I once said there would be no pop quiz on this column. I lied.
Pop Quiz!
- The blonde woman portrayed above is:
A) Dinah Lance (Birds of Prey)
B) Susan Storm (Ultimate Fantastic Four)
C) Emma Frost (Phoenix: Endsong)
D) A randomly selected model (Sports Illustrated) - The blonde woman portrayed above is:
A) Dinah Lance (Birds of Prey)
B) Susan Storm (Ultimate Fantastic Four)
C) Emma Frost (Phoenix: Endsong)
D) A randomly selected model (Sports Illustrated)
The first set of pictures: A, B, C.
The second: B, B, B.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s crazy but it’s true all of these pictures are from the astonishing and highly debated artistic talents of one man: Mister Greg Land!
Oh, Land. I genuinely can’t tell if he’s a bad artist.
I am told by people who know what they’re talking about that there’s a substantial difference between “photo-referencing” and “tracing from girly mags” and that Land falls neatly into the second category. But I just don’t know enough about the methods of creation to pass judgement on whether it’s good art, or bad art with talented inkers and colourists.
I don’t actually care.
Good, bad, or middling talented, Greg Land commits three monumental misogynistic crimes in the portrayal of women:
1) All his female characters are facially indistinguishable; and yet
2) The same character is often inconsistently portrayed in consecutive panels; and
3) Pornface.
Pornface? Pornface:
Unconvinced? Check out this excellent post at Scans Daily where Sue Storm’s hair, nose, cheekbones and face shape changes panel to panel.
Greg Land doesn’t draw women. He draws That Woman the glossy, airbrushed vacant-eyed, wide-mouthed focal point of patriarchal desire. She’s totally interchangeable with every other That Woman, because it doesn’t matter who she is; only what she looks like.
The moral of the story is that comic book women don’t have to be individuals. They don’t need to have personality or characterisation reflected in consistent design. They just have to be HAWT.
Greg, shape up or ship out.
If you’re a good artist, then do better.
If you’re a bad artist, get another fucking job.
