Tie me up, Tie me down

DC Comics, teaching an entire generation that abuse, misogyny and kidnapping was a-okay. Fortunately, we've all grown past that culturally.

Love Stories #150 (Jun-Jul 1973)

Sex, Drugs and Violence

It's no wonder he sleeps alone. This one-pager from Feature Comics #135 was published way back in June 1945, a time when comic books were not for girls!

My True Life Intimate Secret Desire Confessions

On the first cover by the time we see our heroine she was already salaciously propositioned and is mulling over her choice. On the second she is wryly, perhaps with amusement, dismissing a wolf. Both covers are iconically lurid but what a difference four years makes in the approach.

From My Desire Intimate Confessions #4 (Fox, April 1950) & True Life Secrets #23 (Nov-Dec 1954).

The Music of Thunder

I foresee a whole lot of 911 calls in her future.

Falling in Love #27 (June 1959).

Snazzy

Nellie the Nurse #20 (Aug 1946).

Just a gal

Fantasy versus Reality from Annie Oakley #1 (March 1948) and real life, respectively.

There's a reason why Jack is always smiling

Forget subliminal shadows in well-defined musculature. Strips like this is why the Comics Code Authority was created. Yet these funnies served an unintended purpose beyond sales-inspiring titillation, giving the young access to some material that provided, albeit through an unrealistic filter set in place by mostly old men, education in what for the era were proper gender roles and societal expectations.

Smilin' Jack story re-printed in the Dell title Popular Comics #101 (May 1946).

Hey! My All-Seeing Eyes are up here, creep!

Wow, the 90s. I hope by focusing in on the torso of Pele the artist was making a point about the pandering hyper-sexualization and blatant sales-grubbing cheesecake art of the era. Then again the creative crew may have defined human nature perfectly. There are basically two options to witnessing a ridiculously attractive demi-godess striding from a churning pool of molten lava and declaring she would destroy the Hawaiian islands with super-volcanoes: One is to run screaming the opposite direction and the other is to plan on how you are going to score with her.

Panels from X-Force #81 (September 1998).

It's a thin line

I guess there are worse foundations for a relationship. At least hatred is more honest than marrying for money.

From Heart Throbs #90 (July 1964).

Skinning the Cat

I'm concerned enough about the state of comic books that I pay attention to, if not campaign about, the negative portrayal of women in comics. My stance is usually that much of the fanboy/girl service in the way women are drawn and scripted that abounds in comic books is not necessary and is therefore just ridiculous. Silly attempts to justify the Power Girl costume aside there are a few instances where the exploitation of the female form in a comic book is an important part of the story. One such example was in the Seven Soldiers mini featuring The Bulleteer. One premise of the story was the fetishistic nature of the superhero so it could be argued the manner in which the female Bulleteer was rendered was necessary since she was the victim of her husband's sexual obsession with superheroes.

Another example could be the recent issue of World's Finest #3 (February 2010) featuring Supergirl, Batgirl and Catwoman. In this issue Batgirl and Catwoman find themselves in conflict with robots created by the Toyman. Throughout the entire very physical fight Catwoman's costume remains closed and serves as protection, which is what a good costume should do. It is only when she is rendered unconscious and tied up that her costume is unzipped exposing her breasts. Catwoman is often portrayed with a casual opened front to her costume but in this instance it is doubtful she did this to herself.

I don't know if her costume being unzipped once she is bound was intentional on the part of the creators but it looks like the Toyman robot, once it had Catwoman helpless, decided to play with the captive a bit. That adds an unstated layer of creepiness to the whole scene. That Catwoman was perhaps violated isn't even addressed in this story and in fact she is casually dismissed by Batgirl and Supergirl, a couple of young heroes who are acting just a bit too pleased with themselves over the whole thing. It would be interesting to see a hurt and angry Catwoman lecture the World's Finest Teens while she uses the real Toyman as a scratching post.

On the other hand, if the creators just decided that a woman being tied up and showing her boobs was sexy and drew her that way just because they could, then shame on them.

Chain, Chain, Chain

Here's a quick representation of the evolution of Red Sonja's chain-mail armor from her first appearance in a 1973 Marvel Comics issue of Conan the Barbarian to her look as Queen Sonja from Dynamite Publishing in 2009. Note that as awareness of feminine issues in comic books has steadily increased over the decades, inversely Red Sonja's attire has become ever more spare. In the beginning Sonja wore full upper-body armor. Shortly thereafter she ditched the heavy mail shirt for the famous steel bikini, sporting about thirty pieces of chain-mail per breast.

The chain bikini became quickly popular among creators and readers and was hilariously parodied by Dave Sim in several Cerebus story lines. She is now being portrayed as wearing about six pieces of mail on each breast and looking like some kind of Hyperborean stripper. Not much of an advantage in a fight, really, unless you buy into that 'distraction' meme that seems to be bouncing around the various comic book companies and forums of late. Credit to the artists in one aspect, though. Red Sonja is at least being drawn as less voluptuous and more fighting lean. Costuming aside her body type resembles more her early appearances than those made infamous by Moroto, Boris Vallejo, Buscema and Thorne.

It's 2009 and comic books are not for girls!