Naked Catwoman And Batgirl. Really?
I had a whole rant prepared about how books like this do little to help our industry shake the stigma of undersexed fanboys, but what's really the point anymore? No matter how much ground is gained in the fight for legitimacy within the Big Two, there will always be moments of this kind of blatant pandering.
Hit the jump to check out the giant spread from Batman Confidential and join me in mourning the death of any semblance of respect I once held for DC.
Goblin
Posted to Comics on 19 June 2008
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: Batgirl, Batman Confidential, Catwoman, DC
WHAT?!
Hit the jump to check out the giant spread from Batman Confidential and join me in mourning the death of any semblance of respect I once held for DC.
You know, I've got to disagree with you there.
Just that page means you don't get any context, and I read the full comic and the one before it and I have to say, this was a really good comic. It's a naked girl fight, yes, I know, and it's very hot, but that isn't the point. It's a scene that, in context, is about Catwoman challenging Batgirl to go where she doesn't think Batgirl will go and Batgirl rising to the challenge. Okay, it does pander to the drooling fanboys, but the anatomy is correct and tastefully done, and they didn't really use this particular scene to sell it. Really, unless you were already buying the magazine you wouldn't know about it. Female nudity is not automatically distasteful, you know. Even naked women fighting isn't necessarily offensive.
Right now, Batman Confidential is the comic I most look forward to every month. So yeah, I'm going to disagree with you there.
I also am curious if you'd find this scene equally distasteful if it were two naked men fighting instead of two naked women.
I would enjoy two naked men fighting on a more visceral level, yes. That doesn't mean I wouldn't rail against it, tho. It's also a totally different context because men haven't been subjugated and demeaned for most of the comic book industry's existence. If anything, men as sex objects haven't even existed since VERY recently in the mainstream and not at all until the rise of the underground books of the late 70s/early 80s.
My objection isn't to two women fighting, naked or otherwise. I would hope that I'm secure enough in my homosexuality (yes, I'm turning that phrase around) to see a man and a woman or two women naked and not go running for the hills.
I understand the context is lost, but I checked out the book online and I didn't see this deep sense of female empowerment that you are. Maybe I'm disinclined to see it because my mind was already made up. I can't deny that possibility, but I saw it as a staging for nothing more than a naked chick fight in a book designed explicitly for the direct market.
guys, the upshot? they werent drawn as "uberhot" women with impossible anatomies. they kinda look.... chunky.
which they really arent, and says how much even a homo gets conditioned to seeing women drawn in comics. but it is refreshing to see a nude catfight with girls whos jawlines were given to them by Chaykin.
I would enjoy two naked men fighting on a more visceral level, yes. That doesn't mean I wouldn't rail against it, tho. It's also a totally different context because men haven't been subjugated and demeaned for most of the comic book industry's existence. If anything, men as sex objects haven't even existed since VERY recently in the mainstream and not at all until the rise of the underground books of the late 70s/early 80s.
I've never bought the "they did it first so now it's okay for us to do it" argument. Double standards just aren't right. Ever. I even think that when I benefit from them. It's not like men owe it to women to be sex objects because they've seen women as sex objects in the past.
I understand the context is lost, but I checked out the book online and I didn't see this deep sense of female empowerment that you are. Maybe I'm disinclined to see it because my mind was already made up. I can't deny that possibility, but I saw it as a staging for nothing more than a naked chick fight in a book designed explicitly for the direct market.
It is a naked chick fight, that part we can agree on. We can also agree that it is not a deep sense of female empowerment. I didn't mean to imply that. I meant more that the innate wackiness of the scene outweighs the naked chick fight. I feel like it's more about the fight than the naked chick, and that's why it doesn't offend me. It's meant to be funny. I mean, there's some ugly naked old guy in front of them! And, like Kyle said, they're real-looking women, not grotesque Liefield-esque monstrosities.
Really, the only problem I have with this is the splashed water, which doesn't look like splashed water since the jar is all but covered.
I've never bought the "they did it first so now it's okay for us to do it" argument. Double standards just aren't right. Ever. I even think that when I benefit from them. It's not like men owe it to women to be sex objects because they've seen women as sex objects in the past.
I agree, which is why I said that just because men were in a similar situation I wouldn't not have an opposition. I just think it's a different conversation to have. It raises different issues because of the history women in comics have had.
And I can see your point about it just being a fight, but I'm just not sure I can get on boar with it. Maybe it's because it's in the middle of a Batman book or maybe I've just become too jaded and cynical.
I agree, which is why I said that just because men were in a similar situation I wouldn't not have an opposition. I just think it's a different conversation to have. It raises different issues because of the history women in comics have had.
Ah, I misread! That's all right, then. It's people who rage against one but don't have a problem with the other that bother me.
And I can see your point about it just being a fight, but I'm just not sure I can get on board with it. Maybe it's because it's in the middle of a Batman book or maybe I've just become too jaded and cynical.
I can understand becoming jaded about these things. If you look, you can find sexism (or, indeed, any ism) anywhere.
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