There’s been a lot of debate recently about the role of female artists and writers in the comic book industry, mainly because the recent reboot of DC left only a fraction of women left on the payroll. Much of the debate revolves around the idea that if women drew superheroes, there would be less sexist portrayals of women. This reminded me of when artist Joe Phillips caused a bit of a stir with a gallery show of iconic male superheroes with the kind of blatantly provocative poses and outfits as female superheroines. In the interest of furthering the debate (and balance, since we do have a babes category), here are some of the paintings from Phillips’ show. You can check out all the paintings at Alexander Salazar’s website, but be warned: some of them contain nudity.
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| Superman |
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| Batman |
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| Captain America |
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| Spider-Man |
What do you think of Phillips’ take on superheroes? Would more women read comics if guys were drawn sexier?
[Alexander Salazar Fine Art via Huffington Post]
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="41744 ">7 Comments
I don't know–it seems just plain weird to me. I don't think more women will be reading superhero comics no matter what they look like.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I agree that as a straight man, I find these pictures weird, but I think that's why they work. I find myself asking myself, "Why is Captain America standing like that?" "Why is Superman's zipper down?" But then I realize if I saw a woman in a similar pose or outfit, I wouldn't think twice about it. That's why they're real eye-openers.
Most women won't care, methinks, unless it has a lot more drama or love/romance thrown in, regardless of how the superheroes look. (I'm talking about women who hate superhero comics, and the idea of them suddenly starting to read them)
Personally, I think supereroes are fine drawn as is, and the above just seems off-putting. Man, they look so weird like that. The babes in the comics are kinda supposed to be just that: babes, and some with super powers, so they look normal in those types of clothes. Women in revealing clothing = hot. Men in revealing clothing = not. (But, that is only my personal opinion. As always, everyone's tastes differ, so who am I to say, really)
Appreciate your comments, April. I was interested to hear a woman's perspective. It seems even women can find them off-putting as well?
Finding Batman so sexy but as a girl I won't fap to it so whatever. #ironytalks
I feel like a major point is being missed in these representations. It's not just about the revealing of skin and hyper-idealization of the body. The problem with representations of women especially in comics is the over sexualization in both poses and action. While yes, making women overly passive is one of the problems with their portrayals especially in advertising, in comics especially women's poses are active, over the top, and often unrealistic. These poses are out of an Abercrombie and Fitch add, not the equivalent of distortion and sexualization of women in comic books. If Phillips really wanted to equalize the representations, he should have gone much farther.
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