A while back, a friend asked me to recommend some sex-themed comics that aren’t terrible. As a person with both a column about comics and astronomical knowledge of sexy comics, I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone and use this month’s column to make recommendations. Now that I’ve started, however, I’m worried I can’t do justice to the subject in 400 words. Comics and smut have a long and glorious history together, from depictions of the liaisons of gods and demi-gods right through the French Libertines’ satirical pamphlets featuring Marie Antoinette letting them eat cake (among other things).

Easily the most historically relevant smut comics in more recent times are Tijuana Bibles, pamphlets running eight pages and printed on cheap paper featuring popular characters like Betty Boop or Popeye in sexy situations. They peaked in popularity around the Depression but were made up until the ’60s. Tijuana Bibles are fascinating time-capsules of cultural trends and often unintentionally hilarious to boot. However, if—like most people—you don’t have a burning desire to see poorly-rendered versions of Jughead or J. Wellington Wimpy in their full glory, they may not be your thing. In fact, artistically relevant erotic comics could be said to have dropped off the map almost entirely in the last century. We of the internet generation are no strangers to cartoon smut, but it’s only very recently that anyone has attempted to make changes in the way comics reflect our sexual culture.

Almost all of the best erotic graphica to emerge in the last few years have been written and drawn by women, giving the comics scene a much-needed push towards more multifaceted depictions of female sexuality. Probably the best known is Jess Fink’s sepia-toned steampunk love story Chester 5000 XYV, which is available in full online but due to be released in book form by Top Shelf in 2011. It seemed to become everyone’s new favourite comic overnight when it started running last year, and it’s not hard to see why: no graphic work for a long time has been simultaneously so beautiful, funny and sexy. But the real magic of Chester is that the sexiness comes first—it’s a “smut comic” that also happens to have clean artistic lines, sharp characters and a real beating heart behind it. Just knowing it’s possible to combine those things could mean huge leaps and bounds for sexual liberation.

Another up-and-comer in the erotic comics milieu is Oglaf, an online comic (I know, I know, another one) that follows, among other things, the adventures of a manservant-intern to a libidinous femme-fatale dictator. While author/artist Trudy Cooper has no qualms about calling her work porn, the elegant artwork and impeccable comedic timing present a challenge to the already-flawed working definition of the word.

Sex isn’t a back room deal anymore. Kids have access to sexual images the second they develop the motor skills to open a browser and society still seems to be working out what this will mean for the new reigning generation. Comics like Oglaf and Chester represent the hope that easier access to erotic art (or, to use Cooper’s translation of this phrase, “porn that works for me”) could mean a more sex-positive society, rather than a society of overwhelmed, oversexed, ill-adjusted berserkers.

Or, you know, maybe not. But the sheer numbers of terrific sexy comics out there make it difficult not to see this as a real trend. There are so many good ones that I feel compelled to mention them all: Curvy, I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space! and the now-ended (but still available in full) Girly and DAR are all worth a peek—for story, for art or just for the cartoon boobs and dicks. You might find yourself sticking around for all three. I can guarantee Popeye doesn’t appear in any of them. U

(+6 rating, 3 votes)

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