Review: JB's Comicstories #1 by JB

We have a bizarre, darkly funny, bold and unnerving little comic here by the mysterious 'JB', once more coming from Canadian Underground Comix Smut Peddlers; 'The Comix Company'.

Subtitled "Traumatism.vid"; The comic explores the murkier side of internet pornography, in particular, the more extreme aspects of live-feed webcam videos.

The star of the comic is 'Louiese Diseasy' accompanied by her ghostly yet loyal little friend 'Weesy'. Louiese is somewhat of an internet celebrity for her no-holds-barred (or should that be holes?) solo amateur sex videos which attract 1000's of viewers every evening. Louiese considers herself an empowered artist of the adult sex cam, earning money and having a 'wishlist' of gifts that her voyeuristic admirers buy for her.

Enter the not quite so popular 'Little Baby Teef'. LBT as he is known on the internet, is a troubled and isolated chap who lives in his mother's cellar and has just spent his last bit of internet creds buying a special anniversary DVD edition of 'Nightmare Before Christmas' for Louiese (from her wish list).

To make ends meet and fuel his porn-addiction/ obsession with Louiese, LBT has a pay-per-view webcam portal of his own; a much darker and masochistic affair, where he uses every extreme BDSM method at his disposal (which is thankfully mostly left to the imagination), torturing himself (or more specifically, his genitals) for money.

Far from being repulsed by his actions, Louiese considers him the ultimate freaky artist and showman for whom she has the upmost respect."What a monster!" she declares.

Soon, after, LBT goes out in his van to get some food and happens to recognise Louiese going into the same takeaway place with weesy. Too maladjusted and over-excited to just go up and speak to her, LBT instead kidnaps her off the street, leaving the stricken Weesy behind.

Louiese is not a bit phased, thinking that her abduction and blindfolding is a planned kidnapped fantasy gone wrong. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TREVOR, I TOLD YOU FRIDAY!!!". After removing her blindfold and realising that it's not Trevor,  instead seeing the sweaty ski-mask wearing pervert who tries to reassure her that he's her 'number one fan', Louiese then knocks seven shades of shit out of her captor, before exposing his genitals, which she then recognises from LBT's masochist-cam.

The two decide to team-up and shake up the online sex world, "together we'll stir emotions and reveal brutal, basic human truths" declares Little Baby Teef, like some nerdy little Marquis De Sade.

For well over half of the rest of the book, Weesy the ghost searches for Louiese utilising a human host, whilst LBT and Miss Diseasy go on an even more twisted and imaginative odyssey together, garnering interest from all over the internet, which builds, in ways they had not predicted, to a tragi-comic finale, where calamity strikes, then everyone gets what they want...err, kind of.

Now, this may just sound like an abject lesson in how far human kicks can go, and in many ways it is. The comic, it seems, satirises and comments on extreme sexual fetishes, voyeurism, self-abuse, as well as the 'trollishness' and shallow behaviour of many on the internet; the modern trait of 'viral' videos, where for many, everything is entertainment to be laughed at, sneered at and shared.

Internet anonymity and privacy (or lack of) plays a part in the story, as does loneliness, taking oneself too seriously, exhibitionism, public ridicule, self loathing, and self-mutilation.

There's also a good balance/ representation between the two BDSM 'freaks' of the tale; Louiese comes across as sexually liberated, pretty well-adjusted (if just as full-on) and fairly sound of mind, whilst LBT represents someone who is pretty disturbed, yet pitiful, with many hang-ups.

How much you read into this comic is up to you. At it's core is a black comedy in underground comix mould, but even at the end, the punchline says a lot about how messed up people can be. It also felt like, to my mind, that along with the absurdishness, grossness and humour, it was also somewhat critical of those who judge, ridicule and bully those who are different, just as it was a cartoonish exploration of the extremities of sado-masochism and self-martyrdom...I found it a refreshingly different read, and a very original idea.

JB also has to be commended on his art style; both the colour cover and his black and white line art look really nice, with a natural fluidity throughout the pages....You can buy the comic for $4 here. Don't torture yourself, just buy a copy!