In Memory of Michael Johnson from Bastard Ropes
Michael Johnson, also known as Action Bastard
I first heard the voice of Action Bastard (Michael Johnson) on an episode of The Ropecast, my favorite podcast dedicated to rope bondage. I had listened to dozens of great episodes hosted by Graydancer before, but this time around the guest’s unusual voice filled my head inside my earbuds. The man who called himself Action Bastard fired off quips at lightning speed, and he showed a passion for making rope and educating people that I hadn’t heard much before. He made ropes and had started his company Bastard Ropes.
I did something unusual that day. I reached out to Action Bastard and asked him if he would be interested in selling his rope through my web site for my book series How to Kill a Superhero. I gave him copies of my books, and two weeks later, after he read them, he contacted me. Not only did he say yes, but I learned he was so into superhero fetish. I felt like I had run into a long-lost brother. He came up with unusual color combinations and we even decided to call the models Super Villain Rope when I listed it in my web store.
Over time, our relationship developed. We mostly talked on the phone, but we did meet in person a few times. The last time I saw him alive, we drank tequila in a Lower-East-Side joint and talked about doing some rope demos together with me and some models in superhero gear while some twisted fucker (Bastard) tied us and walked the viewers on YouTube through an educational rope demo in Gowanus in Brooklyn. Sadly, that project never came to be, but in my imagination and in my heart, I can imagine just how much fun and creativity Action Bastard would have brought to the project.
A few weeks ago, I was trying to contact Michael, and when he didn’t reply to my calls and texts, I was puzzled. I learned through his Facebook page that he had taken his own life. I was, and am still mournful. Because that’s what I remember the most about this brilliant man. His personality overflowed with humor, wit and love. And not only was he a clever businessman, he was a generous human being. I am sorry for any personal troubles he may have experienced, and I send him all the compassion I can muster. All humans go through pain and suffering, and as I think about Mike, the Bastard, I know he made many of us happy with his love, his humor and his artistry in making rope.
Pablo Greene
Chicago
Q&A: Eye of the Cyclone, godfather of superhero and spandex fetish
Welcome to our Q&A with Eye of the Cyclone, one of the Internet’s longest-running superhero fetish sites. The Eye of the Cyclone was generating stories and images of superhero, wrestling and spandex fetish from basically the very beginning of the explosion of the world-wide web. Nowadays, the ubiquity of superhero fetish images on sites like Tumblr, Instagram and YouTube mean that it’s a lot easier for superhero fetishists to find community, but EOTC was there first, and for many kinksters, it was one of the first sites that took the fetish seriously. Today we sit down with its creator Neil Page and ask him a few questions. We’ll find out why the site has endured so long, how he selects such hot models, and his predictions about the future of this fetish and community.
Q: Neil, How did you start Eye of the Cyclone? What year was that?
A: The format of the site in its present form started around 2005. Before that, it was still called Eye of the Cyclone, but it was more of a scrapbook of images I had photographed and sourced starting in 1998.
Q: What difficulties did you run into in the early years?
A: When I first started it was difficult finding costumes readily available to use in the stories. So I got used to using base dance unitards and customising them myself, slowly creating my own stable of characters.
Q: Did you have a moment in the site’s history when it started to pick up steam and become more popular? What was the cause for that surge?
A: There was never one time I experienced that. The site slowly gained momentum, hopefully due to more superhero live action images and movies being accepted, and not as a novelty or joke factor.
Q: How do you define superhero fetish for yourself?
A: I have always had a thing for comic book superheroes from a very young age. I knew I saw something different in that other people didn’t. The sight of an anatomically correct fit man in skintight suits got me excited in ways I didn’t understand at the time. Along with my wrestling fetish, I also was inspired and stimulated by the elements of good guy vs. bad guy and a battle in hot tight gear.
Q: What’s the purpose of Eye of the Cyclone?
A: The original purpose was to bring to superheroes into a live action format. Keep in mind that when I first started in around 1998, there were not many images of this kind around, either in the media of web. When Eye of the Cyclone was a free homepage on AOL, the aim was to share my view of my superhero and wrestling fetish. I wanted to see if any other people out there “got it”. Hence the name Eye of the Cyclone (Cyclone was a name I took on as a name in the gay wrestling world). It’s wasn’t until 2005 that I decided to take it to a professional level with the members sections and making it a paid site.
