Dressed to Thrill Thursday!

If you're writing comics, you have to be careful about over-explaining things. You might find yourself written into a corner because you may some rule that corrected some perceived defect that would have largely gone unnoticed as more of the inherit silliness that make comics so awesome in the first place.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Exhibit "A":


Granted, most characters are going to look pretty silly at a formal event wearing a costume, but haven't we learned to accept that by now? I mean, Superman in a bow tie might meet the dress code, but we all know it would look pretty darn silly.

But the problem we have now in the Marvel Universe, courtesy of Avengers v1 #332, is that now any costume is considered appropriate. Shouldn't we evaluate these things on a case-by-case basis?

I mean, let's say you're going with one of Hawkeye's old looks:


Now, thanks to this hard-and-fast "Marvel Universe" rule, Hawkeye can now meet the President wearing no pants, and that's perfectly okay.

Or, what about Captain Ultra?


Yeah, it's a cheap shot because he clearly exists only to have his costume made fun of, but you can see how there being no accounting for taste can cause problems at formal fund-raisers in the Marvel Universe.

And sometimes, it's just a question of consideration for others. I give you Cloud from the New Defenders:


Of course, it doesn't bother me, but I can see why a naked girl barely covered by mist in her PG-13 regions would cause some problem at a formal dining occasion. There's also a lot of opportunity for an embarrassing faux pas. Can you imagine watching Cloud eating French onion soup?

Or, the final outrage, male Cloud!!:


Yeah. You see the problem there.

I'm not sure if this rule has ever been repealed, but if it hasn't, it should be.

See you tomorrow!