BRAAAAAINS...

Amusingly yesterday's post was my 666th post. Which means that today is the perfect time to talk about the Mary Jane-zombie cover!

I have to say first, that I'm not a huge fan of the Marvel Zombie concept. It was funny at first, but I think it's gotten a bit old.

That said, honestly, I think the cover is hilarious.

I understand the arguments about sexualized violence, but in this case, we're not so much looking at a sexualized corpse as we are looking at a sexy woman who happens to be dead. Zombies are animate. They move. They act. They eat brains. There's a level of agency that turns this from being objectivized violence to being a sexy-monster pic.

And yes, it is completely implausible that the zombie's eye, lips and breasts would look like that. But...that's part of the joke.

And the pose is cute and not terribly out of character. :-) I've seen the cover it's loosely based after, but honestly, I think it's different enough in art style and age-portrayal that it works for me. It reminds me of the cover, sure, but it's not the same. (And I doubt I'd have even noticed the similarities if more observant folk hadn't pointed it out.)

Besides, kids understand zombies. (Tentacle rape, not so much.) But zombies? I can't see the average 8-10 year old being particularly affected by this cover. Parents would probably shy away from it, admittedly, but kids are sturdier than we tend to think.

I sympathize with the folks who see it as symptomatic of a problematic trend, but honestly for me, I think sometimes a zombie is simply a zombie.

That said, can we please let the joke rest soon? It's AWFULLY tired by now...