Sex Comics – Column

Sex Comics

From the Dirty Minds at N.B.M. Publishing: The latest in Comic Porn from Americatica to Eurotica

by Angela Dauthi

Some people prefer comics to just about anything, and this includes graphic sex. And, just like any other sex industry, there are people who care, and do it well, and others who seem not to have the touch (forgive me, these puns just seem to come out. Oops).

Starting with the best, Michael Manning‘s trilogy of work, The Spider Garden, Hydrophidian, and Cathexis, exemplifies why comics should deal with sex – namely, you can do things that are impossible in the real world. What’s more, his art is incredible, a neo-Asian style obsessed with transvestites, hermaphrodites, obscene technology, other-worldly horse demons, serpent women, sodomy, homoeroticism, bestiality, bondage… All gorgeously depicted and with fantastic text. Not “Fuck me! Whip Me! Bore me!” More like “In morning sunlight – wrapped in a soft cocoon of sheets, she inhales the scent of her own body… Imagining a stolen fantasy of herself. Bright echoes.” Wait. There’s more. Manning is even concerned with story in a genre where plot is usually as prevalent as it is in video porn (i.e. non-existent). The Spider Garden and Hydrophidian is a continuing story of sex, deception, sex, assassination attempts, sex, double crosses, and sex, all taking place in a futuristic setting of tribal clans and insectile machinery. Cathexis is a collection of short stories, ranging from a woman fantasizing (and actualizing) about her roommate’s dog, to an expansion of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Manning seems to truly enjoy his work, and the marriage of art to story is impeccable.

Next up is Spanish Fly -Volume 4 by Tobalina, which is one of the more depressing collections. Although there’s sex on almost every page, the story (from what I could make of it) is about a couple of losers who try to make it big but fail anyway. In this case, it’s sort of a dark soap opera with the requisite amounts of sex, though uninspiring and, well, flaccid.

Much like Attractive Force, by Robert Edison Sandiford and Justin Norman. Sandiford, a poet and erotic storyteller wrote the scripts while Norman airbrushed the living hell out of the art. The stories are definitely erotic, sensual, and passionate, but the art seems like Norman was too shy to get down to it and tried to cover up for it by making the pictures lush, heavily-shaded, and ultimately indistinct and unpleasant.

But The Convent of Hell certainly isn’t. This little tale by Noe and Barreiro about a group of nuns (who, by the way, should probably be called “the convent of large-breasted nuns ages 18-25”) who summon the devil and subsequently unleash their raging libidos, is explicitly and exquisitely drawn, while the dialogue is ludicrous enough to make you forget that a bunch of nuns are fucking Satan (as they get attacked by holy soldiers of the Vatican and try to dissuade them with blowjobs: “gack, cough, cough, a consecrated dick!”). Yeah, it’s pretty weird, but then again, so am I.

Kiki Kjaer gives us Undertow, a sweet tale of a vacation fantasy among a small group of friends, ending up in a psychedelic (literally – they took ‘shrooms) orgy between the four of them. Although not drawn terribly well, the sketchiness of the art could be seen as another way to indicate the dreamy quality of the tale. Or not. This would be something to get your girlfriend, if she’s into that kind of thing.

Last up is a “punk” book, if that’s what you call ridiculous writing and horrid art. Sin 7- Sodomina by Tony Luke is a piece of trash that tries to include photographs and line art together, going for a surreal look, but just ends up sloppy. And when you include “Super Heroes” with names like Scratchman, Erotika, and Enemina (what a pain in the ass), you end up with crap. Oh well, two out of six ain’t bad.