Horrific Romance Comics. Jasper Jubenvill. Self-published. 2025. 28pp. $8.
Review by Henry Chamberlain
Filled with provocative imagery, loaded with symbolism, eroticism, and angst, this is a comic book (part of a bigger body of work) that your mother might have warned you about–or supported, if you were raised in a more artistic/bohemian household like our comics creator here, Jasper Jubenvill. As with everything in life, your mileage will vary. Our first panel has our femme fatale, Dynamite Diva, clad in leather with a green trim, raising up her bare foot for all to see. She declares: “Little Piggies were roastin’ in those leather boots!” And, sure enough, those lil’ piggies must be set free. What’s intriguing is the jump cut this comic makes to the very next panel, pivoting away to a real pig. This is Diva’s lil’ piggy pet, Russel, who loves beef jerky. Then we cut to an old church in the desert. Finally, the nuns beckon Diva to join them in a game of Kick the Can. Of course, they would. All this on the first page!
If you’re looking for a work of comics with a more artful cosmopolitan sophistication, then Jasper Jubenvill’s Dynamite Diva comics is it. There’s plenty more to say so let’s keep going. This comic is a mash-up of various comics and genres, a cornucopia of pop culture. Not only does the Diva universe have a vintage setting, circa the 1970s, it channels all sorts of comics going back to the ’30s and ’40s (Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates, Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy). You could say it’s a bit of a Frankenstein monster, just like our heroine, Diva, and a few other characters we’ll get to in a moment.
Jasper Jubenvill has his pulse on something wonderfully creepy, fun and unsettling. It’s Underground Comix with a heaping dose of added self-awareness. God only knows the great lords of comix of yesteryear unloaded a ton of over-the-top and outright wrong gunk, rightfully called out for its inherent racism, misogyny, etc. You know it when you see it. Anyway. Quite a lot to unpack there beyond the scope of just this one review. Needless to say, there’s so much to pick and choose and recontextualize. Jubenvill has a steady hand with all this and so the reader can appreciate his take on sex, violence, body horror and the like now, well into a new century. Jubenvill is picking apart this facial expression, this gesture, this setting and repurposing it all as you would a customized hot rod. Jubenvill is internalizing various processes and making them his own.
You can say that the sex and violence in a Jasper Jubenvill comic is deliberate and well-paced, thoughtful and impactful. There’s a lot coming at the reader, like a runaway locomotive but, unlike a lesser comic, it never feels empty. When Diva finally gets to grasp her lover’s manhood, it is perfectly timed, culminating in a series of repercussions, and consequential panels.
The conceit here is that an understanding has been established between the comics creator and the reader that this is all highly conceptualized artifice. It is then up to the creator to deliver on this ambitious goal. Jubenvill delivers. His Diva is quite a strange creature herself, giving off a Bride of Frankenstein vibe right from the moment she exposes her piggies. The rest of the narrative to this comic will have Diva confronting her brothers from another mother. Plenty of Frankenstein subtext to go around. The art and color choices, the whole darn thing screams out strange, weird and wonderful.
Jasper Jubenvill has set himself on a delightful path with his lovely Diva creature leading the way. Diva is a undoubtedly a force of nature, and a product of unnatural forces. She has a mind and body of her own, made up of a compilation of parts. She is both a grotesque creature and a soul searching for meaning. She is not without her charms and yet someone to avoid.
Jubenvill has tapped into something vital: our collective need to be scared, grossed out and given a good cathartic kick in the pants. There’s not one false note in this carefully crafted comic. Let it work its magic on you. We are living in extremely whacked out times. We need more of these kind of comics.
