Doug: This is too easy...
I should have asked you all for a permission slip before allowing you to view this image!
Karen: So I guess one of Psylocke's super-powers is extra vertebrae? How else could she twist herself into a pretzel like that? Ughhh! And I'm sure having one's behind exposed is great in a fight. Oh come on!!
22 comments:
Yeah, and Storm's only a little better - she's farther away, and turned slightly, but I get the impression she's wearing the same type of, er, shorts (?) as Psylocke (I'm with Karen: just how is a thong useful for action-oriented superheroing?). But Psylocke several layers of wrong: first, there's the ridiculous stripper outfit, then there's the rubbery anatomy to make those impossible pornish poses, and finally, and probably worst of all, there's the fact that she was transformed into a stereotyped Asian dragon-lady. Yeesh...
Well, it's beautiful artwork. Sure, the female body is accentuated, but it seems to me that this is rather innocuous.
Yeah when was this drawn? Looks like 1990s art to me. If indeed it was, it's just more vindication that for me that this era was a lowpoint for comicbook art. If not, well, Marvel should collaborate with Playboy. This poster would fit right in for that demographic!
- Mike 'subscribes to National Geographic' from Trinidad & Tobago.
What would beloved Sister Wendy the Art Nun have to say about this image-? (Actually, she wasn't one to shy away from the importance and richness of sexual imagery, so she wouldn't find it shocking, at least.)
Overall-- if Psylocke is psionically removed from the picture? It's certainly fine-- a pretty darned good early example of the later overwhelmingly overused a zillion times "bravely facing the on-rushing threat as a united team" inspirational cover motif. Which. . . I now hate passionately.
And I'll even be a bit of a gadfly and say that Psylocke's position isn't nearly as contorted as it appears at first glance. The shadow on her right breast gives the impression that you're seeing both breasts-- and being twisted that far around would indeed be lethal. But it's not-- it's just the right one. And that position- assuming she's perched on something and not in mid-run- is an awkward twist, but not at all impossible. I pulled my overweight, aging body away from the table and tried it myself (gingerly), and I think it injured a muscle behind my right shoulder blade only slightly.
But the choices made with her beyond that? Geeze, pure personal fetishism on the artist's part. Apart from the nearly-obscured Longshot and the female character (Dazzler??) just below her, Psylocke is the LEAST INTERESTING TEAM MEMBER PICTURED, and she's the centerpiece, the visual focal point of this image! It's like there are two follow-spots trained on her, and everyone else is in the chorus. AND-- she's the only character not facing forward, for the painfully obvious reason that the artist wants to showcase her naked bum. AND-- her considerable amount of exposed flesh is the ONLY skin in the image that is that particular bright, warm, popping pink color. The color-choice alone is embarrassingly attention-grabbing. It's just a humiliating testament that sort of lives down to the worst expectations of what many, many folks consider comic book fans to be. Ugh.
HB
Yeah, that's a little...off. You should submit this to EscherGirls.
Mike Wilson
Ha. That is really pretty awful and egregious. Even Wolverine seems a little disgusted. It just needs the added battle cry word balloon of, "I'll take post, you take the rear!"
At least Rogue sports a practical, combat ready uniform! This image seems representative of too many modern comic illustrations: all emphasis on heavy, detailed rendering, with little or no attention to pure design. Oh, for the days of John Romita Sr. in the art director's chair...
Funny comments so far.
I believe the artist of this piece was Carlos Pacheco, whose work I generally enjoy. And it's not that this isn't a good picture of the X-Men of that era - it is. But immediately after my eyes were bombarded with the foreshortened buttocks of Betsy Braddock, my mind told me that Logan would be thinking something along the lines of skewering himself some nice butt steak...
Doug
PS: PF Gavigan is along tomorrow in the driver's seat.
Oh! Yeah, I've always rather liked Carlos as well! He tends to err on over-filling his panels, I think, but a pretty darned good artist. AVENGERS FOREVER, remember?
HB
Hiya,
I took one look at this drawing, spent several hours trying to think of a nice way to say this and came up absolutely blank so here goes:
Either Cyclops has one hell of an athletic cup or we now know what happened to Ken after he and Barbie broke up!
