Unraveling

 Ever just had one of those days...?

Doujinshi

Yes, here it is: the image that caused so much trouble. 

Some time in the late 2000s (not sure of the exact date, it's been a while), we noticed that WP was missing an illustration for their Doujinshi article. For those of us whose lives don't revolve around bras, knickers and popular culture, "doujinshi" is the Japanese term for amateur comics (the word has other uses too, but that's the most commonly understood definition in the West), many of which were being translated into English at the time... 

Read the rest of this article at our Patreon Account.

Postwar Cheesecake

Katy Keene in her "undies." Despite its squeaky-clean reputation, Archie Publications could get pretty steamy during the pre-code era. While the character was aimed at a predominately female audience, most stories contained a generous amount of cheesecake, usually in the form of Katy getting changed. Readers often submitted designs for the characters' clothing; evidently the strip had a devoted male following as well.

Eight years before Marilyn Monroe's iconic scene in The Seven Year Itch, Katy Keene found herself fighting the gale for close on six pages. The strip's creator, Bill Woggon, frequently "spiced up" the action with pin up pages and mild innuendo here and there (well, practically every issue TBH). 

"Fanservice" elements were less common in other titles, though they managed to sneak in under the radar from time to time. Billed as "America's Typical Teenaged Girl," Ginger Snapp was a female version of Archie Andrews, complete with bright red hair and oddball supporting cast - although the similarities seem to have ended there. Unlike her better-known counterpart, Ginger occasionally treated her readers to gratuitous lingerie shots, complete with lacy black underwear and thigh-length suspender stockings.

Last (and quite possibly least) we have Owen Fizgerald's Moronica. Published by AGC in the early 50s, Moronica (yes, that was apparently her real name) was portrayed as ditzy, naive and accident-prone, ie a stereotypical "Dumb Dora" played exclusively for laughs. Appearing mainly in the back pages of Dizzy Dames (a more subtle title cannot be conceived), the strip ran for less than a year before its cancellation in June 1953. Strangely enough, the idea of an airhead blonde losing her clothes at the drop of a hat didn't catch on too well at the time. Guess there's just no accounting for taste.

Cartoons and Comics

Depictions of the cancan in mainstream comics tend to be few and far between, but they turn up every now and again, sometimes in the most unexpected of places. Our first example comes from Archie Comics, where Veronica visits the Yukon and is mistaken for a chorus girl (my apologies for the low resolution scans, they're the only ones I could locate on the web).

I think the sequence was drawn by Dan DeCarlo, the artist who more or less defined the Archie Comics' "house style". DeCarlo also drew gag cartoons for various adult magazines and was well-known for his risque sense of humor outside of his mainstream work.

Next, we have  Le Petit Spirou by Tome and Janry, a popular Belgian/French comic strip, (though practically unknown outside Europe). While the main protagonists are mostly young children, the humor is more squarely aimed at adults:

One might think that French comics would be literally bursting with the cancan, but once again, such images are comparatively rare. Chorus girls sometimes turn up in Maurice De Bevere's Lucky Luke, though their costumes often lack the distinctive skirts and petticoats common to the classic ensemble:

On the other hand, a more traditional outfit can be found in some of the animated adaptions of the character, as suggested by this hand-painted cel from 1971's Daisy Town:

And of course, there's the famous Royal Flash gag from 1944's  Stage Door Cartoon (OK, I admit to cheating here a little; I used photoshop to edits Bugs out of the picture):

PS: Will post more as I find 'em. If anyone knows the original source of those Archie Comics pages, please leave a message; I'd be very interested in posting some high-res scans.

Modesty Blaise

Click image to enlarge...

 

From Wikipedia: "Modesty Blaise is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with a criminal past."

 

Oddly enough, the Wikipedia article makes no mention of her talent for falling out of her clothes and undressing in public (as seen in the images posted above). Following Holdaway's death in 1970, artistic chores were handed over to Enrique Badía Romero, who is credited with introducing the strip's more "voluptuous" take on the character (ie, more nudity and lingerie scenes).

