Good fucking grief

[yendi]

Marvel isn't content with MJ doing her man's laundry in her thong.

Check this one out (ganked from asim, who pointed to this post):







Yep, that's three heroines (or anti-heroines, as it were) complete with breasts (all on a scale that would likely make Power Girl cry out in pain from just looking at them) hanging out and with uniforms exposed right down to the crotch.

And yes, there are slimy tentacles dripping onto them. Including lots of slime on Felicia Hardy's cleavage, looking very much like a pearl necklace money shot. Marvel has discovered Hentai. Lovely.

As a bonus feature, Misty Knight (the woman in the red halter top with balloons attached to her) has apparently undergone racial reassignment surgery, presumably either because artist Sana Takeda doesn't like black women in his fantasy porn, or because Marvel has decided that tan-looking vaguely asian/white combos sell better. Only her hair looks anything like the character.

Bonus #2: Note that this is rated T+. That sounds great, right? After all, older teens are ready for tentacle porn and other adult content. But "T+," according to Marvel's pages, means that its appropriate for most readers, starting at age 9.

*blink*

Guess we should set up the DVD system for Urotsukidoji. At 12, Elayna's probably a little old for it, but I suppose it's time to catch up.

Seriously, why even fucking bother with a rating system when you just shit on it?

There's actually good stuff at Marvel: Peter David's (soon-to-end) run on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Warren Ellis's take on Thunderbolts, etc. There's a wonderful history there, as well. But at this point, it's pretty much evolved into the company that makes me glad I dumped their stock last year, with too little good stuff to outweigh the suck.

ETA: digriz notes that the artist appears to be female, which makes her confusion about breasts and gravity even more baffling.

Comments

[lee-in-limbo.livejournal.com]

I've had a bad feeling aobut Marvel for the past few years, and this confirms it. I've got nothing against a little cheesecake now and then, but I just get the feeling that there's very little creative integrity left in that company. And I used to be a Marvel guy, too. *sigh*

Lee.

[e-scapism101.livejournal.com]

Um...I'm not familiar with the characters, so I can not comment on the racial reassignment, but I do have a very important question - Where are her nipples? 'Cause in that position, in that outfit, with those jugs, there would be some nipslippage.

[celticfeministw.livejournal.com]

This just made my head cave in when I saw it through When Fangirls Attack. Good fucking grief is right.

And the fact that they just assume, without a second thought, that this was acceptable demonstrates that our culture is still free-falling down through the misogynistic rabbit hole.

Grumble.

[stevietee.livejournal.com]

On a purely practical level, doesn't Misty have an implant (outside of the two on her chest), her bionic arm, that should be able to snap through those chains?

And what in hell is going on with the bell on Black Cat's neck?? That's a wonderful tool for a thief!

(Black Cat sneakily opens window to Kingpin's penthouse in the middle of the night and slithers in)
DING-A-LING-A-DING-A-LING
BLACK CAT: "Son of a BITCH! I can't believe that happened AGAIN! Why do I keep wearing this thing??"
KINGPIN: "Beats me." (shoots her)

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Totally! There isn't even a single nipple shadow on any of the jumpsuits. What, are these "lightly lined"?

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

...that looks like something that you'd see pop up on the portal of a hentai website. I don't even have an icon to represent the total amount of WTF.

Are those Black Widow's boobs I see on the far right? I can't tell. Just boobs and a bit of hair doesn't tell me anything...

[digriz.livejournal.com]

The artist, Sana Takeda, is actually female, BTW.

Interview from Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/ImageComics/Drain/STakeda.html)

Her art website (http://www.sanatakeda.or.tv/)

[unwilly.livejournal.com]

I love the money shot and the bell on the Black Cat. Fabulous.

Who the hell screens the covers at Marvel these days?

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Marvel has discovered Hentai.

I've been out of comics for a while, and my knowledge of Anime/manga is strictly secondhand, but this cover is really blurring the artistic/stylistic lines between them -- if I didn't see "Marvel.com" on the bottom, I wouldn't have known it wasn't Hentai!

[yendi]

That makes her complete unfamiliarity with the female figure even more baffling.

[yendi]

Ron Jeremy, I presume.

[yendi]

You're assuming they're actually breasts, not strange balloons that have been grafted on by the tentacle beasts.

[thornsilver]

I have to agree. This looks drawn in manga stile. Hentai manga stile. Tentacles don't help.

[yendi]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was based on a stock hentai image the artist had prepared.

[amokk]

Same, I was wondering what comics they'd started getting when I first looked at the image...

[ogre42.livejournal.com]

Truly Hentai. I really don't get into the whole tentacle sex thing and did not realize that it was now appropriate for the wee lads to enjoy. The money shot on the cleavage thing is just so far into the realm of porn that I am really appalled. Hey I like porn as much as the next guy, but come on people...

ach Capt'n, she cannae take it!

[gaelfling.livejournal.com]

that has to be some of the worst art I've seen out of marvel in quite some time, and I've been watching M's art for over three decades now :o
I mean, I can understand that the kids are all about the manga-esc drawing styles, but seriously, if I wanted manga, I'd buy manga, not some badly ripped off garbage
what's worse? the breasts aren't large enough to constitute 'Hentai'.. too small O.o

[ersatzinsomnia.livejournal.com]

demonstrates that our culture is still free-falling down through the misogynistic rabbit hole.

