Friday, October 19, 2007

Is This Gratuitous: X-Men #204


X-Men #204
Originally uploaded by Heidi Meeley
This week's cover once again shines the spotlight on the X-Men books. This is not on purpose. I didn't wake up this morning and decide to pick on them again. The cover art here by Michael Choi needed a second look and I just couldn't ignore the fact that it was also X-Men related.

Evidently Rogue has absorbed the powers of a contortionist, because her pose on the cover of X-Men #204 shows a great deal of flexibility. It also appears that Gambit hasn't lost his desire to get some loving as his hand is enroute to grabbing Rogue's hiney.

Because of the nature of the upward thrust of the boobs and the prominence of her aerobized butt, I have got to call on you to have a discussion about this.

Is this gratuitous?

13 comments:

Jenny J. said...

I'll admit her outfit is unnecessarily (and perhaps unrealistically) tight... But I really like this cover. Maybe it's the glove she's dropping, or the expressions on their faces, but I find it terribly romantic. And sexy. And the background is stunning.

Going to go with not gratuitous this time. Maybe I'm a little biased, though, as Gambit and Rogue are a favorite couple of mine.

Eaglewing said...

I'd probably go with not gratuitous. Sure, a little tightly revealing, perhaps, but everythings covered and the fact there's actual character history here and they're about to fry each other (her with a touch, him with an exploding card ready) does up the ante a bit. And yeah, I'm a fan of Rogue so maybe a bit biased too, but there is some equal quality in the cover instead of the usual half naked chick cover gratuity.

Lisa said...

Another spray-on uniform. it must be SO uncomfortable to be a superhero! And why does the Rogue's thumb on her ungloved hand look so weird? I think this cover could have been beautiful, but it falls short because of the gratuitous air of it.

Heidi Meeley said...

Okay, so far we are tracking towards "not gratuitous". A bit tight and uncomfortable, but alright! :-)

Karen Santora said...

i agree on the fact that Rogue's body is contorted into a pose that is not the most appealing (especially considering teh romantic scene). but i don't find it gratuitous. after all, we all expect Gambit to be "gropy-gropy", so it's just in the nature of the characters. and like most ppl said, it's more romantic in their reunion then gratuitous.

Thats a great idea guy said...

Totally Gratuitous.

And the artist put that cape halfway up her torso to hide the odd contortion.

"Hey, How can I get T and A in this?"

Lisa said...

Here's another artistic question - Why is Gambit's coat blowing in one direction, Rogue's glove going straight down, and Rogue's cape blowing in a different direction than Gambit's coat? Did they run to each other and smack together, sending their cape/coat in opposite directions via the inertia? Are they in some cyclone where the wind is whipping around them sending their garments in various directions? Maybe they're standing over a vent like in the classic Marilyn Monroe pose and the air is blowing things up?

LurkerWithout said...

As always, anytime you draw a woman posed to show off BOTH her butt and her boobs I'll say its gratuitous. Also I thought Gambit was dead. Or am I thinking Sunfire?

Mike Haseloff said...

I strike this pose at least nine times in any given day.



Some might call this gratuitous.

Saranga said...

I think that's a gorgeous cover. Except for Rogue's twisted spine. But other than that, gorgeous.

Lea said...

Her breasts and buttocks are both individually vacuum-packed. Her spine is twisted around ridiculously in order to show both breasts and both buttocks, when a simple profile shot would work much better (still showing the curve of her spine, bum and breasts, though clearly not with enough detail for some).

I also disagree with a previous poster about their facial expressions; I find Rogue's expression in particular to be unappealing, in a kind of generic, open-mouthed insipidness. Worse yet, she does not appear to be looking at Gambit at all, but rather somewhere above his right shoulder.

Crying shame, though, because the background is lovely. One rarely sees covers with this level of attention to detail, though. The layout might have worked as well, if only it were tweaked to allow for better anatomy and flow. Honestly, I think in a reunion scenario, a torso cover focusing on faces and eyes would work much better.

mike choi said...

Was that last post made by Lea Hernandez?

Lea said...

No, I'm not Lea Hernandez.