Comics: Warnings for Adult Content
September 11, 2006Since I read in an interview in a recent issue of Wizard that Alan Moore came out with a comicbook that was 16 years in the making, I’ve been hoping to get a copy. Lost Girls is something of a shocker for comic readers, or readers 
in general, since it isn’t shy about the fact that it’s pornography. Written by Moore and illustrated by Melinda Gebbie, it stars adult version of three beloved female storybook characters, all of whom recount their sexual exploits (while having even more sexual exploits) as they are away at a mountain resort hotel in Austria. The characters are Wendy from Peter Pan, Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.
If you check out the Wikipedia entry on Lost Girls, it lists among the sexual exploits included in the books, “Wendy Darling, John and Michael meeting a boy named Peter Pan and the lost boys for sexual encounters one summer,” then “Dorothy Gale making love with three farm hands at the age of sixteen after a cyclone came to Kansas,” and finally “Alice Fairchild having sex, first with a man and then with several girls and women, beginning at the age of fourteen.” It’s definitely not a comicbook for kids.
There’s a lot of buzz going on about this comicbook, some good, some bad. Some of it’s the unintentional bad timing of the series, what with the whole
JonBenet Ramsey hurrah going on. Most of it is mixed reactions to the content, and the fact that Moore has no hesitation about calling it what it is: pornography. For Moore, it is territory unexplored in comicbook literature, and has much potential for storytelling. What is priceless is how he finds subtext in the originals stories of each of the characters (which aren’t necessaily there) and translates them into the sexual stories.
Violet Blue has the exclusive images of the book, and Neil Gaiman has a great article on it that he wrote for Publishers Weekly. Or read Salon.com’s article on it.
I’ve been a fan of Alan Moore’s because of Watchmen more than anything else. No matter what he tackles, his take on a story is always unique and interesting, and in some cases practically a turning point in comicbook history. Right up there with Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns and Art Spiegelman’s Maus, it is an important book that details history and social change as much as it entertains and puts a new, refreshing spin on comics. Now you have stories like The Incredibles (which is a fantastic, groundbreaking piece in its own 
right) which are very mainstream stories that take off from a similar premise as that of Watchmen.
Dialogue and playing with juxtaposition is also a gift of Moore’s. Able to thread imagery and create tight running storylines, Alan Moore creates pieces that are thick with symbolism and rich, complex stories that explore society, culture and the human condition.
Images taken/swiped/snatched off Comic Book Galaxy, Fantastic Fiction, and publisher Top Shelf’s official site.
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One comicbook I’ve been hooked on lately is Y: The Last Man. Partly because I’m a Vertigo fan, and partly because it’s one of 
the best comics I’ve read in a long time. Of course, it’s still running so I can’t really make conclusions just yet (considering how many cop out crappy endings have happened of late). But so far, it’s been an exciting, gripping series, with some story arcs that work better than others, and a lot of good dialogue and references that will satisfy any pop culture vulture.
Y has an interesting premise to begin with, but it certainly doesn’t just sit on that. It begins when all the men on earth mysteriously, simultaneously die, and the only males left are Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. In a world where women have to learn to survive after the mess and, in some cultures and societies, figure out how to perform the tasks that they as women had never done before–in this world, Yorick and his protectors try to stay alive, 
find a way to repopulate the human race, and eventually find the reason for the death of all men.
From the writing, you get the feel that the creators are well-read and knowledgeable about pop culture. There are a lot of satisfying references to music, art, literature, etc. that are slipped in to the dialogue, although there are some odd drifts here and there that you can probably afford to forgive.
It’s a promising story, and so far (downswings notwithstanding) it’s had fairly promising writing. Of course, if this turns out to be a personal vendetta rationale for the killing of all men, or it happens to all be a dream or some easily dismissable alternate dimension, I’ll be extremely disappointed. There needs to be a 
fresh and satisfying ending for this series, and I hope it comes to pass.
Incidentally, writer Brian K. Vaughan was said to have worked on my favorite author Michael Chabon’s superhero creation, The Escapist. Of course, as a die-hard Chabon fan and now a growing fan of Vaughan, I have seriously (and so far vainly) been trying to hunt down a copy of that.
Images plucked/stolen/ripped off of the official Vertigo website.
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This last bit’s a news item from the world of comics. Last July, it was announced that hit TV series My Name is Earl will be created into a comicbook. Now, anyone who knows me or has read early 
entries in this blog will know how crazy I am about Earl. It’s a smart, hilarious, and absolutely wonderful series that seems impossibly tight in its writing and recall of characters. Anyway, read my original post on Earl here.
There’s a press release at Comicbook Resources, although creator Greg Garcia said in an interview for Suicide Girls that there isn’t anything definite yet (and that he wishes there wasn’t that must press out yet while things aren’t decided). Ah, but it’s hard to keep rabid fans at bay. I personally have to wonder how the unique humor and charm of the TV series will get translated into comics. I suppose the tightness is relatively easy enough to achieve, but that magic spark and charm is an intangible factor that will either happen for the comics or won’t.
Anyway, I snatched the preview poster of Earl from Comicbook Resources. Click on it to get directed to the larger image so you can actually read the dialogue. Can’t wait for word on the series–I mean both the comics and the second season.
