All-female Avengers team spinning out of Secret Wars

[Frog Warlord]

I agree, it's probably not healthy for males to aspire to that kind of unrealistic body image either. But, realistically, how often do you see that happening? How many guys' quality of life is significantly reduced because they're not jacked? Plus, society tells us there are tons and tons of other ways men can be valued, whereas looks weigh a lot heavier for women--even intelligent politicians and sophisticated authors are still often reduced to being thought of in terms of what they wear in public. The world's still pretty kind to average-looking men.

I agree, women are more often objectified then men and I recognize from my own daily life the examples you give of people in their professional life being reduced to their looks and this is incredibly frustrating and unfair and happens more often to women than to men. This is a huge social problem and the standards do indeed differ. In many parts of the world and in many aspects of life it is, regrettably, still a huge disadvantage to be born a woman. This needs to change. So, I agree with you on that, wholeheartedly.

However, to answer your question, I would like to note that I have had male friends suffer from body image problems and confidence issues, not unlike those problems we often hear women face, and that gets very little attention. Often men do not talk about their feelings, since they are taught from a young age not to share their emotions but just 'deal with them and not be a wuss', as that is the masculine thing to do. This can cause much suffering and in some cases even suicide, which is one of the primary causes of death for young male adults in certain parts of the Western world. The ideal of masculinity (just like the ideal of femininity) is quite harmful in that respect.

Maybe my last post wasn't clear in this regard, but I am a huge supporter of more diversity body wise, for women but also for men. Wouldn't it be cool to see some more male superheroes who are over-weight, don't have an athletic build or are in other ways just less masculine?

I will be sure to pick this comic up!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I know men suffer from body image issues. I do myself (in case my name weren't obvious enough ). The difference is that it's the norm for women, as opposed to men, for whom it's more an exception. Plus, we happened to be talking about the issue as it relates to women because of the thread's subject. But I think we're on the same page in general. I'd absolutely support more versatility across the spectrum--male, female, and everything else.

 

[BoredGuy]

I agree with parts of both sides of the argument

that said, I still don't really wanna see schlubby (or even average) superheroes any time soon
see enough out of shape people in real life (myself very included)

 

[CaptainWagner]

Well. Obviously some characters have to be in peak physical condition for their characters to be convincing at what they do. However, I agree that it would be nice to see more characters outside of the stereotypical body type.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's not a question of being in or out of shape, it's just about varying body types. Not everyone is 6'6" and built of pure muscle, even if they're in excellent health. People can be short, tall, stocky, slender, etc. Yet we're still at a point in comic art where most artists err toward the Jim Lee end of the spectrum, drawing literally everyone with the same stock body type. I mean, I do it too because I didn't put much thought into it when I was learning to draw. But I think we should expect better of our professional artists, especially if diversity is, as Marvel keeps claiming, a priority.

 

[Gee]

Will be relaunched after Secret Wars...

http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2015/06/marvel-a-force-1-cover

 

[Colossal Spoons]

If this book doesn't sell extremely well, I wonder if it'll have any impact on Marvel's current Girl-Power business model.

 

[X-Woman]

i read the book and I found it rather meh.

 

[Gee]

Possibly canned...

http://www.newsarama.com/31604-marvel-s-a-force-axed.html

 

[SwiftFox]

It's been confirmed as cancelled. Which is a bummer cause it was a fun book.

 

[Abudefduf]

I'm not surprised at all. The series had an interesting and fun premise, but for some reason it never really managed to take off, at least in my opinion.