Transparent

by Jimmy Johnson

1994-02-29-smooth-operator.giftodays-aj.jpg

This is the kind of cartoon that earned me a reputation. It’s all pretty funny to me. Since the Roaring 20’s, it’s been all right for comic-strip artists to depict women in a lascivious manner. From the ubiquitous “pretty-girl” strips of that era through Li’l Abner and Steve Canyon, the “pin-up” approach has been a constant. Less blatantly but no less frequently, shapely young women have strolled in a steady stream through The Heart of Juliet Jones and even Blondie wearing nothing but underwear. However, for all those years, to address s-e-x directly in anything other than theatrically raffish schtick was a huge no-no. That’s what made this kind of cartoon ground-breaking, although I don’t see it as particularly brazen, myself. In all fairness, neither do most of my readers it would appear.

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