Adult Comic Books

Adult comic books refer to the presence of erotic themes or intense graphical artwork that deviates from the comic code. Sometimes, the themes can be classified into pornography. Also, some themes include levels of morbidity that even adults may find uncomfortable to deal with. As with children's and teens comic books, adult comics actually gained popularity. However, the nature and background of these comics depend on where they come from. They can be classified into three types: European, American, and Japanese. These comics are also called Tijuana-bibles.

Some comic books actually do not have such themes. They only tell stories that are more mature in nature and thus are intended for mature readers. Also, they are heavy stories sometimes reflecting the nitty-gritty parts of society. They focus on the slum areas or the dark corners of the city.

European

European adult comic books range from hyper-realistic art to abstract caricatures. The thing is, most people actually prefer the caricature style as the former tries to make the characters too realistic. For most people, this takes the fun out of the fantasies that they have. Some, however, prefer the realistic ones as they feel more comfortable with that scenario. Themes also include different forms of sexual torture, sado-masochistic practices, prostitution, action, adventure, and other genres.

European adult comics actually tend to focus on realistic or mythological settings. However, mixes of settings and types actually occur. Sometimes, the mix piques interest while other times it may seem just a bit too weird to stomach. Wicked Willie, Click, and Nina are just a few titles that have gained fame over the years.

Japanese

Japanese adult comic books do not have a predominant style. They actually run the complete range of realistic and fantasy. Some stories actually reflect society as a whole. This further breaks down into some sort of serious discussion or could be a parody of a social issue. Social issues may include incest, pedophilia, necrophilia, prostitution, and sado-masochism. Some themes may try to mix science fiction or action and adventure with those issues presented.

Some themes are actually ridiculous and can be classified as plain pornography. This is not to be confused with the hentai as some hentai stories do reflect society and how society reacts to certain issues. Angel, Dragon Pink, Secret Plot, and Bondage Fairies are some titles that should be looked up.

American

American adult comic books do not really have a very clear difference with Japanese or European styles. Most of the published comics are actually American versions of European or Japanese comics. Some of them are actually poor copies without any real story or any deep realization of social issues as they are made for the pornography market alone. It is quite difficult to purchase such comics as there isn't a legitimate publisher to publish them. To find them, you will have to know where to go and who to look for as they are copied and sold independently. Sado-masochistic practices are actually quite common in this type.

Underground

Adult comics also include the underground comics. This genre actually mixes a bit of morbidity with a bit of pornography or a lot of both. This type was developed during the late 1960's. As the nature of these comics prevented any recognized publisher from publishing them, they were created, copied, and sold independently. Also, these comics broke the comic book code and were thus banned from the public market.

Graphic Novels

Graphic novels can still be classified under adult comics. The absence of explicit sexual content actually makes this genre a more accepted one compared to adult comics. The similarity between the two is that both genres have mature stories that are unsuitable for children. Nudity may still be present but it is viewed by many as a form of art and not as pornography. However, the line between art and pornography is so thin that certain forms of pornography are classified as art.

Adult comics do include pornography and they do include deeper storylines. If you do want to look into them, be sure of what you want to look for and what you want to read as it may be possible that you may get the wrong titles and you may be mislead into thinking that adult comics is all about pornography.