Because Manara is an erotic artist, a grotesquely contorted body with spread cheeks is the only thing this man can ever draw?
The only work of his I actually own is the Sandman’s Endless Nights and, even though there are several blow-job faces unnecessary to the plot throughout, the women aren’t bent over every which way in every panel. The art overall is extremely well-done; buildings, landscapes, male/female figures, clothing, etc. This man can draw eye-watering porn but he also has the skills to draw a perfectly normal and non-deformed female. For anyone who knows Manara’s skills, this cover is that much more surprising; not because it is sexual but because it is shitty.
I liked your comment because I do agree that it’s ridiculous that some people are complaining about the position alone (note title of this thread which is not “Manara Draws Reprehensibly Bad Cover”). However, I want to make sure you read the articles and comments available at The Mary Sue (redrawn cover outlines can be seen there). The people there (and here) are mainly complaining about both variant covers because both are badly drawn.
That’s what I’m complaining about, and I’m a chick. Manara is an excellent artist, and specializes in the female figure - this cover shouldn’t be this bad. The guy is 69. I’m actually hoping there isn’t a problem with his health.
Yep, the slideshow shows that a figure artist understands structural form of the body. I did say both variants are terrible, but Greg Land is nowhere near the level of artist that Manara is. People regularly complain about his lack of foundation skill understanding the human form (he often forgets people have insides). That’s why some people are so shocked by the Manara cover.
If you want to see more, I recommend a Google search for “Greg Land tracing”. Land is an artist that heavily relies on photographic reference material and material from other artists, and he directly traces. There are lots and lots of examples on the web.
Manara is a true figure artist. A search of “Milo Manara tracing” won’t return any examples of it, just wonderful pictures he drew. The man is a 69 year-old Italian artist who has spent most of his career drawing the human figure. He doesn’t need a reference for basic position anymore than Karine Charlebois did when she did her outlined corrections.
I’m not convinced that ALL objectification is bad. We all do it to each other sometimes, whether you’re a man or a woman. We all prefer to interact with more attractive people.
Where’s the restaurant with the ugly wait staff? Portland maybe?
What we see in comics are a symptom of our overall cultural values. They’re what you get when you combine a highly superficial/visual/objectifying society with a gender-dominated largely immature genre.
All superheroes have idealized bodies, yet no one complains about the male objectification. We’re not quite drawing in camel toes and moose knuckles yet.
Clearly we, and our society, have an objectification problem. We complain about it when it makes us uncomfortable seconds after doing it to someone else.
If we decapitated and objectified women the way Hollister bags do with men, we’d have a riot.
If we objectified men in a way that women wanted to look at in comics they’d be built like these shirtless, grapefruit-drinking guys:
The muscle-bound fantasies of teen boys aren’t what girls are interested in. Those are men’s fantasies. Superhero comics don’t tend to cater to straight women, and this concept has already been discussed in relationship to video game ideals.
