Who shot the better Jessica Rabbit?

I've always liked this Playboy cover from '88. But the recent portrait by Ryan Astamendi is really something else.


The difference between these two images is like night and day. The Playboy cover merely places the subject, as if to say that all the model had to do was 'show up'. No storytelling or emotion at all. And the blank expression on the model's face is more like a catalogue
photo than an impression of a character as iconic as Jessica Rabbit. In short, they phoned it in. It seems the only details they have gotten right are the gown and gloves. But they too fall short as they're too slavishly an echo of the film.
Plus the perspective of her bustline is off!
Ryan's shot, on the other hand is a great piece of storytelling. Jessica looks like the torch song siren she is in the film. And the sideways glance she gives at the audience is engaging and sensual. The bare stage setting frames the figure perfectly and the old-fashioned microphone, that Ryan bought especially for the shoot brings it
all together perfectly.
Check out Ry's photography by using the link in the 'Link-O-Rama' section on the right, there's lots of great portrait work there, and even a few Disney Princesses that I think you'll find enchanting.