07/21/2013
Yep…that’s a big ol’ butt. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen nudity in this comic; the last time, actually, was with another one of Scapula’s romantic acquaintances. When that comic ran I wrote a fairly lengthy diatribe defending the choice to show nudity as more fitting for the mood instead of being pornographic. While today’s comic is obviously in a completely different context from the rather serious Bone China scene, I still defend it as using nudity for purposes other than pornographic ones.
The tone of today’s comic is pretty damned silly, and the use of nudity is more light-hearted than self-indulgent. ‘Cheesecake’ is a classic theme with cartoonists, although its definition has become blurred over the years by a lot of artists and fans who assume that all depictions of a naked body are for the sole purpose of wanking. Playboy cartoons, in my opinion, are only very rarely true pornography; the humor can derive from sexy situations or content, but the idea is to make you laugh or smile, not get your rocks off (which I’m sure no one has ever done while looking at Playboy, right?…never mind).
Now, am I going to condemn all smutty cartoons and demand they be taken down from the Internet? Am I saying it’s wrong to get your rocks off? Nope, because that stuff doesn’t bother me. I would just rather not have SCAPULA be labeled NSFW. There’s no way this comic will ever qualify as “all ages”, but the audience is definitely narrowed down once it becomes labeled an ‘adult comic’ (the number of page hits might go up, but that’s a whole ‘nother story).
What do YOU think? Leave a comment if you have a different opinion or think I’m a weaselly hypocrite? Just don’t move your bookmark for SCAPULA into that private folder with, y’know, those other sites you glimpse at…!
Agreed, Aidan, you are 100% on target. I do like nudity or even sometimes things even more graphic than that. But doesn’t mean I like to see it all the time (or even most of the time) and seeing it used gratuitously is like eating candy – great at first but you just get sick of it after a while.
I like the way you think and treat your story as well as your artwork – keep it going.
But, on that note … can I add a vote here to add Moonie to the Girls of Scapula collection? Seems she’d go nicely next to Jemini. 😀
I like the candy analogy; seems apt in more ways than one. What do I mean by that? You tell me, you little pervs out there!
The Girls of SCAPULA prints may not have warranted enough reaction to make them possible (for now), but a Moonie print could be fun. I’ve seen more than a few pagan/Wiccan designs that I would like to incorporate into a Moonie-themed piece.
I only glimpse at those other sites for the articles. :-p
Rrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiight, sssssuuuuurrrrre yyyyyyooooouuuu diiiiiiid….ssssoooorrryy, IIIII tyyyyyped thiiiissss meeeesssssage whiiiiilllle IIIII waaaaasss iiiiinnnnn oooorrrrrbiiiittt…
Now seems like the perfect time to make a “full moon” joke.. but I won’t. You won’t see me making any cheap cracks (hur huur, “crack”).
Judging by what I’ve seen of Moonie’s personality so far and Scapula’s consistent bad luck with other women, I’d have to guess that her idea of “dessert” differs wildly from what he has in mind…*ahem*getting high*cough*
By the way, do you have a personal favourite among your female characters? Mine’s Jemini.
Huh huh huh…”crack”. That’th awethome.
Her definition of dessert could be several things, including the obvious: sweets. Hey, does she look like she turns down treats? Nyeee!
I do enjoy Jemini, although she has the dubious honor of being the most difficult character for me to use, in both drawing and writing. That said, there’s a Jemini story coming up soon, so you can all enjoy and I can struggle all over again!
X2 on Jemini.
scap could it be!?! the end of your dryspell????? or maybe just pudding…pudding is also good either way you can’t lose for once *knocks on wood* also is her son on acid or too much sugar?
Pudding always make me think of a quick gag in Hot Shots! where Lloyd Bridges, seemingly drinking a cup of coffee, spurts, “Pudding?” and spews a wad of chocolate pudding in an officer’s face (see, you think he’s drinking coffee, but it’s really a mug of pudding…see?…aw, screw it, just go watch it for yourself).
Star River, the son of Moonie, is not on drugs. He was just raised by a spacey hippie, which is bound to affect a child in a number of ways.
First panel, Baby Michelin Man is seriously thinking about eating Scapula. I know that look. It’s not the roommate he needs to be worried about, it’s the baby!
