The Hun (cartoonist) explained

Signature:File:Bill Schmeling The Hun Signature.jpg
Birth Date:30 April 1938
Death Place:Portland, Oregon
Nationality:American
Notable Works:Hun Comics, Gohr
Partner:Roland Bynum
Known For:Erotic illustration
Birth Name:Bill Schmeling
Style:Cartoonist

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. Sex scenes routinely involve BDSM with an emphasis on bodily fluids, including urolagnia and scatophilia. Prison rape, fisting, leather and uniform fetishes, and police and military settings are also commonplace.

Biography

Schmeling lived in Portland, Oregon. At the age of five, he began drawing what he described as "hunky dudes in varying stages of undress, duress, and excess." He received no formal training, but cited Tom of Finland, Dom Orejudos, A. Jay, Rex, and Bill Ward as having considerably influenced his style.

He began professionally producing erotic art in the 1960s, doing work for Physique Pictorial and other beefcake magazines, initially under the name Torro.[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,[6] Drummer,[7] [8] and Handjobs magazine.[9] Schmeling also produced artwork for gay bars and businesses such as Bunkhouse (Los Angeles),[10] Manhole (Chicago),[11] Mineshaft (New York City),[12] [13] and Studstore (San Francisco),[14] as well as commissions for private collectors.

Schmeling met his lifelong partner Roland Bynum in 1978.

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.

During the 1980s, Schmeling frequently donated art to charity auctions for AIDS patients across the country. In 1983, his work was exhibited at The Drum in Houston.[15] Fey-Way Studios also exhibited his work.[16]

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.[17]

In 1997, Schmeling wrote a forward for 'Rasslers, 'Ranglers & Rough Guys: The Erotic of Matt, in which he expressed his longtime admiration for fellow erotic artist Charles Kerbs.[18] In 1998, the Tom of Finland Company published The Hun Book, a collection of his work.[19] In 2004, Nazca Plains published a second book, Fetish and Fetters: A Selection of Artwork.[20]

In 2003, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art featured Schmeling alongside Michael Kirwan, Howard Cruse, Rob Clarke, and Adam (Jack Bozzi) in its Deliciously Depraved exhibit.[21]

Cultural impact and legacy

In 1995, Durk Dehner wrote:

But the truly fortunate aspect of this work is that the Hun allows us to be pigs, to be as cruel as all hell, to endure excruciating pleasure, and to dish out or take the slimy, grunting, brutal, hairy, messy, expansive limits of taboo kink. And all this happens without committing unsafe acts or cruelty to animals – oh, I mean men. He is the ultimate safe sex provider. Thank you Hun!

The Tom of Finland Foundation awards a Bill "the Hun" Schmeling Single Figure Award each year as part of its annual Emerging Artist Competition.[22] In a 2023 online exhibit, the 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."
In July 2019, Schmeling donated all of his remaining artwork, notes, and other materials to the Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) in Chicago.[23] The LA&M periodically sells comic reprints and merchandise featuring his art.[24]

