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Adult comics
House ad,Wings #61, 1945, Fiction House (defunct magazine and comics publisher)
Publishers	Vertigo Comics Marvel Comics'Max line Metal Mammoth NBM Publishing Fantagraphics Books

The catch-all termadult comics typically denotescomic books, comic magazines,comic strips orgraphic novels that are marketed either mainly or strictly towards adult (or mature) readers. This can be because they contain material that could be considered thematicallyinappropriate for children, including vulgarity, morally questionable actions, disturbing imagery, andsexually explicit material.

Adult comics can be defined as intended for audience of 16 years or older.^[1]

Roger Sabin traces the history of adult comics back to the political cartoons published in broadsheets since the 19th century.^[1] In the 1930s, there were clandestinely producedtijuana bibles – rectangular, eight page pamphlets with black printing on cheap white paper. The artwork ranged from excellent to utterly crude and the stories were explicit sexual escapades, usually featuring well known cartoon characters, political figures, or movie stars, without the subjects' consent.^{[citation needed]}

Sold under the counter in places such as tobacco stores and burlesque houses, millions of Tijuana Bibles were sold at the height of their popularity in the 1930s. They went into a steep decline after World War II and by the mid-1950s only a small trickle of new product was still appearing on the market, mainly in the form of cheaply printed, poorly drawn and tasteless little eight pagers which sold for 10 cents each in run-down candy stores and gas stations, circulating mainly among delinquent teenagers.^{[citation needed]}

Starting in 1932, Norman Pett drew a strip calledJane for the BritishDaily Mirror newspaper. The heroine would often find herself in awkward situations where she would lose her clothing for one reason or another. The strip was written to some extent for a military audience to boost the morale of troops away from home.Winston Churchill said that Jane was Britain's "secret weapon".^[2]

In the United States,pulp magazines such asHarry Donenfeld'sSpicy Detective featured comics on heroines who lose their clothing, such asAdolphe Barreaux'sSally the Sleuth which debuted in 1934. Many of the early comic publishers got their start in the pulps with Donenfeld for instance going on to foundDC Comics.Fiction House similarly started as a pulp magazine publisher, but in 1938, releasedJumbo Comics featuringSheena, Queen of the Jungle, the first of many scantily clad jungle girls.Fiction House comics routinely featured attractive women on the covers, a trend which later became referred to as 'good girl art.' In 1941,Quality Comics put outPolice Comics featuringPhantom Lady, a scantily clad crime fighter.Fox Feature Syndicate eventually began publishingPhantom Lady where she was drawn byMatt Baker, one of the most famous 'good girl' artists.Milton Caniff started producing the comic stripMale Call in 1943, andBill Ward came out withTorchy in 1944 featuring sexy heroines.^{[citation needed]}

Pulp magazines were also known for their violence.The Shadow carried two guns for killing criminals, andBatman also wielded a gun from 1939 through 1944 before giving it up. Crime and horror comics were popular genres in the late 1940s and early 1950s with such titles asLev Gleason Publications'Crime Does Not Pay,EC Comics'Crime Suspenstories,Crypt of Terror,Tales From the Crypt andVault of Horror all enjoying brief spells of interest. It is believed that EC had one of the best-selling lines at the time.Harvey Kurtzman was one of the key writers for EC, and artists such asWally Wood orAl Williamson began to do research for each new story far beyond what had been seen in titles published up to that time.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1950sIrving Klaw published a line of underground fetish and bondage comics by artists likeEric Stanton,John Willie, andGene Bilbrew. These never achieved widespread popularity but were kept in print for many years, sold through Klaw's mail order catalog to the same customers who bought his bondage photographs ofBettie Page. Not quite obscene enough to warrant prosecution, they skirted the limits of legality by avoiding full frontal nudity in their depictions.^{[citation needed]}

In 1954, a psychologist Dr.Fredric Wertham came out with a bookSeduction of the Innocent that claimed that the rise in juvenile delinquency being reported in the news at the time was fueled by comic books. He claimed that Batman and Robin were encouraging homosexuality, and decried the bondage seen in Wonder Woman's comic book.EC Comics came under criticism for the graphic violence and gore seen in its crime and horror books. EC publisherWilliam Gaines was called before aSenate committee to testify, but he remained defensive saying that he was already censoring the more extreme things from his books. Partly in order to avoid the government imposing a solution, the other major publishers banded together to form theComics Code Authority which would screen comics before they went to press, and only allow the Code mark to appear if the comic passed their standards.^{[citation needed]}

