Examining the new Power Girl & Huntress statue

This one sorta slipped under my radar a bit, but here we are. What do you think?

This is probably the smallest I have ever seen PG's boobs on licensed product. It's hard to gauge with all the white, but I'm thinking a C -cup maximum. Also, note the glutes. Those are some serious hardcore muscular glutes. And she looks like she could really beat your ass. She's not playin.'

Huntress is like, "I don't go for that exploitative licensed product stuff. I'm going to keep my cape pulled around me like Batman. If it's good enough for Batman, it's good enough for me."

Overall, I think it's pretty decent. I think a female fan could buy this and not feel embarassed.

Of course, the devil's advocate in me asks, what sells more this or the manga versions with the ooh-la-la?

Power Girl:
What Do You See In The Mirror?

Darwyn Cooke's cover for The Comics Journal #285:

You know, that's really not a bad strategy.
But if the mirror gets cracked during battle, you get bad luck.

Supergirl, Power Girl, Girl Wonder:
Want To Make It 3-For-3?

via Lying In The Gutters:

Old PG Boobage:

New PG Boobage:
Ah, the wonders of Photoshop on a tight printing deadline!

So, did "fangirl" (and fangirl-friendly fanboy) online pressure get these Turner mammaries pulled back?

If so, can they get Stephanie's trophy case put in and make it, in addition to PG and the Supergirl switch, "3 for 3?"

Hint: You will have better luck with your "Stephanie" letter/e-mail writing campaigns if you write to the Top first. Your letter-writing order should be as follows:
1. Heads of corporate offices (for example, Time Warner)
2. Heads of comic book publishing offices
3. Editors

Editors alone are pretty powerless to implement such changes on their own even if they wanted to. These changes are made either by the top guns of the publisher or by the top guns of the publisher under direct pressure from the corporate office.

Postscript: PG's breasts still look like a butt on that cover.

Study Finds That Women Like
Looking At Dirty Pictures Too

"Men are more likely to look at a female's face before gazing at other body parts, according to a new study by researchers at Emory University. And when men and women look at pictures of heterosexual sex, women look longer at the photos than men do, according to the study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior."

The basic gist of it is that according to the study, females look more at the male's body to see if he is, as they say, "in the mood." Whereas with wimmins, a cursory look at her form will not so easily reveal this information. Thus, men look longer at a woman's face. Except when she has really big ones, apparently.

Covers That Don't SuckJSA #8: Non-anorexic body-type believably supports upper region. Says: "I'm a fierce, powerful female." Also says: "STOP LOOKING AT MY BREASTS!"

Outsiders: Five of a Kind Grace/Wonder Woman:
Two strong women doing superheroey things.
Wondy's crotch is totally exposed, but in a non-alluring manner.
Okay, the torso is a little masculine. Okay, Grace looks a little masculine.
But it's totally not sexually exploitative.

Thor #1. Pointed out to me by the omniscient Sammy. Mike Turner can still draw, the JLA boob thing was just a nightmare, there's no place like home, there's no place like home. Makes you wonder if the later JLA covers look a little rushed because he was going to knock this one out of the park <---only speculation, I'm sure totally not true.

Of course, bad covers make for better posts.
But it's not like I'm wishing for them or anything.

Sexy, Not Sexist




In reference to my previous post about the cover to Justice League #10, I'm presenting an example of a cover that features a superheroine with a big rack that I think works.

Here we have a Wonder Woman cover by Adam Hughes. Note the big rack on Wonder Woman. Chances are, however, her big rack was not the very first thing you noticed about the cover. This is because cheesecake is not the very first quality Hughes chooses to play up in this art. The real focus is on the fun, magic, and power of the icon Wonder Woman. Make no mistake, sexiness is a part of it. But it isn't all of it. However with the Justice League cover, PG's boobs are the star of the show. I mean, they are virtual guest-stars in the comic the way Don Rickles used to be in those Jack Kirby Jimmy Olsens. Now, if you have a issue of Justice league written by New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer, surely there is something of more substance to feature on this cover.

Next, note how relatively realistic Wondy's boobs are in contrast to Power Girl's. They hang more naturally. There is even a hint of a tear-drop shape. It's the real thing vs. silicone.

