“Well, That’s Terrorism For You”
Over the holiday weekend my indefatigable friend and patron Dr. Faustus launched his new Fabulae Atroces Fausti series with a dark little comic book called She’s The Ransom. Fair warning, Faustus is at some pains to have us all know in advance of reading that this is not a happy-fun piece of art:
“She’s the Ransom” isn’t Erotic Mad Science. It’s something more like erotic horror. Or an attempt at a contemporary realization of the old-fashioned shudder pulps. Or it’s a dark vision of things that are soon to come. The blurb I wrote for the copy deposited at the Internet Archive reads as follows:
In a near-future dystopia, a gang of rebels abduct a rich, politically-influential man and his wife and use them as actors in a macabre piece of political theater. This work is a short comic book. It contains violence and explicit sexual content and is not suitable for minors.
If that weren’t enough warning, the new comic has already attracted reader complaints, not the least of which is that it has “an incomplete and just fucked up narrative”. I’d argue with “incomplete” myself — I think it’s actually a chillingly-intricate little comic — but “fucked up” I would cheerfully grant, even if I think the noose and the knife on the front cover should have been sufficient warning for anyone.
Like many of Dr. Faustus’s comic book projects, Faustus wrote the script and the illustration is by Erosarts.
Similar Sex Blogging:
Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=18929
Read the whole thing. Not sure what it was trying to accomplish. You don’t really feel for any of the characters; they’re all awful and/or undeveloped. Just kind of boring.
Not sure why that feedback is here instead of there, but thanks I guess? (PS there’s already a thread at eroticmadscience where the author discusses what he’s trying to accomplish in some detail; the title of this post is a quote from it.)
I put it here because I don’t read there, I read here. I guess the subtext of my statement was that I don’t understand why you shared it, other than, I guess, to boost your friend (which I view as a valid use of your platform fwiw).
OK, fair enough. I guess I’m reflexively trying to fight entropy; when there’s a conversation already existing that addresses at least some of your criticisms, I want to make sure you (and other readers) are aware.
Too, I didn’t miss the subtext. Although there is much in my friend’s artistic gestalt that mystifies me, this particular bit strikes me as having a clear if unpleasant message about the uses of power. But it doesn’t matter; in the realm of comic art, I have a long history of linking to and/or excerpting good or amusing art no matter how morally bankrupt the work as a whole might be. See, e.g, every Dofantasy comic I’ve ever published a panel from. It needn’t be an endorsement of the whole book!