— The Geek Master: BoP #4 and how covers like this hurt the industry
So this cover to Birds of Prey #4 has been making the rounds:
and it’s yet another prime example of how companies like DC and Marvel obviously have no idea what their target demographic is or should be. This is the cover to Birds of Prey, which even in it’s new form since…
OK. I’m tired of staying silent.
FUCK YOU IDIOTS.
First of all, they ‘don’t know their target audience’? HA! Do you have any idea how much a big company will spend on marketing? I assure you, it’s more than you will ever see in your life. They know their target audience, and it isn’t snobbish readers like you. It’s people who appreciate the story no matter the artist, people who will see the cover and say ‘I know those characters! I want to see what they do in this issue!’ or ‘Is that a new character? I wonder what they’re like!’.
In all honesty, I like this cover. It shows a group of women who are CLEARLY powerful. Their poses show no weakness; they show readiness for action, and no fear. Did you expect a picture of a chubby woman standing perfectly still? Because that wouldn’t sell worth shit. Sure, there are people out there who will say that ‘they like that kind of girl’ or ‘More things should show that sort of diversity’, bu the reality is, that sort of thing ISN’T ATTRACTIVE TO MOST OF THE POPULACE.
And guess who has the larger percentage of buying power? NOT YOU.
Are women not allowed to have sexuality? Sure, they don’t NEED to be posed in enticing ways, but why don’t you design a NICE looking cover and get back to me. One that shows the same depth of movement, strength, and power. Sex is a powerful thing, and SEX SELLS. It’s a fact of life.
I know some people will look at that and say, “But that’s the problem! We need to get away from that sort of advertising!” Well, do you have a good alternative? Are you trained in marketing by chance? Do you know what will drive people to buy a product? Please, come up with a marketing scheme for an all-female comic that in no way involves the characters looking enticing. And then see how many people would buy it compared to the existing imagery.
As for the drawing of the male characters.. I’m honestly embarrassed. Do you not know the anatomy of the female body compared to the male body? The men have been drawn with female body types. Of COURSE it looks ridiculous. If they had been drawn appropriately in those poses, then I think it would, in fact, be an entirely appropriate cover.
And a note: A woman who is powerful will pretty much ALWAYS have a sort of sexual aspect to her. There’s no avoiding it. Stop pretending like you can make it all go away by acting righteous and like a bitchy snob.
What the fuck is this comment.
Alright, you know what? I kind of want to break this down. Because that comment is making me really kind of upset with how it’s just… not getting the point.
1) DC isn’t actually doing that great with marketing. I’ll direct you to a few posts by the Dangerous Ladies, and an article that was written about some of their comments. It’s mostly in response to FanExpo, but that’s really just one piece of how much DC’s marketing team is failing.
2) “Not attractive to most of the populace.” Women make up more than half of the population, bub. I know very few women who wouldn’t side-eye a cover like that. Their poses are more ridiculous than dangerous. The only person that looks remotely intimidating on that cover is Starling and that’s only because she’s got a gun. The rest of them look like models who decided to do a Charlie’s Angels rip-off. It doesn’t look like they could hand me my ass on a platter, but it should.
3) Women are totally allowed to have sexuality. If there’s a non-fictional woman out there who wants to pose for stuff like this because it makes her feel sexy and empowered, then by all means, she should go for it. But there’s a hell of a lot of difference between that and what this is. This is a cover with art by two men for a comic written by a man intended to be (mostly) read by other men. See how that’s different than a woman choosing to do something that’s personally empowering?
4) The drawing of the male characters is supposed to be ridiculous. You say that obviously male anatomy doesn’t work like that. Well, newsflash. Female anatomy can’t actually be put into those poses without a lot of effort and really uncomfortable contorting. It’s not realistic posing for anyone - male, female, in-between or neither.
5) You are right on one point, that dangerous women will always be sexy to someone. There is no denying that. But there’s a difference between letting the fact that she’s dangerous make her seem sexy to a reader and then making her sexy with the danger being an afterthought, which is what it looks like right here. If the danger and the mystery come first, the allure will follow naturally without any help from anyone else.
6) “Do you have a good alternative?” Well, I am by no means a professional artist, but after about an hour and a half of digging up reference images and doing some really quick sketching, I came up with this thumbnail layout type thing:
It’s a little unbalanced because I’ve never actually drawn that many people in one picture before, but the poses there were chosen specifically because it keeps the action that the artists of the original cover were looking for, makes the ladies look at least a little dangerous, and most of all, they’re not overly sexualized. Maybe another artist can do better (or maybe I could if I actually put some more effort into it) but there’s at least one alternative for you.
reblogging this to add
by no means is it a good composition or even original, but you know. you get the idea.