The Code was strict. It barred publishers from using the words 'crime,' 'horror' or 'terror' in their titles, thus forcing EC to abandon some of their most popular titles. Police officers could not be portrayed in a negative light, and if a villain committed murder, he would have to be caught and punished by the end of the story. No mention was allowed of vampires, werewolves or zombies, another swipe at EC. Years later when Marvel introduced zombies into their books, they had to call them 'zuvembies' in order to pass the Code. In general, DC and Marvel were supportive of the Code, but EC struggled to cope with the new rules, and eventually abandoned most of their titles to focus onMad magazine, which did not need Code approval.^{[citation needed]}

The code also contained provisions against suggestive or salacious illustration, and required that females be drawn realistically without undue exposure. This was a knock atFiction House'sgood girl art covers, and may have contributed to Fiction House's closure.^{[citation needed]}

North American comic books tend to be around 7 by 10 inches in size. Magazines vary, but are usually larger. Comic books tended to have a Comic Code label marking them as suitable for children, while magazines had no such requirement. This led to magazines becoming one of the most common formats for adult comics.^{[citation needed]}

Playboy magazine first came out in 1953. It would feature single panel cartoons by artists such asAlberto Vargas,Archie Comics artistDan DeCarlo,Plastic Man creatorJack Cole,LeRoy Neiman and laterOlivia De Berardinis andDean Yeagle.^{[citation needed]}

In the mid-1960s,Playboy magazine started including a multipage strip calledLittle Annie Fanny by EC alumniHarvey Kurtzman andWill Elder with an occasional assist from artistFrank Frazetta. Annie had trouble keeping her clothes on, a trend seen also in the stripsThe Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist,Wallace Wood'sSally Forth, andPenthouse'sOhWicked Wanda byRon Embleton andFrederic Mullally. Penthouse would later put out a number of erotic comic magazines:Penthouse Comix,Penthouse Men's Adventure andPenthouse Max with the likes ofAdam Hughes contributing artwork.Penthouse later revived the series as the bi-monthly seriesPenthouse Comics in 2024.^[3]

From 1965,Warren Publishing started publishing two black and white magazines,Creepy andEerie, commissioning work from the artists who had worked on EC's horror line. Warren addedVampirella in 1969, and then the science fiction magazine titled1984 (later1994) starting in the year 1978. The large format of these titles meant that they could be sold with other magazines aimed at adults rather than displayed in comic racks where the child-oriented titles were found.^{[citation needed]}

The publishers of the American humor magazineNational Lampoon discovered the French adult magazineMétal hurlant, and in 1977 started publishingHeavy Metal translating the work ofMilo Manara,Caza,Vittorio Giardino,Jean-Claude Forest,Jean Giraud(a.k.a. Moebius) andGuido Crepax for an English audience.Heavy Metal also provided a forum for the work of American creators such asRichard Corben andHoward Chaykin.^{[citation needed]}

In 1974,Larry Flynt came out withHustler Magazine, which featured a strip calledHoney Hooker with art originally by James McQuade and later by Tom Garst. Starting in the early 1970s, McQuade drew a series of erotic comic stories featuring the character Misty.^[4]

In 1983, Warren went bankrupt, but more recently,Dark Horse Comics has been reprinting some of Warren's old stories, and has revived theCreepy andEerie magazines.^{[citation needed]}

Adult comics continued underground in the late 1960s outside the umbrella of the CCA. Theunderground comics movement was spearheaded by creators such asArt Spiegelman,Robert Crumb,Harvey Pekar,Kim Deitch andSpain Rodriguez.Larry Welz appeared in the 1980s with hisCherry book, an underground-style erotic parody ofArchie Comics. These titles were often sold athead shops, but these establishments were often at loggerheads with the police, sometimes making distribution difficult.^{[citation needed]}

In 1966,Wally Wood hit upon the idea of publishing his own comic, and selling it through comic book specialty shops. Recruiting star creators from among his friends,witzend featured one-off strips on a wide variety of themes by the likes ofJack Kirby,Steve Ditko,Frank Frazetta,Gil Kane andArt Spiegelman.^{[citation needed]}

Fantagraphics Books began in 1976, publishing theComics Journal and laterAmazing Heroes with text articles about the comics field, but they began publishing actual comics in 1982, notablyLove and Rockets byGilbert andJaime Hernandez. In 1990, Fantagraphics established theirEros Comix imprint, reprinting titles byWally Wood andFrank Thorne as well as Gilbert'sBirdland.^{[citation needed]}

