Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett looks at Archie and John Carter.Last week I saw a piece on Newsarama titled "Who Is The Most Progressive Publisher In Western Comics?" based on a Slate article by Bryan Young called "Archie Comics Makes Major Digital Move: An Interview With the CEO." It's major bullet point was the news that the publisher was teaming with Graphicly to sell their comics through Facebook, but Newsarama's Graeme McMillan suggests Jon Goldwater's statement that Archie is "the most progressive comic book publisher out there" refers to more than just that. And it's hard to argue with the facts; first they get a gay character, then do stories about interracial dating and gay marriage, now comes the announcement "The Occupy Movement Comes to Riverdale!" in an upcoming issue of Archie Comics (see "Occupy Riverdale"). It's hard to imagine either Marvel or DC doing something this risky these days.
"The suit also goes after Dynamite’s content. It alleges that depictions of Dejah Thoris "Border on (and in some cases are) pornographic," with "exaggerated feminine features," including a topless "Risque Nude" variant."
Leave us not kid ourselves; part of the intrinsic appeal of scientific romances like A Princess of Mars has always been the presence of a (preferably green-skinned) half-naked princess/priestess much in need of rescue. Like Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan, Dejah Thoris has a long established literary license to go about nearly naked and it would be hypocritical to claim otherwise. In theory I'm perfectly okay with covers where she's depicted wearing essentially a napkin and some bangles; sex sells and traditionally ERB characters haven't, at least in the direct sales market. So it's understandable if Dynamite uses it to help sell their John Carter titles; it's not like it's the first time a comic book publisher has ever done it.
But in practice, as a retailer, reader and just someone with a working sense of aesthetics, I'm with ERB, Inc. on this one. I'm actually pleasantly surprised to discover that someone else finds these covers to be as aggressively transgressive as I do.
There's a theory circulating online that Disney was afraid of putting "Mars" in the title for fear of it getting the movie confused with their forgettable flop Mars Needs Moms. And I suppose they wanted to avoid calling it A Princess of Mars because (a) guys don't go to see movies with "Princess" in the title and (b) it might cause confusion with their incredibly profitable Disney Princess brand. Still, if John Carter is a success you have to wonder how long it will be before Dejah Thoris get incorporated with Snow White, Belle, Aurora, Ariel, et al and has her face strewn across a wide variety of merchandise.
In case you missed it on "Secrets," last week's episode of CBS's long-running series NCIS involved a Navy Captain found dead wearing a superhero costume under his uniform. Naturally it turns out he was a Real-Life Superhero and during the investigation a character sums up the plot as "someone is murdering superheroes." For a moment I was hoping I'd see a network TV police procedural version of Watchmen but unfortunately the resolution is a whole lot more prosaic. And while there are some laughs at their expense ultimately the RLSH are depicted as being overly dramatic but well intentioned social activists rather than nerds playing dress up. In the end they even gain the grudging respect of the show's moral compass Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
* For the record the beautiful Jill Thompson art is from the variant cover to the "Occupy Riverdale" issue but, gosh, wouldn't you like to see her do more with the characters?
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
