BtVS S8 #19

[catalyst2]

Both covers for this issue are posted at Comics Continuum in the October solicitations for October



Chen cover: Dark!Willow is back? She's the big bad? Regardless of what this implies for the story, the artwork is just gorgeous yet again. At the end of S8, I would love a book of Chen covers (perhaps with all the variants too, perhaps not .....). I also notice that half her face is D!W and the other looks "normal", which is an interesting parallel with the half-and-half look of Jeanty's cover below.


Jeanty variant: I love the side by side contrast, not just of Mel and Buffy but also of the skylines behind them.

Comments

[innerbrat]

Re: Mel's outfit:

No.

[catalyst2.livejournal.com]

And now that you mention it, yeah. It's strange because I remember that one of the things that Joss goes to some pains to point out is the deliberate lack of T&A in the original Fray TPB (in the foreword to the very same TPB). And yet there's Mel with the peek-a-boo black bra etc. Then again, just thinking further, that's the Jeanty variant, not a Moline/Owens cover so that team still seems to steer away from the cavernous cleavages and distorted pelvises that so many comic book artists draw women as.

All of which was a completely rambling way of saying I agree with you, now that you have pointed that out. Mind you, I am a notoriously "slow" observer. I'm the one that is forever going "Who was that?", "Why does he have only one hand?" and so on in the movies. Just not an acute or aware observer for these kinds of things, I guess.

[innerbrat]

I'm the one that complains all the time about outfits and protrayal of women, etc. I just never thought I'd do it about Mel.

[catalyst2.livejournal.com]

A most appropriate icon for the discussion!

Given Joss' comments about how Mel was to be drawn, I didn't think it would be Mel either. I try to stay aware of these things but, as I say, I am a hopelessly clumsy observer, not just for this kind of portrayal but for most things, sadly! Too much abstract maths and phenomenology studied at uni, I think!

Having read some of your posts though, I have started to notice a bit more of this. Some manga puts the absolute shits up me, with short skirts flared out just enough to show crotches and boobs so big that I wonder how the poor girl (and I use that word deliberately since this particular cover was certainly about girls in school uniform - and yes, they were "real" school students!) could even stand up without a back brace! And yet the guys are buttoned up tight and all manly without the slightest inch of flesh flashed. Not just sexualisation (which I think can be justified in limited contexts), but powerless and unbalanced sexualisation.

[rua1412.livejournal.com]

Jo Chen cover is stunning. The half light face could mean anything, from the way the light fall on her face at a simbol we all have a dark side inside us.

[catalyst2.livejournal.com]

I've also read some comments suggesting that, rather than the black of Dark!Willow, it may be a scaly green from the snake-woman Willow spent some time with (forgotten her name now). Hmmmmmmm .....

[rua1412.livejournal.com]

Uhm.. it could be since she is a goddess... even if an evil one.