A man and his tool
One
interesting cultural difference across the Atlantic is that in Finland,
the comic book shelves of public libraries contain porn comics, which I
guess were essentially Finnish translations from the Fantagraphics Eros
series and similar European titles. In the early nineties, the gay
graphic artist "Tom of Finland" who then had a decades-long career of
drawing images of muscular leathermen suddenly became very famous and
fashionable in mainstream Finland, because, you see, it is always a
great thing when the small but gutsy Finland gets in any way recognized
around the world. It's almost like Paavo Nurmi had won the olympics
again.
About six years ago I actually found at the public library some Tom of Finland gay hardcore porn comics, located in the ordinary comic book shelf and fully in reach of even little children. As the saying goes, I am liberal guy as the next guy, especially if the next guy is a redneck, but I can't really say that I approved of this. But to remind the readers who now boo me as being intolerant what the actual mainstream thinking is here, I wonder what would happen if some North American public library acquired similar books to its collection.
Earlier today when I was rereading my collection of old comic books, I came upon this ad for a comic from the year 1988 that makes quite explicit what is usually only implicit in Marvel comics. Click to, uh, enlarge. The influences of the image are quite obvious. It is interesting to compare the small visual differences that turn this guy a Tom of Finland -type gay male icon as opposed to a Marvel superhero. I don't think that I'd want to take a closer look inside this particular comic book. I can probably guess what happens when Starkey comes down from the crane and joins his fellow muscular construction workers who all wear tight jeans.
About six years ago I actually found at the public library some Tom of Finland gay hardcore porn comics, located in the ordinary comic book shelf and fully in reach of even little children. As the saying goes, I am liberal guy as the next guy, especially if the next guy is a redneck, but I can't really say that I approved of this. But to remind the readers who now boo me as being intolerant what the actual mainstream thinking is here, I wonder what would happen if some North American public library acquired similar books to its collection.
Earlier today when I was rereading my collection of old comic books, I came upon this ad for a comic from the year 1988 that makes quite explicit what is usually only implicit in Marvel comics. Click to, uh, enlarge. The influences of the image are quite obvious. It is interesting to compare the small visual differences that turn this guy a Tom of Finland -type gay male icon as opposed to a Marvel superhero. I don't think that I'd want to take a closer look inside this particular comic book. I can probably guess what happens when Starkey comes down from the crane and joins his fellow muscular construction workers who all wear tight jeans.
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