Sex, when you get down to it that’s about the single driving reason for comics. American culture is much too prudish to have open, honest, stories about sex even if comics aren’t for kids anymore. Overseas, in Asia specifically, sex in comics is much more mainstream and accepted whereas here in America it’s tamped down, kept hidden in backrooms and behind blockers so as to not offend or incur the wrath of the morally correct.
It’s no secret that Dr. William Moulton Marston used behavioral science to help create Wonder Woman in 1941 and there’s been discussion about his introducing the deviant lifestyle of domination and submission to young boys at the time. Today Wonder Woman continues to be a lead character wearing much less than her male peers and still using the lasso to ‘persuade’ the people she so chooses. The idea of male costumes is muscles and six packs while women show much more skin than it would be reasonable to tangle in. At least Red Sonja (who did not originate as a comic book heroine) admitted that the chain mail bikini she famously wore was purposefully meant to distract her predominantly male opponents.
Even if we overlook the costumes, or lack of, let’s take a look at the impossible poses women are thrust into; the unnaturally arched backs, breasts and buttocks in the same field of vision… I think of all artists I’ve heard say that anatomy is most important in becoming a comic book illustrator… I came across this image quite a while ago and it stuck with me as far as comic women versus men and the idea of role reversal.
Now esthetics aside completely, storylines are teaming with sex just barely contained under the pressure of the lid. In some cases I think that’s a good thing. Give me a good story where sex isn’t there for sex’s sake, but where it can help advance the plot. Some of the great crime stories that are being published right now, there was Identity Crisis from years ago, heck, we’ve even got a book simply titled “Sex” today (unfortunately I find that more of a shock value kind of story). At some point in our lives every one of us will have engaged in sex, whether for fun, procreation, or any other reason, it’s a bonding experience that creates a whole new idea and set of feelings. With that can come the stories that are much more relatable and identifiable than say catching a car or punching someone through a wall (although I’m also quite certain that we’ve all imagined we’d like to do that to someone).
The boundaries are constantly being pushed but I do wish we could honestly and openly just have a good, healthy, sexual culture. Then there wouldn’t be the need to expend so much effort hiding it all in plain sight. A highlight of where you might find your comic geek titillation this week begins with Dark Horse Comics’ Clown Fatale #1(of 4), $3.99, written by Victor Gischler and drawn by Maurizio Rosenzweig. Sexy female clowns are mistaken for contract killers and abandon their shabby traveling circus for a world of violence and cruelty-with clown makeup…
DC Comics’ Paul Levitz, R. B. Silva, and Joe Weems give us World’s Finest #17, $2.99, in which Power Girl tries to restore her powers to full strength with the superhero equivalent of sunbathing…
Superman Wonder Woman The Kiss statue, $249.95 immortalizes the world famous cover of Justice League #12…
And after Avatar’s Crossed, there are plenty more that are not listed that I don’t even want to get into. For a more complete list, feel free to visit your local comic store or favorite site. If you’re interested in more of what I think, follow me on Twitter at Mycomicstore001 or like my Facebook page.
Michael R. Murray is a full-time letter carrier for the United States Postal Service who’s started working towards figuring out just who reads this and how we can make it bigger and better since ya’ll are silent contributors.