| Sexy Losers | |
|---|---|
 One panel from Sexy Losers #52, featuring some of the main cast of the comic. |
|
| Author(s) | Clay |
| Website | http://www.sexylosers.com/ |
| Current status / schedule | Concluded? ("incomplete"[1]) |
| Launch date | April 1999 |
| End Date | March 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Ribaldry |
Sexy Losers was an adult webcomic by Clay, a Canadian living in Japan, who from 2001 to 2004 was known under the pseudonym "Hard." The strip has a significant following; its web hosting company's promotional material indicated that it received one million unique visitors in August 2003.[2] Before being hosted on its own from September 2003 and on, it was the most popular webcomic on Keenspace, getting over 10% of all page views.[3] The strip, a satire of human sexual foibles, draws from themes generally alien to light comic fare, namely sex, fetishism, and sexual relationships. Though the author describes the comic as ribaldry as opposed to pornography, the strip does contain graphic depictions of sex acts, as well as full nudity of both male and female characters. A number of its jokes are drawn from recurring elements of pornographic or animated pornographic (hentai) films. One character, for instance, is a bukkake film actress. The strips stayed true to its bawdy genre, and often attempted humour through the quirks of human sexuality intensified with shock value and depiction of taboos.[4][5] Clay cites the comic Heartbroken Angels by Kikuni Masahito as his largest inspiration in making the comic.[6]
Contents |
History
The strip first appeared in April 1999 under the name The Thin H Line (see ecchi) as part of the monthly drawing contest Monthly Online Manga and then became a separate ongoing comic.[7] A number of comics during the first half year were "jam strips" in which artist friends would contribute a panel to a pre-written and laid-out comic, a practice that became less frequent when Clay moved to Japan in July 1999. In 2001 the strip was renamed Sexy Losers due to events in Clay's personal life and his wish to give the comic a less otaku-sounding name. It was at this time he began to use the pseudonym "Hard" for greater web anonymity, which lasted until 2004 when he returned to his real name. Although not syndicated, Sexy Losers is currently being printed regularly in Icarus Publishing's flagship anthology magazine, A-G.[8] One of the jokes reached a wide audience when Maxim published an unauthorized and uncredited transcribed version of #230 in its December 2004 magazine. The scene had been described using the same setting and characters, and the punchline copied word for word.[9] On March 28 2006, after 244 strips, Clay announced the retirement of Sexy Losers saying "it appears unlikely that I'll ever have time to do a new strip."[1] He has since posted a previously unfinished comic, on 4 June 2007, a parody of The Sopranos. As of July 2007 a new "Mike's Left Hand" strip has been posted, along with a notice:
| “ | If you find new strips happening here occasionally, I assure you it's all in your mind. I said I quit doing this strip and I mean it.... | ” |
However, despite this warning, on December 21 2007 a new strip appeared
Story threads
There are several recurring story threads, which almost never intersect: "The Seduction of Madame X" (on BDSM), "Shiunji and the Suicide Girl" (on necrophilia), "Mike's Left Hand" (on chronic masturbation) and "Kenta's Horny Mom" (on incest and lesbianism) being the most prominent. Some of these threads involve character and plot development, others are variations on a theme (e.g., how Tauro fails in his attempts to seduce Madame X).
Legacy
The strip has been cited as a major influence among other webcomics, especially with other mature-themed titles. For example, other comics have borrowed some of the themes and the 4 Koma format the strip is presented in. A specific Sexy Losers strip, which featured a play on Tentacle rape,[10] was the inspiration behind the webcomic Ghastly's Ghastly Comic, which originally revolved almost entirely around tentacle monsters.[11] The most significant contribution the comic made to popular culture has been the popularization of the onomatopoeia "fap" for the sound of male masturbation. While Clay did not invent it (the source is VIZ Media's translation of Heartbroken Angels), his use of "fap" has led it to become an almost universal term online. The term was first used in his third comic produced in April 28 1999 and appears to be the first appearance of the term on the Internet.[12] In a similar vein, Clay used the onomatopoeia "schlick" for the sound of female masturbation. TLG Media's A New Bunny and Another New Bunny both reference the comic strip. The strip is the only web comic to score 6 out of 5 toilets on the (no longer maintained) List Of Potentially Offensive Webcomics "offsensometer".[13]
Notes and references
- ^ a b GOOD NIGHT. Author announces Sexy Losers' conclusion. Livejournal (2006-03-28). Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ Bald Rocket Productions advertising info on Sexy Losers. Retrieved on 2006-05-21.
- ^ Keenspace Top Pages. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
- ^ Black, James Lawrence (2004-08-24). Purity is the Great Perversity. Modern Humor Authority. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
- ^ Meginnis, Michael (2004-06-14). Wide Open Beavers Inside, and Other National Secrets that Everybody Knows. The Webcomics Examiner. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
- ^ Heartbroken Angels as inspiration. Retrieved on 2006-03-31.
- ^ First appearance as the Thin Hard Line in Monthly Online Manga. Retrieved on 2006-03-31.
- ^ Icarus Publishing Webstore
- ^ Staff Writer. "Leap of Faith", Maxim, December 2004, pp. 36.
- ^ sexylosers.com
- ^ First strip of Ghastly's Ghastly Comic, with mention of being inspired by Sexy Losers. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
- ^ Sexy Losers #3, first use of "fap". Retrieved on 2006-03-31.
- ^ List of Potentially Offensive Webcomics Hall of Fame
