At least two upcoming Milo Manara variants have been canceled after the negative reaction to the infamous Spider-Woman cover.

Source: Newsarama

The internet was ablaze in the fires of controversy last month when Marvel Comics revealed a planned variant cover for their upcoming Spider-Woman book, drawn by Milo Manara, that featured the female superhero crawling on a rooftop, presenting, with her butt cheeks spread, because... well, we're not sure why. It seemed like a pretty senseless and tone-deaf idea that we're surprised got by Marvel's marketing department in the first place. In any case, people were mad, some of them at Manara, who didn't really deserve the blame for this debacle - that belongs entirely to Marvel. And now, the House of Bad Ideas has canceled two upcoming Manara variants, according to a Newsarama report:

Tuesday comic book retailers were informed by Diamond Comics Distributors that two upcoming variant covers for October’s Avengers & X-Men: Axis #1 and November’s Thor #2, solicited to be drawn by Milo Manara, will no longer be illustrated by the veteran Italian artist. Other artists will instead draw the variants. Siya Oum will draw the Axis #1 variant, and the new artist for the Thor #2 variant has yet to be named.

It's unknown whether this is a direct reaction to fan complaints, but it's safe to assume that it is in some way related to the fallout from Spider-Woman-Gate. I'm glad that Marvel has figured out that they were doing something wrong, but I remain unconvinced they actually know what that something was. Milo Manara is a veteran artist who deserves to get work. Marvel just needs to understand where his work would be appropriate, and where it clashes with their self-professed desire to make their comics more inclusive and less exploitive. Only time will tell on that one.

For more thoughts on erotic comics and their place in the industry, see our long interview with Dale Lazarov, peddler of smart, wholesome gay comics smut. At press time, despite canceling the future variants, Marvel still plans to ship the Spider-Woman variant that started the whole mess.