REVIEW: Hot Little Cut #1 by Carrie Q Contrary

So begins the first of several reviews I'll be doing over the next couple of months, of various salacious, kinky, sex-orientated comix sent to me from Dexter Cockburn's 'The Comix Company' in Canada.

Dexter and his band of merry perverts are regularly cracking-out comix like no-ones business, getting their creative juices (and libidos) flowing and stimulating their imaginations before getting right down to it; beavering away before the next 'release'.

It's good to see a comix publisher that has not only kept the torch burning for the uncensorred delights of the Underground of yore, but is releasing new and progressive variations on the adult, sleaze and humour sex-comic genre, and breathing new life into an often ignored/ avoided area of comics by the more prudish.

I kind of like that 'Dexter Cockburn' and Miss 'Contrary' are using pseudonyms; the names are not only amusing, but also tacitly imply that their work is going to be naughty, underground and explicit enough to warrant aliases from which to peddle their filth under.

And so, without further ado; our premier comix exhibitionist show of the evening, is Carrie Q. Contrary's 'Hot Little Cut' #1; a 32 page comic made up of 3 different stories and a couple of one page illustrations.

The first story 'Attack Of The Giant Libido', is a fun fantasy strip which is part 'Attack Of The 50 ft Woman' and part 'Gulliver's Travels', put in a sex-crazed horny blender. Having no luck satisfying her cravings herself, our protagonist ventures off into the outside world; where she continues to grow, more and more, just like her out of control sex-drive.

Pretty soon, she finds a suitable male specimen and picks him up, but unlike the usual creature-feature victims, he seems to be only a slightly shocked, but more aroused, and quite willing to endure whatever is in store for him.

As can be seen from the page above, she has a novel yet functional use for her tiny lover, as he squirms around inside her. After a literally earth-moving climax (that would put Godzilla to shame), suddenly a whole host of frenzied, horny guys want in on the sexy lady theme park, and so the story becomes a kind of pornographic Gulliver's travels.

Whilst Milo Manara did a very beautifully drawn version of a Giant 'Gullivera' back in the day, his version seemed a little too controlled, posed, and almost voyeuristically clean-cut. Carrie's version uses quick brush strokes, and moves quickly and more urgently, as though she herself is getting swept away with the fantasy, which seems more flowing and 'down 'n' dirty' as things gush, shudder and explode throughout the panels. I won't give much else away on this one, other than it's a good-humoured, raunchy fantasy comic.


'Time For A Bath' is a humourous one-page filler comic, all about Carrie getting carried away in the bath tub.

'Shameless' is a longer strip, the first part of a to-be- continued autobiographical comic. Part memoir, part confessional, the story starts by taking us through Carrie's earliest sexual awakenings; of discovering and exploring her body in different ways.

I found this the most unique of the three stories, as well as the most honest and personal. Told in a straight-forward style, in a fairly minimalist way, the strip recalls, balances, juxtaposes and subtly blends all the unashamed, innocent curiosity of childhood, and the more secretive and increasingly self-aware world of burgeoning sexuality and pleasure. Probably not the easiest thing to pull off for a lot of people, but Carrie does it naturally and with aplomb.

This feels like a more mature and thought-provoking work to me (don't get me wrong though, humourous fantasy and titillation is just as valid) which illuminates an area which is seldom talked about, and is generally seen as more taboo for women to discuss it seems, or at least not as readily seen and heard. For instance, we've seen the likes of Robert Crumb and Chester Brown sharing their early sexual experiences in their autobio comic work, but there are very few female cartoonists (to my knowledge) who have given similar insights.

Also worth a mention are the illustrations. As well as the 'tuff girl' cover, we have 'My Little Porno'; a send up of the popular toy franchise (lets hope Hasbro don't get wind of it!), and an amusing and nicely drawn colour pin-up style bit of debauchery on the back:

You can buy 'Hot Little Cut' for only $4 (+ shipping) along with lots of other weird, wonderful and depraved comics at the Comix Company website.

I've still got a little space to use up here, so I will bid you good day, and watch out for more Comix Company reviews, along with many other Underground and Alternative Comix reviews in the very near future!

As The Cramps said; "STAY SICK!" ;)

Laters Alligators!

Sweet Surrender!

Just heard this beautiful track from Brighton (UK) Reggae/ Roots band 'The Resonators'...And it's lovely. You can get it on download, or if you're old school and still use vinyl, it's also available as a  limited 7", both can be found on their bandcamp site. I don't usually plug music on this blog, but this is a local band and I really like the track!