Comic Relief
When words fail, the True Porn series takes the squirm out of the unspeakable.
by Will Doig
October 4 , 2005
That squeamishness you feel about cartoon porn probably has less to do with your parochial-school nuns than with all those Saturday mornings spent with Foghorn Leghorn. Sex in comics — that's the realm of adolescent misfits who spend prom night whacking off to Xena, right?
Fact is, drawings have long been used to open up dialogue about sex when words and photos feel uncomfortably real. Ancient Mayan erotic cave art doesn't look all that dissimilar from your sex-ed teacher's chalkboard stick figures.
In the comic anthology True Porn 2, a spectrum of illustrators knead their sexual issues into little boxed scenarios. Many of their stories have broad, relatable themes — the inherent discomfiture of a three-way, for example. But others are truly intimate, revealing more than most people could volunteer in real life. In "Jamie," a guy discovers that his childhood jerkoff partner has become a pre-op transsexual. In "Faking It", a woman's vulva infection puts her vagina permanently off-limits. Then there are lighter moments: the guy in "I Wish You Were Very Tiny" thinks better of dating a flea-sized woman when she slips into his urethra.
Surprisingly, genitals, bodily fluids and penetration shots are relatively rare, but when they do appear, they're rendered with unsettling realism: flaccid, graceless, and painful. All of the stories are said to be autobiographical, but this is no Penthouse Forum — if anything, you get the sense that these anecdotes are more flush with reality than you'd care to believe.
"Our definition of sex is pretty broad," says co-editor Robyn Chapman. "In fact, we don't even have one." Her partner, Kelli Nelson, agrees. "I'm the only person on the planet reading [X-Men comics] as the torrid, sex soap opera that they are."
That's debatable. There are probably armies of readers who experience comics the same way. Which is why True Porn is, contrary to common perceptions of what constitutes pornography, aptly named. If the anthology's illustrations lack the fantasy airbrushing that might make them a turn-on, they ring true on a level that live action often struggles to achieve. — Will Doig
What were your standards for inclusion?
Robyn: Submissions had to be autobiographical, and they had to be about sex.
Kelli: The only things we wanted to stay away from were pieces that simply had no story. With a subject matter like sex, it's very easy to fall into the trap of simply showing the act and not the reason why the act is important or valuable or even entertaining.
Any embarrassing moments in the editing process?
Robyn: One of the submissions we received used a lot of grayscale, all computer based tones. Which is no problem. And one panel in particular had a close-up of a penis entering a vagina. Again, no problem. Except the penis was drawn unnaturally cylindrical and had a big highlight down its length. Basically, it looked like a dong rather than a flesh-and-blood cock. So Kelli and I had the humbling task of asking the artist to redraw his own penis.
What's your favorite sexually themed comic?
Robyn: For me, it's Joe Matt's Peep Show, especially The Poor Bastard. It was a huge inspiration for True Porn. You really get into the character's mind, his perversions, his neuroses, his obsessions. It's a deeper form of voyeurism, going beyond viewing what Joe Matt does, to understanding who Joe Matt is.
Kelli: I'm going to lose all my indie cred with this, but I love reading X-Men comics. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the planet reading these books as the torrid sex soap opera they are. Motherfuckers don't wear clothes, and they spend their time writhing all over each other during their little fights. When Wolverine threats to stab someone with eleven inches of his rigid, metal fingers, it's just hilarious to me. I also like Joe Matt's Peep Show. That's probably the more socially acceptable response.
Have you ever gotten turned on by a comic?
Robyn: Oh, certainly. For me, Colleen Coover's Small Favors does it. She draws the cutest porn ever. It hits the three targets for me: it's hot, it's smart, and it's well drawn. There's also an untranslated manga book that I adore: Three Quarters by Yamagata Satomi. It's full of sentimental boy-on-boy sex stories drawn in the most delicate lines ever.
Was finding female contributors difficult?
Robyn: Not at all. If you look at women's comics, from the underground up, you'll find that sexual themes are very prevalent. A little less than a fourth of our contributors for both volumes are female. That's a pretty good ratio, compared to most anthologies out there.
Why use the word "porn"?
Robyn: I think it's a good title, though it's a bit tongue in cheek. At this point, the word porn has lost all meaning to me. But it's a word that triggers a reaction in people, and quite often it's not a good reaction. I can say I worked on two volumes of a comic anthology, both over 200 pages. I can say I've edited the work of over 100 artists. But then I say it's titled True Porn, and some people's brains shut down, they stop processing. For some people, sexually themed content can never be art. But this isn't the audience we're trying to attract.
Kelli: We wanted to denote the obvious sexual nature of the book, but still keep it light. There seems to be two camps of discussing sexuality — either prurient and clinical — and True Porn was really neither. It's nice to say that, yes, we are talking about sex, but a sexuality that's alive and malleable. For me, "porn", as a word, is a little bit silly, a little bit naughty, and a little bit forlorn. That's perfect for the book. n°
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