Tag: Erotica

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Comics

Saved by the Nell: Death Nell 02

The Story So Far

Nell is a twenty-two year old student enrolled at Deus Mortem, a university for necromancy, who has been having a hard time staying awake in class. She has been overcome with sexual urges, which can barely be satiated by her own hand. Her best friend, a half troll named April, urges Nell to visit the school’s nurse, Madame Flowers who uncovers the root cause of the situation: Nell is a half-succubus who needs to feed on sexual energy. The solution: Nell needs to have a few romantic rendezvous. At the urging of April, the duo make their way to happening party where maybe Nell can find a paramour. 

Cover depicts Nell, surrounded by other characters of the comic, with hearts in their eyes, all looking at her in adoration. There's multiple spotlights of different colors shining on her as she sparkles.
Standard cover of Death Nell #2 by Cammry Lapka. Image from the Bad Bug website.

Issue 02 Plot

Nell and April arrive at the party and it is boogying down: werewolves dancing with skeletons, DJ UND3ADD spinning some oontz oontz oontzes, and the arrival of a mysterious cloaked stranger whose only visible trait is the gleam of their glasses. Nell is immediately smitten and falls into a drooling stuper of sexual fantasies. To calm down her nerves, Nell tries to picture all the partygoers naked, but invertedly casts a succubus spell that makes herself naked, garnering the attention of everyone. However, the DJ rolls with it, and everyone casts away their clothes and continues to dance, but the mysterious cloaked person disappears into the crowd.

Panel from Death Nell issue 2. Close up of Nell's face. Her hair is billowing backwards as she is casting a spell. She has winged eye lashes, and two different eyes: a normal green human eye, and a slit cat like eye that is orange. Her mouth is open showing her fangs and she has black lipstick on. She yells "Now, I can see all of you in your underwear!"
Nell casts a spell.

Since April cannot be around Nell 24/7 to keep her in check, she suggests the idea of summoning an imp to accompany Nell. The duo sneak into the office of Madame Flowers and find a spell book, but it all goes awry: April misreads the spell and summons a simp instead, and the trio are caught by Flowers and Professor Reinhart. 

Nell is now bound to the simp until he feels his duties are fulfilled, which he takes to heart and bombards Nell with attention and adoration. Meanwhile April intercepts a mysterious letter left at their dorm door.

Commentary

Picking up right were issue one left off, Death Nell issue two continues the humorous and sexy hijinks of the titular character as she works to control her innate succubus powers so she can succeed in her necromancy classes.

Nell is not a parody of the “big-tiddy-goth-girlfriend” archetype per se, but she is definitely an alternative take on it. Much of the comedy in Death Nell is visual, coming from the expressions, faces, and body language of Nell which borrows heavily from anime (with Nell’s two buns, her hair is reminiscent of Sailor Moon’s odango style) but also of classic mime. Nell drools when her imagination takes over and her mind turns to sexual fantasies. She furrows her brows, clenches her teeth, dilates or contracts her pupils, has hearts/sparkles/stars float about her, and so on. It is all exaggerated, but 1) gets the point across of what Nell is feeling (which varies panel to panel as she struggles with her Succubus nature) and 2) is humorous at how cartoonish it is depicted.

Panel from the comic, done in three clouds. The first cloud is Nell, naked, with her hands to her face, drooling, and saying "Take me now! I need you to make me Roar!". The other two clouds show Nell getting atop a dragon and embracing the dragon's rider, which is her professor.
A drooling Nell has a fantasy.

With all of this in mind, Nell, (and other characters in Death Nell), is extremely emote-able, and this is a credit to artist Cammry Lapka. The colours of Death Nell are vibrant, with a thick line art style. Though the characters are cartoony, Lapka also makes them sexy and attractive while also leaning into body positivity. Nell is curvy and she exudes a point on the scale of cuteness to sexiness as she sees fit. Sometimes she is in bondage/gothic-ish/fetish attire, other times she is in playful yellow pajama shirt and shorts that have skulls and bats on them, and other times she looks like a sexualized student from Monster High. This casual flip-flopping goes with the playing of expectations of the big-tiddy-goth-girlfriend archype.

