Spider-Woman or Nicki Minaj?
Let me be clear: I like looking at a nice butt just as much as the next person who likes a nice ass, but there’s a time and a place, people.
Nicki Minaj has built her career on sexually explicit lyrics, shocking outfits, and shaking (and baring) her substantial moneymaker. More power to her. She’s grown. When I watched her new video this morning, I knew what I was in for and got exactly what I expected: lots of asses shaking.
When I clicked on an io9 article about the cover for the new Marvel Spider-Woman #1 comic, I was not expecting this:
*sigh*
Why? Why does she have to be in this position? Why is her ass spread open? Why is this being marketed to women? So many whys, y’all.
If you’ve been following my reviews of the Ms. Marvel and All-New Ultimates series, you know I’ve been reconnecting with comics. I hadn’t read any since my late teens and, for the most part, the reunion has been a great one. I’m still not here for randomly changing artists, but that’s a discussion for another time. I’ve been singing Marvel’s praises for awhile now, and not just their Cinematic Universe, which is taking over the world and I welcome it. But a black Captain America? Hell yeah. Miles Morales as Spidey? Love it. Female Thor? Yaaaaassss. Pakistani Ms. Marvel? Take my money already! Diversity in the comic book universe is one of the reasons I love them so much.
When I see this cover, though, I wonder who is this character? Why is she offering up her anus to the city? Is Spider-Woman now into rooftop porn? These are legitimate questions because this cover makes no sense.
Marvel writer Dan Slott (The Amazing Spider-Man/Silver Surfer) took issue with a post by The Mary Sue in which he claims they took jabs at the artist, Milo Manara, and his style. You can read the article for yourself and see if that’s true. He also made sure people understood that Manara was commissioned to do a variant cover, which are typically hard to find and only sought out by hardcore fans.
That may be, but the images were released online which means that we don’t have to buy it to know it exists. And the fact that it does exist, that Marvel decided to go this route (variant or otherwise) is what I have a problem with.
Is the point of a variant cover to be drastically different from the cover on the stands? Are they supposed to show the characters behaving uncharacteristically? I’m honestly asking. I’d love to know the thought process behind having this style of variant. It’s a real shame that this has turned off many women from buying the regular issue, especially if they’re trying to increase their women readers.
And two things of note:
I’m not bothered by this because I worry what children might think. I firmly believe that if your child is of the age where you still need to shield them from things you aren’t comfortable with then you damn well better be monitoring what they’re buying, reading, watching, etc. This bothers me because it feels unnecessary and degrading.
Also, I wasn’t happy about the All-New Ultimates #2 cover either.
What do you think? Tell us below or on Facebook. And view the actual cover for Spider-Woman #1 below, also via Comic Book Resources.
