Friday, July 24, 2009

Hey, you know what's awesome? Torture. Also: women's legs.

DC released some Batman-related art over on the DCU Blog, for those of us who can't attend SD Comic Con. (Yeah, word, they actually talk about comics at Comic Con. Who knew?)

After I got over my joy at seeing The Question on a cover (I've been informed it's for Azrael, but as we all know I have had very little interest in Bat-related titles of the past, so I dunno), I looked for any Batwoman related art, and saw a bit of red peeking out at me.

Found it:


So I guess that's the trauma in Kate's past. At least she wasn't raped by members of her squad. Just captured by terrorists. And maybe raped. We'll see! (Unless she was also raped by members of her squad, then soldiered through - pun intended - the trauma, went to the Middle East, got captured and tortured... but that'd be too much. Right? Right?) The art remains very nice, though. I love the red and faded-blue/greens of Batwoman on the bottom contrasted with the sepiaesque top.

Anyway, the cover that really got me, and I mean that in a bad way, was for... I have no idea. Some Bat-title. Where Batman gets a little of the Mrs. Robinson treatment:

Remember back in 1969 when it was pretty awesome to see an older woman, clad in very little, show her still-in-great-shape legs to a younger man in an effort to seduce him? Remember when that was subversive and powerful because it messed with our ideas of gender roles and age?

Okay, technically I don't remember it since I wasn't alive, but that's not my point. My point is that this cover is more than half taken up by some woman's naked body. She's seriously only wearing a thong. And since this is Widening Gyre, that's probably Silver St. Cloud (and Bruce!Batman), which means that we're not talking about flipping things on their head anymore, we're just talking about a mostly-naked woman splashed across a comic page similar to, oh a Maxim girl or a Playboy playmate.

Awesome.

Hey, speaking of torture and half-naked women, apparently Silver has a history of getting the shaft (pun sort of intended, but I feel bad about it), despite being a strong enough woman to handle the whole Batman/Bruce Wayne thing. I admittedly know less about Silver than I know about Azrael, but wow. Wow.

I guess at least she wasn't kidnapped by terrorists, held hostage, and eventually - hey, do you think she has purple eyes? Too bad Widening Gyre is out of continuity, right? Perfect new Bat-Girl. You heard it here first. 'Cause you can't be a Bat without trauma, right? For some reason? Probably the same reason Gotham can't survive without Batman. Which is to say: no reason at all.

You know, with all my negativity lately, I forgot to write about how much I enjoyed the most recent issue of Supergirl. She doesn't have the shorts yet, but that's okay, I still managed to survive reading through it without feeling like a traitor to my sex. Anyway, I'll do that tomorrow.


4 comments:

  1. That Batmabn/legs cover is just awful, politically and aesthetically. Really ugly art style.
    Supergirl was a great issue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Saranga It looks like something from 1983. Which has never been a style I've liked. Then again, I have no idea what point WG takes place at. Maybe it IS 1983.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Saranga It looks like something from 1983. Which has never been a style I've liked. Then again, I have no idea what point WG takes place at. Maybe it IS 1983.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That Batmabn/legs cover is just awful, politically and aesthetically. Really ugly art style.
    Supergirl was a great issue.

    ReplyDelete