Monday, March 31, 2008

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth

I know we are on the next book but I have been thinking about Jimmy Corrigan and all of the subtle references of various sexual Acts. We spent a little time on the Peaches and the various times their appear throughout the book and how it signifies sexual acts, or the "growing" telescope but what about all the other sexual acts scattered throughout the book.

It seems almost at random where there are random acts of sodomy and human sexuality scattered throughout the book. What does everybody think about this? Do you think this is just a reference to how Jimmy is a social and sexual outcast? His inability to form meaningful relationships with the opposite sex at his old age? Or is the author just a pervert? Or is the author trying to say something completely different?

4 comments:

erika mcclintock said...

I just wanted to note that 36 years old is not THAT old...

Dan said...

if you never had a meaningful relationship with the opposite sex, it is *THAT* old :)

i hope i did not offend anybody, but that is clearly not the norm in today's society.

Courtney said...

The author is just a pervert.... just kidding. But I personally thought it had to do with him being an outcast. I wouldn't say he was particularly good with the ladies, which may have led to him having daydreams because they would never happen in his real life. That's just what I thought. Could be a completely different reason tough.

Adam Johns said...

I agree with Courtney, as a starting point. But it's also worth contextualizing the book within the underground comics scene (Robert Crumb, etc.). Reading _Jimmy Corrigan_ in isolation it may seem like a comic with substantial sexual content; reading it in context with Robert Crumb and Dan Clowes, though, it seems positively restrained.

Also, 36 is the new 18.