Make the comics? Yeah, but what if I can't draw?

I admit I've been split on the reactions to the Mary Jane comicquette statue put out by Sideshow.

Not by the statue itself. It was pretty indefensible. ( Rule #1 - If you want to produce a statue that will serve to promote your movie, do NOT produce a statue with an image of the character BENT OVER. Even if it IS based on a cute Adam Hughes drawing. Why couldn't they have gone with Romita Sr's original "you just hit the jackpot" pose?)



No, I mean I was split by the responses on both sides to said statue. First, the statue's critics had valid points about the statue's sexism and inappropriateness, and about comic sexism as a whole. So kudos to them for raising this ruckus. And I also understand this was a "final straw" situation. But some statue opponents undermined their effectiveness by introducing enough excess baggage to fill O'Hare Airport. "She washes the clothes while...shudder...BAREFOOT!!" Newsflash: So do I. One male protester even said seeing the statue made him want to incinerate his entire comic collection and disassociate himself completely from the comics hobby. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater!

On the other hand, some of the statue's proponents offered some laughable defenses. "Mary Jane has always been a sexpot." I don't care if she's scored with the entire membership of the Avengers; she deserves better than that statue (see Rule#1 above). "That kind of pose was popular in the 50's." Yeah, so was McCarthyism, what's your point?



But my personal favorite was Dirk Deppey and others telling people who don't like the status quo to make their own comics.

One problem with that: I can't draw at the comic book level. Even at the Rob Liefeld level, despite any wisecracks I may make to the contrary. More importantly, nor can my niece at this point.

She can't write like Moore or draw like Perez (at least not yet). But she has the only essential skill necessary for any comic book fan: She can READ. That makes her as viable a potential comic consumer as her brother --- or me for that matter. Is it too much to ask that she get treated that way?

And it wouldn't take as much as you'd think: Only a few minor tweaks. We can still have stuff like Lady Death or Witchblade, only we should have more of everything else. I call it the "Big Tent Theory".