10/09 - The Wall of Hands

Last week's batch of comic books are a sure sign of the scarcity of sexy covers. This being a batch that includes a Red Sonja/Vampirella title, and these being comic books that in recent times would be totally worthless if not for their cover illustrations. And so, surprisingly (at least to me), the sexiest covers of the week belong to Marvel, that presents us two instances of what I like to call "the wall of hands", probably influenced by my young self's fascination with 1965's REPULSION and 1968's movie poster for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Even more surprising, the best of the two covers (as it does have some apparent affinity with Romero's zombie film) is the one from THE MAGNIFICENT MS. MARVEL #8, a comic character that I find abysmaly unbearable in her cute caricature way. The other cover - WEB OF BLACK WIDOW #2 -  is not quite a "wall of hands", but the positioning of Iron Man's grasping glove, as if making ready to grab one of Black Widow's boobs, taken along with the other ectoplasmic heroes that surround the Russian beauty, perfectly conveys its essence.

Another Marvel cover worthy of notice comes from GWENPOOL STRIKES BACK #3, with the titular character garbed in a wonderful bikini version of her usual costume, basking on a warm silvery moonlit night and totaly oblivious to a menacing Hulk, whose torn trousers seem to be beging for a sexualy inspired remark (that I will abstain from). The cover illustration by Terry and Rachel Dodson fooled me for a while into thinking it was by Frank Cho.

DC's covers are not only under-represented but barely make it as sexy covers, and I'm posting here two of them simply because any cover featuring Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy is bound to look sexy, and because Zatanna likewise makes any book cover look equaly sexy. In this instance, however, it clearly is a missed opportunity.

The remaining covers are also poor excuses to make into this category. Archie's JUGHEAD: THE HUNGER VS VAMPIRONICA #5 is selected because any vampiress lounging in a short dress amidst the iconography of Halloween is inherently sexy. Valiant's LIVEWIRE #11 (a series I have not read yet) makes it because of the context: perusing the books it doesn't look like the main character usually dresses in slit skirts, so the minimalist cover illustration titillates the reader with the prospect of erotic roleplaying. Finally, Catalyst's NOBLE #19 gets the free pass for the daring way the man's forearm rubs the girl's breast in a loving embrace.

Covers for: Magnificent Ms. Marvel by Eduard Petrovich; Web of Black Widow by Junggeun Yoon; Gwenpool Strikes Back byTerry & Rachel Dodson; Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy by Mikel Janín; Black Hammer & Justice League: Hammer of Justice by Michael Walsh; Jughead the Hunger vs Vampironica by Pat & Tim Kennedy; Livewire by Stacey Lee; and Noble by Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez.