http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/07/14/frank-cho-walks-off-wonder-woman-after-sixth-cover/

So a little blurb on Bleedingcool sparked some "outrage" and is yet another issue to divide comic fans and and Wonder Woman fans, as Frank Cho walks off of his Wonder Woman alternate cover gig. On various social media you can read responses to Cho's departure with comments attacking his art as sexist to the confused who don't understand what's up with the censorship from Rucka.

I, personally, love the art of Frank Cho and while I've had my reservations bout how large he draws Wonder Woman, the offending image that has sparked this controversy is nothing demeaning or even slightly disrespectful to Wonder Woman.

According to Cho, Rucka thought that this image was "vulgar". DC has sought to crop off Wonder Woman's rear for the final pint of the comics alternate cover.

At this time I can't find any remarks to this issue from Rucka, so only getting half of the story is rarely a call to action for me I usually like the facts but this at it's face value is just wrong in my perspective and I don't see anything worth editing here.

I'm with Cho (#ImWithCho) on this one, how about you?

I don't see anything wrong with that cover, Wonder Woman only recently got a skirt, she wore nothing but star-spangled briefs for 75 years. All the covers I've seen so far were, I think, tasteful. From where I'm standing, it looks like Rucka's got an axe to grind with Cho, as far as I'm aware he shouldn't have any editorial control over these

While I don't think WW is particularely sexualized in this image, I do think that Cho have shown sexismin in both his art and commentaries, so no i'm not with him. And instead of whining, maybe he should try to listen and learn.

Cho is an amazing artist.

But I respect him because he's anti-censorship and doesn't care if his art triggers

And nothing about the image spells sexuality. Just that Wonder Woman is attractive, as shown in her hips, which she should since she's blessed by Aphrodite.

Amazing how attractive fictional women can trigger people, despite the cover shows Wonder Woman as strong and competent.

Cho is awesome, put him on Powergirl if he wants it.

The sexualization comes from the way she's bent over. You could convey the same strength and poise without needing her butt hanging back for no reason.

@lannister: Learn from what? The image looks fine to me.

Learn from everything that have been said about the sexualization of women in comics (and society in general).

I have to say, I think this might be a little of an overreaction from Rucka. This is probably some of Cho's most tame work. My guess is Rucka just doesn't like Cho from his reputation.

She's not bent over. Do you even know what that means?

And butts hang back, which is why it's a butt.

Is this really the arguments that people are having against it?

Those cover are amazing I don't see anything vulgar about it.

@ximpossibrux: Not bent over? What are you blind or being purposely ignorant. Her left leg is at a near 90 degree angle. How is that not bending over?

I like the cover, but it's not hard to see why people wold find it objectionable.

Covers are fine to me but I'm not gonna take sides with this. Don't know the entire story and it's not like Cho was doing the interior art.

I will miss his variants but oh well. I'd be much more upset if Rucka was the one that left.

Ass is not the focus of the image. Her spine isn't bending. She is just running forward, her arms up, doing action stuff. Every human being would show that posture, doing that. Feel free to try it.

I have absolutely no problem with that picture.

I honestly dont see what the problem is with the 3rd variant cover... especially not when Diana has been wearing less for the past 40 years and been depicted in far more sexy poses than these over the years.

Like someone put up this healthy selection of covers from Rucka's own run on Wonder Woman years ago:

Plenty of Wonder-Butt and Cheetah Tits here :)

Seriously, I don't get the sudden de-sexualization of female heroines. Can we please go back to appreciating beauty, strength, and everything that's lovely about the female figure?

This is a lose for Rucka.

Sadly this has caused a loss of respect I used to have for Rucka. I called him out on his censoring others who criticised what he did and was instantly blocked. Goodbye Wonder Woman from my pull list as a result, if he's not willing to have a civil conversation, I don't see why I should support his work.

Amen to this.

Oh my God. I though only Marvel has problems. Now this?