The excess sexiness of Nell in a university setting does draw some issues that Death Nell is so far bypassing in order to focus on its 80s/late 90s teen sexy comedy attitude. Simply put, Nell is a vulnerable character with a big, personal issue. Stated in issue one, Nell really wants one thing: to be successful in school. Her burgeoning succubus nature is challenging that, and Nell does need support to help her, and simply put she is not getting it. As attractive Madame Flowers is, and (cloven hooves aside) a dream woman for readers, she is not a good support person, despite being in a position of power to be so. Her solution to Nell’s situation (from issue one) is to tell Nell to get laid. In issue two, in an exchange with April, it is brought up to ask Flowers again for help, but Nell quickly retracts the comment, makes a face, and says “Something tells me she’d like me to beg for her…”. Being afraid to approach an adult that is supposed to be there to help students because one is afraid that something sexual will come of it? That is neither a good nor safe sign at all. Combine that with the groundskeeper/gravedigger from issue one, asleep on a couch and mumbling his dream about Nell bending over while she digs a grave. Initially funny, but second glance, that is pretty creepy.

And that becomes the juggling issue for Death Nell: how does one create a sex comedy that is set in a school where the students are not taken advantage of? One answer is to make sure the protagonists are given their own control and agency, but that is the big “what is at stake” in Death Nell: Nell does not have control and is trying to get it, and the structures that should be in place to help her do not seem to be working. The other answer is to just go with it and take the sex and comedy at the level being asked without a deeper reading. Are folks doing deep reads into “help me big stepbrother, I appear to be stuck in the washing machine, again”? Maybe? Maybe not? 

Covers and Swag Impressions

Issue two of Death Nell was Kickstarted in February 2023 and fulfilled August through October. The comic has eleven artists doing different covers, both in nice and naughty variants. The Dhaxina Dee alternative cover comes in additional metal editions for its nice/naughty variants while the Zheanhmeart cover comes with a holo cover format for its nice/naughty variants. This brings the total number of possible covers of Death Nell #2 to twenty six.

Cover shows Nell and April, both nude, atop a bed having a pillow fight with feathers flying about.
Personal copy of the Joel Souza nude variant cover.

Of all these combinations, the standout cover goes to Joel Souza’s cover which depicts Nell and April having a pillow fight. Souza’s style is an excellent take on the cartoonish/pinup style that Lapka brings to the comic. It is silly, funny, but also sexy. It vibes perfectly with what Death Nell is about, but it also adds more fun to Nell and April’s friendship (though April’s orcish features are non-existent on this depiction of her).  

As with many Kickstarters, Death Nell #2’s campaign had stretch goals it met resulting in some cool swag.

Bobby Jo attempts to "sneak up" on Nell who has her arms crossed.
Bobby Jo x Death Nell crossover art print.

Firstly, there is an art print by Bruno Sousa that depicts Nell from Death Nell and Bobby Jo, the titular character from another Bad Bug series, Bobby Jo. The characters take the idea of a crossover literally as their clothing is swapped: Nell is wearing daisy dukes and a short t-shirt that is befitting to Bobby Jo while Bobby Jo is wearing purple striped stockings and matching colour body suit, that pairs with Nell. It is a fun piece that also demonstrates the dynamicness of all the different Bag Bug series out there.

Five black and white cards depicting skeletons engaging in various sexual activities: "The Monster Mash", "The Gravedigger", "Bone to be Wild", "Rock the Casket", and "The Rib Job". Next to those is a Death Nell Tarot Card for The Fool.
Skeleton Karma Sutra cards and a Death Nell Tarot Card.

Next there are trading cards and a tarot card. The trading cards tie into the sex positiveness vibes that Death Nell shoots for, portraying skeletons in different sexual poses with punny titles, such as cowgirl style atop a casket is called “Rock the Casket” and a vertical 69 is called “The Rib Job”. 

As stated in other reviews of Bad Bug comics, the publisher including Tarot Cards with their comics is brilliant. It is a unique take on the collector cards that (along with bookmarks, stickers, and magnets) are featured heavily in Kickstarter stretch goals. The Tarot Card for Death Nell #2 is of The Fool and shows Nell about to walk off a cliff while she is distracted. By her side is a zombie dog who also looks distracted. The Death Nell Fool Tarot Card is a perfect parody of the Rider-Waite version of the card, which too shows a distracted person with a puppy at their side about to walk off a cliff. The Death Nell version is an inversion of it all: Rider-Waite is during the day, Death Nell at night. Rider-Waite has an alive white dog, Death Nell an undead one. Rider-Waite has the person holding a bag on a staff in one hand and a flower in the other, Death Nell has Nell holding her school backpack in one hand and her striped knickers in the other. It is brilliant!  

Conclusion

With its quirky, vibrant art style and great emotive expressions, Death Nell continues to allure in issue two. Nell and April are extremely likable characters, get along fabulously, and it is fun to see them both interact and play off each other. Nell needs the support of April (and possibly her new simp companion) as she tries to navigate her identity crisis (coming to terms being part succubus and the associated sexual urges that come with it) and unfortunately not receiving the proper or serious support from the faculty of her school. Despite these roadblocks, Nell is determined and will certainly overcome her nature while solving the mystery hinted by the contents of the envelope left at her dorm room door. 

