Adult Comics

[shadow_Fox81]

I don't know how mature you want but... The pushman and other Stories-1969 by yosihiro tatsumi.
its manga in the sense its a comic and its from japan, they're short carefully crafted 10 -20 page comics about grand human experiences and ideas. incase yoo're wondering about themes;

-abortion explored through the practise of abandoning aborted fetussin sewer through the eyes of a sewer worker.
-physical limitaion explored through a amputee victims voyeristic relationship with a house wife
-My hitler is hard to describe but basically about the value of life explored through a mans emotional relationship with a rat and his sexual one with his wife.

it is deceptively light reading but if you were a fan of Barefoot Gen you should enjoy it, but the themes are quite confronting and challenging 40 years on.

 

[Halcyone3]

I've never really been a fan of anime and manga I just don't get the themes they deal with more often than not and the tropes they use are really annoying to me for the most part.

I'm not exactly much of a fan of American comics. Not that they are "bad" or anything, we just never clicked. But if that's the reason you shy away from manga/anime, i actually have a recommendation.

I'd recommend Fullmetal alchemist, it is one of the least manga/anime-like manga/anime i've seen. About the only thing it has in common with regular manga/anime is that it likes to mix in some comedy from time to time (and the art style of course). Other than that, it's set outside of Japan and does not feature any of the popular and obnoxious Japanese tropes and themes.

It has a solid story that is complex enough to keep you engaged, and not complex to the point it becomes convoluted. It has a great cast of believable and, for the most part, relatable characters. It has a good balance of drama and action and it knows when to drop in comedy without breaking the story flow.

It's a mature story, and does not need nudity to be so (not saying nudity is immature, it tends to be, but that's more how its presented in a look-at-our-comic/game/movie-its-got-tits way most of the time). Instead of finding any way to sexualize its characters like anime usually do, it just focuses in other mature themes.

Since you said you wanted a comic, I'd recommend the manga, though the anime itself follows the story perfectly (though you'd have to search for the remake called Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood since the original didn't follow it) plus it has an amazing sound track and excellent animation, so I'd personally favor that.

That's the best I can recommend. If you are not completely opposed to a manga/anime, I'd also recommend Death Note, but for a person who does not watch a lot of anime, a certain character in it might prove too annoying to bear.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

I'd say try Warren Ellis' Preacher, or Desolation Jones. They don't really pull any punches. Another bet would be Brain K Vaughan's Y the last man, and Ex Machina.

I work at a library and really trying to pull the best graphic novels/comics into our collection. Hardest part is trying to make an actual section for the more adult ones because there aren't many that don't cross the border of pornography to fill up a shelf. Can't put it in regular fiction because they'll get overlooked, and can't put it into the teens because I don't want that conversation with an upset parent.

Gonna pay close attention to this thread because I could use suggestions as well.

I think you are referring to Garth Ennis' Preacher... but you are right. THAT book isnt afraid to approach any subject!

 

[Abedeus]

Pretty much all the Alan Moore comics. Not a lot of porn, but they tend to not be afraid of sex and nudity when it comes up in the stories.

I was about to say this. The Watchmen comes to mind -- while the movie actually had a lot more blue dong than the book, they didn't shy away from nudity when the story called for it. Also, not Western comics, but they have a very different attitude about nudity in Japan; I'll never forget the time I was reading Crossbone Gundam at work (that job was awesome) and had to quickly exit the browser window because of a random splash of full frontal nudity. For those who don't know Gundam, it's about as far from being a porno as you can get.

I've never really been a fan of anime and manga I just don't get the themes they deal with more often than not and the tropes they use are really annoying to me for the most part.

Should try Berserk. The hero isn't a boy-wonder, he's not a genius, he's not a ninja and he doesn't have a demon/secret power inside him. He got his inhuman strength by training, he trained since he could walk always using sword made for people taller and stronger than he is.

While there are magical things, weapons and so on, they don't turn into "oh, I just killed you by snapping my fingers". Hell, the main hero Gutts battles demons and monsters using only an oversized "hunk of metal" shaped into sword.

 

[trouble_gum]

I'd say try Warren Ellis' Preacher, or Desolation Jones. They don't really pull any punches. Another bet would be Brain K Vaughan's Y the last man, and Ex Machina.

The Preacher author thing has already been corrected, but most of Ellis' own backlist is worth reading too. Transmetropolitan is a good starting point and certainly couldn't be accused of shying away from mature (that's not the same as 'adult') themes and discussions. Or nipples. See also The Authority and Planetary.

