Holy Sh*t!: The World's Weirdest Comic Books

by Paul Gravett, Peter Stanbury

You won't believe your eyes...

...when you peek inside Holy Sh*t! at some of the wildest, most depraved stories ever told. These outrageous comics are guaranteed to offend and amuse! Some of the rare treasures you will encounter are Presidents who become muscle-bound superheroes, cavemen who fight giant tabby cats, and a peasant-girl who fervently worships the swastika. But . . . are you ready for Russia's busty bombshell Octobriana? What about getting your groove on with Mod Love? How about scaring your kid sister with the flesh-eating animals in The Barn of Fear? And if you can stomach these, you might want to try Amputee Love , Fatman the Human Flying Saucer , Tales of the Leather Nun , and many, many more.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, Humor, History, Graphic Novels, Reference, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2008

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy Sh*t! The World's Weirdest Comic Books is a collection of 60-ish cover shots and accompanying explanations of some really weird comic books.

Actually, I thought the weirdness level in this was lacking, probably because I've already read Comix: A History of Comic Books in America. Still, it was an entertaining read never the less.

Most of the comics depicted in this book were shocking for the time period in which they were released but a little tame by today's standards. Some are still pretty offensive, though. The subject matter ranges from foreign versions of familiar superheroes to highly controversial topics like race and sex issues.

This is one of those books that you pretty much have to experience for yourself. I will, however, list some of the books I found to be the most memorable:
Reagan's Raiders
Godzilla vs. Barkley (yes, Charles Barkley)
My Friend Dahmer
Genus (lesbian anthropomorphic unicorns)
Trucker Fags in Denial
Amputee Love
Sh-t!
The Barn of Fear (EC style stories featuring farm animals)
La Donna Ragna (a female porno version of Spiderman)
All-Negro Comics
Fast Willie Jackson (a black version of Archie drawn by an Archie artist)
Leather Nun
Mr. A (drawn by Spiderman's Steve Ditko)
Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika

[Althea J.]

This was a fun and quick read. Great descriptions of each title gave a little story summary and a little backstory on the comic itself, along with a panel, a quote from the comic and a full page image of the cover. I hope they come out with Holy Sh*t! Volume Two: Even More of the World's Weirdest Comic Books.

Included in this collection was one comic I have read, My Friend Dahmer, which was excellent.


There were several that seem very tied to their time period that I would be interested in reading:


(I want to find this!! I think I would love the art)


Fast Willie Jackson, created by Bert Fitzgerald and Gus Lemoine (who drew for Archie Comics) in 1976, after being frustrated by only token ethnic characters, teamed up to create an all-African-American Archie. "...a survey found that kids both black and white were 'digging it,' though not enough for it to last more than seven issues."






Octobriana and the Russian Underground (1971) created by dissident Czech author Petr Sadecky who claimed the comic's origin came from an underground group within the USSR who were critical of the Soviet regime, appealing to "Westerners' romantic notions of young intellectual rebels in Russia." Octobriana is styled as "a kind of Russian Barbarella" or as described in an article I found about it, "A Gun-Toting Socialist Wonder Woman." The super-subversive origin apparently turns out to be a literary hoax to create anti-Soviet pop propaganda.


This is an example of the Tijuana Bibles, which "are neither Mexican nor Christian but America's pioneer underground comics." I'm kind of curious to check out more about these "lewd, crude, pocket-sized parodies."


From the description of Longshot Comics - "Here's proof that you should never let an almost total lack of drawing ability deter you from making comics. Canadian writer Shane Simmons' inspired solution is to draw his entire cast so far away that they look like black dots in the far distance. Taking minimalism to new heights, he used 3,840 tiny square panels to tell the blackly humorous saga of 'The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers.'"

Thanks to Jim for suggesting this book as one of the options for Superhero Non-Fiction, for the Superhero and Comic Book Club GR group.

