I'm taking a quick pause from my job stress, coloring stress, and general withdrawal from society to document a teacup typhoon from the comics world. I'm throwing it all down here because a) I really get tweaked by the type of crap that's causing all this, b) I love the fact that people are taking a stand against it, and c) I'm really amused by what happens when creative people get their undies in a bunch about something.

INTRODUCTION

It shouldn't be surprising to anyone in this forum that superhero comics have long been a stronghold of feminine objectification. Basketball breasts, women who go flying while wearing skirts, Wonder Woman created as a BDSM fantasy, poses taken from porn mags, etc. What is different nowadays: more women are reading comics than ever before, particularly superhero comics. They're online, and they're becoming watchdogs for this sort of thing, calling foul on artists and editors.

And, of course, when stuff like that happens, there's backlash.

THE GUILTY

In the last month or two, there have been some more egregious transgressions of taste. They mostly come from Marvel, but Marvel is by no means alone in this arena.

First, and primarily, there's the release of the now-infamous limited edition Mary Jane statuette. In the statue, Mary Jane bends over a pile of Spidey's laundry, pooching out her butt, showing off her thong, and winsomely smiling over her shoulder. To top it all off, her t-shirt and jeans are accessorized with a pearl necklace (GET IT?!?!? Huh huh huh!).

Roughly contemporary to the release of this figure was the creation of this Supergirl statue, which depicts the character with an impossibly long bare midriff and a very non-superheroic pose.

And third, we have (also from Marvel) this Heroes for Hire cover, which not only displays improbably cut costumes and basketball tits, it also has racial re-assignment and TENTACLE ACTION. (Further analysis can be found in the linked blog entry.) Oh, and it's also rated for ages 9 and up!

THE REACTION

Many men and women are in a tizzy about these items (mostly the MJ statue). For a taste, check out these blog entries:

http://devildoll.livejournal.com/750924.html
http://yendi.livejournal.com/1274802.html
http://blog.newsarama.com/2007/05/16/online-outrage-over-mj-statue-hits-new-york-post/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273092,00.html
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05162007/news/nationalnews/mary_jane_is_spidey_sensuous_nationalnews_neil_graves.htm
http://womenincomics.blogspot.com/2007/05/special-outrage-of-week-edition.html

Yes, that's right. Some major news outlets are grabbing hold of this thing.

Edit: Lea Hernandez wrote an excellent letter to Marvel about the Heroes for Hire cover: http://divalea.livejournal.com/454772.html. Link courtesy of Wombat_Socho.

Edit 2: One of Slave Labor Graphics' editors has also voiced her opinion on the Heroes for Hire cover: http://slg-news.livejournal.com/191569.html

THE BACKLASH

Naturally, this sort of ire is causing the artists and editors to step up and defend what they've done (and some cheesecake fans are leaping to their aid). Top link involves Joe Quesada defending the Heroes for Hire cover.

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/JoeFridays100.html
http://www.stefanhayden.com/blog/2007/05/17/sexist-mary-jane-statue-receives-poor-defense/
http://forevergeek.com/comics/mary_jane_statue_designed_by_adam_hughes_starts_huge_controversy.php

Oh, yeah, and people who left comments about the MJ statue on the Sideshow site got their comments deleted pronto.

AND NOW FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT

First up, we have an interesting interview with Adam Hughes, artist of the MJ figure. While he does have some blind spots (i.e., calling the feminist reaction "mean"), he does talk rather intelligently about the spot he's in:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=113690

Next, we have a brilliant piece of art from LogansRogue that parodies the MJ statue:

http://devildoll.livejournal.com/750924.html?thread=6890572#t6890572

NEW: Lea Hernandez has re-tooled the Heroes for Hire cover to her own liking: http://divalea.livejournal.com/456637.html Behold the power of PhotoShop!

And finally, we have this wonderful entry from girlwonder.org. Basically, they made a comics bingo card for feminists:

http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/index.php?entry=entry070415-071159

And they do an excellent job of explaining the squares here:

http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/index.php?entry=entry070518-204342


SUPPLEMENTAL: I LOVE J. BONE

J. Bone, inker to Darwyn Cooke and artist in his own right, is quickly becoming one of my favorite online presences in comics.

First of all, he has two blogs. The first (http://gobukan.blogspot.com/), he uses to post cute pictures of women. On the second blog (http://bonesmen.blogspot.com) (and this is the brilliant bit) he posts the same pictures... only with the characters made into men.

Well, he stepped into the fray this week with this lovely entry:

http://bonesmen.blogspot.com/2007/05/peter-parker-househusband.html

Someday, I will meet J. Bone and worship him. Yes.

Edit: I'd just like to add that J. Bone does all this without calling any attention to what he's doing. He's not stepping in and saying he's making a statement. You almost have to know ahead of time that he has the two blogs; the cross-links are buried. The content of both blogs is also simply light and fun. I think that's what I admire most about the whole thing. He's not shoving politics down anyone's throat; he just seems to be having fun.


AND WHAT DO I THINK OF ALL THIS?

I'm glad it's making noise. Awareness is the best weapon feminism has, and the way you get media outlets to listen is by making it clear that your audience wants to be treated fairly. If we all make it clear that what we want from comics is a good story with great characters of both genders, without the codified pornography laid onto the women, then we just might get it.

I also love what happens when comics artists get their teeth into a real issue, so this has been a fun week for me.

I do feel a bit bad for Adam Hughes. Hughes is one of the few cheesecake artists that I actually have some respect for, because he draws strong women with somewhat believable anatomy, yet they're still sexy. Unfortunately, all he's been doing lately is following the money, which means he's more or less stopped drawing comics and just became a cover artist... which means he's doing cheesecake full-time. If you do only one thing for that long, your sense of gravity naturally warps. I think he's wandering deeper into the objectification forest without realizing it. (Edit: I may also be a bit soft on him, because I've met the guy in person. It's easier to get riled up about someone who you only know over the Internet, someone who is only a name.)

I also find it ironic that it's an MJ statue that primarily caused all this stir. A lot of media outlets are calling her "the girl next door", making it sound like her character is a sweet and innocent little thing, and this statue is an outrage because of that. In fact, Hughes gets closer to the truth in his interview: MJ in the comics is a cheesecake girl. She's an actress and a model. The girl next door in the Spidey comics was actually Gwen Stacey. If there's any character in the comics universe who is supposed to be a bit of cheesecake, it's Mary Jane.

That still shouldn't give carte blanche to treat her like an object (so to speak). But I still find it ironic.