Q: Your site is different than others, because you actually make comic book panels and focus on the fetish aspect of the superheroes and villains. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
A. I always thought the panel and frame-by-frame images were essential for a superhero comic book. I was intrigued on making this live action stills via photography. I have been asked why I don’t do more video, even though I do small video clips. I feel the strength of the site is its photo comic book format. I still try to keep the characters and storylines as interesting, horny and also with humour as much as I can. The essence of a good superhero showdown with the clean cut hero in danger of being defeated and corrupted by and evil and perverted villain.
Q: Are there requests for stories or fetishes that you’ve had to turn down?
A. I love getting requests or suggestions for the site. Many of those I try and include on upcoming photoshoots. I steer clear from extreme fetish requests. That does not have any place in the superhero fetish.
Q: How do you find your models?
A.I used to use a lot of people I met through the gay wrestling world. These days I hire many models from various sources online.
Q: You feature many body types, from lean and athletic to bodybuilder-like, stocky and muscle bear-ish. Can you talk about why?
A: From publishing the site online for many years, I have had many requests for all types of superheroes, from young agile spiderman types to more mature beefy hulks. I try and incorporate as many different types as possible. When I hire a model for a shoot I usually tailor make the hero to suit his build and type.
Q: You used to produce DVDs. Why did you stop? Will you do more video work in the future?
A: I produced on DVD in the past called “Divide and Conquer” the trailer is still around on my youtube channel. The reason why I didn’t follow these up with more, even though we did have a sequel planned, was down to the lack of time and resources to do so. Because the site is updated every week, I didn’t want the main focus, the site, to suffer from this. You never know -- in the future we might get to produce another video, It was great fun to do and an extreme learning curve.
Q: Do you attend events in the UK for superhero fetish? What is the scene like over there?
A: There are no Superhero Fetish events over hero in the UK. I do attend gear fetish events that sometime do have a superhero gear element to them, I always try to gear up as much as possible. The gear fetish scene is building and diversifying from the main ones of leather and rubber, which can only be good news.
Q: What’s been your most popular storyline on EOTC?
A: There have been many stories had their popularity during their published dates. But one that seems to remain a favourite was the introduction of Supersonic and his battle with the Xtractor.
Q: What predictions can you make about the future of superhero fetish as a recognized kink?
A: I can only hope and wish it grows and is more recognised from new guys on the scene along with experience fetish guys. There is definitely is more of a crossover happening with the guys who are into bondage that now recognise the superhero-in-trouble aspect, long may it grow. Let’s face it -- we all need a superhero in our lives!
You can find Eye of the Cyclone at eyeofthecyclone.com. They offer free previews and offer paid memberships. You can also find EOTC on Facebook and Twitter.
Spandex, Tights and Cosplay: Superhero-Fetish Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Ever since I began to write and publish my book series How to Kill a Superhero, many people of all walks of life have come to me with their stories. In many cases, those superhero fetish lovers thank me for taking the fetish seriously enough to create a book series, and they are grateful that community is building up, thanks to the Superhero Fetish Meetups I organize. At the same time, I get so many questions from people are curious but don’t know what it’s all about. I love answering these questions. After answering literally hundreds of emails, Tumblr messages and other social media DMs about the fetish that I thought I would put together an FAQ that can evolve organically over time to initiate people into this world of spandex, tights, boots and archetypes of strength and power exchange. I do take it seriously, even when I am being tongue in cheek. Let’s open up the doors of superhero fetish. All are welcome. -- Author Pablo Greene
The Essentials of Superhero Fetish
So what is superhero fetish?
Superhero fetish is the sexual and erotic attraction to characters and archetypes derived from superheroes in comic books. The fetish also extends to superheroes seen in TV, film, animated cartoons and even video games. People with this fetish may be aroused by the characters, their costumes, their physiques (which have classically been drawn as incredibly athletic and erotic since the early days of comics). Some superhero fetishists also enjoy the power-exchange dynamics of superheroes. In many storylines, superheroes are captured and bound by villains in their battle against crime and wrongdoers, and many people into the fetish have extended their attraction to superheroes and villains into the realm of BDSM and kink. The generalizations above are only generalizations; superhero fetish is very individual to each person, but some patterns do emerge, and those are highlighted in this FAQ.
