Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Afrodisiac by Jim Rugg Afrodisiac by Jim Rugg. January 7, 2010 at 3:38 pm By: Dustin Harbin. Shazam! Coming up on February 7 , just one short month away, Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find will be hosting Afrodisiac ‘s Jim Rugg ! Jim is also the co-writer of the book, along with Brian Maruca ; the two first created Afrodisiac in the pages of their Street Angel series. Jim has also been the artist on several graphic novels with other collaborators, including The Plain Janes and Janes In Love with writer Cecil Castellucci . But enough about all that. AFRODISIAC . This is a pretty hotly anticipated book–Jim has turned into a sort of cartoonist’s cartoonist over the last few years, and he’s definitely showing off in Afrodisiac, switching up styles like Kool & The Gang switches up the rhythm. That was a 70’s funk reference, dig it? The book is chock full of them, and much better ones too– Afrodisiac is (if I have this right) a kind of amalgamation of 70’s-era comic books, blaxploitation films, and sexy times. All filtered through the minds of a couple of dudes from Pennsylvania who grew up on all that stuff. Anyway. Jim will be appearing in our store Sunday, February 7, from 3-6pm , for a signing and a discussion of the book. He’ll be joined by AdHouse Books publisher Chris Pitzer , there mainly for security in case any of you ladies try to swarm Jim or anything. Our Heroes Discussion Group leader Andy Mansell will also be on hand–those of you who have attended any of the Discussion Groups know Andy will close-read a book like no one else, so expect some high quality questions–no extra charge! And there’ll be plenty for Andy to talk about– Afrodisiac is filled with more double entendres than.. well, than a 70’s blaxploitation movie. See for yourself in this trailer for the book–not for the youngsters! Well, it’s not that bad, but still. You parents who are still pretending you can control what your kids see on the Internet, take heed my warning: Afrodisiac by Jim Rugg. Well, here's a work that sets the table for multi-course feast that will appeal to folks of different stripes for different reasons. First and foremost, it is the most ample display to date of the pop culture prowess of the Pittsburgh-based artist/writer team of Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, who here have given a virtuoso performance. Afrodisiac is an homage to the last gasp of traditional comic book values; specifically, those that were embodied by the comic books of, roughly, 1972 - 1985. These were the final years of the newsstand comic book market – its decade of irrevocable decline. Beginning in 1986 it was permanently eclipsed by the direct market, a turn of events which not only forever altered the perception and reception of comic books, but simultaneously led to a a substantial and equally permanent change in their values and production. The work contained in this compact, full color, hardcover volume demonstrates a deep intuitive understanding of the the tropes and formulas of traditional newsstand comic books, as well as, and perhaps most significantly, the role played by the wide variety of production and reproduction processes and techniques through which the raw language of comics passes en route to becoming the actual physical end product comic book that transmits its content through the readers' sensory apparatus, and thereby promulgates its meaning to the end consumer: human consciousness. Conscious manipulation of the denotative capacities of production processes has a history that goes back at least thirty years, to Art Spiegelman's work in Breakdowns, and it continues to be employed successfully in works such as Paul Hornschemeier's The Three Paradoxes. Afrodisiac is, however, unique in that, here, this conscious manipulation is the driving force behind the entire project, and is encoded in the texts as well as the images, with the character of The Afrodisiac acting as a cypher – one that is simultaneously a celebration and an elegy – for the uncritical creation of unabashed power fantasies that was no longer possible in the wake of The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. Jim Rugg is a one-man production house and he has put the pedal to the metal in his reclamation of a panoply of production processes in this pandemonium procuring panegyric to the blaxploitation genre (that was itself an embodiment of the last gasp of the classical Hollywood values that vanished in the wake of the blockbuster onslaught of Spielberg, Lucas & Co.). It is here, in this nostalgic conflation of blaxploitation's own uncritical creation of unabashed power fantasies with those of comic book superheroes, by, let it be said, a couple of middle-class white guys, that another layer of signification transpires. Certainly, an exploration of the text's Playing in the Dark is warranted, and an old Lou Reed song may come to the mind of readers of a certain age; and, the fact that the power fantasy on display in these pages is of a distinctly sexual nature and is employed in the domination and exploitation of women cannot be ignored. Yet, all is rendered with a clear sense of humor, and where level, intellectually engaged heads prevail, there are sure to be some interesting and potentially valuable correlations made (cultural anthropologists, please take note). In other words, Afrodisiac is one of the densest texts one is likely to come across; and while many will doubtless find it a source of uncritical enjoyment, those who do so will be doing themselves a