Sunday, February 19, 2006

Rare and Awe-Inspiring Panel

I snatched this off of Poison Ivy's Livejournal and it is a beautiful picture for one compelling reason.

It's not because I enjoy seeing Batman says "Ragamuffin" (can't you just hear Adam West there?). It's not because of the angle of the Flash and Green Lantern (I can see Green Lantern from that angle anywhere). It's not because I'm impressed by Aquaman's shaven swimmer's chest.

It's not just because all of the men have strategically torn clothing .

No, its because Wonder Woman is standing in the middle of it, costume completely intact.


I mean, how long has it been since we've seen a team scene with one female, and four males, and the female is the only one still fully clothed at the end of a fight?

Possibly since this panel was first published.

13 comments:

  1. Her skirt is a little torn...but nothing like the men. Wow! :-)

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  2. Which is odd because she never wore a skirt...

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  3. Having said which, it's quite difficult for some heroines to get their clothes torn because they wear so little to start with that anything less would be indecent.

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  4. Exactly!

    Which, ironically, actually justifies the "this is my unencumbering battlewear" argument.

    And don't make fun of Batman's taste for ragamuffins; it got us both Dick and Jason.

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  5. Oh, and thanks for explaining the panel.

    At first I thought I missed the "Mike Grell era" of the JLA...

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  6. Heh! The dialogue is as priceless as the image. (And it makes me wonder what the guys who lost the fight are looking like.)

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  7. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the unconscious and fully clothed figures lying on the ground the losers?

    As such, I'm REALLY curious how the "fight" went down.

    It seems more like some over-zealous fan-boys (and at least one girl) tried to get a piece of their costumes for souvenirs, and the JLA responded by BRAINING them. Which is the correct way to treat fan-boys.

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  8. Heh, you know, I think we're looking at silver age sexism here, though. It was ok to show the men in a state of near undress in a family comic book, but they couldn't expose impressionable minds to the objectification of a woman beyond her normal costumed garb which, you'll notice, GENERALLY shows a lot more skin than any of these male characters.

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  9. Way to keep a secret ID Barry.

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  10. I'm willing to guess that the ones they were in a fight with are laying around their feet looking knocked-out. If that's the case I'll point out that they seem to have no costume damage.

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  11. In which case, Steven's theory may be true.

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  12. The costume damage was basically a convenient plot point that forced the JLA to wear their enchanted spare uniforms. Actually, their regular uniforms; it was their spare uniforms that got shredded and...yeah, Silver Age. At no point did the story make a tremendous amount of sense. But it was delightful! (Justice League of America #35, in case anyone wants to look it up.)

    I also enjoy Batman's droopy ears.

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