Manara Responds to Criticism of His "Spider-Woman" #1 Cover

[Aioros22]

Come on, this is a classic POV porn shot. And he did it on purpose.

You should look at actual porn. C`mon, go ahead, it won`t bite.

[Aioros22]

Would it be too much to ask for some of the critics to consider that, maybe equating an image of a woman in a sexy pose to something degrading and off-putting to female readers is not the healthiest or more productive approach to this issue?

If Spiderman can stick to walls, so can Spiderwoman. Both have buttcheeks and both buttcheecks stick out that way.

She`s not doing a pin up pose on the ledge of the building, she`s getting on top (no pun - fine, maybe some) when the camera snaps the angle. It`s sexy (and sure of it, the author knows it) because she`s got a sexy body. But I`m sure female readers do not complain when Spiderman sticks on ledges and duns the spider pose, showing his physical assets.


Not degrading in my view. Is is the best kind of shot? That is up for grabs, but so many could be better out there. But degrading? Badly composed?

Nope.

[SocializingMogo]

You should look at actual porn. C`mon, go ahead, it won`t bite.

I know porn, but I'll get banned if I upload pics

[AJBopp]

besides the porn pose of the cover, there's also the fairly basic issue that Spider-woman here is wearing no clothes. She's decided to go out and do her heroing in body paint.

[Huntsman Spider]

If Spiderman can stick to walls, so can Spiderwoman. Both have buttcheeks and both buttcheecks stick out that way.

She`s not doing a pin up pose on the ledge of the building, she`s getting on top (no pun - fine, maybe some) when the camera snaps the angle. It`s sexy (and sure of it, the author knows it) because she`s got a sexy body. But I`m sure female readers do not complain when Spiderman sticks on ledges and duns the spider pose, showing his physical assets.

Not degrading in my view. Is is the best kind of shot? That is up for grabs, but so many could be better out there. But degrading? Badly composed?

Nope.

I think part of the issue is that when Spider-Man is depicted wall-crawling, his lower half is comparatively deemphasized, or at least doesn't stick out any more than expected from someone carrying himself up a wall without the use of external equipment or support, since it's supposed to display his unique powers of strength, agility, and sticking to walls. When it's Spider-Woman and when her hindquarters are raised like that, though, it's very hard (no, not like that) for a lot of people to think of or see anything else besides that, and at the very least, it's worth asking what's meant to be displayed in the cover image. That Spider-Woman is strong and agile and can stick to walls like Spider-Man? Or that she has a shapely set of hindquarters? For the record, it is possible to do both, but if the latter is what people are thinking and talking about more than anything else about her, like how she and her stories will be written, then we have to question priorities, and I'd say that for both the critics, points about female sexual objectification in popular media notwithstanding, and the defenders.