Man, I am so getting that. KISS = quality.

This entry reads like Graeme saw something that he considered offensive at first glance and began to write without really thinking about it or re-reading it. The context of Koben’s question is pretty clear, especially when you consider that it starts with “So”, a word that denotes that question as a follow-up to the previous point.

Whether or not the book is gratuitous cheesecake or not anyone’s particular cup of tea is beside the point. Believe what you want, buy what you like on that score.

My objection is centered around the fact that Graeme took a fellow Newsarama contributor (aside from doing interviews, Koben is a valued Best Shots team member) and did his best to make him look “creepy” (Graeme’s word, regarding Koben’s question). That’s just plain not cool.

It WAS meant as a quantifier. I WAS following up on the denial of said content.

After seeing preview art, I was curious (as I thought many would be) of how Rich felt portraying that element.

Why that makes me some misogynistic perv who wants ass-shots in every comic I read, I have NO idea.

Graeme seems to have read it as “legitimate amount” (as I did). On that reading, the question sounds like you’re endorsing the content. “So you’re saying there isn’t an appropriate amount of cheesecake?”

But from Koben’s comment, it seems that s/he meant it simply as a quantifier. On that reading, the question is a follow-up from the previous one. “So you’re denying, then, that there’s a fairly large amount of cheesecake, including these examples…?” If that’s the reading, then the question doesn’t endorse the exploitative content, quite the opposite.

Probably a poor choice of words, but Koben’s heart seems to be in the right team-comix place. So why can’t we all just get along, and agree that comics suck?

Having read the series script in its entirety, I can easily say that “cheesecake” is a minor, minor element of the whole package.

Leaving aside the question of how much “cheesecake” really shows up in the scripting stages, I think that’s actually kinda the problem. If the guy just wants to draw women in skimpy clothing, then go nuts. I think the idea that creepy sexualized images of what is apparently an underage girl are somehow “tastefully and purposefully done” rather than “gratuitous” — in a story that’s ostensibly not about that at all — is what sets off people’s alarms a bit.

One question… do you also boycott two-hour films based on their three-minute trailers?

And I’m not just saying this because the interviewer is a friend of mine.

Yeesh.