The Complete Kake Comics

by Tom of Finland, Dian Hanson (Editor)

In 1965, Tom of Finland began flirting with the idea of an ongoing character for his panel stories, the ultimate Tom’s Man. He tried out a blond named Vicky—a common male name in Finland—followed by a Tarzan-inspired Jack. Then in 1968 Tom settled on Kake, a dark-haired, mustached leatherman who often wore a tight white t-shirt bearing the motto “Fucker.” Kake lived up to this moniker, a sort of post-Stonewall, hyper-masculine Johnny Appleseed traveling the world on his motorcycle to spread the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex. Tom lived out many of his most personal fantasies through Kake, and Kake’s international fans made him the template for what came to be known as the gay clone look of the 1970s.

Between 1968 and 1986, Tom published 26 episodes of Kake adventures, most as 20 page booklets. Tom of Finland – The Complete Kake Comics collects all these stories in one volume. Return with Kake to the days when men were men, sex was carefree, and everyone wore a big thick mustache.

Genres: Comics, Art, Queer, LGBT, Graphic Novels, Erotica, Fiction

703 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Touko Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, is often said to be the most famous Finnish artist in the world. His highly stylized homoerotic drawings had a profound influence on late twentieth century gay culture, as well as fashion and pop culture in general. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade.

Over the course of four decades he produced some 3500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits, with tight or partially removed clothing. Despite having created the self-assured and muscular archetype of the homosexual in his imagery, his most important messages were tolerance and that sex is something to be celebrated.

Tom of Finland's artwork is part of permanent collections of leading cultural institutions that include The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma (Helsinki), The Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Super-hot at times, super-funny (unintentionally but in a good way) in others. For the right person or the right mood, this book can be gut-busting or nut-busting.

Here's the thing: especially if you read it all at once, the book is repetitive. It's basically threesome after threesome after threesome. The frames of each guy are practically identical: built, jacked, big-butted, strong-jawed, brawny guys (props for some diversity though). I do have to say I loved how this super-erotic leather-man series uses the same old gags and illustration ploys that Archie used. For example, the three triangles - those little small ones - pointing out of someone's head when they are alarmed or in pain. Or that there's a pile-up of people trying to get to one guy, but alas, he's standing outside of the pile-up looking at them. We're used to those triangles being over Jughead's head, or the pile-up as a Looney Tunes staple. Here though, the triangles appear when a guy is being fisted up to the elbow by surprise, and the pile-up is a massive orgy in a public park, big dicks and hairy balls every which way. Of course the initiator is standing by a tree with an exhausted look on his face, wiping what I'm assuming are the giant white cartoonish raindrops of cum off of his face and neck. And it was all written in the 60s and 70s.

Meaning: this is a marvelous time capsule and a historical document, lovely to read in order to bear witness to early-on groundbreaking erotic art. (Note: read the intro about the artist). It's lovely drawing truth be told, (a quick read no less), and it oscillates between being - I'll admit - incredibly hot, and unintentionally fucking hilarious (in a great way).

It's a quick read too. Each page is a frame. Anyhow: I'm just saying when a threesome starts, and another guy shows up in the background, then a foursome starts, then another guy peeks out from the bushes, and a fivesome starts, etc., until there's a conga line of ass-fucking...that's a five-star read for me. Throw in a Canadian officer handcuffing two guys together by the scrotum, and it's officially the most awesome thing ever.

Besides all the absurdity and bizarre sexual openness - I guess this was a fantasy-land of "anything goes" implicit consent - there's some stuff tucked in there that might not be for everybody in terms of being sexy or erotic, but it was both for me. Incredibly so at times. I got the best of both worlds on this one. Such a treasure.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nearly-wordless porn comics of hyper-masculine gay men. Lot of leather, mustaches, uniforms, boots, and exaggeratedly large features. Not a lot of diversity in the type of people shown. Lots of men and a couple of women having unapologetic, fun, proud sex.

Content notes: non-con, risky sex, public sex, many different kinks including BDSM and watersports.