CanadianDave Sim began publishingCerebus in 1977, and Richard andWendy Pini put outElfquest starting in 1978, initially through their own WaRP company.Pacific Comics was formed in 1981, and became the first publisher ofDave Stevens'sRocketeer which was eventually made into a movie. Stevens modeled one of the characters onBettie Page harkening back to an earlier era of clandestine publishing.^{[citation needed]}

Antarctic Press was founded in 1984, and publishes American manga and independent creators, notablyTerry Moore'sStrangers in Paradise.^{[citation needed]}

Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986. Its first comic book was the adult-oriented anthology,Dark Horse Presents, which publishedFrank Miller's noirishSin City, later made into a feature film.^{[citation needed]}

Avatar Press began providing a showcase for the works ofAlan Moore andAl Rio in 1996.Top Shelf Productions was formed in 1997, publishing Moore andMelinda Gebbie'sLost Girls erotic graphic novel.^{[citation needed]}

The publisher ofMarvel Comics in the 1960s,Martin Goodman, was also the publisher for a number ofmen's adventure magazines:Men,Male andStag. In these magazines, they included a strip calledThe Adventures of Pussycat drawn byWally Wood andBill Ward. These strips were eventually collected, and released as a one-shot magazine in 1968. Inside, it is listed as being printed by Marvel Comics, but there is no Marvel logo on the cover, nor any Comics Code mark. The lack of a Comics Code mark came to be a subtle sign that one might find adult content inside.^{[citation needed]}

Intrigued by Warren's success with their black and white titles,Marvel Comics tried their hand at this field as well releasingSavage Tales starting in 1971,Tomb of Dracula in 1972 andSavage Sword of Conan in 1974. In 1974, Marvel even released three issues ofComix Book under their Curtis imprint featuring the work of underground creators.Heavy Metal's success with glossy color science fiction and fantasy didn't go unnoticed either, and in 1980,Marvel released theirEpic Illustrated magazine as well as a number of adult themed graphic novels under the Epic label. By 1986 though, they had cancelledEpic Illustrated, althoughSavage Sword of Conan continued running until 1995.^{[citation needed]}

By the 1980s, there was a growing trend towards grim and gritty anti-heroes and increasing violence in comics.Marvel Comics'Punisher received his own title in 1985, and in 1986,DC Comics'Watchmen byAlan Moore andThe Dark Knight Returns byFrank Miller explored issues related tovigilantes.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986,DC Comics started publishing comics with the words "For Mature Readers" or "Suggested for Mature Readers" on their covers. These mature readers titles includedThe Shadow (1986),The Question (from #8 1987-),Slash Maraud (1987-8),Swamp Thing (from #57 1987-),Vigilante (from #44 1987-8),Wasteland (1987-),Batman: The Killing Joke (1988),Green Arrow (#1-62 1988-92),Haywire (1988-9),Hellblazer (1988-),Tailgunner Jo (1988-9),V for Vendetta (1988-),Blackhawk (1989–90),Deadman: Love After Death (1989),Gilgamesh II (1989),The Sandman (1989-),Doom Patrol (1990-),Shade the Changing Man (1990-),Twilight (1990),World Without End (1990-1),Mister E (1991),Animal Man (1992-),Deadman: Exorcism (1992) andMighty Love (2004).^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, DC started up theirVertigo imprint that allowed explicit content in selected titles, grouping a number of their mature readers titles together. Notable Vertigo titles include theEisner Award winners,Fables,100 Bullets,Preacher andThe Sandman as well as several books that have been adapted into feature films,Hellblazer,A History of Violence,Stardust andV for Vendetta.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001,Marvel Comics withdrew from theComics Code Authority, and set up their own content rating system, and an adult-orientedMax imprint. In January 2011, DC announced that they were withdrawing from the Comics Code as well, and the sole remaining CCA memberArchie Comics withdrew the day after, bringing the code to its end.^{[citation needed]}

Some adult comics arepornographic, focusing substantially on sexual activity, either for its own sake or as a major story element. As such they are usually not permitted to be legally sold to minors. Some examples grew out of the underground comix scene, such asCherry byLarry Welz, which parodiedArchie Comics.Omaha the Cat Dancer byKate Worley andReed Waller combined sexually explicit material with a melodrama featuringanthropomorphic animals.XXXenophile by Phil Folgio blended science fiction and fantasy scenarios with sexual situations.^{[citation needed]}

Early comics produced for gay and bisexual male readers often focused on sexual situations, such asKake byTom of Finland andHarry Chess byAl Shapiro. Althoughgay comics have expanded to cover a variety of genres, erotica has continued to be popular sometimes incorporated into other genres, such as the erotic superheroes published byClass Comics, the wordless graphic novels written byDale Lazarov, andyaoi hentai produced in Japan.^{[citation needed]}