Oh well, looks like Jenny Frison is replacing him on Wonder Woman while Cho was reassigned to Trinity so the silver lining is that he'll still be drawing Wonder Woman

it seems like cho over reacted to Rucka's opinion. Rucka has a right to not like it even if i think that its not that big of a deal outside of being an slightly awkward pose that Diana has been in for years

All the phony bandwagon jumping "outrage" directed at Cho from his lynch mob is ridiculous. He drew pictures that some people liked and some people didn't, the same as with any other artist. So what, it's not that serious.

When I heard that Frank Cho was going to be the artist for the alternate Wonder Woman covers I immediately thought "oh hell no, this offensive motherf*** is going to ruin the variants" but after seeing how he's going about it I really enjoyed how strong he was making Wonder Woman seem rather than a sex object and after seeing both covers I have to be with Cho on this one. It's not offensive in anyway and is actually pretty cool.

I think this particular image is pretty tame ... sure she's showing a little cheek, but realistically i don't see much there to call it vulgar ... it's a LONG way from the wonder-thong days and it's not like she's even in a ridiculous arched back pose, a little, but certainly not as silly as some other work out there!

@alsummers: You realize of course there are whole tumblr, twitter and facebook pages dedicated to sexy comic book art of women, men and even anthropomorphic animals? If someone wanted fap material there are much better sources than Frank Cho variant covers.

@alsummers: Alternatively, people have liked Chos' covers and DC did put him on the book as well. It's not even the main cover, and it's hardly anything to get in a tizzy over. And really if ANYONE was "wanking" to PG variant covers, that's pretty sad.

I'd wager people would remove the book from their list as a point to make with Rucka. Something along the lines of "take a chill pill."

@lannister: Realistically, he's probably had those lessons thrown in his face pretty often. I barely have a reason to care and even I get the gist of it.

He probably just disagrees. I tend to find people look for things to be offended about, hence the creation of the term "micro aggression." Cho has a vision that isn't to the taste of manyp, but I like his work on Wonder Woman. Trust mep, I'm sure if he actually wanted to offend someone that wouldn't be a tough task for him.

@Shintakie: At most, she's leaning in. Not even bending.

I'm doing the same. What gets me is it's an alt cover not even the main one. There is no reason why he should stick his nose in this. I didn't lose respect for him over this because I didn't have much to begin with as I've noticed his history on subjects like this for awhile. So my respect slipped away before that. What makes it worse is there isn't anything wrong with these covers. The one shown on this thread is the worst one and that wasn't even that bad. It's not even worse then the ones in the book from what I hear. WW's had to deal with far worse before. The real issue is Cho's art he does on his free time. Which makes the whole thing so much worse. I'll read a friends issues but no way I'm buying it while he's on the book.

That's totally my beef as well, it's not even a main cover. It can be ignored or avoided and it won't even sell as much as the main cover. That's the sad thing about Rucka's pettiness, he got an artist fired who isn't working on the main story. It wasn't Sharp or Scott, and Cho didn't do anything wrong. He just had beliefs about a certain Spider-Woman cover and social justice that Rucka didn't agree with. And drew Wonder Woman in a way Rucka found somehow offensive. I'm willing to bet Rucka had a personal agenda problem with Cho as well as a problem with the way he drew Wonder Woman.

@dernman: @lvenger:Y'all are overreacting too, and that's the same thing you're blaming Rucka for. Hypocritical much? Besides that Cho quit, nobody got him fired.

@scorpio_cassadine: Nope not overreacting in the least. Rucka's constant agendas and personal beliefs were what caused tension and friction with them in the DC office. Cho said he left solely because of Rucka's attitude towards him, the DC office were fine. Rucka was using his leverage to force Cho out same as the conditions he set up when he took on Wonder Woman again. Rucka was responsible for the same toxic environment he himself suffered from in DC before the New 52 reboot, that's the true hypocrisy being exhibited.

This entire issue is ridiculous (this is a variant cover for the second issue of Wonder Woman, for crying out loud. And the so-called "censorship" was a minor crop), and Cho's horribly unprofessional response only makes it worse. Fully support Rucka on this (and honestly, as a woman, I really don't mind that crop).

@outside_85 said:

I honestly dont see what the problem is with the 3rd variant cover... especially not when Diana has been wearing less for the past 40 years and been depicted in far more sexy poses than these over the years.