Seriously, you simply cant have that much definition on the female characters and then wimp out when you get around to rendering the males.
seeya
pfgavigan
"Package" is how my dance cohorts always referred to that particular aspect of male presentation. "Geeze, did you check out Roland's package in those striped pirate pants???"
And I totally agree w/ pfg's observation about the hypocrisy inherent in the discrepancy.
Y'know who did an admirable and realistic job with that aspect of the male form? Our beloved John Buscema. One of the few. Nothing disrespectful or inappropriate-- just part of how we're all put together.
Jack Kirby's men were pretty much all apparently castratis. . . one wonders how little Franklin Richards ever came to exist at all. . .
HB
All I know about Psylocke is what Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull has written. So, I do not know if she is an amputee. Where is the rest of her left leg???
Hiya,
Ward Hill Terry said...
All I know about Psylocke is what Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull has written. So, I do not know if she is an amputee. Where is the rest of her left leg??
And the No-Prize for Outstanding Observation Skills goes to Ward Hill Terry!!
Use it wisely.
That's one of the problems with detail heavy drawings, the artists can get lost in them.
seeya
pfgavigan
Maybe everyone is just focused on Psylocke's bottom, but I have been waiting all day for someone to make the same complaints of this image as were made about Jusko's Tarzan images on Friday. Is four-color comic book art really the dividing line for most of you in regard to your criticisms of over-musculated (I made that up) men? Because I'm looking at Cyke and seeing Tarzan -- you know what I mean.
I'm really wanting to scream hypocrisy, but maybe I just don't get it.
Doug
Hiya,
Never a big Tarzan fan to begin with and had only minor interest in cover paintings so I passed by that posting pretty quickly.
Gimme a second . . .
Goes to post . . .
Ok . . .
Goes to first painting . . .
Ok . . .
Takes a look at painting . . .
Ok . . .
Takes another look at painting . . .
Ok . . .
Hits zoom button to take another look at painting . . .
Oi . . .
So is that an anaconda in his loin cloth or is he just happy to see Simba?
You are pretty much correct with the over-physicalization of the human form in both images. Both are pretty ridiculous. It just seems that the X-Men one is so blatantly obvious that it seems to be rubbing our faces in it.
Wait a second . . . give me a chance to think of a different way to say that!!
Never mind.
Gonna go watch some more Poldark and relish in the experience that affirms that reboots and remakes need not suck.
seeya
pfgavigan
Feisty tonight, eh PFG?
Doug
Hiya,
Kinda frustrated because of spraining my wrist. I'm fairly ambidextrous but can't draw with my left hand!
And Humanbelly doesn't have to say anything about how he always thought that I was using my left foot!!!
Seeya
pfg
"Maybe everyone is just focused on Psylocke's bottom, but I have been waiting all day for someone to make the same complaints of this image as were made about Jusko's Tarzan images on Friday. Is four-color comic book art really the dividing line for most of you in regard to your criticisms of over-musculated (I made that up) men? Because I'm looking at Cyke and seeing Tarzan -- you know what I mean.
I'm really wanting to scream hypocrisy, but maybe I just don't get it."
Both Tarzan's and Psylocke's physiques are idealized but only Psylocke's physique is sexualized. Her pose is drawn specifically to emphasis her butt and sexual availability. Tarzan's pose is strong, he's directly facing the reader, and his physique emphasizes strength, not sexual availability.
-Steve
Hmm, I was going to respond to Doug's point, but Steve pretty much sums up the points I was going to make. And for the record, my criticisms of the Jusko paintings had nothing to do with Tarzan's muscalature...
Why, pfg, I'd simply assumed that it was your left foot all along, ala Christie Brown f'rinstance--! There's a tremendous precedent for a left foot serving as one's primary artistic conduit, yes indeedy. . . !
HB
I just saw this right now and found it quite funny and relevant to the topic at hand.
Yes, Edo, that video sums up not only today's post, but our look last week at "functional" costumes. And I'd argue that the young lady's "pants" are even a bit too large by today's comic book standards.
Well done,
Doug
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