Marvel pulls j. Scott Campbell' Riri William Iron Man cover

[Cel]

I think some people objected to the low cut of Ririi's trousers and how much of her abdomen was visible with her crop top. The tilt of her hips and the look of attitude on her face probably didn't help. Like most things involving female comic book characters, some folks weren't offended while others deeply were.

[kurenai24]

I think some people objected to the low cut of Ririi's trousers and how much of her abdomen was visible with her crop top. The tilt of her hips and the look of attitude on her face probably didn't help. Like most things involving female comic book characters, some folks weren't offended while others deeply were.

Yep, her boobs got bigger, her shirt got tighter, instead of being in outer wear/track pants, it looks like she was wearing leggings that emphasized the triangle shape of her bits. Her hand was in a "talk to the hand" stereotypical black female pose, her face looks more mature, and her skin was lightened.

There are teens who dress sexually, there are teens who have big boobs and hips, no one is saying they're not out there, but you shouldn't be adding to something that isn't there ie don't draw her as having C-cups when she clearly has A-cups.

Black females are sexualized at a young age, and society has a way of referring to black kids/teens as men and women instead of boys and girls, children, teens, etc as if they can't be looked at as vulnerable.

In any case this is Marvel's fault for hiring this dude, and Campbell's fault for not knowing how to draw female characters differently.

[TheManInBlack]

It's almost unbelievable to me that there are people offended by this completely tame cover. Just goes to show that some people aren't happy unless they're complaining about something.

[Colossus1980]

The only problem I have with this cover is that Marvel made RiRi 15. If they made her older at least 19 the cover would probably have passed the muster. But going forward Marvel must be careful of future RiRi covers without her wearing the amour otherwise some will be considered too sexualized for an underaged teen.

[mugiwara]

Creeps who see sex everywhere throw a hissy fit about a cover. Nothing new here.

What's new and concerning is that Marvel is more and more afraid of the backlash from those Iran morality police members pretending to be suffragettes.

[Tiamatty]

I did do research. I saw the other depictions and covers of the character and saw no difference. Why is this the focal point of the issue?

Did you do research into how black female bodies get sexualized from a young age? Did you look into the much larger cultural issues that this ties into? Let me ask you this: Did you look at the opinions of black women? If you didn't - if you didn't look at what was said by @MizCaramelVixen and @neekaneeks and @Steph_I_Will and @BlackGirlNerds, or any of the other black women criticizing the cover? Then no, you did not do any research. She's not black, but this Jennifer de Guzman article also does a pretty good job summing things up.

Can you link articles discussing this?

It was months ago, and the criticism I saw was on Twitter, and I'm lazy, so no. But honestly, the main cover is bad for making Riri look way older than she should be, too. Riri is supposed to be based on Skai Jackson. Take a look at her. Now take a look at how Riri consistently gets drawn on covers. Riri looks a solid decade older than Skai. Because far too many comic artists simply do not give a single, solitary **** what actual teens actually look like, and just draw adult women. If it's a teen black girl? Well, the fact that a lot of news reports have referred to her as a black "woman" tells you a lot. As has been pointed out by a lot of black women over the past couple days, black girls get their bodies sexualized from a very young age. And that is the broader context of the Riri cover controversy.

As I've said before: There is always a broader context over any controversy. If you're not sure why people are upset about something, then it's because you've been privileged enough not to have been made aware of it before. So listen to what people are actually saying, without just assuming they're overly-sensitive idiots.

what's "cheesecake" about it? It mirrors the pose of the standard cover minus the hand up and the head looking to the side.

The pose, the face, the clothes.By the way, the clothes are a part of it, but they are by no means the biggest part. The face is probably the biggest objection, because she does not have the face of a 15-year-old. And the body a close second. Because that is very much a cheesecake pose. The hips cocked waaaay to the side and back, and the creepily-elongated torso. It's classic cheesecake. It's how Campbell draws every woman he has ever drawn in his career. He draws her in the same cheesecake manner he draws all his women. (Also, her skin is pretty light, compared to how she's usually coloured.)

So this is the issue, you are using this as a platform to complain about whatever you can.

