Tijuana Bibles: Comic Book Porn In Your Pocket
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Before comic books, there were Tijuana Bibles. Although they weren't called that then, these little eight-pagers were usually wallet sized eight-panel pornographic comic books, sometimes referred to as two-by-fours because of their size. They had their height during the Great Depression period of American history, though there are examples that go back as far as the 1920s. The term Tijuana Bibles was coined during the 1940s, as cheap reprints were being mass produced in Mexican border towns and distributed across the United States. They were illegal, shipped and bought in secret, artists were anonymous or used pseudonyms, and the names of the publishers all were fake. Tijuana Bibles are part of the secret history of pornography and dirty uncle of the modern kids comic books.
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Tijuana Bibles were sexually explicit, and covered all manner of sexual acts and depravity. Usually featuring well know comic-strip characters of the day, as well as famous celebrities of the time. The names would be changed, but in very unsubtle ways. Jean Harlow became Jean Harlot, Mae West became Mae Breast, and was one of the most popular subjects for the bibles. As they were produced illicitly, they flouted copyright and pulled no punches in their explicit parodies of the characters they used. They were the first underground comic books, sold under the counter in bars, novelty stores, barbershops, garages and burlesque joints, anywhere where men congregated.
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They sold for anything from 50c to a dollar, so weren't cheap for the time. Being produced of the years in their millions, it's estimated that there were anything up to a thousand separate different stories written, that were ripped-off, rewritten, reprinted and reproduced over the years. Rather than produced and distributed by some secret organised crime syndicate, its thought they were mostly produced by small time mom and pop out-fits. Taken by porn-bootleggers across state-lines in the back of cars, to clandestine distribution centres, to be then disseminated to local suppliers. During WWII, Tijuana Bibles saw a decline. Likely due in part to paper shortages, and that some of the artists and manufacturers had been called-up for duty. Some bibles were reprinted using existing printing plates, to the point that the plates were worn smooth. The cottage porn industry never recovered, and the Tijuana Bible went down as part of pornographic folklore.
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The artists of the bibles are largely unknown, one of the most prolific artists working under the name Mr. Prolific. An artist who could imitated any number of styles of the original comic-strip artists of the period. The true identity of Mr. Prolific and other pseudonyms is often attributed to artist Doc Rankin. Another artist that is believed to have contributed artwork for a number of bibles before WWII is Wesley Morse, most famous for his Bazooka Joe comic-strip. The 1939 Worlds Fair bibles are among the most popular and collectible, and have been attributed to Morse. Collectors of bibles have tried to attach well known artists of the time to bibles, by examining styles of artwork, but the mystery remains as to who were the creative minds behind these salacious little gems.
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*** WARNING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL ***
Here we present you a classic example of a Tijuana Bibles, borrowing the character Chris Crusty, who was a a comic-strip character associated with the popular syndicated strip Ella Cinders. (Who also featured in a number of bibles). Although explicit, it's actually much tamer than most of the material that was produced. Due to the culture of the times, many bibles contained racist stereotypes, as well as sexual acts involving animals, and other activities even considered taboo today. Yup! All those dear old sweet grandpas back in the day, with their bibles hidden in their wallets, were a likely as big a bunch of perverts as is claimed about the Internet generation today.