Rob Liefeld is bringing back Avengelyne this October, and the version he’s using to launch it at San Diego Comic-Con this week says something about where comics marketing has landed in 2026.
Take an ‘82-‘88 Avengers, Champions, FF, or X-Men story above some gimmicky, corporatey cover. Not to mention the solo heroes of the era, who may have had some more compelling storylines.
What's wrong with some NSFW comics? Not every book has to be SFW, family-friendly, and snowflake friendly.
You say 'just be normal' while rejecting sexy variants the same way blue-haired SJWs try to cancel anything sexualized. Avengelyne has literally always been a provocative, bad-girl character since the '90s this isn't new.
Nobody's forcing the polybagged cover on you. Skip it and buy the regular one. Let the market have variety instead of demanding everything cater to your personal 'normal.' Complaining about cheesecake while hating the woke scolds just makes you sound like one
But I actually like cheesecake. Cheesecake is great. You're grossly misrepresenting my point because cheesecake IS the middle ground I was arguing for.
I challenge you to present an NSFW comic that is comic first, NSFW second. They don't exist any more than plotting exists in pornography. Once you cross that threshold, NSFW becomes the entire point.
That's not scolding, that's pattern recognition.
Pornographic comics are welcome to exist, but again, my point was arguing for something in the middle.
And don't whinge at me about my oppressive "normal", what I was describing was perfectly normal for decades and you know that. Fun, passably written, not up its own rectum with messages, not navel gazing on the meaning of everything, no deconstructing anything, and heroic art, with or without cheesecake. What's wrong with calling that "normal?"
You’re moving the goalposts. You started by rejecting NSFW covers and polybags on principle, now you’re claiming cheesecake is the pure middle ground while anything more is “porn with no plot.”
Avengelyne was always comic-first with heavy sexualization baked in same as classic Vampirella, Lady Death, Shi, and a pile of Image-era books. Story existed. Characters existed. The cheesecake and occasional nudity were part of the package, not the sole reason the book existed. Liefeld putting an NSFW label and polybag on a variant doesn’t magically turn the entire series into pure porn any more than a bikini cover turned every 90s book into pure softcore.
You called for “normal,” rejected NSFW and polybagged covers, said once something crosses into NSFW it becomes the entire point, and equated it to porn with no plot. That’s the position I responded to.
Bad girl comics have had NSFW content since the ’90s the covers, the artwork, and often the stories themselves. Avengelyne, Vampirella, Lady Death and the rest always contained NSFW elements. That didn’t turn them into hentai.
If that’s not what you meant, then say what you do mean specifically. What is the actual middle ground you’re defending, and where exactly does an NSFW Avengelyne variant stop being acceptable to you?
TF are you on about? Those same 'nose rings freaks' are the ones who’ve spent years trying to censor, cancel, and redesign sexualized female characters because they hate 'cheesecake' and the male gaze.
You’re doing the exact same thing right now freaking out over a sexy female character
What's LGBT about having boobs and butt on the covers?
Nothing about this is LGBTQ.
Avengelyne is classic 90s heterosexual cheesecake big tits, revealing outfit, pure male fantasy bad girl. That’s the exact type of sexualized female character the blue-haired crowd has spent years calling “problematic” and trying to cancel.
"None of this is really about Liefeld specifically." - and I was supporting that idea.
I don't know why you have a bug up your ass about this being specifically aimed at your boy; I was also making the broader general point that comics have lately been about fetishization.
At this point, trying to explain anything to you is fruitless. Rant on: you are dismissed.
You're the one forcing the LGBTQ angle into this. The article is complaining about comics like Avengelyne classic cheesecake with boobs, butts, and sexualized female characters aimed at a heterosexual male audience, not LGBTQ kink. If you want to criticize LGBTQ fetish content, criticize that instead of lumping it together with something completely different.
What you're saying about the market is definitely true.
Still, with all the romantasy pushing traditional male genres out of publishing I'm glad there's still room out there for men to enjoy a little smut too.
Peak irony An 'anti-woke' guy sounding exactly like the feminist SJWs he hates.
For years, the woke crowd has screamed about 'male gaze,' objectification, and how hypersexualized female characters are 'problematic' and need to be toned down for the greater good. Now here you are, clutching pearls over an NSFW variant cover and polybag like it's the fall of civilization because a 30-year veteran drew a sexy Avengelyne the way she's always been drawn.
The market is giving people what they actually want (the cheesecake from the 90s era) and suddenly you're doing the exact same scolding routine 'This is bad for the industry,' 'creators shouldn't do this,' 'think of the broader shift!'
Newsflash adults buying comics can handle sex appeal without needing lectures from either side. If the 'reliable lever' works, it's because a big chunk of the audience prefers it over yet another preachy, de-sexualized flop. Let creators create and buyers vote with their wallets instead of playing purity police
Can't we just PLEASE be normal?
Why does it have to be all of one thing or all of another?
I don't want NSFW comics anymore than I want dumpy, blue-haired femlets lecturing me on "hetero-normativity."
And EEEEFFFF poly-bagged blind covers. F them from orbit.
The only rational response
I’m right there with you. I’ll
Take an ‘82-‘88 Avengers, Champions, FF, or X-Men story above some gimmicky, corporatey cover. Not to mention the solo heroes of the era, who may have had some more compelling storylines.
