I love comic books. I have ever since I was 11, when Marvel sent all of their heroes off on a secret war that, as I remember, involved them beating each other up for 12 issues. And I’m the dude you see on the train reading a comic, when you stifle the urge to tell me to grow up. I think comics can and should be about anything and for everyone, regardless of age, creed, or gender. But seeing Project Runway‘s Tim Gunn on the cover of a Marvel comic, posing with Iron Man…I don’t know.
Part of me thinks it’s cool that Marvel is aggressively seeing to woo female readers with a book like August’s Models Inc., which’ll team up some female supporting characters, like Spidey’s gal pal Mary Jane Watson, to solve a murder committed during New York Fashion Week. And in that sense, Tim Gunn is a perfectly valid choice for the cover. (I reserve the right to judge what it’ll be like when Gunn uses Iron Man’s suit to actually fight crime.) And given that President Obama’s appearance in a Spider-Man book resulted in record sales, it’s somewhat of a no-brainer to try.
But this is all starting to remind me of the gimmick comics of the ’70s, when Superman would fight Muhammad Ali or meet the Beatles. Too much of this sort of thing eventually cheapens the characters, especially when they start going on adventures with the Harlem Globetrotters. If the Tim Gunn appearance works, and new readers start picking up comics, then huzzah. But if not, it’s a slippery slope.
What about you? Is Tim Gunn and comics like chocolate and peanut butter or arsenic and old lace?
If the Comix industry want to woo the female demographic, perhaps writting strong female charecters with great plots lines and story arcs is the way to go (think Buffy) This endeavor sounds a little gimmicky – but the camp potential is through the roof.
I like comics, I’m a guy, and this sounds hilarious. I’d love to read it.
I’m faintly insulted, as a woman, that the only way they think they can attract us is by setting an issue at a fashion show. Personally, I am enlessly put off from comics by the fact that the female heroes always have enormous hair and run around fighting crime in a bra and a belt for a skirt. The number of times I’ve been told about an empowered female hero and then been shown her in a suit that would make Pamela Anderson blush. Even when I want to engage with the character, I find this extremely alienating.
I don’t think he belongs with Iron Man. It sucks. http://cutegirlsdating.com
Tim Gunn? How is he relvant to be in comic books? Marvel please just stick to what you are good at thanks.
Kent
oneeyedblog.net
because women who don’t like fashion and would prefer female superheros that do more than wear skimpy outfits in poorly written stories don’t matter. Tim Gunn is not the answer to wooing most women to Marvel.
Arsenic & Old Lace — oh, the Runaways! What has become of them anyway?
Marvel tries to keep current with its weird Marvel-time where everything is always contemporary to what’s going on and yet very little time passes in the story. It’s weird, but on the other hand there’s DC’s multiverse, which entailed one too many Crises for comfort.
Here is what will happen is this Tim Gunn appearance is successful: The Real Housewives of New York visit Avengers mansion for a fund-raiser; Dr. Doom teams up with Heidi and Spencer Pratt for a relaunch of Marvel Supervillian Team-Up and a special issue of Black Panther where Ka-Zar, Kraven the Hunter and the Black Panther compete on “Survivor.”
Hunh… I’m a female comics reader (though not often of the Big Two), and a Project Runway fan that follows a couple PR blogs, but I hadn’t heard of this until Tim Gunn was asked about it on the Daily Show. Otherwise, I might’ve seen it on my next comics run… If Marvel is trying to interest fans of the show (and by the readership of PR blogs, this includes a large number of gay men as well as women) who aren’t already reading comics, I’m not sure where they’re advertising.
Also, heck yes I’d… flip through it at the comic store to see if it’s any good and then maybe buy it. Gunn comes off on PR and in interviews as having an almost archetypal personality (well-groomed, articulate, and often spot-on mentor) that could possibly fit well in a world that seems full of character archetypes. More interesting than other PR people, at least (well, Michael Kors would be hilarious, but that’s besides the point).
As mentioned, it’s gimmicky, but it looks fun, which is the least I ask out of my comics.
I’m a very casual reader of comics, rarely buying but always checking them out for things that catch my attention. This works for me on so many levels! I think Tim is fabulous (and from all accounts, he is fabulous in person) and I love Iron Man. I don’t feel like it’s necessarily a ploy to get female readers–I just think it’s a fun bit of pop culture. The Stephen Colbert-as-President and President Obama comics were fun and very, well, meta. I like stuff like that. I’m looking forward to it!
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