[Dustin Reade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, but a bit too brief. The authors seem to think that everyone who reads the book will think these comics are as ridiculous as they do, so they write with a bit too much sarcasm. The comics chosen are varied and interesting, and the book presents the full covers, one small blurb, a single frame comic, and a brief summary of the comics. It is fun, and if you are looking to expand your comix collection by including some really rare and odd gems, then this book will serve as a useful guide to what you should look for. But if you want real insight into ultra-weirdies like "the Leather Nun" or "Hansii, the Girl Who Loved The Swastika" then I recommend you simply buy those comics, because the brief explanations provided here don't give you much.

[Viemärin Ykä · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never stop the madness. Pieni makupala ja viihdyttää kovin. Näitä teoksia, joita lukiessa tulee mietittyä, miten siistissä ja oudossa maailmassa elämmekään

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these oddball bits of comic history that prove the breadth the format has always had beyond mainstream superhero stories. (A similar feature was always one of my favorite columns in Wizard Magazine.) The tone of this collection is a little off, though. It's not sure if it wants to be making fun of these oddities or having a scholarly discussion about them. I could have also done with more illustrations, as there are very few interior panels shown, only the cover for each and a paragraph dryly retelling all the weirdness within. Highlights include Popeye the Sailor as your guide through the exciting world of personal service careers, the topless Italian Spider-Woman, and squarest of the square Dell Comics trying to cash in on beatnik culture with an Archie-esque teen comedy full of dirty hippies.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating and at times terrifying small format hardcover guides through the bizarre world of wacky comics including Steve Ditko's stark ode to Objectivistism Mr. A. (1973), All Negro Comics #1 (created entirely by African-Americans in June 1947), the blasphemous underground comic Tales From the Leather Nun (1973), the pre-Brokeback Mountain unexpectedly manly love story Trucker Fags in Denial (2004), strange romance tales, and even public service publications. With over 100 entries, the graphically-intense, surreal adventure makes for a near perfect bathroom book.

[Sotiris Makrygiannis · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy morning read. mainly all alt comic books are either state propaganda or hippie editions that couldn't pass comic authority reviews.

[Antti Rask · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books where the title kind of says it all. The comics presented in the book are all weird, although the level of weirdness and the reasons why they are weird vary quite a bit. I'm also sure that some of the weirdness comes purely from the modern viewpoint as some of the books were legitimate comic books at the time they came out.

Most of the comics are weird enough for me to feel like I don't really need to read them, but there was one comic that was especially curious, rather than weird, that I really do want to read. Longshot Comics: The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers by Shane Simmons uses black dots and dialogue to tell a funny story (at least judging by the one page that I read) about a somewhat tragic life in the 19th century.

This book and these comics might not be for you if (you're easily offended or if) you are only just starting to read comics, but for a general comic book lover this is a treat.

And I must say, hats off to Paul Gravett (and Peter Stanbury for this book) who is also behind even better comics-related books, such as Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know, Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics and 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: The Ultimate Guide to Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Manga.

[Frank McGirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a fortunately misleading title. This would have been pretty tedious if all 125 comics were like the Leather Nun (which was not a misleading title).

For each comic the book highlights, it just shows the cover, a panel or two, and then gives a couple of paragraphs of synopsis occasionaly with some background, but that is usually enough.

Amputee Love was actually more of a pro-sex manual written by an actual woman double amputee, and we learn that All-Negro Comics from 1947 was written, drawn, and published by an all black roster, and (sigh) a second issue never appeared because no one would sell them the newsprint to print it.

And there's some weird Christian and corporate (the story of how prunes came to California!) stuff too and a few more titles you'd probably hide beneath your mattress.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small sampler-type book of the covers of some 50 or 60 bizarre comic books from the 40s to the 90s. Most of the weirdest ones are from the underground comic scene or Christian proselytizing comics. The book is fun to look through but the information about each is relatively skimpy, mostly just offering plots summaries of the specific issue presented without a lot of history of the title or writers. Fun but not essential. Besides Tales of the Leather Nun, which I actually owned back in the 70s, my favorite title here was Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection showing a page from many strange comics that left me wanting to see the whole comic. Strangely, cross referenced – I mean it doesn't add anything to know there's another comic with a tennis player on page 37.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in one sitting on the bus.Some fucked up shit in here!

