From: [d--n--m] at [magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu] (Dave Van Domelen) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc,rec.arts.comics.info Subject: The Final Bad Girl Art Report: August Previews Date: 1 Aug 1996 20:27:33 GMT The Bad Girl Art (BGA) Report for Diamond Previews: August 1996 See below for an explanation of the BGA Index. And keep in mind that something can have a high BGA Index without actually being "bad girl" art, since BGA is more than just naked women (but not much more). The purpose of this report is to publicly lambast Diamond for putting material that verges on softcore porn in what is supposedly an all-ages publication. Not only may BGA be inappropriate for younger readers, some (like the author) simply find the fetish-ized portrayals of women in these ads to be aesthetically displeasing. Unfortunately, now that Diamond has effectively eliminated any pretense of real competition, I don't see them bothering to mend their ways any more. The boulder has now slipped from our grasp and rolled to the bottom of the hill. So, unless things change, this will be my last BGA Report. And yes, this month things got worse. If anyone wants to take up the reins, let me know. BEFORE THE COMICS Topps ad for Don McGregor, has a painting of Lady Rawhide and some woman in velvet pants and an open shirt. Index = 7 Previews Presents: The Queens of Halloween Ashcan. Yep, a special edition to glorify Lady Death, Vampirella and Witchblade. I think this speaks volumes about Previews' editorial policy...more bad girls, not less. Fairly tame images, so no index given, but worth mentioning for itself. Previews Contest: Pick Your Halloween Queen. Choose which topless or almost-topless DD-cup you like best. The words "unrepentant" and "incorrigible" spring to mind, and if there were actually an option any more, I'd strongly consider buying a different magazine for my comics solicitations. PREMIER COMICS ACCLAIM: None to speak of. Although there's pictures of Waid and Augustyn for you to drool over. }-> DARK HORSE: None to speak of. DC: None to speak of, although Catwoman and Supergirl get pretty close. IMAGE: Roaring back to life this issue. Darkchylde/Glory ad. The first, as usual, is wearing nothing but hair and blood. Glory is in a pose that, while it would make Kirby wince, is not sexual (but still painful and serves to thrust her breasts together). Index = 20 Second Darkchylde/Glory ad. 'Chylde has found some clothes and both have cleaned off all the blood for this two-page centerfold-ish ad, over two thirds of which is legs. Oh, and 'Chylde has a thong tanline colored in. Index = 10 Glory #16 ad. She's holding a woman who seems rather excited to be dead...must have died of a broken back from that pose. Index = 12 Lady Supreme in an ad that looks like it was cribbed from Striptease, pulling open her coat to reveal her...costume. What there is of it. Index = 5 COMICS MAGAZINES Inquest gives a little equal time, with a "Shirtless Kirk" photo, a young and fit Shatner wearing only tights. Overstreet's Fan scared me for a moment into thinking there would be a Batman/Lady Death crossover. LD is her usual charming self, and even from the back gets Index = 10. It seems LD is everywhere, and she's showing off her assets for the Combo ad. Index = 10 COMICS Special "Don't Forget These Comics" section has an ad for Catacombs #1, featuring "Lady Lib," who wears a Statue of Liberty crown and not a whole lot else. Big hair, wasp waist, art emphasizing public area, etc. Index = 7 (it's B&W and cropped...full size color would have been more) LIAR COMICS Somehow got an ad way out of sequence. Cynder Annual ad has two women, one of whom is arching her back and showing her large butt off while the other one seems kinda cold and should hike up her pants before they fall the remaining inch or two past her crotch. Index = 16 ANTARCTIC Warrior Nun Areala action figure, complete with the peekaboo slats in the front of her habit to show off the cleavage. No real index worth calculating, but I can see why they're not trying to sell this in stores. BLACK OUT COMICS Hari Kari ad. Butt shot, erect nipples, big hair, blood...pretty much an archetype of bad girl art. Index = 11 BRAINSTORM COMICS Luxura ad. Gee, could we get a little more sexually suggestive? Wine bottles popping their corks and wine flowing out like a rather more viscous fluid as she closes her eyes and arches her back...sheesh. