The Hun | |
---|---|
Born | Bill Schmeling April 30, 1938 |
Died | November 12, 2019 Portland, Oregon | (aged 81)
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Pseudonym(s) | The Hun, Torro |
Notable works | Hun Comics, Gohr |
Bill Schmeling (April 30, 1938 – September 12, 2019), better known by his pen name The Hun, was an American artist active in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, known for his explicit, homoerotic fetish illustrations and comics.[1][2][3]
Recurring characters in his comics include Big Sig (a naïve but sexually adventurous, semi-literate young man) and Gohr (a barbarian living in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world).[4] His art is characterized by hyper-masculine characters with exaggerated muscles, nipples, and genitalia.[4] Sex scenes routinely involve BDSM with an emphasis on body fluids, including urolagnia and scatophilia.[4][1] Prison rape, fisting, leather and uniform fetishes, and police and military settings are also commonplace.[3]
Schmeling lived in Portland, Oregon.[4][1] He began producing erotic art in the 1960s, doing work for Physique Pictorial and other beefcake magazines, initially under the name Torro.[1][5] Using the pen name The Hun, he produced series of comics – Hun Comics and Gohr – featuring fantasy sexual adventures of gay men. Stories by Schmeling became regular features in publications such as Meatmen, Drummer,[6][7] and Handjobs magazine.[8]
Schmeling developed a close friendship with Tom of Finland during the 1980s when they lived in Los Angeles; the two men set up artist salons in their homes and shared their practices.[5]
In 1988, Schmeling collaborated with Jack Fritscher to produce two feature-length films for Palm Drive Video that highlighted hundreds of his drawings: The Hun Video Gallery 1: Rainy Night in Georgia and The Hun Video Gallery 2: Chain Gang Bang.[9]
In 1998, the Tom of Finland Company published The Hun Book, a collection of his work.[8] In 2006, Nazca Plains published a second book, Fetish and Fetters: A Selection of Artwork.[10]
In a 2023 online exhibit, the Tom of Finland Foundation wrote:
"His artist name (The Hun) personifies the intense subject matter of his work [...] The Hun’s works occupy a unique place among gay erotic artists. He has spearheaded a more intense style of artwork that captures scenes and fantasies often avoided by other artists as well as emphasizes a uniquely grotesque style involving oversized body parts, excess body fluids, and other features on a hyper-sexual scale."[3]
During the 1980s, Schmeling frequently donated art to charity auctions for AIDS patients across the country.[9]
In July 2019, Schmeling donated all of his remaining artwork, notes, and other materials to the Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) in Chicago.[11] The LA&M periodically sells comic reprints and merchandise featuring his art.[12]