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Comics That Turn You On

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Our Lady Has Left the Building

08:34 / 13.06.07

Inspired by discussions on Comic Book Queers (the latest of which has a shoutout to Barbelith for the Chris Claremont rumour, so I expect Brett to make himself known if he's on the board) and reading a blog entry about Flex Mentallo issue 3, have you ever been, shall we say, moved by comics or art?

I have to say that Rob Liefield... No, no no. I can't say that there's many artists that draw what I would consider sexy, muscles and stubble don't move me (and doesn't attract me to the men either, ba-dum bum!) although a clear exception would be the Jim Lee Colossus, back in his Uncanny days, and it's odd because no other artist had that effect on me with that character. Jim Lee's Colossus was a sleek Cossack love machine, John Romita Junior's Colossus was a fucking brick shithouse. Not-so-shock revelation: Straight male artists tend not to know how to draw attractive men (I love that Invisibles letter column where Phil Jiminez anguishes about whether his Ragged Robin is sexy)!

So, do you have a fantasy about you, Big Barda and Wonder Woman's lasso?

(And, with my moderator hat on, I will try to shut this thread down if anyone can't keep it in their pants or decides to go John Byrne on us, so let's play nicely m'kay?)

Mysterious Transfer Student

09:28 / 13.06.07

I'll take the plunge! I never post in Comics anyway, no one'll I miss me if I overstep and have to leave the thread.

Shade the Changing Man is still probably the sexiest comic I hold fond memories of from my youth. Mainly thanks to Bachalo and his knack for drawing exotic, elfin women who also managed to be realistically proportioned and down to earth. Milligan writing witty, sensational characters was a big factor needless to say.

Actually, thinking about it, the sexiness of Shade had less to do with the looks than the lifestyle. These angsty, beautiful, marginal people, continually drifting about, experiencing terrible extremes of pain, strangeness and joy, forever intersecting with the lives of other bizarre romantic outsiders... and wearing really great coats. It was the kind of beatnik odyssey you wanted to live in, without the Beat-era seediness and misogyny. It still reads just the same today.

(All right, starting penalty for use of the word 'elfin'.)

Essential Dazzler

09:33 / 13.06.07

This is going to turn into one of those threads were people list Milligan comics isn't it? I was going to mention Minx and Enigma.

I'll have a think and see if I can come up with anything non-Milligan before I detail those.

Janean Patience

10:11 / 13.06.07

I think this thread is crippled from the outset by our real and justified fear of shame.

That said, I remember having crushes on Judge Anderson and Durham Red when I was a young 'un. The latter in her Ezquerra-drawn newsprint days rather when she got all airbrushed. And the former especially when Ian Gibson was on art, though oddly my fascination with Halo Jones had no erotic component.

Mysterious Transfer Student

12:22 / 13.06.07

2000AD and Vertigo are, I'm guessing, the two most fertile sources for Barb-type people to have obtained their nice dreams. Of course the proportion who are going to be willing to overcome the FoS and talk about it here is likely miniscule, but let's forge on. Mainstream She-Hulk's shoulder-pads/ Batman sexy science-ninja meanderings are to be encouraged, of course, until the Mod Hammer of Justice comes down to spare us all.

I have another! Michael Allred's Atomics. Again it's the hipster/beat thing, without all the unpleasantness that implies, but with enormous industrial-grade quantities of wit, oddness and fluorescent Joy. Luna Romy/It Girl in particular managed to tap a current of high Nineties Sarah Michelle Gellar-ish blonde effervescence that should by rights have made that series bigger than Gen 13. And the way Allred insisted they ran the book on newsprint-quality paper just made it all the better.

If we get a decent head of steam on this thread I may start another someone else had an idea for, about the implications of finding yourself seriously crushing on fictional characters. Probably Convo as it'll have to take in books and film as well.

13:13 / 13.06.07

I have no shame about being hard wired for James O'Barr's orignal Crow sexiness. As a wee proto darkling the Crow's crazed gaunt scarred hawtness was supreme. I suppose that would explain why I spent so much money on collecting the series....

