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Monday, January 12, 2009

Books / Sex Look! Tied to That Bench!

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 11:25 AM

Slog tipper Rich, who knows that I am a Superman fan, writes:

I read about this on io9 this morning and figured that if you didn't already know about it then you had to find out immediately.

Secret Identity showcases rare and recently discovered erotic artwork by the most seminal artist in comics—Superman's co-creator Joe Shuster. Created in the early 1950s when Shuster was down on his luck after trying to reclaim the copyright for Superman, he illustrated these images for an obscure series of magazines called Nights of Horror, sold under the counter until they were banned by the U.S. Supreme Court. A murder trial, juvenile delinquency, anti-comics crusader Dr. Fredric Wertham, and the neo-Nazi Brooklyn Thrill Killers gang all figure into this sensational story.

Fetish art is nothing new with comic books, of course; Fantagraphics has published books of girlie and fetish art by tons of different artists, including the creator of Plastic Man and the most popular Archie artist of our time. And S&M has a long and connected, and mostly unrecognized, history with superheroes The creator of Wonder Woman allegedly kept files of S&M iconography so that he could plan a different way to tie Wonder Woman up in each adventure. The book will be published on April 1st*. I can't wait.

(Thanks to Slog Tipper Rich, who also provided the title of this post.)

* Or...will it?

Comments (8) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

But ... um, wouldn't sex with Superman hurt?

I mean, seriously ...

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 12, 2009 at 11:34 AM

Mmm, Wonder Woman tied up. Works for me.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty on January 12, 2009 at 11:49 AM

I'm not sure the estimable Mr. Shuster had ever seen an actual woman's left shoulder before drawing that image.

Posted by Nat on January 12, 2009 at 12:02 PM

Banned by the Supreme Court? Says who?

Posted by Algernon on January 12, 2009 at 12:13 PM

I lol'ed

This validates my theory that all cartoonists draw porn. ALL.

Posted by Sirkowski on January 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM

I suppose it only figures that Superman would be a sub in bed. Powerful men, funnily enough, often seek a kind of balance by seeking to submit behind closed doors. Also, he looks like he's enjoying the scene a lot more than Lois is.

Posted by east coaster on January 12, 2009 at 1:30 PM

This is all you need to know about the early Wonder Woman comics:

http://absorbascon.blogspot.com/2006_10_…

Posted by robot on January 12, 2009 at 9:40 PM

Is that Lois? She looks so Betty Paige. Lois' homage or is Superman cheating?

And come to think of it, wouldn't Superman need S&M sex? I mean they shoot bullets at him and he doesn't flinch. Perhaps a good whipping isn't more than a "love tickle" to him, and handcuffs...puh-lease! He's probably wearing them so he remembers not to crush the poor lady in a fit of passion.

Posted by Nate on January 13, 2009 at 8:05 PM