The Boys got a mention, too and I second that. A CIA Black Ops team dedicated to keeping superheroes in line in an alternate universe where supers are organised into groups with catchy names by a dubious megacorporation who manufactures their backgrounds.

Hellblazer. I know, I know. Constantine the movie didn't help Hellblazer any - but Ennis and Ellis' runs and most of the Mike Carey-penned arcs are still bloody good stuff.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Are there any comics out there that aren't afraid of adult themes? As well as situations? with out descending to the level of fetishistic pornography?

I recently read the new reboot of Batwoman, my first experience with her and I found it kinda strange that at this point, in our society we must have obvious objects that break the scene to block something as simple as a nipple and it made me wish for a comic series that didn't have to pull it's punches with it's characters.

Does a comic or movie or TV show or book have to be graphic to be considered adult? Sometimes to me the implied view works so much better than blatantly showing a nipple or writing in a sex scene. I find it to be more adult to not have to put these things in your face.
Good example: the Kirk boot scene. How does this work? On Star Trek, the original series, Capt. Kirk meets alien chick, they kiss, fade to Spock and McCoy or Scotty talking about the current issue at hand, fade to Kirk pulling on his boots.
Now there was no nudity or graphic sex involved but everyone knows what happened. It leaves out the things that aren't needed. Nudity and sex don't drive a story or make it better or more adult. Adult themes are much different and less juvenile than adding those things in for "realism".

 

[Hollock]

You should try a comic called Transmetropolitan, or sandman. I haven't read either, but they're both supposed to be really good grow'd up comics.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

ELF QUEST ELF QUEST ELF QUEST ELF QUEST

Read All The Comics here
http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics3.html

 

[Treefingers]

Pretty much all the Alan Moore comics. Not a lot of porn, but they tend to not be afraid of sex and nudity when it comes up in the stories.

I've read all his stuff unfortunately. So much so I didn't really consider him when I posted this. I mean there are comics and then there is Alan Moore ya know.

What do you mean, you've "read all his stuff... UNFORTUNATELY??"

Don't you mean, "I've read all his stuff, FUCK YEAH....?"

 

[Cheshire Cat]

You could try and get hold of some of the older 2000ad comics, iirc those were fairly adult in content and had some impressive story lines and weren't always all about sex

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Tits are great and all, but there's plenty of them in comic books, as many commenters have pointed out throughout the thread - lots of adult comics depict female nudity with great frequency.

Any comics with male nudity, though? I mean, presumably, in the real world, men are naked just as often as women. A truly "realistic" comic that "doesn't pull punches" wouldn't be scared of showing a little dong.

/devil's advocate

Off the top of my head, theres The Watchmen (maybe a bit too obvious) and 300. 300 is weird, though; it's like the artist decided half way that he'd rather draw dongs under the capes than man panties -- despite the fact that neither of those options were historically accurate, and both were kind of pointlessly weird.

 

[thylasos]

The work of Alan Moore. Especially the later stuff.

 

[synobal]

Pretty much all the Alan Moore comics. Not a lot of porn, but they tend to not be afraid of sex and nudity when it comes up in the stories.

I've read all his stuff unfortunately. So much so I didn't really consider him when I posted this. I mean there are comics and then there is Alan Moore ya know.

What do you mean, you've "read all his stuff... UNFORTUNATELY??"

Don't you mean, "I've read all his stuff, FUCK YEAH....?"

I say unfortunately because I can never read them again for the first time. I often wish I could forget specific things so I could experience my favorite things again for the first time.

 

[Fleaman]

If you don't mind manga there's "Eden: It's an Endless World". I highly recommend it. It doesn't shy away from sex, nudity and gore where appropriate. Don't expect fan service, it's not like typical manga. It's got some cyber punk themes too without going really overboard with it.

Oh God, Eden is grim. Seriously never read it all at once. Suicide will follow.

So yeah, here's some manga that might interest you. There are also pictures for the attention-impaired.

Highly Recommended

Eden: Grim-as-fuck near-future-politics post-apocalyptic coming-of-age SF. The SF is of medium hardness: Cyborgs everywhere, but with a utilitarian, military design aesthetic. Definitely not space opera. English version published by Dark Horse.
Eden looks like this: http://tinyurl.com/3j8j45y
Some sex, gore can be uncomfortably graphic.

All of Hiroki Endo's stuff is like Eden by the way: Grim, but not gritty. It's a darkness from the real world. Try out Tanpenshu, which is also carried by Dark Horse.

