International Ladies of the Sexual Revolution

People always talk about how we should be open to new experiences and accept sexuality as a part of someone. So does this mean that people should start boning everyone like bonobos?

Welcome to Comic Comparisons, where comics of certain times and themes are compared and contrasted with each other. Today we’ll be talking about a semi-safe for work subject; in the form of the comics that helped emphasize the Sexual Revolution. The movement was all about challenging the traditional ways of looking at sex and relationships. It allows for people to come out of the closet and pave way for acceptance of sexuality. Not to mention for a fringe of people, they could explore parts of themselves they never even knew about. It’s all about defying the confines of monogamous relationships. Of course there’s also stuff like abortions, but there is way too much controversy surrounding that to get into.

The European Reach

There are times and places for these two.

The sexual liberation movement in comics is exemplified in the underground market. Europe in particular has a sweet spot collection for some of these series.

Barbarella, Sweet Psychedelia

In France the most well known of this would be the surreal science fiction comic by Jean-Claude Forest, Barbarella. Having personally read the first two volumes; I find Barbarella wild, sexy, not a pin-up model, and capable of contradicting herself. Most people even compare her to Star Trek’s Captain Kirk for her sexual exploits.

The crazy situations Barbarella often finds herself in are often accompanied by unsubtle sex appeal. Even the ironic killing machine the “orgasmatron” can’t slow her down. Unfortunately, in terms of plot, the worlds that Barbarella tends to be in are just all over the place. In fact there are some situations so surreal and barely any plot; you’d think that Jean-Claude spent more time making the illusion of getting high than actually making a story. Still, the comic was able to stick around for 20 years. It even has a cult classic film adaptation in the states. Heck, Dynamite even got the license to publish a new Barbarella story by Mike Carey.

Valentina: Mistress of Creepy and Weird

Other comics with similar themes to Barbarella existed with the works of Milo Manara and Guido Crepax in Italy. Crepax in particular caught my eye with his character Valentina. Originally Valentina was a supporting character and love interest for his psychic hero Neutron, but she took over his series. With looks like hers, who could blame ’em.

Valentina often got involved in a few weird situations herself, but her exploits are more bondage based than Barbarella. In fact most of those situations feel more creepy than liberating. For example, Valentina is caressed in her sleep by her dreams and they leave actual marks in one chapter. Although there were less creepy things and more just plain weird situations. One chapter has Valentina trying to tell a story to her son Mattia and then dreaming about it as a more erotic version with herself in it. Personally, I was more of a fan of Crepax’s artwork adapting Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Extended Distoritions

This was actually made into a SFW video game.

There were others like this too. In fact many of the above creators are involved in what eventually became the Heavy Metal magazine. Besides practically having some of the artists design what people would normally see in music albums; there were certainly the things of many men’s fantasies including scantily clad women. Yet another sexy drug trip with confusing plots in the magazine called Druuna even has a game adaptation. Other times they are made into films like the Heavy Metal animated feature by tying different stories in the magazine together.

Alright Time for a Reality Check

A story made decades ago, yet so relevant today.

But eventually you lose the ability to get high off the psychedelic fantasies after so much saturation and characterization. The two-dimensional characters and nonsensical stories become apparent.

From my Comixology Unlimited account, I found The Complete Wimmen’s Comix, an anthology collection about the all-female underground comics from 1972 to 1992. The writers and artists despite not always having the best artwork display stories that deal with subject matter that was looked down upon. Yet the women behind these comics persevered to tell these stories.

You All Better Be Reading

One particular serial features popular characters like Betty and Veronica of Archie Comics stepping out and not being held down by their male counterparts. I couldn’t help but feel like this was the first step for women. It was not only about getting serious recognition and jobs in the decades of the past; but a need to make some serious changes for stories to actually get traction. Subjects like depression, abortion during illegal times, coming out, and self-acceptance when everyone else prefers perceptions just seems like a step in the right direction. Today women show themselves with more rights and respect than they used to and have. By all means earned it without resorting to the psychedelic escapism. In fact the psychedelic’s were something to escape from. Not all of us can have Steve Ditko’s expertise.

Thanks for staying at the end of this trippy yet inspiring piece. If you want, like, comment, and share. But as always remember to look between the panels.