The Hellfire Gala

[rhaenylis]

I love Jean and Rogue's poses
Not to mention Kurt

[LordAllMIghty]

Xavier is in charge of the girls

I'm terrified and intrigued to find out what's under there. LOL

[Phoenixx9]

I love this long Gala look! So many good outfits and poses. Angel is like, "Yes, here I am, come and have some", lol.

[Phoenixx9]

I'm terrified and intrigued to find out what's under there. LOL

Wait.....I thought X was wearing the white with gold cerebro?

[LordAllMIghty]

Wait.....I thought X was wearing the white with gold cerebro?

He is...pretty sure this is fan made. LOL

[rcaguy]

The avengers are there and he is the avengers leader

Your point being what?

[Phoenixx9]

He is...pretty sure this is fan made. LOL

Oh, lol! He did sort of look like his older bald self.........but that color did seem to work for him. The shoes too, lol.

[LordAllMIghty]

Oh, lol! He did sort of look like his older bald self.........but that color did seem to work for him. The shoes too, lol.

Iceman would probably be jealous as hell if Xavier came out in this. LOL

[superjosh]

Full shots from RD's twitter!

[superjosh]

[superjosh]

Wait.....I thought X was wearing the white with gold cerebro?

GURL lol

[Phoenixx9]

GURL lol

LOL!

(Well.....maybe this is X first look of the evening, lol! His white and gold is his dinner attire. Then he and Mags (also in his white and gold with pimp-stick) take a moonlit walk in the gardens....)

[juan678]

marauders 21 preview

[Pumpkin King]

For me, it's at least: Does this fit the character? And are you Jessica Rabbit-ing her? As in, it's not a bad look, just drawn that way.

Emma's personality-type is one where I can totally buy her choosing a revealing costume. She leans into her sex appeak, and honestly strikes me as someone who would would rather die than dress practically. Fashion over function. Also, with the inclusion of her diamond form, she's a bit of a tank and can actually take hits! See also why Colossus can wear his booty shorts. Contrast that with Huntress belly window, which doesn't fit the character and is honestly a very terrible strategic choice for someone squishy. Likewise, Sue Storm's boob window '4' also didn't fit the character at all. Even though she can create shields and protection, she's just not the personality type to run around in battle belly and boobs-bared. Then again, I also hate Jean's go-go dress, because it doesn't strike me as something a woman in her late-twenties would choose to wear -- but that also goes with her calling herself Marvel Girl.

As for the 'not bad, just drawn that way" -- I feel like that's something a lot of female characters face. Take Carol Danvers' iconic Ms. Marvel costume for example. It's honestly one of my favorite comic costumes. It's just so aesthetically pleasing to look at. Her power set allows her to pull it off. I actually hate her current costume because I feel like it lacks personality. The swimsuit look is fine in and of itself, and evocative of what many gymnasts wear. (And yes, I do know some are pushing back against the leotards.) However, too often it was drawn with heels and and basically looking like a thong cut that it *felt* trashy.

Speaking as a female reader who sometimes gets annoyed with female character costumes, and sometimes just shrugs it off as "part of the business," this is very well said. It really depends on the character and the story. I have zero problem with Emma Frost vamping it up in revealing outfits, that's part of who she is. I don't even mind the "swimsuit" look, although I wonder how some of these characters aren't freezing all the time. But a street-level brawler character wearing spike heels and baring her midriff or having a boob window just completely removes my suspension of disbelief. I'm just like, "How can she fight like that?" Or Rogue angsting about how her powers could kill someone, but walking around humans wearing a tank top and short shorts and gloves, as if it wouldn't be extremely easy for someone to make skin-to-skin contact by brushing against her. (I mostly remember this kind of thing from the 90's, I think artists have gotten much better about it now.) Generally speaking, when you've got a team of characters fully covered in at least semi-practical outfits, and your one female character is there in a mini skirt, and it seems to happen over and over again, it gets a little tiresome.

Facial expression and posing matters a lot, too. If a female character looks like she is constantly posing for a pin-up poster, regardless of what she's actually supposed to be doing in the story, it kinda ruins the book for me. Let her be sexy, sure, but don't overemphasize sexiness to the point that she looks porny when she's supposed to be expressing sadness, anger, determination, etc. Like I love the original Storm/Callisto fight way back in Uncanny X-Men. Storm is a gorgeous character in a sexy costume, but she is still allowed to look fierce and angry during that scene, because the focus is on the fight itself, not "loooook, sexy ladies!"

Anyway, I don't necessarily want all the sexy costumes to go away, I know that's part of the appeal. I just want them to be a little less ubiquitous (which seems to be happening now), and to make some sense. Or at least even things up and let more male characters have ab windows. At least at the Gala it looks like there's a pretty even ratio of skin showing between the men and women.

[Havok83]

Emma's diamond helmet looks even dumber on panel