OK. Just a quick piece here on the foolishness of censorship. Tony Harris took over cover work for Dark Horse Comics' amazing series "Conan with issue 24. Here is the cover he submitted initially:
Tasteful and erotic. Awesome. I have the issue in my collection and I am very happy for it. But...Even Dark Horse, a publisher that is always top-notch, must submit to the wheels and
gizmos of the world (America) and after releasing somewhere around 4000 copies of the beautiful nude cover that Tony intended they released this cover that would supplant the original:
Well. Shit looks doctored does it not? What a half-
assed cover. I appreciate that it looks like Tony merely zapped a cheesy bikini pajama onto the woman's body. It looks totally last second and not just a little bit like a joke. I guess if you have to censor yourself you might as well have some fun with it.
Anyhoo, the whole business is laughable. Maybe I am a pervert that regularly reads "Heavy Metal", but I think the nudity is tasteful and very pleasing. Yeah, I am a pervert that regularly reads "Heavy Metal", but according to Me there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think there ought to be more perverts that read "Heavy Metal". It is a really good magazine and Kevin Eastman can have my money any day of the week. I wonder what would have happened if Conan was sans pants in the original cover? That might have been an even more interesting scenario. I'll be in the back of class reading Richard
Corben comics and eating mushrooms for the rest of the week. Enjoy.
Tasteful and erotic. Awesome. I have the issue in my collection and I am very happy for it. But...Even Dark Horse, a publisher that is always top-notch, must submit to the wheels and gizmos of the world (America) and after releasing somewhere around 4000 copies of the beautiful nude cover that Tony intended they released this cover that would supplant the original:
Well. Shit looks doctored does it not? What a half-assed cover. I appreciate that it looks like Tony merely zapped a cheesy bikini pajama onto the woman's body. It looks totally last second and not just a little bit like a joke. I guess if you have to censor yourself you might as well have some fun with it. Anyhoo, the whole business is laughable. Maybe I am a pervert that regularly reads "Heavy Metal", but I think the nudity is tasteful and very pleasing. Yeah, I am a pervert that regularly reads "Heavy Metal", but according to Me there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think there ought to be more perverts that read "Heavy Metal". It is a really good magazine and Kevin Eastman can have my money any day of the week. I wonder what would have happened if Conan was sans pants in the original cover? That might have been an even more interesting scenario. I'll be in the back of class reading Richard Corben comics and eating mushrooms for the rest of the week. Enjoy.
Jesus. I'm disappointed in Dark Horse for this one (a label I usually respect for its willingness to take risks). Thanks for pointing this out. I guess it all goes back to the old question of "Naked" (porn) vs. "Nude" (art). On the same note you may remember this from a couple of years ago...
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1788845.stm
Oh what a world! The cover situation also happened about two years ago so I suppose it is old news, but I always get a kick out of it and Tony Harris is fantastic. As in every issue of the series, issue 23 has a preview of next month's cover in the bottom righthand corner of the final letters page. I remember getting to that point of the comic, seeing the original cover, and giggling with glee. I think the envelope needs to be pushed more often in comics, literature, cinema, art, whatever. Although they released the censored version of the book, you still have to hand it to Dark Horse for making the nude cover available. Nude vs. Naked is such a laughable concept. Is "The Grand Odalisque" naked simply by the nature of the sitter, while "The Venus of Urbino" is nude because of the nature of the painter? Fucking semantics.
ReplyDeleteI think John Ashcroft has committed some awful crimes in his day. I always wonder what sexual degeneracies are hidden behind those protective curtains that the conservatives place in front of both statues' genitalia and their own. Interesting stuff.