That’s not a lie; that’s a matter of interpretation. I certainly (at least initially) viewed the statue as “Mary Jane washing laundry.” It’s unclear whether she’s dipping into a laundry basket or a washtub, and the bottle of detergent on the floor adds to that ambiguity.

But this? This prude-fest? Disgusting. I’m always reminded of Ma Bates or Carrie’s Mom when I hear prudes. The hatred of women involved in prudery disgusts me (and that some of it is done by women doesn’t make it any less hate filled).

And with that I withdraw from this hatefilled war of words. I have no dog in this fight. Burn Marvel Burn, and may something good rise from your ashes.

Good Night.

She’s not hand washing the costume, she doesn’t look like she’s hand washing the costume and she never looked like she was hand washing the costume.

Nice ad-hominem by the way. Classy.

Thank you for the incredible work you do anyway, and the even more incredible journalism under fire you went through during this.

“Indeed, the level of outrage at the statue seems minuscule in comparison to the level of outrage generated by the outrage at the statue.”

The focus of the “outrage at outrage” bloggers (Can I call them Owies? I shall) is also interesting. The number of the Owies on boards going “Oh, I didn’t know, I’d have ordered if it was going to be this controversial” makes me think that they’re not exactly spiderfans. Or the target market. This statue wasn’t even for them.

Yet the Owies are all hurt that people (spiderman movie fans) who Sideshow was trying to sell a product to – and it’s also telling that the product was on the Spiderman 3 page, and the only non-Venom/Spider/Sandman on the page

And for the “there are bigger issues” market, how about they come down to my blog and tell me I’m wrong about consequentialising an issue.

@Ami – Good point.
The hysterical outrage and “urwastin time on this. ur stupid hjead. irsmartest”

The owies seem to be projecting somewhat.

DS

Porn stars are modern rock stars and vice versa. If this is happening all over our culture is it surprising that comic artists and fan boys feel they are being singled out for timidly doing in a niche market what the main stream world is doing everywhere without comment or outrage?

No, I am not saying shut up about it, far from it. I am not excusing the idiots who don’t understand why the statue might bother people, they are still idiots, but we can’t look at comics and their ilk without looking at the society we soak in for the rest of the day.

I don’t favor censorship. I don’t think trying to point out to the major media when they go past the point of good taste is censorship however. There are still lines between Marvel characters from their main line comics and the Howard Stern world and it doesn’t hurt to remind them of that.

Nice work, Lisa (and Betty and Devildoll).

I’d like to point to another answer to the MJ toy (and the Big Barda and the Supergirl), by GirlAMatic.com editor Lisa Jonte’.

http://arcana-j.livejournal.com/281360.html

I was pondering these same things yesterday cuz I was getting trolls on my blog criticizing “women” and attacking points I never even made!

I didn’t even criticize the statue (tho I mentioned off hand I didn’t like it)! But I AM a female comics blogger so therefore apparently I should be attacked too!

>.>.;;

It amazes me how much effort ppl were willing to put in to post comments, refresh posts and spam our journals with super long posts that dun even address nething in our blogs. :O

As I said, if it’s silly to get super mad at a statue, isn’t it even siller to get super mad at ppl who are super mad at a statue?

They act like we’re some hive mind, but almost all of the outrage has been independent. The picture started circulating but the reaction (from men too) has been independent. Is it THAT odd that ppl would find this statue disturbing? :\

But the backlash seems to be more of a hive mind reaction more than nething. >:|

I miss the good old days when all women comic fans had to complain about was the size of Power Girls breasts.

Seriously this is a great chance for anyone disappointed about the way women in comics and the industry are treated to air their opinions and have a good chance of being heard. Stop feeding the trolls and start feeding the starving mass audience that’s craving information.

*cheers*

This will be referenced copiously in my next ComicMix column. So many of us are writing the same kind of things at the same time, but few do it as well as you, Lisa.

Great post, and you nailed it. The rock has been turned over.

I don’t agree with everything said, but its good to hear that you are asking people to take their frustrations and turn them into positive things. I don’t think stopping the production of a niche product of 400 to 500 statues that have nothing to do with the way stories are told in comics is the place to put it, but I hope more Women feel empowered to go out there and fight harder.

Like do something with Supergirl, please. I’m raging about that shit wherever I go but if I had support from you guys it would make it easier to make a positive change for an important character in a book that more than 500 people will own.

As a waaaaay aside: I’m mildly curious if Joe Quesada will say anything about this on his Joe Friday’s thing.