COMMENT: Silver Bullet Comics is at it AGAIN!

UPDATED.

I’m sure they consider this one more subtle than the last one they ran, with Power Girl’s heaving breasts and a “What a pair!” tagline, which Ronée took them to task for and was quickly removed.

Nice way to live down to a stereotype. Idiots!

And what does that say about Matt Brady, who presumably approves these ads that run on his site? Spineless.

The original’s linked over on the Buzz Blog, so it’ll be interesting to see if/when they edit it, like they did last time.

EDIT: Just want to clarify that this is Silver Bullet Comics, the North Carolina retailer and one of NEWSarama’s main sponsors, not Silver Bullet Comics, the online comics webzine.

EDIT #2: So I showed this to my wife, curious over whether I was overreacting or not, and after a confused, “What? It’s a guy in drag with boobs?” followed by laughter, I clicked over to NEWSarama to show it to her in context, and realized she wasn’t “getting it” because, in her mind, such a thing made sense for a comic book web site.

“It’s like going to Vidal Sassoon and being surprised by all the pictures of hair.”

So now I don’t know whether to put the pitchforks away with a sigh, or be frustrated that, despite how much she knows about comics from me, and has enjoyed several I’ve given her, she still has such a low opinion (or is it low expectations?) of them and those who read them.

“I haven’t seen anything that says that stereotype is unfair,” she explains. “When you walk into a store, 75% of what you see is boobs, if not practically bare, then like Aeon Flux, covered but they manage to still be drawn to see the cleavage through the clothes.”

Gesturing towards the pile of comics stacked next to our bed, she says, “Knowing how little interest I have in T&A and explosions, out of what, a couple of thousand comics you have, could you give me more than 10 I might be interested in?”

Ouch.

She adds, realizing I’m blogging this conversation, “You might want to add that I’m not one of these women that’s like, ‘ooo, look at this industry!’ I watch porn; it’s not about that.”

So, yeah, thanks Silver Bullet, NEWSarama and all of the other Boy’s Club idiots out there for effectively countering the good work of Debbie Huey, Kyle Baker, Gabriel Benson and Jeff Amano, and most recently, Will Eisner. (All of whom have produced work she’s enjoyed.) Because apparently, no matter what good is out there in the industry, simple-minded crap like the above ad – which, BTW, is animated on the site itself, with a little peek-a-boobie action – is what will continue to represent comics to the non-fan.

Ugh.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.

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