Friday, August 10, 2007

Is This Gratuitous? Ultimate X-Men #85 Cover


Ultimate X-Men #85 Cover
Originally uploaded by Heidi Meeley
This week's entry in the gratuitous catgegory isn't nearly as obvious as some of the ones in previous posts. Some past covers have been "in your face"; this one is not.

What grabs my attention about the Ultimate X-Men #85 cover is the fact that Storm is laying sprawled unconscious in the forefront. Her boobs are crazy large compared to her normal portrayal, so that really made me wonder. I always think about Storm as a smaller breasted, more lanky lady so this didn't gel with my vision. A bit picky but true. I also was surprised to realize how much "fishnet" she is wearing compared to what I remember. Is that an homage to Zatanna and Black Canary?

Wolverine kicking the sentinel's ass is all good and well. I just wonder what the cover would have looked like if it was Wolverine laying in the front and Storm fighting the sentinel. Would his package be pronounced? Hmmm... I am so pathetic I made myself laugh!

At any rate, this cover wasn't as obvious as past ones, but it did make me wonder....

Is this gratuitous?

Thoughts? I love to hear your opinions!

6 comments:

Jenny J. said...

I'm going to go with gratuitous on this one -- a woman's, ahem, attributes don't quite work that way when she is lying down unless they involve copious amounts of silicone. Plus, the whole "female gets knocked unconscious; man fights to defend her" bit kinda irks me. And she appears to be smiling? Perhaps I'm overly sensitive tonight, but I'd say definitely gratuitous.

Heidi Meeley said...

Jenny, I think it is a bit gratuitous as well. I would LOVE to see Wolverine splayed out for the world to see, but know that isn't going to happen. God forbid he is down and out and Storm has to save the day. Yikes.

Jessica & Luke said...

I have to go with gratuitous here because, if you really look at her pose, one would have to arch their back quite a bit to get that much boobs and ass in one view point. And considering that she's supposed to be unconcious, I would think her back would be relaxed.

Unless she was just taking a nap and the mean sentinal is waking her up with all the noise he's making and stretching oddly a she wakes up.

Lea said...

I'm not so bothered by her physique, but her pose is very erotically charged and her outfit... do I really need to say it? She's dressed in pseudo-dominatrix gear, nothing like her old white outfit and not much like the current black one, either.

She's not lying like a woman who's knocked out in battle, or even passed out. She's lying like a woman waiting for her partner to walk into the bedroom and appreciate her new lingerie. The sound effect that goes with this pose is a throaty, "Aaaaahh!"

Saranga said...

Gratuitous. She looks like she's a waiting for a lover to come up and nuzzle her. Maybe she's been transported from her bedroom where she was 30 seconds from having sex to a battlefield. Unconscious beaten-in-a-fight people don't lie like that.

Heidi Meeley said...

I very much agree that the pose in itself is very gratuitous. Unconscious people normally don't arch their backs. :-) Good Lord! I also think the outfit is over the top. I could hardly believe this cover when I first saw it, and it almost flew under the radar... almost.

Like I said, I would love to see Marvel do a cover where Wolverine or Cyclops was splayed out unconscious with their back arched and package accentuated. That would be one for the books.