I didn’t know that people want to dress up as superheroes in an erotic way. Why do they do it?
The reasons people want to dress up in the superhero costumes or “cosplay” are also very individual. For the average person, cosplaying is a very fun activity that they can do at Halloween, cons (like NY Comic Con), or even 5ks and marathons. But for those who have a superhero fetish, the costumes themselves provide a level of erotic stimulation that is very similar to people who fetishize high heels, cop uniforms, women’s lingerie, leathermen uniforms, or business suits. In the case of superhero fetish, the costumes that original artists in the early 20th century drew were inspired often by the tight wool costumes worn by circus strongmen and other athletes. These body hugging articles of clothing showed off all the musculature and erotic appeal of genital areas using bright colors and iconic accessories such as boots, bracelets, capes and belts. As the 20th and 21st century media (especially film and TV) gave us real actors playing the roles of superheroes and villains, costume designers experimented with many new materials that mimicked the costumes from the comics. In those decades, we have seen superhero costume designs explore nylon, spandex and lycra, satin, leather, latex, PVC and even armor and CGI skin (especially in the past twenty years with the rise of more realistic superhero film adaptations). For those who have this fetish, there can be pleasure in dressing up in this gear, but also immense pleasure in seeing other people wear the gear in the flesh. In a sense, wearing superhero gear in a sexual situation is no different than wearing a sexy pair of underwear or lingerie. It enhances the senses, and it also gives a strong suggestion of the nudity underneath. Of course, many superhero costumes are full bodied, and many fetishists enjoy the feeling of full coverage in materials like lycra, rubber, leather. Good examples of these looks can be seen in iconic heroes like Batman, Superman and Spiderman’s classic costumes.
Isn’t it sort of childish to want to play dress up and do roleplay as heroes and villains?
As many sex researchers and writers have noted, foreplay and a lot of aspects of sex depend on mental stimulation in order to arouse the sexual experience. Each person’s fetishes and kinks are individual, and being accepting of other people’s wants and needs can foster a world where people flourish sexually. Therefore, anyone can say that dressing up as Batman and the Riddler is childish, but I would strongly disagree here. The stories that writers and artists crafted in the comic book form in the course of more than a century tap into some of the most vital passions of the human race: power, strength, moral dilemmas, betrayals and also transformation and rebirth. Therefore, to roleplay as a superhero can only help human beings go deeper into these passions, and I believe that it can also help us learn more about ourselves.
A lot of the images of superhero fetish I see on sites like Tumblr involve superheroes in bondage being tortured. Do all superhero fetish people like getting tied up?
This is a misconception about superhero fetish that is worth taking apart. For many people the fetish is just about the characters and their incredibly tight costumes (and often their superpowers too). In fact, many superhero fetishists I have met over the years on the Internet and in person only fetishize those aspects. Their ideal scene is one in which people dress up in the costumes and enjoy touching each other, and maybe end up in a sexual situation. However, there is an additional subset of superhero fetishists who are strongly engaged in the power exchange of the superhero stories. In other words, they get a hardon or they get wet when they see a superhero captured, bound and gagged, and humiliated by a villain. Many fetishists also get turned on by superheroes being hypnotized or being forced to transform. These scenarios tap into aspects of BDSM and power exchange. We get aroused by these fantasies. In the real world, many superhero fetishists set up scenes where mutual consent is set and limits are negotiated, and as a result, they can tie up, gag, gut punch and crush a superhero (or villain), fully engaging with the fetish in a sadomasochistic way. But this is very individual, and it’s better not to make assumptions about people who identify as superhero fetishists. When in doubt, simply ask how their fetish manifests for them individually.
When did this fetish start?