13:38 / 13.06.07

Darwyn Cooke's cover for an issue of X-Force where he filled in for Allred, showing Edie Sawyer sitting in Bed wearing Guy Smith's top, made me stop and think, "damn, that's hot." I don't buy many comics based on covers, but I bought that one (and then fell into Milligan/Allred/Cooke fandom, so it was a win-win).

Mysterious Transfer Student

13:48 / 13.06.07

Damn straight, Cobra.

Rottingly, I reserve the right to find the coinage a wee proto darkling, and the associated image of the youthful wide-eyed XK eagerly devouring the angstful outpourings of O'Barr, really quite endearing.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:43 / 13.06.07

Presumably best to stick to "straight" comics rather than looking at the porn comix which are - strictly speaking - designed to move you. Or we could branch out a bit?

Ed McGuiness's men have a certain, visceral jock-hotness about them. Which I maintain contributes to that weirdly slashy undercurrent in Superman/Batman.

Back when he was doing JLA, Bryan Hitch made all the Leaguers - particularly Clark, Diana, Wally, and Kyle - particularly sexy, without resorting to the oddly photo-referenced look he'd end up using with The Ultimates. He was fairly good at drawing a good runner's build.

And, yes, have to second Enigma, although that always seemed to me to be part of the desired effect...it's drenched in sublimated desire and awkward first expressions.

There was some of it in Fantastic Four 1234...maybe it was the constant talk of the heat and the weird use of space going on, but there was definitely sex going on in there, uncomfortable and a bit angry.

16:36 / 13.06.07

Spider-woman from New Avengers.
I feel pathetic broadcasting this thought, but i just can't NOT.

17:06 / 13.06.07

There has been a request for my halloween costume to be the Baroness. I think I need a bit more summer exercise before the spray on black suit can be applied but it would seem to indicate a certain someone in my life found/finds her sexy.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

17:16 / 13.06.07

Pacific State is This is going to turn into one of those threads were people list Milligan comics isn't it?

There was never a world pre-Crisis where this was a bad thing.

I was going to mention Minx and Enigma.

Oooh, can I ask for an explanation of you choosing Minx please? From little I recall it was a distinctly un-erotic book.

XK I have no shame about being hard wired for James O'Barr's orignal Crow sexiness.

Fuck yes! No apologies needed! The first Crow series and art rocked and I will fight anyone if they say differently. And while we're worshipping at the altar of embaresssing early nineties Gothdom, old Morpheus, the Robert Smith of Sleep, gets the nod too. And Death of course, everyone loves death.

17:58 / 13.06.07

New Member. First reply ever.

Agapê by Trantkat.

The sex is consensual and graphic. The gender-pairings slapdash. The physiology is exquisite. The color and printing vibrant.

And the comic-craft is innovative: Trantkat employs what he calls "flip your eyes" where via a persistance of vision effect you dart your eyes between two panels to create the illusion of motion. Repetitive motions. Repetitive plunging motions.

This smut it a work of art. I give it frequently as a gift. Pretty hard to find in the US, but cheap on Amazon.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

18:04 / 13.06.07

When I was a young Shiny Thing - no more than six or so I suppose, the scenes in Walt Simonsen's Thor featuring Thor drugged and seduced by Lorelai used to have an affect I didn't really understand at all, but knew I enjoyed on my boyparts. I've not read those issues in somewhere between ten and twenty years, so I really have no idea exactly how humiliating a revelation this may be.

18:05 / 13.06.07

There has been a request for my halloween costume to be the Baroness. I think I need a bit more summer exercise before the spray on black suit can be applied but it would seem to indicate a certain someone in my life found/finds her sexy.

Scroll down to June 10.

Essential Dazzler

19:10 / 13.06.07

In no way is it a bad thing, Lady. Am horrified that I might have implied it was.

