After seeing the thread on the Wonder Man bust, I went searching for some good scans of my favorite Wonder Man costume, that being the one he sported during JB's Hulk run.  Unfortunately, I came across the following article...

http://www.heroplay.com/features/articles/display.php?id=27

It's titled "Don't Do It To Me Again", and purports to be a "study" on how John Byrne comics feature routine torture, kidnapping, and killing of women for the sole purpose of "giving the male characters something to think about".

Now, a few things...a "study" is usually something the author is proud enough to sign his name to.  This joker goes by the handle of "Zan".  Also, it's the worse sort of libel, as it masks itself as unbiased, but the author has clearly made his mind up before any "research" began.  I think that is what kept me from dismissing it as simple Byrne Bashing, because he casts this as some pseudo-intellectual enterprise.

One of the things that I always admired about JB's writing is that he always seemed to feature strong female lead characters.  I think only Claremont has gone farther in this regard.

JB, I don't know if there is anything you or your lawyer could do about this (it looks like it's been up since 2004), but I'm hopeful.

That's four counts in 30 years. My god! I'm out of control!!

Why is it that JB does something, or even DOESN'T do something, and he is CRUCIFIED for it, but others can do it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, and yet not only are they NOT called on it, but, in some instances, they are PRAISED FOR IT...

Double standards, anybody?

MPH

Seems to me that even more men are beat up, tortured, and worse in some of JB's comics. In fact, in one instance, a man had his face ripped off!!!

It must really be JB VS. MEN!!!

And with all the times Robin was kipnapped and even tortured back when, Bob Kane and others must have hated children, too!!

Double standards, Matthew? What double-standards?

It's not like Alan Moore would've ever shown a woman get brutally beat, tortured, and/or raped in his stories.

Wow SHE-Hulk was regularly captured by the villains and facing death when John was on the title!

How Sexist!

That sort of thing never happened to Spider-MAN!

I think the person who posted that "study" has a definite agenda going...but come on, John.  There have been quite a few other scenes in your books over the years (many of them named specifically in the article, which I don't know if you've read) that seem to have caused this "Zan" to compile his/her list.

To say that only four such scenes have occurred in 30 years simply isn't true.

Context is all important. I listed the examples I could remember off the top of my head. Given the very specific word usage, I can think of no other examples of "torture", "rape", "kidnapping" or "killing" specific to women than those I name. Now, if the writer wants to expand his list and include "combat", "nightmares", "imprisonment", etc, we might have something to talk about. Unfortunately for his agenda, he would find the male characters in similar situations far outnumber the females, so that would kinda trip things up, wouldn't it?

Fair enough.  The fact that the article suggests that you include those scenes specifically as part of some kind of anti-woman mentality is why I find it not at all persuasive, and also why I refrained (and refrain) from listing off scenes that I do remember that fit the definitions offered.  No need to add more fuel to the fire.

And yes, your male characters get knocked around pretty good, too.  Peril and combat are part and parcel of superhero books, after all.

By the way, "Zan" seems to credit you for inventing the image of one character holding up another character by the throat.  He/she refers to this action as a Byrne Hold.  Is he/she quoting something, or was that attribution created in this article?  (I'm pretty sure that there were, y'know, like, other artists who drew such images before you became a professional.  Just a hunch.)