Like someone put up this healthy selection of covers from Rucka's own run on Wonder Woman years ago:

Plenty of Wonder-Butt and Cheetah Tits here :)

Absolutely this. My first thoughts as well. Plenty of T and A here and that 218 cover seems a little sexualized to me. I did live that artists work though. Like oil paintings.

I've always loved Cho's work. On the plus side, this frees him up to get back to Liberty Meadows (ahem ahem!)

@goonage: I agree. Sad to see people willing to give up on the comic because of something like this.

Lets not forget also. We're the consumer. We are not obligated to buy anything. Rucka is in an entirely different spectrum then us. When I become a writer and use my position to make it hard on someone from doing their job just because they have opinions outside the job I don't agree with then come talk to me.

Edit: Besides, not that it matter but it's not like me not buying the book will have any affect beyond me unlike Rucka's influence.

@dernman: It kinda does. It's been a long time since we've had a quality Wonder Woman book to talk about and now people are dropping it because Frank Cho and Greg Rucka are pitching fits? DC isn't going to see the drop in sales being because of this fight, and more the quality. You are essentially saying, "no we don't want quality Wonder Woman written by Greg Rucka" to DC, not "he needs to be reigned in." They could potentially cancel a good run. I'm hoping you all are boycotting Van Sciever, Alex Ross, Mark Waid and all the other known divas in the comics industry because I've never heard anyone drop any of their books for being jerks before.

@scorpio_cassadine You're right they are overreacting. Even if they don't think they are, they are because they are passing judgement over hearing one side of the story. This is really only controversy because Frank Cho made it as such. This stuff happens all the time behind closed doors but most professionals know not to air dirty laundry. I guarantee you if Frank Cho didn't open his mouth, we wouldn't even know or care about what happened beyond "creative differences"....which again HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

Basically all I'm seeing in this thread is people would rather have Frank Cho's bland variants over a good quality Wonder Woman book---and that's sadder than this whole situation.

@alsummers: It kinda does. It's been a long time since we've had a quality Wonder Woman book to talk about and now people are dropping it because Frank Cho and Greg Rucka are pitching fits? DC isn't going to see the drop in sales being because of this fight, and more the quality. You are essentially saying, "no we don't want quality Wonder Woman written by Greg Rucka" to DC, not "he needs to be reigned in." They could potentially cancel a good run. I'm hoping you all are boycotting Van Sciever, Alex Ross, Mark Waid and all the other known divas in the comics industry because I've never heard anyone drop any of their books for being jerks before.

Not really. If I was going out saying other people should also not buy and people actually listened to me then you might have an argument but I'm not and they won't so you don't.

Regardless actions like Rucka has taken happen all to often and should be addressed. It creates an environment that accepts certain behavior for the whole industry. Sorry but that's a bigger problem than Wonder Woman's sales that wont be affected by me not buying. You're essentially saying bad unethical practices in the comic business is less important than WW sales.

If you haven't heard people dropping books because of people they don't like then you haven't been listening. That shit happens all the time. THere was a writer not long ago got booted off a Superman book for his beliefs because people were advocating group boycott. As I said I'm not asking anyone to follow my example nor would I. I'm against advocating group boycots. This is my individual choice. If they chose to interfere with someone because they didn't agree with outside opinion then yeah I wouldn't want to buy from them either. Just being a diva isn't enough.

Also though it wasn't on paper Cho stated that DC promised him full control of his art which is another reason why he left. Now you can blame Cho for not getting it in writing but the promise was still there.

I'm not going to deny being sad about dropping Wonder Woman but Rucka refuses to talk to those asking him why he did it or who disagree with him and instantly blocks them. What Dernman said is a salient point relating to this situation. I'll just give my money to another DC comic and writer/artist who won't shove their political or personal beliefs into their work. I'm already subscribed to Superman and Titans so DC are still getting my money.