James Bond: Gretta

 

Gretta getting into trouble (and out of her clothes)...

Artwork by Yaroslav Horek

Mary Perkins, On Stage

Gratuitous striptease from Mary Perkins

 

Mary Perkins was an American newspaper comic strip by Leonard Starr for the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. Running from February 10, 1957 to 1979, it

mixed soap opera, adventure and broad humor, while the artwork was characterized by a variety of sweet young things stripping down to their underwear for no apparent reason a studied line and innovative storytelling. 

 

Text adapted from Wikipedia. 

Lilli

Despite the rampantly Anglophile nature of this website, we can safely assume that our subject matter wasn't confined exclusively to the English-speaking world. While the Brits are amongst the most highly fetishized societies in human history, the Germans have never been far behind in the nudge-nudge-wink-wink sweepstakes. Reinhard Beuthien's Lilli is a prime example of this kind of cross-cultural visual phenomena.

Making her debut in the German tabloid Bild-Zeitung (June 24, 1952), Lilli was a one panel cartoon originally intended as a "space filler". The contemporary theme of a pretty young woman making her way in post-war Germany struck a note with the Zaitung's readers, and within a few years, the strip had inspired a range of merchandise including perfume, jewellery and dolls. By 1958, a movie based on the character had been released (Lilli — a Girl From the Big City), indicating the strip's growing popularity.

Generally humorous in tone, the newstrip provided a regular supply of cheesecake for its audience; Lilli frequently appeared in her lingerie during bedtime conversations with her room mate (black cami-knickers seem to have been the fashion at the time). Seasonal activities such as ice skating or tennis were accompanied by "accidental" panty shots, and Lilli's dialogue was often laced with naive innuendo.

On a side note: the Bild Lilli Doll marketed in Germany during the mid 50s is known to have been the precursor to Mattel's Barbie. The long-standing rumor that Barbie was based on a "German sex toy" is a misrepresentation; although Bild Lilli was sold in joke shops and tobacco stores, she was initially designed as a novelty item, similar to the kewpies found in sideshow alley. By the late fifties, Bild Lillie was being sold as a children's fashion doll, complete with wardrobe and accessories. Interestingly, her proportions were considerably more realistic than many later figurines believed to be completely appropriate for young girls.

Go figure.

The OTHER Sally...

Wally Wood's Sally Forth wasn't a sleuth per se, but she shared a surprising number of similarities with her 1930s predecessor, at least during the early stage of her career. Both were blond, voluptuous young women who tended to lose their clothing faster than Scientology loses converts. Originally created for the military press in the late 60s, Sally Forth featured a smooth combination of humor and cheesecake, as depicted in the strip reproduced below:


As noted by Don Markstein amongst others, military tabloids had a history of mildly risque comic strips (both Torchy and Miss Lace started out in army publications), and Sally initially followed the same model, blending barracks comedy with sassy innuendo. The sex appeal was provided by the main character's innocent stripteases - usually down to bra and panties; the nudity was more often implied than explicit.

Some time later, Sally left the armed services and continued her career on the hard core circuit. The dressing scenes and panty shows were soon displaced by full frontal nudity and penetration shots. Various historians feel that the move to XXX pornography marked the decline of Wood's artistic milieu. From this perspective at least, it's unfortunate that more of Sally's earlier escapades haven't survived to the present day.

Spicy Detectives: Sally the Sleuth: Restorations

You know, Adobe photoshop™ is a truly amazing program. With a basic knowledge of the system, you can take an old, faded, extremely distorted image and give it an entirely new lease of life. It's particularly useful for restoring ancient, grainy snapshots to a relatively pristine condition. While not as crisp and sharp as a direct scan would have been, it gives a good impression of what the original might have looked like, fresh from the newsstand some seventy-odd years ago:


Next, we have page two, as initially "scanned":


followed by the restored version of the strip (ain't I a clever little elf?):

