Who Knew Talking About Power Girl’s Boobs Was Obligatory!
My mom spoke with my Aunt Mary yesterday and mentioned my blog to her. So there’s every chance she might well be reading this post. So in just in case… Hi Aunt Mary! I don’t actually spend all of my time talking about comic book women’s breasts. Honest.
Just today.
And a few weeks ago.
And maybe again in a few weeks.
I really don’t plan these things in advance anymore.
Anyway, now that I’ve embarrassed myself in front of family members… AGAIN… Let’s talk Power Girl!
For perhaps a month, the comic book blogsphere has been a-buzzing about the below image, from the cover of JLA #10:
The main thrust of the whole thing is that more than a few bloggers think that the artist who drew this (one Michael Turner) might have gone a wee bit overboard in drawing Power Girl’s chest.
Really. Someone went overboard drawing Power Girl. I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you.
I considered talking about it when it first came up, but I didn’t think I had anything to add. Except maybe that if this had been my introduction to the character I wouldn’t be as as interested in the character as I am now. There is just something… off putting about her in that image. Not the breasts (though that was a part of it.) Something that I couldn’t quite quantify.
It came up every time I saw the picture, too. I’ve seen bad drawings of Power Girl before, drawings that I didn’t like, but nothing quite bothered me the same way as this one picture.
So yesterday, or this morning, or whatever, I was surfing, as is my wont, and I stumbled over an essay title that drew my attention: Obligatory Power Girl Boob Post. This, as you might have guessed, tickled my odd little sense of humor. First thought in my head was pretty much what I used as a title for this essay, “I didn’t know I had to talk about Power Girl’s boobs! My lord! I better rectify that posthaste!”
Typical Cullen humor. I tell my joke and the audience deafens me with their silence. Then comes the tar, the feathers, and the requests for me to sample a bit of Amontillado in a secluded cellar some place. Ah, my fans, my public! How long my life would be without you!
Back on subject. Obligatory Power Girl Boob Post explains what blogger Lisa Fortuner feels was wrong with Turner’s picture. Which, pruned by my inept editing, is:
She’s like a doll. A robot. The vacant look even implies she’s been turned off for the night…
…he took a vibrant, vital, impressive character — possibly the most lifelike woman in the DC Universe — stripped her of every character trait that made a difference, and reduced her to a pair of breasts.
And the light dawns. That’s exactly what’s been bothering me. There’s no personality there. No soul.
Just a drugged out look.
Sad, when you think about it. Sadder still to think that there will be “men” who’ll pick up the book because of that image.
Ah well, what the hell. Maybe I ought to work on my own figures before criticizing someone else’s work.
But you know what?
I think my Power Girl’s better than his…
The thing is, the costume just looks impractical. What’s going to happen when she flies into the wind really fast? Or dives into the water?
Well, I suppose what would happen is that whatever hero-villain fights were currently going on would all stop, as both sides started cheering and shouting “Woo-hoo!” while Power Girl frantically struggles to control her costume. “You guys!” she’d scowl.
This is sadly true. I think she’s had better versions of the costume.
your power girl is adorable! great expression. i’d buy that book.
Ross: Thank you very much.
I do have to concur: your Power Girl is the best of the ones I’ve seen. She looks like a person, rather than a set of breasts that need something to carry them around.
What’s even better is that she doesn’t look like she’s a low end teenager years old.
Which I can’t say about some of my later drawings of Power Girl. Sadly.
But I keep trying!
Mainly because I’m a shallow, shallow little man…
Powergirl’s voluminous bustline is indeed a popular topic in comicbookland, but not ALWAYS because of the leering fanboy factor. USUALLY, but not ALWAYS. Artists have made good use of her obvious assets in story-relevant ways, portraying a strong yet still obviously sexual female character, as opposed to, say, Wonder Woman who was created as a mentally spayed feminist cop-out and slowly regained some sensual womanhood over the years. The idea that to be an independent woman involves removing all traces of a sexual nature is as misguided as thinking the choice to not have to raise children is the same as it being BAD to raise children- it’s a bastardization of the original feminist ideals. Women CAN be stay at home moms if they want, they just don’t HAVE TO, which is where equality comes into place, just as women are not ONLY to be viewed sexually, but if they want to be, that’s their right. Powergirl, possibly literally, flies in the face of militant feminists like Judy Chicago and the like, who have maligned the original movement into something many fiercely independent women want nothing to do with. It’s nice to see a character who can live in a middleground of feminism, where the battle between factions can often be… umm… you know… *cough*-for-tat.
On another note- the jokes have been there from the start- powergirl’s creator slowly expanded her bustline every issue until the editors told him to cut it out; it was his way of testing the limits (of both morays and fabric, har de har).
That all said, thank goodness for Powergirl. Women of her combined psychological AND physiological fire, metahuman or not, make, say, a day on a university campus ever so slightly less depressing.
WHAT THE CRAP!! WHAT KIND OF A WEBSITE IS THIS…….THIS IS THE MOST STUPID THING I HAVE EVER BEEN ON IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Check out this guy’s blog… he addresses this issue w/ some history:
http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2005/09/boob-war-climax-everybody-loves-power.html
I think Dave’s Long Box is where I “discovered” Power Girl. It’s a great site.
I just think it’s insulting to women to give her abnormally large boobs. Those people at DC are just drawing their fantasies without considering their audience,, I thiiink they’re a bunch of perverts.
omg i love your powergirl! the other drawing, the one by michael turner, does have a vacant look. Also, the costume’s cloak would get in the way, don’t ya think?
I think you might have a point there, ???. It does look cumbersome.
Love how you write. Maybe you could make some content for me on my site. I will email you. Thanks..