For more information on Death Nell and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

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Comics

Going Commando: Vanya 04

The Story So Far

Two hundred plus years in the future mankind has mastered both space and time travel. Vanya is a Time Guard, a warrior in training who must spend a year in the prehistoric past honing her survival and combat skills. Her skills are much needed as the Torridian alien race have launched a massive attack against humanity. Vanya and her romantic partner, Serah, travel the primeval jungle, dealing with dinosaurs and savages, as they make their way to an armory to supply themselves against the alien threat.

Cover depicts Vanya sitting at a campfire, inspecting a blood soaked stone spear. There is a shadow of a roaring T-rex behind her.
Standard non-nude cover of Vanya issue 4 by Zoran Jovicic. Image from the Bad Buy website.

Issue 04 Plot

After days of jungle trekking and having lost Reed to a Tyrannosaurus attack, Vanya and Serah are rescued by a contingent of soldiers who are also stranded in the past after attempting to escort a group of scientists to safety after a Torridian attack. Though their outpost looks ramshackle from the outside, the inside is fitted with computers and tech, a cafeteria, and most importantly, a shower in which Vanya and Serah partake of together before being joined by another soldier named Guy.

A panel from the comic that shows a human outpost. The outpost looks jumbled together, made of stone, wood, and metal. A hovercraft swoops toward it.
Human outpost in the prehistoric past.

Vanya gives a debriefing to Captain Jax about her adventures training as a Time Guard while he fills her in on the Torridian attacks against Earth. The captain has a mission to retrieve some supply caches, so it is back to the jungle for Vanya, Serah, and Guy, though armed with rifles because who knows what threats will be awaiting the trio out in the wild.

Commentary

The previous issue of Vanya was a bit on the slower side in pacing. Though the narrative was partially upended when Reed was suddenly and swiftly dispatched by a T-Rex, the overall plot seemed to slow down a bit as the characters had not made much progress to their goal to find the armory. Issue four, on the other hand, course corrects this and throws a barrage of new ingredients into the “story stew”: the rescue of Vanya and Serah, the outpost of human soldiers, new characters including Lucas (who has had a prior relationship with Serah) and Guy (who takes the place of Reed), new weapons, a new mission (that is similar to their old mission [find the armory/find the supply caches]), and, of course, the first time confrontation between Vanya and crew with Niya and her entourage. Basically, A LOT happens in issue four which brings on more excitement and more surprises.

Panels from the comic. The first panel says "It's beautiful" and it's a plate of Panel of Vanya eating a Croissants. The next panel shows Vanya biting into a Panel of Vanya eating a Croissant saying "Mmmm this is the best thing ever." The final final shows Guy winking saying "Second best thing" with Vanya replying "Mmmm".
Panel of Vanya eating a Croissant.

One of those surprises is a subtle one by the new character of Guy. Guy initially comes off as hyper masculine, proclaiming himself to Vanya as “the second-best thing” (with a wink) referring to his sexual prowess in the shower with her and Serah. In a normal B-movie situation, Guy is the type of soldier to be a braggart who will later receive sort of comeuppance. Yet, later in the issue, Guy raises his rifle to shoot at a herd of Ankylosaurus but is stopped by Vanya: “… just don’t shoot at anything until it growls at you, ok?” In normal pop culture situations, a character like Guy would see his masculinity and authority challenged, especially coming from a woman. An attack on him. Yet, he does not take it that way at all. He takes in what Vanya is showing him, confirms with a “Got it” and proceeds on normally (and by “normally” meaning him, Vanya, and Serah all share a moment of intimacy in a river before continuing their mission as professional soldiers). In fact, in a perhaps ironic twist, it is Serah who later fires her gun at a group of Compsognathus and then getting chastised by Vanya for giving away their position. 

The Guy/Vanya/gun scene is a small scene (probably more meant to underscore the deadly nature of the dinosaurs and what they are capable of), but coupled with many other similar small scenes (such as Serah reuniting with Lucas, Serah joining in with Vanya and Reed, and so on), it paints the future world of Vanya as a post-jealousy environment and more pro-gender equality society. As hinted at in the review of issue one, these sort of scenes (coupled with the graphic violence and explicit sex) gives Vanya strong Paul Verhoeven vibes. 

