Jul 10, 2008 10:00 AM
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Wed Feb 10
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One of the things that made Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men such a groundbreaking success was his adamant refusal to let any female character play the stereotypical sexpot role no matter what. As Terry Dodson's variant cover to this month's 500th issue of Uncanny X-Men shows however, things can change.
Don't get me wrong; I've got nothing against cheesecake, especially Terry Dodson's cheesecake (Marvel even has a defense against being accused of sexism: a companion X-Men cover by recently deceased artist Michael Turner for the same issue), and equally especially when it marks the start of a run promised to be sex-filled. But... Am I really the only one who kind of feels like this particular image kind of flattens out the characters of these characters? Okay, I can buy that Emma Frost would sit back and do her best to look aloof, and I'd even go along with the poses of both Dazzler and Kitty Pryde (I assume, even though Joss Whedon kind of wrote her out of the franchise for awhile). But what the fuck is going on with Rogue's "look at my ass" pose, Psylocke's "do you mind if I lean forward and use my arms to squeeze my breasts together" positioning and most of all, Storm's "let me arch my back and, by the way, how does my hair look?" demeanor? Last time I checked, Storm was not only some kind of African Goddess but also the Queen of fictional country Wakanda after getting hitched to the Black Panther last year; since when was she the kind of woman who'd really play with her hair while helpfully emphasizing her lovely lady lumps, as Fergie would so kindly put it? Would it have been too much to have just had her looking kick-ass instead of bimbo-esque, really?
EXCLUSIVE: Terry Dodson Art for "Uncanny X-Men" #500 [Comic Book Resources]
Send an email to Graeme McMillan, the author of this post, at graeme@io9.com.
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