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    collierLACallie Beusman
    9/23/14 5:55pm

    I really don't think I'd call this pose "seductive." Also, from my limited experience with comics/graphic novels, I seem to recall a lot of art featuring SpiderMAN posed pretty much this same way.

    But Spiderman's costume doesn't usually look like satin-finish body paint.

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      SomeoneSingingSoftlycollierLA
      9/23/14 5:58pm

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      collierLASomeoneSingingSoftly
      9/23/14 6:12pm

      Totally. Love this. Yes indeed, a lot of female superheroes are ridiculously overly sexualized, but I don't think that complaint applies here.

      Really, I don't understand a lot of the common tropes in superhero art. Why do they wear spandex outfits? Unless your superpower is "impervious to absolutely everything," you'd think some manner of sensibly flexible, breathable clothing with body armor would be the norm. And why does Spiderman look all beefy? Isn't he magically strong? And wouldn't "lithe and nimble" be a more efficient body type for his kind of action stuff? It just seems like the male *and* female characters mostly fit the generic gendered ideals: big huge muscley men, extremely thin long-legged women with enormous hooters.

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    mllequinkCallie Beusman
    9/23/14 6:04pm

    Something to remember is that Milo Manara is famous for erotic and pornographic comics. I don't know what else the expected from him in commissioning him to do the Spider-Woman cover. He should be one of the last choices for something that is not explicitly about sex. The fault here lies primarily with the people who commissioned the work from him. It's like going to a butchers and being pissed that they didn't make you a batch of cupcakes.

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      TamTamsmllequink
      9/23/14 6:21pm

      I don't think people should be pissed at Manara for doing what he does but I'm glad that Marvel canceled the covers. We don't need that kind of art in mainstream comics. It's offensive to the women who buy and read them.

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      bob_dmllequink
      9/23/14 7:09pm

      Yeah, it's pretty silly that Marvel are pulling the "We're shocked - shocked - by the tone of this cover!" response given that they knew his work before hiring him, and then approved and released the cover without seeing any problem with it - until readers pointed it out. But I guess the alternative is to admit that they have such a problem with sexist imagery that they no longer recognize sexualized representations for what they are...

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    PessimippopotamusCallie Beusman
    9/23/14 6:06pm

    I'm more worried about Greg Land illustrating the series than the one-off Milo Manara variant cover. Greg Land, aside from tracing his work from every magazine and comic book that he sees, can only "draw" people with an o face, also possibly traced from porn.

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      teagurlPessimippopotamus
      9/23/14 6:08pm

      Greg Land continuing to get work sort of mystifies me, since I don't think I've ever met anyone who actually likes his work. He's also not a very good story teller, which is a problem for comics.

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      singsthetunePessimippopotamus
      9/23/14 6:15pm

      ugh I know! I want to be so excited for this series, because I have loved the way Jess has been shown in the team comics I've read with her (especially the latest Secret Avengers), but between the cover fiasco and Greg Land I don't know if this is something I want to read.

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    frickinehCallie Beusman
    9/23/14 6:14pm

    I've seen Spiderman in that identical position, so I don't really think this is a case of sexualizing female characters. Not to say that's not a problem in comics, but I just disagree that this is a prime example. Also, Milo Manara is primarily an erotic artist, so I'm not totally sure why they would pick him for a mainstream cover, but if he can draw, who cares? Can't be worse than Liefeld, right? (Trick question: no one is worse than Liefeld.)

    My problem with this cover is that technically-speaking, it's crap. Her body is strangely shaped and her face is just atrocious. Her nose appears to have been eaten by her gigantic mouth. I also don't recall Spiderman's costume flouting the laws of physics to crawl up his ass and into the dip of his spine. The colors are a drab mess. There is zero hint of what the story is. Nothing about this makes me excited to read the comic. From most accounts, Manara is a far better artist than this. He deserved to be off the remaining covers, but the person who let this go to print also deserves to be fired. Not because it's sexy. Because it's a hot ass mess.

