Work Text:
On the different types of fanfics
by JR
Ok, a bit on the subject of erotic superhero fanfiction.
After reading lots of the available fanfiction on the web devoted to the areas of superhero comics, it is easy to see that it mostly falls into 3 basic categories:
1. Erotic fanfics which develop the normal romantic relationships (be they actual or implied) between comic characters into logical explicitness, showing the physical acts that comics do not show because of editorials restriction to general audiences. Typical are stories that attempt to resolve the unconsummated love affair between the X-Men's Rogue and Gambit, that explore the triangle between Wolverine, Jean Grey and Cyclops, the extramarital temptation provided for Cyclops by Psylocke, the further extrapolations of the relationships between Wolverine and his frequent female (and often underage) sidekicks, and assorted gay relationships between members of the X-Men and DC's Teen Titans. All of those extrapolations work easily since the fanfic writer is interested in advancing the relationships and exploring the sexuality in ways that the editorial ordained "maintain the teasing status quo at all costs" will rarely ever dare. The sex, be it straight, gay or lesbian is characterized by undeniable eagerness by the participants. The writer unleashes the typical inhibitions in the comic world and allows the characters to behave as normal people, fueled by love and desire. Several members of this very list like Danell and Kerythwin produce excellent examples of this type of fanfic.
2. The other type of fanfic commonly available on the web, is hardcore porn (note the semantic distinction I assign to "porn" versus "erotica") dealing mostly with bondage and nonconsensual sex. In these the characters (mostly heroines by norm) are generally portrayed as haughty, foolishly arrogant characters that are captured and forced into S&M experiences where they are humiliated and dominated sexually by mostly normal "common" men, being used and abused by these captors and/or their impersonal tools/devices. Desire is generally not an issue here, but control is. The captor is not interested in "making love" to the heroines, but in "showing her proper place". These then are not real characters, but merely symbolic roles in wish-fulfillment control fantasies which evidence more than a bit of resentment against women by portraying them as "castrating bitches who need to be taken down from their frigidness".
Hopefully, such role-playing is therapeutic for the writer and the readers, since this type of story is more about the writer/reader himself than about the characters employed.
As such, some of these type of stories, despite the basic unpleasant to most of the subject matter, do achieve quite effective erotic values at times, and their very existence is an interesting comment on the "neutering" of comic book characters in mainstream comics and the resulting
frustration produced in the readers. PJ Jurado and "Mr.X" are prominent practitioners of this genre, with different values and degrees of success.
3. The other type of story is the one where elements of the "romance" and "humiliation" types are combined liberally in order to create stories more plot-oriented or focusing on varied sexual activity in adventurous or humorous romps, akin to a superheroic JamesBondish X-rated story. This generally is a very recursive-minded approach, focusing on the sexual deconstruction of standard superhero clichés. Excellent examples of this are Gangnet's Silver Age series and Dimitri's JLAvsAvengers stories.
On further posts I will try to discuss each of the previous types, and the list's comments if any.
Take care,
JR