SFSX (Safe Sex) #4 // Review
The crew from the Dirty Mind is planning to break into a government facility. Sex workers are looking to break into a place where deviants are deprogrammed. As this is a very militant dystopia, it’s not going to be an easy task in the rising tension of writer Tina Horn’s SFSX (Safe Sex). Artist Michael Dowling’s moody sketchiness baths the corners of the panels in inky shadows that give the story a slickness. In addition to the planning for infiltration, the plight of a single man undergoing very aggressive torture comes across quite powerfully in another exciting issue of a very provocative series.
George had been into bondage. There was a tenderness to it. His first trip to the Dirty Mind was a tenuous one. Being a government employee, he was very vulnerable in a den iniquity. Shoot ahead to present day, and he’s being tortured by the government to rid him of his kink. He’s into bondage and torture, so it’s not going to be an easy process for anyone involved. Elsewhere there are very sophisticated plans being made to infiltrate the very place where he is being captured. It’s not going to be easy for them either.
Dowling has a beautiful thematic reflection going on between all of the different elements of the plot. George’s willing BDSM torture for pleasure is cleverly mirrored against the government’s torture in the interest of converting him out of his deviant sexuality. Domination for pleasure is contrasted against domination for power by the state. It’s an intriguingly complex contrast. The addition of a portly, little Christlike convert aiding in George’s “therapy” is a nice, little stylistic touch. The plans for infiltration aren’t quite as interesting as George’s journey. The traditional break-in heist milieu of that end of the story isn’t as original or compelling as the duality of domination that is explored with George. Still, it DOES power the story forward into its next chapter quite nicely.
Dowling’s work approaches a kind of a bold, unflinching look at human bondage that feels like an earthbound Howard Chaykin. The drama comes across quite well. Dowling’s variation in framing the action keeps the pacing of every page really fresh. Terse close-ups are occasionally broken-up with wide-angle panels and appealing angles. Dowling spends quite a lot of time hanging out on the ceiling of the rooms he’s covering. Viewing the action from high above like that would normally get a bit repetitious when it pops-up more than once per issue, but Dowling makes it feel justified and dynamic even using that particular angle three or four times this issue. Dowling has a great sense of confidence in framing that really embraces the drama from every angle.
The story could go in a variety of different directions in future issues. Horn and Dowling keep it fresh from issue to issue. There might be a bit of a lack of energy as the break-in is planned, but The central drama involving George makes this a really interesting issue.
