Wow. Just... wow.

My boy sent me a link to a preview of this fascinating comic called "Our Love is Real", described by Comics Alliance as touring "post-human sexuality in a dystopian future". Writer Sam Humphries and illustrator Steven Sanders have a sneak preview of the comic for you to check out, and it's GORGEOUS! It came out over the summer but has been snapped up quickly every time. I can see why!

It's not pornographic, but it is perverse, as it's set in a time where people are fighting for and asserting their right to have sex with plants, robots, animals, and crystals. Our current taboos have been pushed aside, and human-to-human sex is seen as ridiculous and laughable in this dystopia. Gender still seems to have some meaning, but not nearly the hold it has on us now. It's an interesting thought-experiment, explorative without being moralistic or political. I really enjoyed it!

The website introduces this comic with:

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE AIDS VACCINE... Plantsexuals riot in the streets for equal rights. Humans fall in love with dogs. And crystals are more than just jewelry. A chance encounter on the job changes a riot cop's life forever as he finds himself caught in a bizarre love triangle that blurs romance, crime, and lust beyond recognition.

One review over at Bleeding Cool described it as feeling "in many ways like early Transmetropolitan, a younger Warren Ellis married with the outrageous instincts of Garth Ennis on Preacher, all covered by a Frank Quitely-style approach to artwork."

Curious? Well, you're in luck-after the third printing, Our Love Is Real got picked up for wide release by Image Comics and is now available in all comic book stores. Definitely worth a read, and the artwork is beautiful. It kept me guessing, and I had a bit of a squee about the ending. I was surprised in a way at how these taboos being broken were shown without any judgment behind them, just acceptance that this is how the world works in this 'verse. Nifty.

I was lucky enough to get to ask the author a few questions:

-What made you want to do a comic on this subject? What inspired you?

A website called dolphinsex.org, long since removed from the internet, where a guy chronicled his love affair with a dolphin. It was mind blowing because he insisted it was a mutual, consensual romantic relationship.

-Was it a conscious decision to not make this sexually-themed comic pornographic? Why?

I didn't really make it a conscious decision about it. I guess with everything else going on in the book, the potential pornographic elements weren't nearly as interesting to me. The core issues of love, lust, and identity were what I wanted to get into. That said, should there ever be OUR LOVE IS REAL, PART 2, I make no promises about pornographic elements.

-Far from being a peaceful place, it seems that you foresee the minimizing of taboos to lead to more judgment and violence. Do you feel we as a species will ever be able to live and let live?

I believe it was Marshal McLuhan who said that violence is a search for identity. I think whenever there is chaos in our perception of identity, as individuals, as a culture, as a species, there will always be upheaval -- and sometimes, unfortunately, that takes the form of violence.

-Is there a political message to be taken from this piece?

I would have to impose my own political feelings on readers of the book. That said, I think it's much less about matters of politics and much more about matters of the heart.

-A few people seem to have gotten the impression that this was a conservative propaganda, following the idea that if homosexuality became acceptable then people would start being zoophiles, etc. What do you have to say to them?

Again, I'd hate to impose authorial intent. That said, once you read it I think it's pretty clear that the book is about love and acceptance, and not about using love to drive wedges between each other. 

-Finally- what would be your perverse taboo in this brave new world?

I have too many houseplants not to say vegisexual.

Thanks to Sam Humphries for letting me chat him up and sending me a PDF to enjoy!