Sexy Losers

Infobox comic strip
title= Sexy Losers


caption= One panel from "Sexy Losers" #52, featuring some of the main cast of the comic."
author= Clay
url= http://www.sexylosers.com/
rss=
atom=
status= Concluded? ("incomplete"cite web | title = GOOD NIGHT | work = Author announces Sexy Losers' conclusion | publisher = Livejournal | date = 2006-03-28 | url = http://hardartist.livejournal.com/85002.html | accessdate = 2007-04-22] )
syndicate=
publisher=
first= April 1999
last=
genre= Ribaldry
rating=
preceded by=
followed by=

"Sexy Losers" was an adult webcomic by Clay, a Canadian living in Japan, who from 2001 to 2004 was known under the pseudonym "Hard." The strip has a significant following; its web hosting company's promotional material indicated that it received one million unique visitors in August 2003. [cite web | title=Bald Rocket Productions advertising info on "Sexy Losers" | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060521082122/http://baldrocket.com/ads/sexylosers.shtml | accessdate=2006-05-21] Before being hosted on its own from September 2003 and on, it was the most popular webcomic on Keenspace, getting over 10% of all page views. [cite web | title=Keenspace Top Pages | url=http://web.archive.org/web/*/guide.keenspace.com/ | accessdate=2007-01-24]

The strip, a satire of human sexual foibles, draws from themes generally alien to light comic fare, namely sex, fetishism, and sexual relationships. Though the author describes the comic as ribaldry as opposed to pornography, the strip does contain graphic depictions of sex acts, as well as full nudity of both male and female characters. A number of its jokes are drawn from recurring elements of pornographic or animated pornographic (hentai) films. One character, for instance, is a bukkake film actress. The strips stayed true to its bawdy genre, and often attempted humour through the quirks of human sexuality intensified with shock value and depiction of taboos. [cite web
last = Black
first = James Lawrence
title = Purity is the Great Perversity
publisher = Modern Humor Authority
date = 2004-08-24
url = http://www.modernhumorauthority.com/2004/08/24/purity-is-the-great-perversity/
accessdate = 2007-01-25 ] [cite web
last = Meginnis
first = Michael
title = Wide Open Beavers Inside, and Other National Secrets that Everybody Knows
publisher = The Webcomics Examiner
date = 2004-06-14
url = http://webcomicsreview.com/?p=41
accessdate = 2007-01-25 ] Clay cites the comic "Heartbroken Angels" by Kikuni Masahito as his largest inspiration in making the comic. [cite web | title="Heartbroken Angels" as inspiration | url=http://www.sexylosers.com/001.html | accessdate=2006-03-31]

History

The strip first appeared in April 1999 under the name "The Thin H Line" (see ecchi) as part of the monthly drawing contest " [http://www.tangcomic.com/mom/mom.html Monthly Online Manga] " and then became a separate ongoing comic. [cite web | title= First appearance as the "Thin Hard Line" in "Monthly Online Manga" | url=http://www.tangcomic.com/mom/4_99/index.html | accessdate=2006-03-31] A number of comics during the first half year were "jam strips" in which artist friends would contribute a panel to a pre-written and laid-out comic, a practice that became less frequent when Clay moved to Japan in July 1999. In 2001 the strip was renamed "Sexy Losers" due to events in Clay's personal life and his wish to give the comic a less otaku-sounding name. As well as copyright and naming issues over a deal he had with a paid adult site that was also hosting his comic(and never changed the name)Fact|date=March 2008 It was at this time he began to use the pseudonym "Hard" for greater web anonymity, which lasted until 2004 when he returned to his real name.

Although not syndicated, "Sexy Losers" is currently being printed regularly in Icarus Publishing's flagship anthology magazine, "A-G". [ [https://www.icaruscomics.com/catalog/ Icarus Publishing Webstore] ] One of the jokes reached a wide audience when Maxim published an unauthorized and uncredited transcribed version of #230 in its December 2004 magazine. The scene had been described using the same setting and characters, and the punchline copied word for word. [cite news
last = Staff Writer
title = Leap of Faith
work = Maxim
pages = 36
date=December 2004]

On March 28 2006, after 244 strips, Clay announced the retirement of "Sexy Losers" saying "it appears unlikely that I'll ever have time to do a new strip." He has since posted a previously unfinished comic, on 4 June 2007, a parody of The Sopranos. As of July 2007 a new "Mike's Left Hand" strip has been posted, along with a notice:

However, despite this declaration, on December 21 2007 a new strip appeared followed by three others on January 7 2008, February 23, 2008, and March 15, 2008. Because of this, the strip can still be considered ongoing.

tory threads

There are several recurring story threads, which almost never intersect: "The Seduction of Madame X" (on BDSM), "Shiunji and the Suicide Girl" (on necrophilia), "Mike's Left Hand" (on chronic masturbation) and "Kenta's Horny Mom" (on incest and lesbianism) being the most prominent. Some of these threads involve character and plot development, others are variations on a theme (e.g., how Tauro fails in his attempts to seduce Madame X).

Recurring characters

Legacy

The strip has been cited as a major influence among other webcomics, especially with other mature-themed titles. For example, other comics have borrowed some of the themes and the 4 Koma format the strip is presented in.

A specific "Sexy Losers" strip, which featured a play on Tentacle rape, [ [http://sexylosers.com/016.html sexylosers.com] ] was the inspiration behind the webcomic "Ghastly's Ghastly Comic", which originally revolved almost entirely around tentacle monsters. [ cite web | title=First strip of "Ghastly's Ghastly Comic", with mention of being inspired by "Sexy Losers" | url=http://www.ghastlycomic.com/d/20010510.html | accessdate=2007-01-24 ]

The most significant contribution the comic made to popular culture has been the popularization of the onomatopoeia "fap" for the sound of male masturbation. While Clay did not invent it (the source is VIZ Media's translation of "Heartbroken Angels"), his use of "fap" has led it to become an almost universal term online. The term was first used in his third comic produced in April 28 1999 and appears to be the first appearance of the term on the Internet. [cite web | title="Sexy Losers" #3, first use of "fap" | url=http://sexylosers.com/003.html | accessdate=2006-03-31] In a similar vein, Clay used the onomatopoeia "schlick" for the sound of female masturbation.

TLG Media's A New Bunny and Another New Bunny both reference the comic strip.

The strip is the only web comic to score 6 out of 5 toilets on the (no longer maintained) List Of Potentially Offensive Webcomics "offsensometer". [ [http://lopow.keenspot.com/hof.html List of Potentially Offensive Webcomics Hall of Fame] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.sexylosers.com/ Sexy Losers]