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Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
Released on: 6/01/2008
Director: Eric Von Letch
Cast: Nina Fause, Orita DeChadwick, Cyndee Summers, Reggie Balls, Bella Bush, Lance Hardon
Year: 1973
Purchase From TLA
The Movie:
The single directorial credit of the mysterious Eric Von Letch, Sex In The Comics is an odd one even by the admittedly already odd standards of seventies porno feature films. Ever heard of Tijuana Bibles? If not, a quick history lesson is in order, otherwise this film will make even less sense than it already does. Tijuana Bibles were basically little underground comic books about the size of a 'Chick Track' religious pamphlet that contained explicit and usually comedic storylines. Compared to other early comic books the artwork was often crude and the content always rude, but these little smut rags have their place in the history of pornography and have even been reprinted in archival editions by the likes of companies like Fantagraphics via their adults only Eros line.
Sex In The Comics is, essentially, a live action version of a Tijuana Bible and it's been designed from the ground up to look like one. That means that the backgrounds and sets are a strange mix of actual 3-D real life items and hand drawn pictures and that the performers are sometimes sporting comic book style features (an example - one man has white paper eyes taped over his actual human eyes to give him a sort of 'Aaaooogahhh' look on his face!). Most of the performers are wearing bizarre make up and a couple of them are wearing some rather freakish looking rubber masks all in some sort of very strange attempt to harness the style of those aforementioned comic books. Adding to the surreal atmosphere is the continuous tendency to edit with rapid jump cuts and random freeze frame shots. If that weren't strange enough, the filmmakers have been kind enough to throw in a fair bit of World War II newsreel stock footage for kicks. This movie is pretty insane.
The set up for the film is simple - a lovely looking lady sets out to interview a comic book artist about his work. When she arrives, he's more interested in explaining the history of Tijuana Bibles to her and as such, we're privy to a series of strange reenactment and it's these reenactments, that are presented complete with horrendously written 'period' dialogue, that make up the bulk of the running time though we do periodically snap back to the artist and the interviewers as they discuss things like politics and pop culture in a semi-highbrow fashion.
Some of the sights we see during these reenactments? A guys dick is so big that when his girlfriend rides him it pops up out through her mouth, a lifeguard screws a girl on his beach while she serenades him with her ukulele skills, a gynecological exam turns into a three-way, and, well, more insanity and lots of three-ways. Apparently three-ways were pretty popular during the forties when Tijuana Bibles were at their most popular.
The film gets pretty repetitive in terms of what we see and how it's done but the whole thing is just so damn strange that it can't help but hold a twisted fascination for those who appreciate the weirder side of adult cinema. On top of that, a couple of recognizable female performers pop up in this one - alongside mysterious 'one shot' performers like Bella Bush and Reggie Balls are luminary adult film stars like Nina Fause (of Marilyn And The Senator and Tender Flesh), Orita De Chadwick (of Memoirs Of A Madam) and the instantly recognizable Cyndee Summers (who periodically pops up in Cabellero catalogue titles and old Swedish Erotica loops).
Video/Audio/Extras:
Alpha Blue's 1.33.1 fullframe transfer isn't too bad at all. It's interlaced but the image is fairly stable and perfectly watchable. The detail levels are a bit on the soft side and the colors are a just a tad bit faded but for an obscure early seventies porno movie, Sex In The Comics is certainly very watchable in terms of presentation quality.
Likewise, the Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack is perfectly adequate. There's a little bit of background hiss here and there but the dialogue is always easy enough to follow and understand and the levels are well balanced.
Extras for this release include the film's original theatrical trailer, a small but welcome selection of production stills from the film, and bonus trailers for similarly themed smut movies Jester Cartoons, Let My Puppets Come and The Erotic Cartoon Fest. If that weren't enough, still gallery versions of four original Tijuana Bibles are also supplied, as are some static menus and a chapter selection option.
The Final Word:
Sex In The Comics isn't so much erotic as it is genuinely unsettling and bizarre. That said, it's pretty entertaining stuff and it definitely holds a lot of cult appeal. Alpha Blue Archives' release isn't perfect but it's a decent enough effort and the supplemental material adds some fun to a package that is pretty damn strange overall.