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      thesporkgirlfrickineh
      9/23/14 6:43pm

      you said you've seen it identical, but later you admit the flaws, "I also don't recall Spiderman's costume flouting the laws of physics to crawl up his ass and into the dip of his spine." <—that is one way he is sexualizing female characters. the color is also not just drab, it's closer to flesh-tone. because he wants her to be closer to naked. her pose varies just enough to be sex instead of power. look at ridiculous spider-man poses; they are still about power. agility. she looks hesitant, scared. not even stealthy/sneaky; she looks likes she's hiding, not pouncing. at my most generous, i could say that is the pose of a bored person. it is not identical to any male pose you've seen, even by liefield.

      look at the similarly-posed-spider-man here:

      http://io9.com/10-stupid-argu…

      actually, just read that whole thing.

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      Cestrumnocturn1frickineh
      9/23/14 8:24pm

      He also copied an earlier work. So not only is it crap, it's recycled crap.

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    ledariaCallie Beusman
    9/23/14 5:54pm

    Instead of just taking him off cover duty, they should demote him until he learns to not sexualize female characters. He's done this before and has only been punished this time because of the enormous backlash. Of course he's just one of the many artists who depicts female characters in a seductive manner and the entire industry needs an overhaul but demoting guys like him would be a start.

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      teagurlledaria
      9/23/14 6:06pm

      This...is a little insane. Manara is an erotic artist and they hired him to do covers that look like his work. He's also a freelance artist, you can't "demote" him, you can only decide not to hire him. The change needs to come from editorial.

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      Darklighterledaria
      9/23/14 6:08pm

      He's not a Marvel employee, nor are most non-editorial staff. He's a freelancer. They can't demote him. They can only stop giving him work. Which he probably doesn't really need anyway, as reprints of his own work continue to do just fine.

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    StonedReagan2Callie Beusman
    9/23/14 5:48pm

    What is the difference between this cover and the cover to Anaconda?

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      Faster,Pussycat!Shrill!Shrill!StonedReagan2
      9/23/14 6:06pm

      I would assume that the comic book's plot doesn't center around praising Spider Woman's ass and the guys who toss her salad like their name was Romaine.

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      DarklighterStonedReagan2
      9/23/14 7:09pm

      Nicki Minaj is a real person?

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    PragmaticSquirrelCallie Beusman
    9/23/14 5:52pm
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      clArkPragmaticSquirrel
      9/23/14 6:01pm

      How bout a cape? Pretty impractical? How about bat nipples and crotch mounds?

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      PragmaticSquirrelclArk
      9/23/14 6:02pm
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    bob_dCallie Beusman
    9/23/14 7:01pm

    I'm not sure which is more ridiculous - that they hired Milo Manara to do the covers to begin with (knowing full well what they'd get), that they were fine with the resulting work, or that it took an actual outcry for them to realize that maybe doing porn-y Spider-Woman covers wasn't such a great idea. It really demonstrates how the industry has become so inured to these sexualized representations, they don't even recognize them when they see them.

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      PragmaticSquirrelCallie Beusman
      9/23/14 5:52pm
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        2lines1shapeCallie Beusman
        9/23/14 6:36pm

        I don't understand this. If you hire Milo Manara, you are hiring him to do anatomically inaccurate erotic art. It's clearly a stylistic choice on his part. The Spider-Woman cover is pretty egregious in terms of "her neck doesn't connect that way and her leg is in the wrong spot," but if you're arguing about the giant butt and the painted on costume...

        Do a google image search on Milo Manara. This is LITERALLY the least sexy image on the first page, and one of the few that is SFW. Marvel knew exactly what kind of cover they were getting when they hired him, and probably knew what kind of response to expect too. Pay Manara once, (and two kill fees) and you get millions in free publicity to promote a second-tier character.

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