Dave Dorman Speaks Out Against Breast Feeding In His Comics

[Rich Johnston]

Women have been fighting for the right to breast feed publically for some time now. Every now and then, someone writes a letter to object, but today, in London, it's not uncommon to see a mother breastfeeding her child on a tube, on a park bench or in the Houses of Parliament.

But not, it seems, in a comic book that children might read. Like Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples, due later this year.

Fantasy artist Dave Dorman, best known in sci-fi and comics circles for his Star Wars work, has a problem.

He writes;

Juxtapozed against this image was Brian?s specific quote, highlighted beneath the headline: ?I just miss the days when I was a kid where you could pick up a No. 1 comic and it?s not a reboot or a relaunch or something.? Further along in the article, Vaughan shares how he was a ?big-time Star Wars nerd? and how as a kid, he wanted to write this galactic family heroic saga, ala Star Wars. And that?s exactly what I was hoping he would do. Then my eye drifted over to the promotional illustration by Fiona Staples, a gifted artist. My brow furled as I tried to process what I was actually seeing.

Funny thing. Like Brian, I read comics as a kid, too. I don?t recall reading Ma and Pa Kent finding baby Superman in his little rocket from Krypton and in the next panel, Ma Kent pulling out her tit and slapping little Kal-El to it. I think I?ll call DC and find out if I just happened to miss that particular issue.

In further commentary, Dave Dorman outlines how he considers this a shocking, offensive image inappropriate for his seven year old son. While everyone has the right to bring up their children as they see fit, I do find it a little sad.

And if that image is a bit too much for Mr Dorman and son, I hate to think how they'd react to the following scene, from the same comic...

[Meyeraustin]

haha, kids reading comics...that's a laugh. When I bring my 9 year-old son to comics shops they make this weird awkward face and he's usually the only kid there.

[Rootfireember]

...not to mention breastfeeding is a bit more complex than any woman just bringing out a tit and going YAH MILK!

OMFG BOOBIES. Breastfeeding happens. Milk comes from the boobies of lactating animals, unless you are a monotreme, when it can come from your skin pores, if I recall correctly.
Babies drink milk. OMFG OMFG.

Kids can see worse on national geographic or nat geo wild.

This is kinda lame to argue about.

edditing to add: I want to read this comic now.

[Snowspinner]

Yes, because the way most comics treat breasts is so much better. Mustn't let the young ones know that they're for anything other than ogling, after all.

[sleeve]

i breastfeed every chance i get.

[FantomGuy]

Why would Dave think that a comic by Vaughn was targeted to kids? He believed at USA Today article? While Brian does talk about the days when kids could pick up comics without everything being a reboot, I don't see where it said he's writing a kids comics. One look at the image made it pretty clear we were in for something more that "Spidey and Friends" With Vaughn and Staples, would you want less?
He's losing his argument big time on his own site, so his 15 minutes of attention will be over soon.

[Enigma_2099]

You have a problem with the content of a comic your kids read. Don't buy the comic. BOOM! Problem solved.

[Meyeraustin]

Yes, because the way most comics treat breasts is so much better. Mustn't let the young ones know that they're for anything other than ogling, after all.

I distinctly remember being 8 and my mom was breastfeeding my brother and I brought a friend in to show my mom's cool "trick." Mom freaked out but I just thought it was something cool.

[Michael P]

What do DC and Superman have to do with a comic published by Image?

And also, I love how breasts are (apparently) OK when put on display in, say, Leia's slave outfit, but bad when used for their intended biological purpose.

[Hunter Lambright]

Dorman finds out in the comics of his own post via a quote from CBR that it's a comic by an adult for an adult. So while he's against it because he thought it was aimed at kids, now that he knows it isn't, it's a different story.