toptopz-deactivated20150501
asked:
What do you think about the recent backlash on Milo Manara's Spider-Woman cover? I liked it, although I understand why some people might get upset.
brianmichaelbendis
answered:

I do understand it. it was a mixed message and I’m glad that Marvel copped to it.  frankly, my feelings mirrored Amy Reeder’s

“If you want to know my opinion on Milo Manara’s Spider-woman cover, I’m going to have to disappoint you and say I feel super divided on it. I love Milo Manara!! It’s a variant cover…so it’s sort of an erotica variant! Of course, I’d also like to see Katie Cook do her own version…that’d make Marvel’s choice seem a little less like a systemic problem. And yes, it’s all a different story with context, but without context, it is a bit jarring and I don’t negate that because the Internet really changes our experience these days. And the image itself does remind me a lot of images by artists I DON’T respect…

“That’s not my point. My point is, it’s not an easy thing to evaluate or explain what is okay and what’s not. Some sexy drawings of women I can get behind, some I can’t. Some of that’s context. But a lot of it is what seemed like a weird intuition that I couldn’t really pinpoint, until recently.

“The word that changes everything for me is ‘personhood.’ Does this woman seem like a person? Do they have life breathed into them? A personality? Or are they an object? Do they feel manufactured or repetitive? Would guys who like this appreciate that I am a living, breathing woman? Or would they complain I talk too much?”

–Rocket Girl artist Amy Reeder,

 to add to that I find that there is a very creepy undertone of certain people trying to shame creators. I could do without that altogether. it’s creepy.

 I was more offended by the creators redrawing the cover ‘properly’  how insipid.

 if you don’t like something don’t buy it. if enough people don’t buy it just won’t exist. this creator shaming, to me, is creepier than anything you might think is wrong in this business.

 all an uproar does is put the spotlight on something and that thing ends up being waaaay more financially successful than it would’ve been without it. this is a truth as old as our culture.

 one of my kids might end up going to college because of Glenn Beck’s racist shit about miles morales :)

 sometimes I see people pulling panels out of context in a weird attempt to shame people.  like, if you showed the next panel the panel you showed would and does have a different context.

 in my opinion, artists should be able to express themselves without fear of shaming. that idea is the most important to me. I get concerned about what kind of vanilla, soulless crap we are going to end up with if everybody is subconsciously worried about being shamed.

 I was glad manara came out and defended himself and didn’t back down from his art even though I don’t think he needed to.

 if you don’t like it, don’t buy it. say it over and over.

 and now take a moment and curb your desire to yell at me because I have an opinion that might disagree with your own. thank you :-)