Tijuana Bibles

It’s time for sex again!  Or rather, to talk about sex, though not sex itself. 

I recall an episode of “L.A. Law”, in which one of the more lighthearted “let’s get ratings” segments involved an estate case with adult children who came across their late father’s “porn collection”.  “Erotica” is probably a more accurate word: these was not Hustler magazines but vintage erotica.  In fact, they had to bring in an “expert” who was extremely impressed with the quality of the materials the father had collected over the years, and assessed a substantial market value well above what we might expect for just a box of Playboys.  While I can’t recall if Tijuana bibles were mentioned, I do recall the clients were shocked and horrified – prudishly so – and adamant that the mother not find out.  Then at the end of the episode, the mother casually asked, “oh, by the way, did you ever find his porn collection?”

Tijuana Bibles were neither Mexican nor Bibles.  They were illicit/illegal comics produced between the 1920s and 1960s, at their peak in the 20s and 30s.  They ruthlessly parodied contemporary cartoon characters or flesh and blood celebrities, many of whom we no longer recognize (e.g. Mutt & Jeff, Katzenjammer Kids, Bringing Up Baby), but others – Blondie, Disney, Lil’ Orphan Annie, Archie, Popeye, Flash Gordon, etc. – are still on our radar today, though perhaps not as popular now as they were back then.  As they obviously violate copyrights and obscenity laws, many were produced offshore (thus “Tijuana”) and smuggled into the US.

They are extremely sexually explicit – and this was decades before Playboy (1950s) or hard core porn films (early 1970s).  Some are racist or anti-semitic, others are misogynistic:  woman are extremely horny, promiscuous, and eagerly drop their panties to total strangers for spending money.  Lots of them have a punch line, so to speak; one common theme is the woman who sells herself to a host of strange and horny men, only to realize after the fact that in each case the sex was sold on credit – her customers simply promised to double her price and pay her on their next payday.  Voyeurism, fetishism, even some bestiality and incest are all part of the fun. The target audience was most likely straight males, as lesbians are common, but gays are very rare, and the afore-mentioned misogyny which would probably not go down too well with female readers. 

The cleverness and art quality vary considerably, but most are fairly enjoyable to read.  The most interesting are the ones where a particularly talented or scrupulous (!) artist managed to mimic the original cartoon style almost exactly (e.g. a Blondie cartoon was dead on).  At the other extreme are crudely drawn characters who are still recognizable even if the art style was nowhere close.

Various websites have some scanned in, page by page (most are 8 pages, but there are some 9 and 16 page variants), but an excellent hardcover compendium is Tijuana Bibles: Art and Wit in America’s Forbidden Funnies, 1930s-1950s, by Ron Adelman.  Not only does it have a huge and impressive selection, the author’s comments are excellent at explaining some of the more obscure source material or analyzing some of the dated references.  The former was more necessary than the latter; most of the language was fairly simple to figure out even if slang terms have changed over the years.  In fact, part of the charm is observing how people at that time referred to various sexual organs or acts.  

Young people often seem to have this arrogant idea that sex is exclusively proper for people their own age: wrong for younger ones and downright disgusting for anyone their parents’ – or, shock horror, GRANDPARENTS’ – age.  I don’t think anyone wants to imagine their grandparents having sex, even if you have to figure they were having it (and conceiving our own parents) when they were our age, not 10 minutes ago.  The obvious answer to this is that if our ancestors weren’t as horny as they were, none of us would be here today.  The less obvious answer, but shown by Tijuana bibles, is that yes, people have always been horny and enjoyed sex.  These cartoons are enticing evidence of that.  Enjoy.