The fetish as a cultural phenomenon could be said to start in the 20th century with the rise of comic books. It’s in this century when the superhero and supervillain figures rise and become a dominant aspect of global culture. Though LGBT and sexual community visibility was so low it was virtually invisible, it’s fair to assume many people in the 20th century developed the fetish for themselves and may have had encounters and fantasies triggered by the pages of the comic books. It’s also likely that many of the writers and artists themselves had a fetish for the very archetypes they were writing about, making the bulges and muscles, as well as the scenes of power exchange in the stories, a potent brew for themselves, but also for their readers. But as the 60s brought on a sexual revolution, all sorts of marginalized communities began to find a political voice and clear public identity. In my estimation, the internet triggered many superhero fetishists to come out of that fetish closet. For the first time, people with the same erotic urges for superheroes could find each other, share images that aroused them, and even meet in person to live out those fantasies.
However, as a novelist and fiction writer, I believe that it’s mythology that gave us our first superhero fetish. In particular, Greek mythology is probably responsible for our erotic attraction to gods and demigods whose perfectly sculpted bodies played out stories of betrayal, war, rage, and very importantly, many kinds of sex. Other mythologies, including Norse, Celtic, Maya, Aztec, and other mythologies around the world also are responsible for positing the idea of superbeings (aka Gods) who have sexually interesting and arousing phsyiques and powers, and who fall prey to their own lusts, jealousies, joys and fears. Just like heroes in the pantheons of Marvel and DC fall prey to their lusts, jealousies, joys and fears today.
Getting Started with Superhero Fetish
To get started, I recommend using the Internet to find others with this fetish. Some sites that tend to be open to superhero fetish are Recon, Spandex Party, Scruff, Fetlife. If you’re interested in trying on some superhero gear, I also curate a list of Superhero-Friendly Cosplay Vendors. You can also ask me on Twitter at @pablogreene or snapchat at killsuperhero.
Superhero Fetish Community and Resources
What is the Superhero Fetish Meetup?
I organize the Superhero Fetish Meetup at various events, including NY Comic Con, Mid-Atlantic Leather and International Mr. Leather. It’s a way for me to bring superhero fetishists together in a safe space and for people to meet each other. When people come to the meetups, they show up in full cosplay, and they are fun as all hell. There are two ways to get details on upcoming meetups: you can join my newsletter or you can also join the Superhero Fetish Meetup Facebook group I created for this. My meetups skew more toward the BDSM and kink side of superhero fetish, but we welcome everyone. All body types and genders are welcome, and you don’t have to wear fancy cosplay either. I like for these to be as open as possible.
Got more questions for the superhero fetish FAQ? Send us your questions at au@howtokillasuperhero.net and we’ll post the answer here.
I Want to Liberate Men From Baggy Shorts
During the last half of this past season of The Amazing Race, contestant Matt spent two episodes wearing spandex tights putting his whole lower body on display. Always in action, sometimes he would be perfectly framed, and a nice pause and perfectly timed screenshot would reveal the glory of his ass and legs.
This season of the reality show features Tanner & Josh a team that wears tights under their shorts. This is all they’ve been wearing since the race began. The two have amazing looking bodies. They are hot guys; I want to fuck them both. But I also want to liberate them from those baggy shorts they insist on wearing over their tights!
In a recent episode, “Get In There & Think Like a Dog”, Tanner had to perform an aerials tango, an artistically beautiful moment, queered by an unexplained partnering (I assume to match weights when performing an aerials section of the dance) in which the men danced with men and the women with women. Tanner, a Texas boy, was comfortable in the moment, even if he wasn’t the best dancer and his leg and foot work was pretty good for an amature.
What was key however, was that his legs were on display– but only from the knees down. Bare feet, tight, spandex covered calves. It was both a beautiful and sexy moment, ruined by a pair of baggy gym shorts. Had Tanner taken off the shorts and danced in his tights, thereby displaying a male body, comfortable and free within a material that is so often negatively associated with being a constricting and binding fabric it would have been a moment that is not only sexy, but shows the the perfection of the male body, at least from the waist down.
Obsessing over Matt and Tanner's spandex coated legs caused me to wonder why we don’t see a lot more displays of the male body like this one in cinema, television, and in the real world.
During the era of Greek art, the male body was put on display, it was objectified as the perfect specimen. Men were carved from marble, their body showing others the perfection that was close to godliness, cast into marble, nude, not just as art but as an example for the perfect body.
Today, we still have the perfect male: athletes and actors, put on pedestals for their perfected bodies. And yet I feel their display is treated differently. One could say it is the constant "fear" that men who look at other men must be gay, but it could also be that society as a whole prefers to see the female body objectified and put on display than that of the male counterpart.
