Ellen Forney

Between Strangers: Ellen Forney’s Lustlab Personals

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« Your mysterious mountains I wish to see closer. May I land my kinky machine? » — Jimi Hendrix

I’ve been musing a bit on the old Trojan Horse / Pill in the Hamburger scheme.

Not long ago, I chanced upon this passage from an interview with the lovely Ramona Fradon, wherein she touches upon her mid-70s work for Joe Orlando‘s ‘mystery’ comics at DC.

« Those were all Joe’s productions, and there was nothing he liked better than to get around the Comics Code. The fact that my drawing was comic helped him get away with more than he could with other artists. He was always pushing the envelope. »

To understand what she means, I refer you to this particular story, which I showcased last fall.

Which brings us to Ellen Forney, who, for a span of four glorious years, illustrated choice excerpts from Seattle alternative paper The Stranger’s personals… oh, never mind. I’ll let Dan Savage and Corianton Hale recount the tale:

« So when we decided to start running a weekly illustrated personal ad — ‘Lustlab Ad of the Week’ — we knew right away what we didn’t want. We didn’t want to sensationalize what was already pretty sensational, thanks. And we didn’t want to hyper-sexualize what was already plenty sexual. We wanted an artist who could take short, pithy personal ads — short, pithy, filthy personal ads — and infuse them with the kind of playfulness that true kinksters bring to their sex lives. We wanted someone that could make someone into whips and chains and hoods look like someone you could take home to meet your parents.

We wanted Ellen Forney. »

Just like Ramona Fradon, Ms. Forney wields a friendly, extremely engaging and accessible style (as you’ll witness). Here, then, is a modest sampling from the four-year frolic of the ‘Lustlab Ad of the Week’, circa 2004-2007. Feel free to browse.

If catfights are your thing, you’re in luck: check out our popular Let’s All Go Down to the Catfights! and its recent sequel, Let’s All Go Down to the Catfights — Again!

The feature’s highlights have been collected, in fine fashion, in a snazzy little hardcover entitled ‘Lust‘. (Feb. 2008, Fantagraphics). While it’s out of print by now, affordable copies appear to still be available. If it floats your boat at all, don’t hesitate!

-RG