I think a little context and perspective are needed here…
1) In SAW III, a naked woman is shown tied up and doused with freezing water until she dies. This movie has grossed over $142,000,000 worldwide.
2) A recent issue of the Manhunter comic book opens with the attached pages below, depicting a hand slicing up a superhero with a scalpel while another man is forced to watch (Pg1), then the same man is shown chained up naked and covered with needles as he is fondled by a woman (Pg2). Manhunter is published by DC Comics.
3) On a 2001 WWE show, a woman (Trish Stratus) is ganged up on by 3 people, slapped, beaten, has muddy water dumped over her head, her face dunked in a bucket and a dirty mop smashed in her face. She is humiliated in front of an arena full of screaming fans. No need to tell you how popular WWE is.
What do these things have to do with anything, you ask?
- They are all examples of extreme brutality and humiliation depicted in hugely popular mainstream media (2 against women)
- They are all examples of brutality that, in my opinion are equal to or worse than what is depicted my comic being discussed here.
- They are all staged fiction (just like this comic is).
- They all have a place when taken in the context of the story being told.
SlaveTickler,
In your comments you make this particular comic series sound like a wall-to-wall abuse/rape/torture comic. If you did read past the first few panels (and I hope you did), you will see that this is not the case at all. Several segments feature straight-up superheroine/villain battles with no bondage or torture at all. Taken as a whole, this story is about 3 heroines that run up against insurmountable odds and get the short end of the stick. Yes, it depicts various torments of the heroines throughout, but that is what a superheroine-in-distress comic is supposed to do. The segment you reference is the opening sequence and is only 11 panels of a 118-panel comic. It presents a captor/captive scene that is very relevant to the overall storyline. You reference “burning” the victim, and how it is not sexy, etc. To that I have a few things to point out…
First, the scene depicts a ploy by the captor to put the heroine in discomfort (tying her leaning over a fire) and later to subdue her by using a weapon close at hand (hot coals). In my opinion this is not all that horrific a scene and I could have made it a lot more graphic had I chosen to. The heroine is clothed when she is leaning over the fire; and then clothed, free and fighting back when she is burned with the coals. In the context (there’s that word again) of the story, hot coals would definitely leave marks…not putting the marks on her body would have been inaccurate and a cop-out on my part. Now, if I had drawn a comic where the victim was tied up naked and helpless and was being relentlessly burned or cooked or something like that, maybe it would warrant your visceral reaction. But what I am showing is not that at all. Plus, her feet aren’t in the fire as you state, but beside it…take a closer look.
And far as this scene being “sexy”, the intent of this scene was not to make the heroine getting burned sexy or sexual, as demonstrated by the fact that the heroine’s top doesn’t tear off until after she is beaten down by the villain…again, not when she is struck with the handful of coals. If you are looking for sexiness in this scene, it would be in the heroine putting up a fight but ultimately being defeated…much in the same way that female fighting is depicted in female wrestling/fighting media. Or in WWE...Or in women-in-prison movies...I could go on.
Secondly, these are SUPERHEROINES we are dealing with here. “Super” being the key word. The underlying theme of all superhero comics is that the heroes and villains are a cut above the average human and can take what is dished out. Just as they can break thru walls and battle super-powered adversaries, they can take more punishment than the average person too. That is what is being shown here. If this was a “girl-next-door” I was depicting getting tortured in such a manner then you may have a point. But again, that is not what I am showing. And if you read on, NightFlyer is alive and kicking and beating someone’s ass later in the comic, with her scrapes, burns and bruises healed up.
Third, this is not the “good old days” when the good girl wins every time out. As such, in tickling media a good girl that loses usually gets tied up and tickled mercilessly. That, in and of itself, is a cruel form of torture...don't kid yourself (just because it doesn't leave marks, doesn't mean its not torture). And if you throw in sexual stimulation upon a helpless victim on top of that, you can make a case for sexual assault. It just so happens that tickling is a form of torture that is enjoyed by members of this Forum. And in that regard, on this site, is accepted. You write stories about it, I do drawings about it. Elsewhere, like in the real world, you would be prosecuted for tying/tickling a non-consenting woman just as quickly as some of the activities you decry in my story. So the "sick" label you are applying to my DAH story would be applied to tickling media also by some people.
As for the methods of torture chosen here, I must say that DAH was not designed as a tickling-only comic, thus the consequences for a captive lady are much more wide-ranging. This diversity of torture options for the characters leads to an evil villain torturing a super-heroine by tying her up beside a fire and beating her up. Later on it leads to tickling.
To your other points…
Does it belong on TMF? Well, that’s not for me to say. That is up to the moderators, who do a very good job of determining what is or is not allowed on. The DAH stories were placed in the “Non-Tickling Artwork” forum where they belong and have been up for about two weeks now. If there is any problem with them, I’m sure Tenebre will be notified to take them down.
I do take exception, however, with your comments relating my art to underage content. None of my characters are minors. They never have been and never will be. Adult content featuring minors is truly sick and illegal EVERYWHERE, including on the Internet, and should definitely be banned on TMF. By contrast, media depicting torture of women is NOT illegal despite the fact that some, such as yourself, do not like it. There are things I don’t care for that I come across on TMF. I’m sure that is true of anyone reading this. If this is not your type of content, that is fine, but realize that there is such a thing as freedom of speech that applies here. Be careful of the path that you are standing on, because if you start down the road of censorship it may eventually lead to the removal of some tickling-related media that you DO like around here.
I doubt this will change your mind about me or my work. If I am a sick fuck to you today, I will likely be a sick fuck to you tomorrow and the day after that, too. You undoubtedly have you mind made up along that line. Hopefully for future viewers coming to this thread to have a look, they will not take this discourse as a red flag and have a look at the art for themselves.