XXXenophile
{{italic}}
{{Short description|American erotic anthology comic book series}}
XXXenophile is an American comic book series, published by Palliard Press and later Studio Foglio. It is an anthology of short, whimsical, erotic fantasy and science fiction stories, written and penciled by Phil Foglio. Each story is inked by a different artist.
The series' general emphasis is on the enjoyment of sexuality as a playful activity. Foglio satirizes numerous plot elements of fantasy and science fiction, such as time travel, cloning, robots, deals with the devil, love potions, and geasa. It portrays a variety of sexual activities, including "oral sex, anal sex, group sex, masturbation, voyeurism, double penetration, inter-racial (literally), bestiality (although generally with an animal possessing intelligence), mild sado-masochism, homosexuality (female, in every issue; male, just in the last issue), exhibitionism, sex with any number of devices, necrophilia (specifically sex with a ghost), prostitution, and various others, including some that were only possible in micro-gravity".{{cite web
| url=http://www.hootisland.com/text/interview/phil.html
| title=Hoot Island interview with Phil Foglio
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031002161300/http://www.hootisland.com/text/interview/phil.html |archive-date = 2003-10-02}} Foglio cited rape, mind control, pedophilia, "classical necrophilia", excretion, snuff porn, branding, piercing, heavy sadomasochism, and spanking as topics that he did not find appealing and would not write about. He recalls: "I had a pediatrician tell me if she had a choice between a young teenage boy finding XXXenophile and Batman, she’d throw him XXXenophile because it teaches much healthier interactions. Of course, this particular pediatrician would not go on the record, and I would not ask her to, but it still gave me good feelings for the day".{{cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/unbound-talking-with-phil-foglio/ |title=Unbound: Talking with Phil Foglio |last=Alverson |first=Brigid |date=February 2, 2010 |publisher=Comic Book Resources |access-date=2010-06-23}}
Publication history
XXXenophile was published as a series of ten comic books from 1989 to 1995. In 1994, the contents of the first five issues were reprinted in The XXXenophile Big Book O' Fun. In 1997 and 1998, the contents of the ten issues were reprinted in the five-volume The XXXenophile Collection series; each volume contained a number of stories from the original comics (not in their original publication order) plus a new story (generally a second look at characters from an earlier story such as the superhero Orgasm Lass and her four-armed male sidekick Foreplay). The additional stories were compiled separately in a final, eleventh issue of the comic book in 1998. A sixth volume of The XXXenophile Collection, with a new 64-page story, was published in 2000. In 2004 Studio Foglio released XXXenophile Quick and Dirty, a 20-page booklet of unreleased material. The series is on hiatus on the initiative of the Foglios until their children are of appropriate age for the material.
Palliard Press published a related series, XXXenophile Presents, which presented stories by other creators, each story taking up an entire issue. There were five issues published, with stories by Julie Ann Sczesny, Colin Upton (two), and Charlie Wise (two).[http://www.thugdome.com/slagblah_gallimaufry_2.html The Phil Foglio Gallimaufry 2 - Works as the Writer/Scripter/Editor only]
Card game
A XXXenophile collectible card game based on the comic was also created.
In 2001 this game was reworked into a non-adult, non-collectible card game called Girl Genius: The Works,{{cite journal
|title = Pyramid Pick: The Works Card Game
|url = http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=2224
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220110191929/http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=2224
|archive-date = 10 January 2022
|url-status = bot: unknown
|journal = Pyramid (Online)
|publisher = Steve Jackson Games
|last = Weier
|first = Brad
|date = 4 May 2001
|access-date = 25 October 2020
}} based on the Foglios' comic Girl Genius.
Contributors
XXXenophile stories were inked by a variety of well-known and lesser-known artists:[http://www.thugdome.com/slagblah_gallimaufry_1.html The Phil Foglio Gallimaufry 1 - Major Works as the Writer and Artist]
Shepherd Hendrix, and
Brian Snøddy (two stories).
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite magazine|title=On deck: XXXenophile|last=Barth|first=Rachel|issue=17|magazine=InQuest|page=40-41|date=September 1996}}
External links
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A260425 h2g2 XXXenophile Edited Guide Entry]
- [https://www.milehighcomics.com/search/xxxenophile Mile High Comics' XXXenophile listing]