Birds of Prey #2: The disappearing panty shot!

[flint_marko]

The colorist for BoP #2 posted this on her DeviantArt page, stating "This is a treat for you guys, not the final published page, and I bet some of you will be able to pick out why....."



And here's how the panel looked like in the issue.

Comments

[saralakali]

Exactly my point. :)

Just as anyone who complains about the sexual objectification of female charaters in comic books is told that it's a convention of the genre.

Until the business is no longer run by wannabe fratboys, those of us (male or female) that want to read stories about female characters accept that we're just going to have to ignore the so-called fanservice.

[aaron_bourque]

No, the sexual objectification isn't genre convention, it's an attempt to boost sales through the stupid adage "sex sells."

[aaron_bourque]

Well, and because the artists and writers might be as lonely as they think the fans are.

Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; or at the least, the artists like to draw sexy women because the artist likes sexy women. There are just so many places to find that in the real world and the internets, we don't really NEED it in comics.

[saralakali]

It shouldn't be, that's true, but whenever the objectification is complained about, that is exactly the response from editorial. Those making the decisions about the content think they are providing what the fans want by publishing such content. Hence the term 'fanservice'.

I'm truly surprised that any of this is news to anybody and in any case, isn't the point I was trying to make with my comments which are reproduced below:

I have problems with the notion that 1) female characters cannot be taken seriously because they are drawn in sexually-objectifying uniforms. That edges very close to slut-shaming.
2) That female fans would have a more difficult time ignoring the fanservice than male fans. It implies that men don't buy comics featuring female characters for any other reason than to jack off to the pictures.

Also, if fans of any (or no) gender decide not to buy comics featuring female characters, TPTB will never assume it's because people don't like the sexual objectification of the characters. They will always assume it's because no one wants to read a comic that stars female characters.

[aaron_bourque]

Okay. That's pretty much my opinion, too.

Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; but if there were ever pitched a series staring a female character in completely non-objectifying uniform, Dust from the X-Men, say, there'd still be plenty of people who would gravitate toward it in a fanservice way, thinking the lack of skin or whatever would be hot or something. Women just can't seem to win in comics.