Bondage: More than Fifty Shades of Gray

Perhaps the most familiar written work featuring bondage is E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Gray. But bondage as an erotic exercise has existed since before recorded history, and in the case of comic books was without doubt a factor which contributed to the publication of Fred Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent in 1953, the infamous Senate Subcommitte on Juvenile Delinquency hearings in 1954. and the formation of the Comics Code Authority as 1954 came to a close, a direct result of the general cultural assault on the comic industry.

Bondage, as an artistic cover device to sell comics, originated early in the Golden Age of Comics. The Golden Age of Comics begins in 1938 with the publication of Action Comics #1, featuring the world’s first superhero – DC Comics’ Superman – and ends in 1956 with the publication of the debut of a second generation of successful superheroes in the 1950s – beginning with DC Comics’ new Flash in Showcase #4. Other sensationalistic cover devices to advance the sale of comic books – such as “headlights” and horror/gore – were likewise challenged by Wertham and the Senate Subcommittee and addressed by the Comics Code Authority. The bondage cover trend continued until the early Silver Age, when it was condemned by the Comics Code Authority, and their number dwindled to the occasional issue.

Bondage covers rebounded, however, as the power of the Comics Code Authority waned — particularly during the comic book “boom” of the 1990s (as seen below) in such titles as DC’s Wonder Woman and Innovation’s Lost in Space and in the work of such artists as Brian Bolland and Joe Jusko.

Bondage covers are generally considered to illustrate the physical restraint of female characters by chains, ropes, shackles and other rope-like means, such as vines, roots, tentacles, snakes, etc., limited only to the artist’s imagination. The bound character may be gagged to enhance the sense of helplessness in the scene but not as a defining requirement. Bondage covers which feature male characters are far less common and, since the target audience is predominantly male, are not generally considered to exploit the female gender. The provocative appeal of bondage covers fueled their ongoing popularity and proliferation throughout the industry.

Perhaps the first depiction of a bound female on the cover of a comic book occurs in Jungle Comics #4 in April 1940. Bondage covers also grace Jungle Comics #6 (June 1940) and Jungle Comics #7 (July 1940). (Some may consider Jungle Comics #5 as a bondage cover, but the heroine is only restrained by a gorilla.) Jungle Comics, in its 163-issue run from 1940-1954, features the title’s fur-bikini clad heroine bound and helpless on no fewer than 50 covers.

Bondage first appears in the superhero genre in Action Comics #29 in October 1940, featuring the bound and gagged Lois Lane in her first-ever cover appearance.

Women, however, are not exclusive to being bound. Men — even powerful characters such as Batman, Punisher, Spiderman and Superman — may likewise be rendered bound and powerless, their spirits nearly broken, on modern comic book covers, as seen below.

Sources: Comic Vine (Bondage Covers); Key Collector Comics (Bondage Covers)