The end of the issue becomes the first encounter between Vanya and Niya. Both sets of humans manage to injure each other, but there are no fatalities on either side and in the end Vanya and company are captured. It is a little shocking at how easily Niya took Vanya down. Is Niya a better warrior? Has Vanya lost her touch so quickly after having a retaste of civilization? Something else? Regardless, Vanya needs to get her poop-in-a-group because the final page of the issue ominously ends with Niya and cohorts leading the three heroes to “a surprise.”

Vanya sitting atop of a brontosaurus at night above a canyon glowing purple.
Vanya 04 non-nude variant cover by JC Fabul and Bryan Magnaye. Personal copy.
A nude Vanya sitting atop of a brontosaurus at night above a canyon glowing purple.
Vanya 04 nude variant cover by JC Fabul and Bryan Magnaye. Personal copy.

Aside from the standard cover by Zoran Jovcic (who does the interior art as well), Vanya #4 sports a variety of alternate covers, in both non-nude and nude editions by a handful of other artists. The best alternative cover for issue three is done by Renato Camilo and Tommy Shelton. If Camilo’s name sounds familiar it is because they hands down did the best alternate cover for issue two and the second-best cover for issue three. Camilo has a distinct style that fits the Vanya covers, one that is hard to describe but can easily be seen such as in the character’s dreadlocks that looks like headless but powerful snakes from Medusa. Camilo depicts Vanya with a balance of cheesecake glam and sword and sorcery warrior woman aesthetic. There is a slight hint of parody in the Camilo/Shelton cover: the raptor in the background is searching around, akin to the scene in Jurassic Park where the raptors are trying to sniff out Tim and Lex Murphy who are hiding in the kitchen. Vanya, on the other hand, is not hiding from the raptor, but actively ignoring it as she focuses on giving morsels to the Compsognathus (Compys in the comic) as if giving bread to ducks.

Cover depicts Vanya sitting down, wearing no clothes. She is holding a piece of meat in her hand and feeding it to a tiny dinosaur. Behind Her a blue striped Raptor hunts around.
Renato Camilo and Tommy Shelton nude variant cover of Vanya 4. Personal copy.

Since the Kickstarter campaign was wildly successful a few stretch goals were unlocked that included physical ephemera for backers. First there is a holographic art print of Vanya done by artist Zach Raw who has done covers for other Bad Bug titles, such as Bad Pussy, Astrowitch, and others. With its cyberpunk-ish imagery and purple tones the print evokes some hardcore synthwave vibes. 

Shiny art print. It shows an armored Vanya shooting from her pistol while leaping through the air.
Holographic art print by Zach Raw.

And finally, there is also a set of dinosaur trading cards (artist unknown). The cards look kid-friendly being duotone in nature: the dinosaurs are all white (inviting someone to colour them in with crayons) while the backgrounds are all a single colour: red for the raptor, orange for the stegosaurus, etc. The cards are both charming and disarming, being so “accessible” in nature in contrast to the Vanya comic with is full of sex and over the top violence. 

Five baseball card sized dinosaur trading cards. The dinosaurs and black and white while the backgrounds are one colour. The Stegosaurus is orange, the triceratops is green, the pteradcyl is purple, the raptor is red, and the Plesiosaurus is blue.
Dinosaur trading cards for Vanya issue 4.

Overall, a big “wow” for issue four. Just the right amount of jungle adventure, fighting, erotica, dinosaur cameos, and plot advancement. Things are going down in the world of Vanya, past, present, and future. 

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

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Comics

Putting the “Boo!” into…: Becca Boo: The Bimbo Ghost Issue One

Late into the night an inebriated Becca wanders into the local cemetery. After flirting with a statue, she falls backwards into an open grave and passes out. Upon waking up the next morning and seeing herself in the grave, Becca arrives at the logical conclusion: she has died and became a ghost. Feeling a sense of purpose to complete some unfinished business, Becca deduces she can put her sexual prowess to use and “sleep her way into heaven.” 

Blonde, beautiful, and sporting a set of bangs that puts many anime characters to shame, Becca recalls the ditzy, airhead trope found in the likes of Three’s Company, Clueless, and Romey and Michele’s High School Reunion. Depicting such characters can be a challenge: are the readers laughing at Becca or laughing with her? Is the comic mean-“spirited” (pun intended) or not? 

On one hand, there is a sequence where Becca is sitting on a bench next to a handsome stranger who, depending on interpretation, takes advantage of Becca’s lack of common sense in order to bed her. While the scene becomes the catalyst for Becca’s plan to use her sexual attributes to get into heaven, the circumstance pushes Becca into one-dimensional territory, marking her as easily manipulated. The story progresses at her expense.

