The June Preview cover for "Red Hood and the Outlaws" and a riposte

[icon_uk]

Yesterday, DC released their solicitations and covers for June and one of them, well, it's caused a bit of a stir...






And this isn't even the "Bombshell" variant cover theme that DC are doing that month (So far all the examples we've seen of that are based on the 1940's "Good girl"-style Bombshell statues that DC Direct sell... and I, for one, want to see a few male beefcake variations thrown in... though of course, it's a wretched shame that the Nightwing title has been cancelled by the time this theme rolls around)

As dcwomenkickass put it

• Ed Benes on cover art? CHECK!
• Starfire with her teeniest top? CHECK!
• Starfire front and center leaning on a car in a “sexy” pose? CHECK!
• Starfire appearing to “hot” in the tropic sun while her male partners are fully clothed? CHECK!

Have to say that the guys being fully dressed did strike me as a trifle incongruous.

Seraphtonin asked and answered the standard defence that "um starfire’s powers are fueled by the sun that’s why she has to wear skimpy clothes"

with

"hey u know who else’s powers are fueled by the sun? superman. come on clark time for that toothfloss speedo chop chop"

Someone else suggested that

"His nipples are covered by tiny capes"

and in a remarkably short period of time, even by internet standards came this delight from sheva-ku! :)




I don't care how they have to do it, I want to see this used in a comic!!
 

Comments

[nate_abril96]

Everything wrong with Red Hood and the Outlaws, and current DC Comics in one cover. I mean no offense, but doesn't DC wonder if people will be embarrassed to buy or read this in public.

[gamerguy]

Nope, in fact, they are positive that the majority of the people who buy their books not only will not be embarrassed to buy it, but will probably buy that issue because of the cover. Communities like this one represent the tiniest fraction of the overall comics audience, most of which will never even conceive there is anything off-putting about the cover at all.

[cainofdreaming]

You know, there's much to say about the usual t&a but the first thing that really crept into my mind was how small that car is compared to the people. I doubt any of them could fit inside it without pretty much crouching until their heads were between their knees.

Yeah, I know there actually are cars where you can't fit a Clarkson, but Roy and Jason at least aren't usually portrayed as basketball player tall.

[kurenai_tenka]

And here was me thinking the 'stir' would be whatever awful plot decision they've made lately... I see I should have stuck to the basics!

[paradoxrealm]

Simplest answer often is right really..

[althechi]

"Pfft. Amateurs."

[nightauditguy]

Haven't they already used that cover?

[kd_the_movie]

It reealllyyyyyyyyy ticks me off that RH&TO continues to be one of the standards of mediocrity at DC considering that pre- NU-52 I was constantly supporting the idea that Jason could headline a suicide squad-esque book with other DC "grey" area characters.

And of course DC would get the idea but fail horribly on the execution.

[kurenai_tenka]

Whenever I think about my pre-release-excitement for that book I get so sad. :P

[ablackraptor]

You know, we could really turn these comics into a drinking game, taking a shot every time they do something exploitative and sexist and such; though, books like this would really make such a game go down quickly. Seriously, you could get alcohol poisoning playing such a game using this and the previous issues of RHatO, even if all you were shooting was tap water.

Admittedly I'm generalizing; I've heard some have been enjoying the series, so I guess there's some good to it, but I can't really figure out what.

[zapbiffpow]

I'm part of the 'some', I guess. Last issue was pretty decent - Jason and his girlfriend Isabel breaking up amiably, in one of the happiest break-ups in the New 52 that I can remember.

I'm still reading RHATO, but I think the problem with it is they haven't found a dream creative team for it. They do that, and everything else follows.

Also, I thought Will Pfiefer was writing this, but I guess that fell through.

[big_daddy_d]

Eh I actually enjoy RH&TO. And yes I have become a supporter of the Roy Harper/Starfire ship. Never made it any secret he's my favorite DC character (screw CfJ and RoA). This is also one of those cases where I'm not thinking about the cover because frankly, I find if boring and think it looks like a mock car add with typical tropes of sexy women and "badass action heroes". This cover is a fail no matter how it is sliced.

[onceaskrull]

Must be jaded..all I could think was "JFC, Roy still has that hat?"

Yeah I haven't kept up with the DCnU.

[sadoeuphemist]

Oh,they're marketing the hell out of that cap.

[whitesycamore]

Comics just ain't no good. I think that's well understood.

[beyondthefringe]

I was actually enjoying this book...until I saw Lobdell was coming back.
Yup, looks like a good time to maybe drop it.
DC is just not winning points with me lately.

[kurenai_tenka]

until I saw Lobdell was coming back

...please tell me you're joking. :(

[thanekos]

That's a cover that makes you think Vice should be somewhere in the title.

[arilou_skiff]

My reaction was actually "I'm pretty sure that's not Starfire's teeniest top, didn't she dress in essentially strips of duct tape at one point?"

