"Our Love Is Real" an Entertaining, Absurd Read

Comic book writer Sam Humphries pulled off something of a miracle. In today's stagnant publishing climate, he self- published Our Love is Real, an independent comic book with artist Steven Sanders, releasing it online and in only three comic book shops in the nation, while somehow managing to sell out a several thousand copy print run in exactly nine hours. And, oh yeah, the book is a light-hearted look at bestiality.

The cover of Our Love is Real is the first sign that the reader is in for something disconcerting. Two people are standing on opposite sides of the page, seemingly upset at each other. One looks like a thin, blonde hippie with long hair and a flow- ing robe and the other is a square-jawed, tough-guy type who is wearing what appears to be riot gear and carrying a cud- gel. In the middle of the two is one of the creepiest images I have ever seen: a man hugging a dog from behind, much too closely, with what must be the most blissfully idiotic smile on his face.

The tough guy is Officer Jok, a riot cop in a futuristic city who, shall we say, highly values the company of his French Poodle, Chyna. The other person on the cover is Brin, a self- described "mineralsexual." In this imaginary world, sexuality

between humans is an anachronism and rival factions come into conflict over the best objects of affection: animal, vegetable or mineral.

When we first meet Jok, he proclaims his dog to be a warm-blooded animal with feelings and how, as the title says, his love is real. Brin, a witness to the riot, tries to convince Jok that physical sex of any sort is disgusting and that true love is found by "merging auras" with crystals using a form of meditation. The two are drawn to one another and, in the course of time, find themselves confronting feelings for each other society no longer accepts.

Sanders' art perfectly complements the story. It is realistic enough to allow the reader to accept this world but exaggerated in a way that emphasizes character and physicality, re- minding me of some of the great European comic artists like Enki Bilal, Moebius and Baranko.

Our Love Is Real is what I call social science fiction. Whereas traditional sci-fi introduces a new technology to a recognizable society and then confronts the changes that take place, social sci-fi examines how our interactions are affected when social norms shift in radical ways (think Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 or Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed).

When I first heard of Our Love Is Real, I was afraid it was an intolerant look at what conservative preachers and politicians have been saying for years about how society's acceptance of homosexuality will lead to an acceptance of bestiality, incest and the like.

Humphries' book, however, never lowers itself to that level.

Instead, it is a critique of a culture that seems to value sex more as a passive, individual act than as a shared experience between two human beings.

Films and music constantly reinforce ideas of casual hook-ups and friends with benefits, offering instant gratification without the frightening responsibility of actual intimacy. The accessibility of internet pornography means that people need not even leave the bedroom to witness sloppy, mechanical sex.

Humphries and Sanders confront us with the admittedly extreme extent of what that type of thinking breeds: that if we are really more willing to open our legs to one another than our hearts, we remove what is wonderful and human about love—and we might as well start taking a closer look at the houseplants.

image courtesy of moviecarpet.com