If you like your comedy sexy (or your porn funny), you’re probably a fan of Oglaf, Doug Bayne and Trudy Cooper‘s long-running Web comic. This week, Tim calls up Doug and Trudy in Sydney to talk about the fantasy-parody elements of the strip, the missing main character Ivan, the diversity of sexual orientations in the strip, why they rarely table at conventions, and more.
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It’s one thing to have sex with a robot. What if you actually started having feelings for your A.I. S.O.? What if you started preferring the robot to your actual human partner? That’s the situation in Jess Fink‘s sexual, but also romantic and even moving, graphic novel Chester 5000 xyv. Jess discusses the book with Tim in this episode, as well as her sci-fi autobiographical story We Can Fix It, getting a book-jacket blurb from Alan Moore, making comics for kids, and more.
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While Chris Taylor goes by the pen name “Sketchfro“, he no longer has an afro and he does a whole lot more than sketch. An American living in Tokyo, he does freelance art, his own comics, and pro-level digital coloring. In this episode he talks about getting digital coloring right, drawing women with sex appeal, and the work he’ll be promoting at Tokyo’s International Comics Fest later this month.
When last we checked in on the Web comic Evil Diva, an artist needed to be paid and fans were being asked to cough up cash before the next page could be drawn. Now the comic is being published as a graphic novel, and will even get a cameo in an upcoming movie. Are the comics gods finally smiling on Evil Diva? Let’s ask the strip’s creator, Peter Menotti, and see.
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Many classics have been presented as comics, but Frank Wedekind’s “Lulu” plays have, as far as we know, not made it to the page until now; occasional Deconstructing Comics contributor John Roberson has recently released Book One of his adaptation. He talks to Tim about including the level of sexual frankness Wedekind may have intended, censorship, self-publishing, and more.
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Last December, we discussed a law that had just been passed in Tokyo to limit access by minors to manga and anime showing certain sexual acts. Now the law has gone into effect: what’s changed? What’s covered and what isn’t? What effect does the law have on what’s published, or what’s sold in other parts of Japan? This week Mulele and Tim talk to perhaps the most authoritative English-speaking voice on this topic, Dan Kanemitsu a manga translator who has helped to bring international attention to Tokyo’s Bill 156. A very educational discussion about Japan, child porn, and manga publishing ensues.
U.S. Embassy in Japan on child pornography and manga/anime: Spring 2008
Pornography, Rape, and Sex Crimes in Japan by Milton Diamond and Ayako Uchiyama
Japan Refuses to Pass Legislation Banning Child Pornography Possession (mediaite.com – 5/14/10)
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“Shortcomings” is a relationship story that mixes in issues of race and gender, and features a rather unlikeable character as its protagonist. Some say it’s Adrian Tomine’s masterwork, others say it’s more of the same from him. Tim (battling a cold that’s bestowed on him the voice of a frog) and Kumar (with a mic that keeps going on the fritz) overcome their own shortcomings to discuss the book.
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The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly recently passed a law that further limits minors’ access to “Any manga, animation, or pictures (but not including real life pictures or footage) that features either sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life, or sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal, where such depictions and / or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity.” Perhaps understandable, but without clear guidelines for determining what is OK and what is not, there are fears of a slippery slope. Could this become defacto, outright censorship? Tim, Kumar, and Mulele discuss the new law, and how this situation compares to the events in the U.S. that led up to the creation of the comics code.
Dan Kanemitsu’s Paper Trail — many good blog postings on the topic
Publishers boycott anime convention
“My publisher has banned school uniforms” — (visuals on this site are NOT SAFE FOR WORK)
Child sex in manga: Art or Obscenity? — The Japan Times
JL Roberson touts Deconstructing Comics
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11/3/08 Women in Comedy Strips
Is writing funny female characters a bigger challenge than making male characters funny? Or is it all a matter of approach? Paige Braddock (Jane’s World) and Hilary Price (Rhymes with Orange) join Tim to discuss a topic we picked up from Webcomics Weekly episode 35!
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