Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Superhero pin-up boys, specifically, by David Talaski-Brown (DTB from now on), from a POPSUGAR piece “This Artist Smashes Stereotypes by Giving Male Superheroes a Sexy, Pinup-Style Makeover” by Victoria Messina on 7/5/19:

(#1) DTB’s Captain America and his panties

In David Talaski-Brown’s mind, Thor doesn’t wear a red cape and full-body armor — he rocks a pink polka-dotted robe, green Hulk slippers, and, well, that’s about it. A 29-year-old artist from Portland, OR, David is flipping the script with male superheroes, giving them a sexy makeover as a nod to the way scantily clad female superheroes are traditionally depicted.

(Hat tip to Ryan Tamares on Facebook on the 14th.)

The article continues:

(#2) DTB’s Thor caught barely robed at shower time

“There’s always been a lack of sexy male art on comic convention floors,” the artist told POPSUGAR. “I thought this would be a fun way to create some equal opportunity when I tabled at my first convention last year. I’ve always been a big fan of midcentury pinup artists like Gil Elvgren, and the idea of putting male superheroes in similar poses and situations typically portrayed with women felt appropriate and cheeky.”

(#3) DTB’s Star-Lord, knees up and buttocks out

And cheeky they are! David’s illustrations, which he paints digitally using the Procreate app on his iPad before adding the finishing touches in Photoshop, show a whole lotta skin, and sometimes even subtle peeks at the character’s derriere. David’s art has garnered positive reactions far and wide — so much so that his Etsy shop, which sells prints of his sexy male superheroes, is constantly selling out. Ahead, admire David’s unique depictions of Star-Lord, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, and more. Our fingers are crossed for sexy Spider-Man and Hulk portraits soon!

Gil Elvgren. One of the artists providing models for DTB’s work. From Wikipedia on the artist:

Gillette [Gil] Elvgren (March 15, 1914 – February 29, 1980) was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow [a company selling branded apparel and promotional merchandise], Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He was strongly influenced by the early “pretty girl” illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. Other influences included the Brandywine School founded by Howard Pyle.

Some Elvgren pin-ups with the poses DTB plays with above:

(#4) Pose: getting dressed (compare to Captain America retrieving his underwear)

(#5) Pose: dress caught (compare to Thor with his robe caught, exposing his body) — more generally, the wardrobe malfunction

(#6) Pose: knees up (compare to Star-Lord)

Earlier on this blog…

— in my 5/9/13 posting “Pin-up boys”, on arch send-ups of classic pin-up photos and drawings using men: Men-Ups! by Rion Sabean, Cheesecake Boys by Paul Richmond (and then more direct forms of male pin-ups). From this posting, two Sabean examples of the knees-up pose, and a Richmond wardrobe malfunction:

(#7) Sabean: basic knees-up

(#8) Sabean: advanced knees-up (more clearly about the buttocks)

(#9) A Richmond wardrobe malfunction (all about the buttocks)

— in my 9/28/19 posting “Gender notes: the pinup push”, on another pose (not illustrated above), with the buttocks pushed out for the viewer, with illustrations from both female and male pin-ups. A Betty Grable original from 1943, and a recent Nightwing male superhero version (the head turned to gaze seductively — for some value of seductively — at the viewer is part of the pose):

(#10)

(#11)

This entry was posted on December 16, 2019 at 6:58 am and is filed under Art, Gender and sexuality, Language and the body, Linguistics in the comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.