Posted in: Comics | Tagged: image comics, joe casey, sex

A .45 Donkey Punch: Sex #2 Review

Published Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:00:48 -0500

Louis Falcetti writes;

Every time you think people are running out of approaches to studying the mythos of superpeople, something like SEX comes along.

SEX is like the Cronenberg movie I never knew he should make but now furiously demand. SEX is what is playing on the HBO in Astro City. SEX approaches the already dense waters of superhero critique and psychology but from such a calm, mature point. It takes it's time.

Some comics take way too much time to get going and want you to sign on to a big thing right away, all the while giving you nothing but tantalizing, not the case with SEX. SEX might be fully of mystery but every page brings more of the story to light and the story is so goddamn good I am ravenous for more. I am ravenous for more SEX, there I said it. That's still better than the time I said in a college class, "My friend gave me a lot of Dick over the summer that I really liked." while trying to talk about Phillip K. Good times.

This issue we learn a lot about who Simon Cooke is, who he worked with, who his femme fatale girlfriend was and what exactly he did for the city. That's a lot right there for a comic that still finds the time to linger with Simon, as he lingers in life, as the Armored Knight (shorthand for Batman) tries to adjust to life outside the cape and cowl.

What if one of those many, many times Bruce Wayne swore he was hanging it all up because of a dead friend or side kick, what if he actually did it? That's what SEX is because as much as other writers have approached the "superhero adjusting to a non super life" trope, no one has ever done it like Joe Casey on this scale or with this perfect marriage of story and art.

The art in SEX is phenomenal (done by Piotr Kowalski). The cast plays out like actors in top form, as you feel the genuine drives and emotions emanate off the page. The action scenes are as good as the fuck scenes and the fuck scenes involve a .45 donkey punch. I'm sure you were wondering when I'd get to the title of this review. So there's that. But there's so much more!

Add in the fact that this book costs less than actual, regular, boring superhero comics you also get Joe Casey's colorful back and forths in the letters pages.

SEX is a grown up comic book for grown ups. One of the reasons I loved the Ridley Scott film Prometheus was because it was clearly sci-fi for grown ups. I like reading comics that respect my intelligence. I like SEX. I like it a lot. Tell your friends to get their hands on SEX, but you keep your hands to yourself. Cheeky.

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