It doesn’t come as such a surprise after the controversy surrounding the first issue of the new Spider-Woman that Marvel have decided to cancel future Manara variant covers.
Marvel faced a mountain of criticism after hiring erotic artist Milo Manara to create a variant cover for the first issue of the new Spider-Woman series (above). Some described it as vulgar and detrimental to the cause of fighting for female comicbook heroes to be taken seriously. Other commentators seen it as the sexualisation of the female super hero and although this initial cover is still going to be made available to the public, plans for future variants have been cancelled.
Diamond comics has since cancelled plans for Manara to provide covers for the upcoming Avengers & X-men: Axis #1 and Thor #2, telling comic book retailers that these will no longer be available. Obviously this is due to the uproar from various media outlets and the backlog of fan outrage and it seems likely that this is a mixed bag of damage limitation and preventative measures to curb further controversy.
Marvel have not made any official statements regarding the issue and the other covers have not been made public, but chances are they were of the same sexual nature.
The Comic Book medium has quite often come under fire for the objectification and sexualisation of female superheroes with their scantily clad outfits and their somewhat provocative poses.
On the other side of the debate is the issue of artistic censorship, with some critics pointing out the fact that the variants are limited meaning many readers would not have actually been able to get their hands on them.
With Marvel and DC movies and tv shows becoming huge business and drawing in a new generation of fans, why go against a whole wave of female fans by misrepresenting them in this way?!
What side of the debate are you on? Have Marvel done the right thing pulling the covers? Or is this merely a case of artistic censorship being forced upon the industry?
Source: The Big Glasgow Comic Page
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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