Victor Cayro, heathen

So there I am, minding my own business when I get a call from our fine distributors over at Comixology. Seems Apple Standards and Practices has a problem with Victor Cayro's story, The Mazk, and they are refusing to allow it to be sold through the Comics app.

Apple has a rule about comics depicting torture, which I understand and agree with. They want to avoid torture porn like Human Centipede or Hostel in comic form. In Cayro's story a sad-sack character gets in trouble with a series of assholes who kick the shit out of him for the first couple of pages. It's fairly obvious that none of it is done seriously, it's too ridiculous. On the second page, the character is forced to strip and lick his own blood off of a cars bumper. Technically, these are acts performed under duress, which would classify them as torture, but taken in the context of the whole piece, it's a little silly to call it that.

Bugs Bunny for adults

If you judge a Warner Brothers cartoon where Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd repeatedly blast each other in the face with shotguns solely on its content, it's horrific, but in the Loony Tunes/Fudd-is-a-doofus context, it's hilarious. The same goes for The Mazk. If you look at the scenes individually and out of context, it's awful. But in the context of the story, the violence makes sense and furthers the gags.

I've been publishing Victor Cayro's comics for five years and I understand that his work can be jarring to some people. It's often disturbing, violent, overtly sexual and grotesque — and that's the point. He sees the world as harsh and unrelenting and he doesn't suffer fools who would candy-coat it, mocking them openly through a palette of pop-culture references and day-glow colors. It is regrettable that Apple has decided to reject the story on its content without considering the context.

Dispite the setback, we can't wait to do more comics for Comixology, both through Apple and through their new web based app. Victor will have a new story in three months (issue 5) and we'll cross our fingers that it'll meet Apple's muster. Up until now we've had a blast working on this project and hope to continue our good relationship with Comixology and Apple. In the meantime, Ho12 Monthly #2 will be out ASAP with new stories from Kate Lacour and myself, as well as some selections from the Ho12 archives.

Below is Victor's story in all it's glory. Torture porn? Meaningless masturbation? None to subtle social commentary? You be the judge.

- Cheese Hasselberger