There’s a certain sexed-up visual atmosphere that’s endemic to superhero comics; the way their characters are drawn is supposed to be not just attractive but viscerally appealing, to provoke a kind of somatic response. That’s why Superman and Captain America are tall and ripplingly muscled, why Catwoman and Elektra are curvy and ripped, why all the heroes wear skintight outfits, and — ideally — part of why both men and women find them fun to look at. But stripping everything but quasipornographic lust-puppetry from superhero comics’ women characters actually gets that principle wrong. It’s a deliberate attempt to repulse half of their potential audience, and to sell “collectibles” to people who like the idea of repulsing that half. And it’s embarrassing to anyone who loves what’s left of the superhero genre.
Via Bookslut.