By Jacob Cordas — My relationship just ended. And while I could get emotional about it (and probably will considering how I normally write these reviews), I’m going to take this space to instead discuss erotic art, as Mirka Andolfo’s Sweet Paprika #1 is an excellent example of erotica art played out through comics. Given my recent breakup and the aftermath (without going into detail), I should maybe be at my max capacity with eroticism, but instead I am head over heels for the horny and heartfelt Sweet Paprika. 

Part of it is the formal elements at play. I’ve read this story before: a female demon who is a hard ass that refuses to have sex and a sexually liberated angel who has a puppy as his wing man. It even takes place in the sexy world of book publishing. It felt like I was an erotic tale just for me - a mishmash of my favorite parts of Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada and two teenagers who are sitting in the back row of an empty theatre watching The Proposal.

But the more important part is the heart that Mirka Andolfo is able to instill in every page. It’s over the top and often veers into the cartoonish, but with a pitch perfect understanding that this is the world it exists in.  It is even able to pull off a tragic note at the end that allows a well of complexity to be explored in its upcoming issues. This sort of moment should fly in the face of what we have read so far but instead serves as a natural extension. 

A happy ending has not been earned yet and I am going to keep reading till I get that happy ending. 

The art leans into the cartoonish eroticism without ever falling into traps that make it feel disquieting. Andolfo excels at making an erotic world I actually enjoy looking at. So much of the time in book similar to this the erotic elements either are too overwhelming turning into the kind of sex book that Silver Spectre or they stand in such stark contrast to how silly everything looks that it feels like you are being dared into provocation. But her work, with phenomenal coloring by Simon Tessuto, balances everything with aplomb. 

I did not go into this book expecting to ramble about it this much but finding myself alone of late, I can certainly relate to our protagonist. I needed a release and this book provided that in spades. I look forward to our next night out together. 

Overall: Sweet Paprika #1 is a heartfelt horndog of a comic. By becoming the high art version of a weird corner on Deviant Art, it will win over even the most repressed of its readers. 8.3/10

REVIEW: Sweet Paprika #1

Sweet Paprika #1
Writer/Artist: Mirka Andolfo
Colorist: Simon Tessuto
Letterer: Fabio Amelia
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Paprika is a successful businesswoman, a New Yorker of Italian origin. Job and career consume her, forcing her to neglect her personal needs as well as her friends and family. Her heart is broken from a previous relationship and its consequences, and a rigid upbringing has made her a very introverted person. She wants a romantic relationship, but she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Not like Dill, a naïve and suave delivery boy with an angelic attitude, handsome, and always surrounded by beautiful women falling for him. He doesn’t have a worry in the world, and this makes Paprika very nervous. But he's the guy who could help her with her feelings (and with...sex). Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Sex and the City, with a pinch of The Devil Wears Prada in the new international hit by acclaimed creator MIRKA ANDOLFO (UNNATURAL, MERCY).
More Info: Sweet Paprika #1

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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am starting to think I may in fact be qualified to write this.