From the 1970s to the Present Day

by Tim Pilcher

  But lofty ideals of promoting comics as art didn’t pay the bills and Fantagraphics hit financial problems in the late ‘80s. Needing to make money quickly, Groth and Thompson turned to a sure-fire seller — sex—and launched Eros Comix in 1990. “Porn came to us in a vision,” joked Thompson. Many saw the new imprint at odds with The Comic Journal’s high ideals, but Groth remained unrepentant: “The criticism doesn’t discomfort me in the least. The only criticism that bothers you is criticism that’s on target. The porn we publish is invoked by perennial carpers as the last, sputtering criticism when they can’t make anything else stick. Publishing porn to subsidize literary work is practically a tradition in lit publishing, so my impurity doesn’t bother me much.” When pushed, in an interview by Sequential Tart in 2000, about Fantagraphics lack of superhero comics, yet its willingness to cash in with the Eros line, Groth simply replied, “I like sex. I don’t like superheroes.”

  Ron Wilber’s 1990 three issue miniseries, Domino Lady, was an erotic homage to the “spicy” pulp novels of the 1930s and 40s, and to the character herself, who first appeared in 1936’s Saucy Romantic Adventures.

  A page from Domino Lady #1, subtitled, Hell’s Fanged Horror of Doom! Domino, AKA Ellen Patrick, became a crime fighter to avenge the death of her district attorney-father.

  Ron Wilber created a sequel to the original series, Domino Lady’s Jungle Adventure.

  Eros’ initial line-up was an eclectic mixed bag of titles, including The Erotic Worlds of Frank Thorne, I Wanna Be Your Dog by Ho Che Anderson, Wendy Whitebread, Undercover Slut by Don Simpson, Liaison Delicieuses by Richard Forg, and Birdland by Gilbert Hernandez. The latter was described as a “voyeuristic foray into the lives of several strippers, bodybuilders, horny aliens, and a sensuous psychiatrist” and was typical of Eros’ original plan of publishing intelligent erotica, both originated by US creators and European reprints. Sex sells, and Eros Comix sold very well, bankrolling Fantagraphics for several years.

  Eros’ quality has varied greatly over the years, but has always known its origins, publishing Tijuana Bibles, classic work by Eric Stanton, and Kate Worley’s and Reed Waller’s Omaha the Cat Dancer. Sadly, the titles of many comics didn’t stand up to scrutiny, such as Tales from the Clit and Aunts in your Pants by Enrico Teodorani and The Sexual Misadventures of Kung Fu Girl by Kono Yaro, which suggested a cheesy porn movie ethic, rather than sophisticated erotica.

  Dinosaur porn from Birdland indicates that creator Gilbert Hernandez perhaps wasn’t taking his erotica series entirely seriously.

  Gilbert Hernandez initially came to fame via his women-positive strips in Love & Rockets, which had a huge female following. So when he created the hardcore erotic miniseries, Birdland, for Eros Comix, many of his fans were surprised, shocked, and dismayed, despite several characters from L&R appearing in it.

  Throughout the 1990s Eros was one of the highest profile and most important publishers of erotic comic books, paving the way for many other publishers to enter the genre. There is no area of sexual fetishism that Eros hasn’t published, from hardcore BDSM to sexual parodies of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files. Comedy is an important part of many titles, as Eros is acutely aware of the ridiculousness of human beings in the pursuit of sexual gratification.

  These days Eros Comix has diversified into being a retailer of other publishers’ erotica (such as NBM) and of DVDs and Japanese erotic manga, known as hentai. Eros’ catalog has over 470 items in it, mostly adult comic books, yet Fantagraphics is less dependant on the erotic imprint now, as the rest of the planet has finally caught up with the parent company’s worldview of comics as art. This, combined with the rise of erotic comics on the Internet, has meant that Eros, while publishing important and intelligent work, potentially faces challenges in the future.

  Panels from New Zealander Dylan Horrocks’ uninhibited—and tender—story, The First Time, from Eros Comix’s second volume of the erotic anthology, Dirty Stories.

  The orgiastic cover to 2000’s Dirty Comics #2 by Rick Altergott.

