World Comic Book Review

29th March 2024

Pixelated Images, Obscenity, Japanese Manga, and The Inspiration of Detention

“What is Obscenity?”
(Koyama Press, May 2016)
Writer: Rokudenashiko

We start this article by noting it is not a review: we have not yet received a copy of the graphic novel, “What is Obscenity?” But we look forward to doing that, and in any event the stir surrounding Rokudenashiko and her work is of itself newsworthy.

As we have previously discussed in our article on “Prison School”, comic books in Japan (“manga”) are frequently a creative vehicle for pornography. Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan forbids distributing “indecent” materials. The practical consequence of that law is that gentalia is either drawn in an entirely fuzzy or obscured way, or are overlaid by a “mozaiku” (meaning a “mosaic”, or pixelated image).

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The Five #1: The Birth of 21st Century Archetypes

The Five #1 (review)
( Mysteria Maxima Media, April 2016)
Writer: Laith Tierney

An independent publication from Australia, issue one of The Five explores the creation of a modern Illuminati. Members of this secret society are a pantheon of sorts: a god of international money markets, a god of global fame, a goddess of pornography, a god of tinpot mysticism (which is, perhaps, the most awkward fit of the line-up of characters) and in a surprising twist at the end, a goddess of global terrorism.

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Thunderbolts #1: A Childlike Evil

Thunderbolts #1 (review)
(Marvel Comics, July 2016)
Writer: Jim Zub

In William Gibson’s groundbreaking science fiction novel “Neuromancer” (Ace, 1984), a psychopathic character, the charming and perverted Peter Riviera, is described as being a product of the radioactive ruins of Bonn, one of a group of feral children who engaged in cannibalism to survive. The equally significant science fixtion novel by Robert Harris, “Fatherland” (Hutchinson, 1992), concerned with a parallel universe where Nazi Germany won the war in Europe, sees the cunning betrayal of the lead character to the SS, leading to certain torture and death, by his young son. And Grant Morrison’s graphic novel “Kid Eternity” (Vertigo Comics, 1991) describes a screeching bridge as constructed of the souls of “bad babies”.

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The Totally Awesome Hulk #4: A Korean-American Hulk

“The Totally Awesome Hulk” #4 (review)
(Marvel Comics, May 2016)
Writer: Greg Pak

There is a principle in modern comedy whereby a joke which is racist, sexist, or slights homosexual people is only appropriate when the comedian shares the same ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation as the individual or group which is the target of the joke. In that event, the offensiveness of joke is essentially diluted by being self-deprecating. If, say, a female comedian makes a joke about female bathroom habits, then the audience will laugh rather than heckle in outrage because the comedian by her gender cannot be engaging in sexual discrimination: the comedian is instead engaging in gender self-deprecation. Even female audience members cannot feel insulted, as, so long as the joke is delivered by a member of their gender, it is shorn of its malice. The joke becomes inclusive – “join me in considering our foibles” – rather than exclusionary and vicious.

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