[Mati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Men, men , men, men and once again men are main heroes of short stories...how surprising...how good. Carefree Kake was roaming earth and fucked and getting fucked by various men. Yes all of them are muscled and had perfect posterior and looooooong you know what...of course mustache is included. It was fun to list that book. I think most macho gays should own the copy...aka... fashion adviser for "having fun" occasions.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A leitura deste encadernado vem em tempo em que a produtora de filmes pornográfico gays, Naked Sword, está fazendo uma adaptação live action das aventuras em quadrinhos do personagem Kake, criado pelo maior desenhista de arte erótica gay Tom of Finland. Vale dizer que Tom of Finland não influenciou somente o sexo gay, trazendo mais à tona os fetiches com couro e botas de cano alto. Ele também desenvolveu todo um estilo de vida, que acabou refletido não só nas fantasias da banda de disco Village People, mas também no estilo "clone" dos moradores gays do bairro Castro, da cidade de San Francisco para que arrebanhassem mais "baits" nos seus "cruises". Cruises esses que são a dinâmica que rege os quadrinhos de Kake, que estão todos compilados aqui. São histórias sequencializadas de cruises que ocupam mais de um terço dos 26 quadrinhos aqui apresentados. Lembrando que essa compilação de mais de 700 páginas não traz toda a obra de Tom, mas de seu personagem mais lembrado, que é interpratado em Live Action pelo ator pornô Matthew Camp, cujo sobrenome, ironicamente, tem a ver com o estilo que Tom of Finland também ajudou a consolidar na América e que foi tornado célebre por Susan Sontag. Por isso e por tantas outras influências, existe uma fundação em Los Angeles dedicada ao legado de Tom of Finland. E nós, gay só temos a agradece por ter ajudado esse estilo de vida - leather, cruise, camp, clone, seja como for que se chame -, sair do armário em uma época quando pouco tinham a coragem de se assumir como tal.

[Bey Deckard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lent my paperback copy of this to someone and never got it back... but that's fine. I love to spread the love. I only just picked up a new copy, this time in hardcover. That I bought it twice shows how much I enjoy Kake's adventures :)

[marko · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Of course, Tom’s art is nothing but Tom’s fantasies… That the personal fantasies of one shy Finn were shared by millions od men around the world was just fortuitous coincidence, because Touko Laaksonen couldn’t, and wouldn’t done it any other way.” — Introduction by Dian Hanson

[Ivan Zamora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jajaja 🤣 5 solo por el morbo jaja

[Daniel Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Laaksonen’s (aka Tom of Finland’s) complete Kake stories in all their jackbooted, hyper masculine, orgiastic glory!

Dark haired, mustached, and all leathered up, motorcycle-riding Kake cruised the world for 30 years, forever changing the way we viewed gay male sexuality. Along the way, he met up with leather men, cops, cowboys, lumberjacks, and other brawny, uninhibited dudes down for hot, friendly sex, no shame attached. Whether in jail cells, parks, or the office, the sex is open, free, and interwoven into just about every aspect of social life.

Never overtly political, every story is embedded with a powerful, affirmative message: gay men are whole, complete, and healthy. And they are everywhere.

Tom’s sense of playful rebelliousness is apparent throughout this great collection from Taschen. Also apparent is the massive influence Tom has had on both gay and mainstream depictions of male sexuality. From Freddy Mercury’s look to Gaultier’s pretty sailor boys to just about any men’s underwear advertisement, it isn’t hard to connect the dots to Kake.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raunchy, over sexualized, pure fantasy and honestly that's exactly why I picked it up. Tom of Finland is a gay right of passage to many and I have enjoyed these images for many many years. While I do think there are some problematic notions in the depiction of a gay desire being focused on a singular well-endowed, beefy , overt masculinity and there is a noticeable lack of men of color portrayed throughout, I did my best to leave my more critical lens at the door and enjoy this fetishization of the "perfect" leather man, knowing that beauty, desire and appeal in the world beyond these images is far more layered, and this is just one man's mind and talent who was able to break boundaries at a time when queer erotic art only lived in the shadows.