disservice and missing the work's essential character. To get a head start processing this sucka', download this PDF preview. Afrodisiac by Jim Rugg. Inspired by the blaxploitation films of the 1970s and classic superhero comics, the Afrodisiac collects art and comics starring the original super badass and featuring fast cars, sexy women, scary monsters, self-righteous superheroes, corrupt cops, aliens, Dracula, Richard Nixon. Excerpts have appeared in the Society of Illustrators Annual 2007 (Book), 2008 (Sequential), and 2009 (Book). In 2010, Afrodisiac was recognized by the AIGA 50/50 competition as an example of "outstanding book design." "Afrodisiac's all-over-the-place exploits provide a frantic cornucopia overflowing with legions of foxy white ladies driven to states of unabashed lubricity by our hero's melanin-rich manliness; space aliens and flying saucers; dinosaurs; funny animals; Richard Nixon; kung fu; Hercules; giant monsters; Dracula; and damn near everything else that made '70s schlock entertainment among the most fun stuff ever concocted by the mind of man." — Publishers Weekly. "Who's the badass brother guarding the ghetto and putting the "graphic" back in the graphic novel? You're damn right - it's the Afrodisiac. " — Maxim. "Afrodisiac is a fun, funny homage, capturing the feel of the seventies in all its over the top glory." — Penthouse. "Afrodisiac is an extremely handsome book that fosters 10,000 giggles." — the Comics Reporter. DETAILS: Created by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca Published by Adhouse Books 96 - 4C pages 6 " x 9 " HC $14.95 US funds ISBN 978-1- 935233-06-0 Diamond Order Code: OCT09 0658. Afrodisiac by Jim Rugg. In the Current Previews. Cover Not Final: Crime Funnies by Max Huffman. Published by AdHouse Books. In this collection of intertwined stories, paranoid conspiracy and soft-boiled noir bubbles under every aspect of daily life� and at the center of it all is Career Criminal, the tuxedo'd conduit between our square world and its cosmic underbelly. details: 64 4C pages 5" x 6.5" SC $9.95 US funds ISBN 978-1-935233-65-7 Shipping June 2021 Diamond Order Code: APR21 1334. Sign up for our free newsletter! AdHouse Books LLC | 3905 Brook Road | Richmond, VA 23227 | ©2008 AdHouse Books. All rights reserved. Jim Rugg on 'Afrodisiac' (Video) Did you ever read that comic from way back, Afrodisiac ? You know, that 70's artifact about a kung fu fighting pimp whose adventure pit him against hood villains, Richard Nixon, and even sexy, sexy Death? No? Well, if it's not ringing a bell for you classic comic fans, it's because Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca only created him recently, collecting his adventures in a hardcover of the same title released through Adhouse Books last year. In a trend that seems to be occurring more often lately (think The Tooth through Oni or Stange Adventures from Vertigo), creators are packaging works as faux lost-artifacts from an earlier comics age. In the case of Afrodisiac, the book's creators--writer Maruca and writer/artist Rugg-- captured a heightened version of blaxsploitation stories from that era. During the 70's themselves, there was no real heroic pimp analog a la Superfly , but Afrodisiac's creators would seem to want to create one after the fact with all the trappings of superhero fiction from that age. "He's basically the ultimate ladies' man and he's the hero from the streets," explains Rugg. "Anything with streets in it, he's well-equipped to handle." Rugg and Maruca's stories pit the hero against all manner of threats including monsters, gangsters, cops, and Dracula in an over-the-top parody of comics from the era through a pastiche of "street" fiction from the time. Rugg and Maruca actually charted about a decade in the fictional life the of the character, necessitating the artist to juggle a variety of different styles and visual techniques appropriate to the era of the story. Rugg credits the rise of the trade paperback as the inspiration for this collected version of Afrodisiac , whose stories were originally presented in Rugg and Maruca's Street Angel . The artist attempted to avoid the digital coloring of modern comics, mimicking the look of comics from the past, while adding elements of decay to the finished product, including creases, over saturation, and fading. As a result the stories seem authentic in a way, if you can get past the fact that the hero is a bare-chested pimp winning over a couple of lesbian assassins with his sheer manliness. It's a collection imitating the feel of digging through the back issue bins as a conscious rejection of digital comics. There's the risk of creating a title like Afrodisiac when it's two white creators seemingly co-opting black fiction for an extended joke, but thankfully Rugg and Maruca nail it with their work which is more often than not very funny and expertly produced. As a work of art it's successful because it takes the street hero from the 70's--typically ultra-competent, smart, dangerous, and sexy--and dials it up a few notches, taking it to what could have been its natural conclusion if Marvel or DC inserted a character like Afro into their stories.* SoI'd say it works and it's worth checking out if you want to see a piece of art that'll make you laugh. *Arguably, that was the function of Luke Cage during the Hero For Hire days, but there was always that layer of sanitation from the source material--Cage was always going to be more Jim Kelly than Max Julien. Discuss this story in our Comics forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!