I've just dug Minx out for a re-read. Stuck on a 5 hour drive today I tried to remember exactly what the book was about, and I feel I may just be conflating it with things that were going on at the time I read it.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

19:35 / 13.06.07

I gotta say, I had a bit of a crush on Death in High Cost of Living. I kind of think I was supposed to, though. Either way it led to a few years wasted at a goth club.

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:35 / 13.06.07

Well, of course you were. Death is a fantasy. She's attractive, perky, infinitely powerful, and yet kooky! Kooky enough to find spotty teenaged humans fascinating! This effect particularly pronounced in The High Cost of Living. When drawn by Hempel/Disraeli, she's a bit less obvious, and all the better for it.

21:40 / 13.06.07

I was moved by the young love presented in Millennium Fever one of those Vertigo minis, the likes of which are not to be found these days.

And of course just about anyone in Kill Your Boyfriend

22:42 / 13.06.07

I miss my swank Death poster. Lovely thing with her sitting with a leg thrown out all casual like. I have no idea who the artist was sadly.

Time spent in goth clubs is not wasted. It's being used for more interesting things then you think.

00:21 / 14.06.07

Quitely's Lucy Lane in those last pages. It's as if straight from Milo Manara.

Mysterious Transfer Student

08:07 / 14.06.07

Presumably best to stick to "straight" comics rather than looking at the porn comix which are - strictly speaking - designed to move you. Or we could branch out a bit?

*slams door of cupboard bulging with hentai manga, whistles nonchalantly*

There was some talk of the porn output of Brandon Graham a while ago and whether that was a fit topic for discussion... was that what you were thinking of?

As a novice in Comics I don't want to lead the discussion on this, admittedly frivolous, thread, but at the same time I'm aware that issues of sexist content and stuff that people frankly don't want to have to deal with in this space are continually of concern, and that this forum has received quite a lot of attention of late in this respect. So some guidance would be appreciated.

A disclaimer: I do not own any hentai manga. However I have read a certain amount of it, enough to be able to talk about it with knowledge and conviction. A very tiny amount of it was amusing, sexy and well-executed without being more demeaning to women than it absolutely had to be; the rest made me want to hide in a dark space feeling shame for all malekind. So it will *not* be my intention to fly the flag for hentai on this board.

Twig the Wonder Kid

08:43 / 14.06.07

I'm so glad no-one is saying stuff like Frank Cho's female ultron from Mighty Avengers. For me, that book embodies so much that's just plain wrong about comic books.

See also Danger Girl.

It seems there a lot of you who are more attracted to character than representation (Milligan stuff, Death, all of which I second) - which is very mature of you all. So I'm gonna counter that by confessing to my long standing, completely irrational obsession with DC's Huntress.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:27 / 14.06.07

How is fancying Death necessarily being attracted more to (I assume you mean non-visual) character than (I assume you mean visual) representation?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:02 / 14.06.07

Transfer: There was some talk of the porn output of Brandon Graham a while ago and whether that was a fit topic for discussion... was that what you were thinking of?

As an intial thought, yes. I'm still quite curious to see what his porn work is like. "Perverts of the Unknown," as titles go, still entices me.

Twig: I'm so glad no-one is saying stuff like Frank Cho's female ultron from Mighty Avengers. For me, that book embodies so much that's just plain wrong about comic books.

There is something interesting playing out over there with the new Ultron being so completely & obviously nude but so utterly anatomically-incorrect at the same time. Especially given that ze's mimicking hir inventor's ex-wife, only with more fantastical proportions. It's moderately sad that nothing interesting is probably going to come of it, but I'm trying not to spend money on Marvel right now anyway.

Fly: How is fancying Death necessarily being attracted more to (I assume you mean non-visual) character than (I assume you mean visual) representation?

Possibly might be the way we're talking about them, consciously avoiding the cliches of "ZOMG! Ze is so hawtt!!11!!"

16:10 / 14.06.07

we gots a hentai thread but you know I was really the only poking it with the stick.