[Emily G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matimate recently reviewed a Tom of Finland book here. I knew of Tom of Finland because one of the Kake comics is featured in Erotica Universalis, although I can't remember if it was volume one or two. Anyway, I decided that it was high time that I reacquainted myself with the brawny, extraordinarily well endowed, promiscuous man and I wasn't disappointed.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes very masculine men in uniform getting it on with other men. Plenty of kinks are catered for too, including fisting, bondage, threesomes, moresomes. Have I sold you yet? *g*

[Kieran]

Ok so technically I have the hard cover edition. This 30-something dollar impulse buy has actually been a great ice-breaker. The material is nicely presented; gotta love those classy folks over at Taschen. If you're a fan of ToF, this one is an absolute must.

[Jacob Neale · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a Blast Reading, Definitely took my time Reading it was great ☺️

[Elío Sáenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember Taschen books as these stuffy, artsy affairs that I had to borrow from our high school library just a few years ago. I mean, those class reports ain't gonna write themselves. Learned to love Klimt and his sad aristocratic babes dripping in gold and wearin' not much else. But yeah I skimmed much of the boring text and ogled all of the pics because I was dumb and fucken horny all the time.

But yeah Taschen. Didn't know they're into peddling smut now! Which these Kake comics essentially are, cmon. And just when I am more intellectually prepped to tackle high art heh. There's around four pages summing up Tom of Finland's bio, but we all know that ain't what you're dawdling here for, you horndawg.

Really bruh, the art is where it's at, and here they're damn detailed. I think it would have been better if they plastered 'round six images per page like in dem comic strips. Save the trees 🌳 no? But Taschen ain't having that: it's one pic per page.

And yeah I understand why. Cuz this book ain't for pulling your meat - well, not primarily at least. It's for appreciating the art. And say whatever you will about thirsty Touko - the Nordic lecher can draw.

Physically, his men are idealized and even hyperbolized. Just compare them to the photos in the scrapbook section, of the blood-and-flesh guys he might have modeled them after. Those are mighty fine specimens too, but nah they can't compete.

I ain't complainin' tho. Eye candy is still eye candy, and there is a pleasing symmetry at how the ridiculous physical "perfection" of Kake and his *ahem* male friends simply mirrors the extreme absurdity of the orgiastic situations that they habitually get plopped into.

I plowed through the whole unholy thing in around two hours or so. Will be biting the bullet and reviewing two more Tom of Finland volumes so you fine, upstanding gentlemen won't have to.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dian Hanson (Ed.) (2023) TOM OF FINLAND: THE COMPLETE KAKE COMICS
Cologne. TASCHEN

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 out of 5 stars

The sleeve reads, "In 1965, Tom of Finland began flirting with the idea of an ongoing character for his panel stories, the ultimate Tom’s Man. He tried out a blond named Vicky―a common male name in Finland―followed by a Tarzan-inspired Jack. Then in 1968 Tom settled on Kake, a dark-haired, mustached leatherman who often wore a tight white T-shirt bearing the motto “Fucker.” Kake lived up to this moniker, a sort of post-Stonewall, hyper-masculine Johnny Appleseed traveling the world on his motorcycle to spread the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex. Tom lived out many of his most personal fantasies through Kake, and Kake’s international fans made him the template for what came to be known as the gay clone look of the 1970s. Between 1968 and 1986, Tom published 26 episodes of Kake adventures, most as 20-page booklets. Tom of Finland – The Complete Kake Comics collects all of these stories in one volume. Return with Kake to the days when men were men, sex was carefree, and everyone wore a big thick mustache.
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Cultural masterpiece!
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#DianHanson #TomOfFinland #TheCompleteKakeComics #Book #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #Review #Reviews #BookReview #BookReviews #GoodReads

[Debo]

This walked so Kenneth Anger and the Village People aesthetic could run.
It is way out of line, in a way only sexual fantasies can be without alarming six billion bells and red flags. And these are all one heck of a fantasy. I cannot BELIEVE the first of these issues was published in the late sixties. It is kinky, it is unapologetically gay and the laws of physics and human anatomy are revoked for the duration of this read. And therefore it is kind of fun, in the way only a human centipede of cock or "Full Service" petrol stops can be.
By the way, did you know this was supposed to be pronounced "cocky comics"?! Blew my mind.
I didn't appreciate how Dian Hanson's introduction gave this a bigger whiff of misogyny than the comics warranted, but alas (not to say the artist himself wasn't exactly that, I am solely going with the depicted fantasies. But instead of going "this glorifies a very narrow idea of masculine embodiment which might weird you out" she just reproduces "this shows 'real and manly' men" and I hate that a bit).
Truly a milestone in erotic and gay art at the time.

