Tuesday, February 2, 2010

And they wonder why some women are reluctant to get into comics...

I'm going to be on break for a while. Sudden financial difficulties necessitate me giving up comics for things like food and heat for a week or three. But that won't stop me from reporting on the latest in Marvel Marketing idiot fanboy stupidity.

SOURCE: Marvel Girls Rule Womens T-Shirt



Quick Quiz: What is the most offensive/creepy part of this?

a) the suggestion that women wouldn't ever buy a comic-book related t-shirt and that it would be bought for them by a man?

b) the fact that your girlfriend and your sister are apparently interchangeable? (Insert Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch joke here)

c) the discussion of fantasy harems and which superheroines would be in it?

d) describing Black Widow as "too... used"?

e) other (please use the reply function to explain)

f) all of the above


UPDATE - 2/3/10:
It seems that SuperHeroStuff.com has changed the text on the offending shirt. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to find the original text if you know where to look on the Net. Here now, for postarity, is the original text.

Made from 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester, this cream colored, woman's T-Shirt features purposely faded images of your favorite female Marvel comic book characters! Well, they're your favorite, but your girlfriend (or sister) will actually be wearing the tshirt! HUZZAH! Hmmm...Can't decide which Marvel Super-heroine I wish to add to my fantasy harem first. Spiderwoman is DEFINITELY in there. Black Widow...maybe; she's just a little too...used for me. HUZZAH! Hellcat? Absolutely. Scarlet Witch? Maybe not. She could unmake me if I forget to dry the dishes or something. Invisible Woman? YES! It's the hot mom thing! And....Marvel Girl. NOPE! Too damn whiney, not enough character and she tends to die when things get rough! Now, this Marvel tee is EXTREMELY limited, so buy the shirt, tell your girlfriend which female Marvel character you wish them to emulate, get dumped, go back to the imaginary harem.

13 comments:

  1. I don't think that's a Marvel employee saying that shit, just whatever three year old manchild owns the website.

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  2. As nevermore999 pointed out, this doesn't look to be the result of Official Marvel sexism - just general idiot fanboy sexism.

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  3. Judging by the text on some of the other T-shirt descriptions, I'd have to say that's a fair guess.
    Correction made.

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  4. Still guys, still being idiots. Just not MARVEL idiots. *lol*

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  5. Well, it is an important distinction. I don't want to accuse the wrong people of being idiots who make all of us fanboys look bad.

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  6. Did they change the information?
    Because this is what I see when I click the link:
    Made from 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester, this cream colored, woman's T-Shirt features purposely faded images of your favorite female Marvel comic book characters! There's the Black Widow, spying on you! There's the Invisible Woman, launching invisibility at you! There's the Scarlet Witch, unmaking your reality, and there's Hellcat...wait. Hellcat!!? Anyways, this tee is absolutely for you, female comic book fan!
    There's plenty of stupid here (launching invisibility at you?). But I don't see anything like what you're talking about.

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  7. Re: Did they change the information?
    I don't just what? I can't even...

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  8. Re: Did they change the information?
    *Professor Farnsworth voice* Oh yes.
    Browse around that site a while, if you can, and you'll see more. I posted some of the more choice examples in another post just about an hour ago.

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  9. It'd be kind of odd and surreal if a woman wrote that copy.

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  10. To paraphrase George Carlin, "I have to believe (the person responsible for this) is a man. No woman would allow things to get this screwed up!"

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  11. A few years back, I would have agreed, but it seems more and more women are catching man-sized cases of the dumb.

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