@dernman: Then why not "boycott" the entire Rebirth issues, because I guarantee this happens all the goddamn time. If your issue is with the practice then put your money where your mouth is. It just sounds like you're picking on Rucka because Frank Cho likes to air dirty laundry. You cannot site personal politics because he hasn't been secretive about them so you taking offense to them now is awfully convenient. And honestly, Rucka had complete editorial control over the book as per his contract with what DC agreed with. DC also told Cho he had complete creative control. So there's some obvious miscommunication in the middle. Really I don't see how anyone's right or wrong in this. Cho's artwork is pretty tame, but his response is far from professional.

It seems we are giving someone too much benefit of the doubt without hearing from either DC or Rucka. Gail Simone said it best "We don't know the full story, and therefore we cannot pass judgement." She's right, not matter how much you refuse to acknowledge that Rucka also has a side.

You've heard one side of the story and you can't force out someone who quits.

+1 I swear I didn't read this before my last post. lol

Then why not "boycott" the entire Rebirth issues, because I guarantee this happens all the goddamn time.

Oh and how would I or you prove when that happens? I'm not going to cut out comics with no proof positive incidents. I'm just going to stupidly cut it out with nothing to go on? That's just dumb. Are you even being serious at this point? Should I even bother reading the rest after something so nonsensical?

And for the record yes I do buy a lot less comics today especially marvel who thinks it's a good business to piss on their fans, make them upset both on social media and in story because in their own words controversy makes money. hey as long as a character you like sells right? That apparently justifies anything.

I'll answer for him. It's hard to do when that person blocks you from from social media when you ask him for his side as he did to lvenger. Par for the course for those with his leanings.

Not to mention when another writer called him out on not saying his side he said some copout about having no right to his accessibility.

Basically you all are petty. Okay. For people who complain so much about "outrage" culture, you sure are putting your foot down over this "outrage."

Another silly post. I'm not outraged I'm not even surprised. Like i said his opinions never stopping me from buying his books in the past nor are they now. I don't like what he did or the affect things like that have on the industry and I'm not supporting it. It would be dumb if I stayed and kept on supporting things like that. It's even dumber to think I should.

For fracks sake if he even had a point about the art Cho did for WW then I wouldn't stop buying but he didn't. THere was nothing wrong with the art. THis was about making it hard for Cho over things outside of the job Cho was hired to do.

The salt Frank Cho causes among the outrage police is always welcome. lmao calling others outragists for dropping a book because the author is a prick... You hypocrites would hang Cho from a tree if you could get away with it just because the dude draws cheesecake.

@inquisitor_lavellan said:

The salt Frank Cho causes among the outrage police is always welcome. lmao calling others outragists for dropping a book because the author is a prick... You hypocrites would hang Cho from a tree if you could get away with it just because the dude draws cheesecake.

IKR and these are usually the same people who call for or take part in campaign and group boycotts over every little. No it's suddenly wrong when I make a personal decision only for me even though I don't involve others nor make other feel bad for not going along.

smdh

@dernman said:

@inquisitor_lavellan said:

The salt Frank Cho causes among the outrage police is always welcome. lmao calling others outragists for dropping a book because the author is a prick... You hypocrites would hang Cho from a tree if you could get away with it just because the dude draws cheesecake.

IKR and these are usually the same people who call for or take part in campaign and group boycotts over every little. No it's suddenly wrong when I make a personal decision only for me even though I don't involve others nor make other feel bad for not going along.

smdh

Lets face it, if Cho was allowed to remain they would have boycotted the comic. They are glad that he is gone and want to put down people that disagree with it, projecting as if they are the ones thin-skinned.

@inquisitor_lavellan said:

@dernman said:

@inquisitor_lavellan said:

The salt Frank Cho causes among the outrage police is always welcome. lmao calling others outragists for dropping a book because the author is a prick... You hypocrites would hang Cho from a tree if you could get away with it just because the dude draws cheesecake.

IKR and these are usually the same people who call for or take part in campaign and group boycotts over every little.

Lets face it, if Cho was allowed to remain they would have boycotted the comic. They are glad that he is gone and want to put out people that disagree with it.

Which is funny because people did boycott it. Where were they when Cho was announced as the artist and people freaked out calling him all types of names? Making things up and trashing him as a human being.