If you picked up a physical copy of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Damned this week, then you were treated to a passing glimpse of a totally-nude Bruce Wayne in the Batcave. From the sounds of it, DC regrets greenlighting the decision to show off Batman’s penis.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, all future printings of Batman: Damned will now have the penis in question censored out (as it already was in digital issues) after DC decided that the appendage didn’t really add to the series’ plot.
While it’s true that revealing Bruce’s dick wasn’t absolutely crucial to drive Batman: Damned‘s larger story forward, Bruce being nude does factor into the scene within the comic — a moment when he’s supposed to be at his very most vulnerable.
More than that, though, the decision to edit the penis out is rather eyeroll-inducing, considering just how often comic book artists go out of their way to show off and accentuate female characters’ bodies by putting them in impossible positions that — wait for it — have absolutely nothing to do with a book’s plot.
It’s a bit disappointing to see a major publisher backtracking on what otherwise would have been a small step towards balancing out the pervasive male gaze-iness plaguing mainstream comics. At the very least, Batman: Damned #1 just became a collector’s item you might want to hold onto.
Comments
4 responses to “DC Regrets Showing You Batman’s Batawang”
Why would anyone think this is what DC fans really needed to see? Couldn’t it have been a decent movie instead?
I mean, there’s the fact it’s nudity, I can figure the want to take it back, but yeah it definitely shines a very unfortunate light on the mindsets when they’re more than happy to plaster sexually charged women on so many covers in the worst of postures.
I wonder if it was a woman nude, how’d it have all gone down…
This does seem like a puritan overreaction from DC. And for the people calling it porn, you folks need to learn the difference between nudity and pornography, because they’re not the same thing.
Tempt me not, false messiah! I cast thee back into the pit of carnal delights and bat penises from whence thee came!
I would’ve gone with Bat-a-wang.
This whole thing is like a nuclear version of blowing something out of proportion.
The content in question is barely an outline of a penis.
Isn’t DC Black Label supposed to be for adults anyway?
What the hell is wrong with this world?! When did we all go so fucking crazy.
Maybe this obscure alternate universe Batman, but that isn’t my Batman’s penis, his parents being both wealthy and intelligent, would never have mutilated their child’s genitals.