Is It Wednesday Yet? // What's wrong with her spine?

Ever since I started following this awesome tumblr called Eschergirls, I've been asking myself a couple of questions: How did this kind of art become so popular, and how come nobody has put a stop to it yet?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just click the link about. You'll immediately recognize the type of pose I mean. It's the one where a female character twists her body around in ways that are anatomically impossible in order to showcase both her ass and her boobs for the reader.

I'm serious. I don't understand why that kind of art can be so popular in professionally made comic books by major publishers. The obvious answer is that dumb straight males get turned on by gratuitous shots of tits and asses, and publishers assume that dumb straight males are their primary and most profitable demographic, so they pander to them. I supposed there's a little bit of truth to that. But that answer doesn't really satisfy me, because I actually find it incredibly difficult to be believe that there are that many straight guys who actually find those images sexually appealing.

Let's put aside all the feminist concerns about whether these images are offensive or harmful for a second and just look at them as pure images devoid of any moral or political charge, designed specifically for the purpose of giving dudes a hard-on. (Yeah, I know this is a weird thought experiment and there's no such thing as amoral/apolitical images, but just go with it for the sake of argument.) Let's go even further and pretend for a moment that straight males are the ONLY people reading comics (which is completely false) and that they DEMAND that these comics include sexy images of hot chicks. (I know. Crazy, right?)

Okay. If you can somehow accept the over-the-top premise of the previous paragraph, I say that still doesn't justify these awful poses. You're telling me that's the best, most sexy depictions of women these artists can come up with? You're telling me horny straight virgin dudes are happy with that? They wouldn't prefer to see sexy images of women that, oh, I don't know, at least look human?

I don't understand it at all. I don't understand how artists can produce those images and not be ashamed of them - not because they are overly sexualized but because they are SHITTY ART. I don't understand how editors don't shoot those images down and demand that those pages get redrawn - again, simply on the basis that they don't meet their basic requirements for quality. And I don't understand why readers put up with it.

*

Anyway. Here are some new comics I'll be buying this week:

• American Vampire #23 (Vertigo)
• Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred #1 (of 6) (Image)

Wow. It's a very light week. But, oh, man, I'm really excited about that Bulletproof Coffin sequel.