What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

One Body-Type To Rule Them All, Or: Why I Love Webcomics

The above is a visual representation of why, in a nutshell, despite the fact that I love pretty much everything about the concept and mythology of superheroes, it’ll take a hell of a change in management to get me reading superhero comics. I’ve included the webcomic ladies here, not just because they’re awesome, but as a point of comparison. They don’t only look different to the superheroes because the artwork is more varied: they look different because, regardless of the visual style, the webcomic ladies aren’t drawn in such a way as to make their bodies the primary point of focus. The webcomic ladies aren’t given whole panels specifically staged to highlight their tits and asses, either; and they have a variety of body types, as opposed to just narrow variants on an otherwise identical theme. The only reason I can get past the fanservice and ridiculous bodytyping in anime is because I got into it before that was the sort of thing I noticed consciously and took issue with - and I know that superhero comics fall into the same category for lots of people - but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t get rid of fanservice in a heartbeat if I could. 

The point being: drawing women so they’re constantly on sexy display doesn’t have to be the default state of superhero comics; nor should it be. And until I see at least a little progress in that respect, I won’t be reading them.

  1. sylviasybil reblogged this from fozmeadows
  2. shinyshoeshaveyouseenmymoves reblogged this from dolorosa
  3. jaesauce reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    ^this
  4. shwetanarayan reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    Yep yep. And since I don’t see Dicebox & The Meek here, random shout-out to them for the same reason & general awesome....
  5. dolorosa reblogged this from fozmeadows
  6. fozmeadows posted this