What can you say about this title? Sex is the tale of a super hero. What we discover is that the super hero is a man. A man who has needs and urges, but who has denied those needs and urges in order to serve the public. In a sense, he substituted his needs to fight bad guys and uphold justice. Now he is retired and has no outlet to address those needs except through one way… you guessed it, sex. Reviews have been very mixed on this title during its first eight issues with some being good, some bad, and some indifferent. All apparently agree however that it is a little bit on the dirty side and definitely and an adult oriented comic. It is not quite hentai, but it does have its moments throughout the run. It’s not for the kiddies. That is for sure.
As for me, I think the concept is interesting enough, I know throughout history, comic book people have girlfriends and some even are portrayed here and there, but I can’t remember any comic addressing the feelings that all fanboys have asked at different times in our lives… Do super heroes get laid? Not straight up monogamous sex, but weird and wild freaky sex. I think that this title does try to answer that question. Through the study of their hero, Simon Cooke, they have a character that is rich, formerly a super freak of the crime fighting sect, but a very repressed and awkward person around the bedroom. It’s as if he took all of his freaky feelings and bottled them up so he could fight crime. Now that he is retired as the Armored Saint, his “fix” is gone and he has to address those repressed feelings but he is not quite sure how. Oh yeah, crime is still alive and well too and he has had run ins with past foes.
In this issue, it mostly plays in a flashback mode with most of the action happening during the Armored Saint days a couple of years earlier. We witness a crime and pursuit and get to see it from both sides of the coin. Events do not quite go as planned for either party, good or bad, but both deal with the circumstances very differently. It is in those differences that we see how our characters are and it almost shows that it might be those on the wrong side of things who are much more “enlightened” as they are the ones that are in tune to who they are and what they are. Where the heroes are extremely repressed and focused on their shortcomings rather than their strengths. They are trying to impress.
It really is a rigid view that is portrayed very well through the writing of Joe Casey. He does a fine job and I think he taps into an area that is rarely given light in the comic world. That is that many heroes do have insecurities which is what made them heroes in the first place. They must continually prove themselves to themselves. They also must hide behind masks to do it, where the bad guys do what they want, how they want, and don’t really care what others think about them. It is a study in contrasts that is deep and though Sex is the title and focus of this story, I think that Casey is beginning to fall into much loftier ideas than the cellar dwelling that the title would suggest.
Pioter Kowalski is still around doing his thing but we have a guest artist in Morgan Jeske at work here also. He does an ample job in hitting the current action and the flashbacks well. The art is easy to look at and not just the naked bodies. I do think the art does do a good job to hammer in the point of contrasts as “The Old Man” (baddie) is drawn as decrepit and putrefying, yet he has confidence, joy, and apparently lots of sex with pretty women, whereas Simon is attractive, stoic, and emotionally a wreck as a person who gets bent out of shape if things do not go exactly as they should. The art displays this well and I give high marks for this.
Though this has been my first dive into the world of Sex, I found it interesting with the potential to rise well above its base emotions. I think we have a winner here and I am interested to see what is in store for our hero as things progress. I did mention that crime is still happening and potentially some big things too. Should be interesting as Simon comes face to face with those things that he has run from for some time.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Joe Casey Artists: Morgan Jeske, Piotr Kowalski Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 12/18/13