Tijuana bibles (also known as bluesies, eight-pagers, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Their popularity peaked during the Great Depression era. The typical ‘bible’ is 4 by 6 inches (approximately 10 by 15 cm) with black print on cheap white paper and running eight pages in length. In most cases the artists, writers, and publishers are unknown.
The subjects are explicit sexual escapades usually featuring well known cartoon characters, political figures, or movie stars, invariably used without permission. Tijuana bibles repeated ethnic stereotypes found in popular culture at the time. Wesley Morse (who later went on to draw ‘Bazooka Joe’) is believed to have drawn Tijuana bibles before WWII. Superman co-creator, Joe Shuster illustrated a Tijuana-bible-styled erotic work called ‘Nights of Horror’ in the early 1950s.
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