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All Is Full Of Linky-Love: 3 Questions With Robert Chandler, Director Of Dirty Sexy Comics

Published Sat, 15 Nov 2014 12:00:49 -0600

Last updated Sat, 15 Nov 2014 12:55:16 -0600

Dale Lazarov writes,

His bio: Robert Chandler is a producer, director and writer. He's done hundreds of short films and promotional pieces in Hollywood and in the world of gay erotica. He created the gay adult site, Fantastic Foreskin, three years ago. He loves film and he loves making films. When he's not working, he's reading comics or spoiling his two cats, Diana and Toonces. (Yeah, his cat was named after Wonder Woman.)

Robert is currently busy putting together Dirty Sexy Comics: a documentary, which was made a "Kickstarter Staff Pick" within a day of its posting for crowdfunding. As a Gay Comics Smut Lord and as a documentary fanatic myself, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that someone's documenting my field of practice and smutpertise. It's even going to have an accompanying book, like PBS documentaries of old!

First question: On the Kickstarter page for Dirty Sexy Comics, you say "The history of gay erotic comics is the history of the gay rights movement. It's a story of people who risked everything to express themselves. It's a story of who we are and what we desire. It's a story of rebellion, of artists refusing to conform and doing it with style and beauty." Given that you are talking to (and about) a bunch of hardy non-conformists, what do you think, based on your research so far, is going to be the common thread that binds the history of homoerotic comics?

One thing these folks have in common is tremendous discipline. It's easy to get horny and come up with an idea about being abducted by super-sexy aliens, but it takes a whole lot of follow-through to write the story, lay it out, draw it, ink it and find a way to get it out there to readers. These guys aren't doing what they do on impulse. They're putting real craft into bringing fantasy to life. And often it's as brilliant, beautiful and innovative as anything Marvel, DC or Image are putting out. These guys have a need to do what they do despite the fact that they'll never reach as many readers as X-Men or The Walking Dead. They really have something to say and that's why some of the stories are so great.

These creators are also fearless. They aren't playing it safe. Gay erotic comics started at a time when it was illegal to be gay! In some ways, the early artists were drawing for their very survival. This work must have kept them sane and it must have been so comforting to the men reading to know that they weren't alone and other people shared their desires. They built community through their work. But it was risky. Just mailing the work out was a federal crime in the United States because it went through the post office. Yet they did it anyway. It was rebellious and it still is. Now that gay people are assimilating more, marrying and having kids, these comics still have that outlaw feel. I don't want gay people to become the same as everyone else. Hell, I don't want straight people to feel like they need to conform to any norm. So, as there's a bigger push for gay people to become more "normal," these comics keep our wild and sex-positive sides alive. With Dirty Sexy Comics, I want to explore why people are doing work that so many would consider "unacceptable" and the price we pay for trying to be too "acceptable." It's like the philosophical struggle between Professor Xavier and Magneto. Xavier says that that mutants need to be well-behaved and maybe if they're non-threatening enough, someday humans might like them. Magneto says, "Fuck that! We're mutants and we're groovy. If people don't like it, it their problem." I think I'd be on Magneto's team if I was a mutant. Xavier's assimilationism hasn't worked out very well and he's no fun. Team Magneto!

Question No. 2: Are there any documentaries that serve as inspiration to your project? (Speaking for myself, I can't decide if I want to be the Pepper Labeija, Dorian Corey, Willi Ninja or Freddie Pendavis of this documentary.)

I recently saw a documentary called Bill Cunningham's New York about a photographer who does fashion photography on the streets of Manhattan rather than the runway. It actually sat on my shelf for a while because I thought it would be a "good-for-me" documentary, maybe a bit too dry. But, instead, I got to know this wonderful man who created a whole new genre of photography and just loves his work. It was fun and I found myself smiling while I was watching it. He was so passionate about the work he does that it becomes a part of him. And people love him. He's fulfilled because he's doing the work he was born to do. No one could do it like him. That's how I see erotic comic creators. They seem to have their work in their DNA. They have to do what they do. That's what makes their work exciting and that's what makes them exciting as people.

Like Bill Cunningham's New York I want to create, a story about people with an unusual job that they love and dig into the artform they created. And, of course, Crumb is the gold standard when it comes to comic book documentaries. That film is always looming above, intimidating and inspiring.

La Tercera Pregunta es: Other than its purpose of documenting a tradition for comics that persists despite its marginalization by "family-friendly" comics culture, what do you want people to take from Dirty Sexy Comics? (I mean, besides the plentiful enhancements they will get if they fund it through Kickstarter.)

With Dirty Sexy Comics, I want people to take away how good these comics are and understand the talent behind them. I know that when I read an old issue of Fantastic Four, I'm in awe of what Jack Kirby was doing at the time, the elegance of his work and the world he was building with Stan Lee. Knowing some of what Mr. Kirby had been through up to that point, how he grew up and the struggles that he had, informs that appreciation. So many of us comics fans are fascinated with the lives of the people who make our comics. And they are fascinating lives and many have great backstories. So many of the Golden and Silver Age creators put their careers on hold to fight in World War Two. Jim Steranko was an escape artist. Jim Shooter was a 13-year-old kid when he was writing Legion of Super-Heroes for Adventure Comics! I love comics and I always have. But you can't have comics without these talented, stubborn, quirky people! Gay comic creators have the added complexity of coming out and being outsiders. I want people to get to know these folks, see what makes them different and celebrate these incredible comics they've put so much of their hearts (and boners) into.

Check out the Kickstarter campaign for Dirty Sexy Comics: The Documentary at http://kck.st/10GIgPb. (Fair disclosure: if it gets funded, I get interviewed for this documentary… So: FUND IT THIS INSTANT. YOUR GAY COMICS SMUT LORD COMMANDS IT.)

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Dale Lazarov writes, edits and art directs smart, wholesome gay comics smut. It's published in hardcover with international distribution by Bruno Gmünder Verlag and in digital format through Selz. His next — and 6th! — hardcover release through Gmünder is FAST FRIENDS, a gay erotic graphic novel with art by Michael Broderick; it comes out Spring 2015 but it's currently already available in digital format if you don't want to wait. October 2014 saw the digital release — his 19th! — of Second Chances, an all-new, exclusive to digital gay erotic comic with art by Foxy Andy and colors by William O. Tyler. Check out NSFW page samples from his gay comics smut oeuvre at http://www.dalelazarov.com/.

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