Is it time to retire the term "Bondage Cover" like we did with "headlights"? 4 4

[MatterEaterLad]

When I see a slab with "Bondage" on it, I think of Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent and all that, so for Golden Age books it adds extra context to the marketplace, the world at the time, social norms, etc.

So...I like the term. 

[OtherEric]

I would get rid of it for no other reason than it's pointless.  Listing the artist?  Sure, they're not always credited or obvious.  First appearances?  Possibly not visible on the cover?  Classic Cover?  That's a separate category that isn't always obvious just from the cover, depending on what you know about the book.

But "Bondage Cover"?  You can just look at the cover right under the annotation!  It's not giving any useful information at all.

[Black_Adam]

9 minutes ago, MatterEaterLad said:

When I see a slab with "Bondage" on it, I think of Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent and all that, so for Golden Age books it adds extra context to the marketplace, the world at the time, social norms, etc.

So...I like the term. 

Headlights is also a term that I only associate with pre-code comics. Otherwise, basically every comic ever printed with Power Girl on the cover could be noted as "headlights" or, as another poster noted, "bazooms!"

 

[Ken Aldred]

2 hours ago, kav said:

Most ridiculous comic book bondage panels of all time?

Her creator had ‘a bit of an obsession’ about this, and there must be an abundance of examples in the comics.

A Golden Age expert could confirm.

 

[Ken Aldred]

6 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Does one really need a term to describe this one?

You don't want to know what I paid for it back in the '70's...

I’m guessing that it might have been a nosebleed price of ten times cover.

[kav]

59 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Freud would probably say that although from outward appearance, being held captive by restraint, without consent, for any reason other than gratification, for both the captor and the prisoner is not bondage, in the sense that most attribute it to "play-acting". The real thing, someone purposefully being held against their will by restraining equipment is just that; being held captive, and not a mutually gratifying endeavor.

He would also have plenty to say about the shape of the evil device and the tiny homunculi manning it-

[kav]

23 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

Her creator had ‘a bit of an obsession’ about this, and there must be an abundance of examples in the comics.

A Golden Age expert could confirm.

 

Not a GA expert but I can indeed confirm that WW gets tied up more times than you can shake a stick at-even more than them jungle girls.

[Ken Aldred]

5 hours ago, Doctor Dositheus said:

I wonder what Sigmund Freud would say about this cover.

He’d state what’s obvious to anyone, even if they don’t possess an advanced psychiatric qualification.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[kav]

19 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

He’d state what’s obvious to anyone, even if they don’t possess an advanced psychiatric qualification.

Sometimes a banana is just a banana-but not in this case.

[James J Johnson]

37 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

He’d state what’s obvious to anyone, even if they don’t possess an advanced psychiatric qualification.

Then again, he wouldn't say much, using an economy of words to limit the pain of speaking after 3/4 of his palate and 1/2 of his jaw were removed from smoking that pipe and stogies non-stop for 40 years. He should have spent some time in self-reflection, trying to figure out why he couldn't last for more than 20 seconds without being a human chimney so he could have saved himself from his latter years of being "a tiny island, afloat in a sea of pain". 

[James J Johnson]

1 hour ago, kav said:

Not a GA expert but I can indeed confirm that WW gets tied up more times than you can shake a stick at-even more than them jungle girls.

The old damsel in distress motif. Very common theme for comics featuring heroines. 

[snitzer]

My signature is offensive, and that’s ok, but I’m keeping it 

[kav]

1 hour ago, James J Johnson said:

Then again, he wouldn't say much, using an economy of words to limit the pain of speaking after 3/4 of his palate and 1/2 of his jaw were removed from smoking that pipe and stogies non-stop for 40 years. He should have spent some time in self-reflection, trying to figure out why he couldn't last for more than 20 seconds without being a human chimney so he could have saved himself from his latter years of being "a tiny island, afloat in a sea of pain". 

He had some insights but in other things he was way off base.  He said a snake in dreams is a phallus symbol-it is not-it symbolizes the mother.

Edited August 23, 2020 by kav

[FineCollector]

Cheesecake will always sell, but bondage and headlights aren't terms I hear used anymore.  Does anyone under the age of 50 collect specifically for those genres?  I'm 40, and I find "injury to eye" far more compelling.

[Gaard]

\

24 minutes ago, kav said:

He had some insights but in other things he was way off base.  He said a snake in dreams is a phallus symbol-it is not-it symbolizes the mother.

Weird, I could've sworn a snake symbolized my ex.

[James J Johnson]

22 minutes ago, FineCollector said:

Cheesecake will always sell, but bondage and headlights aren't terms I hear used anymore.  Does anyone under the age of 50 collect specifically for those genres?  I'm 40, and I find "injury to eye" far more compelling.

Overstreet was the one who started to use those two seemingly overused, key terms, Bondage and Headlights, to denote something special about an issue that stood out from the rest, other than origin or first appearance issues. What Overstreet set in print in 1970 set in motion the nuts and bolts, the language of our hobby and relative hierarchy of issues' relationships to each other that is still very much in effect, relatively unchanged since the 70s, except of course for the enormous difference in prices then vs. now, 

[James J Johnson]

15 minutes ago, Gaard said:

\

Weird, I could've sworn a snake symbolized my ex.

With or without horns? 

[James J Johnson]

31 minutes ago, FineCollector said:

Cheesecake will always sell, but bondage and headlights aren't terms I hear used anymore.  Does anyone under the age of 50 collect specifically for those genres?  I'm 40, and I find "injury to eye" far more compelling.

I'll see your injury to the eye cover (or should I say I won't see it?) and raise you a "Robot cover" and a "Hitler cover".  

Edited August 23, 2020 by James J Johnson

[Ken Aldred]

47 minutes ago, kav said:

He had some insights but in other things he was way off base.  He said a snake in dreams is a phallus symbol-it is not-it symbolizes the mother.

There’s a lot of his analysis that’s been debunked, and more now of historical interest.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[kav]

2 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

There’s a lot of his analysis that’s been debunked, and more now of historical interest.

yep.  I find transactional analysis and the therapist George Weinberg to be far more insightful.