I'd be interested in bumping it to discuss the problematic yet effective aspects of the genre. Some stuff over in the Sexy/Scary thread has been bothering me in terms of hentai. In particular the 'I know it's bad but it turns me on and isn't a real person anyhow' line of thinking. Seems like something hentai consumming folks need to unpack.

16:10 / 14.06.07

Everone that Philip Bond draws, pretty much.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:57 / 14.06.07

Yeah, Bond draws very attractive characters. Which is curious, as his still is so animated rather than airing on the side of realism. That might be worth exploring.

In particular the 'I know it's bad but it turns me on and isn't a real person anyhow' line of thinking. Seems like something hentai consumming folks need to unpack.

I don't actually know much about hentai, but I'd like to see it unpacked a little bit over here. I'm having trouble articulating thoughts about comic book sexuality today, but the (relative) safety of being able to put uncomfortable or outright destructive sexual fantasies into fictional characters portrayed on paper (as drawn image or word or both) seems a place to go with this. Attraction to two-dimensional drawn characters and the sexual expressions therein...agh.

17:09 / 14.06.07

>> As an intial thought, yes. I'm still quite curious to see what his porn work is like. "Perverts of the Unknown," as titles go, still entices me.

Brandon Graham's porn work is pretty much played for comedy across the board, FYI. He's mentioned that he got complaints from his publishers for having too many dialogues scenes with not enough sex, or (heaven forbid) some character development amidst the sex that was there. One of his characters in a porn book is named 'DeForest KY' and her nickname is "Bones." So it's a lot of comedy laced with lots of geek/pop culture references.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

17:37 / 14.06.07

[Post removed to prevent thread rot]

Went googling around and found some of Graham's porno comix work. Might start a thread or stick a link over on the KING CITY thread for potential discussion.

17:54 / 14.06.07

I think unless the thread summary gets changed it's not intended for porn comics discussion and we should maybe lift that out into another thread. Especially as the unsuspecting may get confused/annoyed.

18:30 / 14.06.07

makes sense!

And ditto on the Simonson Thor storyline up above, must admit. *embarrassed blush*

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:50 / 14.06.07

You have a point, XK, sorry. Have moved to get my post with the link edited to take it out so we can put it somewhere else later on.

21:17 / 14.06.07

King Mob and Robin in Volume II had some pretty hot moments, when he goes down on her in the first issue, when she goes down on him and we cut to the Tower tarot card. But, the hottest issue of the series was undoubtedly "Only Lovers Left Alive," which followed the team on a steamy journey through New Orleans.

21:34 / 14.06.07

Everything in the Milligan/Fregredo Enigma series. It's the textures that do it, I think. The overlaps and that whole redrawn territory, strange/familiarity vibe.

Frank Quitely's X-Men was meant to be sexysex quite a bit, but it was his Scott Summers that did it for me.

Jack Kirby's Big Barda.

Hellsing's Sir Integra. I'm a sucker for anything in glasses. And neckties. Who could have me killed.

Flex Mentallo and much of Adam Warren's worked for me in a very different way. Like slipstream sexy.

I'm also a sucker for vast numbers of bishies from a vast selection of comics. Must be thin, have good shoulders, and an ability to make bangs transparent. And sparkle. I apparently lost my quality/sense filter for this style.

On the 'it's supposed to' but doesn't, side:

Manara's women are a bit damaged looking. All the time. Even that one where it's just some gal rollerskating about town and having a sandwich. Like they're all bruises under the make up.

I have no idea what actually convinces people Frank Cho draws sexy people. He's capable of being consistent, he can draw decent funny animals, but people, sexy, in that way?

I vaguely remember enjoying Midnight Panthers, but not finding it particularly sexy. I can't even remember if this was actually a porn comic or - no, google says it's porn, or near to. So it kinda failed on that front.

Anyhow, did Lost Girls do a thing for anyone? I recall the Barbe-thread said 'no,' but it's been some time.

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