On another note, I understand the need to defend one’s decisions with their art as I am a digital painter and character designer myself. But if you are worried what your readers think, I know I at least speak for myself when I say don’t be. Most people, and especially I’d assume the sort of audience Scapula attracts, know the difference between a silly comic page that shows a naked bum from pornography. I’m by no means suggesting you shouldn’t write about it if you feel the need– I just mention not to worry too much about it because I think people do understand.
The baby staring at Scap is a little throwaway gag I tossed in there; there’s no point to it, no reason or logic. Babies just stare at things. That said, it’s probably my personal favorite thing about today’s comic (yeah, even more than the big ol’ butt).
Glad you understand the difference in using nudity, and yes, I probably over thought this thing more than necessary. Most readers probably just thought, “Huh. Another big girl in this comic…cool.”
When I say people in real life get naked an awful lot, I’m not joking, and I would know. So when it crops up in a story I’m interested in, I personally don’t even notice. I might be a bad benchmark, but you never use it inappropriately hun, so don’t sweat it. It’s also not gratuitous or out of place. And trust me, with my life, I know out of place nudity. A hippie wiccan crossover stoner wandering around her house in the buff is pretty realistic.
And just to the comic doesn’t go undiscussed: I approve of Edgar’s jab with the glass! That’s a hilarious line I might have to steal. I’m trying to come up with a little list of snark so I can stop responding to people I don’t like by smashing their heads through furniture when they push their luck. Here’s hoping that in the near future your comic spares someone a concussion!
People get naked a lot?! Blasphemers! Bet you didn’t know I was a puritan, didja?
It’s interesting you describe it as realistic; if that’s the case, it’s probably the most realistic character we’ve seen so far (Mona might have been like a lot of real women out there, until we learned she had a psychotic aunt and a loser supervillain brother).
Feel free to use that one-liner! Just make sure you can differentiate between an icy stare and a fiery glare. The punchline must be used accordingly!
Hm, good point. Time to bust out my ‘clubgoer’s guide to intense staring cues!’ (No, I don’t actually own that, but I wish I did)
Quick religion lesson: Puritans were actually a religious movement that believed since God is in all things they didn’t need to have an intermediary like a priest to pass along their prayers and confessions. Needless to say these puritans were a threat to the power base and economy of the church since they didn’t feel obligated to kiss up to the preachers and pay tithes. They were, however, typically good people to get things done for the right reasons, since if God is everywhere, he can see you at all times, so you’d better be a good person.
The most famous Puritan is, oddly, fictional: Solomon Kane, created by Robert E. Howard of Conan fame. Especially strange since most of the Kane stories were never finished, since, y’know, Howard knocked himself off. The reason for this is pretty straightforward: Puritans believed in humility and so most of them went uncredited for their works.
The word you meant to use was likely ‘prude’ and yeah…… no ya aren’t hun!
Ahhhh, gotcha! I hate using the wrong terms, especially when it reveals my ignorance to an entire culture or belief (but hey, I’m an “on-line personality” and since when do they bother to do any fact-checking?). In any event, thank you for teaching me about Puritans and correcting my mistake; I will be sure to use “prude” in the future when I mean it.
I’m not familiar with Solomon Kane, except that I usually mix up the name with Solomon Grundy, who I’m sure is a vastly different type of character!
It’s okay, I just like picking on ya! You always take it in good humor.
Hm, Solomon Kane might be your kind of character. Dealt with a lot of ghosts and other ooky spookies. The movie was….. a little off the source, but then again the source is usually just fragments. Although ‘Solomon Kane’s Homecoming’ is a very well done bit of literature. Plus he wanders around with a sword and flintlock pistol beating the hell out of supernatural entities as an occupation, so yeah….. sort of the opposite of Scapula (who wanders around getting the tar pounded out of him by an equally interesting freak show!)
People seriously need to learn that Nudity Does Not Always Mean Sex.
That is quite true. We could go into the whole debate of Art vs. Pornography (Michelangelo’s David versus ‘Michelle and Angelo doing David’, found in the backroom of a 90’s video store), but I’ll leave that up to you.
…and that porn title is a fake one, so don’t bother looking it up (and if it really does exist, don’t tell me)!
“What’s Marla’s problem with Scap?”
“I dunno, bareass her yourself?”
‘Ba-bum-bum!’
Nyeeheee.
Don’t em-bareass yourself! Wonk wonnnnk!
Ironically, according to my Pocket Philosopher, that’s pretty much exactly where the word ’embarrass’ comes from. Never thought of it before.