  This Spider-Man parody, One Thousand Pardons by David Lasky and “Many Hands,” featured Peter (AKA Skeeter-Man) having to cope with inadvertently acquiring an 83-foot long penis.

  ALTERNATIVE COMICS, ALTERNATIVE SEX?

  But while Eros’ erotic comics have become increasingly threatened by the internet, Fantagraphics has grown in popularity with a more general audience, and went on to introduce adult themes into their “mainstream” titles. The main difference with these titles was their approach to sex was never solely to titillate or arouse the readers but, rather, to incorporate sex into stories as a fact of everyday life, and to examine themes related — but not wholly dedicated — to sex.

  A good example of how sex was importantly — yet non-sensationally — covered in Fantagraphics’ titles was Love & Rockets. Both creators, Jaime (Xaime) and Gilbert (Beto) Hernandez, wrote and drew sexual situations sensitively and empathically. Jaime’s strip, initially called Mechanics, had a maturing and well fleshed out cast, which dealt with the on-again/off-again love affair between two girls, Maggie and Hopey, living in a tough barrio known as Hoppers. But Jaime’s presentation of the affair wasn’t a sleazy fanboy drool-fest of hot lesbian girl-on-girl action, despite sex scenes appearing. In fact, Jaime’s portrayal of the romance was so favorable that in the late-Eighties they became positive role models for the increasingly vocal lesbian movement.

  Another example of how the mature “alternative” scene treated sex was Charles Burns’ Black Hole. Originally serialised as a 12-issue miniseries from Kitchen Sink and Fantagraphics, it was collected into a graphic novel by Michael Joseph/Pantheon in 2005. The Harvey Award–winning story continued themes Burns had been exploring in the anthology RAW with his Big Baby and Skin Deep series, that of paranoia, puberty, sexual insecurities, alienation, and sexually transmitted diseases.

  Inspired by Burns’ own school days, the tale is set in suburban Washington state in the mid-1970s. Black Hole focuses on a group of high school students who hang out smoking pot and trying to get laid. However, there’s a weird disease, “the bug,” going around that when contracted through intercourse starts to mutate the students in various ways. The story touches on themes explored by film director David Cronenberg, and while there are certainly arousing erotic moments between the central characters Keith and his soon-to-be-girlfriend Chris, the overall effect of the story is more likely to pour cold water on any young man’s ardour than to help him rise to the occasion.

  Another implicit story of sexual awakening was the much less creepy Blankets by Craig Thompson. Thompson’s semi-autobiographical 600-page magnum opus stemmed from a simple idea: to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time. Coming from a deeply Christian family Thompson didn’t believe in sex before marriage, and so we see his romance and sexual explorations, without he and his girlfriend breaking their chastity vows. The book portrays sex as a deeply tender sharing of two people with each other, and remains a positive approach to sex in sequential art.

  These, and many more titles, made creators realize that they could discuss sexual experiences — either their own, in Joe Matt and Julie Doucet’s case, or as crass slapstick in Johnny Ryan and Ivan Brunetti’s — with the freedom and intelligence their underground progenitors had done 20 years previously. Certainly Matt’s masturbatory confessions in Peepshow owe everything to Robert Crumb’s pioneering work.

  The gorgeous and irrepressible Penny Century (aka Beatríz García) from Love and Rockets. Here Jaime Hernandez pays homage to classic cheesecake pin-up artists of the 1950s, particularly in the first panel.

  Charles Burns’ black and white brushstrokes on Black Hole give the story a David Lynch dream-like quality of eroticism mixed with unease and disquiet.

  Hopey goes down on Maggie in a car, in a rare color strip by Jaime Hernadez, from the Locas in Love graphic novel.

  Thompson and then-girlfriend, Raina, explore the limits of their sexu
ality in the award-winning Blankets, published by Top Shelf in 2003.

  NBM

  Launched in 1976 by publisher Terry Nantier while still at University, NBM was originally called Flying Buttress Publications. Inspired by his teen years in Paris where he first encountered bande dessinées (French comics and “albums”), Nantier formed a partnership with Chris Beall and Marc Minoustchine, and the company changed its name to NBM, using their last initials for the new title. Like Gary Groth at Fantagraphics, Nantier recalled he “was not interested in publishing superheroes, but reaching as wide a potential audience as possible. In those days, there were no independent comics…the only thing close [were] undergrounds.”

