women, like this. And the same applies regarding well endowed musclemen super heroes.
Grow up or shut up.
I think part of the fuss is that it's a cover image, albeit a variant. I don't think any of these images are from covers, and therefore less likely to be widely seen and cause offence - however valid anyone believes that offence to be. To me, any image by Manara will tick certain boxes and his spider-Woman cover says more about Matvel's publishing and marketing strategies than anything else.
ReplyDeleteHi,Steve. Yes, my point was that the comic fan and blog community is loaded to the point of bursting with images far more "sexualised" than that Manara cover. Fan art -a fair bit by female artists as well as male are far more explicit than Manara's. The images themselves have had THOUSANDS of hits so are far more widely seen than the Manara one. When I mentioned this on Google+ yesterday several bloggers said "I didn't know Manara had done a Spider-Woman cover!" Which was followed by "Cool" "Wow-hot!" and so on. So it seems a little too staged a cover leak if all these Marvel fans had not seen/heard of it. Putting it in perspective: when I was a kid in Germany I saw my first female booby in a soap commercial. We used to -in very hot weather- splash around in the stream with nothing on. BUT when I got back to the UK I could not believe the repression (and I was only a kid!). "Sex sells" and the companies know it and the fans buy it. However, I would never ever use any "sexy image" to sell a book. A good eye-catching cover and good interiors. I'm sorry but I just broke out giggling imagining a similar cover featuring Pansy Potter -maybe Thomson needs to contact Manara -think of the press response in the UK and the fortune in free publicity!!!
ReplyDeleteI am NOW resisting drawing that Pansy Potter cover!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletePansy Potter - go for it, I'm laughing already!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm gonna be sick...
ReplyDelete