CNs: explicit sexual content, uniform fetish, dub/non-con fantasies, one questionable panel with an indigenous person that out of all of these aged by far the worst

[Olivia Bagshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Of Finland is easily one of the greats of comic book erotica. The clarity of his images, the expressive nature of his bodies, the hyper-masculine detail and dismantling of fascist aesthetics makes his work as fascinating politically as it is erotically.

His Kake comics are equally shocking and funny, stringing together sexually explicit storylines of gangbangs in the park, or sailors in the bar. Keeping in mind that these were published in between 1968 and 1986, these comics reflected an elevated sexual fantasy of many discreet gay men seeking their kicks away from the prying eyes of a homophobic society - while you might not expect it when you're looking at Tom Of Finland's admiration of anatomy here, there's definitely an element of protest underlying these depictions of sexual escapism.

A great collection, and potentially an essential one for anyone interested in provocative queer art.

[Oblomov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom of Finland, or Touko Valio Laaksonen, or if Vincent Price and Max von Sydow had a love child:

was a gay erotic artist who drew exactly one body type, in one style, with everyone engaging in one type of activity, and God bless him for it.

Taschen has decided to devote an entire hardback to the sexy and wordless adventures of leather daddy Kake (first name obviously Beef), a reoccurring character in T0F's comic contributions to the American "fitness magazine"Physique Pictorial in the 60s. If there's a plot, it's that Kake travels around a porn studio version of America and literally fucks every bloke he comes across, especially if they're in uniform.

Is there much else I can say about a virtually silent comic of sexy muscular men bonking? Apparently the editor didn't think so, with Dian Hanson's introductory text being disappointingly brief, and actually copied out twice more in French and German, just to pad out the edition or save reprinting costs. There's some mention of ToF's extremely evident fetish for uniforms, starting with the Finnish lumberjacks of his town, and later developed during the second world war, where the artist claimed most of his lovers were the Finnish friendly Nazis. What with Hitler turning out to be a bit of a major bastard, ToF found a more ethically comfortable obsession with leather bikers, and there's a rather nice image in this collection that fully demonstrates the evolution and connection between the aesthetics of war criminals in Hugo Boss, to the cast of Grease:

I do love this detail, since ToF's massive aesthetic influence means Hitler's beloved military style has now become gay cliche, and I'd like to imagine Rohm laughing even harder at his old boss while he's tied to the next rack down in Hell.

Hanson pinpoints two other notable features of ToF's work. One, which is distinctly lacking both in older gay erotica and even in the porn of the following decades, is that kissing and affection are a big part of the sex. And not even with tongues either, it's just a 'God you're beautiful, mate, let me smooch you' sort of thing. Two: the sex is fun. Hanson states that everyone's enjoying themselves, with a big smile on their face. Things might get a little rough and kinky but no one leaves the stage without having a great time.
On that note, the first story after this essay is called 'Intruder', where Kake catches a young man undressing, breaks into the house to forcibly felate him, bangs him and when the victim's Dad catches the act, he traps Kake in the window and proceeds to violate him in vengeance. Please refer to the last paragraph to find out why I think Hanson may occasionally talk some shit.

Enough of the editors essay, lets talk about the art, since talking about the plot of the comics would get very repetitive. (Bugger it, here's some notable epic tales all the same: Kake violates the postman. Kake is arrested for public indecency. Kake starts a less traumatizing human centipede).
The bad of the art:
There is one body type, as I said at the beginning. Everyone is muscular with the same jaw lines and a ludicrously humongous todger. It's the same wide chest, small waist and beautifully round perky bums over and over, and if it wasn't for the haircuts (and that one slightly chubby bartender in a single scene) everyone would be completely interchangeable. The images are also extremely static, despite how much movement is depicted and the inventiveness of some of the positions. Thick, hard outlines leave each image feeling like a staged pose rather than an action.


