One of the leading trends of comics in the 1990s was rampant over-sexualization. It totally makes sense, considering the standard demographic of lonely nerds combined with the fun of drawing exaggerated curves, and was little more than the modernization of pin-up art popularized in the early 20th century. One of the stars of girly comic art from the ’90s to today is J. Scott Campbell.
For last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Campbell produced a twelve-month wall calendar with racy interpretations of fairie tale femmes. They were mostly innocuously cheesecake, but nearly a year later are gaining attention. Nobody seems to mind the cheeky renditions of Little Miss Muffet and Red Riding Hood, but the following eight are clearly inspired by Walt Disney animated films, and people get pretty hot under the collar when you sexualize icons from youth culture:
Honestly, Tinkerbell looks okay. Her feet look like they’re in pain, but the representation of her and Hook seen here is pretty much in keeping with what we’ve seen from the House of Mouse. Similarly, Malificent from Sleeping Beauty sports an entirely different type of robe than in the Disney picture, but the headdress and mirror on the wall clearly tie her to the motion picture. Besides, that’s probably the kind of robe they’d draw her in now, given the opportunity. Snow White isn’t too far over the line, just a little sexed-up with the needless bows on her stockings and a good deal more skin than I remember. Sleeping Beauty, on the other hand… whaaaaaaat? She is clearly completely nude, save for the tiara on her head. Did she happen to be naked when she was playing with that spinning wheel or did her clothes just dissolve over her many years of sleep? At least that matter distracts from the curious apparent size/shape differences between each of her hands, feet and breasts. Cinderella and Belle from Beauty and the Beast seem to each be wearing shiny lingerie. It’s a wonder that the Little Mermaid can wear so much eye makeup without it running in the water (I guess that’s just a fish thing) though I do applaud Campbell’s restraint in not having beads of water dripping down her implausible curves.
Let’s not even talk about Alice. That one’s just creepy.
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