Just to start, I took out all the cuts and blood (except for the one I missed on Misty's arm, oops), zipped up Colleen Wing's suit, repaired the hey-y'all-I-have-no-pubic-hair torn pants on Misty (yeah, those were actually almost torn off pants, not stupidly low-cut ones), moved the tentacle off Black Cat's right breast, moved the cut of Cat's suit back to the bottom of her breasts (where it usually is, thanks), and I GOT RID OF THAT FUCKING BELL.
The expressions are still bad--Colleen is looking away in resignation, Misty is uncharacteristically scared, and Black Cat is cringing and shuddering.
The second remix of H4H #13 addresses the problems of the women's terrified expressions, Misty's apparent lack of previous blackness, and Misty's impossi-fro.
FIRST: Misty is now black again! See how nicely she contrasts with Colleen and Black Cat, too.
Next, I corrected Misty's relaxed-in-the-front, 'fro in the back 'do, which was some sort of weird Afromullet. According to black bloggers, Misty's hair simply wasn't possible. Now, being a white girl, I wouldn't know. But being someone who is a) a stickler for accuracy in details and b) understands how frustrating it is to see oneself poorly represented, I fixed that shit. Misty now has the braids Palmiotti drew her with. She also has her beautiful full lips back.
The expressions have all been changed. Colleen is looking directly at the tentacle, instead of away in fear and resignation. Her expression says, "God, you're a boring monster."
Misty's look is that she's got the opener to the can of whup-ass right now. She's thinking, "This is like one of those lame-ass traps from that 60's Batman TV show. Weak."
In keeping with the supposedly ha-ha aspect of the cover, Felicia is going, "Bleeeech!" at a tentacle that's getting a liitle too close. Her eyes are open, and she's looking at the stupid slimy thing.
Felicia, Misty and Colleen are all looking straight at what's attacking them, instead of being limply terrified.
Their hands are still hanging as they were in the Victim Version, but they look relaxed in a way that suggests they taking the Brood tentacles about as seriously as anyone should take Joe Q's assertion that he's never seen tentacle porn--which is not at all.
This is not to say the cover's now perfect. It would probably still generate discussion because of the bondage and tentacles, and the fact that the tentacles are slimy and dripping is enough of a visual cue to suggest hentai.
Obviously, Takeda-san and Joe Q have totally missed the difference between jeopardy and terrified victims.
But Joe Q bought the cover.
P.S.: Joe Q said (@ Newsarama) people lost sight of Misty and Colleen being ass-kickers. No we didn't, Joe. You did.
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Comments
Email me your address again - Chris got his orders and I have to mail your goodie box ASAP.
1. Misty has black hair - check
2. No jiz on Black Cat - check
3. Colleen's costume isn't zipped down to show her "navel" - check
4. No suggestive bleeding "cut" on Misty's lower abdomen - check
Thank you. As you say, there's only so much even you can do with that lemon of a cover, but that's a good start as far as I'm concerned.
Their expressions still bother me. Did you see that someone else tried correcting their faces? It's not as thorough a job as yours is but it helped a little bit.
And I have to say, the ladies look 100x sexier like this. I don't see any reason why a cover like this wouldn't sell comics and would be friendlier to woman comic collectors.
The only customers who might feel left out are misogynists who like their women trembling and afraid. Boo hoo for them.
"Are you seriously trying to attack us with tentacles, fanboy? That's so stupid it's funny."
Now it looks like their about to jump out and f*ck up whoever thought they could hold the heroes for hire. It's not a perfect cover now, but now it makes me smile and laugh because I know the imminent ass kicking is upon us :)
Not that that would actually improve anything, I'm just wondering.
I love how Misty's now got a fro and the facial expressions now range from "Ick" "sigh" to "Gimme a minute and I'm'a put this boot up your ass."
These are awesome. I've stuck the images and a section of the process explanation on a handout, together with the initial image and that quote from JoeQ. I'll be giving it out at the WisCon Sarcasm and Superheroics: Feminism and the Mainstream Comics Industry panel in... two hours. It is the perfect, perfect example of the writing back fan strategy.
Also, I love you totally and forever.
Good show!
Ade
Never really know what folks will see or read into art.
And finding out about her was one of those instances of realising what you missed until now by finally finding it.
I read superhero comics, I´m a woman, I´m black. And I can only think of three black, female comic book heroes : Storm from the X - Men, Bumblebee from the Titans and Synaesthesia from Top Ten. The first and the last one were interesting, but not more, to me. And Bumblebee ... well.
Misty Knight hit a nerve with me. Upstanding, proud, insanely cool and kicking ass. And to boot her missing arm and the robotic arm replacing it, which fuels a fetish of my own ... ahem.
So I wanted to start reading Daughters of the Dragon and Heroes for Hire, cheesecake art aside. And then the August solitict came.
I posted a comment about this, in a thread over at newsarama, against basically jerks, whose main defense was: but they aren´t raped, there´s no penetration ( shall we be thankfull now ? ) and besides, no one knows what tentacle rape is anyway. ( The thread was closed later, btw. )
My post was about what really BUGS me about the cover : The SUBMISSION into whatever will happen to them, because, as I put it : `Who the hell wants to read about VICTIMS ?!?!´
And now you post this picture, and it shows everything I wanted to see in the cover, instead of what was shown. They are not afraid, they are not dazed and the expression of Black Cat´s face is priceless, since it turns her stance from scared victim to someone disgusted of slime. And suddenly, they are HEROES again.
I would like to take this picture there, to illustrate WHAT I mean, when I call this particular cover out, and why I´m disgusted and disappointed when I see it.
If you don´t mind, that is.
Post a link if there's a shitstorm.
As a black woman who's styled my hair a number of ways before finally throwing up my hands and locking my hair? The only way it'd be possible to get that hairdo is if it worked out like this:
Thanks for the remix, though. It is nice to see the "we're going to escape, and then we're going to shove your tentacles where the sun don't shine, pull them out the other end, and tie them in a knot" expressions these badass good girls should've been wearing from the beginning.
The clamp around my heart just loosened. In an alternate universe, my girls are not victims.
Thank you so much!
Your remix is a HUGE improvement, and I think you made Misty *gorgeous*!
::applause!:: :D
True Black is beautiful, baby! ;-)
For them to be aware and unafraid, not pleased about being raped.
You're reading what you want to see in it. You prefer bleeding, afraid, helpless, undressed, fondled and spooged on to looking aware and planning some ass-kicking (and being grossed out). You even seem to prefer blood, spooge, fondling and fear to the idea that they are sexual beings instead of sex objects.
Everyone that's objected to the remix at Gail's forum is STILL shooting this through the prism of sex, instead of entertaining the possibility that they are amused because they're not at all threatened.