Sex Scenes In Comics

No I meant that Superman/Wonder Woman are now an Official Couple.

Yeah, Wonder Woman and Superman have never canonically been together (outside of love potion or mind control) until now, at least to my knowledge. There was the ridiculously forced kiss that John Byrne foisted on them for Action Comics # 600; Wonder Woman's reaction might possibly be considered in character, as she was still new to "Patriarch's World" and possibly didn't know the customs (she was surprised and visibly uncomfortable, rather than, you know, slapping him), but Superman's spontaneously sucking the face of a woman he's just met made absolutely no sense, and what's more, Byrne knew it, because he immediately has Superman break it off, look embarrassed, and apologize. They both had reasonable reactions to an action that made no sense outside of John Byrne trying to justify his cover image.

Sorry...kinda went on a rant there...

I'm not exactly sure what to think about Superman and Wonder Woman becoming an Official Couple. On one hand, they had some interesting interactions together when they were firmly in friend zone. On the other hand, WW is probably the only woman on earth SM could have sex with without killing her. WW does have magic on her side, and SM is vulnerable to magic. I wonder if they'll engage in a little bondage.

Really, the only way SM could have sex without killing the other person would be to do it in a room that has power-nullifying kryptonite in it. And if she gets pregnant, I'm sure she'll be fine as long as she sticks to areas with the same kryptonite in them!

Screw Superman/Wonder Woman or Batman/Wonder Woman, Sup/Bat is where it's at. Only the goddamn Batman can have sex with the Man of Steel and not get pregnant.

Those two had far more chemistry when they hugged at the end of Savage Time episode in JLU than either of them had with Wonder Woman. A Sup/WW or Bat/WW series would never last more than 75+ issues and 5 Annuals the way that Sup/Bat did. Their bond is what keeps the universe going as was revealed during Infinite Crisis when Earth 2 Superman met Pre-New 52 Batman.

Great logic, or greatest logic?

Oooh, that's a good one!

There's a little something that's occurred to me: have Comic Books ever shown sex scenes between two men or two women? I don't think they have.

I assume you mean mainstream superhero comics from one of the big two? I think the answer might actually be "yes." I think DC's done it, with Renee Montoya. I don't actually read DC, but it seems to me I remember seeing something that made it very clear she was about to have sex with another woman. And there's been panels showing women in bed with each other, with the clear implication that they did the bow-chicka-wow-wow.

For two men, I'm not sure.

In Marvel, Daken's comic was pretty explicit about the fact that Daken was a male-leaning bi, and did show him in bed with another man at least once.

I forgot about that.

Also, I think Northstar's been shown in bed with Kyle in Astonishing X-Men.

There was the infamous moment when Buffy wound up in bed with another Slayer during Season 8. But that was more of a case of Lesbian Until Graduation.

It also wasn't from one of the Big Two, though Buffy's a franchise all her own, so it might still fit TAG's question, which was a little vague.

In any event, yes, comics have shown romantic scenes between two guys or two girls.

When did TAG say he wanted answers from the Big Two? I thought it was all comics in general.

Yeah, I was referring to Comic Books in general. Still, I'm relieved to hear about sex scenes between members of the same gender being featured in CB. Why? Because it means that society is marching forward in that area!

I like the idea of Batman and Catwoman having sex. From what I've heard, Catwoman was introduced because they needed a woman to prove that Batman isn't sterile. They've always had an on-again, off-again relationship, and I would have been surprised if sex didn't come into it somehow!

Sex in comics is a dodgy issue on account of the fact that the primary target audience for comics is kids. It's a difficult balancing act to remain accessible to children while also being entertaining and interesting for the older audience that they've picked up.

To me, there isn't a static "Yes, this should be in all comics" or "No, it is evil and should be shunned" answer. I mean, nobody wants to see a Power Pack sex scene, right? But that doesn't mean that Wolverine should abstain, either.

My opinion on the matter depends, on one hand, on how mature the story is, and I don't mean "FOR MATURE AUDIENCES", I mean the themes of the story. I'm willing to accept more mature story elements in a story that feels like it's intended for more mature audiences.

But obviously, not every story is going to be a masterpiece of interesting themes and mature storytelling. Sometimes, especially in comics, people just want to see things blow up and bad guys get punched in the face. In that regard, it really depends on the level of violence, for me. My biggest gripe, ultimately, is with the notion that it's okay for children to see a woman's face ripped off, but not her boobs.

Not really. Comics started as an adult media. The Comics Code basically pigeonholed it into a kids medium. But even today, it's more popular with teens to young adults. What you're saying about the difficult balancing act is true, but kids are hardly comics' target audience.

As for the rest of your post, I agree mostly with what you said. It does depend on context. One thing I'm personally hoping for, though, is for media to stop treating sex and sexuality as some sort of magical mystery that Only the Chosen May Wield. An example would be any Lawful Good character whose name isn't She Hulk: they're always portrayed as sexually awkward and Adorkable. Take Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for example. He's Incorruptible Pure Pureness, so of course he's an awkward virgin.

"Comics started as an adult media."

Not really, at least in the US. Comics were originally produced pretty much exclusively with kids in mind (hard to believe, I know, with titles like Crime Does Not Pay, but that was, in fact, aimed squarely at kids). They were branching out into more mature themes and storytelling and whatnot when the Comics Code hit them in the early 50's.

From Wikipedia:

Ahh, ok. Mainstream comics, I must amend myself, were originally aimed squarely at kids, at least in the US. I have to think, though, that mainstream comics were all that were effected by the Comics Code; Tijuana Bibles were produced and distributed illegally, and so waved their naughty parts in the general direction of review boards. And I think that the topic here of "Sex Scenes in Comics" must refer to mainstream comics. Otherwise it's not really an issue, because sex has always been a staple of underground comics. If you were discussing sex scenes in movies, it really wouldn't be very illuminating to bring up porn.

If you want to get really technical, the first thing that looked like a comic book to be produced in the US was "The Adventures of Mr.Tom Plump" in the 1850's, and it WAS aimed at kids.

And Wikipedia is dead wrong if it thinks Action # 1 was the first American comic book. That is traditionally recognized to be Dell's Famous Funnies in 1929, which reprinted newspaper strips. It wasn't even the first comic from National Periodical Publications (DC) — that was New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine in 1935, the first (mainstream anyway) American comic to publish all-original material.

edited 18th Oct '12 10:11:56 PM by Robbery