Perhaps this world that Josman envisions and brings to life in such vivid, smiling, candy-colored cartoon magic doesn’t really exist because we’re all still so fragile from being told from birth that there are parts of our brains, bodies, and our very existence that are not acceptable not to family, not to society, and sometimes not even to ourselves. There is a lightheartedness that comes through because the characters accept each other fully, without a weird Chinese wall surrounding sex and the body parts related to sex. Josman stories don’t end with “ and that’s why I can’t have any regular relationships to thiiiis day.” They end with love and a connection that allows the characters to see each other more clearly than when they started. The reason I think Josman’s stories and comics ( Private Lessons is no exception) are worth keeping alive after so many years is because they illustrate a world where sexual interaction isn’t destructive or damaging to the ego or psyches of those involved. I don’t think abusive relationships or genuine psychological damage need to have a place in pornography. That’s scary and off-putting to me and definitely doesn’t make me want to do anything with my penis. I’m not showcasing raunchy, rapey tales of abuse and manipulation between family members. But – at least in the way that we talk about it here – incest isn’t really the point of this. I worry sometimes that I’m going to start getting letters from scary parents’ councils or the RNC demanding that I stop promoting incest.
Watching your dad shower? Regular in Josman’s world Nobody gets forced or coerced, and everything that happens is joyful and exciting. Josman’s approach to storytelling is dear to my heart because of the way (and we’ve discussed this before, especially in the Dad’s Toys post) he manages to keep the emotional stakes of taboo sexual encounters relatively low. Josman’s “Private Lessons” is typical fare for the artist, and a good addition to this collection. There was this one, about a young boy who meets a Blackey Madison stand-in while trolling the park this one about a little blonde kid who gets what he didn’t even know he was looking for from a construction foreman and then Dad’s Toys which features some of the most natural and thoughtful father/son ‘bate education ever drawn into existence. Especially when we’ve only really showcased a small handful of his beautiful and celebratory comics. I am genuinely floored by the amount of traffic that comes into this blog looking for Handjobs Magazine material and for Josman gay cartoons and comics in particular. My kind of private lessons: one-on-one penis tutoring at your hunky high school teacher’s house.