But lets move beyond the merely physical and look at the aesthetics. Hughes obviously put a lot of time into composing his cover. The motifs of the golden lasso, the birds. The different "sides" of Wonder Woman: 1) The standing figure: Strong; 2) The flying figure: Fun, Graceful; 3) The close-up: Sexy, Pretty. There is a lot going on in this cover. In contrast, the Power Girl cover is boring, static, and uninspired. This is not a knock on Turner's work in general. I'm just saying on this particular cover, it looks kinda like a panel or something. It's just...there.

Lastly, look at the faces of Wonder Woman & Power Girl. Wondy's face has LIFE. Her eyes are alive. This isn't even the best example of the personality Hughes can put into his Wonder Woman faces. But there is a glimmer of personality. Power Girl's eyes are expressionless. In addition, she looks not that much different from Black Canary, though Canary at least has this weird sorta pissed-off thing going on (maybe because she's jealous of PG's endowments, who knows?).

I find Adam Hughes's covers to be, for the most part, sexy but not sexist. Sexy but not sexist means that your subject has some glimmer of humanity in her and is not just a blow-up doll. Sexy but not sexist means that you can see that the artist has a genuine love and understanding for the subject. Sexy but not sexist encompasses, at least for me, not only Hughes but the work of Rags Morales, Frank Cho, Darwyn Cooke, Alex Toth, Will Eisner, and many more.

And to be fair here is an example of a Michael Turner cover I did like, for the Teen Titans. It's nicely composed & fun.

It Will Never Change

It Will Never Change(the cover of Justice League #10 brought to my attention by Sammy)

Look, recent strides in the emancipation of Supergirl aside, there are two things that will never change about DC superheroines:

1) Power Girl's breasts
2) Wonder Woman in bondage

They will never ever ever ever ever change. Power Girl will always have huge mammaries, and Wonder Woman will always find her way into the chains of Mars, dig it?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong --

I'm not saying people shouldn't complain --

I'm just saying this is what it is -- just things that a number of readers out there cherish, that they're nostalgic about from when they were young. It's like Al Bundy keeping his tattered but well-loved stack of "Big 'Uns" magazine, it's like Homer Simpson keeping that mouldering old left-over hero sandwich after the party, it's like Ralph Kramden keeping his old college outfit with the straw hat, it's like Ross convincing Rachel to dress up like Slave Leia -- it's Theirs. It makes those readers happy. They don't want it taken away from them. They see efforts to take it away from them as part of a PC-driven conspiracy to ruin this tiny bit of four-color joy that such images provide.

And I'm not saying it is right or wrong -- I'm just saying I recognize what the motivation is, and, frankly, I'm choosing to not go on the stomping ground to eradicate these particular quirky bits of (lets face it) erotica that finds their way into mainstream superhero comics. Which doesn't mean I won't poke fun when it's especially stupid.

Supergirl I got down on because it featured a teenager, and that, to me, is a whole different story.

Also, I think the stubborness on DC's part to not give Stephanie a trophy box (or whatever the hell you call it) is something that should be rectified, because 1) teenage girl (and ostensible role-model), 2) it seems like such a minor thing to ask for, why the hell not just do it already? --->though the unwillingness to give her official recognition as a Robin might also have to do with "keeping the integrity of the licensable property" (i.e., Robin is always a boy), in other words a business issue.

Lastly, I read on Loren's blog that Brad Meltzer had requested a boob reduction on Power Girl on this cover -- and that what we see here is the result. I highly doubt her chest was reduced that much -- it's really hard to f**k with covers by big-name artists like Turner, to either ask the artist for an edit or go in there yourself with Photoshop. It's really an awkward thing to ask for. But besides that -- Meltzer is a New York Times bestselling author. His love for comics aside -- why the hell would he want his name on something this silly? Point is -- I met the guy, I worked with him, I highly doubt the air-bags on Kara was part of his artistic vision.

But in the end, they're just mammaries. Really big, puffy, pale mammaries. And I'll tell you, when I was 60 pounds heavier, those damn things hurt my back. But I am not nor have I ever been a pseudo-Kryptonian. So maybe PG can hack it. I don't know.

Back to my chicken salad.

A Great Way To Catch An Upper Respiratory Infection

A Great Way To Catch An Upper Respiratory Infection
And they are not fun let me tell you. Sore throat, tons of phlegm that just fills up your lungs, and you can barely talk. That's why you must always cover your neck and the top halves of your breasts when flying through the air fighting crime, especially during the colder months. I use a shawl or simply button up my peacoat.