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Love Comic Art & Sex? Live in New York? Here's something you might want to check out!

Published at: Jan. 7, 2011, 8:36 p.m. CST

 

Hey folks, Harry here...   Got sent over this press release - and thought - ya know, if I were an AICN reader in the Big Apple or headed thereabouts - I'd love to check out this exhibit at the MUSEUM OF SEX.    Jeez that's an awesome sounding museum.  Personally, I own several Bill Elder & Harvey Kurtzman risque originals, along with a few old old old pin & inks from the 20's and 30's.  In particular, what I've always loved about vintage erotica is how classy it is.   Today, our society makes sex this ugly thing, back in the old days - it was a joyful thing.   It was mainly suggestion, but when it got filthy, it was hilariously filthy.   If you're in New York during the run of this show - definitely check it out.   You'll probably enjoy it quite a bit.  

 

 

“Comics Stripped” Opens January 13
at the Museum of Sex

New exhibit steps back in time and into the pages of comics to expose erotic influences on pop culture.


[January 7, 2011 ‐ New York, NY] During the Great Depression,  
before Joe Shuster’s illustration of Superman gave comics a 
 
mainstream voice in 1938, many other cartoonists dabbled in the 
 
creation of “dirty  drawings.” This risqué artwork featured busty 
 
women, fetishes, bondage, homosexuality and other explicit sexual 
 
encounters. Beginning January 13, the Museum of Sex will flip 
 
through the pages of erotic history to reveal how the comic book 
 
medium has been used over time to depict sexual fantasy, poke fun 
 
at taboo topics and lampoon icons of popular culture. The exhibit, 
aptly named Comics Stripped, will feature drawings from the Great 
 
Depression to the present, all which remind us of the fun, 
frivolity and impact of sexual expression and innuendo on our lives.
 
Comics Stripped, an illustrated exploration of the dirty drawing, will  
feature more than 150 artifacts, including original drawings, 
 
illustrated books, comic books, magazines and videos. The exhibit 
 
addresses the adult nature of comics and cartoons, a concept now widely popularized in television 
 
series like The Simpsons and Family Guy on FOX and Ugly Americans shown on Comedy Central. The 
 
exhibit is tantalizing, racy and is sure to stoke more than a few libidos.

Tom of Finland, a prominent artist in gay comic culture, once said,  
“If I don’t have an erection when I’m doing a drawing, I know it’s 
 
no good.” It’s a metric used by many erotic cartoonists, whose 
 
fantasies are found splayed across the printed page for their 
 
reader’s enjoyment. Comics used as a medium for sexual 
gratification isn’t a new concept. Among the most historic 
 artifacts on display inComics Stripped are Tijuana Bibles, which  
marked the rudimentary beginning of the sexually oriented comic 
 
in the 1930s. This collection of 18 original pulp comic books, once 
 
used as instruction booklets for fornication or fun, feature the comic strip characters Blondie, Dick Tracy, 
 
Olive Oyl, Wimpy and many more in suggestive scenarios. Wesley Morse (1897‐1963), the creator of the 
 
Bazooka Joe and Gang comic wrapped around Topps’ bubble gum was one of the most well‐known 
 cartoonists to create Tijuana Bibles.

The wholesome image of Disney has often been a prime  
target for sexualized illustration. The Tijuana Bibles entitled 
 
Donald Duck has a Universal Desire and Snow White and 
 
the Seven Dwarves are among the Disney‐based artifacts on 
 
display. Perhaps the most well‐known sexual artifact which 
 
depicts Disney characters in precarious positions, The 
 
Disneyland Memorial Orgy, which was drawn by Wally 
 
Wood, a master cartoonist who drew for MAD Magazine 
 
and EC comics, will be prominently featured.

Disney wasn’t the only company to have their characters  
lampooned in sexual situations. Joe Shuster’sNights of Horror depicts doppelgangers of Superman and 
 
Lois Lane in fetish scenarios. Eric Stanton’sBlunder Broad mimicked Wonder Woman. The inept superheroine 
 
often failed at capturing her nemesis and ended up enduring rape and torture as a result. Five 
 original issues of issues of Nights of Horror will be on display during the exhibition as well as six original  
illustrations of Blunder Broad.