On the other hand, Becca Boo is extremely self-aware with both the titular character and the narrative itself, giving readers winks and nudges in a playful way. Right before Becca makes love to her ex-girlfriend Nadja, Becca seizes an opportunity to re-create the famous pottery scene from the 1990 film Ghost. She even calls out “I’m ‘Ghosting’ you” while embracing a confused former lover. The scene is extremely funny and shows that the comedy comes from Becca, that she is the one directing it, and it is not directed at her. 

Becca Boo: The Bimbo Ghost is created by Sun Khamunaki who is probably best known for her articulate and detailed cheesecake comic covers done for publishers like Zenescope. Though created by Khamunaki, the story proper is written by Garth Matthams (The Living Finger from Darby Pop [a fantastic publisher]) who maintains the lighthearted tone and writes Becca with her heart in the right place. 

Khamunaki’s body of pinup-esque art sets a high bar for quality to be followed in the pages of Becca Boo and artist Kenan Halilovic and colourist Anna Jarmolowska certainly succeed. There are not many characters featured in Becca Boo, and because of this, lots of panels are devoted to really fleshing out how the characters are depicted. The little details of Nadja’s tattoos to Becca’s facial expressions that really sell her mannerisms greatly elevate the comic. Another important detail of Becca Boo are the colours which are both bright and light. White and blue dominates the palette on the pages, which both radiate a warm, sunny feeling yet at the same time gives the comic an ethereal quality, which of course, goes hand-in-hand with showing a ghost/“ghost” character. 

Issue one of Becca Boo is a short affair, clocking in at only twenty pages. However there is an extensive gallery of pinup covers that depict Becca in a variety of styles, from cartoonish to superhero-ish. The debut of Becca Boo: The Bimbo Ghost was realized via a Kickstarter campaign in early 2023. As with many Kickstarted comics there was a lot of supplemental loot and stretch goals to be had.

Firstly there is a series of seven trading cards, each one adorned with a different cover art used for issue one. 

There is also a two-sided bookmark and a sticker.

And a thick-paper print of the Khamunaki cover of Becca in white stockings. 

An option of some of the comics was to have Khamunaki and Matthams sign copies and have a corresponding certificate of authenticity accompany them.

Becca Boo is sexy and lighthearted. The premise has lots of wiggle room to take the character in different directions, hopefully developing her even more during her ghostly journey. 

A Kickstarter campaign to fund the second issue of Becca Boo is currently going on. The campaign can be found here.

For more information about Becca Boo, check out these resources:

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News

News Roundup W/E 2021-03-07

Personal / Website News

Neo-Medievalism Media CFP

Last week the CFP for the neo-medieval project came to an end. I’ve spent the last week juggling the project and came to the decision to shutter it for the simple reason that I did not receive enough abstracts to justice the project to any publisher. The medieval project is officially dead. However, keep an eye out here later in the year for a CFP for a different project. Thank you to all who submitted.

Podcast News

New episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is live! In this episode Michele and I discuss “The House on Curwen Street” and “The Watcher from the Sky” both from August Derleth’s The Trail of Cthulhu. The episode is available on our Buzzsprout website or via the Podcast application of your preference.

General Neo-Peplum News

Swords, Sandals, and Synthwave

It’s not often the synthwave genre dives into subject matter older than the 80s, let alone into antiquity, yet The Midnight (retro wave band) is releasing a new LP called Horror Show that contains a track called “Neon Medusa.” The LP is available for pre-order on vinyl, cassette, and digitally at the band’s Bandcamp page and will be released March 19th. 

Clash of the Titans 2010 on HBO Max

Article at Looper praising Clash of the Titans 2010 remake and encouraging folks to check it out on HBO Max.

Peplum Erotica Gaming

Ubisoft isn’t the only publisher/developer that has the market cornered in sword and sandal gaming, with their Assassin’s Creed series and Immortals Fenyx Rising. There is a WIP game on steam called Slaves of Rome that takes an erotic approach to the genre.

Slave of Rome banner provided by the developers

The game appears to be a BDSM simulator that allows players to create, train, trade, and have sex with enslaved persons in an ancient Roman setting. More info about the game can be found on the developer’s Patreon, Twitter, and Reddit.

SPQR Comic Ships

After a few minor setbacks and misprints, Riley Hamilton’s Kickstarted comic SPQR issue #1 has begun being shipped. If you didn’t contribute to the Kickstarter, no worries, the comic is available for purchase at Hamilton’s website.

I contributed to the Kickstarter so I reckon my copy will arrive in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for some sort of write up about it.

Rest in Peplum

British actress Nicola Pagett passed away at the age of 75 from a brain tumor. She played Messalina in an episode called “Claudius” in the 1968 miniseries The Caesars and Talia in The Viking Queen (1967).