Despite being the face of the banner, Xena does not receive her own section in Dynamite’s Heroine sale… she just get lumped in with generic heroes. Bettie Page though… she gets her own section for some reason.
Now it’s true some of these titles are somewhat subversive, and that many of them are a mixed bag (Jennifer Blood has some great covers… also many literal lingerie covers)… and the Patricia Briggs section is pretty great – this sale encapsulates so many problems prevalent not only in comics but modern media.
Largely a lot of major publishers still view female protagonists not just as an excuse to put cheesecake on their covers, but rather many of them require a specific explanation why they shouldn’t do so.
– wincenworks
ashura02 submitted:
This sexy lady you see in there is Claudia, the female protagonist of one of my favourite french comics of all times, Requiem: Chevalier Vampire.
It’s a very good story (although is very nsfw, it has a lot of explicit violence, nudity and sex scenes) but… it could do waaay better with female representation.
The double standards here is something that really hurts, specially while the males have this awesome armors:
And females has… well, you’ve seen.
The only valid excuse i could see for this is that the story happens in hell itself and they’re all vampires and are practically indestructible but… this does not explain why males have such badass-looking armor and females don’t.
And it’s not only the costumes, within the story, a lot of the male characters refers to women in a very despicable way; just because “they’re all sinners and are in hell” (literally this is the excuse they give when they say or do some painful sexist things)
There are some genuinely good female characters tho, such as the queen of Dystopia:
But she only appears for a very short time, i think in fact she only appears in one of the numbers.
There are also a group of only female pirates whose leader is some kind of transgender women (it is not specified but you can guess by some things she says and also her past when alive). And they are treat very equal to any other group of characters within the story, and are the ones that looks the least sexualized of all:
Yes… This lady is one of the least sexualized character in the story…
If you’d like to see, you’ll find some bingo material and you don’t even have to search really much (the cover of the 7th volume for example, the 10th and even the 2nd).
(I also want to apologize for my spelling or writing errors, english is not my first language and i’m still learning.)
So I did some cursory research, and you were right: finding bingo material in this series is not even that hard. The most clothing I’ve seen Claudia wear is this:
And while those boots are amazing, her top is somehow even worse than the bingo’ed one… it’s giving me second-hand pains. She does have fun facial expressions, though.
And I will say that despite the questionable choices for covers, the texture rendering on them is pretty damn good. Of the covers I’ve seen, I think this one is my favorite; it’s got pretty cohesive shape language and a striking (if conventional) color palette. Plus I’m a sucker for ladies with huge shoulder pads, sorry!
Looking into this comic was definitely a trip, though. Thanks for the submission!
-Icy
It’s really refreshing to see this kind of headline and have it be about the colour the scheme of the outfit:
This may also be the only case of “not what you expected” where “the story will explain it” is likely to make sense.
So, I suppose your’e all wondering how this superhero movie seems to be achieving such awesomeness while others stumble and fall into pitfalls such as bikini armor and compulsive upskirt shots.
One clue might be found in IMDB:
Yes, it turns out sometimes the secret it is putting women who care about the issues (and have insight due to lived experiences) in positions where they can actually make decisions rather than be used as a figurehead for feminist cookie for men who clearly don’t care.
Who knew?
– wincenworks
@springdragonfly15 submitted:
It’s time for Camilla from Fire Emblem to make another appearance.
She is given a promoted class in Fire Emblem Warriors with more cleavage. Apparently, she can be sexualized more, complete with “my eyes are up here.” Though unlike Fire Emblem Fates, she does remember to bring her axe and wyvern to her cut scenes in Fire Emblem Warriors, so silver lining.
Oh Camilla,.. it’s kind of amazing how much has and hasn’t changed since the last time you were given a bingo card. Mostly it just seems a few squares like Bared Belly have become ambiguous and more boob straps have been added.
They’ve also somehow managed to lean into the armor as sexy lingerie and remind you, in case you somehow forgot, that she has big boobs:
Her intro video also makes it far, far too clear to us that in her default (not bingo’d here) outfit she is not wearing a thong. I mean, I know it’s on the bingo card… but that level of clarity was really not necessary.
– wincenworks
fatherronaldknox submitted:
Statue by Sideshow Toys of Heavy Metal Taarna? I don’t know what she is but this is horrifying.
Oh, Sideshow Toys and your intricately sculpted and painted figures of creepily sexualized women, we meet again…
Taarna is perhaps the most iconic character from the
boobalistic
cult classic 1981 Heavy Metal animated anthology.
She’s arguably known best not for being a fierce warrior, but for having the most voyeuristic “gearing up” scene ever, complete with “romantic” music playing as she slowly and sensually dresses up from complete nudity to half nudity.
[imagine a GIF in here, but it would be too NSFW to actually put one]
Even her ComicVine description agrees what’s the character’s most prominent feature:
A strong, beautiful warrior maiden who resolves to avenge a city destroyed by a horde of mutated barbarians.
Ew.
Surprisingly enough, in her final battle she does get seriously injured, so it’s safe to assume her bikini isn’t supposed to be actually protective.
She’s just badass enough to fight while slashed across her exposed flesh. What benefit could she possibly get from wearing actual armor in the first place? NOT duelling a mutant warlord while bleeding to death, huh? Who’d want to see that? </sarcasm>
~Ozzie
According to the statue description, this seems to be a post-Loc-Nar design, as it “includes mechanical elements and earthen details inspired by Taarna’s part in destroying the evil Loc-Nar.” So even after that fight where she dies, nobody batted an eye at giving her the exact same… “outfit.”
Not to mention, those cuts look like something my cat might give me by accident. She has to be a beautiful warrior maiden, after all, and actual injuries are gross.
My favorite part of the description is this, however:
Although she is a silent hero, Taarna’s expression speaks volumes. Her carefully sculpted portrait bears a look of grim determination, complete with the Taarakian mark tattooed on her neck. Her windswept, silvery hair frames her face as she looks towards her next foe with silent fury.
Ah, yes, her expression.
The expression that exists entirely in her eyebrows so that her face can stay unblemished. I guess I should be thankful that her face actually looks like it belongs to an adult.
-Icy