Racks. I said "racks." Get it?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Titans = "Breasticles"
One comic store (which will remain nameless) had an unique idea as to how to promote Titans #3 on their racks...
Racks. I said "racks." Get it?
Racks. I said "racks." Get it?
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Wow. Dick has the longest neck I've seen outside America's Next Top Model.
ReplyDelete...oh...my...god.
ReplyDeleteWhere is that? Cosmic Comics?
On the contrary, inaneness like this deserves recognition, no?
ReplyDelete"On the contrary, inaneness like this deserves recognition, no?"
ReplyDeleteI'm trying not to be mean. But I'm sure locals recognize it.
I like this because it brings me back to the early 1990s, when comic book stores made me uncomfortable. Back when I was a spry lass.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I haven't been inside comic stores much recently (I'm down to buying trades that I've been "assured" are awesome) but when I did spend time in them way back when, females did occasionally come in to make purchases and children were a common sight. My local comic shop was never visited only by acne-scarred teenage nerds desperate for titillation (sorry!).
ReplyDeleteSo, I suppose my question (the one on everyone's mind) is "WTF?!" Comic shops aren't generally running with huge surpluses of customers, as evidenced by sales data, so why would a shop risk losing any customers to a piss-poor attempt at humor? Losing one regular customer to the many options available, both brick&mortar and Internet, could be a huge blow to a comic shop.
My objection is less based on this being offensive and more based on this being stupid.
wow. that's just bad. it's not even a single entendre. and as someone said,what's up with the giraffe neck on Robin?
ReplyDeleteto be honest, this has lessened my desire to frequent this particular shop. It's not a "feminist outrage" thing. It's just a sort of "meh, this shop may not be for me."
ReplyDeleteWow - they still make comic book stores like that? I figured the stores like that died off in the last market downturn.
ReplyDeleteI guess I should count myself as lucky that all of the stores around here seem to be run by professionals instead of ... whatever you want to call that. How about "unprofessional".
Also - "breasticles"? Wha?
When I worked at a store during the early 90s, something like this wouldn't have been accepted and would have been grounds for termination.
ReplyDeleteExcept in the back corner where all the porn magazines and videos were sold.
Dear Val,
ReplyDeleteI work right by this shop. And I haven't been in for over a year. Instead I walk up to Jim Hanley's, or Midtown, or walk down to Forbidden Planet.
I won't name said shop, but the staff is rude, and those signs like the one you have pictured can get much more rude than the example you give. I've seen them use a sign that outright tells customers not to purchase a book or degrades them for doing so.
Again I won't name the place, but I have a $50 a week new comic habit and I avoid this shop like the plague.
-Michael
Given that the nameless comic shop in question uses their new issue tags to make fun of books they don't like and have a history of making fun of Judd Winick with these things, maybe it's supposed to be, y'know, a joke? Like "Hey, look at this utterly ridiculous cover?" I mean, not a good joke by any means, but they don't really have a history of using the cards to say "Holy crap! Check out this girl's chest!"
ReplyDeleteThis kind of surprises me. I've always thought that [the unnamed store]was a relatively decent comic store, and not one of the reactionary ones. I could totally understand why this would make any female consumer uncomfortable. The weird thing is that this isn't even one of those stores w/ a negligible female audience (which wouldn't make it better, but less shocking). What sucks for me is that this further decreases the number of shops that aren't incompetently run in New York. Sure, there's Rocketship, but they're really inconvenient unless you're in the area (or live on the F line).
ReplyDeleteEric Rosenfeld wrote,
ReplyDelete"Yeah, I think it's "BLANK"
Most of the people who work there are girls, so I'm not sure this is so much sexist as ironic."
whatever the case, from a purely business standpoint I'm not sure this was the right forum to display irony. If the store really wants to make a statement about the ridiculousness of the book in question, maybe they should have reduced their orders. This just sends a really mixed message.
There's a much more clever way to word that if it WAS a joke to make it, how shall we say...funny.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: In the UK at least, 'breasticles' was popularised in the early 2000s by Radio One breakfast show DJ who used the word a lot.
ReplyDeleteShe was part of the 'laddette' culture and actually used it as a term of empowerment...although I doubt that's how it was intended here.
"Breasticles?" That's pretty pathetic, and perhaps the lamest nickname I've ever seen for this part of a lady's anatomy. I thought the Brits had more class than this--pity.
ReplyDeleteIf there is one way to make that artwork less attractive it is combining it with the amalgam imagery of the "breast testicle."
ReplyDeleteYou know, my comic book store has Jim Lee coming to it in August.
ReplyDeleteAnd the staff is friendly and courteous. And while they'll put out special signs to point out events like World War Hulk, Civil War, Infinite Crisis, or the like, they would never, EVER do something so radically stupid, even if it was supposed to be a joke. I mean COME ON. If it's serious, then you denigrate your female clients by telling them the only thing that counts on this cover are bewbs and lots of 'em. If it's a joke, you mock the people who might actually enjoy the title (I know, it's hard to like Winick's Titans series, but it still has its fans).
How about: "Remember those Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans stories you loved as a kid? Now, imagine someone making a softcore porn version of the same thing!"
ReplyDeleteNot only is this disgusting as stated numerous times, but the kerning in the copy is horrible.
ReplyDeleteI would avoid this shop.
This makes me love my comic shop even more. they are very aware of the exclusive nature of a lot of comic shops. They try their damndest to be inclusive - which is really how I believe good comics, themselves, should be. The store sees many women, children, gay, and racially diverse customers who aren't made uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteToo bad all comic shops can't be like that.
You know, it took me like a minute to even figure out where Starfire was on that cover. I kept seeing various smudges of purple and orange, but couldn't figure out how it all fit together into a person. Then I remembered that other cover where her and Nightwing were making out, and it all came together.
ReplyDeleteSigh.
Um...
ReplyDelete