Our culture? That would imply a significant portion of the population actually were readers of comics, rather than the slowly dwindling niche market it is.

Lets' call this what it is... a desperate, scrabbling attempt at marketshare in the only way they know how by a disappearing medium.

[darkluna.livejournal.com]

The boobs concern me, but not as much as the fact that they can't possibly have ribs, given that their waists look about ten inches around.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

4 female "heroes" and Shang-Chi actually. You can just see his arm and Tarantula is mostly just out of the shot on the right. Sadly the book is actually slightly above average for Marvel. Writing wise anyway. The current story arc has them in the Savage Land trying to collect a bounty on Devil Dinosaur...

Not that anyone would know that given the covers they get (and they've had a few that were pretty bad). But this is the worst I've seen them do. I caught this yesterday on scans_daily and it had already got several WFA links...

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I swear I saw that on a tentacle sex web site.

No, wait . . . . I mean I heard . . . I mean it could be . . . ummmm . . . . third base.

[ponygirl118.livejournal.com]

WTF? This looks like something out of a porno site.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Those crazy tentacle beasts! They'll do anything for an impossibly-proportioned woman.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

*snort*

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

She's also Japanese - a culture not known for extraordinarily large-breasted women. Could be a case of idealistic overcompensation to pander to the western conception that bigger is better (breast-wise).

Or maybe she fancies women, especially those with "HUGE ...tracts o' land."

(corrected for grammar)

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

May I link to this? Please?

Re: (corrected for grammar)

[yendi]

Of course!

[yendi]

At the rate Marvel's going, I bet they'll start a full-on porn imprint (Marvel Muff!) within a few months.

[yendi]

:-)

[yendi]

I'm guessing this is a different Tarantula than the one I'm used to (else it'd be three female heroes).

See, if covers like this are actually undercutting good stories, that's just sad.

[yendi]

Well, super-heroines have to make sacrifice for fashion! It's the Marvel way!

Re: ach Capt'n, she cannae take it!

[yendi]

Marvel and bad art have been linked in my mind for decades (with the occasionally Bagley outweighed by dozens of Liefelds.

[yendi]

Hey I like porn as much as the next guy, but come on people...

And those last three words are, sadly, what Marvel's giving folks with this cover (at least in the case of Black Cat).

[yendi]

Tentacles never help.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Oh, for fuck's sake!

Beyond that, I am, indeed, speechless.

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

Marvel has discovered Hentai. Lovely.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/3552129.html

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

[ersatzinsomnia.livejournal.com]

be a case of idealistic overcompensation to pander to the western conception that bigger is better (breast-wise).

O_O

Whoa... you're not too familiar with Japanese animation and comics...

If anything, the Japanese comic market is MUCH MUCH more obsessed with enormously endowed women. Even comparatively harmless titles always have some double-D character to bounce and jiggle all over the page/screen for comedic or titilating effect.

[433.livejournal.com]

...or that could just be her art style. Nearly caracature.

[redfishie.livejournal.com]

I didn't get that it was Marvel until I started reading your entry. yiock.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

I can't claim to be one of the Otaku, but I do possess a little more knowledge than the average bear when it comes to Anime. And I wholeheartedly concur that the most bodacious of ta-tas are fairly ubiquitous in Japanese 'toons.

What I was pondering is the "why" of it -- for a culture that is genetically predisposed to smallish chests, why are they so obsessed with large breasts? I'm not saying the "pandering to the west" is the only theory, or even anywhere near correct, it was just a thought. Could be other things, or a combination of things: Is it wanting what they don't have? Is it a caricature of westerners ("You Europeans and misplaced Europeans, with your big breasts, and your fair skin, and your blonde hair, and your round eyes!") that just became so ingrained in the genre that it's become commonplace?

Hey, I don't know. Armchair sociology isn't an exact science. :)

[ersatzinsomnia.livejournal.com]

There's a whole list of effects to consider (and I'm a bit short on time) but if we just look at Japan's past:

1) Historically, grotesquely exaggerated sexual characteristics were very, very commonplace in Japanese art. Nearly all the pornographic images from Japan's history (when the country had pretty much isolated itself from the rest of the "uncivilized" world) had laughably distorted physical characteristics of the figures.

2) Similarly, Japan actually has a history of sexual humiliation and denigration against women in their literature and art. This can be thought of as lending to...

3) Intensely sexist cultural history. This would take a hella long time to dig through for evidence, but I have it on the authority of several friends how difficult it is for an American woman to live with the sexist nature of that nation while living there.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. I suppose every culture has its seamy underbelly!

I can completely see that - this is the same culture that created the Geisha.

[aki-dreaming.livejournal.com]

Perhaps that woman artist is doing what all good women should do, and directing her considerable talent and creativity toward satisfying her man. Perhaps she painted this in HER thong. Also, she might be dating a Thermian. (http://questarian.com/Databank/Thermians/gq-Therm01.htm) It would explain her... bias.

She said, coming late to the party.

[aki-dreaming.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I finished my coffee, or this would have finished my monitor.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Look closely... there are 4 women in the picture. That said, definitely tentacle porn.