  Racket Ramba, a MAD-like detective story spoof by French artist Loro was NBM’s first imported title in the spring of 1977, around the same time as Heavy Metal first appeared. “In the first few years, it was very tough going,” Nantier recalled. “The concept was pretty radical at the time.”

  While similarly inspired by the quality of material being produced in Europe — just as Heavy Metal was — NBM took a slightly different route to publishing it in the United States. It was one of the first publishers to bring the concept of the graphic novel, or album as they are called in France, to America. It launched with such legendary creators as Enki Bilal and Hugo Pratt, and erotic comic artists Milo Manara and Georges Pichard.

  Extreme hardcore comics in Frans Mensink’s Kristina, Queen of Vampires, published by NBM in 2005.

  Banana Games by Christian Zanier was published by NBM in America and Tabou in France. This high-octane sex ’n’ violence version of Thelma and Louise (where one is a pre-op transsexual) was very successful.

  The Queen of Vampires was staked through the heart and buried, only to rise 200 years later when a criminal is murdered above her grave and his blood revives her. The series mixes cop drama, supernatural elements, and sex scenes.

  In the early ‘90s NBM moved into the erotic publishing area substantially when it launched its two imprints Eurotica and Amerotica, featuring the best sex comics from both continents, ensuring the work was “something that pushes the envelope, even if in a small way, something fun to read and not empty headed.” One of their earliest titles was a translation of The Illustrated Kama Sutra by Georges Pichard in 1991.

  Eight years later, both imprints were going so well that in 1999 NBM’s Eurotica launched the ground-breaking erotic comic anthology, Sizzle. The first issue featured the typical mixture of US and European creators, with strips including Live Nude Girl by Petra Waldron and Jennifer Finch, Shadow and Light — The Arrangement by Quinn, Grin and Bare it by Dany (Daniel Henrotin), and Emily’s Secret by Marcus Gray.

  The anthology has gone from strength to strength, with its quality of writing and art improving with every issue. It has picked up many leading lights in erotic comics including bondage artist Michael Manning (who also had one of his first graphic novels — The Spider Garden — published by Amerotica in 1991), and published all new adventures of Omaha the Cat Dancer by Reed Waller, James Vance, and Kate Worley.

  NBM still support their mainstream material with more cutting edge and explicit works in the erotic comic genre, and the company has grown to become the second largest indie comics publisher after Fantagraphics, with a $3 million annual turnover and over 200,000 graphic novels sold a year. It continues to produce excellent erotica and, in its own words, “Comics that are shameless, not shameful!”

  Michael Manning and Patrick Conlon’s sexy science fiction series, Tranceptor, appeared in Sizzle magazine before being collected in two volumes to date, the first being Tranceptor: The Way Station in 1998.

  Several panels from Colin Murray’s strip The Palace of a Thousand Pleasures, starring Vikki Belle. This story was Vikki’s third saucy romp which had a cheeky humor akin to Britain’s Carry On… movie series.

  More no-holds-barred pages from Manning and Patrick Colon’s sexy science fiction series, Tranceptor.

  The cover to NBM’s erotic anthology magazine, Sizzle #34, with art by Manning and Conlon. This actually became the cover to Tranceptor: Book Two: Iron Gauge (Part One) published in 2007.

  VEROTIK: DEATH METAL AND DAMES

  Glenn Danzig — the hard rock/punk musician, and singer/songwriter for legendary bands such as The Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig — was always a comic book fan and collector, and originally wanted to write and draw comics, but music got in the way.

  However, he carried on collecting comic art. “He bought several of my originals once his career had blossomed,” recalled comic maestro Mike Kaluta, who went on to paint the cover for Danzig’s Black Aria album. Danzig’s sense of the dramatic stood him in good stead, as did his love of horror and gore. After a successful and long musical career, encompassing horror punk rock, heavy metal, and industrial, to blues and classical, and having influenced Metallica, Rob Zombie, and Guns N’ Roses, Danzig returned to his first love, comics, when he set up his own publishing company, Verotik, in the early 1990s.

