First off, I’m not in the mood to debate anyone on the content of this cover. Is it distasteful and offensive? Of course. But that’s Milo freaking Manara. Blame Marvel for exploiting a genuinely talented artist to flame bait its readers to garner buzz.
For those doing lame and badly done paintovers or misinformed critiques about her anatomy, I present this. Mind you, while 3d models of bodies aren’t the gold standard to measure anatomy from, it clearly shows that the pose, while odd looking, is anatomically sound. And don’t bother critiquing the face, it’s how Manara has been drawing faces for 50 years. It most likely looks weird due to Spider Woman’s atrocious costume design.
You superhero buffs need to take a step back and realize there is an entire world of comics apart from your beloved superhero genre that aren’t generic, mould fitting, convoluted webs of publicity stunts, alternate universes/timelines and badly designed characters. There’s another world out there filled with classically trained illustrators who create interesting memorable characters, coherent stories that are often minimalist, and are rich with vibrant color and texture and varying styles.
Or you can just stay inside your little world and watch roided out dudes and busty chicks in goofy spandex and underpants beat the crap out of each other for 22 pages while simultaneously taking it seriously for some reason. They’ll occasionally die, but don’t worry, they’ll be resurrected two weeks later!
You’ll constantly complain about objectification and act like your superhero comics are the only comics on the planet and still keep buying the same crap from Marvel and DC until you’re broke. Then, you’ll see something different, Foreign perhaps, and chew it out and complain that it doesn’t fit the mould and spout off like an uneducated child about how “this artist doesn’t know what he/she’s doing”, or “this guy clearly knows nothing about anatomy, he/she should look at my high school drawings, he/she might learn a thing or two!”
Stay classy.
AMEN
