The Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline

by John Willie

This is the Second Edition (Revised & Enlarged) of a work that was originally published in 1974 (144 pages, cloth) and sold over 26,000 copies in the US alone. It was translated into French, German and Italian, and was also made into a movie, THE PERILS OF GWENDOLINE (1984, directed by Just Jaeckin). This revised edition was published on December 9, 1999, the birthday of `John Willie`, as well as the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the first edition. It contains 368 pages, which includes a wealth of previously unpublished and uncollected work by the artist. Also included in this expanded edition are 36 black and white reproductions of drawings and paintings (circa 1935-50), most from original artwork and all but 2 have never been published before. Along with the black and white illustrations are an equal number of full-color pages many of which are previously unpublished. The biographical introduction has been expanded to include much new information about J.W. - including 4 previously unpublished photographs of the artist!

Genres: Comics, Art, Erotica, Smut, BDSM, Graphic Novels

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1974

Reviews

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly astounding volume of illicit published material from less than a century ago that barely still exists in its original forms, though partial (often shoddy or pirated) editions of the most popular comics abound, and as such gets an extra star just for being such a great edition of John Willie's art. The work itself was almost shockingly engaging--this bondage pornographer wrote genuinely amusing and entertaining parodies of movie serial action--as well as being incredibly well delineated. These stories are light years beyond the quality of prewar Tijuana bibles (early American pornographic comic parodies, almost exclusively hardcore), much less their sad postwar successors, and, like most kink porn from before the 1960s published in the U.S., is almost exclusively softcore, primarily without nudes, in an attempt to circumvent obscenity statutes.

The biographical writings on the artist-writer-sometimes-publisher included are fascinating, but also have occasional odd lacunae; what happened to Willie's Australian wife, for example? What about later entanglements alluded to but unexamined? The bibliographical essays that detail the different serials publication trails (often also accompanied by what art survives of unpublished pages) are legitimately stupefying, showing the enduring popularity of what, after all, are mostly unfinished works of bondage cartooning, from their inception in the seething cold war cauldron of the McCarthyism era until the publication of this amazing edition at the turn of the last century. Hidden no more, but still difficult to find cheap, though the publisher has some copies available at the MSRP, which is where I got mine.

[Ryan Chien · Rating 5 out of 5]

stories themselves dragged and bored but Willie's art style rlly helped pioneer erotic and b&w illustration!! plus the fits were so kewt! always a classic for me

[Karlos Kaos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I especially love the fact that these stories were selling tens of thousands copies... and after the reading also appreciate the movie even more, filmmakers did a really good job!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most delicious off beat fairy tale books I have ever read. A sort of counter-culture bondage graphic novel romp through the earliest days of erotic discovery.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's no plot at all. Each story is just capture, put in bondage, escape, repeat. The art is well done.