We live in stifled society. As mentioned the Greeks and later the Romans perfected the art of sculpture of the male body. The Romantic era brought about a more effeminate and yet still on display male. Through this period, men of certain classes dressed in tight, tapered pants or in some cases, tights and stockings. Obviously the fabric wasn't spandex, that's a 20th century creation, but the look produced was that of a male leg and often a male crotch on display.
Now, in the 21st century, we still feel the effects left behind by the prudish values that Victorian society clamped over the freedoms of the earlier Romantic period. We were taught that our bodies were private, something to keep to ourselves. While the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, feminism, and gay rights movement has changed this quite a bit, full displays of the nude body still skew more toward female bodies. The fashion industry puts the female form on display, seen as a perfect form showcasing the nude leg, shoulders, bare arms and midriffs. The male form, on the other hand, is often shown as something to be hidden behind jackets, jeans, and baggy clothing. With the exception of fitness fashion, the male body is often hidden under many layers of garments. Even as children most of us were told that if something were too tight, it wasn’t our size, and that the bigger and bulkier the better. In other words, we have learned that we should hide our male bodies.
In the case of tights, something that normally is just worn by women or hair-bands from the 80s has branched from something athletes can use for practical uses, to something weekend warriors can wear to show their toughness.
While spandex is slowly but surely becoming mainstream, it isn’t yet the norm to wear your tights everyday in every part of the world. Liberal, urban areas are the places where it’s acceptable so far, and even so, it’s not like guys have replaced jeans with tights. They’ve replaced them with joggers and I have mixed feelings about this. I used to wear sweatpants growing up, only to be made fun of for being “unfashionable,” and now they are all the rage. Joggers seems to be applicable to anytime, anywhere. That said, the fit looks great on most guys and it begins to bleed the line between spandex becoming something that belongs in the gym and something that belongs on the street in that the fit and cut, in many ways, replicates that of tights.
But until there is a day that a man can go grocery shopping in a bodysuit is the day we have fully saturated the common space. In the sporting world this is commonplace. Since moving to Toronto I’ve seen a guy in head to toe 2XU and another in a tribal print cycling suit, while having tribal arm tattoos, it was quite the sight. But I don’t see it all the time, as many men are still unsure of themselves in tights. Advertisements still show men wearing shorts over their tights and in real life many do when working out.
Being covered head to toe in spandex is being of two worlds. On one hand you only have a thin layer fabric keeping you from being totally naked to the whole world. On the other hand, you are still completely clothed, sometimes with only your head exposed. Guys treat it like it it’s actual nudity, and therefore they cover it with baggy gym shorts and hoodies. If guys can start to change their point of view, and treat spandex like any other article of clothing, they won't feel naked, they'll feel liberated.
Kinky Stuff You Will Like: Kinky Boys Podcast
Here at How to Kill a Superhero we like all media that talk about BDSM in a fun and smart way. Yes, that’s what we look for. It’s easy to find titillating images if you just set up a Tumblr account, but it’s harder to find people that know how to articulate what makes kink so fun and meaningful for people.
Today we’d like to recommend that you listen to the new kid on the podcasting block, Kinky Boys Podcast. Your host Craig is intelligent, shrewd, but also very focused on what makes all sorts of BDSM and kinky topics hot. If you like British accents, then you better go download it right away.
Kinky Boys Podcast is a great place to check out talks about superhero fetish. In fact, Craig interviewed me about How to Kill a Superhero book series recently on his episode titled Pablo Greene. You can listen to all other episodes on Stitcher, Itunes, and
Here’s how Craig describes the show:
Stated in early 2015, The kinkyboys podcast is show that looks to educate and inform without stripping out the inherent fun in the endless gamut of sexual experiences. Fun informative and gets to both the throbbing heart as well as the complex psychology of kinks.
And a little bit more about Craig:
Craig is a rare thing; an English bootblack. Self-taught and currently the bootblack for the London leather social. He has always had a fascination with human sexuality especially the psychology of fetishes which lead him to become Current main host of the kinkyboys podcast. He likes his men how he likes his books: well-read and leather bound.