The French comics anthologyPilote was published from 1959 to 1989, and featured the work of adult-oriented creators such asJean Giraud (Moebius),Guido Crepax,Caza and the AmericanRobert Crumb. By 1974,Jean Giraud and some of his comrades had become dissatisfied withPilote, and broke off to found theMetal Hurlant magazine to showcase adult comics in the science fiction or fantasy genres.^{[citation needed]}

In France in 1962,Jean-Claude Forest started producing a strip calledBarbarella, set in outer space, but where the heroine found herself losing her clothing or ending up in sexual situations.^{[citation needed]}

In 1965, the Belgian artistGuy Peellaert released the first graphic novel,The Adventures of Jodelle. In Italy,Guido Crepax starting publishingValentina inLinus magazine. In 1966, also in Italy, the artistSandro Angiolini put out the first issue ofIsabella. In 1968,Yves Duval andDino Attanasio started writing/drawing a sexy strip calledCandida for the Belgian magazineCine-Revue.^{[citation needed]}

In England, in 1969, writer Jo Addams and artist Luis Roca started publishing theScarth A.D. 2195 strip in the newspaper,The Sun. In 1972,Don Lawrence started producing a stripCarrie forMayfair magazine. In 1976, John Richardson started drawing the stripAmanda also forThe Sun.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977, the British anthology2000 A.D. first appeared, and featured the work of many writers and artists who were to become influential in the adult comics field in the U.S. later, notablyAlan Moore andDave Gibbons who co-createdWatchmen andNeil Gaiman who went on to work onThe Sandman. In 1978, artistEnrique Badia Romero and writer Donne Avenell starting producing the stripAxa forThe Sun.

In 1978, the Belgian companyCasterman started putting out the magazineÀ Suivre attracting submissions by many of the same contributors who were seen inMetal Hurlant.Catalan Communications and more recentlyNBM Publishing have also published adult works from Europe mostly as standalone graphic novels, although NBM now has an anthology magazine calledSizzle.^{[citation needed]}

In 1979, the British magazineViz first appeared parodying earlier British comics anthologies with an injection of incongruous sex or violence. In 1982,Raymond Briggs tried to give British comics a more serious tone with works such asWhen the Wind Blows about an older couple trying to come to terms with the aftermath of a nuclear attack.^{[citation needed]}

Horacio Altuna is an Argentine artist who has done many four page strips for Playboy Magazine's Spanish, Italian and German editions.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2010s, the rise of digital publishing platforms expanded the reach of adult comics and webtoons to global audiences. Korean webtoon services such asLezhin Comics,Toomics, andTappytoon began offering mature-rated titles online, often serialized and accessible via mobile devices. These platforms popularized a new format of vertically scrolling, full-color comics designed for smartphones, influencing similar services in Japan, Europe, and North America.^{[citation needed]}

Honeytoon(honeytoon.com) is an international digital platform specializing in adult-oriented webtoons and comics. It distributes both original and licensed titles, primarily from Korean and Japanese studios, across multiple languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese. The platform focuses on genres such as romance, drama, fantasy, and slice-of-life with mature themes, providing serialized updates and age-restricted access. Honeytoon has become part of the broader movement that has brought East Asian adult storytelling styles into Western digital comic markets, emphasizing localization and responsible content classification.

In Japan, comic books (manga) intended for adults are usually divided into 'seinen manga' (青年漫画　comics for men) and 'josei manga' (女性漫画　comics for women). Erotic comics aimed at men are referred to as 'seijin-muke manga' (成人向け漫画) or 'ero manga' and those aimed at women are called 'ladies comics' (レーディーズ・コミック) (see also the English loanword 'hentai').Shonen manga for boys tend to outsellseinen manga which in turn outsell seijin-muke manga.^[5]

Some of the first specialized manga magazines were aimed at adult men.Weekly Manga Times debuted in 1956, and originally focused on erotic fiction and 'porno manga'.Weekly Manga Goraku first came out in 1964, and was also aimed at the relatively older demographic of men from their 30s through to their 50s.Manga Action andYoung Comic debuted in 1967, followed byBig Comic in 1968, withWeekly Young Jump following in 1979, andWeekly Young Magazine in 1980. Manga with the word 'young' in the title tend to be aimed at a younger demographic of 15-30s.^{[citation needed]}

• Dōjinshi
• Children's comics
• Photo comics
• Category:Publishers of adult comics

• Media related toAdult comics at Wikimedia Commons

• Comics genres

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