OK, I know all this proves is that I have waaaaay too much time on my hands, but any picture of Sally the Sleuth in her lingerie deserves to be treated with the utmost respect. For my next trick, I'm thinking of trying my hand at drawing a two-page Sally strip in the style of the artist. If anyone has any ideas for a storyline, feel free to post your suggestions below :)

Spicy Detectives

The majority of comic aficionados are familiar with Bill Ward's Torchy and Matt Baker's Phantom Lady, but "racy" female characters have been around at least since the pulp era; Spicy Detective's Sally the Sleuth being the prime example). Taking her bow in November 1934, Sally was probably the first 'lingerie detective' on the American comics scene, and had a considerable number of literary descendants during the later 40s. Her main legacy to the artform seems to have been an impressive talent for fighting crime in her underwear (a trick she appears to have learned from Norman Pett's Jane).

Created by cartoonist Adolphe Barreaux, Sally the Sleuth started off in Spicy's back pages several years before comic books became an established format. Drawn in a "primitive" but surprisingly effective style, Sally's adventures usually ran for two pages, telling an entire story in less than 15 panels. A typical plot-line consisted of Sally working undercover to solve some local gangland mystery, resulting in her being stripped down to her bra and panties when the stock villain of the month caught her snooping about.



In most cases, she was rescued by her boss, Chief Brady (occasionally her kid sidekick, Peanuts), although she was capable of holding her own when the odds weren't overwhelming. Recurring themes included abduction, white slavery, extortion etc - standard pulp scenarios providing Sally ample opportunity to have her clothes torn off by the latest lowlife racketeer. As time went on, the action (for lack of a better word) became more risque, as Sally was stripped, bound, gagged, spanked, and whipped with ever-increasing regularity.

During the war, Sally started fighting the Axis and the feature was handed over to more sophisticated illustrators. While the artwork improved, it lacked the raw sexual energy of the Barreaux years. Part of the strip's innate charm had been the bold, naive approach to the subject matter; despite the inclusion of the popular 'homefront' subtext, the stories just didn't pack the same punch anymore. Still, the sado-masochistic elements continued to multiply, and Sally was one of the very few characters you could count on to lose her clothing within two or three panels.



FURTHER READING

Sally the Sleuth Google Reader

Racy Heroines

As most of my regular visitors are already aware, I have a tendency to get on my high horse over the issue of censorship. In previous articles, I've railed furiously against the likes of Will Hays and his ludicrously puritanical Motion Picture Production Code (see the Wikipedia article for more info, I can't discuss the matter without suffering a major conniption).

Being opposed to all forms of censorship, I've also harbored a life-long loathing for the Comics Code Authority, the "self-regulatory" body that effectively drove free speech from the American newsstand between 1955 and 1972.

For those of you whose lives don't revolve around suspenders, stockings and Bettie Page, a brief synopsis will probably be in order. Stating the case as simply as possible, comics were more-or-less entirely uncensored throughout the so-called Golden Age. Publishers followed their own judgment regarding what was considered acceptable content - a decision based mainly on whatever their target demographic happened to be.

While most titles were obviously aimed at kids (funny animals had always been the biggest seller), there was also a burgeoning market for teens and young adults (ie single males with waaaaay too much time on their hands). Naturally, some publishers catered to the demand for "risque" funny books (no, not that kind) featuring scantily dressed heroines in mildly compromising situations.

While Companies such as Fiction House and Fox had always specialized in "good girl" imagery, by the end of the 1940s, practically everybody was leaping onto the band wagon, especially after the romance, crime and horror genres began take off. Oddly enough, the best-remembered character of the time belonged to neither genre. As various comic historians have observed, Bill Ward's Torchy occupies a niche all of her own.

Created by Ward while he was still in the Armed Services, Torchy was a ditzy blond who spent most of her time looking for work in post-war America (a process which generally involved falling out of her clothes for some inexplicable reason). Despite her haphazard employment prospects, Torchy seemed to possess an exceptional sense of fashion - particularly in regards to her lingerie, which she displayed at least once every story. Wandering obliviously from one unlikely escapade to the next, Torchy found herself stripped to bra, panties and stockings on the flimsiest pretexts imaginable.