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a comic book buyer or collector, but I do like graphic storytelling in the longer format, and was curious to see what oddities might have emerged over theyears in the short form. This small gem of a book collects some sixty examples of the wildest and weirdest, ranging from a Tijuana Bible from the late 1930s satirizing Hitler called "You Nazi Man" to 2004's "Trucker Fags in Denial." Each title gets a two-page spread, with a full cover or near full-cover bleeding across the right page, and a synopsis of the book and sample panel on the left hand page, along with credits and publication information. The selections generally fall into the categories I expected:

Pornish comics -- "Tales From the Leather Nun" is pretty much described by the title, "Sweeter Gwen" is classic bondage, "Amputee Love" is also pretty well described by its title, "Genus" features lesbian unicorns, etc.

Weird superheros -- 1967's "Super Green Beret" battles the Viet Cong with his super strength, 1987's "Super Shamou" is an Inuit superhero fighting the scourge of glue sniffing, 1963's "Brain Boy" tackles communism, etc.

Industry promotional comics -- the American Cancer Society's cautionary teen tale "Where There's Smoke," professional service careers like being a barber or school psychologist are touted by Popeye, Wall's Ice Cream put out "Chill" with various flavors incarnated as superheros and villains, the California Prune Growers Association attempted to crank up the excitement about prunes by publishing the horribly titled "A Fortune in Two Old Trunks" in 1955, Greyhound did the same a few years later with "Driving Like a Pro", and the Savings and Loan Association wanted kids in 1968 to know that "Saving Can Be Fun!", etc.

Foreign oddities -- about 20% of the titles are non-American, including an anti-Soviet work from 1970s Czeckoslovakia called "Octoberbriana", the Australian "Book of Picture Stories" from 1943 brings to life aboriginal tales, "La Donna Ragna" from 1970s Italy is a kind of topless female Spiderman, the truly bizarre 1950s Australian sci-fi tale "The Purple People Eater", the torture porn of a 1980's Malaysian title and 1960s Mexican cheesecake "Los Novios", and soforth.

Other categories include romance comics, religious comics, and even presidential ones ("The Great Society" features a caped LBJ and "Reagan's Raiders" features a chiseled Reagan brandishing a machine gun). However, if I had to pick three favorites for flat-out weirdness, they'd be 1967's Fatman the Human Flying Saucer, 1993s Godzilla vs. Barkley (yes, that'd be Charles Barkley), and 1963's Herbie, which features a truly bizarre, almost autistic lard tub of a kid. On the whole, there's nothing deep to be learned here, just a fun little book that's bound to amuse and amaze anyone who picks it up -- perfect fare for the hipster's bathroom. My only complaint is that it's small, and as with any book on visual media, it would be better at a larger scale.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you know little of the history of the underground comic book publications, then you will consider the comics featured in this to be weird. However, if you are familiar with the long history of the comics published in places like Tijuana, Mexico, then the books will only be slightly weird. The power of the comics code authority when it clamped down in the 1950's was overwhelming, straining the comics through a morality filter that forbade things like large and detailed breasts, bulges in the crotches of the men and not even the slightest hint of foul language or sex.
It is the relaxation of those restrictions within the context of the comics code that makes these comics appear weird. Compared to what is now routine and mainstream in the comics genre, most of what you see in this book is quite tame. Each two-page spread has some explanatory test on the left with a sample cover on the right. Some of the comics included here make the cut for no reason other than how unique they were at the time. For example, the comic described on pages 102 and 103 features an Irish Catholic female in love with a Jewish male. The parents object yet they are able to kiss joyfully while the two male parents fume.
My favorite comic featured in this collection is the essentially topless Spider-Woman on pages 56-57. A thin mesh covers her breasts and the devil figure caught in the web has a rather significant bulge in the crotch. With nothing to hold her breasts in place, she would have been somewhat unbalanced at times when she was swinging from place to place.