Vagabond: Historical fiction, based on a book embellishing the life of Miyamoto Musashi. All about a swordsman's true path. Unbelievably manly. The art is jaw-droppingly good and the fight scenes are visceral and well-choreographed. The English volumes are published by Madman Entertainment and can easily be identified on the shelf by their ridiculous girth.
It looks like this: http://tinyurl.com/6bc4d67 (that's a backscratcher)
Contains sex and nudity, and heaps of extremely realistic violence.

Vinland Saga: Historical fiction about VIKINGS. Seriously. Still being updated. The early volumes are full of political throatcutting and features Cnut the Great. Be warned that this story fucking goes places. Heaps and heaps of character development and fantastic artwork. Also, Vikings everywhere. The first thing that happens in this manga is this: http://tinyurl.com/3t35bno
Note that there's no official English release of this series.
Contains Viking violence.

Monster: Mystery/Horror by Urasawa Naoki, a great duke of Mystery/Horror. An idealistic doctor working in Germany hunts for a young boy whose life he saved, and who disappeared after murdering three hospital staff. Urasawa's specialty is letting the reader come to horrific realizations, but he's also capable of sincere drama and tense action. Viz Media releases the volumes in English.
http://tinyurl.com/6ef85et
Sex and violence are present, but have low shock value.

Other works by Urasawa include Pluto, an adapted story from Astroboy. A Europol detective investigates the sequential murders of the world's most powerful robots. SF/Mystery.
http://tinyurl.com/6j2n3w6
20th Century Boys, Mystery/Horror. The strange cult of "the Friend" threatens to dominate Japan. Laden with nostalgia. The author wrote and performed a theme song for it based on Bob Dylan and John Lennon. The song is pretty good. The manga is incredible. You'll probably cry.
http://tinyurl.com/3e5lmus
Billy Bat, Mystery/Supernatural. The original artist of Mickey Mouse must stop his creation from assassinating JFK. I swear that happens. For a Japanese work, rather good at expressing the flavor of this era in the US. Currently being updated, no official English release yet.

Otoyomegatari ("A Bride's Story" in English): More Historical Fiction. Central Asia, early 19th century; a young woman marries a boy eight years her junior and becomes a part of his family. Slice of life, although the subject of Russian expansion has been mentioned here and there in recent chapters. LAVISH artwork, and tons of research into Central Asian cultures. Contains some nudity and hunting.
http://tinyurl.com/3slvv8y
Seriously, every page is like that. The author, Kaoru Mori, is a raving madwoman. I just saw the first volume on the shelf recently, and it's always worth picking up just for her incoherent babbling in the author's note. Sometimes she turns into a bird for some reason.

Kaoru Mori also wrote Emma: A Victorian Romance, which is also psychotically researched slice-of-life period drama, and which is also extremely good. Some nudity, no sex, very little violence. Personally, my favorites are her smaller slice-of-life vignettes, like in Shirley Madison and Emma Bangahein, but they might be a little cute for some people. BAD people.
http://tinyurl.com/3hynjxs

Also Consider

Berserk: Putting it here because it was recommended, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it for you. It's kind of like Miller - so gritty it dips into exploitation. It's dark, low fantasy about a Conan-inspired brute who kills demons. It's fairly close to Warhammer in style; it even has actual Chaos Gods. However, it also has seriously fantastic character arcs and Guts is a great protagonist. It is extremely good, but the first volume can come off as kind of sophomoric and the art takes a while to find its legs. Still being updated, published by Dark Horse.
http://tinyurl.com/3qhn6d3

Gunslinger Girl: On the cover - Little girls with guns. In practice it's mostly counterterrorism in Italy. The girls-with-guns aspect is played for drama and moral ambiguity. So you know, the book predates the standardization of moe tropes pervasive in current anime/manga. The original anime covers the first few volumes and is VERY good. Don't read it online; the official translation benefits immensely from background research.

Battle Angel Alita: A product of the gritty, superviolent cyberpunk anime of the early 90s. I kind of miss it sometimes. Full to the gills with cyborgs and dystopia. Strong characterization to boot. Extremely violent. Contains an awesome mad scientist.

BLAME!: A cyberpunk story I've heard described as a "beautiful void". An agent explores a sprawling megastructure, occasionally getting his ass kicked by Giger-inspired machines with human heads. The story is exceedingly colorless, but it's sort of part of the appeal. Mainly an art book full of maddening architecture and awesome cyborgs.
http://tinyurl.com/3o8un3w

Hellsing: Hasn't been brought up yet, but it inevitably will be, so I'll say a bit about it. Shounen violence story with Count Dracula and Nazi vampires. It's lots of fun (and also complete and fully released in English), but is not "mature comics" by any stretch of imagination.