There’s waaaaaaaay to many calories in that dessert.
Yeah, but it’s so rich and creamy!
Cue bad porn music to accompany terrible porn lines…..
I’ll tape on a really bad mustache.
And I just pictured you in a really bad mustache. And it’s hilarious! Although I’m imagining kind of a Dick Dastardly.
I am thinking Scap wants Cheesecake for dessert
I’m not sure he cares for fatty pastries like…ohhhhhh, you were making a double-entendre. Bravo, Bearo.
I actually got that joke. That means I’m learning to speak ‘artist-ese’ or something, doesn’t it?
I couldn’t even imagine Scapula NSFW, but some tits and ass are fine every now and then.
Good to know! I can’t imagine SCAPULA as hardcore NSFW, although I’ve seen a few fan art submissions that ran the gamut…
So many little things to love about this page. And so many big things, too!
HA! Good one, Mark! Big and good!
I think people object to nudity a bit too much. It’s always kind of baffled me, that graphic violence is more accepted than nudity. My own comic has skirted on the edges of nudity, and It seems readers are more concerned about racier aspects of a comic… more likely to say something about the boob content then they are about the violence. Maybe it’s an American thing.
It is a weird phenomenon for sure (more than one person has used the quip,”You can show a guy slicing off a woman’s breast with a chainsaw, but you can’t show him kissing it”), but it seems to be changing a little as time goes on. I was pretty surprised at how much female nudity they showed in Archer the first time I saw it (even if they can’t show nipples or vaginas), and Lord knows audience’s tastes will always make someone a profit.
Well…here’s to more bare asses, folks.
Never defend artistic choice I say. It is what it is. Since its an artistic medium any ways, people will assign their own perceptual views no matter the intention.
Although, I have to admit, the Rolling Stone’s latest artistic choice went beyond the call of decency. That- thats something to apologize for. A giant jiggling ass in a comic strip, well that there is humor. Giggly-jiggly-wiggly-humor!
Good advice all around, Scottsie! Just don’t ever mention the Stones and ‘ass’ in the same sentence again…the thought of what their wrinkly old bums look like now is enough to make me hurl! BLAAAARGH!
I think the degree and purpose of the nudity in this arc is okay. I find nothing wrong or overly-lascivious about it. However, I think you would’ve caught flak if the body in question belonged to a Power Girl-type lass. Is that reverse discrimination in the name of “art”? I dunno. I like her body-style. She’s hot to me, but this segment wasn’t necessarily meant as a turn-on. I think the next one will be though. 🙂
That is a good point; body types and genders play a huge role in who gets offended and what makes something ‘overtly sexual’ or just cheeky.
Look at The Simpsons: if Homer appears naked, viewers usually laugh, but if Marge is shown nude there’s usually an uproar from angry conservative-types who say that shouldn’t be seen on television (as a result, syndicated reruns usually chop out any scenes with Marge naked).
If Moonie had a figure like Power Girl or most superheroines it would come across a lot different. Is that wrong? Depends on who you ask. I don’t think any body type should be labeled as unacceptable to be shown in the proper context of a story, so it’s up to whoever is creating and/or releasing the content.
Ever notice the people who protest ‘exploitation’ of the svelte, curvey, or firm breasted slim chicks are rarely said chicks? No really sexy lady I know (and I know a lot from all races, sizes, and shapes….. sexy can come from ANYwhere!) ever complains about the results of being sexy until it gets someone truely despicable trying to bug them. It’s actually gotten to a point where a number of my fellow Dommes back in the states are starting to feel discriminated against FOR BEING ATTRACTIVE.
There’s even a movement to remove booth babes from events like car shows. I hear the video game event E3 is the site of a lot of this sort of complaining. Video games and movies are catching flak for having sex-bombs in them now. It’s gotten to be SO loud a protest that I suspect it’s more of a jealous uproar from the have-nots than any kind of complaint from the haves, and trendies are jumping on the ‘no hot chicks’ wagon. I know at least one woman who was fired from her job and replaced with someone just like her (white, bruinette, married), with half her qualifications and a lot more mundane appearance, and was told it was because her looks were upsetting her co-workers.
Then there’s Moonie. She isn’t ‘power girl’ as has been said, but she’s cute. I don’t see anyone complaining. Guess you just can’t be too hot or too ugly, or it’s exploitation, or gross.