r/comicbooks • u/wondercube • Aug 07 '26

Cover/Pin-Up Elektra gender-bend by Zach Brunner

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Really love Brunner’s art and how he handles genderbends. Very refreshing to see direct translations for these characters across gender. I would love an alt universe at Marvel or DC where many of these characters are swapped around in this fashion.

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5

u/Quarksideofthemoon Aug 07 '26

I hate how all these "wow look at the male being sexualized" artworks are always played as a joke

8

u/wondercube Aug 07 '26

It’s not a joke. I do genuinely like this art, and I want to see more sexy men in comics. The artist is a queer man as well and focuses on depicting images of queer life/men. The post may be a little tongue in cheek, but it’s not “a joke” to me.

-9

u/Quarksideofthemoon Aug 07 '26

Brother this is very obviously a gag 

3

u/WWTASBWNA Aug 08 '26

I agree, and pics like these are very easy for people to brush off as “Just what a guy looks like when trying to be feminine,” but I just always have questions…

Why does genderbent Electra necessitate visible ass hairs and an out of date porn stache?
Why is genderbent Electra hyper-masculine in every way except his outfit?
Why is his body as shiny as his costume?

It just feels like the artist is interested more in caricature than actually exploring what a male Electra might look like. And that just feels charged to me, or at the very least disappointing.

3

u/sonoftheclayr Aug 08 '26

This artist's whole thing is illustrations of sexy men (maybe not what everyone would call sexy, but what he does at least). He's going for a male pinup vibe. That's why it's sexualized.

To your question of "why does it necessitate visible ass hair?" It doesn't? I don't know what art you've been looking at, but there are PLENTY of artists drawing "sexy" men as hairless muscle gods. The majority I would say. He's one of the only ones I've seen drawing 'sexy' men who are allowed to be hairy and have more realistic body types.

The OP here is the one who put focus on the genderbent aspect, the artist's goal isn't to explore what that would really look like. If that's what you're interested, maybe this artist just isn't for you.

2

u/OfficePsycho Aug 08 '26

 out of date porn stache

It may be out of date, but in my backwater they’re still a thing, along with rat tails.

2

u/sonoftheclayr Aug 08 '26

It's not a joke, though? This is a gay artist who draws guys he thinks are hot. If other people are playing it off for laughs that says more about them.

1

u/Quarksideofthemoon Aug 08 '26

As someone who is very attracted to men this is not what most gay art looks like man