The Good of the art:
Where ToF does shine is (no surprise) the clothes. Creases are perfect and whether its casual wear or uniforms, every item is sketched with a loving attention to detail. This is especially true for the light on leather jackets and trousers, which gives a welcome thickness and heaviness to the surrounding flatness.
What's also good is that you can just ignore all the bad bits of the art. This is porn, we're not here to dig into the symbolism of Kake seducing an entire cowboy saloon. We're here to [redacted], but we can still enjoy the affection amongst the debauchery and the fact every character has a gleeful smile on their face, unashamed and open in their sexual selves and gymnast flexibility (just as Hanson said directly before I took the piss out of that statement, but it's still kind of true and I am also full of shit).

Other gay, erotic comic artists may be more varied with their bodies and offer more intricate stories, but there is something timelessly playful, silly and endearing about ToF's work that his descendants can't quite recapture. It may be a bit outdated in it's looks, but it's still incredibly fun; some scenes might not entirely vibe with the sentiments of today, but there's no deeply cruel malice in even the roughest acts; the book might be useless to you if you prefer slim twinks to beefy blokes, but then I couldn't give a toss about the opinions of someone with no taste.

[Leo Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom of Finland's Complete Kake Comics

This is a massive collection of Tom of Finland's gay erotic art.

Gorgeously illustrated, Tom of Finland's work was the first to ever show gay men being affectionate as well as being happy while having sex, no matter how extreme it was.

It explores many kinds of kinks and sexual positions, but focuses on masculine muscle and leather men.

First released in the 1970s Tom of Finland's art continues to be praised and admired.

Also it is hot, *shrugs* I said what I said.

[Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful piece of art. The drawings are fantastic. Everybody should have this book in their erotic comic book collection. ;)

[Jean-Sébastien Herpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Porno mais culture !

[Matt Matt Tobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such the best

[frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful look into tom of finland's world.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am now the proud owner of this book after finding it in the free little library next to my house. thanks, neighbor and happy prideeeeeeeeee!

[Jadine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed "reading" this book. LOL There was definitely some consent lines that felt crossed to me, but I can appreciate the history behind this series.

[Keaton Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ummmm, yeah. A+
Love the female that appears in this collection, lol.

[Salino · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I work very hard to make sure that the men I draw having sex are proud men having happy sex!"

[Matyáš Sáva · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

[Brian Kovesci · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 obviously

[Martyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels rather odd trying to write a review for a book such as this because I guess one's feelings towards it reflect very much upon one's own very personal and private proclivities and tastes, not normally the kind of things one discusses in public.

As a whole the volume is a mixed bag and there are some parts or elements which you might love, and others which you might hate or be disgusted by. The quality of the artwork isn't always up to scratch and Tuoko ("Tom of Finland") isn't always very inventive so that over the course of 26 comics an element of repetitiveness does creep in. Sometimes it felt like, in striving to keep up the momentum and be progressive, Tuoko thought size mattered - increasing the amount of sex and the number of people involved and the number of positions utilized, and enlarging the size of everyone's genitals, in the hope that this would make things more exciting. But these things don't make up for lack of interesting plot and as the volume goes on the stories tend to lose any sense of freshness. For me it is the earlier comics which are generally the most satisfying. You don't have to read far before your man juices are flowing, and you might not last long before you need a physical release. The second comic is perhaps one of the best for the slow build-up of tension. Later on Tuoko just seems to rush to get to the sex as quickly as possible, but in comic no. 2 it takes seven whole pages before a cock finally emerges, and when Kake tweaks that nipple I bet every male reader simultaneously experiences what happens on the next page.

While Tuoko can draw beautiful men, his women are hideous and I really wish he had left them out as, aside from anything else, they ruin the aesthetics of the artwork.

I'm surprised that none of the other reviews that I've seen seem to comment on the amount of rape which takes place throughout the volume. In most instances the men become willing participants, but that doesn't always seem to be the case. But I wonder whether the disturbing reality is that, for those of us who enjoy the book, we don't feel comfortable acknowledging the severity of these scenarios because in our imaginations we are usually placing ourselves in the position of the victim and wishing we had a Kake coming to abuse us!

While the volume as a whole isn't without it's defects, the parts which are good make it worth every one of the five stars.

[Lavorchid · Rating 5 out of 5]

真吊啊
全是吊