What you are saying he wrote, he did not write. The implication is not there. We are not "choosing to ignore" anything. There is nothing there. All the college lectures in all the world don't mean a thing... You are reading into his comments something that isnt there.

Frankly. You owe Joe an apology for these repeated charges of sexism, and for questioning his professional behaviour in a public forum. Uncool.

That is really textbook sexist language and it is unacceptable in any form of essay writing (and the above is basically an essay, if a highly informal one). I attended three different colleges and every single one covered this kind of language in freshman seminar as a basic sexist mistake to be avoided. It is often not meant harmfully, but the fact of the matter is that it's comparing an entire class of persons to objects and assuming their primary value is aesthetic.

It would be as unacceptable if it was any other gender or type of person being so objectified, but this sort of writing specifically about women is a holdover from the extremely sexist tone of the 19th and early 20th century, and there's no excuse for modern people to be writing as such. If you choose to ignore it, that's fine, but it doesn't mean it's not there.

Finding good comics amid all the junk is kinda like finding someone you really connect with amid all the people you don't. You don't stop looking for love after a few bad dates, and you shouldn't stop reading comics just because many of them are terrible.

It's a "baby and bathwater" thing. I see his point. He could have phrased it more generally, but i see where he's coming from.

I don't think anyone mistake Rice for a "smart fan". Let's be honest.

"...no wonder Ed Benes is a happy and consistently employed man."

Hey now! In Joe's defense, he made an off-hand comment that was thoughtless in retrospect, and then apologized.

He's not to blame for legions of upskirt shots and helium breasts and Supergirl-as-sex-object, and all the other ills of superhero culture.

Let's not lay all the ills of humanity on his head over one bad analogy...

I’d love to join the “fuck yeah” brigade here, but Jesus, was an analogy that explicitly compared the value of a woman’s directly to her aesthetic attractiveness really necessary? Could you honestly think of nothing better? That’s the kind of flagrantly sexist shit you’re supposed to stop writing in freshman year of college.

(Please don’t waste your time and mine posting any defensive garbage about how you meant no harm; comparing the quality of a woman to the quality of any object, be it a painting or a fine wine, is one of the most classic and offhandedly degrading forms of “highbrow” objectification. It’s not right, it’s not okay, you should be ashamed, I hope you don’t use these kinds of analogies in front of female students in your classes.)

Fair point.

And yeah, it's sorta telling that Joe got all that shit for "covertly being against DC and Marvel," but it took a whole day before anyone pointed this bit out.

I'd love to join the "fuck yeah" brigade here, but Jesus, was an analogy that explicitly compared the value of a woman's directly to her aesthetic attractiveness really necessary? Could you honestly think of nothing better? That's the kind of flagrantly sexist shit you're supposed to stop writing in freshman year of college.

(Please don't waste your time and mine posting any defensive garbage about how you meant no harm; comparing the quality of a woman to the quality of any object, be it a painting or a fine wine, is one of the most classic and offhandedly degrading forms of "highbrow" objectification. It's not right, it's not okay, you should be ashamed, I hope you don't use these kinds of analogies in front of female students in your classes.)

Jesus, if this is what passes for "smart fan" writing in comics, no wonder Ed Benes is a happy and consistently employed man.

After a lifetime seeing lots of people reading/watching stuff just to complain about how crappy it is later, I think they actually enjoy doing this. It's a disease that afflicts fans of any serial entertainment: comics, TV shows, book series. They find pleasure in nitpicking, complaining, mocking, thinking how better it'd be if they wrote the comic themselves, etc. It's an outlet for frustration, actually. And also makes them feel smart.

Me? When I don't like something, I just drop it. Actually, I even try not to think about it. Why dwell so much on stuff I dislike?

I see a lot of this in my workplace. Many times I see a group of people complaining about some reality show on TV. How the whole thing is fake, staged, the rules are manipulated, the candidates are shallow, dumb, shameless, how this TV show is the most horrible thing ever to be on TV. But they just keep watching it every night, so they can come to work next day to complain about it and show how smart they are for not liking this reality show tripe.

Comic book fans are the same way.

Come back tomorrow when I talk about how good Moon Knight is. It's sure to make your head explode!

Greg, if you get overly defensive again, Joe Rice gets a BINGO.

I don't see anything that uses "Jesus, what a piece of crap!" to be a positive post. My opinion only, I guess. That, and the accusation of "so many crappy comics", and "stop reading such crap". Again, just my opinion, but I don't come to Comics Should Be Good to get a hearty dose of Comics Should Be Good When Instead They Are Crap.

Your sensitivity levels are sky-high. Chill out.

Shit, dude.