The DC Co-Publisher explains why everyone was overreacting to a contest asking artists to draw Harley Quinn naked and committing suicide.

Source: Twitter

DC Co-Publisher Jim Lee is a professional comic book artist (when he feels like it), so he understands something about comic books that all you readers complaining about the recent Harley Quinn Suicide Contest Controversy don't: that there is a greater context that should be taken into account when judging a single panel in a comic book. You see, the panel artists were asked to draw featuring Harley Quinn naked in a bathtub committing suicide to win a gig on the upcoming Harley Quinn series from DC wasn't about suicide or sexualizing female characters or sexualizing female characters committing suicide. Fans only overreacted because they didn't take this overall context into account. Thankfully, Lee is happy to explain it to you on Twitter:

Good afternoon all-hope the weekend is treating you well. Been drawing Superman Unchained but taking a much needed coffee brk. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

I thought I would take a lil time to address something called context as it has come up a bit in discussions. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

And I wanted to come up w/some examples to make a point.Comics are a unique art form created thru the interaction of words & pictures #duh — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Yeah! Hashtag duh!

There are some great examples of wordless comics (#Gon) but most often, it's the combination of words and pics that create story. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

It is essential to understand that in the context of a standard 20pg story, seeing 1 pg of the whole offers just a peek of the whole issue — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Yes, especially when the script for that page about a sensitive and controversial subject is posted in a contest entry with absolutely no context given. You should have inferred that DC meant something else, people.

And ultimately it is impossible to ascertain the intent of an entire story from one page. #bearwithmethiswillbelong — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Which is why one might not chose that page, alone, for a public contest a week before World Suicide Prevention Day, particularly when that company has suffered from foot-in-mouth disease over similar stuff, like, a gazillion times in recent memory. But again... this is your failing as a reader, somehow.

ESPECIALLY when that sneak peek is just descriptions of the panels to be drawn without benefit of narration, captions or dialogue. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

See?

As a micro-example of this, let's imagine a small 3 panel story using the following images: A,B and C pic.twitter.com/m3fWm8X03E — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

We can infer what the story is without dialogue. Kid gets up off floor, open fridge and drinks a vial of Venom which makes his body morph! — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

No, Jim! Not a fridge! Have you learned nothing?!

That said, we can also deduce other kinds of narratives based on new arrangements of the 3 panels A, B and C. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

ACB give us perhaps a dream sequence or nightmare-- pic.twitter.com/vOLoYXHMJO — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

ACB give us perhaps a dream sequence or nightmare-- pic.twitter.com/vOLoYXHMJO — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

In A, the kid thinks if I don't take my meds, then I will lose control over my body as seen in C — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Is that what happened to Dan Didio before started replying to fans on Twitter over Batwomangate?

So Panel C becomes a vision he sees in his head. It is a visual bit of story which shows us the reader what his internal fears may be. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

So he summarily does his body good and looks for his meds in panel B. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Less clear but still a valid arrangement would be C, B, A as we get a different "story" pic.twitter.com/ywbUlI1I9n — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Perhaps our hero comes in as his powers are wearing off…famished he heads to the fridge. Then collapses as he is exhausted. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Or maybe he dies in A unable to find the antidote in B. #awfulendingIknow #tragicexample — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Truth is & I hope this didn't come off too simplistically-there are so many many "stories" w/diff narrative intent that can be created. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

And we don't know if he is asleep in panel A or unconscious or dreaming or dead. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

So you see how our understanding of each panel is profoundly affected by the panel which precedes it and the one that follows. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

And the same applies to an entire single page within a story of 20 pages. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Throw on top of all this that once you add dialogue and captions, the narrative and intent can go an infinite # of possible directions. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Throw on top of all this that once you add dialogue and captions, the narrative and intent can go an infinite # of possible directions. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

And it's certainly not DC's fault if the readers chose to see the worst one. Why should DC's marketing department think about those kinds of things before publishing a contest. There's hologram covers to be made!

For instance (pls forgive my dialogue--a writer, clearly I am not): pic.twitter.com/0MuW3355X7 — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

So w/o the context of the dialogue or preceding or following imgs, it is near impossible to glean what a description of a scene is "naked" — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Which is what makes a controversial, easy to misinterpret panel the perfect thing to provide as a contest entry with no context whatsoever... NOT!

Which brings me to the next hot button. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Please, go on.

Asking an aspiring artist to draw a female character taking a bath carries with a lot of baggage. Fully unintended btw. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Yes...

I know Amanda&Jimmy who wrote the HarleyQuinn tryout pg & I know their intent was 2break the 4th wall & poke some fun at their own expense — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Yes. Which is what makes the whole thing so tragic. If DC had made that clear in the first place, they might have avoided 90% of the backlash.

It was not to "sexualize suicide" or even create a story about suicide. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Are these memes about suicide or are they about the extremes of frustration we all face in our daily lives? pic.twitter.com/15s1sWezZR — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Um... Those are using suicide lightheartedly to make a point. Probably not the best examples.

I can assure you that Harley Quinn #0 is not about suicide. Not even close. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Wouldn't it be nice if DC didn't put itself in a position where it needed to explain this?

So many of our lives including mine have been affected by such true acts of despair. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

As far as the objectification of Harley Quinn by having her take a bath naked. It comes down to how the artist interprets that shot. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Ah. Blame the Creator. One of my favorite DC games.

Any talented artist can draw it a hundred ways, none of which are demeaning to women. #ultimategoal — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Unfortunately, comics, and DC in particular, don't have a very good track record in that regard.

I think if an aspiring artist feels the approach is creatively wrong-he or she is free 2push bk, discuss&rework w/his or her writer&editor — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

As any of these names can attest to:

Nick Spencer, John Rozum,

J.T. Krul, George Perez,

Gail Simone, Ron Marz, Chris Roberson.

Rob Liefeld, Karen Berger,

SImone again, Robert Vendetti

Jim Zubkavich, Art Baltazar and Franco.

Keith GIffen, Todd Farmer,

Josh Fialkov, Andy Diggle,

Tony S. Daniel, Mike Johnson, Bruce Timm had to go.

Mico Suayan, James Robinson,

Kevin Maguire, J.H. Williams,

W. Haden Blackman, "hey, it's all their fault" said Didio!

We didn't start the fire!

It was always burning since the world's been turning...

It happens ALL THE TIME in comics. I regularly interpret & change visual elements in every script given to me. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

For instance, you might interpret them as having bigger collars or seam lines everywhere. Sorry, couldn't resist that one. :)

Have since day 1. With collaboration & communication w/my writer & editor of course. It's the challenge of bettering ideas. — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

*(In best Johnny Carson voice)* At DC, it is extremely challenging.

But that's a whole other bag of worms…back to Superman Unchained for me. pic.twitter.com/RdQPVYiRN2 — Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 7, 2013

Unfurl the Mission Accomplished banner.

Thanks, Jim. That was... wait a minute, is Superman wearing blackface in that picture? Why, DC?! Why?!