I Feel so Special
I never thought that the day would come. I have experienced my first troll on these, the hallowed pages of my blog. Granted, Mr. Anonymous wasn't a really RAGING Troll, but I'll take what I can get.
I pointed out to Ragnell, that I have been a little tiny bit envious of the sheer awesomeness of the trolls that make their way onto her site, not to mention some of the quality that pester Kalinara. I never had a troll before. I've only been accustomed to the utter wit, intelligence, beauty AND handsomeness of my readers!
The other day, I blogged about how it had been a bit of a tough month for Comicbook Women, what with Tigra and Barda having bad days and a couple of other topics, one of which was the slightly gratuitous depiction of Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Vixen trussed up and on display for Superman and Black Lightning...courtesy of Lex Luthor.
Anonymous called me to account. I guess it WASN'T in the least bit gratuitous, it was just Luthor taunting Superman. Which may very well be the truth, but still, there they were.
Then he started babbling about "wank" material, and I guess I just got confused. I guess it is his (and I can only assume that it is a he) is goshdarned entitled to his boobs and butts.
However, when they show Geoforce...who was also tortured, hanging with his back arched, and his full luscious mouth in a grimace, and his round, firm supple package displayed to the world...Naw! Like that would ever happen!
Hmmm....I seem to be getting sidetracked here.
Oh yeah! Well anyway, he was at least reasonably polite and didn't start using obscenties or anything. Why I have even been guilty of using the occasional swear word myself. So, Thank You, Mr. Anonymous! You certainly livened up my day!
Now THAT'S gratuitous!
posted by SallyP @ 8:29 AM
15 Comments:
Ah, for the days when trolls were only found under bridges. ;-)
Yay for shirtless Hal! :-) I keep meaning to go through my GL collection and document all the times Hal has had his shirt torn up.
I've been dealing with my first troll, too. :( Damn Meeley... That's the downside of all the traffic you get from WFA, I guess.
And I must say Hal looks rather smashing rockin' the shirtless look. There aren't many super-guys who can pull it off but I think he's one of them.
...oh who am I kidding, any and every superhero looks good shirtless. Except for maybe Nite-Owl.
"Troll" is in the eye of the beholder. You may not agree that McDuffie was most likely mocking the infamous "Heroes for Hire" #13 cover (Luthor's "It's unconscionable, isn't it?" comment to the reader should be a dead giveaway), but dismissing it as a "troll" is just plain intellectually lazy.
And there's no point in being coy: a lot of (let's euphemize the hell out of it) "good girl art" is designed to cater to prurient interests. The HFH #13 cover was most likely intended to, but I don't believe that the JLA comic was, and that's a huge difference in terms of objectifying the women in question.
I was content to let you have the last word and quit beating a dead horse, but doggoneit, if you want to keep reanimating this horse, I'll keep up my side of it too.
Aww, your anonymous is so cute, floundering there like he is. I'm almost jealous.
He actually thinks you care enough about his opinion to do more than mock him and that he's got any say on who gets the last word on your blog. :-)
So cute!
Honestly I think that "anonymous" is overstating his (her?) belief that McDuffie is trying to satirize the Heroes for Hire cover. The composition is different and there aren't any tentacles lurking about. And there's no irony in Luther's statement, nothing overtly ties the scene to Heroes for Hire. If anyone is making a statement here it's the artist and I don't think satire in on his agenda.
Unless satire has wobbly bits.
The reason I'm thinking there may well be a link to the HFH cover is that, for all the differences, there are plenty of similarities too -- unless you're Rob Liefeld, you don't do that and pretend it's just coincidence. So okay, there's no penile tentacle giving Black Cat a pearl necklace, but close enough.
But it's the panel afterwards that really makes me think it's an intended dig: Luthor is directly facing the fourth wall (which means either Superman or the reader, or possibly both) and effectively saying, "Ain't I a stinker?" Wonder Woman and friends are directly visible in the background of that shot too, and call me crazy, but I don't think artistic composition happens exactly by accident.
SallyP would have you believe that I don't think the panel is gratuitous, which, if you've gotten as far as ten words into my comments on the other thread, you know isn't true. It is intended to be gratuitous and offensive. However, I'm drawing some sort of line between "offensive in the way supervillains do offensive things" and "offensive in the way that makes fanboys all excited", and I think this is more of the former and less of the latter. Yeah, there are fanboys who really dug that scene, but I can easily think of a half dozen ways they could have really cranked up the T&A, if in fact T&A were their goal. Again, I don't think artistic composition happens by accident.
Sea, Shirtless Hal is ALWAYS fun.
And congratulations to Will!
Kalinara, isn't he adorable? His arguments don't really make a whole lot of sense, but darn it,if he isn't in there still trying!
Perhaps the problem is reading comprehension? I could swear you're engaged in the time-honored Internet argument strategy of ignoring what the other guy is saying in favor of a stance that's easier to pick apart.
"I guess it WASN'T in the least bit gratuitous". Well I concurred that it was in fact gratuitous in the very first sentence, so you see why I question your reading comprehension.
"I guess it is his (and I can only assume that it is a he) is goshdarned entitled to his boobs and butts." No, I don't have any interest in my comics as stroke material, but thank you for inferring that out of nothing.
And can it truly be you don't recognize the connection between fan service in comics and fanboy wanktime fun? Good God, do you truly think that fanboys look at HFH 13 (or whatever) and say "Golly gee, that's a neato picture" and that's the only end being served? I'm honestly stunned if you're missing the big picture so completely.
Keep circling those wagons, but I'd be more impressed if you showed any signs of comprehending what I'm saying and followed it up with "... but you're still wrong". Ragnell did that in the other thread, and I give her props for that.
Do we need to keep using the terms "wank" or "stroke" material? I mean, are there really people out there "wanking" it to a drawing of Wonder Woman trussed up like that? You know what, don't answer that. I want to leave that dark little corner of the comic universe alone.
I thought the drawing was excessive, but the useless double page spread of the Legion of Doom HQ bothered me more. Maybe I'm insensitive to women, but I don't know.
"You know what, don't answer that. I want to leave that dark little corner of the comic universe alone."
Well, actually, that kind of comes back 'round to the point I was making long ago: there is no question in my mind that the HFH 13 cover is being used for that purpose, but I don't believe the JLA shot in question is designed to titillate (or at least it's dialed WAY down). And in my mind, artistic intent certainly does factor into exactly how someone should react to a work of art.
Well, I guess it comes down to the idea, that you don't think the drawing was being used to titillate, and I think that it was.
Now, can you please go bother somebody else?
Sally, I'm afraid he can't - your Anonymous is a "control troll" (as opposed to a "concern troll", altho' there is always some overlap between the Venn sets) and thus he HAS to have the last word over Mere Females or his Vital Essence will be sapped and his efforts to keep his Precious Bodily Fluids pure will all be in vain.
These Control Trolls literally *can't* stop, which is why they read as obsessed stalkers so often. But it's a brain disorder, I'm afraid.
You should treat trolls like a badge of honour :D They mean you're doing something right! XD
But like badges they should be put away in a safe place after you've done admiring them :D
You have to admire his stamina, even being aware that no one cares what he has to say, he still keeps it up. :-)
Though you're more patient than I am, Sally, it's reaching the point of GYODB. Or "Get your own damn blog". If he's worried about not getting enough attention, he shouldn't, WFA'll link him. :-)
Now THAT'S gratuitous!
Requesting gender-switched cover remix.
>_>
Okay, sorry.
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