By Tim Pilcher (Ilex)
ISBNs: 978-1-905814-22-0 & 978-1-905814-37-4
¡Perfect Christmas Present Alert! For him or her if they’re “Of Ageâ€
I’ll start this review with a confession: I must declare a previous interest in both the author (not that that I fancy him – dishy though he indisputably is – but rather that I have known him for years) and also one of the creators and series liberally discussed in this laudably expansive and superbly researched pair of stunners. So can we agree that I’m completely biased about my pal John Maybury’s utterly delightful, racy, spacy Spacebabe 113 (Google it now and see why) which concludes the second volume and concentrate on the saucy remainder of these two lavish hardbacks revealing the secrets and wonders of the kind of comics you’d hide from your mum?
There has always been sex in comics – as there has in all of our creative arts. We’re barely evolved monkeys after all, and sex – before, after, during and even when not to – totally obsesses us all. Everybody thinks about sex: it’s just that folk can’t disagree on the whens, wheres, hows and with whoms (and what)…
These two volumes take a broad overview rather than a dry, incisive inspection, exploring the history and depiction of the act from titillating glamour all the way to All The Way(s), with histories, examples and illustrations from some of the greatest artists and fevered imagineers in the history of art.
Volume 1 tracks the origins of this literally global and perennial art-form from oriental prints through bawdy English cartoons, naughty postcards, scandalous Tijuana Bibles and the “gentlemen’s under-the-counter†publications of the 1950s/1960s, early illustrated fetish and bondage magazines through to the sexual revolution of the Underground Comix movement. Featured artists include Jack Cole, John Willie, Eric Stanton, Bill Ward, Robert Crumb, Dan DeCarlo, Will Elder, Franco Saudelli and many more.
The second volume picks up with the American comic book crisis in 1954 and the rise of the Comics Code Authority, examines Gay and Lesbian Comics, uncovers the always healthy Continent with European Erotique, outlines the frankly indescribable Japanese Experience and concludes with a peek into the future with online Comics Eroticism. Amongst the hundreds of dedicated smut-mongers here are Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie, Dave Stevens, Frank Cho, Frank Thorne, Howard Chaykin, Howard Cruse, P. Craig Russell, Donna Barr, Roberta Gregory, Manara, Giardino, Serpieri, Hunt Emerson, the aforementioned Mr. Maybury, and Jess Fink and such stars as Omaha the Cat Dancer, Cherry (don’t call her Poptart), Druuna and Firkin the Cat. Also revealed are the exotic mysteries of such unique Japanese sub-genres as Hentai, Lolicon and Yaoi…
Immensely impressive and wildly entertaining these lavish hardback books are strictly adults only and far too heavy to hold in one hand for long…
2008 the Ilex Press Limited. All rights reserved. www.ilex-press.com