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but this is ludicrous. Index = 14 on the straight scale, but somewhat nastier than this would imply. CFD PRODUCTIONS The ad for Bones is so screamingly sophomoric I have difficulty a person with the ability to put words together into sentences devised it. Let's just say that while they say it's about the bones sharks leave, that's about as honest as saying "Hooters" restaurants are about owls. No index, just offensive. CHAOS! COMICS More Lady Death. Just standard LD stuff around Index=10, nothing beyond the normal call of bootie...er, duty. DARK FANTASY PRODUCTIONS Dark Fantasies #8 ad is B&W so I can't be sure, but I think the vamp in it is wearing nothing but boots, gloves and a spiderwebby bikini top. Index = 8, probably. GROUND ZERO COMICS Harry #1: Demoness wearing what must be paste-on bits of cloth and ragged boots. Index = 8 Crystal Breeze ad, a B&W photo of a woman in a nazi bondage outfit complete with riding crop. Index = 7 HARRIS COMICS Just piles and piles of Vampirella. Page upon page of erect nipples, spread-um poses cribbed from Hustler, rapturous expressions and other goodies, to celebrate her 25th Anniversary. Index = Too High To Bother LONDON NIGHT Razor in leather with blood all over her, repeated several times. She's so excited her nipples are visible through leather. Whee. Oh, and a crotch shot of a woman in a straitjacket. Index = 13 MAXIMUM PRESS Well, more Darkchylde/Avengelyne, both lounging around showing off their tanlines. Index = 16 SIRIUS Fang Testament ad. Well-oiled and bulging out of her skimpy leather bikini, the woman in the ad is fighting a demon thing wearing a thong and apparently hung like a Richard Corben character. Index = 11 MODELS There's some seriously hentai resin kits being proudly offered for sale, bragging about no detail left unrendered. Including DDcups with erect nipples and so forth. I'm tired and not going to bother sorting out an Index for this. There a few other things here and there worth of mocking, but I really no longer see the point in bothering. Diamond is an effective monopoly and is gonna keep putting in the T&A because it's what they themselves like. The Bad Girl Art (BGA) Index v0.2: This is an attempt to quantify the degree of offense given by "Bad Girl Art" as presented to general audiences in solicitation material, such as Diamond's Previews magazine. Any depiction of the female form in a solicitation is fair game for assigning a BGA Index, but the threshhold that must be passed in order to be truly considered BGA has not yet been determined, although 5 seems like a lower bound. Every depiction starts at 0 points, then adds points based on the Format, Pose, Body Type, Clothes Type and Clothes Coverage of the female shown. FORMAT: Style of ad +1 per full page (if the ad is several pages but the female appears on only one of them, only count that page) +1 if in color +1 for photographic art POSE: Positioning of the female +1 if the pose is anatomically impossible or severely painful +1 if the woman is being struck +1 for bondage situations +2 for a gratuitous butt shot +3 for a spread-legs crotch shot BODY: The physical attributes of the female +1 for breasts larger than her head +1 for breasts larger than waist (cumulative) +1 for erect nipples shown +1 for thigh wider than waist +1 for thigh longer than total torso plus head height +1 for Big Hair (hair larger than torso) +1 per inhuman or demonic part (such as claws, fangs, etc) +1 for facial expression indicating sexual themes (seductive, rapturous, etc) +2 additional for expression indicating subject is in the throes of orgasm CLOTHES TYPE: What the female is wearing +0 for skintight bodysuit +1 for swimsuit +1 for lingerie +1 for leather (cumulative with above) +1 if torn or tattered (cumulative with above) +1 if adorned with spikes or blades (cumulative with above) +1 for "nonstandard" body piercing (navel, nose, lip, etc) +1 for spiked heels +1 per weapon +1 per fluid type covering subject (includes but is not limited to blood, sweat, tears, regular water) CLOTHES COVERAGE: How well the clothing covers the "naughty bits" of the female. This is clothing coverage only, and doesn't count strategic limb placement or black bars. It's the thought that counts. The following are cumulative (i.e. if less than 1/4 of the breast is covered, then points are given for 1/4 and 1/2). +1 if less than half of each breast is covered +1 if less than 1/4 of each breast is covered +2 if breasts totally bare (so +4 total) +1 if enough of crotch is uncovered to require shaving +2 if outline of genitalia is drawn +5 if crotch is totally bare The following points are not cumulative with the above. +10 if subject is totally naked (except for shoes, gloves and jewelry) Any suggestions (other than "Get a life!") appreciated. This file and updates of it will be posted each month along with a listing of outstanding cases of BGA in Previews.