What's wrong with some NSFW comics? Not every book has to be SFW, family-friendly, and snowflake friendly.
You say 'just be normal' while rejecting sexy variants the same way blue-haired SJWs try to cancel anything sexualized. Avengelyne has literally always been a provocative, bad-girl character since the '90s this isn't new.
Nobody's forcing the polybagged cover on you. Skip it and buy the regular one. Let the market have variety instead of demanding everything cater to your personal 'normal.' Complaining about cheesecake while hating the woke scolds just makes you sound like one
But I actually like cheesecake. Cheesecake is great. You're grossly misrepresenting my point because cheesecake IS the middle ground I was arguing for.
I challenge you to present an NSFW comic that is comic first, NSFW second. They don't exist any more than plotting exists in pornography. Once you cross that threshold, NSFW becomes the entire point.
That's not scolding, that's pattern recognition.
Pornographic comics are welcome to exist, but again, my point was arguing for something in the middle.
And don't whinge at me about my oppressive "normal", what I was describing was perfectly normal for decades and you know that. Fun, passably written, not up its own rectum with messages, not navel gazing on the meaning of everything, no deconstructing anything, and heroic art, with or without cheesecake. What's wrong with calling that "normal?"
You’re moving the goalposts. You started by rejecting NSFW covers and polybags on principle, now you’re claiming cheesecake is the pure middle ground while anything more is “porn with no plot.”
Avengelyne was always comic-first with heavy sexualization baked in same as classic Vampirella, Lady Death, Shi, and a pile of Image-era books. Story existed. Characters existed. The cheesecake and occasional nudity were part of the package, not the sole reason the book existed. Liefeld putting an NSFW label and polybag on a variant doesn’t magically turn the entire series into pure porn any more than a bikini cover turned every 90s book into pure softcore.
I moved nothing.
You assumed my meaning and my intent. You assumed incorrectly.
You called for “normal,” rejected NSFW and polybagged covers, said once something crosses into NSFW it becomes the entire point, and equated it to porn with no plot. That’s the position I responded to.
Bad girl comics have had NSFW content since the ’90s the covers, the artwork, and often the stories themselves. Avengelyne, Vampirella, Lady Death and the rest always contained NSFW elements. That didn’t turn them into hentai.
If that’s not what you meant, then say what you do mean specifically. What is the actual middle ground you’re defending, and where exactly does an NSFW Avengelyne variant stop being acceptable to you?
Mammaries move magazines.
What? Like paws, or hands with opposable thumbs? That poses a very interesting mental image I suppose.
Porn & perversity are so pervasive in pagan culture... 100% infiltration. Pathetic.
These nose rings freaks just can't quit with their weird sex fetish fascinations.
And people revile the nazis for burning books that were promoting this kind of crap to children...
TF are you on about? Those same 'nose rings freaks' are the ones who’ve spent years trying to censor, cancel, and redesign sexualized female characters because they hate 'cheesecake' and the male gaze.
You’re doing the exact same thing right now freaking out over a sexy female character
I have no problem with appreciating artful portrayals of female beauty.
You missed the part where I pinpointed their portrayals of weird sexual fetishes (LGBTQHDLGTV).
What's LGBT about having boobs and butt on the covers?
Nothing about this is LGBTQ.
Avengelyne is classic 90s heterosexual cheesecake big tits, revealing outfit, pure male fantasy bad girl. That’s the exact type of sexualized female character the blue-haired crowd has spent years calling “problematic” and trying to cancel.
"None of this is really about Liefeld specifically." - and I was supporting that idea.
I don't know why you have a bug up your ass about this being specifically aimed at your boy; I was also making the broader general point that comics have lately been about fetishization.
At this point, trying to explain anything to you is fruitless. Rant on: you are dismissed.
You're the one forcing the LGBTQ angle into this. The article is complaining about comics like Avengelyne classic cheesecake with boobs, butts, and sexualized female characters aimed at a heterosexual male audience, not LGBTQ kink. If you want to criticize LGBTQ fetish content, criticize that instead of lumping it together with something completely different.
I think mainstream comics are dead.
What you're saying about the market is definitely true.
Still, with all the romantasy pushing traditional male genres out of publishing I'm glad there's still room out there for men to enjoy a little smut too.
Peak irony An 'anti-woke' guy sounding exactly like the feminist SJWs he hates.
For years, the woke crowd has screamed about 'male gaze,' objectification, and how hypersexualized female characters are 'problematic' and need to be toned down for the greater good. Now here you are, clutching pearls over an NSFW variant cover and polybag like it's the fall of civilization because a 30-year veteran drew a sexy Avengelyne the way she's always been drawn.
The market is giving people what they actually want (the cheesecake from the 90s era) and suddenly you're doing the exact same scolding routine 'This is bad for the industry,' 'creators shouldn't do this,' 'think of the broader shift!'
Newsflash adults buying comics can handle sex appeal without needing lectures from either side. If the 'reliable lever' works, it's because a big chunk of the audience prefers it over yet another preachy, de-sexualized flop. Let creators create and buyers vote with their wallets instead of playing purity police
He still may be the worst artist of all time.