  The company concentrated on mature-themed comics featuring demonic babes who were sexy to look at but would tear your heart out, quite literally. Danzig was initially inspired by artists like fantasy legend Frank Frazetta, comics king Jack Kirby, and ‘70s underground comix, but Verotik’s titles also appealed to Heavy Metal and Faust readers, and Danzig’s hard rock fans.

  Danzig sought out artists who had a similar “rawk” (rock music) edge about them and could draw sexy women with attitude. He became friends with 2000 AD and Heavy Metal artist Simon Bisley, who also played drums in his own rock band in the UK. For over 15 years Bisley has drawn plenty of buxom beauties for Verotik, as well as more esoteric projects, such as an adaptation of Milton’s Paradise Lost.

  Another hardcore artist who joined the Verotik stable was Martin Emond, a New Zealand cartoonist and painter. In the early stages of his career he illustrated White Trash, a satirical journey through the USA featuring parodies of Elvis and Guns N’ Roses lead singer, Axl Rose.

  Emond designed several sexy covers for Glenn Danzig’s Verotik line, album covers for Evilive Records, and his rock chick illustrations were used as screenprints for the streetwear label Illicit. But Emond was a troubled soul— battling with severe depression—and he committed suicide in L.A. in March, 2004.

  As his friends recalled at his funeral, Emond lived the rock’n’roll lifestyle: “He was snakeskin cowboy boots, he was rock’n’roll, he was Enter The Dragon, he was ‘Throw up your motherfuckin goats’, he was T.N.T, he was dy-na-mite…”

  Most of Verotik’s characters, such as Satanika and Verotika, exist in a cohesive universe — Verotik World — and often crossed-over into each others’ titles, just as Marvel and DC characters did. Verotik’s impressive roster of comics included Akuma She, Albino Spider of Dajette, Dark Horror of Morella (featuring art by Faust co-creator Tim Vigil), Devilman, G.O.T.H., Igrat, Inquisitor Jaguar God, Sunglasses After Dark, Venus Domina, and Wing*Bird.

  In recent years there has been a trend for movie adaptations of Verotik’s more salacious titles, notably Ed Lee’s Headers and Grub Girl. The latter, directed by Craven Moorehead, featured porn star Brittney Skye as a zombie hooker, looking for vengeance. The tongue-in-cheek horror/porn flick is described as “sucking dick and chomping guts never looked so good!” Danzig himself moved into producing and directing movies and adapted one of his Verotik titles, Ge Rouge, for the big screen as well as his short story, She Only Likes Men, from Verotika #9.

  The modern-day renaissance man has been constantly aware of pushing the comics medium. “If an adult’s comics purchases are still limited to Superman and The X-Men, I think he or she needs their head examined,” said the comic publisher/writer. “There’s nothing wrong with those titles, but with so many great comics out there that are pushing the envelope of what comics can be, I think people are really missing the boat. My feeling is that if a publisher is not hiring the best possible artist and writer, giving them artistic freedom, and backing them with quali
ty production, why bother?”

  An advert, drawn by E. Lewis and “KJ” for Glen Danzig and Calvin Irving’s 1997 Ge Rouge voodoo horror series. Danzig adapted and directed a film version in 2008.

  A Verotik in-house ad for the bi-monthly flagship title, Satanika, written by Glen Danzig and distinctively drawn by Eric Canete and E. Lewis.

  Stan Shaw’s distinctive and sensuous art on Sunglasses After Dark #3, adapted by Nancy A. Collins from her own 1989 vampire novel.

  Several other horror/erotica publishers also launched around the same time, including Carnal Comics, which published its first titles in 1992. Tim Vigil’s younger brother Joe co-created Calavera for Carnal, about a vigilante killing rapists and sexual predators.

  These sexploitation comics are certainly not for everyone, but they have defiantly carved a substantial niche for themselves over the last 15 years by mixing a successful blend of sex and death for a hardcore generation. Yet many of these titles would cause the authorities to shriek in terror and unleash the full weight of the law against the retailers selling them.

  A Verotik in-house ad painted by Martin Emond. The art attracts and repulses simultaneously as it portrays “The strangest, wildest ride in adult comics.”

  Martin Emond’s cover to Sunglasses After Dark #6 (1996).

  Jason Pearson’s rendition of Sonja Blue, the vampire, on the cover to Sunglasses After Dark #5 (1996).