No, the issue is the sexualization of a teenage black girl. An add-on to that is the fact that Marvel's not hiring black women to do variant covers for a comic about a black girl.Are any of the variant covers going to be by black women? I'm sincerely asking: Has there been a single variant cover announced for Invincible Iron Man that will be drawn by a black woman? Because if Marvel is hoping to reach black girls with this character, it feels pretty goddamn stupid to not have any black women doing variant covers. They couldn't ask Brittney Williams or Natacha Bustos? Nah, J. Scott Campbell is totally the way to get attention of black girls. Definitely.

[t hedge coke]

RRrraaaage! as everyone gets paid and a company chooses simply not to print an alternate cover. Rage, I'm sure, by people who oppose censorship as well as internal marketing decisions made by publishers all the time, and not just when it's a cover of a comic involving a sexualized girl. All CBLDF donators, to a one. Definitely.

[lucius121]

I just hope all the people getting angry about this cover actually buy the book, the mass hash tags and noise on twitter isn't going to do anything if the book gets cancelled for poor sales.

[Doctor Know]

Is it the exposed mid-riff? What's sexy/sexualized about an exposed mid-riff? I was expecting something like the Spider-Woman cover from a few years ago, but this? This doesn't even register on my radar. Hell, the depictions of female characters in books during the 2000s were objectively worse than this.

[t hedge coke]

I just hope all the people getting angry about this cover actually buy the book, the mass hash tags and noise on twitter isn't going to do anything if the book gets cancelled for poor sales.

Nobody buys comics. We just get mad when "sexy" covers are only released free on the internet, and not printed and sold on books.

Buying comics is old-fashioned.

[DIVINITY]

Clearly no one has been to the mall between April and August.
It's only creepy to the perverts who are lashing out.
There is ZERO sexualized about that cover.A little tummy is not cause for pause.

+1

10char

[Username taken]

I kind of see why people are upset. I mean, if she were older there wouldn't be any problem but she's only 15.

Black women (and men) are generally over-sexualised but as a black man myself that's not a discussion I want to have here because it's a very complicated issue that we in the Black community need to sort the hell out.

Personally, I didnt have any problems with the cover because when I saw it, I just thought about her being in her workshop and needing to wear something looser (like RDJ in singlets in the Iron man movies). I really doubt J.Scott Campbell intended to produce a cheesecake cover (just go back and check his Gen-13 work....oh boy!). However, we live in a very sexualised world and people see somethings that some of us don't. Anyway, the whole discussion is kind of moot seeing that Marvel has decided to pull the cover.

[lordozone]

Creeps who see sex everywhere throw a hissy fit about a cover. Nothing new here.

What's new and concerning is that Marvel is more and more afraid of the backlash from those Iran morality police members pretending to be suffragettes.

It's not cool to don't stand behind their creators when there is a faux-outrage like that. People on twitter and tumblr will always find something to say, if they give up for something that tame and innocuous, it's just the begining. This new management at Marvel is so disappointing.

And I'm very sorry for Bendis. For now, every storyline, every drawing, will be scrutinized.

[Panfoot]

It never ceases to amaze me how much variant covers, which you'll only ever see when buying the physical issue or maybe seeing in the back of a trade some day, that will likely be in more limited quantities than the standard one and will probably only be at comic stores and sites like midtown, can cause so much controversy. I still remember that Spider Woman cover that everyone got mad about, I only ever saw a single copy of it out in the wild and it was on the wall behind the counter rather than on the shelf due to it's rarity/price.

[Agent Z]

I think the difference is that she actually looks more like a 15 year old in the variant. Or because it's more cartoony so it makes her look more juvenile, and that disturbs people.

I don't know. My first impression of the character is that her pose looks like it might have been based on a teen girl posing with a volleyball. I am so disappointed the offending cover is actually so innocuous when I Googled it.

Also for comparison: 15 year old with incurable cancer poses for photoshoot, and first photo of her is her in short-shorts and singlet, hands on hips with a twist and swinging her hair.

So, I expect anyone who has objected to the Riri cover, please object to that photoshoot right now. I mean, it would be hypocritical otherwise.

There's a difference between a real life teenager posing for this pic of her own free will and a fictional character with no agency being drawn by a man in his 40s.