"Sex # 3" is the third issue of a comic book series called "Sex", written by Joe Casey, illustrated by Piotr Kowalski, and published by Images Comics, and with a publication date of May 2013. It is rated M for Mature. The front cover shows a tall brunette in a gravity defying red dress holding a gas mask in one hand and a goblet of red wine in the other.
One of the Christmas presents I bought for myself was a box of deep discount comics from various publishers and eras. Unlike when I choose comics that I might have first read decades ago, this gives me the pleasure of a cold read. Instead of knowing the internal and external history of what is going on, I get to find out from a fragment what is going on. And of course, this thing's title and cover caught my eye.
First, in an example of decompressed storytelling, we are watching a bored rich man half-sleep through a board meeting. This is a character named Simon Cooke. The dialog, in decompressed fashion, is low key and non-dramatic. Except some of it, seemingly at random, is highlighted in red and blue. We are then introduced to a young African-American man named Keenan having sex. Which, you know, with the title, is what we were expecting. The inside cover tells me he is a dishwasher. I don't know how he is related to the plot. He is related to the theme because he is having sex, with a woman, who leaves scratch marks on his back. We are then introduced, in another few pages, to a group of gangsters executing someone, and another gangster threatening to execute someone. I also don't know how these are related. Then, in our comics climactic scene, a woman enters her laviciously appointed apartment, retrieves a sex toy from a drawer and begins to masturbate. (We don't actually see genitals, just bare breasts and some curling toes). But this is where I finally realized what is going on: this is interposed with the Simon Cooke guy talking about his past, and also of what sexy lady is masturbating to: she is a cat burglar fleeing across rooftops, pursued by a vigilante, which it seems is Simon Cooke, who is not really a mindless billionaire but is actually a vigilante.
So, if all this sounds familiar, as far as I can tell, this is a Batman parody...with sex. Yes, the sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman is kind of obvious. Like most comic book readers, I've had lascivious thoughts about scantily-clad comic book heroes and villains. And the art is pretty well done. I am not saying this is terribly done, it is just that "What if Batman, but the sexual tension was explicit?" seems to be more what you would find on a tumblr account than in a comic book published by a major publisher.
There is then three pages of explanation from Joe Casey, the author, about where this sexy Batman deconstruction stands in terms of being a mainstream, indie or "fusion" comic. Apparently, from what he says in this afterward, he was a mainstream writer at Marvel who still likes super hero comics, but thinks they need more masturbation, apparently. It seemed like an overly ornate explanation. Just as jokes aren't funny when we have to explain them, the level of deconstruction that Catwoman is masturbating at isn't sexy when we have to explain it.
And as a final note, my gigantic box of random assorted comics came in at around 50 cents an issue. I don't mind it including something that is a little bit out of my taste zone. But the retail price of this was $2.99. I would probably be less enthused about paying the cover price of what is a fragmentary and derivative piece of entertainment that would last only around 10 minutes. I would be less forgiving of that type of wankery.