Not Recommended

Battle Royale: 100% exploitation. Honestly I don't see what's so good about it.

Elfin Lied: Also hasn't been mentioned yet, but it always is when people go asking for mature mango. Anime is good, manga is total shit. Do not read this book.

 

[xochiquetzal]

you could try tracking down a copy of lost girls but it's super expensive

and if all eles fails you could give johnny the homicidal maniac a try

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

First, Lost Girls is not illegal to own in the US. It can be hard to find in comic book stores, but you can buy it on Amazon. There are ways in which it might be of slightly gray legality, but you'd never be prosecuted for it, the laws would never hold up in court, and a lot of the naive descriptions of US obscenity law here are woefully misinformed.

Please explain how I'm wrong and where you're getting your information. I actually don't mind getting schooled on this issue, but I need specifics.

As far as I know, they passed a law saying anything drawn or rendered with kids in it having sex is illegal. That means until that law is repealed or struck down, Lost Girls is illegal. The fact that Amazon is still selling it just means they're not enforcing it to that degree-- yet. If I'm wrong, please explain how.

I agree that it's a bad law, but I don't understand your claim that it's not prosecutable. The entire point of passing a law with this wording was to *make* it prosecutable. Right? Agree or disagree. Explain why.

The PROTECT Act essentially extends existing obscenity law. Judges don't just decide whether it's obscene or not, materials have to meet the Miller test for obscenity, which is historically very, very hard to do. The community standards requirement is always extremely difficult to prove in just about any case and, in this case, given that it's considered one of the more important and interesting works in the medium, it would be virtually impossible to prosecute someone over it thanks to the literary and artistic merit prong of the test.

Since it is extremely unlikely to meet the requirements of the Miller test, it is not obscene and consequently not illegal to the extend that you can ever talk about an action being legal or illegal in the context of obscenity law.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

Wait huh? That's not really fair, not wanting pornography is just me saying I want something more than masturbatory material, no sex for the sake of sex. No having sex to defeat your enemy or fighting that magically disintegrates clothes etc. There is a difference between adult and pornography. Misfits (bbc tv show) has plenty of sex but never descends to pornography. I dunno if you're a troll just trying to get my goat but I think it should be said that I never said 'omg no in panel sex!' I just said I didn't want something that was just sex and nudity and lets see how many boobs we can fit in panel.

I think it hurts the case for mature adult media when we say that there is a point at which sexual content is unacceptable. You may not want to consume certain media, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist or that it's inherently bad or lesser ("descending to the level of fetishistic pornography"). Setting aside the fact that there are some great, tremendously thoughtful pieces of media that involve using sex to defeat your enemy, gratuitous nudity, etc., why is something put together entirely for pleasure inherently bad? I see this as part of that strangely puritanical view that audience pleasure should never be an acceptable goal on its own and that anything with that goal in mind is pandering to some cheap, base level.

In short, I don't really have a problem with people who don't want that sort of thing, but I think it seems silly to denigrate something on the basis of its intent to produce pleasure and I think it hurts the case for more thoughtful depictions of sexuality by giving detractors a means of attacking them (once something has to be thoughtful to be more acceptable, you can simply argue that it isn't thoughtful enough to balance out the sexual content, and it rapidly gets pretty dumb).

 

[synobal]

Wait huh? That's not really fair, not wanting pornography is just me saying I want something more than masturbatory material, no sex for the sake of sex. No having sex to defeat your enemy or fighting that magically disintegrates clothes etc. There is a difference between adult and pornography. Misfits (bbc tv show) has plenty of sex but never descends to pornography. I dunno if you're a troll just trying to get my goat but I think it should be said that I never said 'omg no in panel sex!' I just said I didn't want something that was just sex and nudity and lets see how many boobs we can fit in panel.

I think it hurts the case for mature adult media when we say that there is a point at which sexual content is unacceptable. You may not want to consume certain media, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist or that it's inherently bad or lesser ("descending to the level of fetishistic pornography"). Setting aside the fact that there are some great, tremendously thoughtful pieces of media that involve using sex to defeat your enemy, gratuitous nudity, etc., why is something put together entirely for pleasure inherently bad? I see this as part of that strangely puritanical view that audience pleasure should never be an acceptable goal on its own and that anything with that goal in mind is pandering to some cheap, base level.