Honors & awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bill Schmeling . 2017-01-27 . lambiek.net . en.
  2. Web site: Spotlight on...The Hun. cck. www.coffeecakeandkink.com. en-gb. 2017-01-27. 2017-02-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202034428/http://www.coffeecakeandkink.com/news-a-features/item/spotlight-on-the-hun. dead.
  3. Web site: The Galleries . 2023-12-31 . Tom of Finland Foundation . en-US.
  4. Web site: Leather Archives & Museum, Bill Schmeling, a.k.a. "The Hun", is a Portland,... . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170202060629/http://leatherarchives.tumblr.com/post/96636108465/bill-schmeling-aka-the-hun-is-a-portland . 2017-02-02 . 2017-01-27 . Leather Archives & Museum . en.
  5. Web site: Daniels . Champ . 2022-05-12 . "AllTogether" Sultan, The Hun and Victor Arimondi . 2023-12-31 . Tom of Finland Foundation . en-US.
  6. Book: Meatmen: An anthology of gay male comics . Leyland Publications . 1989 . 9780943595207 . Leyland . Winston . 1st . 6 . San Francisco . Authors:Winston Leyland (Editor), Tom (Illustrator), Jerry Mills (Illustrator), Howard Stangroom (Illustrator), Stephen Lowther (Illustrator), Domingo Orejudos (Illustrator), Kurt Erichsen (Illustrator), John Klamik (Illustrator), Rupert Kinnard (Illustrator), Gerard P. Donelan (Illustrator), Jeffrey A. Krell (Illustrator), Michael Goldberg (Illustrator), Brad Parker (Illustrator), Bruce Billings (Illustrator), Hun (Illustrator), A. J. Toos (Illustrator), Rick Campbell (Illustrator), Leyland Publications (Publisher) . WorldCat.
  7. Web site: Drummer Magazine No 15 May 1977 . 2024-01-13 . Jack Fritscher.
  8. Web site: Drummer Magazine No 19 December 1977 . 2024-01-13 . Jack Fritscher.
  9. Web site: 2021-09-02 . Art & Artists Online Gallery: The Hun . 2023-12-31 . Tom of Finland Foundation . en-US.
  10. Web site: Bunkhouse : you're invited! (UC12351203) . 2024-07-06 . USC Libraries . 2021 . 10.25549/one-c4-44084 . ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
  11. Web site: Manhole Chicago (UC12351939) . 2024-07-06 . USC Libraries . 2021 . 10.25549/one-c4-44006 . ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
  12. Web site: Evans . Hew . 2022-01-24 . A Dominating Narrative: The Mineshaft and BDSM Culture in the Meatpacking District . 2024-07-06 . . en-US.
  13. Web site: Mineshaft School for Lower Education (3000101006) . 2024-07-06 . leatherarchives.org.
  14. Web site: Studstore (UC12349620) . 2024-07-07 . USC Libraries . 2021 . 10.25549/one-c4-44215 . ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
  15. Web site: The Drum presents the Hun (UC12328585) . 2024-07-06 . USC Libraries . 2021 . 10.25549/one-c4-47263 . ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
  16. Web site: Heigl . Alex . 2020-02-09 . Oscars 2020: The true story of Robert Opel, the 1974 Academy Awards streaker . 2024-07-08 . . en-US.
  17. Web site: Fisk . Peter . 2019-10-02 . Drummer Legends: "The Hun" . 2023-12-31 . Drummer . en-US.
  18. Book: 'Rasslers, 'Ranglers & Rough Guys: The Erotic Art of Matt . Bush Creek Media . Introduced by The Hun and Doug McClermont . 1997 . Bean . Joseph W. . Brush Creek Media Artist Series: Volume 3 . San Francisco.
  19. Book: The Tom of Finland Company Presents The Hun Book . . 1998 . 1879055422 . Dehner . Durk . Los Angeles . Hawkins . Richard.
  20. Book: Fetish and Fetters: A Selection of Artwork . Nazca Plains . 2004 . 978-1-887895-35-4 . Bean . Joseph W. . Las Vegas . en.
  21. Web site: Snellen . Wayne . 2003 . "DELICIOUSLY DEPRAVED" Featuring THE HUN and MICHAEL KIRWAN, plus HOWARD CRUSE, ADAM, and ROB CLARKE. . 2024-07-13 . Fire Island Q News.
  22. Web site: Emerging Artist Competition 2022 Winners . 2024-06-15 . Tom of Finland Foundation.
  23. Web site: Peregrin . Tony . 18 February 2020 . Drawn together . 2020-05-08 . Chicago Reader . en.
  24. Web site: Hun Collection at LAM . 2023-12-31 . Leather Archives & Museum Store . en.
  25. Web site: Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients - The Leather Journal. www.theleatherjournal.com. 2020-12-27. 2020-12-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20201228055005/https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients. dead.
  26. Web site: List of winners . NLA International . 2019-03-14 . 2020-05-08 . 2020-01-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200103035305/http://nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html . dead .
  27. Web site: 2019-09-13 . Bill "The Hun" Schmeling 30th April 1938 - 12th September 2019 . 2024-01-02 . Tom of Finland Foundation . en-US.
  28. Web site: Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients - The Leather Journal. www.theleatherjournal.com. 2020-12-27. 2020-12-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20201228055005/https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients. dead.

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