Alternative Visions
Alternative Visions |
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Page 21 of 29  Panel from Downside (Joint Productions, 1990). Art/script: Dave McNamara and Peter Ketley. A hard-hitting Dritish variant on the political soap-opera theme, which ironically quoted Margaret Thatcher on the cover every issue ('Where there is discord, may we bring harmony'). Finally, sex comics emerged as a recognizable genre, though they had no mainstream equivalents in the way that science fiction and horror did. They again traced their origins to the underground, and came to occupy a position in modern comics culture analogous to under-the-counter videos: they were usually sold pre-bagged and sometimes shrink-wrapped. The genre started to grow in the 1980s, but boomed in the early 1990s, as publishers initiated sex lines as a profitable way of supporting their other comics: such was the path taken by Fantagraphics and the 'Eros' imprint, Apple Press with 'Forbidden Fruit', and Slave Labor with their title One Fisted Tales (1992). In terms of content, the sex titles ranged from risque comedy to more serious porn: stories could be sophisticated, where the sex was simply part of a broader narrative, or calculating drivel, designed to get as many appendages into as many orifices as possible. Early hits included Cherry Poptart (Last Gasp, 1982) by Larry Welz, about a sparky blonde bimbo, and her humorous sexual encounters (the characters and settings were based on Archie comics, contrasting Archie-style innuendo with 'real' sex, and attracted numerous 'lawyer's letters' from the publisher of that title); and Omaha the Cat Dancer (Kitchen Sink, 1986), by Reed Waller and Kate Worley, an intelligently-plotted tale of a feline stripper - a sort of Fritz the Cat for the 1980s. Later, the sex comics got uglier, a trend arguably started by the appearance of Black Kiss (Vortex) by Howard Chaykin, in 1988. Described by its creator in the introduction as 'carefree polymorphous promiscuity', with a mandate for 'sex, satanism and snappy repartee', it was in fact deeply misogynist. It was followed by other titles which featured violence against women as a matter of course: Leather and Lace (Aircel, 1989), featured rape for titillation, while Scimidar (Eternity, 1989), was described by one hardened reviewer as 'one of the nastiest comics I've ever seen'." The 1990s saw less of this extreme material, but a parallel descent into pure smut: most notoriously, the Eros line featured such titles as Wendy Whitebread, Undercover Slut (1991), and Time Wankers (1990) - which, frankly, need no further explanation. The non-fiction genres in alternative comics can be divided into autobiography, biography and political documentary. Taking autobiography first, we can say that the form was closely linked to the humour comics because stories tended to be told in an amusing way: the roots of the genre can be traced to underground 'confessionals' by the likes of Robert Crumb and Justin Green. Beyond this, however, titles were as idiosyncratic as their creators. Readers either loved them for being revealing, or reviled them for being navel-gazing and self-obsessed. As ever, certain creators were outstanding, and along with the previously discussed Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Eddie Campbell (Alec), four are worth singling out.  Cover to the graphic novel of Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics, 1987)  Panel from 'Farewell. My Palomar'. Art/script: Gilbert Hernandez. Gilbert's contributions were more serious in tone, and often set in the mythical Mexican village of Palomar.  Cover, Mister X (Vortex. 1984). Art: Dean Motter. In this first issue, the sinister bald hero returns to 'Somnopolis', the future city he has designed. |