12/11 - Harley Quinn: Villain of the Year

Covers by: Warren Louw; J. Scott Campbell; and Natali Sanders

10/30 - Hitting the bottom

If the last couple weeks were not all that great in terms of sexy covers, this last Wednesday hit rock bottom. There is not a single cover that one can confidently say it's a sexy cover, at least not  without some qualification. A fact to be sadly noticed is that after last week's Mary Jane bonanza, Marvel didn't make our selection. A comic book house famous for some of the most sexiest characters ever - the Scarlett Witch, Dazzler, Dagger, Crystal, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Gamora, the list goes on and on - couldn't provide a single cover for this week's roundup.

DC, on the other hand, provides three covers; but all of them featuring female characters covered from head to toes in Kevlar-like bodysuits - even the usually more undressed Wonder Woman. Katana, on the cover of BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS ANNUAL #1, looks quite boobalicious, although Dexter Soy and his collaborators didn't resist the old sword/phallus semiotic substitution. Freud seems to be alive and kicking in this post-modern politicaly correct cultural atmosphere. Top marks goes to the best cover of the week - DCEASED #6 - that boasts three wonderfully bodacious anti-heroines (although one of them is a zombified Catwoman). Harley's costume's decoration marks merit a special reference, as they help our subconscious to substitute Quinn's nipples for the enticing star and diamond.

Closing this week's meager selection comes Image's KICK-ASS #18 whose cover dares to bare some cleavage, although in a bloody scenario that somehow seems to lessen the erotic impact of the cover illustration, when it should do the exact opposite.

Covers for: DCeased by Mark Brooks; Wonder Woman Annual by Tyler Khirkham & Arif Prianto; Batman and the Outsiders Annual by Dexter Soy, with Arif Prianto & Riley Rossmo; Kick-Ass by Marcelo Frusin.

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.