Werewolves, bitches and mammary size

[Eris Lobo]

First of all, let me say I have a particular interest in werewolves. And I love funny and interesting online comics. And I love sex. So I'm not a tight prude or something.

But I should also let you know I'm female, and as much as I want to enjoy Peter is the Wolf, I'm having trouble.

I'm a new reader, by the way. Just discovered it a few days ago. And, being immediately interested, I promptly sat down and read pretty much half of the existing storyline (the adult version with lots o' nudity, of course ... *grins*)

It's well drawn (artistically, that is), and the story line is enjoyable.

But what's with the gigantic size of female-werewolf breasts?

For one thing, that kind of stuff just annoys me in any comic. It seems to be saying that guys want their women to be thin yet have unnaturally super-huge tits, or otherwise a woman isn't sexy. It makes those of us who didn't naturally develop super-huge tits (which happens to be all of us, in case you didn't know) feel like you think were inadequate and not female enough for you, which pisses a lot of us off. It also makes me feel like you're aiming the comic for guys only, and you don't think much for the women in your audience.

Okay, you might be saying, this is about magical werewolves, so maybe they grow huge breasts when they shift forms, right?

Wrong.

Non-humans, such as canines, don't have enlarged breasts except when lactating. If you wanted it to be even remotely realistic, you would have a female character's breasts decrease in size when she becomes a werewolf.

Sigh.

So I just wanted to let you know that I really want to like Peter is the Wolf, but I'm having trouble getting past the visuals because they're, well, a bit sexist. Okay, they're majorly sexist, I think. The female werewolves in this story could easily have had more normal-sized breasts and still have been very sexy to the male readers. Giving them gigantic hooters just turns off the female readers unnecessarily, which I think is regrettable because Peter is the Wolf is funny and does have merit.

That's just my two woofs on the subject. I'm quite curious what everybody else thinks (especially the other women out there).

-- Eris

[Ganthan]

Welcome aboard Eris. Always nice to see new PitW fans.

Considering the usual subject matter of WLP Comics it really isn't too surprising to see gigantic tits. It's just trying to cater to certain audiences. You'll notice that the males seem to be rather disproportionately big as well, along with tending to be muscular. It's really more about developing the story revolving around werewolf lore in a modern setting.

[bar1scorpio]

Well, it's kinda just the shtick here, really. No other way to explain Sarah's 'growth'. Although I'll mention, at least in PitW, that Sarah is fairly unique, being one of the few cast members that overdeveloped. (Given the rest of the WLP stuff. ... yeah. ^^ )

But an actually fairly reasonable explanation of why women's bustlines are oversized in comics is because they're flattened. When we rely on the silhouette of the shape, and not the actual form of it in 3d, to convey something, we lose definition. Imagine a woman with the average bustline, head on. Now in reality, a b-c cup can look quite obvious. But if you were to reduce her to just an outline, the shape & definition of the breasts is lost. Even a d-cup seems smaller, just because you've lost the third dimension for it to project into... so to speak.

Hence, why many comic books, not just ours, but the famous spandex-clad superheroines of the big three will often sport improbable bustlines. It's not that they're particularly more attractive to the artists & writers drawing them, they're merely more obvious.

And on obvious-ness... (that a word?) accentuating the secondary sexual characteristics is also a handy device for showing arousal. Sarah, in her human form, is slight in bust, diminutive in build, and, well... a bit cold at times (one panel I tired to make telling was the page in chapter five where Peter reaches for her hand, but she pulls it away). That's her logical, very human side. The werewolf side of her actually is designed to partly represent what's been underneath the surface for her. An overwhelming, overpowering juggernaut of teenage emotions & lust, barely kept in check. Hence, she's physical in that form, exaggeratedly so. It's all 'body language' there, from the way she poses, perks her ears, or more obviously, glomps onto and slurpy-licks Peter. The flashback scene, now underway, shows the human side of Sarah's sexuality... a repressive, controlled life has made her shrinking, awkward, and sorely lacking in confidence, if not eagerness.

As for audience.. well, given that PitW stemmed from what was originally going to be just a porno series, but the developed midway into the 'dual' series that you have now, we're just surprised whenever we meet our audience at all. Me & Kris really even never knew there was a Werewolf fandom, independent of the Anime and Furry fandoms we were aiming for. Whenever we have a fan, no matter where they come from, it's always a pleasant surprise to us.

All that said. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that... no.. this ISN'T what we're into, sexually. Do we find sex sexy here? Yes. Peter is the Wolf is a satire.. or perhaps more like a Greek Satyr, a lust driven goat sprite that appeared in plays mocking the seriousness of the content. (Pan was one of their ranks.) The over rought sexuality is part of the play. Take Peter's... "peter", for instance. Ludicrously oversized... once again, thank the Romans.. and their god Priapus. But the cartoonish body types (and behavioral types, as well) are here primarily for laughs. The exagerattions are for teh sake of not sexiness, but silliness.

