glad you liked the tiny celestial we created.

Just my two cents.

As for why are a large number of women buying it…newsflash…women like porn just as much as men do.

Hahahahahahaaahhahaha, good one....wait, what? You're serious? Ummm...okay.

To address your 'counterpoints'...you're making a 1 for 1 comparison on Batman and Tarot's use of sexuality that doesn't apply because both are targeted to the same audience- males. Of course Batman isn't going to be used in the same fashion. A more apt comparison would be between Tarot and Yaoi manga or your Slash Fiction example. The men portrayed in those stories are about as realistic as Tarot is as a woman, and everybit as sexualized and fetishized. My referencing of Batman had nothing to do with the sex/sexuality but to do with the character on display. Batman/Bruce Wayne is a millionaire playboy who is also a master intellect, world class martial artist, and has a flawless physique. I don't know too many men who fit that description in real life. Do you? That's where the example of Batman as an idealized role model came from.

I also never said anything about 12 year old girls reading Tarot nor do I expect/want them to so that just seems silly of you to even go there and *NEWSFLASH* I know women like porn (or "porm" as you call it) because I watch it with my girlfriend and she likes it even more than I do.

I'm aware of slash fiction and while it doesn't make me uncomfortable, I think of it in probably the same way you think of Tarot. But if you enjoy stories of Batman combing Wolverine's backhair while naked or something, you enjoy. I'll go back to my hot redhead witches...

Really? That's the argument you're going to go with? Just a question, how often is Batman naked or used as a sex toy in a Batman comic? Just how many 12 year old girls do you think are reading Tarot? I hope now you've seen the ridiculousness of that argument.

As for why are a large number of women buying it...newsflash...women like porn just as much as men do. That doesn't make it empowering, though. Honestly, the most empowering form of porm in existence is probably slash fanfiction writing where women can get together and objectify men's bodies similarly to the way that men do women's bodies.

Of course, slash makes most men uncomfortable.

Tony Daniel has come a long way. Is he the best artist around now? Not quite, but he is a consistent, solid story teller. Let's just be glad his art doesn't look anything like his X-Force days

You’re certainly correct that “female empowerment” is an extremely subjective thing. If women gain empowerment from Tarot, that’s fine with me. I get a bit depressed that these days, in all media, “female empowerment” has to do with women objectifying themselves before men can. It’s just my opinion, I know, but that saddens me.

I was the same with those Charlie's Angels films.
Now I only saw a part of the first one, but for a film being advertised as 'girl power' all I saw was a lot of girls in tight revealing clothes having a camera linger on their breasts and buttocks.
If that's what 'girl power' is cool (actually I think that's sad, but if they're happy doing that, I'm happy to watch it), but I couldn't see any difference between that and Corman exploitation flicks, or even from the tamer Russ Myer films.

Actually, that was the only storyline of Casey's brief run that I thought actually worked.

Only the first arc was set mostly in the past, and at the end of it Xavier decided he's not the same person hewas before, so while the past continues to inform his story, he's searching for a new direction.
We're five issues in now and it's gotten stronger with each step. The second issue was better than the first, and the third (210) was the first truly wonderful one. With 211 I got the point where I was enjoying it even more than I was before the title-change.

That's my two cents worth, Greg. Pick up 211 & 212, parts one and two of the present arc -- or even just the first one if you're skeptical -- and give it another shot.