[rainspirit]

This is probably going to come out of nowhere, but it's always been a disappointment for me that Red Hood and the Outlaws never evolved into a casual ménage à trois between superheroes, with Jason Todd and Roy Harper as bisexual. In fact I've liked the concept so much that I've thought about starting up a superhero team in one of my various roleplaying games based off that concept.

Right now it's just boring. Two guys and one gal as eye candy. Considering that both dudes have slept with the same woman at this point, you have to wonder what's holding them back from just going full throttle on the concept.

[yvonmukluk]

I think because a casual menage a trois between superheroes is a bit outside the average comic writers' comfort zone (and most likely a fair few readers'). Especially since superhero comics is still (in theory) marketed to children. The moral guardians would lose their shit.

[terrykun]

...wow... the gun and arrow penis metaphors could not get more blatant (on a mainstream cover) than those poses.

[thatnickguy]

I'm honestly amazed this book has lasted this long. I thought for sure it'd be in the first line of 52 books cancelled.

[bj_l]

How sad is it that my first thought was, while shaking my head, "for as awful as that cover is, at least I can't see Star's arse at the same time as her breasts and I'm pretty sure a normal person could imitate that pose." It's almost positively restrained by this books usual standards (or at least the last time I remembered it existed)!

[silverzeo]

DC... I know that, despite the large and loyal fanbase of comics, it's not the "top" tier of media entertainment, even with Frozen winning best animated movie, it was sort of hollow as half of the judges didn't give a actual vote (one them blatantly sates he doesn't care and hadn't even bother to see any animated films period).... but why do this to us?

It's bad enough that to start the reboot with Star was overly sexualized to the point of being a male fantasy of a tough women to be, but you have been doing this fanbait alot. Has anyone else notice the boom of Raven from the Teen Titans Go episode where she goes as Lady Legaus? Fan bait, again (and so shameless and yet this show gets multiple airings while the rest of the DC Block is stuck at least 2 on the weekend mornings and then canned after 1 or 2 seasons). And here we're again with Star and the other "outlaws". Boobs and guys with their "weapons and aim" at the ready... shameful... this is almost like the song of the Home Room Angel as a centerfold... I get that sex sales, but this is just a fat worm on a fishing hook for people who don't know better...

Please tell me this series is going to be down around the same time as the Titans' book... or is going to be like Ben10 and stay around even though it has rid itself almost everything people like and replace it with stuff that doesn't fit in at all?

[wizardru]

I'm not sure what Frozen has to do with anything. Comics does NOT have a large fanbase, loyal though it may be. The best selling comic book on the stands today barely clears 100,000 copies. Frozen has done over $1 Billion in ticket sales. Let's assume that the average ticket cost was $15 and every person saw it 4 times each for the sake of argument:...that's still 1.6 million paying customers.

Oh, comic book CHARACTERS are incredibly popular. Just NOT IN COMICS. Teen TItans Go! gets an order of magnitude more viewers than any Teen Titans comic book has in decades. Even Young Justice, which was cancelled for not getting enough toy-buying young male viewers (instead getting 'too many' female viewers) was averaging 1.3 million viewers a week. Obviously, the success of Marvel and DCs movies shows that the characters are popular...but the medium of comic books themselves don't reflect that popularity in any meaningful way.

[firstmoonie]

If Roy and Jason were also naked and sexualized, I'd have loved the hell outta this cover. Team sexbombs
But this is just ...why

[icon_uk]

Agreed, just them ALL sunbathing would have been nice (though if Jason had kept the helmet on that would just have been... weird)

[mommy]

I think I've gotten used to the Nu-52 artfarts since my first two thoughts were "Her boots look incredibly uncomfortable" and "I miss Starfire's 80s hair."

[junipepper]

Stay classy, DC.

[shadowpsykie]

I like Ed Benes (when he is railed in by the writer)

like on BIrds of Prey when he worked with Gail. he draws some REALLY hot men too. But gail more often than not had to get him to be a little less cheesecake-y. you can kinda see the progression from the begining towards the end.

[beoweasel]

On one hand, I tend to like Ed's work, and I think Starfire looks amazingly hot here, buuuuut, this image isn't appropriate for a comic book cover.

This strikes me as something you'd find as a request at a comic-con, or a deviant-art gallery piece.

[superfangirl1]

What I wouldn't give to have Jason and Roy pose sexy on a car. What is Jason standing on exactly? I know all the Bat-people can balance on almost anything like a cat, but it's like he standing on air. ;)

[zaqari_waliz]

Isn't this kind of in line with her character? Aren't they supposed to be imperfect? I feel like maybe we're holding the characters to too high a standard. I assume they don't spend their time hanging out with anyone here. Maybe if you met Starfire on the train, you could change her outlook on life. I think maybe they're the kind of characters who just have plenty of room to learn and grow as people.

[icon_uk]

Regardless of the in-universe reason for the characters to do so (or not), someone on the creative side felt that this was an appropriate image to use to promote the book, and in doing so chose to show the female character sprawled across a car, whilst the two male characters are completely dressed in action poses.