Comics for Adults without the Heavy Metal gore

I recently subscribed to Heavy Metal, after sampling a couple of issues (one was an “erotic stories” special or something), and I have to say I am dismayed by the content. I am repeatedly shocked and disturbed by the levels of graphic violence portrayed in the stories.

I love comics, I love nudity in comics, I love explicitly sexual content, I also love good storytelling, whether it’s cracking adventure stories or good drama or comedy. I have enjoyed Phil Foglio’s work, the Omaha the Cat Dancer series, much of Alan Moore’s work (I’m currently checking out Promethea), and I’m taking a look at Strangers in Paradise.

But I’m looking for further suggestions on where to find an adult level of sexual content combined with good storytelling without the violence, gore, depravity, and just plain grossness that I’m seeing in Heavy Metal. Any suggestions?

I know Antarctic Press has a laundry list of erotic comics and action comics that contain nudity. However, it’s mostly manga-style. Thus, it becomes more cartoony than your average comic book. It does reduce the levels of gratuitous violence.
That’s all I have to offer, sorry.

Jim Balent’s Broadsword comics produces Tarot : Witch of the Black Rose, which is artwise and plotwise on the level of Cinemax softcore porn.

Chuck Austen was producing an ‘Adult’ take on a Justice League-like team, called World Watch, but the plug got pulled after the… third? issue.

The best ‘adult themes’ book I read in recent memory was probably Codename : Knockout. Very funny spy adventure.

I’m a big fan of Small Favors, which is basically just a porn comic, but done with a great sense of humor and whimsy. Reminds me a lot of Foglio’s XXXenophile comics. The content is exclusively lesbian, though, which may not be what you’re looking for.

Hm … Cinemax-level artistry might fall short of the story-telling quality I’m looking for.

I remember reading some Chuck Austen stuff about 15 years ago. It seemed like he was developing some story-telling capacity, but it seemed he never got very far into the storylines before his books got cancelled. And I remember one letters page in which he totally lost his shit with a reader who offered some criticism. Seemed a bit too touchy. I wonder if that recent stuff is available anywhere.

Just to make it clear, it’s not that I’m just looking for hardcore porn. My first criteria is quality storytelling, but I prefer ones that include adult themes and images.

I’ve never really cottoned to Manga. I don’t know why, but the storytelling and the artwork seemed too “mannered” to me.

I’ll definitely have to check out Codename : Knockout if I can find it anywhere.

I’ve read several books that are truly mature and sophisticated, and use sexual content as an element to the story, but not the focus of the story.

I wouldn’t even say SiP uses sex as the main thrust (NPI) of its story.

Cool. What were they?

Cavewoman comes to mind. It’s not a serious comic, but it’s fun and sexy and lighthearted, which works for me.

A bit off topic, but if you haven’t seen it, check this out (an on-line graphic novel).

http://e-sheep.com/spiders/

Vertigo’s Y: The Last Man is one current example. It concerns the adventures of Yorick Brown, the last living human male. Despite the setup, it’s not a porno, nor a broad satire on gender. It’s instead quite thoughtful and often moving. It does however drift into R-rated territory every so often.

There’s Real Stuff. I found it hilarious. It’s basically Dennis Eichhorn’s life stories told using various cartoonists.

Sandman is at the top of the list. It is difficult to explain what it is about. The big picture is about the Lord of Dreams and his sibling Gods (called the Endless).

But the series is really a lot of indivual stories that have little or nothing to do with those characters.

It is just an excellent collection of stories.

Also of note:

Queen and Country- A mature take on spies and Espionage. It’s a little racey at times.

Fables- Answers the question: What if the fairytale characters of our childhood came to live in our world? It is probably more approachable than Sandman. It gets a very high recommendation from me.

Although the Sandman is probably what you’re searching for, I had to come in make sure you’ve read Maus and its sequel. While the Holacaust is gore, it’s not heavy metal gore.

By the way, Art Spiegelman (author/artist of Maus ) has edited 2 collections of “graphic” stories which usually get filed in the children’s section of the library, but are plenty enjoyable for adults.

I really liked the Blacksad series (Juan Diaz Canales, Juanjo Guarnido).

There’s an manga-ish artist, L0cke (http://damaged.anime.net/), that I really admire; I’ve had trouble finding it, but I pick up his work whenever I can. Trepanation is one of my favorites; it’s available for free. His style jumps around a little bit; some times it’s more distinctly anime-influenced than others.

ascenray: Try Los Brothers Hernandez’s Love and Rockets and Gilbert Hernandez’s Birdland specifically. If the latter doesn’t get your blood flowing to soft tissue extremities, nothing will.