Our Love is Real

Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Steven Sanders

If you read about comics on the Internet (and obviously, you do), then you've heard about this book this week.  It was limited to a press run of 300, available at only a handful of comics stores, including the one I shop at.  Everyone else who wants to read it has to get it digitally.

The question though, is is the comic any good, or is it only receiving so much attention due to its controversial nature?  I can assure you, it is in fact a very good comic.

Our Love is Real is set in a future where people seem to have stopped having sex with one another.  Instead, people have segmented into groups that seem to associate with one another based on their preference for sexual partner.  Vegisexuals, who grow specific types of modified plants for sexual purposes, are rioting, for reasons that are not clear.  Jok, a riot police officer, is a zoosexual, with a nice little dog at home who enjoys pleasuring him.  During a riot, he meets Brin, a mineralsexual, who has New Age sex with a large crystal she calls Zori.  It's worth pointing out that crystal sex is all done with auras; there is no actual penetration involved.

Jok feels a strange attraction to Brin, and over the course of this quick little read, they begin to explore their feelings for one another, which are not acceptable in this type of society any more.  The story is entertaining and compelling (I felt some sympathy for Jok, especially when his fellow officers started taking the piss out of him), but I wish there was some further explanation as to how society got to this place.  The book opens with the words "Five years after the AIDS vaccine...", but I would think that would lead to more human on human sex, not less.

Still, this is a funny and interesting comic.  It wisely avoids exploring the more prurient aspects of its subject matter, preferring to keep the focus on Brin and Jok.  Sanders's art is very nice in this black and white book, and much less exaggerated than his work on SWORD for Marvel.  I recommend this book, even though I know most people will have a devil of a time getting their hands on it.