This review appears on Amazon

[JoJoTheModern · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sensationalist title of this slim volume bothers me. Many of the comics described are not "weird". Some are even historically important, such as 1947's "All-Negro Comics" which was started by a Black man and featured Black artists; and the title starring the first Inuit superhero. Seriously, putting such things under the "weird" umbrella is just gross.

Other comics listed are simply religious ("The Gospel Blimp") or not in the sexual mainstream (if "Amputee Love" was created by a double amputee and her husband, I can't see how that's even exploitative, much less weird).

This is a great little collection of comic covers and panels, I enjoyed it, but man- what's up with the title. The comics listed can be offbeat, pornographic, experimental, expressive or silly. The promo comic from the cigarette company that essentially bragged about the deadliness of their product- okay, that was weird. You'll find eccentricities in here. Just not as many as the book wants you to think.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's pretty much all there in the title - this is a interesting little book collecting some of the world's oddest comic books, running the gamut from Italian porno spider-woman knockoffs to the Archie-styled Hansi ("The girl who loved the swastika"). Each comic includes a full-page cover, a sample frame and a short description. My only real complaint is that I'd like to see more of some of these; If you want to see more "Trucker Fags in Denial" or "Godzilla vs Barkley", who knows how easy those are to track down. (Also, it would be nice if the book was a little bigger, but I guess then it would be too large to read in the bathroom.) My personal favorite is Genus, specifically the "Special Extra Large Lesbian Unicorn Issue" featured here (the author dryly notes that the extra large "refers to the size of the issue, not the lesbian unicorns").

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's insane that the comic books featured here actually existed like Super Shamou about a Inuit superhero who rescues glue-sniffing teenagers from their evil ways and The Barn of Fear featuring super-strong chickens capable of decapitating an evil farmer with an axe. Then there are the extremely surreal titles like Tales of the Leather Nun, Amputee Love, Trucker Fags in Denial, and Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika. Holy shit indeed!

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is more of a curiosity than anything else. What the authors constitute as "weird" seems mostly to rely on product placement, pornographic versions of recognizable characters, odd foreign stuff, and things that probably made a lot more sense when they first appeared than they do now. Its best for a quick flip-through to see what's there, and that's about it...though I think my parents had that Popeye Civil Careers comic in the house for some reason.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hilarious. Like laugh so hard you are trying not to pee hilarious. There is some weird weird shit out there, from bizarre sex comics (Amputee Love and Trucker Fags) to religious propaganda (there is one about a church that tries to save people by buying a blimp and flying it around) to straight-up racism. You will be boggled, confused, and highly entertained.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these I've seen before in various places on teh intrawebs, but it is handy to have them in one handy reference.

A lot of the write-ups and descriptions don't make much sense and there's only a little history or background associated with the comics covered.

[Sean Kottke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating overview of some very strange comics. The text could have used a little bit more contextual information (and sourcing) on some of the featured titles and less detailed plot summary - as well as a good proofreading - but it's still a fun little read.

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are certainly some crazy comics out there, but instead of finding the fun or more interesting of these, this book focuses on mostly disturbing and unpleasant comics. It's not very well written and it's rather off putting.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

would have been five stars if not for the title. sad that i own about half the comics mentioned.

[Vittorio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each page has a short description of the comic while the opposite page has a blown up picture. Somewhat informative but you would be better served by checking out anything edited by Craig Yoe.

[Ada · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got a few smiles but it's really too short to do in depth analysis of the comics they showed. Still a few comics did make me go "Holy Sh*t!"