Sex in the 90s

[aeka]

As everyone here knows, DC has gotten a shit tonne of criticism for their portrayal of sex in their New 52 line. Not without reason of course since the sex that has been portrayed so far has been nothing short of fanservice.

But then, back in 1990, DC got away with this...



Makes me wonder what the reactions to THIS was back then if people of today complained about the Batman/Catwoman sex scene in Catwoman #1. At best no one was in any position to complain about the scene being non-consensual. :}


Warning for sex and nudity. NSFW.

Comments

[mrstatham]

Are we really calling the scene from Catwoman 'rape', now? It just.. Well, it seems a little extreme, somehow.

As for the main scene, I think people would kick up even more of a fuss than they have about the other scenes. You can see her rear! And a nipple! And it's even more obvious what they're doing than in the Catwoman scene.

[philippos42]

This was the Grell/Hannigan stuff? They restricted the sale of this. You couldn't get a subscription if you were under 17 (or was it 16?).

This isn't as bad as the Catwoman one

[blue_bolt]

Compared to some of the more recent DC universe examples, this is relatively tame.

It's pretty much vanilla sex between two consenting adults who are joking about what to name their children. The sad part is that after this they had to ruin Green Arrow's personality and make it so they never had children and that Red Arrow's kid died. Compared to CRY FOR JUSTICE, this scene is pure bliss.

P.S: What anyone else shocked by Dinah's black hair or was it just me?

[golden_orange]

Have to say, as (I'm assuming, not being familiar with the original in context) fairly gratuitous fan-servicey sex scenes in comics go, this is pretty good.

I mean yeah, there's T&A all over the place, but that's not automatically a bad thing, and it's probably not something that a parent would want to find in a comic for kids, but I'm actually getting a nice vibe from this. It's two people who love or at least really like each other having fun with their clothes off. I think that's the key difference between this and Catwoman #1, which just comes off as a wee bit skeevy and weird.

If more of the depictions of sex that have been criticised in the New 52 were like this, then even if you did see more I think there'd be less to complain about overall.

[lilacsigil]

Well, this is nicely drawn, obviously consensual and enjoyable, actually relevant to the story and in a comic for adults, so why would anyone react particularly?

[golden_orange]

Yeah, I found that scene a bit uncomfortable, but I wouldn't go so far as 'rape'.

[whitesycamore]

Typically 90's. You can see loads of Dinah, but most of Ollie is conveniently covered up.

Re: This isn't as bad as the Catwoman one

[mrstatham]

Nope. I knew Dinah had black hair because Smith's run on GA referenced it - I think it was something like Ollie trying to pull her wig off, only to find it was real hair that she'd grown out and dyed blonde since.

[mrstatham]

More like typical mainstream comics in general, I'd say.

[mrstatham]

On a random note, why do I get the surreal feeling that the tower blocks and buildings we can see are actively watching Dinah and Ollie have sex?

[whitesycamore]

And why does Ollie have a knobbly stone wall on the interior of his house? Is it to fulfil a medieval castle fantasy? Damn, that's tacky.

[aeka]

Are we really calling the scene from Catwoman 'rape', now? It just.. Well, it seems a little extreme, somehow.

I was being sarcastic. I personally thought the idea of Bat and Cat having *anonymous* violent sex with each other was out of character for them both at best, though people did complain about the rape overtones of the scene. Truthfully, I've seen far, far worse than what was actually depicted in Catwoman, enough to make the Catwoman scene look vanilla by comparison.

Re: This isn't as bad as the Catwoman one

[aeka]

Nope. Both mama and daughter Canaries have naturally black hair. Dinah II simply stopped wearing a wig at some point and just started bleaching her hair. :)

[celestialchild]

While it's obvious they're servicing Canary rather than Green Arrow, this otherwise actually a pretty beautiful scene. The art is nice, the sex is consensual and nonviolent... it seems a rare moment for comics.

[aeka]

I honestly wouldn't know considering I was 4 at the time of this comic's release. So whatever the 'rules' were for buying comics containing adult content I'm completely oblivious to. >.o

[eyz]

Well, it was "more romantic" back then :P
Na, seriously. They're on an actual bed, not masked..and well, Green Arrow was a mature readers book back then. Unlike the sub-par A-Team for teens-like random book it is now...

[lilacsigil]

Yes, typical mainstream just-about-everything!

[espanolbot]

Well they did run a flower shop called Sherwood Florists for a while, maybe the entire building is like that rather than just the bit for the customers?

[whitesycamore]

Well they did run a flower shop called Sherwood Florists for a while

Fair enough then. I can't criticise anyone who's that committed to terrible/adorable puns.

Although there aren't actually any castles in Sherwood Forest, but whatever.

[salinea]

Can you... not use the word rape sarcastically? I mean... given the weight of it, and the way our culture also tend to dismiss it easily... if you don't believe it's the right way to call that scene, it's just probably less inflammatory not to use the word at all? Please.

[filkertom]

Because back then comics were still considered Dangers To Children's Morality or somethin'.

Y'know what I notice? That Canary has a slight tummy. Just a little.

This is a fun, sexy, almost quiet scene. I miss this kinda stuff. [breaks out entire run of Phil Foglio's XXXenophile]

Re: This isn't as bad as the Catwoman one

[lieut_kettch]

The blonde wig was part of the BC's (both Dinah and her mom) disguise.

[aeka]

Fair point. I'll remove it right now.

[salinea]

thanks.

[lilacsigil]

I think we were up to "Pow! Zap! Comics aren't just for kids anymore!" (as Neil Gaiman puts it) by the 90s!