In short, I don't really have a problem with people who don't want that sort of thing, but I think it seems silly to denigrate something on the basis of its intent to produce pleasure and I think it hurts the case for more thoughtful depictions of sexuality by giving detractors a means of attacking them (once something has to be thoughtful to be more acceptable, you can simply argue that it isn't thoughtful enough to balance out the sexual content, and it rapidly gets pretty dumb).

I never said it was bad nor did imply it should be censored or destroyed. I never said it became unacceptable either. I just said it wasn't something I was looking for, if I want hentai I go to the Hentai foundry or some place similar. What I am looking for is mature themes that aren't censored as to be acceptable for teens and such. I'm sorry if using the word descending bothers you but it's just a turn of phrase and was the smoothest way to convey what I was looking for. Sure if I wanted to be 'exactly' correct I could of used a few more sentences to validate fetish and pornographic comics but I really didn't feel the need nor did I think I was going to be bothered by someone who did.

If you've got something you need to get on a Soap Box about that's fine but don't use me or this thread to do so.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

Wait huh? That's not really fair, not wanting pornography is just me saying I want something more than masturbatory material, no sex for the sake of sex. No having sex to defeat your enemy or fighting that magically disintegrates clothes etc. There is a difference between adult and pornography. Misfits (bbc tv show) has plenty of sex but never descends to pornography. I dunno if you're a troll just trying to get my goat but I think it should be said that I never said 'omg no in panel sex!' I just said I didn't want something that was just sex and nudity and lets see how many boobs we can fit in panel.

I think it hurts the case for mature adult media when we say that there is a point at which sexual content is unacceptable. You may not want to consume certain media, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist or that it's inherently bad or lesser ("descending to the level of fetishistic pornography"). Setting aside the fact that there are some great, tremendously thoughtful pieces of media that involve using sex to defeat your enemy, gratuitous nudity, etc., why is something put together entirely for pleasure inherently bad? I see this as part of that strangely puritanical view that audience pleasure should never be an acceptable goal on its own and that anything with that goal in mind is pandering to some cheap, base level.

In short, I don't really have a problem with people who don't want that sort of thing, but I think it seems silly to denigrate something on the basis of its intent to produce pleasure and I think it hurts the case for more thoughtful depictions of sexuality by giving detractors a means of attacking them (once something has to be thoughtful to be more acceptable, you can simply argue that it isn't thoughtful enough to balance out the sexual content, and it rapidly gets pretty dumb).

I never said it was bad nor did imply it should be censored or destroyed. I never said it became unacceptable either. I just said it wasn't something I was looking for, if I want hentai I go to the Hentai foundry or some place similar. What I am looking for is mature themes that aren't censored as to be acceptable for teens and such. I'm sorry if using the word descending bothers you but it's just a turn of phrase and was the smoothest way to convey what I was looking for. Sure if I wanted to be 'exactly' correct I could of used a few more sentences to validate fetish and pornographic comics but I really didn't feel the need nor did I think I was going to be bothered by someone who did.

If you've got something you need to get on a Soap Box about that's fine but don't use me or this thread to do so.

(1) I'm sorry if I misunderstood you. Even so, I think using a "turn of phrase" like that is still damaging to efforts to support the very kind of media you're looking for and it provided a nice example of something that is I think very relevant in discussions of how hard mature comics can be to find and one of the reasons why.
(2) The "it would be too hard to not say it in that way" defence is almost universally pretty poor. Is it really so impossible to put it as "Are there any comics out there that aren't afraid of adult themes? As well as situations? I'm not looking for pornography." I'll give you that it's a phrase, but that doesn't mean it's somehow devoid of content. It is without doubt a phrase that expresses some level of derision toward its object.
(3) You are in no way obligated to respond to me or even to read what I write. However, nor am I obligated to abide by what you would rather I discuss on an internet forum or to avoid quoting you because your post brings up a topic I'd like to comment on. I'm sorry if you felt like I was bothering you, I was merely trying to make a point related to something you said - it wasn't intended to be an attack specifically on you, but rather on what I see as a relevant problematic view shared by many, many people that contributes to the problem under discussion.
(4) I'm sorry for sowing dissention within your personal thread kingdom. I'll go away now. Have a nice day.

 

[StarCecil]

Well, assuming you don't mean straight up porn...

I understand Marvel's MAX imprint is all adult-oriented. I can't speak for it all, but PunisherMAX under Garth Ennis was very adult and had the Punisher killing various horrid criminals in a variety of graphic ways. One story arc in particular stands out: the Punisher targets a ring of sex traffickers, brutally eviscerating one to interrogate him.

Some nudity, sexual themes, language, graphic violence and a thoughtful look at the Punisher and his psyche.