Dean Haspiel’s NSFW ‘Sex Planet’ Motion Comic Bumps and Grinds

Despite the medium's obvious contradictions and flaws, some creators have valiantly attempted to pioneer genuinely good motion comics. Last week we saw the first chapter of Dan Hipp's Tokyopop opus GYAKUSHU! adapted as a curiously compelling 40-minute motion comic, and we're treated this week to a similarly cool but seriously not-safe-for-work piece from Dean Haspiel: Billy Dogma in Sex Planet.Known for his Emmy Award-winning work on HBO's Bored to Death as well as his work with Harvey Pekar, Haspiel teamed with animator Daniel Kramer to adapt the Billy Dogma short story that originally appeared a few years ago in Image's PopGun Vol. 2.

On his website, Haspiel explained his disdain for motion comics and why he chose to create one.

From the motion comics I've been privy to, I feel that most executions fail. It's a poor substitute for animation and corrupts the virtues of the static, sequential graphic rather than enhances. However, my rejection of motion comics is what challenged me to revisit the concept when Daniel Kramer offered to direct and produce a version of BILLY DOGMA in "Sex Planet." I think our solution splits the difference between comix proper and moving pictures with sound. If anything, our motion comic compliments the source material while adding a new dimension to the reading/viewing experience. It helps set a pace and acknowledges the power of comics that could otherwise be overlooked in our daily haste.

Indeed, the Sex Planet motion comic -- which is so steamy that we can't even embed it here -- does achieve some level of success in marrying Haspiel's static images with a film-like viewing experience. With Kramer's direction, what read on paper as an almost frenzied bit of pulp action plays as more of a chilled out yet strangely tense and sexy beatnik adventure.

You can check out Sex Planet in all its sexiness here.