Monday, February 08, 2010

Is there a subliminal message in Marvel's Avengers campaign?

You've probably already seen several examples of Marvel's "I Am An Avenger" teaser campaign, like the Spider-Woman image above, throughout the last week or so, right? Well, this weekend I spent much longer looking at these images that anyone should (in the service of making some bad jokes), and, for the first time ever, I noticed that the "Avengers" logo is actually awfully sexually suggestive, what with that big phallic arrow snugly interlocking with the v-shaped space on the right side of the A.

It's even more so in the background of these teaser images, where the arrow is about to fill the void in the A:
So if you find yourself getting excited by these teasers, but aren't really sure why the excite you, perhaps it's simply a matter of super-subtle sex symbols implanted in the imagery.

14 comments:

JohnF said...

You're off your rocker.

Hdefined said...

Sigh. Caleb, please don't make any more sex jokes. They're not funny.

This has been the Avengers logo for decades, starting with issue #96:

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/avengers/96-2.jpg

esteban138 said...

Been reading "Let's Be Friends Again" lately?

Anonymous said...

or maybe it's the large chested woman wearing nothing but a skin tight latex outfit?

Jason Quinones said...

haha! somebody really needs to get some!

and no it's not me.

ok maybe it's me.

not really.

Randal said...

Ok, I love ya guy, but yeah, you're reaching a little bit there. Although I do wonder what the decision process was to change the logo from the regular arrow to the create-a-large-hole arrow from the ads. It doesn't even match the logo printed.

JohnF said...

Even the Spider-Woman drawing isn't overly sexy. Probably because JRJR knows how to draw something other than 44DD breasts.

Caleb said...

Yikes. Er, you guys do realize I'm kidding right...?

JohnF said...

I had hoped.

JohnF said...

It's possible that I spend too much time on WFA and Avalon's Willow, so none of this seems that far-fetched.

Hdefined said...

Yes, we know you're kidding. The problem is that even 10-year-olds wouldn't find it funny.

Steven R. Stahl said...

What I find interesting about Marvel's promos for the two AVENGERS titles is the amount of the stuff. Sales figures on NEW AVENGERS have been trending downward. It's more likely than not that the "Heroic Age" is coming simply because readers have indicated they're tired of "Dark Reign," not because Bendis is tired of writing about his beloved criminals and nutcases.

Are the promos and relaunches standard operating procedure, or an indication of some nervousness about Bendis's continuing selling power?

SRS

Hdefined said...

"Sales figures on NEW AVENGERS have been trending downward."

So have all of Marvel's books. The difference is that Dark and New Avengers are consistently among the top two months, if not the top two.

Sales don't seem like the most likely reason for retooling the whole line. Sure, we knew a change was coming at the end of Dark Reign, but the line as a whole wasn't dying for an overhaul yet.

Hdefined said...

*monthlies