And we certainly don't think any less of women with a normal bustline, one for whom.. to paraphrase folk singer - "The Boob Fairy never came for"... Real women are never inadequate, always female enough for the WLP gang, and of course, a joy to have around at the White Lightning Productions table at any given Anime convention. With us guys, in general... and I speak, I feel for pretty much most, if not all men... we're just happy to have you around to share the planet with, in general. ^_^

[Toast]

Don't worry, Ms. Lobo. You're not alone in your aversion of the House Kink. From what I've been able to gather, gross disproportionism is an active turnoff in about a quarter of WLP fans, including myself. We stick around because we appreciate the parodic nature of most of WLP's depictions of said, and can therefore get over it sufficiently to enjoy the exceptional authorial, comedic, and artistic talent on parade.

That, I think, is as much as I can say for the collective. For myself, the draw is the way Kris and his artists are able to convey tremendous character depth where lesser pornographers would never dream of even bothering. My favorite characters, therefore, are Sarah (whose various minor neuroses have just become major problems) and Moira (who they could have left a flat stereotype, and didn't, which I appreciate no end).

So, while I feel a bit of physical revulsion during some of the grosser excesses of the local schtick, I'm able to ignore it for the hilarity and beauty present in even WLP's most purely pornographic pages. Beth Dorman's no Helen Narbon, but she's plenty smart enough to be a beacon and a role model for sex objects the world over. (Besides, Prof. Wanda sort of is Helen Narbon, minus the delicious endomorphism.)

[Ganthan]

Bar1 made a pretty good point on how apparent size and noticeability tends to get lost in 2d black and white. Here's a good example.

Here's a black and white of


And here's a version of the same image


The boobs really stand out when given the proper shading, don't they?

[kitetsu]

My question for you is -- what is the one thing bigger than the other that you're trying to look for in this particular series? Precise accuracy? Or Peter's misadventures?

Because frankly, i don't really mind Sarah's Mt. Breastmore form, not because i'm male, but because i think it suits her character. If the werewolves in Peterverse looked dead-on accurate according to the mythical interpretations from the Wolfman movie, while everyone looked like humongous dogs with too many wrinkles, an identity crisis, a bad case of fur loss, and dagger teeth that's bone dry because it's too big to hide under the lips, I would stop laughing at Peter's non-existant luck, and instead treat it like a Blood & Chocolate ripoff.

Or even worse, i would've treated it as one of the many half-hearted contributions from CYOC.

[bar1scorpio]

Well, it's mostly about Peter's misadventurs... and if you noticed in the early issues, the few times where I swapped out artstyles.. the first page most noticably-
The characters return time and time again to mock the legends themselves... the hulking, powerful beast in the woodcut gives way to a scrawny kid on a skateboard, the ravenous pack under the full moon turns out to be a latenight barbeque.
Justa bout anything serious eventually gets turned on its' ear, even if it's by the 'greek chorus' of characters like Carla & Jean.

[kitetsu]

[Kris@WLP]

[Happygun]

[kitetsu]

[ProphetTenebrae]

[Happygun]

[Kris@WLP]

[Dvandom]

[K-MacK]

[UberMan5000]

[Queen of Night]

Nice to see another female around here.

WLP is pretty much dedicated to the extreme bustline. If you think Sarah is bad... Then stay away from the Milkmaid comics and Chichi. Personally, I've been around about 2 years and I've never really thought about this as being anything as sexist. And knowing both writer and artist I can assure you that this is not the case. I myself own both "These are the breasts of a true warrior" and "These are not the breasts you are looking for" T-shirts. WLP is just as dedicated to making fun of chests as worshipping them (in a way).

And on to the comment about real wolves verses cartoon anthromorphic characters... I hate this topic... I really do...

First of all canines do not have breasts... They have teats and visually a female anthromorphic wolf just wouldn't be sexy or even remotely appealing like that. I mean we're talking Roxi-cat style nipples on Peter's chest. Personally I don't think Sarah-woof would look good with average size... I also think that some of the comedy would be lost.

I think that if we're going to have a sexist talk about the beasts then Peter's penis should be talked about as well. I mean not all guys want to carry around a bat in their underwear (and for the ones that do try walking with a bat down your shorts and see if it makes you happy). We can't have one talk about the other right?

[Kris@WLP]

[tyrant]

[K-MacK]

[Finnfemfel]

I read somewhere that if you have a.. fallos, greater than some 4 dm, the bloodloss of an erection could actually kill you..

[bar1scorpio]

The funniest thing is, the size of a man's manhood has nothing to do with his insecurities about it.

Most guys who have a deep problem with not being 'porn star size' (and even there...) are usually actually suffering from low self esteem from the rest of their life, but being men, we focus it on our 'member'. (Yeah, it's a huge factor in our vision of self. To the point that it is a literal representation of self (particularly in our dreams. men often have stress-related dreams involving castration.).

And of course, despite of Peter's size, or perhaps because of it, he's incredibly insecure about it.

[K-MacK]

At least he doesn't pass out every time he...becomes very interested...does he?

Now that would lead to massive insecurity.

[Finnfemfel]

'specially if sarah-wuff was in the neighbourhood at the time. ow ow ow.