The sexual depiction of characters seemingly intended for children did not sit well during the period of 
McCarthyism. Comics Stripped explores the McCarthy era of comic censorship, the creation of the 
 
Comics Code Authority in 1954 and the impact these events had on illustrated erotic expression. The 
 
exhibit takes an inside look at underground publications that utilized comics to satisfy people’s need for 
 
titillation. The artists Robert Dennis Crumb (1943‐ ), best known by the moniker R. Crumb for his 
 
characters Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural and Devil Girl, is considered to be one of the greatest cartoonists of 
 
all time. His participation in the underground sex comic movement (comix) inspired many others to join. 
 Comics Stripped will display R. Crumb originals that sparked the growth of the comix movement. The  
exhibit showcases risqué contraband of the time including Ballyhoo, Whiz Bang and an original 
 
illustration of Betty Boop. These and other pieces of sensual contraband gave rise to a new form of 
 
entertainment, the men’s magazine.

Cartoons and comics were and still are a staple of Playboy editorial.  
Visitors toComics Stripped will enjoy original art, on loan from the 
 
Playboy Enterprises, Inc., of iconic Playboy artists Jack Cole (1914‐1958) 
 
and Eldon Dedini (1921‐2006). Cole may be best known for creating the 
 
superhero Plastic Man. His cartoons for Playboy became the gold 
 
standard for creating cartoons published in the popular men’s magazine. Dedini’s iconic watercolor depictions of horny satyrs chasing voluptuous  
nymphs were an iconic Playboy feature. The originalLittle Annie Fanny 
 
will be shown steps away from the most current cartoon fem fatale to 
 
grace the cover of Playboy, Marge Simpson. 
 
 

Comics Stripped will reveal every segment of the sex comic and its modern evolution. Original gay 
comics from Tom of Finland, fetish drawings from John Willie and international sex comics from France,  
Brazil and Japan will be shown.

“Sex comics straddle borders and realms  
of possibility. Some of the most eyepopping 
 
animated sex comes from the 
 
Japanese. The French are masters of 
 
coitus. Europeans illustrate positions 
 
that I couldn’t get into without becoming 
 
a yoga master. Americans? Well, plastic 
 
surgeons can’t even come close to 
accomplishing what we can with a 
 
pencil,” quips Craig Yoe, well‐known 
 
entertainment executive and curator of 
   
 

Better known as C.E. Yoe, Craig Yoe is responsible for the creative development of classic toys like  
Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Pony. He was personally recruited by Jim Henson to be Creative 
 
Director, and later VP/General Manager, of the Muppets. Yoe’s experience spans the gamut, from 
 
comics to toys to television and even theme parks. After Henson’s death, Yoe started YOE! Studio! with 
his business partner Clizia Gussoni. The exhibit is co‐curated by Sarah Forbes of the Museum of Sex.

“Many artists of ‘dirty drawings’ had full‐time gigs in mainstream entertainment,” says Yoe. “I consider 
myself to be following in a fine tradition of men who knew what they wanted and how to put it on 
 
paper.”
 
About The Museum of Sex

The Mission of the Museum of Sex is to preserve and present the history, evolution and cultural 
significance of human sexuality. In its exhibitions, programs and publications, the Museum of Sex is 
committed to opening discourse and exchange and to bringing to the public the best in current 
 
scholarship. The Museum’s permanent collection of over 15,000 artifacts is comprised of works of art, 
 
photography, clothing and costumes, technological inventions and historical ephemera. Additionally, the 
 
museum houses both a research library as well as an extensive multimedia library, which includes 8mm, 
 
Super 8mm, 16mm, BETA, VHS and DVDs. From fine art to historical ephemera to film, the Museum of 
 
Sex preserves an ever‐growing collection of sexually related objects that would otherwise be destroyed 
 
and discarded due to their sexual content. In a city that never sleeps, the Museum of Sex is constantly 
 evolving and has no plans to slow down. www.museumofsex.com

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