Former DC editor Janelle Asselin wrote a column at CBR criticizing the new Teen Titans cover largely over the depiction of the teen Wonder Girl's breasts, and in return she got abuse and rape threats. The cover was (sadly) far from the worst depiction of women in comics that i've seen, but i still largely agree with her critique ("largely" only because i'm less interested in the complaints about the paper airplane and such, although i agree it's not a great cover even without the Wonder Girl problem). Even if i didn't agree with her, though, the reaction - even the less violent reaction on twitter, let alone the rape threats - seems unhinged. What surprises me the most are the people who defend it on the grounds that they have the right to look at sexy female superheroes (you can see some of it in the CBR comments, too). You'd think people that were into comic book art for that would keep quiet about it, but no, instead they go into full outrage mode. Like, download some porn, people. That's not what mainstream super-hero comics are for!

The other complaint seems to be that all comic art is bad in this way, so why is she picking on this one? Well as she explains, part of that is that thanks to a popular cartoon series, the Teen Titans potentially has a larger audience than a cover like that is targeting. But also, why should this book get a pass just because others do it? Generalized critiques are good, too, but focusing on a specific comic helps get the point across, and that's especially the case when it's actually not the most egregious example (you can see one of the Psylocke scans from the Middle Spaces post below for one of those). Just because you're not doing a brokeback position with the lady in fishnets and a thong doesn't mean you're doing it right.

Comics have sadly become nothing more than comics written by fans for adult fans. It's a shame that female characters have been overly sexualized during the past 2 decades. I'll be honest that it's never been great, women have always been scantily clad in comics but it's gotten worse.

We can only hope that one day comics will be written by professionals rather than fans